Guild Wars 2

So I recently rolled a Guardian for PVE. I really wanted to be an altruistic support/tank, however from some reading, I hear the game doesn’t support that type of play, so I’m at a 3 way split road here, and I just want some honest opinions.

Should I:
1. Just go for what I wanted, and play a staff/mace+shield support bunker. (0/0/30/30/10)
2. Forget tanking and just go zerker but still altruistic support? (20/15/30/0/5) Which focuses on altruistic, resetting Virtue of justice on kills and inspired virtues for high might stacks with staff/great sword.
3. Just forget all if that and find the best dps zerker build and just dps my heart out…?

Thanks in advance!

Do whatever’s most fun for you. In PvE, with the exception of high level fractals, you can sleepwalk through most content. More damage is always going to “win” if your goal is the fastest clear times on content, but the tankier the spec the more forgiving it’ll be of your mistakes. If you go full berserker now, unless you’re used to being full berserker on other classes, you’ll probably be taking quite a few dirt naps. It might be worth it to transition over time.

#1

/15characters

A tanky build is the worst possible setup. Low damage, you don’t really tank, and you don’t provide as much support as a support build. Whatever you do, don’t use soldier’s gear (pow/tough/vit)…worst of all possible worlds!

PVT isn’t the worst. It’s a power primary stat combo, and the toughness and vitality both contribute to your damage by proxy of consumables and Retributive Armor. Cleric’s, for example, is a lot worse.

I would advise you do what you want, but make sure it’s within your limits as a player. Not everyone is capable of soloing dungeons in full zerker gear like a few lurking super Guardians will tell you they can. :p Personally, I transitioned from a full Clerics (YUCK!) to a more balanced damage/support build. It doesn’t do everything but it does alot. I think that if you are knowledgeable with the content you are doing and the class, you can start with a mix of zerker and PVT gear, not need AHEM traiting and see how you want to modify that as you play it.

For Team content, I personally like to spread my stats out over everything with specific targets for various stats (400+ healing power, 30% crit rate, etc…) because that’s what I’m comfortable with and what seems to work with the various PUG’s I’m rolling. Maybe if you team with a dedicated group, you will find a more targeted build depending on how capable they are.

I’m thinking with the mixed feedback, I might try #2 using staff+GS altruistic, since at 63 (current level) it does pretty well. I can keep up good boons and might but still push some pretty solid dps too. Likely using Zerker+ maybe some knights if I feel its needed.

foofad.5162:

PVT isn’t the worst. It’s a power primary stat combo, and the toughness and vitality both contribute to your damage by proxy of consumables and Retributive Armor. Cleric’s, for example, is a lot worse.

Cleric’s sacrifices a very small amount of personal damage for a decent increase to healing for the whole party. Whatever, they are both bad.

That’s a little closed minded. The power primary stat combo gear is all usable. Because of the reasons I stated, PVT actually has the highest power out of any gear combo. You can take advantage of that if you’ve already got high critical hit chance from things like RHS, for example, to give yourself some breathing room in defensive stats.

like foofad said, PVT gives you a strong base to work off of. i have found uses for PVT and can be easily mixed and match with jewelry and traits, especially if one can’t afford to keep switching armor but want to try different builds. you might not be min/maxing but it’s not terribad. cleric definitely has a place too, depending on how you want to play.

@OP – just go for what you like. then the more you play, you can keep transitioning, keep improving and keep changing your style, if you want to. and you’ll learn to approach different situations with different mindsets as well. no one ever said you only get to choose one build and must stick with it forever, right? ; ))

never bother’d with vit if you run ah

0/15/30/20/5
Knight armour/zerker trinkets/zerker weapon

Charak.9761:

never bother’d with vit if you run ah

0/15/30/20/5
Knight armour/zerker trinkets/zerker weapon

This, or swap the 15 in radiance to 15 in zeal, if using a hammer.

I find zerker guardian lackluster. We have half of the HP that a full zerker warrior has, we can pull less dps, plus the amount of defensive abilities we get as full zerkers does not compensate the little HP pool. Go full zerker only if you wana farm CoF 1, and you are too lazy to level a warrior for that purpose.

Full bunker with a mace/x + staff – well I think it’s kinda overkill for PvE. There are more attractive tankish builds out there that are using 2h weapons. And they can pull more dps and provide higher group support.

Gangnam style?

15charrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr