Guild Wars 2

So I’m just coming back to the game after a few months away. Before I left and got distracted, I had a guardian build that worked fairly well for me. It looked a little something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUUQJARWlYgCC33RLEg4ER1j4dP7h9QjZ8jXFcIA

The basic idea was to stack up power and healing power to combine damage and secondary healing with Symbol of Wrath. (Keep in mind, my guardian is level 50, so I never got the chance to try this whole thing out in a PvE situation.)

Problem is, when I came up with this build, Symbol of Wrath had about an eight-second cooldown, rather than the 20 seconds that it has now. Since doubling the cooldown on my secondary source of healing kinda kills the ‘damage and healing’ purpose of the build, it’s time to find something new.

So here’s what I have so far:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQRAsf7dlYgSDHHyNEg4Eh1DAeQ/VVIeXPgYEbIA

This one leans a little more heavily in the damage direction. The torch keeps things burning both for the burning damage and to make use of Fiery Wrath and Radiant Power, while the traits in the Valor line will (hopefully) provide the healing I’m looking for. Problem is, I’m only healing myself; ideally, I’d like to be able to spread the healing a little like I could with the old build.

So, having put that out there, I’d appreciate any advice y’all have to give. Ideally, I’d like to come up with something that will work in PvE and PvP. Stat advice would be helpful as well – I’m not certain if the burning effect is enough to warrant stacking condition damage, or if I should focus more on power/precision. Keeping in mind, my goal is primarily damage, with some healing on the side.

The only real source of party healing the guardian has (or needs) is roll heal. Just take 20 in Honor and spin to win. Ideally you shouldn’t even be doing that since group healing is really not that helpful in general, but that’s the best if that’s what you’re going for. If you really want to go full heals, go Mace/Shield with Writs of Persistence, Exaltation, and Mercy and roll around. Take Magi gear, it’ll help you keep up Vigor for more rolls. Use boon duration runes (Monk, Water, Sanctuary) so your regen lasts longer.

In this case though it looks like you want something more offensive, which I agree is better. I still recommend going 20 in Honor (even if it means dropping the Radiance traits) because Empowering Might is a huge DPS boost for the entire party and gives you tons of AH procs, if you take that trait. It’ll also enable you to “spread the healing” by using shouts. Stand Your Ground is pretty much the best support buff in the game. Stability is too good.

Oh, I see; both of those Honor traits do sound useful. Do they affect you as well, or just allies?

Regardless, if I go that direction, I see that leading in one of two directions. The first would look something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAR7dlYgqCnFyvDg4EhlCAaQMFYE+XPoYCZIA

using Empowering Might to fuel Altruistic Healing (speaking of which: does AH apply when you buff yourself, or only when you buff group members?) while sacrificing a bit of my own personal damage. Or I could do something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQRAsf7dlYgqCnFyvDgIFh1DAeQ/VVIeYKwI8vKQRA

This one, I assume, would provide a bit more damage from me via Fiery Wrath, Radiant Power, and Right-Hand Strength, while also providing more Empowering Might procs for my teammates, but I would lack the extra healing from AH. Would it be worth the tradeoff, or do you think I’d be better off with the first build?

Edit: After trying it myself, I’ve found that both Empowering Might and Selfless Daring (the heal-roll) do affect me. So at the moment I’m using the second spec (or at least, a level 50 version) and it’s working fairly well.

If you want RH Strength, you’re pretty much stuck with either AH or EM, not both. That’s just the way it is. I should note that you don’t NEED RH Strength for an EM build; the trait has an internal cooldown of 1 second so there is such a thing as too many crits. It’s really up to you how you want to spread the traits; if you wanted, you could drop RH Strength altogether and go Valor for AH. You will lose a fair chunk of crit chance but it will be partially offset by the gain in crit damage and the 2-3 constant stacks of might you’ll have on you from Might of the Protector.

If you are focusing on DPS, then yes, RH Strength is your best choice for 1H sword if that is what you are committed to using. 1H sword is kind of low damage-wise in general, though, compared to GS or scepter.

Yeah, if you notice, only the second build makes use of right-hand strength. The first one seems a little more along the lines of what you suggest, using a greatsword and grabbing both AH and EM.

Just how much higher is the damage from the greatsword compared to the 1H, though? Because with the torch in my offhand I’m going to end up with a pretty consistent +10%-20% damage from the combination of Fiery Wrath and Radiant Power. That bonus damage is really the main reason I’m sticking to the sword/torch setup rather than the greatsword. So is it so much stronger that even the bonus 20% damage won’t bring it up to par? Unless I’m wrong and those traits don’t stack.

I didn’t know that EM had that internal cooldown, though, so that does take out one of the advantages I thought I had there. As for the scepter, I’ll probably use one in my secondary weapon set. What would you suggest for an offhand for the scepter? I’ve never been a huge fan of the focus or shield simply because of the long cooldowns on their abilities.