Guild Wars 2

I have a Level 80 Guardian and I love playing him – in both WvW and PvE.

Have been experimenting with other different professions and the Warrior caught my attention. For those with both the Warrior and the Guardian, do the two have different playstyles? Would there be scenarios where one would work better than the other, or would they be similar?

Just wanted to see if there was a point in leveling a Warrior, or would there be too much overlap between the two professions. Thanks for everyone’s input!

I’m interested too…forever undecided between them 2

guardian is different then warrior.
guardian is better at staying on enemy, warrior is better at running away

they are very different in all game modes, the one where they may feel the closest is possibly wvw because they both need to stick to the commander the same way but the similarity ends about there.

Guardian to me feels more like an arcane warrior or battle priest, with limited mobility and a lot of active “spell effect” type skills.

I struggled with this choice for a while myself, and now play Warrior almost exclusively. Warrior feels much faster, more aggressive and straightforward, in the sense that you’re a charging, leaping, stomping powerhouse with regenerating health and some of the most satisfying direct damage skills in the game (eg Eviscerate).

Both classes are very good in most, if not all, game modes and their heavy armour has the best skin options in the game, IMO. If you’re getting the HoT expansion, the Revenant might be a competitor too.

tl;dr: WARRIOR!

Edit: This should help you decide.

In simplest terms:

- Party utility

Guardian: defensive support (Regeneration, Protection, Aegis, Reflects, Stability, Retaliation)
Warrior: offensive support (Might, Fury, Banners)

- Self utility

Guardian: more Aegis, usually easier to handle conditions with
Warrior: more Stability access, poorer condition cleanse unless heavily specced for it

They’re about equal at Stunbreaker access.

- vs. Enemies

Guardian promotes a somewhat more active playstyle in terms of handling pressure with well times Blinds, Aegis, Protection.

Warrior has more of a soak-it-up type playstyle that promotes either pure damage pressure with certain weapons or hard CC with others.
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Warriors have access to a decent condition build, Guardians dont. Warrior offers a slight edge in damage for PvE content. For WvW, Guardians are support frontliners, Warriors are CC frontliners (in general).

There is definitely some overlap between the classes depending on which weapons are used, which builds are used and which game mode we’re talking about.

But for the most part, they’re different. So much so, that you’re probably missing out if you don’t level both seeing as you’re into heavy melee classes.

if you use 2handers they both feel pretty much the same from what i’ve experienced
i was leaning more towards the Guardian but then i tried swinging 2 axes on the Warrior and i was hooked

I have taken a guardian from fractal 25 to fractal 50. And i had a warrior sitting there doing nothing.

Yesterday i was in a pug and, as we already had another guardian, and they only wanted one, i proposed the change. So i sent all my trinkets and weapons to the warrior, bought some scholar runes (because the strentgh runes are too expensive) and gave it a try.

I had only specced the warrior, for phalanx strength. Didn’t know anything about rotations. Just thought i had to camp gs and switch to axe/mace if we needed more vulnerability on the boss.

Guardian: (zerker, high level fractals, using gs/s-f, swapping sword with scepter for some fights, and even bringing hammer depending on the group)
You are one of the squishiest proffesions out there. You only have your well timed aegis, blinds, and dodges to keep you from dying. Meleeing if the rest of the group will not do it is suicide unless you can see every tell of the enemy (with some burning enemies it’s not always possible for me to detect the tells).

Warrior: more relaxed. 24k of hp vs 14k with the zerker guardian and great regen on top of that. Tons of offensive support for the team. Not meleeing with the warrior is dumb, as it’s pretty much unkillable. Camping gs means might for everybody. However, you don’t have so much vigor, so you have to use your dodges carefully. You cannot get aegis on command, so you need your dodges for the big hits. If you stay with phalanx strength, there’s no need to switch traits for every battle like i was doing with the guardian. As i said: more relaxed. Oh, and if you are the one running phalanx, you don’t have to worry about having 3 warriors on the party and no might, like it happens every time i go with the guardian.

That’s my limited view, after one fractal run, but doing the same content with the 2 professions and almost exactly the same gear.

what are the main differences you can find in WvW; in terms of playing or fighting a War or a guard;

Rhaegar.5120:

what are the main differences you can find in WvW; in terms of playing or fighting a War or a guard;

Group WvW:
-both are frontliners
-both have party-wide sustain and condi-cleanse
-Warrior has “heavier” CC (hammer), Guardian has more important buffing (Stability rotations, Empower) – although Guards also use their Hammer to CC, and Warrs buff with For Great Justice
-different means of survivability – both are heavy armored, but as a Warrior you rely on your high HP pool and 3 dodges (Energy Sigil ftw) to survive spikes, while Guards have more active defenses (Aegis, Shelter, Renewed Focus) to entirely mitgate damage. As I’ve noticed, Warriors usually die to bigger spikes if they mess up dodging, while avoiding those are easier as a Guard, however Conditions and consistent damage will bother them more.

I’d say Warrior feels more aggressive in a zerg fight, while Guardians are the more defensive frontliners.

Roaming:
Guardians are squishier with better active damage mitgation and their burst is harder to avoid, however Warriors pack more hard CC and a LOT more mobility, especially out of combat.
Speaking of the current “meta” roaming builds, Guardians are better in 1v1 fights, but Warrior is a the more efficient roamer due to being able to choose when to fight and when not to.

Let me see if got things right

1)am I right to think that a Warrior would allow me to make more mistakes due to being naturally tankier?
2) warrior seems faster and more mobile
3) warrior play-style seem more aggressive
4) guard has more active defensive but a bit squishier

am I talking rubbish?

Rhaegar.5120:

Let me see if got things right

1)am I right to think that a Warrior would allow me to make more mistakes due to being naturally tankier?
2) warrior seems faster and more mobile
3) warrior play-style seem more aggressive
4) guard has more active defensive but a bit squishier

am I talking rubbish?

1) Yes, though Guardian is not that hard to play, either
2) Yes
3) Depends on the build and game-mode. In WvW roaming I’d argue that a Meditation Guardian is more in-your-face and aggressive than any of the viable Warrior builds, which are more hit-and-run. In WvW Zerging Warrior is definitely more aggressive, while in SPvP it depends on the build (Hambow/Axebow and Mediguard are both very aggressive, Shoutbow is not that much, AH Bunker Guard is like the most defensive build ever).
4) Yes

Warriors are more about attacking and CC.
Guards are more about group support and defensive.

Both classes can swap these rolls. The difference is. Warrior can spec into more defensive and group support but guardian kinda has this out of the box already.

Guards can spec into more offensive but doesn’t have anywhere near the offensive options a warrior has.

In PvE they do feel different. Warrior is the offensive party buffer (banners and might with PS), which can be achieved with little effort or concentration, on the other hand guardian requires concentration to conditions and certain attacks in terms of negating the negative effects of them. I think guardian is a more active play style but the mobility and high numbers from great sword make it somewhat fun to play occasionally.

warrior : manny pacquaio , guardian : floyd mayweather

Zackie.8923:

warrior : manny pacquaio , guardian : floyd mayweather

lol

pacquaio should have used Fear me, but anyway for next patch the signet mastery trait would kill mayweather.

Warrior is more forgiving of mistakes, but Guardians can be more indestructible.

Guardians are less forgiving than warrior as they naturally have the lowest HP pool out of the two heavies. Guardians have to finish just about every fight they get caught in by themselves, as most classes can stick to them pretty well. Warriors can engage and disengage at their leisure, especially if you are running a GS.

JackSpacer.4320:

Guardians are less forgiving than warrior as they naturally have the lowest HP pool out of the two heavies. Guardians have to finish just about every fight they get caught in by themselves, as most classes can stick to them pretty well. Warriors can engage and disengage at their leisure, especially if you are running a GS.

Warriors are less forgiving as Warrior needs to dispatch his target before he is dead! Warriors do not get easy condi removals, they don’t get Protections, Aegis, and rely on a regen. Only the GS warrior can flee, other specs are just as kiteable as Guardian.

Guardians has less hp but far more utility and do same if mot more dps as of now! Warriors are a quirky class that either succeeds or fails at its task, there is no middle ground like the Guardian.

Shieldbash.5304:

JackSpacer.4320:

Guardians are less forgiving than warrior as they naturally have the lowest HP pool out of the two heavies. Guardians have to finish just about every fight they get caught in by themselves, as most classes can stick to them pretty well. Warriors can engage and disengage at their leisure, especially if you are running a GS.

Warriors are less forgiving as Warrior needs to dispatch his target before he is dead! Warriors do not get easy condi removals, they don’t get Protections, Aegis, and rely on a regen. Only the GS warrior can flee, other specs are just as kiteable as Guardian.

Guardians has less hp but far more utility and do same if mot more dps as of now! Warriors are a quirky class that either succeeds or fails at its task, there is no middle ground like the Guardian.

The way I see it:

Warriors have less active defenses compared to Guardians
Guardian have an easier time landing damage compared to Warriors.

All power warriors need set up to land meaningful damage, or depend on the opponent being an idiot. For example, landing 100B requires some investment such as Flurry, Bulls Charge, Bola, Hammer, etc. Guardian can just almost spam their damage and it’ll connect, it’s much much more forgiving and less reliant on luck. On the flip side, Guardians are squishier and require much more skill to survive with. Meditation guardians are all about risk vs reward with their abilities. Almost all of their abilities have some defensive trade-off for using them offensively. It’s very easy to die as a Guardian if you don’t use your skills intelligently. There’s really not many warrior equivalents. Like, Berserker Stance does have some offensive or defensive opportunity cost technically, but it’s incredibly minor compared to what Guardian has to deal with.

I just picked warrior because the sword and shield on a Guardian is weak in comparison. Plus, the warrior’s offensive support in PvE is more beneficial.

Well, you have to ask yourself, Does a warrior play like a Ranger? If the answer is no then No, a warrior doesn’t play like a Dragonhu…I mean guardian.

OwikGall.1607:

I just picked warrior because the sword and shield on a Guardian is weak in comparison. Plus, the warrior’s offensive support in PvE is more beneficial.

its not more beneficial its just different guardians are needed in PVE as much as warriors in a lot of content u cant do something well without one.

Yea, we can actually slay dragons, guardians will just hide behind their new block and leap away with their fancy wings