Guild Wars 2

Hey.

I am currently leveling up my guardian, and been trying to figure out a Roaming build, for when I hit level 80.
I was fiddling around for some time, trying to precisely adjust amours and trinkets, and after some time I got something I kind of liked, until my friend told me to just go full soldiers gear and trinkets.

after putting it in it seems like overall superior to everything, you have a lot of power, toughness and vitality (of course that is it trades).

But is it really just the best to go full soldiers in everything ?
you get everything you need with it for roaming and it seems like the simplest thing to do.

The build I was fiddling with: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJARSnkIS5Q2NEWDB/QmYgosKAw+Fah486NYEqAA-TFzDABbqGwOKFa4JAEjqO8os4HlYAY+jSVCS4SA4huAEUCey+DkCortAA-w

The full Soldier build (with the same traits) http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJARSnkIS5Q2NEWDB/QmYgosKAw+Fah486NYEqAA-TlhEgAAm/40Fkr8bV9nClgk7PQKgu2CA-w

Sorry for any misspellings

It depends on what you play. For world bosses, gear doesn’t matter. For wvw, soldier is the way to go. In pvp you are allowed to freely change your gear stat so the question is moot, however in pve berserker’s gear always comes out on top.

If you started reading your traits and skills, you’ll see that guardians do have particular condition called “blind” on some of the skills. This blind condition prevents enemies from attacking you, and when used it right you prevent any of your teammates from getting hurt.

However blind duration is very short, and it goes away after any attack (auto, skill, etc), therefore it is best to quickly kill your enemies (trashmobs/bosses). Hence berserker’s gear will perform better and ultimately help yourself and teammate in terms of time spent in dungeons, survival, annd learning your character.

Since guards have a lot of “on crit” effects, I find a mix of berserker/knight more suited for surviving. Having more than 20 ( even 18)k buffed as a guard is really not that useful given you won’t heal it for full with shelter anyway. 18k, a bit of toughness, and minor healing power investment is enough for a tanky anchor roaming spec in my opinion.

Change your oil to the precision one or your weapon to knights. You really want a 30%+ crit rate. Add sigil of accuracy. Otherwise its hard to beat pvt.

It depends on what type of build you’re trying to go for. Running soldier’s gear on a meditation guardian isn’t going to do much for you. You’d be better off running valkyrie gear and investing more into radiance.

It really matters what you want to do in WvW. Soldiers gear, in my opinion, is best saved for zergs. When roaming I’ll run my berserker gear and burst my enemies down quickly. Sometimes a strong offense is the best defense.

You can also go with soldier armor for a little survivability, and full berserker trinkets (more stat allotment) for solid dps. It’ll boost your dangerously low HP along with your toughness, while still giving you good power and enough crit chance/damage.

Also don’t rule out celestial.

The + condition damage is crap on it but all the other stats are decent.
If you get any celestial gear I would suggest trinkets however.

Really as long as you pay attention & have around 15k health @ 80 you should be fine in PvE.
For PvP I would suggest getting a bit more health (around 18k or more) because spike is much less predictable & conditions are far more common.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJAWRlsApVo1CxRI8DRR8gkjtfOVVAsfGNLA-TRCBABCu/gjKBxSJFOq/AwTAwMlL5pJIRdABcJAIEg5tA-e is a good all around WvW build.

For PvE I would get strength runes instead of traveler & use bane signet instead of judgment (the activation is crap but the +180 power is nice). The strength runes will also boost your might uptime from staff to near constant & even without staff u get might from the greatsword AA chain.

If you want you can also use sigil of air & or fire on your weapons. It’s more bursty but less damage over all in most cases.

For world bosses & some events I would suggest swapping out berserk armor for soldiers. Mainly cases where damage does not matter as much & or you cannot crit your target anyway.

I am kind of going for a bit tanky with the toughness and with crit chance, but I don’t know if 3200 amour is too much and I should more in power or I maybe ferocity, also I would love advice on a good rune for the build.

I am going to use it for WvW roaming alone or mostly with a small group of 2-5 people in

After seeing it I will be switching my nourishment to Omnomberry pie/ghost thanks for the idea Rangar

and thanks for all to everyone responding with a lot of great ideas I will mess around with and I am of course still open to suggestions.

This is my build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJARSlsApVoNDxcI8DNRCBl5M+PmjIEX/gAcAA-TVyDAB8o0TKlBCcJAK4JAAgpPPV/Rn9HQQJIn6CCAcAw1BSB80WA-w

I was using Force of Will (+300vit), but I find AH more useful. I have no problems with survability on WvW. Too much health, in my opinion, is worthless since you can’t heal all, it will only help on entering combat. And you’ll have ~17k health on WvW buff with this build.

Keep swaping Staff out of combat for swiftness.

oxtred.7658:

Since guards have a lot of “on crit” effects, I find a mix of berserker/knight more suited for surviving. Having more than 20 ( even 18)k buffed as a guard is really not that useful given you won’t heal it for full with shelter anyway. 18k, a bit of toughness, and minor healing power investment is enough for a tanky anchor roaming spec in my opinion.

I find this confusing since this page, http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical shows that Guardians only have two traits that trigger on critical hits. Which is lower than every other profession listed with the exception of Mesmer.

Or are you talking about “on crit” triggers from upgrade components as well?

Thanks.

Talking about WvW zerging only here.

Don’t go full Soldier because you will end up with bad sustain and bad damage. Mix and match armor to get 1900+ Power, 18k+ hp, 3000-3200 armor, around 30% crit and around 200% crit damage. You can also make a small investment into healing with this spec. Trait points are 0/0/6/4/4 with AH, 20% cd reduction on shouts and 2H skills, secondary stab. RF as your elite.

OR

Stack full Clerics for maximum Healing Power, take 0/0/4/6/6 with same cd reduction traits, Elite Focus, secondary stab, FoW. Take the healing tome as your ult. What you’ll get is a build focused solely on supporting the blob through near constant stream of massive heals and maximum stability upkeep. Since recent update, Healing Tome makes you and the stuff around you practically immortal.

Always take “Stand Your Ground!”, “Hold The Line!” and Purging Flames in your 789 slots. This is a must for blobbing.Your weapons of choice should be Hammer/Staff. Hammer can be replaced with a GS, but a Staff is a must.

Nah they do have only 2 on crit effects but they are 2 really powerful traits, and having both 100% vigor uptime and good might stacking is really important for any guardian. Less than 30% crit chance won’t be enough to maintain vigor, wich is a powerful survivability tool. I expressed it poorly, they indeed don’t have a lot of on crit effects, but the few they have are mandatory to survive. It also procs fire/air sigils, for instance.

Spirigo.2897:

Talking about WvW zerging only here.

Don’t go full Soldier because you will end up with bad sustain and bad damage. Mix and match armor to get 1900+ Power, 18k+ hp, 3000-3200 armor, around 30% crit and around 200% crit damage. You can also make a small investment into healing with this spec. Trait points are 0/0/6/4/4 with AH, 20% cd reduction on shouts and 2H skills, secondary stab. RF as your elite.
.

This is pretty much the build I run. Aim for 2000 power, 3000+ Armor, 20k health and it is pretty easy to achieve.

Get the runes and food to achieve condition duration reduction. Precision Oil. Can go all pvt with the precision knights ammy.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApYo1CxVI8DNRCRl5MEgY+Bhw1XQAcAA-TlCBwAbVGkT9HtK9QrEsxFAQxRAAwDAYzhAo3+D61FQKAmEGB-w

I’m still really new to guard so take my opinion with a grain of salt: I run full ascended zerk in PvE/sPvP/WvW without any problems. Even a full offensive guard has enough healing to out-heal other classes from what I’ve found – won a 4v1 earlier today with 2 necros, 1 ranger, and another guard in WvW earlier and although they weren’t top-tier players (and 1 was an uplevel), it was a good demonstration of guardian survivability.

In pve and smale scall roaming berserker is viable, but when you’re zergbusting in higher tiers ( where blobs are easily 50+) you need an anchor to take aggro and spam stability without dying. We use a berserker guard in our 3 man group, but we’re usually not taking fights above 30 players. In pvp, a bunker guard is a plus to any team, and medit has a totally different role usually more suited for other classes ( thieves, mesmers)

oxtred.7658:

In pve and smale scall roaming berserker is viable, but when you’re zergbusting in higher tiers ( where blobs are easily 50+) you need an anchor to take aggro and spam stability without dying. We use a berserker guard in our 3 man group, but we’re usually not taking fights above 30 players. In pvp, a bunker guard is a plus to any team, and medit has a totally different role usually more suited for other classes ( thieves, mesmers)

Yup. Even on middle tiers the same rule applies. Just too much conditional damage and stability you need to navigate through. And the rangers changes with longbow make situational awareness even more crucial. A pair of rangers with comm can snipe targets off pretty quick. Almost like fishing for trout in a barrel

I typically say find your comfort level and adjust accordingly. Some skilled players here get by going full berserker but it isn’t for everyone. I roam with it but lose more than I should probably (skill level). Duo to 5 I’ll mix in a but more sustain or go full support and let them do the dirty work

On the server I play on 1v1 never happens. For a Guardian it means either go tanky, not die but don’t kill either or go glass and die every time more than one player attacks.

I say some Guardians solo in full zerk and somehow kill stuff, but I can’t pull it off (no clue how to either). Let’s say two Thieves attack you, what do you do? You die.

Thanatos.2691:

I’m still really new to guard so take my opinion with a grain of salt: I run full ascended zerk in PvE/sPvP/WvW without any problems. Even a full offensive guard has enough healing to out-heal other classes from what I’ve found – won a 4v1 earlier today with 2 necros, 1 ranger, and another guard in WvW earlier and although they weren’t top-tier players (and 1 was an uplevel), it was a good demonstration of guardian survivability.

Zerker is viable in small fights, especially if you’re in a group where your teammates can help you if things go south. You have to be pretty careful as you will die fast if you get caught out of position. And yes it’s possible solo but even harder.

Soldier gear is preferred in big fights because of the way rallying works. If you die, anyone that tags you will get a rally, and because of that, the benefits of superior damage and being able to spike an extra person or two down faster cannot outweigh the rally risk when there’s so much aoe/cleave from the enemy. It’s not like guardians have lots of ranged options to keep them out of harms way either. The other mechanic is that you need to stomp people to quickly take them out, and as a zerker you’re less capable of doing that too. It is certainly possible to survive as a zerker (I’ve done it by accident because I sometimes forget to swap gear), but the playstyle fundamentally changes, and does not highlight the strengths of a guardian in large group play.

There’s also a fundamental importance in damage roles. If you’re alone, you need to contribute 100% of the damage (duh!) so naturally going dps has a greater effect. But in a zerg of 50, this becomes a bit less apparent and even 50 wet noodles can take people down.

I wouldn’t recommend full soldier though. Full soldier is best in world bosses where you can’t crit them, and leading a big group because your point is not to do damage but to stay up. (Though in that case, mixing in nomad/cleric isn’t out of the question).

Soldier does provide great survivability and because it’s a power primary stat, also makes sure your damage exists to some degree. In most cases, I would say pure soldier gimps you in regards to damage and healing/support guardians would be better off in a soldier/clerics mix since I believe pure clerics is too squishy too. But if you want more survivability, soldier is a good piece of armor to mix in that will rarely make you regret it.

Never go full soldiers, it’s a waste. I play in T1 where 60vs60 man blob fights can be common and never use full soldiers. My warrior is all zerk except for weapons and my guardian only has two pieces of soldiers gear.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJARWlsApVo1CxZI8DNRCRlZREgY/BhQKc5FEAA-TlCEABaq6DMqB4kyAuUCykSPDeAAJt/Qb6CA4IA8wlAgUAMpMC-w

Stat Goals:
2k Power (unbuffed)
2.8k Armor (unbuffed)
200% Crit Damage
30% Crit Chance (unbuffed)
18k HP (minimum when buffed, 20k max)

NOTE: The added toughness from Strength In Numbers will actually boost your armor to over 3k while in combat which is not reflected on the gw2skills.net build editor.

If running as militia or in a pug raid you might want to trade out Pure of Voice for Altruistic Healing unless sustain isn’t an issue.

You can run this build as GS/Staff, Ham/Staff, or GS/Ham. For Ham/Staff swap out Purging Flames for Judge’s Intervention.

If you’re new to guardians you might want to run a 0/0/6/6/2 trait setup with both Altruistic Healing and Pure of Voice unless you really need the added stability from Indomitable Courage. It is common to see people apply immobilize and chill conditions on the first engagement since the opposing melee train will almost always have stability up. This is why the added condition cleanse from running Trooper Runes and Pure of Voice (which affects your entire party) is more important for sustain than Altruistic Healing (which only affects you.)

Since GW2’s combat system was designed around group synergy healing power was made to only have a marginal impact. This is why running clerics is also not a viable option since you gain more healing from using a blast finisher inside a water combo field.

You should be able to survive by timing your invuls and dodging. Having shout warriors in your party further helps with condition removal especially if you get chilled or immobilized. Warriors should also give you vigor and clear crowd control conditions by using their war horns. This is where group synergy comes into play. Your party should be able to keep itself alive through having proper traits and skills while your gear is still focused on damage.

Take a note of the double Energy sigils in this build. This might be expensive but it’s also a life saver. When regrouping for a rerally I can immediately swap from GS/Ham back to Staff and gain an extra dodge which allows me to save my invuls.

Shelter should not be your primary heal but your primary invul for getting through chokes and getting back to your pin if you were CC’d and you used all your dodges. Renewed Focus is your secondary invul and should only be used as such and if you’re out of dodges and shelter is on cooldown. You want to make sure all your Virtues are on cooldown before using Renewed Focus. However, you can start casting Renewed Focus and pop any virtues during the cast, once the cast is complete they will reset.

I hope this helps people to understand how to play Guardian better in a Frontline setting (Melee Train) and why you don’t need full Soldiers gear. It is better to avoid damage through using your skills, dodging, and having proper positioning over trying to mitigate it through armor.

If i’m not mistaken there was a guardian build out there that is a zerker build and has the healing of a cleric build, though mind you, you will take a ton of damage due to having low armor nonetheless.

knight’s* and runes of melandru are the way to go in WvW zerg fights

Spirigo.2897:

Always take “Stand Your Ground!”, “Hold The Line!” and Purging Flames in your 789 slots. This is a must for blobbing..

Most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.