Guild Wars 2

My motto for PVE is do what you want, just know how to do it well.
This is a PVE focused build that centers around dps and variety to allow for you to adapt to whatever situation you need.

Attached below is my guardian with stats as well as a bonus land shark i found one day

So first of all is the gear.

Armor

The armor i use is a mix of 2 sets.
Berserker and Celestial.

Beserker: Gloves, Boots
Celestial: Helm, Chest, Leggings

The purpose of the celestial pieces is that these pieces actually give a 1% higher critical damage modifier than the beserker gear while also giving a slight bit of extra survivability without sacrificing a lot of damage.

Trinkets

For this build i go with a full set of beserker accessories, but you can also mix and match with knights or valkyrie depending on how much survivability you want.

Weapons

All weapons used are beserker, but the weapons used vary depending on situation and preference.

Great sword: great all round melee weapon with great burst damage if cycled correctly as well as the ability to group mobs together to help the team clear out mobs.

Hammer: High dps with auto attack if mobs can be grouped into a small area as well as near permanent protection. The control that comes with the hammer is often unused due to how situational the skills are, though hammer 5 is always great for locking enemies just out of their hit range while still allowing you to safely attack.

1h Sword: Great dps with auto attack chain, but be careful with projectile reflecting mobs as the third hit in the chain counts as a projectile. The blind affect on sword 2 can also be a very strong skill for slow attacking enemies if used properly. Sword 3 can also be very useful for a strong projectile block while your utilities are down.

Scepter: Probably our best single target ranged weapon. Always useful for keeping enemies locked away while kiting.

Staff: Good alternative to scepter when fighting a large number of mobs. The auto attack hits on the staff are weak, but being able to hit a constant 5 enemies makes up for the weaker damage by providing a larger aoe dmg hit in return. As a bonus, staff allows you to tag many mobs so that if you go down, you can come right back up as soon as any of the mobs die(unfortunately it also means you are quick to go red due to constant reviving and downing). Staff also brings a decent amount of support with the speed symbol, easy 12 might stacks + heal, and a ward that can be cast on the move to lock out any chasing melee mobs.

Focus: Probably the most used off-hand. Brings great utility with the blind/regeneration/condi cure on focus 4 as well as defense and damage with focus 5. Not much to say, just great off-hand to use in general.

Torch: An underestimated off-hand that see’s very little use. Torch 4 is very useful for getting a lasting burn on a single target as well as a decent damage nuke when you throw the fire as well. Torch 5 probably has one of the best condition cures available to guardians. Torch 5 ticks 10 times and can hit up to 3 enemies per tick(not sure on ally count). In other words, while you are dealing a little damage to the enemies in front of you, any allies in the path will have all their conditions drops instantly. The only downside is that the torch 5 offers very little damage and requires your teammates to stack in order to get the most cure out(in other words, don’t use it for damage but for the cure).

Shield: Very situational weapon to use in my opinion. Shield 4 offers a good aoe protection to anyone in front of you, but since you will be in the front line, most of your teammates will probably not get the benefit unless you disengage from the fight to get your teammates in the cone. Shield 5 on the other hand is great for blocking projectiles. It comes with a near instant affect and can then be detonated to provide a small aoe heal. Shield 5 alone can make a shield worth taking in certain fights like Lupicus and the harpy fractal where 1 projectile hitting you is all it takes to make the fight take a turn for the worse.

Mace: I haven’t used this weapon much, so i can’t really say much about it

Runes

For runes i prefer to take scholar runs as the bonus damage is always useful.
But any damage/survivablility runes that you find useful are great to have.
Need condi cure? melandru and soldier are always a great addition.
Want some extra boon duration to hold your might and protection? mix of water, monk and traveler are always useful.
Find the set that works for your needs and take it.

Sigil

The sigils you use also depend on what you want to do with the set.
Since this is for pve however, I don’t recommend the use of stacking sigils unless you are confident in your ability to survive any fight.
If you’re making a dungeon specific set, going with a night or slayer sigil will provide a great bonus to your damage.
If you want an all rounder set, permanent bonus like force make a great addition.
Also useful is the energy sigil. In a fight you can never have enough dodges. Running out of energy right before a mobs next major hit is never a great feeling. By having an energy sigil, you’ll be able to save for those tight moments where you need just 1 more dodge.

Trait Setup

Probably the part everyone was looking for…
The trait setup I run with is a 15/25/0/20/10 build.
This build can generalized to a 10/25/0/5/10 setup with the last 20 points to put wherever you like.
An example would be 20/30/0/5/10 if you want to go for the gs trait as well as 1h master

For the traits I’ll talk about some of the traits i recommend looking at as well as the benefits to each.

This setup provides for a great amount of damage as well as that small bit of utility that all guardians like to bring along.

Zeal
Minor 5: Doesn’t provide that much, just an extra symbol down for vigor crits and damage whenever you health gets low. Not sure why the trait says the symbol grants swiftness when it gives retaliation, but who knows.

Minor 15: Had 5 extra points and decided to toss them here for the 50 power as well as symbol vulnerability because i mostly run with a hammer.

Minor 25: Great trait to have if you run a lot of symbol setups, but not quite worth investing unless you just have spare points to throw in.

II: is a must have on any dps setup for guardians. Burning is easy to keep up for an extra 10% damage and requires only 10 points to get.

VII: Must have on any great sword setup. Brings a small damage modifier as well as healing on every hit(which will soon scale somewhat)

IX: If you need ranged dps and don’t need a great sword, take this for that extra 10% scepter damage.

Radiance

Minor 5: Provides a blind for every time you use your f1. might not seem great, but can be used to avoid that kill shot if timed properly.

Minor 15: Clearing out small mobs means you get to spam your f1 as much as you want. Combined with Virtues 5, you may even hit 25 stacks to provide for that extra quick clear.

Minor 25: This is the reason we trait so far into the radiance tree. Whenever your foe has a condition, you gain 10% damage on hit. In other words, you get a near permanent 10% damage bonus to whatever weapon you’re using.

II: Trait i prefer to take in combination with signet of resolve. putting your heal on a 32 second cooldown means that you have 8 seconds less to worry about if you can survive till your next heal. Also a nice addition if you feel the need to take our revive skill.

IV: A very situational ability. If you’re going into a fight that spams a lot of burning, go ahead and take for that fury. 20% extra crit chance is always a great addition to have when your party can’t provide enough.

VI: 11 seconds of 3 vulnerability stacks on every blind is quite useful depending on the weapon set you take. Bring along a 1h-sword and focus and you’ll be able to stack quite a bit of vulnerability every rotation to up your party’s dps.

VII: Useful trait to take along if you feel the need to bring a torch. reduced cd means you can throw torch 4 out more often and watch as the burning stacks on your foe.

X: A must have to go with 1h-sword. Increases the damage you deal by a flat 5%(soon to be 10%)

XI: Great trait to take along if you plan to use a valkyrie set to get that extra bit of crit change. But if you already have a high crit chance you may want to invest your points in more damage or utility.

XII: Always nice to up the passives from our sigils if you decide to use quite a few.

Valor
I don’t put any points in here so that i can get the utility i want, but this tree is always a great place to throw your spare points to get that extra crit damage.

Minor 5: an extra block when you hit 50% health, but not always useful due to the fact that it only lasts for 3 seconds. In other works, it will block one shot in a chain of attacks but do nothing if you take one burst shot that throws you bellow the health threshold.

Minor 15: Virtue of courage coming back up after you rally is always nice to have for that extra block. If you took enough to go down, chances are you’ll need it when you get back up.

I: Useful if you run any meditations. With the change to meditation cast, they can be used without interrupting any skills, so bringing along a smite condition never hurts.

IV: Strength in numbers is a great utility to have for that extra toughness. Putting 10 points to get this trait means you’ll get a total of 250 toughness for only 10 points. Seems like a great deal but from my experience, this extra toughness only provides a little extra survivability due to the low scaling toughness provides.

V: Purity is always great to take, but may not be as useful as you may think due to not being an on demand cure. On the other hand, it means that you’ll get a free clear every 10 seconds.

VI: Retributive Armor is nice, but since this build provides very little toughness, the trait won’t do much for your crit chance.

X: Gives you 4 seconds fury each time you use a meditation, so with smite condition you’ll have a quarter fury up time without any extra traiting or boon duration.

Honor

Minor 5: 5 seconds of vigor on crit is a must have for any guard. Vigor means more dodges, and more likely to stay alive

Minor 15: Gives you a 1:1 scaling heal dodge. With all the vigor you’ll be able to heal yourself and your allies for a small amount. May not be a lot, but the heals add up if you count how much you dodge in some fights

Minor 25: Somewhat redundant since you lose dps to gain dps, but nice if you have fights where you need to dodge to stay alive a lot.

II: 20% reduction to shouts is always great if you run even 1 shout.

III: larger symbols are alright, but don’t provide much utility besides being able to remain in your symbol longer in a mobile fight.

VI: Extra heal is nice when you don’t need any other traits here.

VII: Longer lasting symbols is great for giving a slight bit extra damage as well as protection with hammer auto attacks

VIII: gives 5 seconds of might on crit seems alright, but you won’t be able to stack too much due to the 1 second internal cool down.

IX: 20% reduced cool down on 2h weapons is always great for great sword and staff. Lower cool downs means more bursts from gs and more stacks from staff.

X: provides a small heal with each symbol tick. Is alright, but there are better alternatives.

XI: Condition conversion with each shout use. Great to use if you take a lot of shouts and can be made even stronger with soldier runes.

XII: Provides a nice way to keep your allies up that are near you, but provides nothing extra to you

Virtues

Minor 5: gives small boons with the use of each virtue. Makes spamming f1 quite powerful when facing a lot of small mobs.

Minor 15: Provides retaliation with each virtue, but isn’t actually that useful due to how hard mobs hit as well as their health pools.

Minor 25: Adds a nice bit of extra damage for each boon you have.

I: Provides quite a nice boost to your damage but requires maintaining your aegis which can be quite difficult depending on the fight.

III: ground targeting for consecrations can be useful if you need to put down that wall without getting near the opponent.

VI: A must have if you need to run wall of reflection. Provides reduced cool down and increased duration with 1 adept trait.

VII: longer lasting elite is always nice, but there are probably better alternatives to take.

IX: If you want some extra condition cure, this is great to have. Also great to use in combination with Honor XII trait due to giving your allies the bonus as well.

X: Provides a 3 second stability with your virtue of courage, but not too useful unless you need to run through a stun wall.

XII: Somewhat situational depending on the area, but a great aoe stun break for all allies in the area. Has a long cool down with virtue of courage, but a single aoe stun break can save your whole team if timed right.

Food
I normally don’t use food cause I’m too cheap
But choose the food that suits what you want to accomplish.
And if you want to run a dungeon, take a look into getting a slayer potion.
Most are almost dirt cheap and provide a great bonus to your damage and survivability to whatever situation you face.

Final Words
Thanks for everyone who actually managed to read this far down.
And for the others who just skipped to the end for the shark…
Enjoy
This is the first time I’ve written a build (guide?) so i hope it turned out alright.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
As for why the consumable section is so bland, it’s because I’m usually too cheap to buy any that i haven’t pick up randomly

PS. I’ll probably go back and improve the format later.

Holder if I ever feel like adding more