Guild Wars 2

With my time of playing a Guardian since Guild Wars 2 beta, I’ve come to see the changes and builds that many of my fellow guardians use. I am no Guardian expert, but I do like to think I know how to play the class.. yet I have come to the conclusion that the Guardians are just not in a good spot -yet- but with mere improvements, they can really shine in one of the prime areas known as Support.

Damage is EVERYTHING in this game. Moreso in the end, people always go berserker as dodging, blinding, blocking, and other things from abilities are better than taking a direct hit based on the armor you are wearing and the healing you need to keep up with it.

The armor you are wearing does not matter most times.. and from what I’ve seen, the healing power with a Guardian needs a bit of work. But that’s just my opinion.. there are a LOT of Guardians, and I’m sure some of you would already be disagreeing with me which is understandable, like I said I’m not a professional.

I am coming into this post just to spread a few ideas with the Guardian that could not only make it good at Defensive Support, but Support in general.

So far from what I’ve seen, the Spirit Weapons are lacking… it’s quite surprising as well because we have so many traits that improve spirit weapons. I tried them all out, and in all honesty there isn’t really anything that has to be done trait-wise.

I’m sure a lot of Guardian players may know what I mean when I said giving Spirit weapons health killed off their usefulness… but here’s an idea.

Spirit Weapons – When summoned, each type of a Spirit weapon performs not only as an extra hit on your enemy, but also support to your allies. The Greatsword offers a set amount of power to nearby allies. The Hammer gives allies a chance on hit to knock down said enemy. The Shield grants stability to nearby allies. The Bow gives allies a chance to heal on hit. These are passive skills that are added to our existing spirit weapons and their abilities.

I also think more spirit weapons can be added…

Spirit Axes – Summon duel spirit axes that perform a whirling attack and can interact with AoE and passively gives nearby allies crit chance.

Spirit Staff – Summon a staff that grants random boons (Might, Protection, Regeneration) to your allies.

Let’s not forget an Elite Skill for a Spirit Weapon..

Spirit Tome – Summon a Tome that rains down brief yet devastating blue fire around your enemies. Players that interact with the tome are granted a brief boon that causes their attacks to burn their enemy.

Add your input on this idea.

I actually started leveling a warrior when I saw just how awesome their Offensive support skills are. For instance, where a Guardian gives toughness to nearby allies, a Warrior gives -power-! Now -that’s- cool.. I wish Guardians did something else besides toughness, as you’re not so tough when condition damage ignores your armor.

The BEST one I saw so far for a warrior was called Phalanx Strength!

Phalanx Strength – When you grant yourself might, grant it to nearby allies as well. A range of 600, and so far.. I don’t see a cooldown. This is AMAZING support…

Guardians actually have something like this, and in my opinion the skill in general is PERFECT for a guardian.. we have Communal Defenses.

Communal Defenses – Grant Aegis to allies when you block an attack. A range of 360 with a 20 second cooldown. Great skill right? Until you see the range of it.. why is it so low? Our “Retreat” shout gives allies an Aegis at a range of 600, so shouldn’t this skill provide 600 range as well to make it like a double-save? It’s a Grandmaster skill for goodness sake, it should act like it to work with “Retreat” or Virtue of Courage!

I agree with the cooldown though, judging by how much block abilities we do have, but that range.. ouch.

Moving on, I am actually quite confused why Guardians even have the trait Battle Presence which basically causes our allies to gain our Virtue of Resolve. To put it simply, they gain regeneration at a range of 600… but, we already give our allies regeneration with symbols, Virtue of Resolve activation, and “Hold the Line!”

Shouldn’t Battle Presence become more like.. oh, I’m only throwing this out there but why not have nearby allies gain ALL THREE of the virtues? Sure, they get that Resolve, but now they burn enemies with every 4 hits and they gain an Aegis every 30-40 seconds? It’s not like they can activate them.. in a way, we just give more support if they are near us. Shouldn’t that be a Guardian? If you’re around a Guardian, then that person performs things that -GUARD- you.

On my final note, I will bring up Power of the Virtuous which basically increases our damage by 1% for each boon we have. This is my problem… Warriors have the same thing can it’s called Empowered.

Power of the Virtuous for Guardians requires 5 trait points in the Virtues tree.

Empowered for the Warriors requires 2 trait points in the Tactics tree.

Now of course this may seem unfair… but for one, Guardians do have ways to grant themselves more boons then Warriors. However, both of those tree lines improve Boon Duration. So if a Guardian who spent 5 points in Virtues to get that trait is partnered with a Warrior who only spent 2 points, and due to the Guardian gaining his boons which he also grants his allies, thus being the Warrior.. they are gaining the same increase in damage, but now the warrior is doing more damage with those 3 extra trait points.

So far, my only opinion on this would be to simply make Power of the Virtuous for Guardians give +2% dmg per boon -OR- give +1% dmg AND +1% dmg reduction.

Add your input to this idea.

That’s all I got for now guys, thank you for reading and I do hope, as fellow Guardians, to get plenty of advice, criticism, and even your own ideas to see if these improvements would really make the Guardian into a -GUARDIAN-.

I do believe there needs to be more emphasis on healing power overall for guardians

@OP . guardians need to secure an area to be guardians. if they can not create an area where any enemy skill is in deny then are not guardians but something else.

guardians best protective boons are aegis ( block one hit ) and protection ( -33 incoming damage ) .

the offensive skill that makes the guardian is blind . he can use the blind to protect his allies and him self from any incoming damage.but it is not in virtue , and it is on trait and on weapons. f1 should have blind without trait and fire should be on trait .i think it is very difficult now to change this

these three skills make the guardian because all three have massive effect , no matter if the attack is cc , or condition or burst damage . they apply to all incoming damages.

unfortunately the guardian’s blind is like any condition and can removed with other conditions . this make guardian less protective char and less guardian …….

also many many + for any you said on this post https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/What-could-make-a-Guardian-a-GUARDIAN/first#post4076243

twisted fate.7251:

I do believe there needs to be more emphasis on healing power overall for guardians

no more healing roles for guardians please. ele and people that are playing ele are enough to play the healer’s role

healing is not denying the incoming damage , it slower the effect ….

I’m not sure but I feel like guardian is a pretty good support class myself, if you go for that. Good shouts, good traits (for example there is a might-giving trait a bit like the warrior one you linked, not sure if you missed that), good weapons, and great ways to make your team continue to be able to perform like blocks and blinds (this is also a group dps increase if you use it well, since the uptime can be higher). I never feel like my support sucks, only if I do build for pure dps but that’s similiar as most my characters.

But I’ll agree about spirit weapons, I’ve never felt like they were a fully fleshed out line of skills, but more like an afterthought rather than a competitive alternative, most times. I mean, they work, but they sure are selfish and generally a bit low on utility, whether it’s too high cd or just lacking. Would love if they were tinkered with!

Our buffs seem a bit repetative and underwhelming. Primarily virtues are quite bland and don’t really make me feel overly Guardian when I use them.

There had been lots of good ideas to make Virtues more interesting over the ages. Sadly they are a rather bland game mechanic.

Build I’m just start running in WvW atm, had a couple of amazing roaming moments with my friends. Cleric gear with trooper runes and shout condition removals.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASRlsApfn1CxVI8DNRCRldR8fBI2fQIkCXFAA-T1SDABHp0ILlZ4o+zxPBgCMNEimAm2fAATQKoE0gLBwf6AIFgTbBA-w

Basically my job is to mitigate opponent’s damage, chew up conditions, use binding blades and warding rings to hinder opponent and serve as a distraction. This isn’t a new build, but it can support a full zerker teammate who has 0 condition removal. I still die from time to time, but I think this has great potential and synergies.

Mugi and he’s friends recorded some awesome outnumbered fights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zdrtMu2x1Y