Guild Wars 2

hi folks,

welcome to my first post (i think). I’m looking to build a guardian and i have little experience so looking for help.

I have scoured the pages in the forum and come up with the following build. Can i get some criticism on it and where i might improve.

so its a Norn, and an alt (to my elementalist). dont think will ever make it to fractals, probably solo mostly and hit group events with occasional dungeoneering. Weapons will probably hammer and greatsword (for funzies)

BUILD / TRAIT

Radiance – 15
+150 precision, +150 condition damage
Justice is Blind: When activating Virtue of Justice, nearby foes are blinded
Renewed Justice: Virtue of Justice is renewed when you kill a foe
Searing Flames: When you apply burning to a foe, remove a boon.

Valor – 30
+300 toughness, +30% critical damage
Valorous Defense: Gain aegis when your health reaches 50%
Courageous Return: Virtue of Courage is recharged when you rally
Might of the Protector: Gain might when you block attacks
Purity: Lose a condition every 10 seconds
Retributive Armor: 5% of toughness is given as a bonus to precision
Altruistic Healing: Applying a boon to allies heals you

Honor – 20
+200 vitality, +200 healing power
Vigorous Precision: Gain 5 seconds of vigor when you deliver a critical hit.
Selfless Daring: The end of your dodge roll heals nearby allies
Pure of Heart: Aegis heals on removal
Two-Handed Mastery: Two-handed weapon skills recharge 20% faster

Virtues – 5
+5% boon duration, +5% virtue recharge rate
Inspired Virtue: Virtues now also apply the following boons:
– Justice: might
– Resolve: regeneration
– Courage: protection

SLOT SKILLS
5: Shelter
6: Hold the Line
7: Smite Condition
8: Contemplation of Purity
9: Renewed Focus

so whatz good, whats bad and what/whre can i improve. Gear will prolly be zerkers P/V/T?? just for funzies so primarily dps and leveraging healz

Well first of all to give you the best feedback telling us what your goal of a build would be very useful.

That said i would stray away from Pure of Heart because u get a total of 3 aegis’ (1 is innatly on you from virtue of courage passive, 1 from VoC activation, and 1 from hitting 50% Health [if traited] which i would encourage). The first Aegis is negated because you should already be at full health since you are just entering combat. that leaves only 2 Aegis’ which is pretty crappy if u ask me. You can invest to get more aegis’ through utilities and runes however you give up to much else that would be more beneficial.

Secondly guardians are one of the few classes that can stack Retal very well and can keep it on if speced right. going into virtues 15 points gives you retal with every virtue activation which if u use your virtues strategically provides some good sustainable retal. Guardians are a great class becasue of all the passive damage that you can do through retal and even burning (yes some might say that burning sucks but damage is damage).

I would encourage your to mix your armor or your gear so that you have tanking and dps gear because if u go glass cannon any smart player knows how to mitigate your burst and the glass cannon falls over and dies when they lose that momentum.

Renewed Focus is by far the best IMO because of the virtue recharge and the invuln can be used to negate some pretty hefty burst. the tomes can be used in some situations but Renewed is great all around.

Also AH (Altruistic Healing) is a great and very powerful trait especially when your still learning guardian. However, i might encourage you once you get to a comfortable point with your guardian to branch out from it. AH is defiantly an amazing trait tho so dont get me wrong but the guardian wont fall apart without it either (at least if you play it wisely). So as i said AH is an amazing stepping stone

Also searing flames is amazing in theory but the CD on it absolutely kills it with all the boons being thrown around makes it not worth the investment. however if you could control when you removed a boon that might be alot better however this is not the case so u remove 1 boon randomly at a random time then it cant happen for another 20 seconds.

Also i would encourage you to look into Absolute Resolution in Virtues 20 point slot. It is amazing the cond removal and the added passive healing. that would also free up your #8 utility slot which could be very useful depending.

Another side note Hammer/GS is by far the best retal stacking weapon set probably even in the game so make sure u are utilizing those combo fields/finishers.

new attempt
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mmcz0M0z0MvrnmMxoRm9MGxGVozsRMs8kiG707kiG7kil7070z7kGL70V

and its just for solo and dungeoneering fun.. no PvP., WvW… just an alt to mix it up a bit. looking to solo dps and be ok with parties, should need to

that looks decent. i would recomend making sure u have at least 40 or 45% crit for the empowerd might you might even want to consider going higher crit espetially since u just pve and u can get away with glass cannon sometimes however i never encourage ppl to go full glass.

the build u have right hear is definately more of a tankier build tho so going into radiance of zeal is really just up to u and how much damage u want to do.