Guild Wars 2

Might Stacking Perplexity Warrior
Strength
Physical Training, Body Blow, Distracting Strikes
Defense
Shield Master, Cleansing Ire, Sundering Mace
Discipline
Warrior’s Sprint, Brawler’s Recovery, Merciless Hammer

Amulet Cele
Rune Most likely something with +Might duration. In WvW I would use Aristocrat for more damage on Confusion, might duration, AND another free 3 stack of Might from the low cooldown Mending heal
Weapons 1 Mace/Shield
Weapons 2 Hammer

Skills Full Physical with Rampage elite.

Almost every single weapon and utility skills activates Body Blow which should give continuous uptime on Weakness and decent Bleed Pressure.

I’ll be curious to see how the 5 (did I read that correctly?!) Stacks of might from Distracting Strikes works, is there an internal cooldown?… a single Earthshaker on to a capture point/team fight could easily get you 10-15 Might. Along with Might on block from Shield Master and weapon swaps if you put Sigil of Battle in there it should be easy to maintain high might stacks.

And for more sustain, why not switch out Brawler’s Recovery for Inspiring Battle Standard and one physical for a banner…

Also I’m excited about Rampage and how it will work with Skullcracker builds:

“Physical skills have a new thing where if your endurance is above 50% they are more effective…. Rampage and Mending are now physical skills.”

and I assume it stacks with Physical Training, making Rampage deal +150% DMG at full adren.

Stun combo into 2k auto attacks from Rampage?

Hello all,

I like to roam in WvW and I’ve had the most luck with the standard Metabattle GS/Axe+Shield build. I know, don’t mess with something that isn’t broken but here are some tweaks I’ve been running lately and they’ve been working out for me. I’d like feedback or refinement or really just general opinion to see what people think. Thanks!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAncRjMdUFaZIehwJagggC9snCxgxCIAU+G1OA-TVCFAB2oErhDBQ1HBAEOBAA8AAQS5hAKBRR9na2fgMAMbB-w

I changed things around a bit to maximize my Axe/Eviscerate damage, which is what I found most of my DPS came from anyway.

*Switched offhand to sword in order to get another 5% on the Axe set from Dual Wielding trait. Still have a decent block on short cooldown from Sword 5, and Sword 4’s torment still ticks for decent damage even without any condi dmg stats, and Rip hits like a truck on a power build (as much damage as a 1 bar Evis.)

*Gave up Heightened Focus, and added Sigil of Intelligence to Axe set to maximize Evis damage and get the most out of Axe Mastery trait.

*Gave up Furious Reaction, but making up for it with good Fury uptime from Runes of the Pack and Vigor uptime from 3x active and 1x traited stances with Vigorous Focus.

*No Warrior’s Sprint, but as soon as you engage in combat, Swiftness is up 100% of the time from Runes of the Pack, Sig of Rage, and 2x Balanced Stance.

*Lacking Shield 4 for Evis setup is a major drawback, but is negated at least a little bit from decent Stability uptime from 2x Balanced Stance.

*Greatsword is at this point basically just used for repositioning/mobility, and the condi cleanse/leech on swap. Bull’s Charge could always be added in for 100B/Evis setup.

Thoughts?

Hello all,

After a particularly violence filled night of WvW roaming/hanging outside invader spawns in border lands, I decided I had to post in this thread.

I don’t have any great additions or comments to add, I just wanted to say “Thanks!” for posting such a great set up. I’ve been using it exclusively for a while now, and once you get past the learning curve, this build is almost too powerful to be fun for WvW dueling… it’s just too easy. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had trouble with 2 or fewer opponents. I consider it a real Badge of Honor (get it? Ha!) now when I’m added to invader parties just so they can tell me how mean a man I am after I kill them.

I really didn’t even want to like this build because running Cleric’s gear seemed so “meh” at first, but I’m won over.

On paper the Warrior certainly seems to be stronger (I have an 80 Warrior and an 80 Guardian) but in practice it just doesnt work out that way. When I’m in WvW/sPvP I’m ALWAYS happy to run into a Warrior because they’re a free kill. Definitely the easiest profession to face as a Guardian.

Why? I have no idea, but that’s the way it seems to go.

I’m being completely serious when I say, someone please tell me what about Warriors makes them difficult to beat?

Turn off auto target in options

norman.7026:

Spelling out the steps of the combo really highlights how effective the build can be. One thing I would point out, though, is that a lot of people will dodge once you do the Flashing Blade > Hydromancy combo, so it could be good to wait just a moment before initiating Whirling Wrath. If they dodge, then I dodge to keep up with them, and unless they still have their second dodge or are quick on the condition removal, it ensures a better chance of success with Whirling Wrath.

Great point and thanks for the addition. Flexibility is key because like you said people will frequently dodge and with a build like this that front loads so much of its damage, having someone dodge ~40% of it can really mess you up.

Ghostbear.5106:

So i just found this build and must say that I really like it with a few exceptions. First, I went
30 Radiance (Blind Exposure [VI]/Powerful Blades [X]/Right Hand Strength [XI])
30 Valor (same as original post)
10 Virtues (Vengeful [II])

With Leap of Faith (GS), Flashing Blade (sword), and Ray of Judgement (focus) all applying blind, PLUS the natural trait in Radiance (justice is Blind) picking Blind Expsoure seems more beneficial. I can quickly rack up 15 stacks of vulnerability in a matter of seconds. This adds to the damage much better than working off burn condition. Throw in the fact that Renewed Justice resets Virtue of Justice and you are able to keep vulnerability up a very long time across multiple mobs.

Then the points in valor play off retaliation benefits.

Overall though this just became my favorite build. Thanks for the info OP!

I really like Blind Exposure too Unfortunately I wrote the guide before it got buffed or I would have mentioned it, but ah well.

I actually played around with stacking the 3x blinds from Sword, VoC, and Focus 4 integrated into the opening JI/ZD burst then using Hammer swap with Sigil of Intelligence for a 100% crit Mighty Blow with the 9 stacks of vuln. A decent set up, but the Sigil didn’t seem to work all the time so I swapped back to GS. If the Sigil of Intell worked all the time it would be nasty with hammer.

SteepledHat.1345:

A decently played S-P/Staff mes will decimate this build. But it’s still quite nice.

Most likely true — I find mesmers to be the most difficult opponent in PvP for all professions I’ve played and on top of that I find them much easier to face as a defensively set up Guardian. Any tips for beating them?

Scleameth.6809:

I’m just wondering if Judge’s Intervention does not…errr… intervene with Zealot’s Defence?

Sorry to make a double reply but I couldn’t figure out how to edit my earlier post to include this quote.

If you hit Zealot’s Defense and immediately, like one button after the other, hit Judge’s Intervention you’ll appear at your enemy’s feet as your start swinging for Zealot’s Defense. Try it out in the mists some on golems or watch JaxSilven’s video that I posted above.

But some times if there’s too great a vertical interval (+1 for any FA people who get that phrase) / change in elevation between you and your target, the Judge’s Intervention won’t teleport you anywhere — you’ll just show back up at your original spot. I can’t count the number of times this bug has blown the teleport and caused me to shoot Zealot’s Defense in to blank air. All I can say is be careful and try to engage on flat ground =\ it’s infuriating, but is a problem with JI in general, not just using it in this way.

Hello all, I’m glad you’re enjoying the guide. There were a few requests for videos which unfortunately I don’t see coming in the near future, as I experimented with Fraps and my computer didn’t deal with it very well. BUT I’ll try to do the next best thing and find other videos that show what you’re looking for:

First off, this guide and video shows the core of the build and is really well done:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/58213-guardian-zealot-spike-guide-for-spvp-and-tournaments/

As I stated in the guide, my build is a variation of the popular triple meditation build for sPvP, which the above posted guide from JaxSilven covers very well. All the normal “tactics” for this type of build are shown.

But I also feel that people are curious about how the play between Sword and Greatsword w/ Hydromancy looks, so check out this video from KrisHQ:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Zaphiel-Faires-WvW-Roaming-1-Guardian

His build is much more tanky than the one I posted, but he plays with Sword/Focus + Greatsword of Hydromancy, and it really shows the synergy between those weapon sets and the Sigil of Hydromancy.

neithan.9750:

Is lack of on demand condition removal ever a problem for you? Is Smite Condition enough?

Yes. No. Depends. This is sort of a long answer and I might get off track rambling on general playstyle differences between DPS and Tanky Guardians….

Short answer, after some experimentation with changes to the build, No the lack of on demand condition removal isn’t a problem. Longer answer below.

The build posted in this guide has a single purpose… pumping out as much damage as possible as a Guardian in order to quickly down opponents. To win 1v2 or 1v3 fights you HAVE to stake an enemy quickly, and in order to do that you need Stability — SYG is too good not to have on the bar. I tried Conptemplation of Purity because on paper it looks so good --- turns ALL conditions into boons, wiping the slate clean AND it’s another heal. But in practice it just, well, wasn’t as good as SYG.

And why is this? Being a DPS Guardian, if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t kill your opponents fast enough to “out race” the conditions they apply, you’re probably screwed anyway and Contemplation of Purity just seemed to prolong the screwing Whereas SYG gives you a good window of opportunity to stay on your feet and keep the damage pressure up and even at 5 seconds, don’t underestimate Retaliation from SYG. It doesn’t shine in this build, but overall Retal is such a strong, strong buff it’s crazy.

On the far end of the Guardian spectrum, I also have a full set of Cleric’s gear and I’ve been playing around with the “Healway” build posted in this forum and it rocks — super powerful. I’ve won a couple 1v3 and one 1v4 that there’s no way my build could have survived because Healway has amazing powers to outlast. Running Healway, it’s almost impossible to die to less than 2 opponents. BUT, the lack of damage in the Healway build has also caused me to lose some 1v1 and 1v2 fights because the kill speed is so much slower that it gives time for more enemies to show up and help.

I guess the point I’m trying to make with this post is to keep your builds pure — let DPS builds DPS and let Tank builds Tank. I’ve never had success with hybrid builds that try to do it all. Just my opinion.

promurphy.2761:

So this is a “realize what you are” kind of moment for me. I have an 80 Ranger, maybe I’ll just use that for WVW.

That doesn’t mean you’re stuck not winning in 1v1s. Just look up any “triple meditation” build generally with sword/focus… you can generally win 9 out of 10 1v1 fights with a build like that once you get used to it.

edit: actually here’s a guide I wrote with a build in there that’s good for 1v1

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-WvW-Solo-Roamer-Build-Playstyle/first#post997659

Just might have to go other trait/equipment routes, same as any profession

Trungalung.7850:

UncleDolan.9430:

…

….

Thanks for the response, Trung… Just what I was looking for, good stuff!

This is a purely PvE post.

So I’ve been running dungeons with the AH Crithammer build for a while, and the problem I always seem to have is that it has MORE than enough survivability and group benefit without bringing enough damage to the table.

So today I did something crazy, and it seems to be working out quite well. I spent 15 points in the gasp ZEAL line and came up with this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASWlYg672FyKEfIFRug6DxDThGh/1DHSRGC

Nevermind the skill selection, those obviously change — the main issue is the traits.

I went with 15/0/30/20/5. This increases your personal damage significantly AND makes you even more valuable to the group than before — hear me out before you burn me at the stake for going Zeal.

In Zeal I went with Fiery Wrath for a nice 10% personal damage boost, and went up to 15 points for the minor trait “Symbolic Exposure – Symbols apply vulnerability to foes.” According to the wiki, this trait applies 1 stack of vulnerability for every pulse of a symbol. Upon testing in practice, each Symbol of Protection ticks up to a peak of 4 stacks of vuln, and the duration is such that you’re left with 2 or 3 stacks when the next Symbol hits in the auto attack chain. This isn’t HUGE, but hey 4 stacks of vulnerability with a decent duration every attack chain? Nothing to scoff at, and it adds even more benefit to the group than you already did. The Hammer auto attack chain becomes freakishly good, buffing and debuffing simultaneously. In comparison, the Warrior’s Axe #2 skill “Cyclone Axe” applies 4 stacks of vuln in an aoe effect and it takes up a whole skill slot with a SIX!!! second cooldown.

I chose larger symbols as opposed to shout reduction because it really helps apply the vuln.

So the reason I’m posting this is because I want some other opinions — I can’t really find any downside to this build as opposed to the standard crit hammer builds.

This brings the group:

• Constant Protection and up to 4 stacks of vulnerability from every hammer chain
• The normal Empowering Might that most any AH hammer build gives
• The normal benefits that anyone gives the group with 5 in Virtues

This brings you:

• 10% more damage from fiery wrath, even more from Symbolic Exposure, and 150 power

Downsides:

• No blinds from Virture of Justice, which you may or may not have had anyway.
• Longer recharge on your healing signet if you went deep in Radiance
• Less crit, which is less of an issue with the VP nerf
• No, uhh… retaliation duration increase from Virtues, maybe? I’m not sure if people even run that trait in dungeons.

So please give me some feedback on this tweak! I’ve run it in numerous dungeons today, and I have all the same survivability as before, but even more damage.

I like the build! I’ve been fiddling around with maximizing Blind Exposure since the patch as well, but focused more on burst, JI bombing with Sword/focus, applying 3 blinds and then swapping to hammer with sigil of intelligence for a big Mighty Blow crit. Theres a lot of potential with the new improved trait

Tanis.4091:

I have been looking for a guardian build with this play style for a while now. This build is a lot of fun even if not running solo.

Thanks for the post, I’m really enjoying it!

Ya I didn’t mention in the guide, but this is the build I use for everything except dungeons. For open world PvE I just switch out Stand Your Ground for Retreat!. The combination of swiftness with the various teleport abilities makes travelling very quick, especially when there’s high density of monsters like in Orr since it makes distant targeting easier.

Great skill displayed in well edited videos! I’ve only watched the Templanos one so far, but I look forward to seeing the rest.

The 2v7 that ended with you killing the enemy commander is almost too perfect for words — it’s like he’s the boss monster at the end of a level in an old Super Nintendo game or something

khefka.2804:

This is the only build I’ve used for any real period of time since hitting 80 and it does hit hard, only thing I’m questioning here is the sigils. If your sigil of fire procs within 5 seconds of switching to Greatsword then hydromancy is not going to work. Also you are probably better off using force or accuracy instead of bloodlust, just get a weapon with bloodlust and build it up on some mobs then switch.

I appreciate the input, khefka. I completely agree with you and I would question that if it was my choice as well Maybe you saw a typo that I didn’t catch, but all I see in the text and build editor is Force/Bloodlust and Hydromancy for precisely the reason you posted.

As far as your suggestion for switching Bloodlust out for something else, I was under the impression that you couldn’t stack Force and Accuracy in the same weapon set. So Bloodlust was really the only option, since I can’t have another on-crit interfering with Hydromancy. Anyone know the answer to the sigil question?

Unbuffed stat picture. My helm, gauntlets, and boots are rare not exotic. Everything else is exotic.

I’ll work on the video, never recorded on my computer before. Looking it up now.

So the combat style of this build can be summed up in three points:
*Judge’s Intervention to Zealot’s Defense
*Flashing Blade, to Hydromancy chill, to Whirling Wrath
*Use Binding Blade to land Zealot’s Defense, NOT Whirling Wrath

Why is this build preferable to other Guardian builds for solo play? As stated at the beginning of the guide, the best way to mitigate damage is to eliminate it. Using the burst rotation in this build, you will most likely be able to quickly down/eliminate one opponent in a fight. The Guardian has enough intrinsic defensive abilities such as Aegis/Blinds that you will be able to shrug off damage from opponents you aren’t focusing on when fighting against a group. The build also focuses on the strengths of the class, which is melee pressure and combat mobility. Between Flashing Blade, Hydromancy’s chill, Leap of Faith, Binding Blade, and Judge’s Intervention you have more gap closers than you can shake a stick at. All these gap closers eliminates the “need” for a ranged weapon on swap, which is a widely recognized weakness of the Guardian profession. A well played bunker Guardian can do great things, but I don’t want to be on the receiving end of a battle of attrition with no ways to quickly finish an opponent — the outcome is generally not good when solo.

As a final postscript to this build, if the lack of swiftness bothers you that much you can target distant monsters and activate Flashing Blade/Judge’s Intervention/Leap of Faith to get around more quickly, and in style! Also, I dont wish to focus on weaknesses of the class but if a zerg is approaching or you’re otherwise in a tight spot, the above combination is a nearly instant 2400 distance teleport and is quite useful for getting away even with your complete lack of swiftness.

III. How to Find Opponents

People also complain that it’s hard to find opponents outside of the zerg. What I like to do is set up a “spiderweb” that alerts me to when enemies are ripe for the killing. I go into enemy Borderlands, preferably ones in which my server doesn’t own anything, and head to the NE portion of the map. I capture the Sentry directly outside the east gate of the enemy base, and then move on to the centaur camp in the far NE. There’s a dynamic event chain here that involves killing 30 centaurs and then a Veteran. Move in and quickly kill a few centaurs and then move on; that way when someone else comes and completes the event, you will get the reward no matter where you are on the map. This is an alarm for you saying that someone else is there now, and will most likely be fighting the Veteran for a few minutes. That gives you enough time to move back to the camp and kill your human enemy after they’re finished with the Veteran. From there I go on a Dolyak killing circuit, carefully watching for the Sentry I’ve captured to come under attack, or for the centaur event to complete. This process works well for alerting you to enemy whereabouts without having to see them, and generally avoiding large enemy groups.

-Astolfo Rabicano, Guardian on Darkhaven

2. Initiate your burst rotation. Make sure you’re within 1200 range and then activate Zealot’s Defense (Sword 3), and then IMMEDIATELY activate Judge’s Intervention. This will ensure you are attacking with Zealot’s Defense the instant you teleport on top of your opponent, giving them less time to react. Activate Virture of Justice as soon as possible as well, so you will have applied over 8s of burning which increases all damage by 10% thanks to the Fiery Wrath trait. As soon as Zealot’s Defense completes, activate Flashing Blade (Sword 2) and then IMMEDIATELY switch to Greatsword and activate Whirling Wrath (Greatsword 2.) This tactic ensures that Hydromancy goes off on swap because you’ve teleported directly on top of your opponent, and because you’re directly on top of a now slowed enemy, you hit with all Whirling Wrath projectiles. So in about 5 seconds, you’ve done damage on par with Hundred Blades, lit your target on fire for nearly 9s which increases damage by 10% thanks to traits, blinded your target, chilled your target for 3s, AND it’s easy to accomplish with low cooldowns — there’s no silly Bull’s Rush/Frenzy combo like what our other melee brethren are reduced to using.

At this point in the process, thanks to many hours of highly scientific laboratory work, I have determined that fights go one of three ways:

25% of the time your target is dead, especially if squishy, in a 1v1, or up-leveled. Activate Stand Your Ground and impale them. Congratulations.
50% of the time you’ve dealt enough damage that they’ve used their heal/dodges/cooldowns and the fight is as good as won anyway if 1v1. Continue on with the process below.
25% of the time they’ve avoid your burst by activating damage mitigation, or some other mechanic. Continue with the process below.

3. Continue fighting with Greatsword after the initial burst. When you’re close to being able to switch back to Sword/Focus, activate Leap of Faith (Greatsword 3) and then immediately activate Binding Blade (Greatsword 5). The leap helps ensure Binding Blade lands, as it is notoriously hard to use. Do not immediately active Greatsword 5 again, just let the DOT tick. Your next goal will be to land another Zealot’s Defense (Sword 3). This won’t happen if you panic, so just keep putting pressure on your target with Greatsword auto attacks. When you estimate that Zealot’s Defense is off cooldown (15 seconds), activate Pull (Greatsword 5) and then immediately switch to sword and hit them with Zealot’s Defense (Sword 3.) Thanks to the knockdown at the end of Greatsword’s Pull and the 600 range of Zealot’s Defense you will most likely land the attack.

This is where experience comes in, especially in 1vX fights. 99% of the time this is the phase of the fight where you utilize your Focus skills, Virtues, and Renewed Focus. Utilize Smite Condition as needed, or just spam whenever it’s off cooldown for a 2k heal. By activating your Focus skills and Aegis/Renewed Focus at the right time you can generally negate most damage being done to you by the opponent you aren’t focusing on. You will have most likely finished off your first opponent, so now you need to switch targets and begin setting up for another Whirling Wrath. Your Zealot’s Defense is most likely on cooldown so you will put pressure on your opponent with Sword’s auto attack until weapon swap is off cooldown, and then use the Flashing Blade/Hydromancy Freeze/Whirling Wrath combo once again.

II. WvW Solo Roaming Build

This build isn’t groundbreaking, and I’m sure plenty of people run it. It’s a variation of the standard Meditation Burst Build, but with some important tweaks for ending a fight quickly.

Bunker builds are fine, but there’s a reason we call targets in dungeons, and that is because the most effective way to mitigate damage is to quickly eliminate the damage source. This build is designed for just that, and I will go into detail about exactly how to play with it in 1v1 and 1vX fights.

Link:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAsdRlYgiDnGyKEf4Eh1DCeQ/VVIeXPgoDbIA;T4A5XCvkep+S5FVNmaE1YrxVjsmFIjCmQA (Copy and paste this link in to your URL bar if it doesn’t open properly on link)

Weapons: Sword with Sigil of Force/Focus with Sigil of Bloodlust + Greatsword with Sigil of Hydromancy (all Knight’s stats)

Armor/Accessories: Knight’s Armor with Valkyrie Accessories

Runes: 6x Beryl Orbs. This is something many people will disagree with, but I find it ideal with this build. 120 Power, 84 Vitality, and 12% Critical Damage. Ignoring the steep price of Runes of Divinity, I dont think the overall stat gain is worth losing 60 Power and 24 Vitality when compared to Beryl Orbs. Other rune sets are viable, but you can’t go wrong with Beryl Orbs (they also cost about 6s.)

Traits:
10 Zeal with Fiery Wrath (II)
30 Radiance with Signet Mastery (II), Powerful Blades (X), Right-hand Strength (XI)
30 Valor with Meditation Mastery (I), Purity (V), Monk’s Focus (XII)

With Knight’s Armor and Weapons, Valkyrie Accessories, and Beryl Orbs you will have about 50% Crit chance with Sword/Focus and 35% Crit chance with Greatsword, along with 74% Crit damage. Health will be 14.8K, and a good amount of toughness.

I’ve played many Guardian builds, including Crithammer/Shout/Spirit Weapons/etc., but I’ve found Meditation builds to be ideal for WvW roaming. I began playing with a traditional Sword/Focus + Scepter/Shield meditation burst build, which I enjoyed, but I felt it was missing something. The burst damage from Judge’s Intervention combined with Zealot’s Defense (Sword 3) was OK, but I wanted more, especially when opponents dodged out of Zealot’s Defense. If this happened I was reduced to auto attacking with sword. When I ran into an opponent who kited me, I was reduced to using the Scepter, which once again was OK, but left something to be desired in the type of open space fights frequent in WvW. I wanted to end fights quickly with better burst, so I switched to Greatsword. But Greatsword’s highest damaging skill (Whirling Wrath, #2) is widely known for being hard to use. It works best on a stationary target, so most Guardians use it in conjunction with Pull (Greatsword 5), but this is unreliable because Pull sometimes just doesn’t work well. So after some fiddling in sPvP, I settled on Sword/Focus and Greatsword with Hydromancy Sigil, which is as close to a perfect synergy of weapons and sigils as I’ve found.

It is also important to explain the mechanics of Sigils. Any on-crit/on-swap sigil shares its cooldown with all other sigils, so if a specific on-crit/on-swap sigil is very important to a build, such as Hydromancy for this one, don’t take any other on-crit/on-swap sigils. That is why the Sword/Focus set has a passive sigil and an on-kill sigil — I want to ensure that Hydromany always activates when I need it to.

The build pumps out RELIABLE, quickly repeatable burst damage on par with Warrior’s Hundred blade attack, and doesn’t leave you being a “one trick pony” like a Hundred Blade Warrior is. It concentrates on the profession’s strengths while not trying to compensate for the weaknesses. Every skill and weapon is useful in 100% of fights; there is nothing situational included.

And since I’m a nice guy I’ve written out exactly how to play the build below:

1. Choose your target. Fighting a 1v1, your opener is largely irrelevant, but if fighting against a group, your primary goal should be to quickly eliminate a source of damage (that is, make an easy kill.) My preferred opening target is a Warrior. They are predictable and don’t have many mechanisms to escape your opening burst damage. When they’re down they’re easy to impale thanks to Stand Your Ground or Shield of Wrath (Focus 5). If a Warrior isn’t available, I will choose up-leveled targets (sorry lowbies), or frequently a Ranger. Guardians are a risky opening target; a poorly played enemy Guardian is easy prey to burst damage, but if they are good they can avoid the burst and you’ve just lost your initiative and may have to find another target to focus. Guardians are another easy Impale, though, which makes them tempting. Avoid Thieves and Mesmers because even if they go down in your initial burst, they are more difficult to Impale. Choose predictable targets. The longer a fight against multiple opponents last, the less chance you have of victory no matter what sort of build you use.

I. General WvW Solo Playstyle/Philosophy/Strength and Weaknesses/Don’t Follow Bad Advice!

I will caveat this section specifically by saying upfront everything contained within is my opinion. To follow along with the opinion train of thought, I will state the strengths and weakness of the Guardian profession as far as WvW goes, and I will be concentrating on this list for the rest of the guide:

Strengths:
*Reliable burst damage (yes, really — covered below)
*Combat mobility
*Built in survival abilities tuned for small group/solo play

Weaknesses:
*Ranged weapons
*Lack of escape abilities
*Slow travel

Solo roaming in WvW is a dangerous business for any class, and you will die. Probably a lot. This is, however, what makes it so fun and rewarding — with danger and unpredictable gameplay comes great fun and reward. The sooner you accept the fact that you will die some, the sooner you can get away from concentrating on the major weakness of the Guardian, which is lack of escape abilities, and instead concentrate on the innumerable strengths of the profession. Even the professions with the best escape abilities will be hard pressed to escape sticky situations while roaming solo. If the fight has gone so poorly that you’re reduced to RUNNING, then you’ve already LOST! And to get all Sun Tzu on you, I believe that building any character around escape abilities is to have already set yourself up for defeat before the fight begins. Solo play in PvP/WvW is kill or be killed!

So to boil solo WvW play down to its most basic essence, you must follow the mindset of killing before you are killed. To do this, you must be primarily be a high damage dealer, while having just enough defense mechanisms to survive the fight. Only bring weapons and skills that are useful in 100% of FIGHTS. Only bring weapons and skills that are useful in 100% of FIGHTS. Yes, I repeated that because it’s so important when building for solo WvW play. The naysayers who want you to believe that Guardians can’t do this will say, “But Guardians are a support class! They can’t be built for damage!” Wrong, wrong, wroooong, and I will get into this in the Build section of the guide. For now, however, I want to argue against commonly stated “truths” for Guardian WvW play that will make you a worse player:

“Always bring a staff for mobility, and have Wall of Reflection on your bar for defense” I see this advice so frequently on this forum I believe it should be the unofficial motto, and it really bothers me. Well I’m here to tell you that Wall of Reflection should only be used in siege situations, and staff should only (maybe?) be used in large groups and that is it. Never outside of those specific situations, and even then only use staff if you run an Altruistic Healing build. Why?

People generally bring staff for its Symbol of Swiftness (Staff 2.) The swiftness boon isn’t the kind of “mobility” you want for PvP, it’s a quality of life boon for quick travel which is unnecessary. Mobility in PvP is having freedom of movement in a fight, which Staff doesn’t provide. But staff has other useful abilities too, you say? Empower (Staff 4) might as well be called “Suicide” for solo play. Rooting yourself for a large self heal (especially with an Altruistic Healing build) along with 12 Might sounds good in concept, but in practice you will NEVER be able to heal through your opponent damaging you in solo play as you sit there rooted, and then you end up using your Might with staff’s mediocre auto attack. A net loss every time. Line of Warding (Staff 5) can be great in certain circumstances, but remember that we want weapons and skills that are useful 100% of the time when fighting, not only in certain circumstances. This weapon is used for quick travel, which is already a weakness of the Guardian; take a weapon that concentrates on our strengths instead.

And now we come to Wall of Reflection. A great skill, but only great for sieges. It’s certainly funny to hop down from the battlements and drop your Reflect in front of an attacking force, but the idea that people roam with this skill is mind boggling. It’s only useful against ranged classes, and only useful then if someone is bad enough to sit still and shoot it. We’re only bringing weapons and skills that are useful in 100% of fights.

What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to WvW solo roam as a Guardian! Well, that might be a slight misquote, but it is the gist of this guide. Solo roaming in WvW is fun, pure and simple.

I decided to create this guide because one of the most frequent set of questions I see on this forum is, “How do I play WvW (more specifically, roam/solo) as a Guardian,” and one of the most frequent issues I see is, “Guardians are no good at WvW!” Well I may not be an expert or even the best player, but roaming solo in WvW is my favorite thing to do in GW2 and I happen to find my Guardian to be very effective at it (or at least better than other classes I play, including an 80 Warrior.) Please remember this entire guide is written within the framework of WvW solo roaming; I’m not here to talk about sieges, zerging, or group play.

TL;DR/Bottom line up front for this guide: In order for the game to be balanced, each profession must have both strengths and weaknesses. In order to achieve success, capitalize on your profession’s strength, while avoiding the weaknesses!

Points I will cover in this guide:
*General playstyle philosophy designed to make you an effective roaming Guardian, and avoiding frustration brought on by weaknesses of the profession
*Argue against some commonly stated “truths” about Guardian play that will actually make you a less effective player
*A build for WvW solo roaming based on the strengths of the profession along with SPECIFIC instructions for playing it to maximize your potential, along with comparisons to common similar builds
*How to reliably find 1v1/small scale fights in WvW