Guild Wars 2

The only meta built with zeal 20 is 20/25/0/0/25. It’s good assuming organized dungeon party

I am pretty sure that if u are focusing on one handed weapon utilizing RHS.
With max buffs(full might/fury/banner/precison food), u can easily reach 99% crit chance.
Full berserker armor is the way to go and use bloodlust stacks

For a new guardian, i’ll recommend a 0/30/0/30/10 built instead of the 10/30/30/0/0 built.
Take:
1) radiance- blind exposure/powerful blades/Right hand strength
2) honor- Superior aria/Empowering might/Pure of voice
3) Virtue- Master of consecration
The extra hp and heal on dodge from honor should provide a decent buffer for a new player.

Just wanted to chime in and say thanks to the nice dungeon community members for sharing their strategies and builts .
I learn a lot from the videos and builts the community provided.

The problem lies with the player not with the built.
Any experienced player will adapt to the situation and make changes to their utilities and weapons instead of using one set of specific utilities and weapon for all situations.

Its just like when i went for Ac path 2 this morning with my warrior, none of the elementalists or guardian use reflects to protect against the spiderling attacks and during ghost eater fight as well. They were also not in zerker gear as it took us 3 traps to kill him.

TheKillerAngel.3596:

How about 25 points? I had been thinking of some builds along the lines of:
10.15.25.10.10
0.25.25.10.10

I haven’t personally tested these, just some fast ideas.

The problem with crit damage is that if u are in berserker/assassin armour, u will already have a tonn of crit damage and that makes it very invaluable as compared to damage modifiers. Crit damage adds additively(i.e +10% crit damage , original multiplier is +230% , new multiplier is +240%). Damage modifiers increases multiplicatively (ie +10% damage , original multplier is +140% , new multiplier is +154%)

As for the 2 builts u mentioned, I can easily move 10 points away from valor and put it into radiance (25) or Zeal (10) for a built with higher damage. This is because 10% damage modifier > +10% crit damage.

If u refer to the table in this link ( http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_hit ), u can see how increasing crit damage will affect your average damage by comparing the values between the cell.

Eg (using the table in the link)

1) No crit damage armour case

100% crit chance and 0% crit damage, average damage increase over base is 1.5.
100% crit chance and 30% crit damage, average damage increase over base is 1.8.
Overall increase from 0% crit damage to 30% crit damage is 1.8/1.5=1.2x (increase of 20%)
This is assuming u are wearing armour without crit damage and 30% crit damage only increases ur damage by 20%.

2) 70% crit damage armour
100% crit chance and 70% crit damage , average damage increase over base is 2.2
100% crit chance and 100% crit damage , average damage increase over base is 2.5
Damage increase= 2.5/2.2 = 1.13666
In the case of full zerker/assasin armour/trinkets , 30% crit damage only increases ur damage by 13.67%.

Hence why crit damage is not as good as damage modifier.

@Carlos
I simply have to disagree on some points u made.

I think that the biggest advantage in 25 virtues is its versatility, If u dun need either master of consecrations or absolute resolution , u can simply take unscathed contender for a decent damage boost. But i nvr think that unscathed contender is the core of a 25 virtues built unless u are in organised speed runs. Even without unscathed contender, a 10/30/0/5/25 built is going to outdamage a 10/30/0/30/0 built given the same amount and types of boons.

U say that with pov u can have 2×600 range life saver condition conversion if u slot 2 shouts. Have u thought of taking renewed focus in the 25 virtues built? It gives u 2×1200 range life saver condition removal and 2x 1200 range aegis block for your team as well if u spam the virtues and renewed focus immediately. I really dun think having POV is much better unless u are considering taking 3 shouts.

Just for ur info for COF p2 during the magg running part, u dun take purging flames. Instead u should take smite conditions or contemplation of purity since they already buffed it to take effect immediately. Normally i will take retreat/smite conditions/CoP/renewed focus.

Your point about MoC being moot is contradicting. U say u normally play with unexperienced pugs in which fights will last longer. Thats where MoC actually shines because i cant depend on pugs to give me reflects at the right time. So by taking MoC, i can have 12s of reflection 20s of absorption and another 12s of reflection..just close 44s of projectile protection counting shield downtime. Even if your party members dun stand directly behind the wall of reflection, they still get the projectile immunity considering they are not standing too far away from u.

All that being said, i do agree that the extra vitality and the dodge roll heals are pretty nice in the honor traitline and that i am only trying to show my point of view regarding your arguments against the 10/30/0/5/25 built. If u really dislike it, then go for your 10/30/0/30/0 built

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_hit

Just use the average damage increase table in this page, u will realize that a 30% increase in crit damage isn’t that big of a boost to your damage if u already high levels of critical damage. If u are in full berserker/assassin armour, the damage increase is most probably only around 12% or so for a +30% crit damage.

For other values of crit chance with cri damage, please use the table and compare it yourself.

Thanks obtena for pointing out the table on the wiki

@ obtena

Your damage goes from 1.5x the base to 1.65x the base. But that is when it is compared against base damage.

If u compare the damage between (50,50) to (50,80) , the increase is 1.65x/1.5x =1.1×. Meaning that at (50,80), u are dealing 1.10x the damage as compared to (50,50). Damage increase of only 10% as compared to (50,50)

Hope u can understand what i am saying.

@Carlos

Have u thought about why u are slotting 2 shouts normally? Are u slotting the shouts for the condition cleansing ability or for the actual effects? In most cases, there is actually no need to cleanse your allies of all conditions they actually have. If they are downed, its their own fault anyway.

I am using the 10/30/0/5/25 built. The utilities i normally use are signet of bane/WoR/Hallowed ground/purging flames/retreat/SoA and stand your ground. Normally i will slot retreat but when bosses/mobs like to cc, i’ll bring Syg instead. Hence I normally only have one shout on my bar only.

I personally think master of consecration is very important if u are the only guardian in a party because its WoR is so good in fractals and in some dungeons as well (SE/arah/CM) comes to my mind. If u really want 30 in honor, then i will recommend 0/30/0/30/10 or 15/15/0/30/10.

@obtena
I feel that your way of looking at critical damage is faulty. Assuming 100% crit chance and full zerker armour, u will have 78% crit damage. So ur overall mutliplier for critical damage is 2.28×. Adding an additional 30% crit damage makes it into 2.58×. Overall damage increase is 2.58/2.28= 1.13 times. Hence even at 100% crit chance, the 30% extra crit damage only increasing your damage by 13%. Of course, if u look at an example with of a character with ppt armour, the result will be increasing ur damage more than 13% but definitely less than 20.1%.

Thanks obal for posting this guide on the guardian official forum! Now I can redirect my friends here regarding good pve guardian builts.

I hope u can further improve this guide by making it more interesting so that it has both good information and good formatting. Good formatting is important because the way u present information helps to make it more appealing or acceptable to players.
If u need any help, u can pm me to assist u.

The problem with your built is that against thrash mobs, u want to spam virtue of justice for the blind and renewed justice effect. Blind is quite good against thrash mob except for dredge. However supreme justice n permeating wraith doesn’t encourage u to do that. On bosses, if u press F1, if all ur members hit the boss, u can maintain quite a high uptime on burning except for when the boss can cleanse condition eg coe p1 n 2 alpha.

I think permeating wraith n supreme justice are quite bad traits currently.

From what I read, the purpose of the built is be tough, do damage heal and support.

I dun think a 10/25/0/10/25 improved guardian paladin 2.5 built doesn’t fit in.

Tough: is not only about toughness or hp or heals. Dodging correctly can negate more damage than having high toughness/heal/vitality. Having perm vigor helps a lot.

Damage: 10/25/0/10/25 higher output than 0/15/30/20/10

Heals: 10/25/0/10/25 can heal with virtue of resolve more often than 0/15/30/20/10 because of lower cd. But I think 0/15/30/20/10 built can heal for more throughout same period of time.

Support: 10/25/0/10/25 has obviously more support options than 0/15/30/20/10 as the improved built has more grp condition removal and lowered consecrations cooldown.

@obtena
Stop hiding behind your flowery language and add some substance to your replies please. U keep repeating that our suggestion is not trying to improve the built or adhering to the flavor of the built.
Why not u make some suggestions yourself to improve this guardian paladin 2.5 built based on its ‘flavor’ or the philosophy of this built? Or do u think that 0/15/30/20/10 is already the best ilteration of silentstorm’s philosophy for this built?

fadeaway.2807:

Looks like you picked up 20 to 28 percent more damage modifiers depending on how many boons you have and 100 pwr/prec. Hopefully you’re seeing a lot more damage than what you got from 30 valor.
How do you feel about your survivability without that 300 toughness and ah?

I’m still on the fence about 20 virtue. A lot of people like it but I write like the idea of only 10 virtue, 10 more in zeal for gs 5 percent and 5 more in radiance for 1h traits. This way you can swap between 1h and 2h and both have higher dps than before. Like I said, I’m on the fence about this definitely like this build better than with 30 in ah though especially in dungeons

20 in virtues gives u absolute resolution. (if grp condition removal not useful, can take unscathed contender as well)
The marvelous thing abt this trait is that it gives u a grp condition removal without wasting a utility slot so that u can have other useful utilities like reflection/shield of avenger/retreat etc.
Hence if u already go 20 in virtues..the logical choice will be either last 5 points radiance for RHS or Power of virtuous. In this scenario, I will take power of virtuous because its always increases my damage regardless of weapon.

If i changed to the trait spread u mention (20/30/0/10/10), ur only form of grp condition removal will only be purging flames unless u take soldier runes(undesirable in dungeon content) etc. I mean u just have to see if u think the tradeoff is worth it anot?

Improvement to guardian paladin 2.5 built
1) Take 30 points away from Valor
2)Put 10 points in Zeal for Fiery Wraith(Moar damage)
3)Put an additional 10 points in radiance for radiant power (Moar Damage)
( U can choose signet cd reduction if u dun wan play with sword)
4)Put additional 10 points in Virtue for master of consecrations for more uptime on reflects n fire fields n faster grp condition removal.
5)Take 10 points away from honor and put it into Virtues for absolute resolution(grp condition removal aka support)
Now u have a better trait spread(10/25/0/10/25) as compared to 0/15/30/20/5 because u get more damage(25% damage increase> 30% crit damage)/more support( reflection uptime/fire fields/group condition removal).
The only disadvantage is that your personal survivability declines but group wise survivability will increase as monster die faster, more reflects so partymates are safe from projectiles longer , more grp condition removal so your team mates dun die due to condition that easily.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Sarcasm is my best trait. I put 30 points into it.

I am still confused at your response to me though. Where did Anicetus say that he was specifically talking Dungeon groups?

When he mentioned his assumed buffs, the implication was that he was referring to a dungeon team. In any other context the list of buffs he listed don’t make sense to assume. I understand he never explicitly stated it, but in general when we theorycraft we do it under the assumption of dungeon conditions because its the only pve area where this level of refinement makes a difference. If we are talking open world or solo dungeons that would be explicitly stated.

Otherwise, we take Fury, Might, Vuln, and Warrior banners for granted in our dps calculations.

If you didn’t know Anicetus/Dub, which would include myself, you could also make the assumption he was talking about WvW too.

Maybe it’s just me, but you guys seem to be derailing this thread. What does this have to do with Silentstorm’s Paladin build?

So u mean silentstorm built is for wvw? I doubt so since his video was shown in arah and not wvw setting.
I thought it’s rather obvious that this thread is about pve(open world n dungeon). Hence I dun think people will suddenly talk about wvw builts in a thread for pve builts.
They were offering sound advice on improving guardian paladin 2.5 built, but whether people listen is another matter on its own.

Just to clarify, I am always talking abt dungeon pve situation. I will always take sword/focus over sword/torch. Focus has amazing utility for a guardian.
Focus move #4 : blind ( make enemy miss ), regen (always good), vulnerability if traited (enemy take more damage) and condition removal as well when the beam bounce onto a player.
Focus move #5: super aegis (3 times) really good for ressing downed players or when u out of dodges or u lazy to dodge.
I will only consider taking torch if i am using only ranged battle in a fight but that is a rare case ( actually i dun even have torch in my inventory). My usual load out is sword/focus+gs/hammer/scepter
As for scepter damage, the auto attack damage is really alot lower than sword..I think sword auto deals approximately 1.7x of the scepter autodamage within 2.5s time frame.The last hit of sword auto hits for alot of damage.
However smite is really good against monsters with big hit box and doesnt move much so that all hits on smite connect. In such scenario, scepter should deal more damage but these situation are not very common. eg nightmare tree/jade tentacles etc.
Hope this helps u out.

Torch #5 move is a net dps loss compared to sword autoattack.

1. if thrown is a slight burst move but not exactly alot more powerful than a autoattack..

I wont take radiant fire..powerful blade n the vulnerability on blind traits are what I usually take in the first 2 slots.

For virtues, I usually take master of consecration n absolute resolution or unscathed contender

I dun think a built focused on scepter is good.
Alot of the time in dungeons, u will be stacking and meleeing mobs whereby honor 5 will be quite crucial for suvival. As can be seen as most suggested builts have at least 5 in honor cause its just that good. And Tyler Chapman have said that they will be reworking the vigor trait on mesmer n guardian as well in future balance patch(I think he said it on the ele forum) to reduce our downtime on vigor or to force us to sacrifice more points to get it.
I will suggest u to still take 10/30/0/5/25 even if u use scepter frequently. Virtue 25 can provide a decent % boost to watever weapons u take and will not be a wasted trait unlike the 20 point trait in zeal where u can only choose either zealous blade or scepter power.

Hurrakan.4259:

Check this thread and the charts there (especailly “golden ratios”):

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Damage-Power-Precision-and-Golden-Ratios

Citizen Shane

For any specific character that you want to maximize damage, you can apply the data as follows:
(1) look at your critical strike damage level
(2) refer to the golden ratio for the closest level
(3) calculate your power-to-precision ratio by dividing power by precision
(4) compare the 2 ratios. If your current ratio is below the golden ratio, take points out of precision and put them into power (if possible) until you get to the golden ratio. If your current ratio is above the golden ratio, take points out of power and put them into precision (if possible) until you get to the golden ratio.
You will need to re-evaluate this whenever your critical strike damage changes if you want to remain at optimal direct damage output.

That table is for power vs precision. Not crit damage vs crit chance

I dun think there is a optimal crit chance vs crit damage ratio. If u are talking about a 1% increase in crit chance vs 1% increase in crit damage, then increase in crit chance is better.
However there is a different tradeoff for different equipment, hence it is difficult to compare.

And I think u mixed it up with power vs precision whereby there is indead a table regarding the optimal amount of power for a certain level of crit chance and crit damage.
I think that in your case precision will be more useful since u already have alot of crit damage from the valor line. And having higher precision allow u to trigger empowering might and vigor more consistenly.
As a disclaimer, I am not entirely sure I am right though.

Just wandering if u know rune of the ranger is bugged atm and it provides a constant 5% increase in dmg which should make it better than runes of the eagle

Just let them run with their favorite AH built.
I wouldn’t bother to argue anymore since they stubbornly think their 30 valor builts are good damage, good survivability and good support in pugs. (I pug regularly with my 10/30/0/10/20 built) i like 10 in honor for superior aria because I hate waiting to swap my utilities.
I think several of us has already stated why AH Is bad and if they are not getting convinced already, then just let them be. I’m tired of saying why builts without AH are better

Berner.7289:

Nope. Don’t assume that the goal of a build with AH is to maximize AH procs. Dishing boons is always a good thing, but of course you don’t have to run any particular weapon set to get the benefits of AH. We’re not min/maxing here. For example, greatsword is a perfectly viable weapon too: more damage at the expense of fewer AH procs. Trade-offs.

If u dun maximize AH procs, then u are better off going into honor for selfless daring if u need heals and survivability.
Yes u lose critical damage, but the traits there are more beneficial to a group as compared to valor. Eg empowering might, superior aria, pure of voice. Trade offs lol.

Berner.7289:

Correct, you have to give up Fiery Wrath (imho). In exchange for 30% crit-damage, toughness, trickle heals, and more Scholar up-time. Trade-offs.

Failed comparison. U are directly comparing a 10 point trait vs a 30 point trait directly which is illogical at all.
U are giving up 100 power/10% damage mod/10% condition duration for +10% crit dmg/100 toughness/AH. U dun have to give up the full 30 in valor to put 10 in zeal. U just have to give up the last 10 points.

Incomingray.8075:

Altruistic healing I could care less about altho it does save me sometimes esp on stuff like dredge trash with gs/staff, I just want the crit damage and the toughness helps me a bit being full zerk often.
.

Incomingray.8075:

Again i’m not going down valor to get altruistic healing, I just want the toughness and crit damage at the end rather than zeal tree, strength in numbers is helpful, altruistic healing does help keep me up in some situations.

After claiming that you are not going into Valor for AH repeatedly, I provided u a built without AH with similar lvl of toughness and potentially higher damage.
Others like Durend also provided builts without Ah with similar lvl of defense though hammer protection etc.
Then u went on to defend your choice of taking AH when faced with such builts that I mentioned.
U are contradicting yourself so just accept the fact that u are going 30 into valor for AH and not crit damage or toughness.

Incomingray.8075:

I would prob never WvW without those traits you named I just don’t see them as very helpful for pugging fractals, shout cooldown is no prob aegis stays up on alot of boss fights, again I like getting all the crit damage with the toughness, goes with berserker gear well, strength in numbers is quite good too for a pug group, dont need the condition removal as you say.

I get 450 toughness my group gets 150 of that, AH helps alot in some parts in pugs, crit damage complements full zerk and 30 in radiance, I think everything is useful at some points in a fractals pug, I think it’s a better approach than getting toughness from gear and reducing my crit% and adding healing/vitality/boon duration/virtue recharge

U claimed AH wasnt that important in your built and u can run without it by leaving the slot empty.
Hence i recommended dropping 10 from valor and put into Zeal.
Eg swapping from a Ring of Red death to a Rurik’s Royal Signet Ring
U lose 68 precision (3% critical chance) and 10% critical damage
U gain 65 power (from Zeal) and 3 extra toughness (lol) and 10% condition duration and most importantly 10% damage against burning foe.
End result : higher damage, same toughness , no AH , same lack of support

Incomingray.8075:

Just because a build has 30 in valor doesn’t mean it’s centered around altruistic healing, the point of my build for example 0/30/30/0/10 in pug 40s/50s fractals is to do good single target damage(in full zerk, 75-80% crit with 1h, getting the most of the crit damage) and have that extra 300 toughness + strength in numbers, for pugging, never in an optimal group, if I played with a strong group i’d do 10/25/0/10/25.

All that toughness and AH heals help being in full zerk in a chaotic pug situation.. it’s a build for consistency/versatility, the 10 in virtues means on the fights where you need consecrations you got the trait, on some boss fights you can just put on unscathed defender and try not to get hit/use retreat+voc+renewed focus and put out nice scepter/sword damage.

Lack of vigor(from honor trait) is a big deal, sigil of stamina makes up for it on all the trash, +endurance food helps a bit in other places, I don’t think it’s worth freaking out over as if that trait is the most helpful thing of all time in PVE where you know what’s going to happen.

I don’t think the 10 in honor and 15 extra in virtues provide much extra useful support for most pug groups, strength in numbers helps, not being too squishy while still doing good dps helps me… basically for me my ‘ah build’(it’s not about AH at all) is just to do good single target damage without going down too easy when things go wrong as they often do in pug land… 2handers AH and sigil of stamina full zerk makes trash really easy in lev40/50 fractals.

If u really need the toughness, why not get cavalier or knights gear instead of going full 30 in the valor line whereby most of the traits are lackluster ? Then u can pick up fiery wraith so your damage wouldn’t drop even if u lose critical damage from the valor line?

10 in honor gives superior aria which reduces retreat coolddown to 48s, which I think is quite good if things go wrong. U get 1 extra aegis for every 4 mins in a fight.

20 in virtues gives absolute resolution which makes virtue of resolution into a grp condition removal without using one of your utility slot. Of course that might not be very crucial in fractals as the mobs rarely use condition there, but it’s good for other dungeons.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

The gist of this whole conversation being that if you want to run AH, you’re better off not trying to be DPS at the same time, and vice versa. Any build with any acceptable amount of DPS will not only lose out on a lot of valuable guardian support options in order to fit in AH, but you won’t even get that much benefit out of AH itself. On the other hand, if you’re actually trying to build to make AH effective, you’re investing so much into AH that your DPS will be crap.

One or the other is what we’re saying. And typically the consensus is that for PvE at least, DPS is much more useful than self-regen.

This guy is right.
If u want to go AH, u are left with 40 trait points to play with, so u are left with either going into

1)good DPS route and have bad support (eg 10/30/30/0/0) or
2)good support and low dps route (eg 0/0/30/30/10)

However if u are willing to give up AH, u can have builts with both Good DPS and Good Support but your survivability might decline abit. (eg 10/30/0/10/20 is what i am running).

I really wish we could sticky a thread regarding why AH is not a ‘desirable trait’ as every other week, i see one of these threads about AH coming up and people keep arguing the same things over and over again

The #2 move simply rewards u for better positioning skills. I think it works well for its purpose.

@empty words
I dun understand what advice are u seeking. What do you want from your guardian?
Do you want more damage or more survivability or more support?

swiftpaw.6397:

The simple fact of this entire matter is that you do more for your party without AH.

AH was the training wheels for guardians starting out when the game first came out, when people were clueless about boss mechanics, dodging and how to time CC’s, blinds and reflects. However, now that people have an understanding of what to do in dungeons, AH is no longer required, and better much more efficient builds can be run to cut down on run times and result in smoother, less kitten hit the fan type clears.

I agree with Swiftpaw’s assessment. In a party situation, the more important things are support and dps..not personal survivability.

If u are taking AH to gain survivability, u are putting 30 points in Valor.
U are left with 40 points to play with. U can either go DPS with points in radiance and Zeal or go support route in Honor and Virtues. In these two cases, u have to sacrifice either dps or support.

By not going into AH, u could run a built like 10/30/0/5/25(the one i am currently using) In this built, U have both dps and support.
Dps traits like fiery wraith/radiant power.
Support traits like absolute resolution and master of consecrations.

Its actually just a simple tradeoff problem. Either u get
1)good survivability/good dps/weak support (AH built traited for dps) or
2)good survivability/weak dps/good support (AH built traited for support) or
3)weak survivability/good dps/good support (builts like eg 10/30/0/0/25)

Skilled players will not mind the decline in survivability for good dps n support

To me, ah built can mean 2 builts.

Either crappy dps with good support or good dps with bad support. A ah built can’t simply have both good dps and support due to trait point limitations.

I think that’s why ah built are frowned upon becAuse it’s good survivability must come at the expense of either dps or support

Support in my opinion is decent timely group condition removal and traited master of consecration that is useful in most dungeons.

Edited to elaborate on support

Im guessing that they might improve the fractal system upon releasing the new fractals at end of year.
They should be aware of the issue but i think its not very high on their urgent to do list…

My favourite weapon is Swords because it deals decent damage and easy to use.

I have been testing out greatsword lately, it does great burst damage through symbol of wraith and whirling wraith. But for whirling wraith to deal significantly higher damage, u have to stand inside the monster so its quite conditional . I have downed because i was hit by all projectiles from cof p1 final boss while trying to whirling wraith inside of him. Hence i do not like it that much but if i can fight in melee range, i will equip sword/focus and gs

Hammer is good if u need protection like during dredge fractals clown car.. or seal destruction in cliffside fractals

Conclusion i have all weapons except for torch because it doesnt generate much value in PvE.

If u look at weapon strength, the weapon strength of
2 handed weapon > one handed weapon. So it has been partially compensated.
Average ascended weapon strength of gs=1100(10% increase from sword)
Average ascended weapon strength of sword=1000
At the ascended level, stats on 2x one handed weapon = stats on a 2 hand weapon.

runeblade.7514:

Stice.5204:

runeblade.7514:

Healing signet is NOT a healing skill.

Seriously? That’s where this debate is going now?

If you read the next sentence, you would’ve realized that Healing signet

Do you realize that Healing Signet, when activated, heals for only about 1300 less than Shelter (one of those so-called “burst heals” that warriors allegedly don’t have) if you have no healing power on your gear?

Healing signet when activated heals around 3k hp isn’t enough to heal the warrior’s 23k hp. When activated, it removes the ‘OP’ passive regen.

Guardians have around 12-14k hp. This is excluding the fact that Shelter block attacks which is a great utility for stopping interrupts on your heal, relieving from focus fire or incoming bursts.

Shelter heals around 1/3 of the guardians hp.
Healing signet active heals around 1/8 of the warrior’s hp.

I am surprised that you took this argument to this direction because Healing signet active is trash.

What matters most is the absolute value of a heal and the cd is and not how much of your hp it heals?
Are u implying that a lower hp makes your heals better? LOL

Dico.4815:

3% per boon isn’t OP cause you can’t sustain all the boons for a long time. Its 25 points in a totally support line.

3% per boon is definitely op.

U can stack boon duration and maintain at least 7 boons for 19s in 48s by stacking boon duration. the cap is 90%. Assuming 3 boons for the rest of the 29s the overall damage increase is 13.74%. This is assuming pve mode where mobs do not remove boons from player. If u assume 4 boons for 29s out of 48s, it will be a 15% increase.

Looking at other class trAits, the damage increase is normally 10% hence this will definitely be op if it was buffed to 3%.

If they are going to increase it to 3%, i will swap my scholar runes for boon duration rune since i am already going into 25 in virtues for absolute resolution and master of consecration

I think another way they can do it is simply buffing it by whenever u have a boon, gain 10% increased damage so they dun have to bother with balancing it.

I hope they will change power of virtuous. Its currently too weak to be a Grand Master minor trait. Most of the time i will only have up to 4 boons in a party making it a 4% damage increase only.(fury+might+vigor+regen/protection/retailiation) I think it better if the damage increase is in stages.
Maybe something like:
1~2 boons : 3% increase in damage
3~4 boons : 5% increase in damage
5~6 boons: 7% increase in damage
7~8 boons: 9% increase in damage
Most of the time, I will have 3~4 boons so 5% increase in damage will be pretty decent.
Of course the numbers could be tweaked abit but thats what i think is the best solution.

Nick.6972:

What’s the point of Zerker Guardian if my Semi-Zerker Warrior is as good, if not, better.
Playing Guardian as a Zerkr feels wrong.

Granted I’m not the best players, when I’m playing COF with my glass cannon Thief I tend to die quite a bit.

A semi zerker warrior is as good or better than a zerker guardian.
That actually depends on the player. I absolutely hate playing as a zerker warrior even though i got one. To me, I feel zerker guardian is better than zerker warrior. (Its my opinion, dun bash me for it)

Main things I like in a guardian
1) Vigor on crit trait
2) Defensive utilities like consecrations/shouts/spirit weapons (Key difference between zerker warrior whereby warrior has mostly offensive utilities)
3) I like the guardian have so many ‘oh kitten’ buttons. F2/F3/focus #5/retreat etc

The stuff i like on a guardian doesnt require me to go into defensive stats like toughness/vitality. Thats why i go zerker.

Player Character.9467:

So we get a new level 80 dungeon path that removes a level 55 dungeon path and rewards tokens for level 55 rares/level 80 exotics. Did anybody consider that this reduces the dungeon paths available to lower levels and limits the paths for a level 55 to get rares (or save up for exotics) to 2? (and these rewards are now daily per account not character)

Are we patching out low level content because we don’t expect to get any new accounts? I don’t get it…

I dun think there are much lvl 55 people whom will go farm takitten in the first place…..
It’s so hard to find a pug doing takitten and even more difficult to find one whom accepts a lvl 55 for that path

I dun think it was solely Lief’s decision to remove takitten I feel sorry for him. Just because he was the one to announce it, he is getting all these hateful comments directed at him.

As for the removal of takitten we might get some lore behind it if we run the new dungeon.

I guess they screwed up on the programming and accidentally revert the timer?
They are probably still checking

Aomine.5012:

Seriously, I can’t feel anything even when you go full zerk…
The boss may die 30 secs faster, but I don’t really care, I just don’t want to see you die and I have to cover your mistake.

I have done COE (all paths) with a good zerker group and a normal pug. The zerker group took 1 hr and normal pug took 1hr4x mins. So the difference isnt that small.

Melody Cross.8465:

With Clerics gear most of my damage is coming (and I do mean most in a team) from perma-retaliation on me and almost perma on my teammates. Runes I run on it are 2 Monk 2 Water and 2 Travelers. Lets me keep my buffs up for crazy long times…and one of those buffs also happens to be regen too :p

If i am in zerker gear, i will not want to get hit that often for retaliation damage to become significant.

Nick.6972:

I love being tanky “healer” – Monk was my main in GW1 for years, however I’m starting to doubt whether healers/supporters are really needed in GW2, DPS > Everything else, which is really saddening.

Not to mention, when I’m playing FOTM, most pugs ignore my healing symbols (Staff #3) and run pass them.

If u want to be tanky, use hammer for protection boon.
Protection>stacking toughness
Staff #3 does not heal..only #2 n #4 does healing.
Support doesnt equal heals. Consecrations/Shouts/Spirit weapons are good support skills

Go berserker gear or knights + zerker trinkets ( if u really want more survivability)..use sword/focus + any other weapon of your choice depending on situation.

0/30/0/30/10 has good support+decent dps+hp buffer(not top tier but decent)
Take right hand strength/powerful blades/vulnerability on blind/superior aria/empowering might/master of consecration.

At first u will die more but once u learn to dodge(look at the monster’s tell and avoid the big damage), but as time passes, u will find u are able to survive most encounters with berserker gear.

After u become more accustomed, u can even become more aggressive in your trait distribution..going for more damage trait.

It viable for wvw but not fractals.

I personally tried out cleric gears in fractals before.
It makes u feel invincible until u reach lvl 2x fractals but the higher u go, the more worthless it became. Mobs start to 2~3 shot u and the healing isnt going to make a big difference in survivability. I was dying alot and dealing pitiful damage.

That’s when i was enlightened and decided to switch to zerker gear and tried out 0/30/0/30/10 built whereas before i was using healway.

DeathPanel.8362:

Sorry but in case you didn’t know facts are not decided by popularity contest. I don’t feel inclined to be overly cordial to people who knowingly propagate bad ideas.

The bottom line is cookie cutter builds exist for the simple fact that they work and work great and have been put to the test repeatedly and come out on top. If this other guy’s build was anywhere near the effectiveness of a MF or AH build or even healway/boonway his build would be the new cookie cutter and I’d be one of the first in line to respec to it. Note that it’s not.

Lol @ you contradicting yourself. After claiming that facts are not decided by popularity contest, u go on to say that your ah/mf built are the top because they are cookie cutter. Cookie cutter builds are the most popular builds and just because most people use it, it doesn’t mean it’s the best. Most of the times, it is just because it is the easy to use and give good results.

To me, survivabilty is not just a matter of EHP, it also comes from dodges/aegis/block/ consecrations/blinds (negation of damage), boons(protection/vigor etc)If u can negate most damage and your #6 heal is enough to keep yourself alive. Why will you need AH/MF at all? You keep claiming that ah/mf is so crucial for survivability but I disagree wholeheartedly (at least in pve content).

If u look at guild speed runs videos in dungeon (eg DnT/rT) etc, the guardians in those videos dun even use AH/MF.

Bloodgruve.6038:

NoTrigger.8396:

ele deals most dps if you are looking for the highest dps profession

Tested that also, on par with other classes. Do you have any numbers or data? What build is used?

There is this 30/20/10/10/0 staff ele built which deals tonns of damage just by using lava font and autoattacking or the lightning hammer ele built 25/25/0/20/0 built.

They tested the builts in dnt guild speedruns but the lightning hammer built requires other people to put conditions on the monster to maximise damage so it will not perform as well in a solo situtation

Checkout Obal’s guide :
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guardian-Video-Guide-for-Fractals-Shown-at-48/first#post2668349

I think his builts are one of the best for fractals in the current trait layouts. U really want the consecration cd trait in fractals as its so useful in most fractals.

Bloodgruve.6038:

I switch it up all the time honestly. 10/30/30/0/0 is very fun and challenging and I run it mostly with 1h weapons. 10/30/0/30/0 has more versatility, survivability and utility, run it when I wanna switch between all weapons. 25/25/0/20/0 for Hammer. 20/25/0/25/0 for GSword. 10/30/0/20/10 for reflects. At this point I rarely stay in one build for long as all of them are fun.

The best build in the game is the one you have the most fun with and allows your party to complete the run. AH is just fine too, I run with another guard a lot who uses it, and I enjoy running with him. I’m a DPS kitten so those are my preferred builds.

Thanks for the clarification. I was wandering if there was a typo error in your posts but this post has cleared all doubts. I normally only use one built as i am just lazy to keep switching around.

@bloodgruve
Sometimes you say 10/30/0/30/0 built and sometimes you say 10/30/30/0/0 built and it can be confusing. I just want to clarify which built do you use? I think it’s 10/30/30/0/0 but just want to be sure.

@deathpanel
What Guanlong is referring to is group condition cleansing which the 10/30/30/0/0 lacks apart from purging flames and if you are taking pure of voice then your built will be like 0/0/30/30/10? This 0/0/30/30/10 built will deal fundamentally lower damage than a 10/30/0/5/25 where both have group condition removal and consecrations cd