Guild Wars 2

Guardian

Guardians are receiving a few reworks and changes to their baseline abilities. We felt it was odd to have heavily incorporated symbols to the profession and its traits but not have symbols available with all weapon builds. Thus, both sword and scepter are now receiving symbols, with both also receiving a few other changes to improve quality of life. In other areas, we looked to make quality-of-life improvements to baseline weapon and utility skills.

Faithful Strike: This skill now strikes up to three targets, with the healing aspect only activating on the first outgoing hit. Base healing per level has been increased by 20%. The healing contribution has been increased by 39%. The healing radius has been increased from 120 to 180.

Protector’s Strike: In addition to granting protection, this skill now grants aegis to nearby allies when it ends via block. Protection is no longer applied in a radius if the guardian does not block anything.

Mighty Blow: This skill no longer places the guardian in midair, is now affected by quickness and slow, and can be used in conjunction with Judge’s Intervention.

Sword Wave: This skill no longer fires missiles but instead delivers three melee attacks at different angles, with all three attacks hitting enemies directly in front of the guardian. The number of targets this skill can strike has been reduced from 5 to 3 per attack.

Flashing Blade: This skill has been renamed Symbol of Blades and now drops a symbol at the guardian’s feet, applying fury to nearby allies for 1.5 seconds. Initial impact damage has been increased to normal symbol values.

Zealot’s Defense: The missile velocity of this skill’s projectiles has been increased by 33%. Reduced the variability of the angle that projectiles are launched at by 50%, which enhances their overall accuracy.

Zealot’s Speed: The health threshold of this skill has been increased from 50% to 75%.
Orb of Wrath: The aftercast of this skill has been reduced by 0.16 seconds. The range of this skill has been reduced from 1200 to 900.

Smite: This skill has been renamed Symbol of Punishment and now drops a symbol at the target location that deals damage to the area every 1 second, additionally delivering smaller Smite attacks. The Smite damage interval has been increased from 0.25 seconds to 0.5 seconds and will persist as long as the symbol is active (meaning more strikes when the Writ of Persistence trait is active). The range of this skill has been reduced from 1200 to 900.

Banish: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 25 seconds to 18 seconds.
Signet of Resolve: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 35 seconds.

Sanctuary: Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180. Increased the base healing per pulse by 60%. Increased the healing attribute contribution by 275%. The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 90 seconds to 75 seconds. Fixed a bug that caused Sanctuary to last longer than intended when not affected by traits. The number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill has been reduced to 10; Sanctuary will disappear after the tenth enemy is knocked back.

Hallowed Ground: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 80 seconds to 60 seconds. Updated the skill description to properly reflect the skill’s functionality.

Signet of Mercy: The casting time of this skill has been reduced from 3.75 seconds to 3 seconds. The aftercast has been reduced by 0.25 seconds.

Shield of Courage: With the Indomitable Courage trait equipped, this skill will now grant stability when the skill begins rather than when it completes.

Virtue of Resolve: This skill now removes up to 2 conditions from the guardian baseline. This effect has been carried through to Wings of Resolve as well.

Spear of Justice: In addition to burning, this skill now cripples tethered enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Communal Defenses: Fixed a bug in which aegis could be applied to infinite targets.

Master of Consecrations: This trait now grants 2 seconds of increased consecration time instead of an ambiguous 20%.

Supreme Justice: Aspects of this trait have been merged into the grandmaster trait Permeating Wrath. In addition to burning enemies in the area, this trait now allows Virtue of Justice to cause burning more frequently. Increased burning duration has been removed. This trait has been renamed Virtuous Solace.

Virtuous Solace: Drop a Merciful Sanctuary at your location when your health reaches the 25% threshold. This trait functions similarly to Sanctuary and is classified as a consecration, but it has less active time and slightly less base healing value.

Glacial Heart: The recharge of this trait has been reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds. The damage of this trait has been increased by 33%.

Heavy Light: Deflecting Shot now knocks enemies back a distance of 300 on each hit, with no internal cooldown. Gain stability for 6 seconds when knocking back, launching, or pulling an enemy. The stability aspect has a 10-second internal cooldown.

Monk’s Focus: Fixed a bug in which Renewed Focus had a longer cooldown than intended if the player went into a downed state while casting Renewed Focus.

Bow of Truth (Command): Increased the base healing per hit by 3 so that this skill no longer heals for 0 when scaled into low-level areas.

I totally thought Virtuous Solace was going to be in Zeal. Shooooooooooot. I’m taking that! Absolute Resolution was good when F2 didn’t innately remove conditions. It’ll be even stronger now, but NAH!

Guardian is GREAT now!

Yeah with Absolute Resolution having 2 conditions baseline, picking Virtuous Solace with Master of Concentration seems like a no brainer at first look.

The CD of Merciful Sanctuary was reduced, right? Yeah, I’m taking it xD. The only thing about it is that it’s stationary. There has to be some type of drawback, so w/e. Engineer, with its ridiculous uptime of stability, might be able to run through it, but we’ll see

so the true measure of gerdian skills will now be decided by how many people you can knock back per deflecting shot.

intredasting

I like how having success playing Guardian is tied to how well you manage your CDs, accurately use your skills, and react to your opponent.

AN has not made us OP, but given us such a wonderful rework

The Deflecting Shot change is a good one. Takes the RNG out of it so you know when to get knockbocks when reviving.

900 range on Scepter 1 and 2? Goodbye Scepter.

i gotta say this patch seems pretty good for guardians

phokus.8934:

The Deflecting Shot change is a good one. Takes the RNG out of it so you know when to get knockbocks when reviving.

yeah love this change. Good for preventing stomps and interupting heals.

lol the merciful sanctuary trait is TERRIBLE

compared to removing 5 condis with absolute resolution, its still a no brainer pick

Thelgar.7214:

900 range on Scepter 1 and 2? Goodbye Scepter.

But #1 atks a little bit faster and the hits of #2 are more reliable (and now applies might as well). I believe that were more buffs than nerfs.

I’ll try out.

also, even with wings of resolve, the 2 baseline condi removals of resolve activates at the start of the leap.

I also like how sword 1 third strike is no longer a projectile.

Overall, very good changes.

Spartacus.3192:

phokus.8934:

The Deflecting Shot change is a good one. Takes the RNG out of it so you know when to get knockbocks when reviving.

yeah love this change. Good for preventing stomps and interupting heals.

It should also work on long range now I think. Before the patch the target had to be in 300 range to be knocked back.

Spartacus.3192:

i gotta say this patch seems pretty good for guardians

There were so much QoL changes that we waited for ages. Now only need to buff/change Signets, Spirit Weapons, “Recieve the Light” and the useless traits.

I’m happy because they actually did something to the class instead of just ignore as always.

sword is just a straight beast of a weapon now, the changes to zealot’s defense is decent enough that it finally warrants self rooting somewhat.

Sword has been reworked! No more projectiles on auto attack! Symbol on Skill 2! Improved Zealot’s defense!

I could cry tears of joy. :’D

Haven’t played my guardian in a while. Has anything changed regarding usefullness in 81+ fractals?

Darknicrofia.2604:

lol the merciful sanctuary trait is TERRIBLE

compared to removing 5 condis with absolute resolution, its still a no brainer pick

If you could live with removing 3 conditions before, you’ll be fine with removing 2 conditions now. Who doesn’t want a bubble that heals you; negates enemies from entering; absorbs projectiles? I’m definitely testing it out

Oohhh baseline virtues enhanced.

Someone pinch me, lol.

sword is wonderful.

Great speed and accuracy on zealots defense, reliable damage from #1 that doesn’t blow back in your face and flashing blade finally gets a symbol

I was worried when I read the patch notes they’d do something like put the symbol before the tp, or remove the tp altogether.

no complaints ( and I’ve not been able to say that for a few years )

I have a bad feeling we’re going to see an influx of Guardians…

Darknicrofia.2604:

lol the merciful sanctuary trait is TERRIBLE

compared to removing 5 condis with absolute resolution, its still a no brainer pick

Absolute Resolution is only adding one extra condition cleanse.

Virtuous Solace is still good on paper and can have good application – especially when reviving but one change I’d like to see is have it trigger at 50% health rather than 25%. 25% with Mauraders is around 4k health which is awfully low and still prone to burst/condition ticks.

phokus.8934:

Darknicrofia.2604:

lol the merciful sanctuary trait is TERRIBLE

compared to removing 5 condis with absolute resolution, its still a no brainer pick

Absolute Resolution is only adding one extra condition cleanse.

Virtuous Solace is still good on paper and can have good application – especially when reviving but one change I’d like to see is have it trigger at 50% health rather than 25%. 25% with Mauraders is around 4k health which is awfully low and still prone to burst/condition ticks.

I could be wrong but I believe absolute resolution ADDS 3 condition removals on top of the 2 baseline.

if it is indeed only 1 additional removal then yea, master of consecrations and merciful sanctuary trait will likely be the new default mediguard traits.

I can’t get in game to double-check but the tool tip was showing 3 conditions cleared – didn’t test it against a Warrior to see if 5 conditions were removed.

At least we have an OH MAN trait now

Darknicrofia.2604:

phokus.8934:

Darknicrofia.2604:

lol the merciful sanctuary trait is TERRIBLE

compared to removing 5 condis with absolute resolution, its still a no brainer pick

Absolute Resolution is only adding one extra condition cleanse.

Virtuous Solace is still good on paper and can have good application – especially when reviving but one change I’d like to see is have it trigger at 50% health rather than 25%. 25% with Mauraders is around 4k health which is awfully low and still prone to burst/condition ticks.

I could be wrong but I believe absolute resolution ADDS 3 condition removals on top of the 2 baseline.

if it is indeed only 1 additional removal then yea, master of consecrations and merciful sanctuary trait will likely be the new default mediguard traits.

So I was just testing this out and it looks like it clears 2 conditions as soon as you activate the ability and then clears 3 conditions at the end.

Ill be dammn, that extra block on mace…

I’ve been testing scepter with the zealous scepter trait (get 2 stacks of might every time virtue of justice passive procs for 10 seconds while wielding scepter, no internal cooldown). It’s quite easy to get 25 stacks of might with the symbol and the extra free hits it gets on top of it.

Couple that with vulnurability on symbols, symbolic avenger (10% damage boost), Unscathed contender (20% damage boost) and pure of sight (7% – 13% damage boost) and it all adds up to quite a bit. Scepter might end up being a lot stronger than people might have assumed at first sight, especially with more aoe capabilities now mixed in the equation.

mrauls.6519:

I have a bad feeling we’re going to see an influx of Guardians…

Why is that a problem? I’ve been toying with the idea of making one for weeks but since I make it now I’m going to be chastised? :\

Don’t act like Guardians aren’t everywhere already. I always see ’em running around. :P

Thelgar.7214:

900 range on Scepter 1 and 2? Goodbye Scepter.

LOL – It’ll be everywhere. Every. Where.

A no projectile, fast, extremely high (top tier) DPS autoattack that was used mainly for melee/mid range already.

It’ll get nerfed. Holy carp (^)<. This is insane.

Vyrulisse.1246:

mrauls.6519:

I have a bad feeling we’re going to see an influx of Guardians…

Why is that a problem? I’ve been toying with the idea of making one for weeks but since I make it now I’m going to be chastised? :\

Don’t act like Guardians aren’t everywhere already. I always see ’em running around. :P

I see them far less then other classes.

Ryou.2398:

Vyrulisse.1246:

mrauls.6519:

I have a bad feeling we’re going to see an influx of Guardians…

Why is that a problem? I’ve been toying with the idea of making one for weeks but since I make it now I’m going to be chastised? :\

Don’t act like Guardians aren’t everywhere already. I always see ’em running around. :P

I see them far less then other classes.

They have been thinning out, I wonder if the Tempests will do the same now. Now that’s a class that is everywhere.

Personally I’ve always wanted a Guardian but since I was a Paragon and a Monk in GW1 I purposely stayed away to try something different but that nagging feeling of “going home” to the spiritual successor to those classes is always there.

I dont like what they have done with scepter. It is a weapon I have mained since forever and I hoped a good buff whej they talked about making smite a symbol, but it is way weaker than before. With the old smite I could almost kill a wvw mob; with the new scepter 2 I dont get more than 35% of his hp, its horrible. So now the only reliable dmg of scepter comes from autoattacks, just wow.

These changes are nice, and now hopefully the next thing to fix on the Guardian list are our craptastic condi-traits in Radiance.

These are probably some of the best changes the guardian has ever gotten; ANet really surprised me. Setting my hopes to the lowest certainly made this patch all the more delicious~

Fashion Mage.3712:

These are probably some of the best changes the guardian has ever gotten; ANet really surprised me. Setting my hopes to the lowest certainly made this patch all the more delicious~

Don’t worry it’ll get nerfed by the end of the week to bring Guardians back into a good place.

I kid of course, when I came back to the game I looked at my Guard and went “… kitten this” but now I actually wish I didn’t spread all his gear out to other characters, now I gotta rebuild it >.<

Only problem for me is that sanctuary disappears after 10 bops. With some of the champs that summon minions in the new map particularly, using it against a breakbar or to rez is pretty worthless. I’d rather it stop knocking back after 10 impacts but stayed up (like shield 5 after the push), or if that isn’t possible remove the 10 target limit in PvE. Even so this patch was great.

Well, well, well.

I am a lv. 60 Guardian who recently bought the game and I, sincerely, still have almost no idea what is going on with this patch (or this game in general, lol).

When I came here yesterday to check some builds and noticed lots of people saying the class was dead, it really bummed me out. Seems like the game has changed. All those “it’s going to be nerfed” and “sword is now good” is really getting the hype outta me. Lol.

Long live Guardians!

Fashion Mage.3712:

These are probably some of the best changes the guardian has ever gotten; ANet really surprised me. Setting my hopes to the lowest certainly made this patch all the more delicious~

That’s the spirit! Expecting nothing and getting something … feels pretty good. I’m pretty eager to get a sword build going.

Vyrulisse.1246:

mrauls.6519:

I have a bad feeling we’re going to see an influx of Guardians…

Why is that a problem? I’ve been toying with the idea of making one for weeks but since I make it now I’m going to be chastised? :\

Don’t act like Guardians aren’t everywhere already. I always see ’em running around. :P

I’m afraid our happiness will attract too much negative attention

mrauls.6519:

Vyrulisse.1246:

mrauls.6519:

I have a bad feeling we’re going to see an influx of Guardians…

Why is that a problem? I’ve been toying with the idea of making one for weeks but since I make it now I’m going to be chastised? :\

Don’t act like Guardians aren’t everywhere already. I always see ’em running around. :P

I’m afraid our happiness will attract too much negative attention

Given every other class but Mesmer are crying boo louder than Bernie Sanders supporters, yeah probably; but you can’t take away how dire this class needed buffing/rebalancing. I am no Guardian expert I came into this a few months while DH was struggling; but levelling I still heavily enjoyed the class and idea of it. I wasn’t end-game for long with it but I am happy my 2nd fav class got love. (fav is engi, and yeahhhh). But no one should hate because their class maybe got nerfed or other issues weren’t addressed, while another got stronger that very much needed it.

Kuurde.5837:

Has anything changed regarding usefullness in 81+ fractals?

It is much worse for fractals with boon stealing because it now has more symbol skills and they’re all light fields. I really wish some were fire or something.

I have three theory builds in mind. I’ll try to compel my speed as I head home from work!

Is Scepter #2 working as intended? It barely does any damage/hits an enemy standing inside it.

Who else logged in, grabbed their sword, rubbed it against their face (sheathed of course) and said “I so deserve this!” ….. anyone? Well someone may have to get my sword a restraining order against me, just sayin.

A big thanks to ANet for going above and beyond, and implementing not only changes the players asked for, but fun new ones! Also, great job to the rational voices of logic on the forums here (looking at you Ghosti!) whose suggestions and ideas actually made it into the game! Keep up the good work.

Saiyan.1704:

I have three theory builds in mind. I’ll try to compel my speed as I head home from work!

Cant wait to see what you come up with!

When I read the patch notes, I swore they had taken half of them from my posts over the past while.

After re-reading the patch notes, I mentioned 8 of the 24 changes. I also mentioned some things about Concescrations , but they weren’t as solid as the above 8. Anyone who says Anet doesn’t look at the forums for feedback can go eat a cactus.

Increased sanctuary size and better base healing for mace is there to <3, less wasted stats on healing power for mace

That mace 3 aegis is a beast.. lol cobined with shield :}. when traited with DH aegis to remove condis + shouts+trooper runes, awesome.

And no more people w/o stability atacking on melee range players inside sanctuary <3

After a small tune on Spirit weapon classs is perfect imo XD