Guild Wars 2

Hi again!

Today I’ve got two burn guardian builds to show you. Both use the same weapons, utilities, traits , and sigils. They differ in stat selection, runes and consumables. Which build would you rather play? What kind of playstyle would benefit the most from each build?

Condi Damage Focused
Carrion stats: Condition Damage / Power / Vitality
Scavenging runes: +175 condi damage / Steal health when struck (25%) / Steal health after heal skill / 7% vitality converted to condi damage
Bowl of Orrian Truffle Soup: +100 Condition Damage / +70 Vitality
Tuning Crystal Station: 6% Toughness and 4% Vitality converted to Condition Damage

Totals (with Consumables):
Condition Damage – 2520
Burning Duration – +40%
Burning Damage per Stack – 600.5
Crit Chance – 4%
Health – 21955

Condi Duration Focused
Sinister stats: Condition Damage / Power / Precision
Balthazar runes: +175 Condi Damage / +45% Burn Duration / Burn nearby foes after heal skill / Gain quickness (5s) when below 20%
Bowl of Garlic Kale Sautee: +20% Condi Duration / +70 Condi Damage
Toxic Focusing Crystal: +10% Condi Duration / +100 Condi Damage

Totals (with Consumables):
Condition Damage – 2302
Burning Duration – +85%
Burning Damage per Stack – 561.5
Crit Chance – 49.76%
Health – 11645

To me these builds represent the burst vs. sustain debate for DoT based DPS.

The burst build (condi damage) deviates from typical glass cannon builds and boasts a consistent 600 damage per stack per second, which can be increased by Might, as well as near-tank status with a high health pool and access to Aegis. The build suffers from a poor crit rate, and the low duration makes it harder to apply burning stacks; having played this build myself, it can be very difficult to reach 25 stacks. Nonetheless, I believe the burst build provides an easier open world experience and may be a good build to teach newer players how to effectively apply stacks and survive fights.

The sustain build (condi duration) is more of a glassy build with around 10k less health than the burst build. The duration build also has 39 less burning damage per stack per second than the damage build, but makes up for this with a much higher crit rate and double the duration. I suspect it will be much easier to reach 25 burning stacks due to the increased duration on this build; coupled with the near 50% crit rate, I am convinced that the duration build is objectively better for raiding.

What do you guys think? Feel free to discuss how burn guardians should be!

I played around with the second build you mentioned but with some changes.

Fiery Wrath instead of Zealous Scepter (Zeal)
Right-Hand Strength instead of Inner Fire (Radiance)

A question I have regarding this build is the usage of Rare Veggie Pizza for the increased condi duration. Runes, Traits, Sigil and Sharpening Stone provide 95% Burning duration, wasting 15% condi duration of the food buff.

I would suggest Seaweed Salad instead as the build allows to move around freely to make use of the 10% dmg increase. However, I don’t know if Seaweed Salad improves condition dmg, too.

I changed off-hand and boots to vipers to hit 100% burning duration (0,4% wasted, might be a better way to calculate).

Similarly, I switched to a sword instead of a greatsword on weapon swap to maintain Right-Hand Strenght and utilize sword auto.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQRArf8flsAhmhY5QwSIQQEHxDVNA2y61uBvwjmHjXcGB-TRiAQBXT5HAeSBRTXTNVCCQtCVT9DodSFgoKIwY/huBEADCCCChQYtWr1qhQIECSBMwyK-e

Other Food ideas:

Plate of Fire Flank Steak (100 Power, 70 Condition dmg)
Bowl of Veggie Chili (20% chance to burn on critical hit during the day)

With spotter, BiD, fury and Right-Hand Strength you hit around 97,17% crit chance.