Guild Wars 2

Right now I’m looking for that perfect blend between survivability, damage and crits.

I’m 30 Zeal, 30 Honor and 10 Valor at the moment. I still struggle against a good few bosses in the staying alive department, and haven’t noticed a huge difference from having gone from 30 Zeal, 25 Radiance and 15 Honor. Just with the health.

My armor is power/vitality/toughness, but I’m curious about my trinkets. Should I go for crit damage over toughness? My goal overall is to do OK damage, and not die constantly. I haven’t done any WvW yet but I plan to, along with dungeons.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you don’t have anything in precision why would you go for crit damage?

edit: precision not perception

Your response tells me that a little extra crit damage wouldn’t be my best bet. I was wondering if it was sort of. My crit chance is 22%, while I don’t always crit I do get decent crits from time to time like in my whirlwind.

I’m debating between toughness/healing atm for da jewels.

I think what you’re after might be closer to the build I use, since unless I get zerg rushed or i’m careless, I usually do well in the survivability category, as well as dish out decent damage. Personally I use the Valkyrie Armor set (Power, Vitality, Crit Percentage) all with Superior Rune of the Pack.

Traits
30/25/0/15/0

I have about 33% crit chance
Power is also 3333
and Health is 17-18k depending on my weapons.

This seems to work for me in Dungeons. haven’t tried WvW yet, thats my suggestion, might not be for you but give it some thought.

If you’re struggle with staying alive, you can use the offensive meditation build and go 2-3 med utilities to keep yourself up. It’s either 10/30/30/0/0 for one hand or 10/25/30/0/5 for two hands.

You can also use a more versatile meditation/altruistic build with 0/15/30/20/5 (or 10/0/30/20/10) build, but it will be less damage than the other two. However, if you grab a hammer, you’ll live much longer in melee with these builds.

All of the builds above requires a high amount of crit if you’re going to be doing damage. Knights, Berzerkers, or even the precision/vit/healing gears would be best.

@Trungalung.7850

That seems like a glasscannon build. Sure you got abit more HP from then a glasscannon build but you from the look of your stats it seemse like you have ignored toughness completly.

OP is planing to try WvW soon and there he is going to need some toughness, guardian is not the best class for a glass cannon build

Just my thoughs about the class.

Those builds are for dungeons. For WvW, I’ve used and be successful with 10/25/30/0/5. Unless it’s a small battle, once you get caught by a zerg, you’re gonna die anyway no matter how high is your toughness. My toughness is at 2400 in full zerk. If you want higher, you can use Knights instead. My HP is low, but meditation build is a big counter against conditions so I don’t really have trouble. I also use guerrilla tactic in most of my time in WvW. Command a small high mobility group to flank the other team zerg army. Use the teleport surprise attack and one shot lowbie while the main zerg is too busy pushing without looking back.

Can’t really edit the thing, I meant to say use a mix of knight and soldier gears.

You definitely want a meditation build.
This is my trait set up that works with particular gear.
Berserker Armor and Valk Jewelry with 10/10/30/20/0.
I have 3.1k attack, 40% crit, 90% crit damage, 2500 armor, 16.1k health.
My utilities include 2 meditations which heal for about 2.5k each, with one of them having a 15 second cooldown essentially making it’s effective heal per 30 seconds the 2nd best heal for a Guardian (Signet of Resolve being the highest, marginally.)
I use Judge’s intervention because it’s a 1200 range blink, inflicts burning which activates the 10% damage to burning from the zeal tree, and it heals for 2.5k from the meditations now heal trait. I use Smite Condition because it removes a condition, does nice burst (3-4k aoe crits), and another 2.5k that you can use every 15 seconds with the reduce meditation cooldown trait. My last utility is Retreat and that’s just because to me mobility is king, but you could put another meditation there and have three 2.3k heals on top of your signet of resolve.
Let me know if you try it out and tell me what you think.

Envy.6902:

You definitely want a meditation build.
This is my trait set up that works with particular gear.
Berserker Armor and Valk Jewelry with 10/10/30/20/0.
I have 3.1k attack, 40% crit, 90% crit damage, 2500 armor, 16.1k health.
My utilities include 2 meditations which heal for about 2.5k each, with one of them having a 15 second cooldown essentially making it’s effective heal per 30 seconds the 2nd best heal for a Guardian (Signet of Resolve being the highest, marginally.)
I use Judge’s intervention because it’s a 1200 range blink, inflicts burning which activates the 10% damage to burning from the zeal tree, and it heals for 2.5k from the meditations now heal trait. I use Smite Condition because it removes a condition, does nice burst (3-4k aoe crits), and another 2.5k that you can use every 15 seconds with the reduce meditation cooldown trait. My last utility is Retreat and that’s just because to me mobility is king, but you could put another meditation there and have three 2.3k heals on top of your signet of resolve.
Let me know if you try it out and tell me what you think.

this may sound stupid as a question:

is this a PvP build?
you mention valk jewels and the only ones i can find are the ones from the pvp venor in the mists.

Yrch.2086:

Envy.6902:

You definitely want a meditation build.
This is my trait set up that works with particular gear.
Berserker Armor and Valk Jewelry with 10/10/30/20/0.
I have 3.1k attack, 40% crit, 90% crit damage, 2500 armor, 16.1k health.
My utilities include 2 meditations which heal for about 2.5k each, with one of them having a 15 second cooldown essentially making it’s effective heal per 30 seconds the 2nd best heal for a Guardian (Signet of Resolve being the highest, marginally.)
I use Judge’s intervention because it’s a 1200 range blink, inflicts burning which activates the 10% damage to burning from the zeal tree, and it heals for 2.5k from the meditations now heal trait. I use Smite Condition because it removes a condition, does nice burst (3-4k aoe crits), and another 2.5k that you can use every 15 seconds with the reduce meditation cooldown trait. My last utility is Retreat and that’s just because to me mobility is king, but you could put another meditation there and have three 2.3k heals on top of your signet of resolve.
Let me know if you try it out and tell me what you think.

this may sound stupid as a question:

is this a PvP build?
you mention valk jewels and the only ones i can find are the ones from the pvp venor in the mists.

Search for Beryl stuffs on the AH, it’s power/vita/c.damage. I also want to note that Monk’s Focus (meditation heal) only heals for 2k while Signet of Resolve can heal up to 8k (smite conditionx 2: 32 secs cd for 4k heals, signet of resolve: 32 secs cd for 8k). He kinda oversells its effect.

I’m personally using a 30 valor/30 Honor/10 Radiance build focused on Greatsword damage with Altruistic Healing. I’m using a mixture of exotic armors, jewels and gems to give me approximately… 3k armor, 3k attack, 48% crit w/ 60% crit bonus damage, and 15.3k hp. I’ll need to go home and look at my character to get the specific gear if there is interest in that.

Against a pack of mobs with allies around you, altruistic healing can dish out a good chunk of heals. I still do great damage while being quite tough. This is one of those builds that loves to hop into a pack of mobs to AoE them down.

Kuya.2019:

I think what you’re after might be closer to the build I use, since unless I get zerg rushed or i’m careless, I usually do well in the survivability category, as well as dish out decent damage. Personally I use the Valkyrie Armor set (Power, Vitality, Crit Percentage) all with Superior Rune of the Pack.

Traits
30/25/0/15/0

I have about 33% crit chance
Power is also 3333
and Health is 17-18k depending on my weapons.

This seems to work for me in Dungeons. haven’t tried WvW yet, thats my suggestion, might not be for you but give it some thought.

what 3333 power? Even with the rune of pack that gives what 20+50+90=160 extra power. There is no way you have that type of power. when i am full power and precision with 49 crit chance, with 3.5k attack power and 2.7k armor and only have 2.1k power.

is there are am i doing sumthing wrong? if he has that he should be able to 3 hit fully geared lvl 80’s

kidbs.8920:

I’m personally using a 30 valor/30 Honor/10 Radiance build focused on Greatsword damage with Altruistic Healing. I’m using a mixture of exotic armors, jewels and gems to give me approximately… 3k armor, 3k attack, 48% crit w/ 60% crit bonus damage, and 15.3k hp. I’ll need to go home and look at my character to get the specific gear if there is interest in that.

Against a pack of mobs with allies around you, altruistic healing can dish out a good chunk of heals. I still do great damage while being quite tough. This is one of those builds that loves to hop into a pack of mobs to AoE them down.

this can’t be true. There is no way a person who isn’t dealing with zealous and have nothing but traits that work best with a sheild and mace do more damage then me who is pure power and precision with gear and greatsword. do the math urself and there is no way he have a 48 percent chance to do a crit without full radiance

dude if you want good advice. Go to spvp and try different builds. if it works in spvp it works in wvwvw and pve. trust me listening to these 2 tell you these false things isn’t going to help at all.

if this was true we would be nerfed stat wise!!

Traits are -at most- half of the equation. Quite literally. A full set of Berserker’s Draconic armor alone gives you a bit more Power than maxed Zeal and around 200 Precision and 14% Crit Damage. Not counting Accessories and Weapons, Sigils and Runes. Superior Sigil of Accuracy already adds 5% Crit chance on its own. Or the poster may be off in his numbers, though they strike me as doable.

More importantly you’re not seeing the Traits they actually picked. Just because a Trait boosts Toughness or Healing doesn’t mean the Traits in there just add more survivability. Take Retributive Armor. At 2k Toughness that would add another 100 Precision. Not the world but nothing to sneeze at either. Two-Handed Mastery and Empowering Might increase your offensive potential massively.

Empowering Might works particularly well for a comparison since it’s pure numbers. If you have enough Crit chance to stack Empowering Might 5 deep regularly that’s another rough 150 Power and Condition Damage for you and your allies, each. So. By picking that Trait you gain: 200 Vitality, 200 Healing Power and conditionally 150 Power and 150 Condition Damage (if your Crit chance is high enough, but at 48% that’s totally feasible).

Retributive Armor, in a worst case scenario where your gear has no additional Toughness at all, yields 50 Precision. On top of the 100 Toughness and 10% Crit Damage needed to get it.

20% less CD on Greatsword means you get kitten Symbol of Wrath out every 8s. Same for a Whirling Blades every 8s.

Will this actually outdamage your 30/30 build? I don’t know, depends on the Traits you picked. None of the Major Traits in either Zeal or Radiance really appeals to me personally, other than Fiery Wrath. Which is not to say they’re all bad. Perfect Inscriptions and One-Handed Strength are both more than good, they just don’t work for my playstyle.

I see were you are coming from right off the back. I can’t agree with there number’s but you have placed it were it all can be possible(doing a fight with a group). i can’t see it from there number’s giving and a 3333 power is out there to say he isn’t combining zealous and gear.

i don’t see the number’s being what they say.

i have a screen shot if you want to see mine tho. in post your stats

Well, I don’t believe in 3333 base Power without any boons either. Maybe 2333. I was mostly trying to explain the 2nd person you posted who said they had 3k attack and 48% Crit chance. And trying to say that raw Power and Precision aren’t everything, especially when it comes to Traits.

I think he meant 3333 attack, not power.

i would like to see a screen shot.

I’d check out the Crithammer thread and try a hammer for dungeons

@Afro (since quoting isn’t working for me for some reason)
Do you not realize that you can mix gear and gems to get the stats that you need? I only have 10 points in radiance and as of last night I’m up to 50% crit chance now (counting the 5% crit chance sigil on my weapon which won’t show up in the stat display).

Seriously, just because you haven’t figured this out don’t go around accusing someone of being a liar. I only use gems and not sigils in my armor so that I can get a more balanced set of stats. I’ll take a screenshot of my character stat sheet tonight so that you can see I’m not talking out of my azz.

Also, raw dps isn’t the measure of all things. A dead person will do no dps at all. I also see people pumping trait points into zeal and radiance only to then buy gear that has toughness or vitality on it. So in the end, those people will end up having to sacrifice stats on their gear to help with survivability. It’s all a tradeoff.

Empowering might means I’m constantly keeping at least 6 stacks of might up on me and it’s procing Altruistic Healing like crazy. So that is a very nice dps increase right there that you won’t be getting by investing heavily into zeal or radiance.

I’m thinking you must not be level 80 yet or must be running around in level 50 gear.

I’ll just wait for your screen shot. never seen someone with 3k attack and 3k armor with 15k health. and sigils can’t go in armor that is runes i believe. just post your stats. i mean how hard is it just to press print come here and post your stats. It’s not hard. It’s so easy to show that you are right!!

Here you go Afro:
http://imageshack.us/a/img84/7060/gw002nw.jpg

The screen shows 45% crit chance but that’s b/c the 5% crit sigil doesn’t show up in the statsheet so it’s really 50%

The more you know…

I would suggest that you head over to the Crit Hammer thread and learn a little more about this build before you start spouting nonsense about something in which you obviously have no experience.

hey kidbs you mind telling me what your trait allocations are? That looks like a very nice build right there and im quite interested in knowing what your gear/traits are. been trying to make an offensive support build with sword and torch but cant seem to get those attack numbers like that. certainly not my armor either.

Im using this build:
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.3.3.11.17.0.0.0.0.0.54.60.74.69.78.9.0.9.152.0.0.167.175.176.181.186.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.10.30.25.0.5

and was going to go for a mix of knights & berzerkers gear as well as rune for cond. damage.

@Raif
I’m at work at the moment (posted my screenshot over lunch) so I’ll have to make the list of gears for you when I get home. I’m using a mixture of knights and berserkers gear and using ruby, emerald, and beryl orbs in my armor. I basically mixed and matched pieces to get the stats that you see above. I completely ignore condition damage though.

The exact build that I use is this:
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/guardian#7|0|3527|12641|2746|2445|4501|0|0|0|0|10|1828|0|0|30|2281|2175|1395|30|880|1400|2274|0|0|0|0|6|17|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

I may change my utilities and switch around few traits depending on whether I’m using Greatsword or Hammer, but my trait allocations will always remain the same.

This is basically a modified “CritHammer” build that you’ll see people referring to. I love the synergy of this build because anytime that I crit, I will be giving my allies Might and also healing myself from Altruistic Healing. I also have a good amount of crit bonus damage, so my crits hit pretty hard.

Can I suggest something? I notice you use Purity and you also use signet of resolve. Sig of Resolve passive removes a condition every 10 seconds. Maybe fill that trait in with something different?

kidbs.8920:

@Raif
I’m at work at the moment (posted my screenshot over lunch) so I’ll have to make the list of gears for you when I get home. I’m using a mixture of knights and berserkers gear and using ruby, emerald, and beryl orbs in my armor. I basically mixed and matched pieces to get the stats that you see above. I completely ignore condition damage though.

The exact build that I use is this:
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/guardian#7|0|3527|12641|2746|2445|4501|0|0|0|0|10|1828|0|0|30|2281|2175|1395|30|880|1400|2274|0|0|0|0|6|17|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

I may change my utilities and switch around few traits depending on whether I’m using Greatsword or Hammer, but my trait allocations will always remain the same.

This is basically a modified “CritHammer” build that you’ll see people referring to. I love the synergy of this build because anytime that I crit, I will be giving my allies Might and also healing myself from Altruistic Healing. I also have a good amount of crit bonus damage, so my crits hit pretty hard.

First build i seen in a long time that dont have 5 points in Virtues. (not saying your build is bad)

I run with almost the same build, but i have 15 points in radiance and only 20 in honor. Thinking of trying to force 10 points into zeal for the 10% dmg to targets that are on fire, but not sure how im going to manage that.

For me its almost like i cant make a build without 30 valor and 20 honor :/

Do you have any + healing at all? I tend to go with some + healing since i have plenty of heals. healing work realy wel with selfless daring.