Guild Wars 2

Hello there, how are you feeling?

I felt a bit shy to post at first, as there are countless of threads posting their build and asking for help and I felt I’ll just be a spam. I have a level 75 Guardian and I’m aiming towards the following build. Anyhow without further ado;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUMQJARWl0ApQodDxfHEENhk9wARwD0+AAhzAjyIA-zwyAYLA0FEFCiKAk9KiGblrIasqFM1pgsiNpujA5RWWNA-e

My aim of this build is for PvE mostly. I usually travel solo (not much friends :/) and I find my shout build great as solo and when I encounter an event and people.
So my aim is to have a possible versatile build being solo and in a group (such as events and dungeons).
I don’t know much about trinkets and sigils and stuff like that so I tried my hard to get a good balance between Power, Toughness and Vitality.
I have some uncertainties about some traits which I’m also posting below with the complete build for those who can’t access the link (I at least sometimes can’t.):

Utilities: Signet of Resolve | Bane Signet | Contemplation of Purity | Save Yourselves!

Elite: Tome of Wrath or Renewed Focus (Still uncertain :P)

Traits: 0/15/0/25/30
Major Traits:
Radiance – Blind Exposure(VI)
Honor – Wrathful Spirits(I) OR Superior Aria(II) and Two-Handed Mastery(IX) Or Empowering Might (VIII)
Virtues – Retaliatory Subconscious(IV), Absolute Resolution(IX), Supreme Justice(VIII)

Armour: Soldier with Superior Rune of Strength
Accessories: x3 Knight, x2 Dire, x1 Berseker
Jewels: x2 Exquisite Beryl Jewel, x4 Exquisite Chrysocola Jewel

Weapons: Berseker Greatsword(Though might be soldier as I really like that Ghastly set (unless I fuse, hmm)) with Superior Sigil of Force(+5% Damage)
Soldier Staff with Superior Sigil of Leeching (Next attack steals health)

Sorry for the long post and I hope I am clear.

I can’t help but feel that as a solo build, you would feel really slow. I started soloing full clerics, it was painful. I didn’t feel ‘fast enough’ until I was all knights with zerker trinkets. Now I only solo with full zerkers.

I would really encourage you to consider different builds for dungeons and soloing (or the same one if you are capable of running zerkers for all). If you are concerned about survival in full zerkers in dungeons, It can be done, it takes some practice. Otherwise, at least do yourself a favour and do full zerkers for soloing.

I run with 20-25-0-0-25 zerker meta build which is stickied. With practice full zerker is the best option for dungeons/fractals and soloing, but if you are relatively new to the game mechanics then you will struggle in full zerker

Painbow.6059:

I run with 20-25-0-0-25 zerker meta build which is stickied. With practice full zerker is the best option for dungeons/fractals and soloing, but if you are relatively new to the game mechanics then you will struggle in full zerker

^^ I run the same, only for fractals I go hammer build 15-25-0-20-10.

Also, on most fights bring Renewed focus. Aside from the extra block and some healing, with the build mentioned by painbow you also remove 3 extra condis + put blinds & vuln on enemies with virtue of justice. Alround I’d say that brings the most support for the party.

There are some odd fights where other elites are worth using though.

Obtena.7952:

I can’t help but feel that as a solo build, you would feel really slow. I started soloing full clerics, it was painful. I didn’t feel ‘fast enough’ until I was all knights with zerker trinkets. Now I only solo with full zerkers.

I would really encourage you to consider different builds for dungeons and soloing (or the same one if you are capable of running zerkers for all). If you are concerned about survival in full zerkers in dungeons, It can be done, it takes some practice. Otherwise, at least do yourself a favour and do full zerkers for soloing.

I second this. Pretty much same story as me, except I didn’t go clerics. I went full pvt and it was unbearably slow. Hardly any crits, plus I wasn’t running any damage traits, it sucked. Check out obal’s sticky, it has some solid builds. You’ll be glassy, but if you are interested in learning game mechanics and improving your skill, this is the build for you.

I’m currently leveling my guardian from 70 to 80, the build I use is more offensive, sometimes I skip champions or group events ( but they ain’t effective for leveling anyways). Gear wise I run full zerk, 3 runes of strenght and 3 runes of fire and trinkets are knights ( was the cheapest option xD). Main weapon is GS and off hand sword+focus or when traveling/aoe tagging I use a staff.

Trait distribution is: 20/25/0/0/15 (at 70), for majors I simply pick the obvious blind spam + every single damage booster. My utilities switch around alot, usually I try to have at least 1 fire field. In general I try to avoid using shouts, except retreat when traveling.

Although this is pretty similar to the dungeon meta, when solo lvling traveling speed and being able to clear fights is the priority. So I used to run with some points into honor for the minor traits, and shouts/2hander traits. The reason I run with very little defensive traits is because I set up might/fire fields and group the monsters up and kill them before my defensive utilities ( reflects, condi clears, sometimes SoJ) run out. If you try to balance dmg / defense to much you end up with little healing and little damage, which I think applies to your build.

So my tip would be, start investing in offensive gear and pick more offensive traits.

Hey guys thanks for the replies!
Is there any number I should reach with my Power, Toughness Vitality? I’m assuming those are the main attributes.
Criticals – I really don’t want to depend on those to make my damage. Although the trait line isn’t half bad. My mindset might be wrong, simply because the previous game RNG was a mess.
So far I’ve found Honor and Virtues to be the most helpful lines. So yeah, I’ll do try to change till I’ll be comfortable.
Is it bad if I stick with Greatsword? I have the idea of having a close range weapon and a mid-long range weapon – and I’ve found staff to be pretty helpful as I can heal myself and burst myself with Empowering Might followed by Whirling Wrath.
Should I change the staff to perhaps Focus +Scepter?

What utilities do you frequently use? I’m still sticking with shouts and I really don’t know how to change my gameplay.
Is it bad if I go with Soldier gear if I choose my traits more offensive?
Vice-versa is it bad to choose defensive traits (Like my build I guess) and choose more offensive gear?

Ok I think I’m rambling and bored you enough.

I’ll do some playing around, I guess.

Thanks again, happy…uhm…skull smashing!

Edit: So I’m playing around with some builds, is it bad if I still use shouts?

Tamuraki.3851:

Is there any number I should reach with my Power, Toughness Vitality? I’m assuming those are the main attributes.

Yeah, there are numbers you should aim for.
Power – as much as possible.
Toughness – 916, so exactly 0 above the base value.
Vitality – 916-1016, depending on the build.

The only reason to take toughness and vitality in PvE is the possible lack of skill to survive as a full glass cannon in zerker armor. Everything can be easily done by using the full complement of active damage avoidance possibilities this class offers.

So, uhh, I took your advices, I came up with this.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vUMQJAR2k0ApQI+7Mhk9AAOQE0mBABA1HiHA-zwCBYLBBjJaEDYk3I0HQUBAZPFRjtypIasqFYqSER1eEFRrGA-e

How does it look?
I know you’ll tell me to go full Berzerker, but I’m Don’t have the hang of dodging with a Guardian yet, especially now that I’m taking most of my vigor yet, and I wanted a more tanky character as well.

How’s my decisions on trinkets and sigils? Because those I don’t have experience with.

The build has a few of empty slots – meaning I’m not certain which to choose.

At Utilities – I’m undecided between Purging Flames, another Signet or Smite Condition

Elite – Renewed Focus, Werewolf Form(Yes, yes, yes I do know it’s a racial skill and it’s weaker. Although the 2,4 and 5 are very useful at multiple enemies) or Tome of Wrath

At Raidance – Either Inner Fury, -20% Signet Cooldown, +20% Burning Durations.

At Virutes – Either Retaliary Subconscious or -20% Consecration Cooldown + +20% Consecration Duration (If any consecration is chosen

Thanks again, looking forward to your replies.

Note: I do know that about 8 days from now, some things will change drastically, but I just want some feedback how I am I doing so far.

With the traits, have a look at obal’s sticky. Seriously, most of the stuff you suggest is utter junk. I’d recommend to take either 10/25/0/10/25 or 20/25/0/5/20 – you sound as if you could need more endurance regen via vigor, so 5 Honor is a must and the perfect meta is not feasible. Both of these builds offer vigor and approximately the same damage, trading mainly the Zeal VII selfheal against shout cooldowns. As for the gear, scrap chrysocola orbs in the trinkets, they’re worthless. Either ruby/opal orbs or, if you want a bit defense, beryl/emerald. With the runes, wait for the 15.4. patch before you invest any significant sum. You should also think about changing soldier armor to knight or valkyrie, since soldier is defensive overkill.

Is it bad if I’m maxing Virtues or just the gear?

It’s kinda sad that everyone just uses Berserker gear…

I’m annoying aren’t I?

Why are you maxing virtues is the question though.

You have the Justice trait as your master trait. Why? It’s kinda redundant with Radiance tree traited up. Right now you have Justice refreshing on every kill, why do you need more burning?

I really think you’re better off dropping that GM trait in Virtue and using Absolute Resolution in the master spot.

This Frees up 5-10 points depending on how you look at it.

You could leave 5 points in virtue, so you’re at 25 total. THis gets you the 1% extra for each boon minor trait, which is not bad. As well as maintains most of the boon duration/virtue reuse bonuses from that tree. The other 5 points probably best thrown into Zeal to get the GS damage increase.

Or you could drop 10 points off, get your shout reuse from honor as well as like 1k hp and vigorous precision.

Or something else entirely.

Overall I think you’re just being a bit redundant with that Supreme Justice trait, it’s just not needed. Heck you could even throw on the Radiant Fire trait in your master radiance slot if you find you need more burning duration, but in my experience there’s usually a constant burning going on.

Jerus.4350:

Why are you maxing virtues is the question though.

You have the Justice trait as your master trait. Why? It’s kinda redundant with Radiance tree traited up. Right now you have Justice refreshing on every kill, why do you need more burning?

I really think you’re better off dropping that GM trait in Virtue and using Absolute Resolution in the master spot.

This Frees up 5-10 points depending on how you look at it.

You could leave 5 points in virtue, so you’re at 25 total. THis gets you the 1% extra for each boon minor trait, which is not bad. As well as maintains most of the boon duration/virtue reuse bonuses from that tree. The other 5 points probably best thrown into Zeal to get the GS damage increase.

Or you could drop 10 points off, get your shout reuse from honor as well as like 1k hp and vigorous precision.

Or something else entirely.

Overall I think you’re just being a bit redundant with that Supreme Justice trait, it’s just not needed. Heck you could even throw on the Radiant Fire trait in your master radiance slot if you find you need more burning duration, but in my experience there’s usually a constant burning going on.

Virtue of Justice is my strong point though. Isn’t it better to focus on it? I really like Virtue Traits (except adept). I really wish to use Zeal, but there are barely more than two traits I’d like to use (Well I have less to choose which wouldn’t be bad.)
Maybe I’m overlooking this, but Grandmaster Traits for Guardian really suck, except maybe for a meditation build.

What I’m getting at here, is that there isn’t much diversity here. In builds, in armour, in trinkets. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I thank you for all of your replies, even if I don’t seem much appreciative. I did learn a lot on how to make a build and trinkets.

Thanks again guys.

Tamuraki.3851:

Is it bad if I’m maxing Virtues or just the gear?

It’s kinda sad that everyone just uses Berserker gear…

I’m annoying aren’t I?

People use Zerk gear because they find they can survive while using it. It’s really as simple as that. If you can survive, why wouldn’t you use the best damage gear you can?

It’s an idea that crosses over to every MMO i’ve played. Eventually you have more than enough defense and at that point you start putting all your focus on offense.

Also, if you kill things fast enough they can’t use their mechanics, IE AC1 the confusion scream which can be a pain if you get hit. Well it’s nice when we get a fast kill as he only does it like twice, and with Absolute Resolution + Purging Flames + Renewed Focus, I have 3 shots of curing that effect (it’s 3 effects so need the 3+ condition removal stuff). So if we can kill it before I have to use those 3 shots, we’re good, if it extends past that… people will likely die.

Personally though I wear soldier/cleric gear, why? because my standard group wants me to. It just makes things so smooth and the overall damage loss on the entire group isn’t devastating. When I go zerker we get through but might have a wipe or two, and when you’re really just looking at how fast you can clear all the dungeons, a wipe kinda cancels out the effect of that little more damage.

But to get back towards what i first said, “if you can survive”, only people who are well practiced and know what they are doing will survive in zerk gear without a bunch of deaths. That’s why I’m a big fan of Valkyrie, I wasn’t happy with knights gear, as IMO conditions are worse than melee hits, so the toughness didn’t help me all that much. But Valkyrie with it’s vit, that’s nice. I know in my guild the ele’s that use valkyrie I can actually help keep alive, the zerk ones, poof, dead if something looks at them wrong.

Your optimal is zerk gear, but realistically, jumping strait into that is asking a bit much IMO. Personally I’m far from perfecting it, but it’s just something I need to practice, but then again, I only use it in PUGs as my standard group likes the easy dungeon runs that they all become with a support guard around =).

Tamuraki.3851:

Virtue of Justice is my strong point though. Isn’t it better to focus on it? I really like Virtue Traits (except adept). I really wish to use Zeal, but there are barely more than two traits I’d like to use (Well I have less to choose which wouldn’t be bad.)
Maybe I’m overlooking this, but Grandmaster Traits for Guardian really suck, except maybe for a meditation build.

What I’m getting at here, is that there isn’t much diversity here. In builds, in armour, in trinkets. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I thank you for all of your replies, even if I don’t seem much appreciative. I did learn a lot on how to make a build and trinkets.

Thanks again guys.

Justice is great. But burning stacks in duration not strength. So more burning only matters if you’re gonna stop applying burning and just let things sit there and tick. Which basically doesn’t happen.

So as long as you constantly have a burning effect applied, you’re good. No need for more. And at least in my experience, I basically always do. Esp when I go with the radiance tree for justice refresh on kills. There’s more burning than can even be used.

As far as Diversity goes, remember you’re looking at solo/group offensive focused builds. When you look at defense, support, sPVP, or WvW things open up. Personally I run a 0/0/10/30/30 build primarily. It’s phenominal for my guild group or WvW, but I’d never bring it into a PUG. First, PUGs are picky and can be annoying, so I rather just play what they expect. And second, the dynamic in PUGs is generally “kill before it can kill us” so the name of the game is KILL, and fast!

Just looked, sorry for the novels, but hope it helps.

Don’t be. You’ve been very helpful.
I’m not really good with acronyms, with is PUG?

If you feel like adding something else, please do so.
Thanks again.

PUG = Pick Up Group

So the groups(or players) you get from just going to the lfg window.

The random groups have less teamwork than a guild group who is all on teamspeak together for quick and easy communication and organization.

Thanks!
I run solo mostly, I don’t find really find many people on, I don’t have any friends nor an active guild. Not that matters much anyway.

Thank you again for all your help.

Tamuraki.3851:

Is it bad if I’m maxing Virtues or just the gear?

It’s kinda sad that everyone just uses Berserker gear…

I’m annoying aren’t I?

If you want variety for variety’s sake, then there’s really no real need for an opinion.

If you want a transition gear towards full Berserker’s, try using some Knights gear here and there.

I don’t even recommend that. I did this with my Mesmer because people kept suggesting it if you’re new. It took me a long time to get into full Berserker’s because I wasn’t sure how bad I performed when I died (did I need more toughness? Or did I need more damage? Or did the others perform badly?).

Instead, if you went with full zerk, you are able to gauge how long the fight ought to take if everybody else is on full zerk and have the ability to gauge whether you were one playing it poorly or the others.

I’d rather you jump into the deep-end of the pool and try coming out of it alive until you do in full glass. It might’ve been a steeper learning curve, but it’s probably better that way.

All I’m saying is, if you are in full glass, whenever you get hurt or die, it makes you think, “Oh. I couldn’t afford to do that. I should avoid that next time.”

But if you went the other way round, from a tankier gear, then you need to pay more attention to the situations in which you are extremely safe and then you think, “Oh. I guess I can afford to be in zerg gear.”

The question is why spend all your focus on safe times rather than dangerous times?

I think more likely you’ll still end up thinking about more about the times in which you die and fail, and you think “I need an even tankier gear, probably” and it goes on.

More toughness only matters more in WvW and PvP.

As a personal anecdote, when I tried playing my thief on the D/D zerg meta, I realised that I died a lot more with PUGs because some bosses are a lot more unforgiving if you don’t deal enough DPS (like the Slave Driver in p1. A nightmare to be the only one meleeing). My solution to this is to play using S/P more because I get more evades. And if that doesn’t work, instead of Pistol Whipping, I’ll use Black Powder and hopefully that allows me to tank for the team. And in the worst case scenario, switch to P/P, etc. Changing my gear isn’t even an option to me.

If I’m pugging, if I ever have to resort to P/P, usually I’ll leave after that particular major encounter. I’ll suck it up if I’m running with guildies.

Thanks guys for your replies.
I’m assuming this way is more like it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUMQJARGl0ApQotCxfHKkMFrECazIgAoKFxz9gLA-zQyAYLA0FE9BiKAk+KiGblrIasqFMVJRUt3oIa1AA-e

With the first build I have one condition removal (with the exception of Signet of Resolve) and can get around 27-30sec of constant Retaliation.

The second build is going 30/25/0/5/10

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUMQJARGl0ApQoNDxfHKksCikNjACgqeEP3jHiLA-zQyAYLA0FE9BiKAk+KiGblrIasqFMVJRUt3oIa1AA-e

Using Kindled Zeal ( or the future Amplified Wrath), having Purging Flames instead of Stand Your Ground and Master of Consecrations instead of Vengeful.

Pros: Having an extra Combo Field and a more frequent condition removal
Cons:
Having no Stability – I guess I should dodge more :P

Third is 30/25/0/0/15

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUMQJARGl0ApZotCxfnJk8DrkNjACgqeEP3jHC-zQyAYLA0FE9BiKAk+KiGblrIasqFMVJRUt3oIa1AA-e

Using Kindled Zeal ( or the future Amplified Wrath), having Purging Flames instead of Bane Signet.

Pros:
Having an extra Combo Field and a more frequent condition removal.
Can get around 27-30s of Retaliation give or take 3s.
Stability

Cons:
Less Power (Loosing around 80 Power from the first build)
No Knock downs

So again, it’s a battle between more defensive options or offensive options.

You’re still talking about PvE, aren’t you? Then forget two things. Banish them from your mind, never to come back in the next millenium:

First, retaliation. “Useless” would still be an euphemistic description for this boon, it’s worse than that. As slowly as virtually all mobs attack, it deals pretty much no damage. If you happen to get it as a secondary effect of whatever, fine. But trying to improve it actively by putting traits or whatever into it is an absolute waste of resources.

Second, condition damage (and, in consequence, 30 Zeal). Even if you could apply bleed and poison in addition to burning, a comparable direct damage build would still laugh at your DPS. However, burn is your only condition, so it’s even worse. We like burning enemies – but an intelligent guardian doesn’t care for how much they burn, as long as they burn at all to activate Zeal II. Finally, as burning damage is irrelevant, the Zeal grandmasters are irrelevant, too. There is no single reason in this game to go 30 points into Zeal; 10 is always a good choice, 20 if you like the greatsword, 25 if you want hammer DPS at all costs, but never 30. Unless you’ll want an absolute fail build like Nemesis, of course …