Guild Wars 2

Just straight up damage output on a guardian?

Something like 20/25/0/0/25 with all the +x% damage traits. With all of their requirements met, you’ll have +54% damage (10% from Fiery Wrath. 5% from Zealous Blade, 10% from Radiant Power, 20% from Unscathed Contender, and 9% from Power of the Virtuous). Full Berserker’s everything, Scholar Runes, probably a Sigil of Night, At least Bane Signet, full bloodlust, etc.

Not sure if that’s the highest, but it seems like it would be something like that. As far as survivability goes, it clearly sucks, but that’s not what you asked for. :P

Assuming you still want to be useful to your party to need to have Master of Consecrations and possible a condition remove like Absolute Resolution or Pure of Voice.

For damage you want 30 points in Radiance for RH Strength, and maybe 10 points in Zeal for Fiery Wrath.

Full build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQRAse7dlYg6C33xKEfIFSmCRCBteAQHk/UVIewKgRA
As poster above said, Berserker + Scholar Runes.

DPS is useful, not sure why you need to load up on support traits to be “useful”.

DesertRose.2031:

Assuming you still want to be useful to your party to need to have Master of Consecrations and possible a condition remove like Absolute Resolution or Pure of Voice.

For damage you want 30 points in Radiance for RH Strength, and maybe 10 points in Zeal for Fiery Wrath.

Full build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQRAse7dlYg6C33xKEfIFSmCRCBteAQHk/UVIewKgRA
As poster above said, Berserker + Scholar Runes.

Condi removal Gs4 followed by Gs2, Yes consecrations are good but better of with the 20% more dmg while aegis is up and using Elite focus with tome of wrath imo. This still means one can run consecrations. Also RHS is not a direct dmg increase.

Imo 15/25/0/5/25 is best for Dps, You can take 5 points out of zeal and move them in Radiance for RHS or in Virtues for Permeating Wrath without noticing a dps change.

I use 10/25/30/5/0 and use meditation(Smite condi and JI) with signet of power just because i find it “Fun”

20/25/0/0/25 is the highest theoretical DPS, but only if Unscathed can be kept up 100%. Otherwise, 10/30/30/0/0 or 20/30/20/0/0 swapping between GS and 1HS to take advantage of cooldowns is best. Otherwise, 20/25/25/0/0 is ideal if you’re sticking with GS only.

My initial build was 10/25/10/25/0
but now evolved to the current one
20/25/0/25/0

GS +Sword/Focus.
Zealot Defense deals 14k dmg on CoE Mark T,provided with 25stacks of might and invul. P.S Not a single buff food is consume.

I choose traits on 5% dmg on GS and Sword + Damage Modifier + Constant Combo Vulnerability from Symbol and Blind by swapping weaponEmpowering Might = Best Guardian DPS

yLoon.5289:

Zealot Defense deals 14k dmg on CoE Mark T,provided with 25stacks of might and invul. P.S Not a single buff food is consume.

I choose 5% dmg on GS and SwordDamage Modifier+Constant Combo Invulnerability from Symbol and Blind by swapping weapon+Empowering Might = Best Guardian DPS

I’m a little confused here, what do you mean by combo invulnerability from symbols? That must be some sort of hidden trait that I’ve never seen.

I got my build from a reddit thread on this topic:

There are several viable builds right now.

• The most popular for pure DPS is probably Brazil’s 1H Sword build. Great build but it can get boring imo, because most of your damage is AA from the sword. Hits like a truck in Dungeons. (WARNING: LINK CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE. Here is an alternative link if you’re sensitive that.)

• Guanglai has a variant for a GS with Boon focus.

Brazil’s sword build has the highest DPS but it’s mainly from the Sword’s auto-attack. He also has some DPS-Hammer and DPS-Greatsword builds on his youtube channel.

Finnway.2183:

I got my build from a reddit thread on this topic:

There are several viable builds right now.

• The most popular for pure DPS is probably Brazil’s 1H Sword build. Great build but it can get boring imo, because most of your damage is AA from the sword. Hits like a truck in Dungeons. (WARNING: LINK CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE. Here is an alternative link if you’re sensitive that.)

• Guanglai has a variant for a GS with Boon focus.

Brazil’s sword build has the highest DPS but it’s mainly from the Sword’s auto-attack. He also has some Hammer and Greatsword builds on his youtube channel.

Brazil’s sword build isn’t the highest DPS. He just doesn’t like GS because whirl can be inconsistent so he trades off some DPS for consistency. It’s not a bad build, it’s just not minmax every single point of DPS.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Brazil’s sword build isn’t the highest DPS. He just doesn’t like GS because whirl can be inconsistent so he trades off some DPS for consistency. It’s not a bad build, it’s just not minmax every single point of DPS.

It’s manly matter of preference imo at this point.

Berserker Gear
+X% Damage Traits
“Save Yourselves!” + Bane Signet + Signet of Wrath
Staff-Empower + Scepter-Smite
???
Profit!

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Brazil’s sword build isn’t the highest DPS. He just doesn’t like GS because whirl can be inconsistent so he trades off some DPS for consistency. It’s not a bad build, it’s just not minmax every single point of DPS.

I think the way he words it is “highest DPS that still allows the Guardian to play like a Guardian.”

The Brazil build didn’t feel right to me. I think there are better ways to achieve high DPS while feeling like a Guardian. I just don’t understand the idea of a DPS build with 30 in honour when there are lines that share better damage/Guardian stuff synergies AND give stats appropriate to damage. If you have 30 in honour, your pushing Hybrid build territory.

I think the traiting Guang lists are more appropriate.

What the hell is “feeling like a guardian”?

If Brazil had a problem with whirling wrath then he should just position himself inside mobs.

What do you guys think of his other builds? I’m currently running the GS one.
Greatsword.
Hammer.

colesy.8490:

What the hell is “feeling like a guardian”?

If Brazil had a problem with whirling wrath then he should just position himself inside mobs.

I think he means they lack team support.

Ur built for brazil is outdated. He doesn’t go 30 into honor anymore. His current built is 10/30/0/10/20 for sword focus or 20/25/0/5/20 for gs built.

I think his main point about feeling like a guardian is that he wants to provide team support via timely consecrations and group condition removal. Hence the 20 in virtues for master of consecration and absolute resolution.

I have tried out the gs burst and its quite nice for bosses that dun move around much like subject alpha when properly stacked but sometimes u just have somebody whom likes to range in pug and he makes the boss move constantly. That messes up the burst quite badly.

If u want the highest dps built, the 2 builds proposed by guang is the highest possible now.

I think he means they lack team support. Nice hyperbole though…

What hyperbole?

idzuna.8013:

yLoon.5289:

Zealot Defense deals 14k dmg on CoE Mark T,provided with 25stacks of might and invul. P.S Not a single buff food is consume.

I choose 5% dmg on GS and SwordDamage Modifier+Constant Combo Invulnerability from Symbol and Blind by swapping weapon+Empowering Might = Best Guardian DPS

I’m a little confused here, what do you mean by combo invulnerability from symbols? That must be some sort of hidden trait that I’ve never seen.

Its not a hidden trait. You can find it at Zeal 15 : Symbol Exposure.
Guardian got no prob to keep at least 6 stack of invulnerability given with this trait plus together with Blind Exposure and 20%hand weapon cool down. Even better if Focus20% cool down together then you can blind and caused invulnerable like an engineer.

idzuna.8013:

I’m a little confused here, what do you mean by combo invulnerability from symbols? That must be some sort of hidden trait that I’ve never seen.

Don’t be pedantic ;-) yLoon means vulnerability ofc

Lol, Tarsius thanks forthe clarifications! Yes i meant Vulnerability lol. many apologies for the confusion earlier!

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

20/25/0/0/25 is the highest theoretical DPS, but only if Unscathed can be kept up 100%. Otherwise, 10/30/30/0/0 or 20/30/20/0/0 swapping between GS and 1HS to take advantage of cooldowns is best. Otherwise, 20/25/25/0/0 is ideal if you’re sticking with GS only.

These are all good and pretty close together on damage output. I’ve been playing around with a 10/30/30/0/0 M/T Monks Focus lately, if you hit with Protectors Strike your damage is only ~5% less then Sword and to me it has more of a ‘Guardian feel’. GSword 20/30/20/0/0 does surprisingly well too, utility isn’t the best though.

20/25/0/0/25 can throw some very nice numbers but in practice its not much higher than any of the others in the long run IMHO. Nice for Consecration utility though.

Blood~

I have to bring this topic up again but whats the point of a guardian DPS build with no sustain and no perma vigor. No imp consecrations either so not the most ideal build for fractals either.

If you want a pure DPS build you should look at warriors now with their buffed sustain they are able to easily go full zerker while having like 400+ hp/sec from their sig alone.

I have over 1500h guardian so trust me when I say DPS does not come from traits alone but from sustain and DPS uptime (for how long you are hitting the target). In addition you wanna look at your teammate DPS uptimes. The standad Ah/PoV build with 10 in virtues will:
- Maximise your DPS uptime,
- Allow you to anchor for your team, which means your warrior is going to do what he does best w/o fear of having to back out
-AND you are gonna bring boon support. condition removal and conversion as well as higher uptime on projectile reflection.

Don’t listen to DPS junkies who flex their kitten on getting the fastest CoF clears, an anchor spec in full or almost full zerker gear is still going to give you a higher DPS uptime and MUCH HIGHER team support than any of the garbage specs listed in here. Heck you can even use rune of the scholar and due to the massive AH heal you will be able to proc the 6th piece almost constantly!

AH is bad.

Anchors are not needed.

colesy.8490:

AH is bad.

Anchors are not needed.

Spoken like a true braindead DPS junkie.

colesy.8490:

AH is bad.

Anchors are not needed.

Anchors are not needed is true since no one can Anchor in this game. However AH is not bad it’s just not needed in your ‘DPS team’ and that works fine for the way you want to play.

Others may like the extra healing and find it a more comfortable way to do things. You can put down a lot of DPS even with AH spec and although this isn’t the maximum it is by no means poor. I’ve run with AH in a dungeon and the lowest damage I’ve done with a burst skill is 7K that’s with no vulnerability stacked no constant burning effect etc.

Let people make their own choices instead of making them for them.

Iv’e been testing for a while and I found 10-0-20-30-10 deal as much as a 20-30-20-0-0 if you are not going to use 1 handed sword. But you need your aegis up 50% of the time for it to be as good. it’s nice to have some condition cleaning with pure of voice with this build.

Hunter.4783:

colesy.8490:

AH is bad.

Anchors are not needed.

Spoken like a true braindead DPS junkie.

i loled ………..

i thought AH goes pretty well with the hammer

Whirling Wrath is inconsistent at best and not worth interrupting your Sword chain. If your Whirling Wrath doesn’t crit and/or doesn’t connect with each hit, it’s pretty much a waste. If I was purely focused on achieving the highest possible damage, I wouldn’t bother with taking condition removal at all and would maximize % damage increases. 20 Virtues is pretty strong for condition removal, and with Pure of Voice being bugged and converting 2 conditions, it also has worth. You could always do something weird like take “Save Yourselves!” and Contemplation of Purity if you didn’t want to trait condition removal, but that starts to interfere with your slot skills.

To quickly touch on the idea of being an “Anchor,” though…. There’s really no such thing. Bosses will usually aggro to who hits them first or who is doing the highest damage, and they will completely ignore Toughness. There is the case of the Ettin in FotM, but it’s aggro starts to change the higher up you advance in levels. I thought anchoring was great when I thought it actually did something, but after watching my own recorded dungeon runs and paying closer attention to what fights are actually like, it turned out to be a big myth. AH is lazy and breeds players that don’t want to dodge. It’s a crutch and it’s not actually helpful, so I don’t see any reason to use it. If you don’t care and just want to go around and do things on your own, I don’t really mind, but it is pretty bad for speed clearing or anything where you want to be in and out of a dungeon quickly. An AH build will simply not come close to the DPS of a proper Sword build.

I still really like 10/30/0/5/25, not sure how it weighs up in terms of 100% min/max, though (Guang pls)

Anyway, if you want to be achieving ‘highest’ DPS on a guardian, you’ll need to be able to maintain aegis. If you can maintain Aegis, you can maintain being >90%, making AH worthless. AH is worthless anyway, but just giving slightly more reason than just saying it’s trash.

All I really do is Arah, so I guess I don’t really understand anything about difficult dungeons, but 30 in honor is a crutch for poor play, and 30 in valor is an even bigger crutch. 5 in honor is also a luxury that you don’t need, but 5 points vs 30-60 points is a pretty huge difference.

The 5 in honour also contributes to power of the virtuous. So id assume 10/30/0/5/25 is the best if you arent really using GS much and you can maintain aegis.

I kind of prefer Superior Aria for the cooldown on “Retreat!” or “Stand Your Ground!” but it’s not really necessary. 25 Virtues or 25 Honor aren’t really consistent bonuses, so I tend to stay away from them and take utility. That’s also why I don’t like Unscathed Contender all that much.

i will add though that i do believe whatever build you choose, especially if it’s more.. DPS focused, it will depend on your team makeup as well. even just ONE person can make a big difference. so if you’ve found a good group that allows you to go more DPS, by all means, add them, and keep running with ’em.

Hunter.4783:

I have to bring this topic up again but whats the point of a guardian DPS build with no sustain and no perma vigor. No imp consecrations either so not the most ideal build for fractals either.

If you want a pure DPS build you should look at warriors now with their buffed sustain they are able to easily go full zerker while having like 400+ hp/sec from their sig alone.

I have over 1500h guardian so trust me when I say DPS does not come from traits alone but from sustain and DPS uptime (for how long you are hitting the target). In addition you wanna look at your teammate DPS uptimes. The standad Ah/PoV build with 10 in virtues will:
- Maximise your DPS uptime,
- Allow you to anchor for your team, which means your warrior is going to do what he does best w/o fear of having to back out
-AND you are gonna bring boon support. condition removal and conversion as well as higher uptime on projectile reflection.

Don’t listen to DPS junkies who flex their kitten on getting the fastest CoF clears, an anchor spec in full or almost full zerker gear is still going to give you a higher DPS uptime and MUCH HIGHER team support than any of the garbage specs listed in here. Heck you can even use rune of the scholar and due to the massive AH heal you will be able to proc the 6th piece almost constantly!

Hello, my name is Blood~ and I’m a DPS junkie.

Getting that out of the way I agree that to max DPS you have to “Stay on target!” which can be done in full Zerker. I love this class as it can bring a ton of support while DPS’n or you can go full DPS and be easily competitive with the all mighty warrior. If you are mindful of your DPS output you should do well. I love running in a fast group but only if people can stay on their feet. I personally like full zerker cuz I get bored running AH, too much survivability

TL;DR Play what you like, have fun but be mindful of your DPS output.

Spoken like a true braindead DPS junkie.

Except it’s actually DPS players who do all the thinking on how to maximise their potential while casuals just want to spam heals and pretend they’re being useful. Then there’s Obtena playing burning guardian.

It’s so hilarious and bad I just can’t let go of that.

Anchors are not needed is true since no one can Anchor in this game. However AH is not bad it’s just not needed in your ‘DPS team’ and that works fine for the way you want to play.

Stop sugarcoating, it’s bad. Get over it.

Others may like the extra healing and find it a more comfortable way to do things. You can put down a lot of DPS even with AH spec and although this isn’t the maximum it is by no means poor. I’ve run with AH in a dungeon and the lowest damage I’ve done with a burst skill is 7K that’s with no vulnerability stacked no constant burning effect etc.

“Others” need to realise that a dodge key exists and that AH isn’t going to save them from giant boss swings. It will do absolutely jack all against Lupicus for example. Instead what happens, is they will run in with their “tank” guardian, wonder wtf just happened when they faceplant and then rather than thinking “ok, tanking doesn’t work” they will carry on running their trash build and trash gear.

Anyone have favourite DPS foods and consumables?

We have truffle steak dinner for max damage output, provided there’s a steady stream of kills ( +200 damage for 30 seconds on kill, +10% crit damage )

Lemongrass poultry can mitigate Unscathed Contender’s damage falloff when you health drops somewhat. ( +200 damage when health below 50% )

Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup as a steady middle-ground. ( +100 power, +10% crit damage )

Either the sharpening stones or the maintenance oil to makeup for whatever you build is lacking in.

Sigil wise on 1-handers Force and Night gives +15% damage ( but be sure to switch to accuracy during the day ).

and of course stack bloodlust ( or in some cases perception ) on alternative weapons.

Personally I prefer hydromancy, despite the damage loss because it helps you actually land a lot of your hits.

You generally go for perception on guardians because of reflects. For food id go for curry butternut squash soup and dungeon specific potions.

spoj.9672:

You generally go for perception on guardians because of reflects. For food id go for curry butternut squash soup and dungeon specific potions.

This is only true if you don’t have RHS!

I like omnomberry bar

before gold find nerf

The Mexican Cookie.3690:

spoj.9672:

You generally go for perception on guardians because of reflects. For food id go for curry butternut squash soup and dungeon specific potions.

This is only true if you don’t have RHS!

Good point.

Yaki.9563:

DPS is useful, not sure why you need to load up on support traits to be “useful”.

If I want straight-out damage I would take a Thief, or maybe a Warrior if I don’t already have 1 or 2 in my party.
We may just have different view-points, when I design a build I’m always thinking “what does this build provides that another build or profession doesn’t do better?”.

Devils.3679:

Condi removal Gs4 followed by Gs2, Yes consecrations are good but better of with the 20% more dmg while aegis is up and using Elite focus with tome of wrath imo.

Sure, the traits and skills are not set in stone; if you don’t use Consecrations change the trait.

Guardian sustained DPS with Sword is better than an Axe Warrior. Why wouldn’t you want to maximize Guardian DPS?

yLoon.5289:

My initial build was 10/25/10/25/0
but now evolved to the current one
20/25/0/25/0

GS +Sword/Focus.
Zealot Defense deals 14k dmg on CoE Mark T,provided with 25stacks of might and invul. P.S Not a single buff food is consume.

I choose traits on 5% dmg on GS and Sword + Damage Modifier + Constant Combo Vulnerability from Symbol and Blind by swapping weaponEmpowering Might = Best Guardian DPS

Blind by swapping weapon? how is that possible?

He means he swaps from GS to sword and utilizes the blinds on both weapons.

@Tarsius / Regarding Foods
I typically run +100 power/10% crit damage, this gives the largest consistent return throughout dungeons/fractals, and doesn’t rely on “on kill” procs. The +200 power on kill/10% crit damage is my go to food while farming as the power is almost always active. I would never use the +200 power at low health food, it is never a good idea (especially with our health pool as zerker guards) to keep health so low; this also conflicts with maintaining Scholar runes’ buff.

I’ve been playing with a 20/25/0/0/25 build just for “How high can I get my whirls?!” since they added/updated legendaries to ascended. I am able to hit 30k+ with just self-buffs (15~ might/12 vuln) on Vet Risen Giants. I have not tested this with 25 might/vuln and crit banner yet, however, I’d wager 45-50k might be feasible given the correct buffs are present. Highest I got prior during tests was a 37.6k, using a 20/30/0/10/10 build, so I know the potential is there.

Now, unfortunately, the 20/25/0/0/25 build lacks a lot of the more valuable self-sustain tools (namely the 5 in honor for Vigor) which leads me to recommend against its use in dungeon content/WvW for all but the most experienced guardians.

I have found myself using a 10/30/0/25/5 build recently, it is a healthy balance of DPS traits and sustain/health buff traits. The 10% damage while endurance is not full can be micromanaged to be close to 100% uptime without a wasting too many dodges. The 20 pt in Honor can be toggled between Empowering Might and 2H CD reduction, depending on the need. Obviously I run sword/focus + greatsword for my builds, swapping scepter/sword depending on the situation. If you do not use the one-handed weapons you can drop 5 points in radiance in to Honor to pick up Pure of Voice for the shout cleanse.

Sadly, there are too many opinions and, without parsable/accurate combatlogs, no verifiable “highest dps” build. However, if you are going for straight modifiers… 20/25/0/0/25 has the most:
Zeal: 10% while burning, 5% GS / 10% Scepter
Radiance: 10% while afflicted with condition
Virtues: 20% while Aegis is active, 1% per active boon

Assuming GS trait is selected in Zeal:
(10% * 5% * 10% * 20% * ( 1%* 8 )) = 64.6568%, or roughly 65% before Scholar/Slaying Potion/Sigils are factored in. I also have not tested to see if Power of the Virtuous is a series of 1% increases or simply a flat 1-8% modifier depending on boon count. The difference is small, but it would have potential increase damage by 0.5% or so. This is, of course, factoring in the multiplicative nature of the damage modifers, and not accounting for how the game truncs/rounds its numbers.

Scepter/Torch 20/30/0/0/20 has the highest I’ve tested. 20/25/0/0/25 would probably hit harder with boon in PvE if you had high crit%. This is higher than GSword. GSword may win out if WW would consistently hit though.

Blood~

Casting the torch skills is a dps loss.

Kelnis.1829:

. I am able to hit 30k+ with just self-buffs (15~ might/12 vuln) on Vet Risen Giants.

I’m glad you’re still managing to hit like a truck without external buffs – I really need to redo my max-theoretical GS dps calculations now we have more ascended options.

iirc before Ascended weapons were introduced, and given perfect contact and RNG/crit and every available obtainable fully stacked buff buff in the game the max damage output would be about 49.5k, so with ascended weapons this should easily breach 50

Bloodgruve.6038:

GSword may win out if WW would consistently hit though.

You keep saying this, but I’ve never had this inconsistency issue. Once you start casting WW, just move your character towards the center of the enemy’s target circle. This will help maximize the amount of projectile hits that connect.

@Tarsius

I don’t have your math handy, but it seems to be a 1.5k~ damage increase assuming it hits near the top of the range, but it might be more in theory.

@spoj
T4 is a DPS win, T5 is a loss

@Kelnis
Huh, numbers vary quite a bit, assumed some of the projectiles were missing even from inside the hit box but I was wrong. Consistantly hitting 14 times. Variance is due to Crit %.