Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow Guardians!

I dinged 80 last night.

My first though was to replace bits of my level 70-75 gear that I had and my weapons. It then struck me that I dont know what I want to get because after 80 levels I still havent found that sweet spot of builds that I really enjoyed.

I levelled purely stacking toughness and vitality intially. I play a lot with friends so the plan was to be tanky dps but of course I did next to no damage and still too a lot.

I then went greatsword which was amazing for levelling but then in dungeons I would get destroyed as quick as my Necro pal (he has less defence by a tonne more health).

and for the last ten levels I used a build I found after research with a sword/shield , scepter/focus but the dps is not great, I cant take a reasonable amount of damage and my support/heals seem pretty bad.

Now im not sure if its just because its easier noticing white damage as a dpser than boons on allies but any advice on a fun build?

Has anyone been in the same position?

Suggestion is, stat or trait for the median. Focusing either on overall total damage dealing leaves you squishy, while going full survivability means you simply can take more hits if you can’t/don’t dodge. Best bet is simply to run a build tailored to your favorite weapon sets with traits and stats on runes, and armor opposite. Some of the squishiness of pure glass cannon builds can be cured with 5-15 points into various traits such as vigor on crit or simply more group utility/ combos. I advise you to choose your preferred playstyle, then simply be careful with positioning and gear to survive until you can get two sets of armor if you so wish. Do keep in mind though that a full set of exotic crafted and trinket, weapons, runes, can easily cost upwards of 60-70g. so choose wisely for your first set.

Yes thats why I a in a predicament. I dont want to waste my gold. Im considering bailing on my guardian and levelling my 52 engineer as its more fun to play.

I like the GS playstyle but it doesnt really seem viable as I always get focussed so think tanky is the way!

You obviously can’t have it all. You can gear for 3 Traits, but will always lose out on the others.

I’m really happy with my Justice Spam (+Consecrations) build for mowing down several spawns at once in PVE, but I got my kitten handed to me in Sorrow’s Embrace. My main mitigation comes from Blinds… to which Dredge are resistant. I think the best weapon in any Guardian’s arsenal is adaptability. Even if you didn’t trait for it, if the situation calls be prepared to equip weapons and Skills that work when your usual loadout won’t.

That said, one build I’m aware of that’s pretty hard to kill, helps a group and can dish out damage should be 0/15/30/20/5 Might Healer build. Geared for Precision and loaded with a ton of Might from Justice Spam from Renewed Justice plus Crits via Empowering Might… with the added bonus of Altruistic Healing keeping you upright cause you reliably buff your party. With Superior Aria and short CD Shouts it just gets better and is more support.

The caveat here is, I’m not acually sure of the damage output. A guildie runs this build and he’s really robust, but I don’t keep track of his damage output. That said, with enough Precision, the 30% Crit Damage from maxed Valor and reliably stacked Might you should still be able to hit pretty hard.

If you went that way, you’d probably want Knight gear so you can put out some damage.

that build sounds really good Schakal

I think thats the route I want to be going down so im going to try that out. Seems to have a nice mix of healing, support and dps.

Having played all the other MMOs for a few years (wow, rift etc) I think im still struggling with the “no role” concept.

Just need to finish work so I can re-trait!

that build sounds really good Schakal

I think thats the route I want to be going down so im going to try that out. Seems to have a nice mix of healing, support and dps.

Having played all the other MMOs for a few years (wow, rift etc) I think im still struggling with the “no role” concept.

Just need to finish work so I can re-trait!

Well, there’s no rush to play your guardian if you like your engineer more. No sub. fee mean you’re free to pursue what you want. That being said, as a 80 fully geared dps oriented gs/staff guardian for dungeons, 15.5k hp with full berserker armor and some valkyrie trinkets, i would have to say it’s not that bad to to be non “tanky” melee. For some situations, like arah, where many waves of mobs come at you, being able to clean up some on your own without needed assistance helps out a lot. I also have an offset of temple gear with power/vit/toughness, but rarely use it because the added bonuses of those stats don’t matter too much where it should count: bosses. Bosses will still kill you in probably 1-2 more shots, or simply 1 shot you for certain animations. This means that what’s most important is dodging correctly, which any supportive/dps build can do with vigor on crit. Although i would advise at least 15k hp or so to help against conditions eating away at you too fast, guardians are as versatile as you want, just have to take the time to trait, gear, slot for it. Our survivability mostly comes from our combo fields, and utility skills, not so much our statted gear. Just a thought.

The best way I can think of maxing both dps and survivability is to go 30 Zeal for GS and 30 Valor for Toughness and then dump the last 10 into Honor.

As for gear you can either capitalize on these traits or stack whatever else you find you might need, vitality, precision, etc…

A good combination I found with weapons is the GS and Mace/Shield. One will give you the best in dps and the other the best in survivability. With the Valor trait you have the option of getting +90 toughness if you wield a shield and have 5% toughness be transferred to precision for crits.

But, like some have already mentioned if you enjoy playing your engineer more then it’s up to you if you want to invest time on your guardian or play what you enjoy.