Guild Wars 2

Hi, I’m looking for a versatile PvE/WvW Guardian build centered around Tanky/DPS mainly Altruistic Healing types. I’m not very good at making guardian builds and would like as much feedback and help as possible, by DPS I’m really looking for that high critical chance builds, I’ve seen a lot of amazing guardians, but I can’t figure out what type of equipment I need to make it as similar to their tankiness with a fair amount of dps.

I’ve looked into this for awhile and made a build of my own, but I have doubts and would like your expert opinion on what needs to be changed, or if you have an even better combination of equipment, that would be great! Please take a look:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRugaBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jgyAYsARRgoQApPwEIR0aVsIasKbMtLk6NI63UDA-e

As you can see, it’s centered around a lot of toughness and very high precision. The problem is, does it need less toughness more damage, what kind of sigils should I use for these weapons, do I need different runes? I’m not entirely sure of what I need, but I would like to keep Rune of Lyssa, since it caters to precision and boons. I know I can’t be very tanky and expect to do tons of damage, I would only like to do fair damage with high defense and some amount of support

Anyways I’m not sure if it is too much to ask for in a guardian build, but please help, pardon me if I haven’t given enough information. Thanks for reading.

Hi there mr Gank,

I would go for something more like this;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jQyAYsARRgIMApPwEIR0axtIasKbMtrQk+N1A-e

Because of the fact that you have AH and can be easily healed with a ww due to the high crit chance and EM, you will not need more armor then 3k. But hee that is just my honest opinion and my playstyle. Then again if i play zerg vs zerg with my guard or solo roam then i just take this setup;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASWlYg67WEyKEf4ERVh4h9AjesjXPoYCZIA-jgyAYfAMGE5AiKAk8IiWTfgF3ioxqrx0uER127hoBA-e

When you look in to this forum and posts you will see a lot of different builds, people who like 3.4k armor or peeps who say 2.6k is more then enough. It depends on your own playstyle. Just try some builds and play arround with different armor setups and after 200 hours of playin you will find a setup that is your style and even then you will be tweaking it up quite a bit :P

Oddly crit is not that important. Just go pvt armor and weapons with knights accessories. Soldier runes.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jwxAorhoRECU2rIasV2ioxqXwUnER1+jioVLFggKjA-e

Go and youtube the commando build. I prefer 5 in radiance and virtues and soldiers runes but the rest I run the same. Works great.

If you already own knights gear:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jAyAorAlALiGbltIasaHMl5iqVnAeeA3BjWtUACKMC-e
Lets assume you want a bit more crit.

Blazin Blunt.6908:

Hi there mr Gank,

I would go for something more like this;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jQyAYsARRgIMApPwEIR0axtIasKbMtrQk+N1A-e

Because of the fact that you have AH and can be easily healed with a ww due to the high crit chance and EM, you will not need more armor then 3k. But hee that is just my honest opinion and my playstyle. Then again if i play zerg vs zerg with my guard or solo roam then i just take this setup;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASWlYg67WEyKEf4ERVh4h9AjesjXPoYCZIA-jgyAYfAMGE5AiKAk8IiWTfgF3ioxqrx0uER127hoBA-e

When you look in to this forum and posts you will see a lot of different builds, people who like 3.4k armor or peeps who say 2.6k is more then enough. It depends on your own playstyle. Just try some builds and play arround with different armor setups and after 200 hours of playin you will find a setup that is your style and even then you will be tweaking it up quite a bit :P

Thanks Blazin, your first link helped a lot, the mixture of equipment is very interesting, I have seen a few builds that have 2.6k armor or even 3.4k+ armor, but I’m not sure what my preference is yet, so like you said I’ll have to do a good amount of field testing myself. Is there a way to incorporate rune of lyssa into your first link? I do realize that scholar is a powerful damage dealer and compensates power very well, but I would like to have that extra survivability with the extra boons too. Anyways thanks again for your feedback, gives me some new ideas.

I don’t play PVE much, so I’ll just comment on the WvW side of things. Your build would work well when you are part of a group, especially at the front of your zerg alongside that blue dorito. Your DPS would be decent, but not great (you’ll get lots of kills + loot bags). You should be one of the last ones standing in your zerg.

I would recommend you drop the 5pts in Zeal for 5pts in Radiance. The blind on your VoJ hits multiple enemies.

As for your stats, I would agree with Blazin that about 3k is enough for an AH build, but if you are still finding your feet with your guard, you could start with what you have and over time trade toughness for crit damage. I am also a fan of the Lyssa runes, mostly for the cleanse.

Two tips:
If you add Save Yourselves to your bar and follow it with a RF+Lyssa, you would be removing all of the conditions of 4(i think) of your allies, which is massive. The problems is all of your current utils is pretty good:)

If you got some candied dragon rolls(70copper, lasts for 20mins) for food, your healing per second would be massive.
EM+AH = 5×70 health/s (assuming that there are 4 allies around; with the staff and your crit chance you should hit the 1sec ICD easily)
Food = 325 health/s + 325 DPS. (also a 1 sec ICD)

Mmmmm, probably something like this;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jgyAYsARRgIMAZvhwm+wSgQVxioxqsx0uCR63UDA-e

Blazin Blunt.6908:

Mmmmm, probably something like this;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jgyAYsARRgIMAZvhwm+wSgQVxioxqsx0uCR63UDA-e

Very Nice Blazin! I really like that stat loadout!
Adding food and oils:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jgyAYsARRgIMAZvhwm+wSgQVxioxqsx0uCR63ULFwTLjA-e

Well thank you kind sir!!! And might i say i would self normally use Omnomberry ghost, but it has the same effect

It’s funny, most people think since the ICD was put in that they are now useless, but they are still one of the strongest foods. They were pretty OP before the ICD!
I bought a massive amount of those dragon rolls when they were 20c. They are still very well priced now at 70c.
I had to adapt to the short duration though.

Relentliss.2170:

Oddly crit is not that important. Just go pvt armor and weapons with knights accessories. Soldier runes.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jwxAorhoRECU2rIasV2ioxqXwUnER1+jioVLFggKjA-e

Go and youtube the commando build. I prefer 5 in radiance and virtues and soldiers runes but the rest I run the same. Works great.

If you already own knights gear:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jAyAorAlALiGbltIasaHMl5iqVnAeeA3BjWtUACKMC-e
Lets assume you want a bit more crit.

Hey, thanks for the build links, you do have a point, a lot of commander guardians run soldier spec and it still works out well, your second link helped me out a lot, thanks! The Valkyrie and soldier stat combination seems to be a good way to boost that power a bit higher and keep vit and toughness pretty high, I’ll have to take that into consideration.

Brafius.7432:

I don’t play PVE much, so I’ll just comment on the WvW side of things. Your build would work well when you are part of a group, especially at the front of your zerg alongside that blue dorito. Your DPS would be decent, but not great (you’ll get lots of kills + loot bags). You should be one of the last ones standing in your zerg.

I would recommend you drop the 5pts in Zeal for 5pts in Radiance. The blind on your VoJ hits multiple enemies.

As for your stats, I would agree with Blazin that about 3k is enough for an AH build, but if you are still finding your feet with your guard, you could start with what you have and over time trade toughness for crit damage. I am also a fan of the Lyssa runes, mostly for the cleanse.

Two tips:
If you add Save Yourselves to your bar and follow it with a RF+Lyssa, you would be removing all of the conditions of 4(i think) of your allies, which is massive. The problems is all of your current utils is pretty good:)

If you got some candied dragon rolls(70copper, lasts for 20mins) for food, your healing per second would be massive.
EM+AH = 5×70 health/s (assuming that there are 4 allies around; with the staff and your crit chance you should hit the 1sec ICD easily)
Food = 325 health/s + 325 DPS. (also a 1 sec ICD)

You do have an interesting idea Brafius, despite the cooldown nerf to the dragon rolls and omnomberry ghost I do feel it still is pretty effective and with my guardians spec that healing would just add up, thanks for your opinion!

Blazin Blunt.6908:

Mmmmm, probably something like this;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jgyAYsARRgIMAZvhwm+wSgQVxioxqsx0uCR63UDA-e

Thanks again man, the equipment mix that you came up with is exactly what I was looking for, I’ll have to try all these build specs and test them out to see what really suits me. I really appreciate all these feedbacks.

Just one more thing in anyone’s opinion, how much health is viable for an AH guardian?

Mr GaNk.5204:

Blazin Blunt.6908:

Mmmmm, probably something like this;
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlYgqCnFyLEfIFRuAbBYPwI8741DHSRGC-jgyAYsARRgIMAZvhwm+wSgQVxioxqsx0uCR63UDA-e

Thanks again man, the equipment mix that you came up with is exactly what I was looking for, I’ll have to try all these build specs and test them out to see what really suits me. I really appreciate all these feedbacks.

Just one more thing in anyone’s opinion, how much health is viable for an AH guardian?

Most people would say somewhere between 16-18k. I personally run with 16.5k and I don’t even have that 350hp/s from EM I mentioned earlier, as I take two-handed mastery for the cooldown (I think EM might be better than THM, but I have gotten so use to my cooldowns with THM that it is hard for me too change now). The stats that Blazin showed was very good IMO.

ps. I just noticed that your GS have the blood sigil on it. Even though the tooltip in game states that it has a 2sec cooldown, it’s actually a 5sec cooldown:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sigil

Brafius.7432:

Most people would say somewhere between 16-18k. I personally run with 16.5k and I don’t even have that 350hp/s from EM I mentioned earlier, as I take two-handed mastery for the cooldown (I think EM might be better than THM, but I have gotten so use to my cooldowns with THM that it is hard for me too change now). The stats that Blazin showed was very good IMO.

ps. I just noticed that your GS have the blood sigil on it. Even though the tooltip in game states that it has a 2sec cooldown, it’s actually a 5sec cooldown:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sigil

Ah that sigil of blood is pretty misleading, I guess that’s why I see a few people use sigil of leeching instead.

Here’s a simple, somewhat cheap, powerful build. I don’t like builds that use a dozen different pieces/stats – it’s pointless and a nightmare to keep track of everything, especially when you have multiple sets.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARGoIyFYLA7BGzYHvekQKyQA-jEyAY/ARfgICAZviox2GKiGruGT7mU1rgsUAyqMC-w