Guild Wars 2

Is there an effective guardian build that’s dedicated to just combat?

All builds focus around being in combat.

First, just pvp, just wvw or just pve? Or all of the above?

Either way, guardian works “best” it seems on creating synergies between weapons and traits.

For instance, my build gets its healing from meditations and does damage based primarily on 1 handed weapons critical hitting. Conversely, there are builds that focus on shouts and defense to outlast everything, there are builds that focus around using the hammer and there are builds that focus on greatswords (that are still totally viable despite the recent changes). All of them are combat builds, all are useful.

What are you looking for?

Okay, I apologize for not being specific enough.

I’m looking for a PvE build.

By combat build, I mean that you’re not focused on support, it’s very aggressive, and it’s a very solo build.
I thinking of Hammer and Greatsword.

I’d suggest a Sword/Torch Crit/Meditation build. 10/30/30/0/0

In Zeal, pick Fiery Wrath and leave it at that.

In Radiance, pick up Signet Mastery and Right-Hand Strength as well as your pick.of Blinding Jeopardy, Inscribed Removal, Shimmering Blades or Radiant Fire.

In Valor you want Meditation Mastery and Monk’s Focus as well as your pick of Focussed Mind, Retribitive Armor or Purity.

Your usual Skill loadout will be Signet of Resolve Judge’s Intervention, Smite Condition and one of the offensive Signets. The other two Meditations are pretty pointless in solo PVE. Which is also why Focused Mind is optional. Both Judge’s Intervention and Smite Condition are fast out of the box. Smite Condition coupled with Signet of Resolve’s passive effect should cover you against Conditions but Inscribed Removal and Purity give you more purging options if you find them necessary.

This build basically capitalizes on critting often and high, and from setting enemies on fire. Your Meditations heal you when you use them even while dealing damage and/or engaging the next enemy.

To be efficient this build will however require some investment in Healing Power gear. How much depends on you. The sweet spot is when your four healing options keep you hale enough to move from target to target without downtime. The rest of the gear should be a balance of Knight or Berserker and Valkyrie, again depending on your tastes and needs.