Guild Wars 2

hi :)
i have a guardian that turned 39 today and i cant figure out what to do with talents on him… my other chas i have them mostly figured out with minor questions about tweaks but this guardian needs help bad.

So far i have just put 5 points into every talent and then the extra 4 into the one with vitality. i know this is all wrong but i cant figure out which lines to go down.

My play-style is solo mostly. i play with gs and sword/focus and i want something in talents that gives me good survivability plus as much damage as i can get. i don’t know how to make it so i can get a decent build with those 2 criteria.. i know i can’t go full out in either area and survive so need a good mix.

I buy strong armor and weapons. usually buy 3 trinkets that offer toughness and vitality and then 2 with perc/power. i was using the gs about 99% of the time but now i am trying the sword and focus combo and it seems ok and just bought a rare of each so i can do higher damage. armor is green 38. i use sigil of bloodlust and sigil of earthquake? the bleed one.

So where should i put my talents to maximum my play-style? its confusing with the last trait line.

also not sure which elite skills to take. so far i took the one that renews the virtues but i don’t know if i chose right or what to chose next.

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

I have played a Guardian since launch and I can tell you it gets easier with higher levels. The reasoning? We have some pretty good synergy with our utility skills. Good choice on the Renewed Focus. The Tomes have really long cool downs for short duration of use. They also prevent you from using your healing skill. If you’re a Human you can use the Hounds of Balthazar. I have used them to keep a champ busy while I snag the skill point, or needed run for my avatars life.

Here is what I have been running as of late. Keep in mind that recent changes have made some question the viability of Altruistic Healing. I am still using the AH setup you see below in group fights around Orr and I am satisfied. I use the Monks Focus version when I am soloing. I find this setup very flexible without needing to spend coin on retraining traits or several gear sets. Works great for farming too. Keep in mind that you don’t to land the killing blow or tag the mob first. Just so long as you contribute damage you can get a drop. All the aoe attacks with this setup help increase the number of mhps (mobs hit per second).

Traits : 0/10/30/30/0
Radiance: Signet Mastery
Valor: Meditation Mastery, Retributive Armor, and Altruistic Healing
Honor: Writ of Exaltation, Empowering Might, and Writ of the Merciful
Gear: Full exotic berserker armor with 5 Superior runes of the grove. Exotic berserker great sword with major sigil of bloodlust. Cleric staff with sigil of air. Berserker rings, earrings, and amulet.
Skills: Signet of Reslove, Stand Your Ground, Hold the Line, Smite Condition, and Renewed Focus (elite).
Let me first say that this is a modified version of Silent’s Paladin build so credit where credit is due.
My set up is all about the boons while keeping respectable crit chance and damage. Right now I get 41% crit chance so I can keep around 2 to 3 stacks of might on folks and more in bigger fights. Altruistic Healing + Stand Your Ground + Hold the line in a 6 man group = 24 boons that all give me a healing benefit. Then I still have the staff skill Symbol of Swiftness which damages foes, heals (with the trait), and give me a heal because of the boon it provides. Then Empower which has its own built in heal and the stacks of might in big groups also gives me heals. The greatsword’s default attack ends with might boon so heal and the 4 skill symbol of wrath give me a boon, damages foes, and heals me. All this with our passive regen ability, the two evade rolls that end with a heal, and last but not least the nuke selfheal of signet of resolve.
A note on healing. This build will not outpace the damage you take. You still need to evade and not stand in mob made aoe fire etc. Think of heals as damage mitigation.

The 5 Superior Runes of the Grove give me a 25% chance on hit to give me protection boon for 4 seconds with a 30 second cool down. Trust me, you will be surprised how often this triggers. Oh and it’s a boon so heal from Altruistic Healing.
Something else to remember is that those symbols can generate critical hits just like weapons. So if you read the battle field right, you can place the symbol from the staff on one fight and join in at another part and drop the symbol from your greatsword. Then spin and watch the might boons start stacking up on your team and healing pour on to you.

The above works better in groups. If you’re soloing then change out AH for Monks Focus and Empowering might for either Two Handed Weapon Mastery or Symbols Last Longer trait. Change the utility skills to Judges Intervention, Purging Flames and Smite Condition. Keep Renewed Focus. If you like you can take 5 points from Radiance and put that into Virtues for extra boons from virtue activation. If you do this I would change your heal to shelter. If you find that you like this version you could try using Knights Armor instead of Berserker.

Haven’t tried this out in any of the PvP formats but in PvE it’s been a lot of fun.

thanks though i barely could follow that since i am only 39 and havent tried a staff yet or had much experience with dealing with healing. something to keep reading as i level and understand more of what is mentioned.

am i wrong in thinking since i am not ingame that you put 30 in each the toughness and vitality talents and 10 in precision ? that is what i remember from 0,0,0,0,0,. guess i will find out later when i log in.

when you solo do you find your doing well ? I’m a charr so i don’t get the dogs you mentioned.

So far i seem to be able to handle multiple mobs above my level and even veterans until today when i ran into those Xmas little demons from the gift things you unwrap. they kick my kitten big-time. Only thing that really hurts is dots but i have skills that get rid of most of them.

i’ll probably take your advice on radiance and put 5 points into virtues instead. i do like those boons and when i am in trouble i pop every virtue so 3 boons.

Alternatively, if you want to be godly in PvE and lvl quickly….Get a hammer

Xante.2184:

thanks though i barely could follow that since i am only 39 and havent tried a staff yet or had much experience with dealing with healing. something to keep reading as i level and understand more of what is mentioned.

am i wrong in thinking since i am not ingame that you put 30 in each the toughness and vitality talents and 10 in precision ? that is what i remember from 0,0,0,0,0,. guess i will find out later when i log in.

when you solo do you find your doing well ? I’m a charr so i don’t get the dogs you mentioned.

So far i seem to be able to handle multiple mobs above my level and even veterans until today when i ran into those Xmas little demons from the gift things you unwrap. they kick my kitten big-time. Only thing that really hurts is dots but i have skills that get rid of most of them.

i’ll probably take your advice on radiance and put 5 points into virtues instead. i do like those boons and when i am in trouble i pop every virtue so 3 boons.

Yes 30 points in Valor (Toughness/Critical damage), 30 points in Honor (Vitality/Healing Power), and 10 points in Radiance (precision /condition damage). Lately though I have put just 5 points in precision and put 5 points into virtues, using shelter instead of the signet. Don’t worry about not being able to use the hounds. They are just a gimmick that can easily get past if you ask someone to kite while you snag the skill point. I wish I could make a video showing my game play but computer combined with wireless internet isn’t always stable. I have tried making videos before but my game just lags and I get the much hated error 7. Yes you can solo general PvE though champs may prove a problem.

In the low levels stick with power, toughness, and vit gear. Healing power and precision imo is only useful if you can devote a lot points and have the traits unlocked to add some extra kick.