Guild Wars 2

For uses across different builds, what is the most flexible armor set or set combo for Guardians to invest in if scarcity is a factor? Going Berserker rather clearly puts you into a dps role, which can be great if that is your goal and you know the content or situation well, but can constrain your options elsewhere. Going Knight or Soldier seems to give you more build wiggle room, allowing you to take more hits and potentially focus on a more durable support build, while making up some of the damage difference in trinkets/weapons. I have never used Clerics, as it, like Berserker, seems more narrowly construed… great for a support build where you are on the floor all the time and giving 1.5-2k roll heals, but lacking crit chance/damage for other roles.

Obviously one can buy different sets for different roles to experiment, but for those who can’t, or who don’t want to bother with major gear swaps when changing builds, what would you recommend?

I’d say soldier’s, myself, although cleric’s might work out as well.

For a well-rounded set of guardian equipment, I’d prioritize direct damage over condition damage since it’s more reliable and not as complex as condition damage. Not to mention that you only have natural access to one damaging condition, and all weapon sets will benefit from direct damage whereas some may not benefit well from condition damage.

I’d also be cautious of precision and crit damage stuff since it is again not as reliable (you have to proc a crit), and you will likely have to give up some defense for it.

I think the healing power might work out alright on a guardian since they have some extra healing options outside of their main healing skill, such as easy access to regen and healing through weapon abilities.

Soldier’s will give you solid, balanced defensive stats with high direct damage, which will be at least passable in any build, and clerics would probably provide a bit more of a support focus. Sentinel’s gear could also work well since it’s a defensive version of soldier’s.

In any case, I don’t think berserker’s will be a good choice for flexibility since the lack of defense needs to be compensated by deliberate build choices.

I have full sets of Berserker’s, Soldier’s, and Knight’s. Most often, I find Berserker’s just fine — kill stuff fast, and it can’t hurt you. Occasionally I will add a piece or 2 of Knight’s or Soldier’s in for a little toughness and/or vit.

Guardians have good defensive options, even geared for dps.

Imo, the most flexible is knight’s since it has a good defense and an acceptable level of of offensive stats. Zerker is a bit less flexible, cleric’s limits you to support builds and soldier’s and especially sentinel’s are way too defensive junk that cripples any offensive potential.

Knight’s. It has good defense and decent DPS.

I have basically a full set of Zerker and a full set of Soldiers. I’ll mix n match depending on content. If you’re looking to build a set go Soldiers and work your way into more Zerker, least that’s what I did n it worked well. Gave me survivability as I learned all the little tricks for running stuff.

If you plan on running an AH build go full Zerker to start though.

IMHO
GL
Blood~

I mainly use knight’s. I put my dps in my trinkets (zerker). But yeah, the versatility of the guardian comes much more from traits, especially in the valor and honor lines which give you AH, vigor on crit, and group might on crit.

Knights+Soldier Runes, Berserker Accessories and never look back!