Guild Wars 2

Hi there, a Guardian newbie here. ^^ I’m really tempted to do try out dungeons (Explorer Mode) and join one of those PUGs I see all the time. I have no idea what will happen and what I need to do though. What will people expect of me as a Guardian? I’m actually quite scared to try it out, I’ll probably do stupid things and die all the time, but I really want one of those armor sets.

I am currently using a Sword/Focus and Greatsword and I try to aim towards as much damage as possible. Is that acceptable, or will people expect me to run a support/“heal”/“tank” build because I’m a Guardian? Do anyone have any tips for a newbie Guardian that wants to start doing dungeons, like any nice Utility Skills to bring? I do prefer to be a DPS guardian and I prefer not to replace all of my Berserker gear just because I’m going into dungeons (and also because I’m poor!)

I would really appreciate any kind of help before I start venturing into those dungeons with no clue!

People will expect you to be the person that lives the longest and able to survive tough situations. Don’t let other’s expectations of you feel you need to be a certain way, though… Do you. I use sword/focus + greatsword and it’s off the hook! Every piece of armor I use is berserker (weapons, armor, jewelry), but it will take loads of practice to master for every encounter, but it’s possible. Enjoy your guardian

In dungeons dps is the way to go. In any class. Dungeons in this game are way to easy. You need dps for a fast run but you can do it with any set or any build.

urieldhynne.2743:

In dungeons dps is the way to go. In any class. Dungeons in this game are way to easy. You need dps for a fast run but you can do it with any set or any build.

Not only that, big DPS actually makes everything easier because all the mobs die before they even have a chance to hit.

Being the only DPS in a group full of people geared for self-survivability, on the other hand, seriously sucks. You’re basically soloing everything in minimal armor except now you also have a bunch of useless dead weight to screw up your pulls. It’s basically hard mode.

i never understood the concept of NEED HEAVY CLASS and then right next to that they put FULL ZERK GEAR. seems silly.

anyway they’ll expect you to, like all other classes, deal damage and not die. our special function is that we can reflect projectiles and trivialize otherwise annoying fights. anything else you can do is just a bonus as long as it doesn’t take away from the 3.

ellesee.8297:

i never understood the concept of NEED HEAVY CLASS and then right next to that they put FULL ZERK GEAR. seems silly.

anyway they’ll expect you to, like all other classes, deal damage and not die. our special function is that we can reflect projectiles and trivialize otherwise annoying fights. anything else you can do is just a bonus as long as it doesn’t take away from the 3.

Do not join any group that says “need heavy,” those are the worst kinds.

You can always run what you feels comfortable playing but by the sound of it you’ll fit in as the expected DPS that everyone runs in dungeons. You can go with radiance 30 for the extra crit rate on one handed then go sword/torch and mace/focus to give you DPS and some survivability when switching to mace due to blocks and a bit of regen.

Îf you are new to a dungeon, ppl expect, that you say that. Otherwise noone will tell you what to do and you’ll fail.
And If someone kicks you bc you are new, well, be glad you left the grp that early^^

As a guardian, well timed aegis, stability and reflection is key. You’re goingt to learn which encounter requires which skill.

I would actually suggest you join a guild and get to make some friends that you can run with. I hate running with most pugs. Bad I can tolerate, but I hate running with jerks / idiots.

Also, get a good build. Gear is up to you, but I reccommend either full zerk like other people have suggested, or a mix of zerker / knights if you like to have some toughness. Get very familiar with this build, but don’t be afraid to swap utilities as necessary. If you know you’re coming up on a boss with strong projectiles, pick up WoR and Master of consecrations, your party will love you for it.

Lastly, just because you may be “full DPS” doesn’t mean you can’t support. In fact it’s hard to make a guardian build that doesn’t have any support whatsoever, it’s just the nature of playing the class. A staff can make your party really love you, because the only thing better than lots of DPS is lots of DPS + 25 stacks of might for your group.

The vast majority of groups don’t expect anything. I run fractals on my healing guardian and no one complains. No one complains if I don’t use WoR in the right spots because I forgot to change skills. No one complains if I don’t use group stability. I’ve yet to have anyone tell me to do anything class specific. Same goes for my warrior except the one group that coordinated banner use.

So basically, do whatever you want. Despite what people say about DPS (which is mostly true btw) it really doesn’t make all that much difference. The only thing that sucks is if you go a heal build and some other person is also heal build so your regen and stuff is wasted and your group has bad DPS. I wouldn’t recommend going PVT gear, then you get bad dps and offer nothing (stat wise) to your group.

I guess my point is, don’t be worried about what people expect. The best build/gear involves berserker but a heal build can be useful for PUGs as well (though overall not as good as berserker DPS build). Play what you want.