Guild Wars 2

Greetings, guardians.

I have decided to roll a Guard to 80 after maining a Necro since launch. Guardians are definitely a much different experience being…. Well, a more powerful overall class, as well as having some seriously viable options.

I’ve read the guides posted and searched for similar threads, but I still have a lot of questions. I mostly roam either alone or in small groups in wvw. I like playing a support role, so I don’t think an AH build is out of the question, but I think a meditation build is more up my alley. Does anyone have a meditation build they can show me? What weapons should I use? I am leaning sw/sh and staff. Is that an ok combo, or is staff a bad choice outside of AH builds?

What runes and armor are best? What consumables do you use?

Forgive the questions. I’m not new to the game, I’m just not used to having so many options. Generally most Necro builds are pretty set with what paths you take, so being able to choose from so many weapons and different playstyles – even within the same build – is a bit new to me.

Thanks in advance to any responses!

if you like playing support, then you should go something like 0/0/x/15+x/10+x, taking utilities like wall of reflect, sanc, and stand your ground etc.

if you like tanking the frontlines in mass fights then AH is good with shouts.

if you like soloing then meditations is better.

also, i think the staff is the best weapon in wvw based on its overall usefulness. it doesn’t need AH to be good. although it heals like a truck with AH and people around you.

but in solo fights, rooting yourself with staff#4 is not ideal unless you can get a breather like line of warding the enemy and then you use staff#4.

but if you really are going solo, i would suggest 1h weapons on a guardian.

1h is more for single target while 2h is more for aoes.

i think knights is a good start. consumables well, i don’t have money.

I’m not a fan of knight’s anymore. Valkyrie is where it’s at, because of the critical damage and high power. You can get toughness from elsewhere, like traits and shields and food if you need it.

yea, i am also starting to realise toughness sucks…

VIT is better.

but precision is important imo.

It’s not that toughness sucks, it’s that crit damage (and power) is really good. It’s still important to have some kind of passive damage reduction, but crit damage is really darn good.

Would a 1 handed build look like 10/30/30/0/0? Or can that vary and still be successful?

Thank you for the responses so far, by the way!

Roe.3679:

Would a 1 handed build look like 10/30/30/0/0? Or can that vary and still be successful?

Thank you for the responses so far, by the way!

imo 1h weapons are a horrible option except scepter (not because its good), greatswords aoe pull and hammers 100% protection + 6 sec blast finisher make them much better otpions and damage-wise they both outperform sword

also traits, meditations are better for heals while ah isnt usually used because it heals well (except wvw staff) but because it combos so well with pure of voice which is by far our best trait for groups and one of our best for solo, for my build i either use 0/x/30/30/x or 0/10/0/30/30 (fractals only)

Roe.3679:

Would a 1 handed build look like 10/30/30/0/0? Or can that vary and still be successful?

Thank you for the responses so far, by the way!

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|b.1g.h2.d.1c.h19|2.1p.0|1n.7c.1c.7c.1c.7c.1c.7c.1n.7c.1c.7c|1p.61.1n.61.1n.61.1g.61.1i.61.1c.61|a2.u24b.u64c.0.0|16.1|w.1a.15.13.1i|e

This is my current build which I also roam/small group with. Sword is switchable for scepter and does more damage (7k zealots are so much fun), however you will find that its hard to land hits on certain mobile classes (thieves and eles for the most part) in which scepter will be better. Torch is switchable for focus as well, depending on if you prefer to go offensive or defensive for an offhand. GS is good all around and compliments the build well.

If you do go sword and gs switch the signet CD radiance trait to blind exposure, as you can 12 stack vuln very easily with sword/focus in 1v1 battles. You can also change out the signet for contemplation of purity for an added condition removal/stun break, and extra healing, or run signet of judgement for a static extra 10% damage reduction.

Also, Strength in numbers can be switched out for just about any trait you want, I would suggest either meditation cd reduction, or purity for some added condition removal. I just like to have 3k armor as a min.

foofad.5162:

It’s not that toughness sucks, it’s that crit damage (and power) is really good. It’s still important to have some kind of passive damage reduction, but crit damage is really darn good.

oddly, i am starting to realise crit dmg is not that good…

have about 80% now, and i am lowering them

i think like 50% is enough.

i realise you need all 3 stats, power + crit chance + crit dmg to be optimal to hit the best.

going off tangent in either one will not result in high dps.

i am still trying to find the balance

If your goal is to do damage, then you need 10/25/x/x/x. Having both Fiery Wrath and Radiant Power gives you 20% more damage against burning foes, which is phenomenal. At that point you have quite a lot of leeway in terms of the rest of your spec, you can do basically whatever you want. Going a full 30 Radiance for Right Handed Strength is good, but so are two handed focused specs.

Sword is a great weapon, but Zealot’s Defense is flawed. Sword DPS is really high with RHS against single targets or tightly clumped groups, and the huge number of crits helps with Empowering Might and other crit-based perks. Sword/Greatsword is a good melee combo for the blinds, mobility, and single target + AOE damage. You can use whatever offhand you like with the Sword, though I don’t recommend Torch, because it’s pretty bad.

Replace the GS with a hammer if you’re running with a group that has fire and water combo fields in spades, for massive amounts of might and bonus AOE healing.

i did some testing in the mist and it seems like radiant power + burning is about the same as if you use a zerk pvp trinket.

so unless you go full dmg, either one will make you hit about the same.

which means in a balance build, the special traits like aegis at 50% health, blind on VoJ etc are the ones that will make the difference, not so much on the stats.

Thank you for the responses and discussion, everyone!

I don’t see myself using a GS simply because it seems to require a rotation to do the most damage. The skills don’t seem situational to me and that turns me away from it. I do like the hammer and I could see myself switching into it depending on my group. When fighting Guardians I know when they have their GS out to just use a few dodges at the right times and their damage plummets.

I can also see using a mix of armor/weapons/trinks to get a good balance of offensive and defensive stats.

@ Bash – thank you for the build, I definitely see myself using this. I very much appreciate your post.

@ foofad – Why is ZD flawed?

@ Zackie – thank you for the tesing, if nothing else it at least showed me what some of the Guard’s minor traits can do. It’s awesome that Guardians actually have useful minor traits.

Roe.3679:

Thank you for the responses and discussion, everyone!

I don’t see myself using a GS simply because it seems to require a rotation to do the most damage. The skills don’t seem situational to me and that turns me away from it. I do like the hammer and I could see myself switching into it depending on my group. When fighting Guardians I know when they have their GS out to just use a few dodges at the right times and their damage plummets.

I can also see using a mix of armor/weapons/trinks to get a good balance of offensive and defensive stats.

@ Bash – thank you for the build, I definitely see myself using this. I very much appreciate your post.

@ foofad – Why is ZD flawed?

@ Zackie – thank you for the tesing, if nothing else it at least showed me what some of the Guard’s minor traits can do. It’s awesome that Guardians actually have useful minor traits.

I wouldn’t say that GS really has a rotation, it is more or less knowing when to press what buttons for max damage. Only use WW when you know you can land alot of hits, only use symbol if you are about to be bursted, or if you think you can keep some one on it, things like that.

As far as ZD being flawed its a common complain against 1h Sword but is one you can easily get around. The main issue is that you are rooted for the casting, and that at range, the projectile blades can easily be avoided my strafing. Also, it doesn’t actually block projectiles, it absorbs them, which means it gets no synergy from the might on block trait. (25 point valor) The mobility and range issues are easily solved by using judges intervention to jump on top of an enemy a split second after the wind up and before the actual damage starts being cast. This is done because judges intervention has no global cooldown activation, and can used mid cast of any skill (some work better than others) It does take some getting used to it, because if you jump to early, most people will dodge away, if you jump too late you miss damage. The wind up is about a half a second long, but once you get used to it, it become second nature.

This plays a key role for 2 reason. 1) it adds burning for the 20% extra damage 2) the blades are unavoidable at close range (unless of course there is a dodge). Your other options to land the hits are using an immobilize, or knockdown to root the target, then casting the skill. This can be achieved through either Bane signet (knockdown) signet of wrath (immobilize) scepter #3 then weapon switch, Hammer #3 then weapon switch, or GS #5 to pull, then weapons switch. The last one takes a bit more timing, because if you try to weapons switch even a split second too soon it wont finish the animation for the pull and you lose it.