Guild Wars 2

Hi,
So I’ve been thinking of rolling a class from the Heavy Armor side and can’t really decide on which of the two to go with. So far I have a level 80 Mesmer and Elementalist and I wanted to try something that can actually take some direct damage without dying. Keeping in mind the recent “balancing” of classes, I wanted to know which of the two is in a better position for PvE, specifically for Fractals and Raids.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

If you’re looking specifically for PvE, PS Warrior is the meta so you can’t ever go wrong with that. Not to say Guardian is bad, which I think you’ll still enjoy, but if you’re looking to min/max, PS Warrior.

For me the deciding passage is: I wanted to try something that can actually take some direct damage without dying.

I consider my Guardian to be my main character, but in terms of survivability, he’s one of the weakest. The Guardian has very low base health, putting you at serious one-shot risk, also at PvE bosses. My Warrior, while being weaker geared than my Guardian, definitely is more durable. (I still consider the Guardian more fun to play, but in terms of efficiency and durability, it’s one of the weakest of all classes. )

Right now may be a very good time to try guardian again after various buffs from the recent patch.

Guardian is nothing like warrior in terms of pure group might stacking potential, nor does it have the direct tankiness a warrior has. Instead, guard has a crap ton of damage mitigation with aegis, invulns, blinds and blocks which they can basically use whilst healing or alot of offensive burst healing depending on the build. They are potentially one of the tankiest classes in the game once you learn to capitalize on its active defences, not to mention you literally have a pseudo refresh button..

Guardian will not match the damage output of a Zerk warrior, but what they will do instead is improve the general performance of everyone around them whilst still dealing out very respectable damage. I can’t say for much for the current performance of guard in PvP, but at this point I’m very optimistic after the buff. In PVE though, you basically cannot go wrong playing a guard either. The virtues tree alone makes it more than worthwhile to have one in a group.

Symbols can increase your entire group output by 10%, sword can now generate a symbol with fury generation, hammer’s symbol got buffed and creates perma protection every third auto attack swing, you have access to shouts, group swiftness generation etc etc.

Warrior on the otherhand is much more straightforward in PVE. Drop your banners, know your rotations and beat the crap out of whatever is on the receiving end to upkeep 25 might stacks for the whole group.