Guild Wars 2

In sum this is what I’d really want… except I am not sure what to sacrifice to get condition removal in:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApcotCxRI8DNBFRl5LseY3AVwCcZAkgA-TFSPwAiUG0UHAA1KUqJolSvC7PAWVlsKBJDAzYA-w

And I would definitely agree that for solo I should swap staff for Sword/something. That double teleport seems to be so much fun :P

@crochip

Fantastic answer and I have the feeling that it lands very closely to what I will be playing. And yes JI is just so much fun with the Hammer ward and I think it could also work with #4 homerun xD Also thanks for the input on an advisable amount of healing power I will definitely aim for that there.

Just a few further thoughts

Condition removal (shouts + soldier runes)
Is this amount of condition removal really needed?

Hold the Line
Since I will be using Hammer mainly for damage won’t “Hold the Line” be less needed? Protection from hammer chain symbol seems to give much more protection uptime. In trains I will get less protection but I will be giving protection to everyone in front and behind me for a short duration (instead of 5 targets from shout) whereas in small fights I will be able to just stand on the symbol as often as possible. I was really thinking that together with Signet of Judgement would woop up a nice uptime of 43% damage reduction (so I could swap staff and heal/buff up then go back to hammer and then JI.
Since this is just “trait juggling” I will be testing it, checking how much shout trating will differ from better symbols (though I’d need to find some way to get condition removal).

The thing is of course if I’d drop Hold the Line from the build you suggested then traiting for shouts becomes not so good. However I like the addition of Indomitable courage, because even if I don’t trait Superior Aria, I’d still get Stability from 2 different skills (+ if I use Signet of Judgement I get one last “just-in-case” stun break).

Crit chance vs Vigor/Hammer chills and Celestial
Hmm on that build the crit chance is weakly on 22%… since hammer hits veryyyy sloooowly I would say to proc both Vigor trait AND chills could be a bit too low… and perhaps it could be here that “just” raising it to 40-50% would add some DPS flavor to the build (by sacrificing some toughness and some vitality, as you said it is indeed tanky and beefy). Thereby I will probably follow your advice on some slight gear change to get bit more crit chance and some more power.

I love celestial. My Engi is full ascended celestial (only miss some Precision to get closer to 80% crit chance on Fury). But on Guardians? I get that you add up the Healing Power with a decent outcome as you said from experience… but Condition damage? Is it really worth it? Do you get any noticeable difference in VoJ passive?

So stats wise I will be droping some beefiness (around 10-20% minus thoughness and vitality) for some extra crit chance (aiming at ~40%) and some power if I can.

Chills and Sigils
Great that you traited for the hammer chill. I really want to make that work.
But you added 2 non-stacking sigils (energy and hydromancy). Unless ANet changed this, sigils of the same type don’t stack (including on-swap). I LOVE sigil of energy (use it in every other character) but here I was thinking to do:

Staff : Sigil of Hydromancy (on-swap) + Sigil of Blood (power!)

Hammer : Sigil of Ice (30% chance on hit – not crit – Chill 2 seconds, 10s CD) + Sigil of Chilling (20% chill duration to pump Hammer crit chill to 6-7s).

And then some of the runes that add 30% chill duration like Superior Rune of the Ice

But really, thank you for a great answer look forward for further insights!

Cheers

Ok that’s definitly a perspective on Guardian’s I haven’t heard before. Thanks for the input Looking forward for others views.

strictly WvW

Hey folks, I have now been searching and gathering knowledge for a while and I want to share my thoughts on my to-be WvW Guardian build and would love all sorts of critics (even harsh ones) upon these thoughts. To ease up reading, I have tried to sum up and organize it all.

My objective

• A versatile (group + roam) tanky-a-bit-over-enough with sustain damage and massive CC (not looking for burst).
• “Support/Helping others” is NOT my priority as I will be going between groups and solo/small party.

Build guidelines I found
The Healway (typically 0 / 0 / 10 / 30 / 30 shouts and virtues, GS and Staff) <— seems boring
Altruistic Healer (typically 0 / 0 / 30 / 30 / 0 with 10 for free allocation, Hammer or GS and Staff) <— group dependent
Sword/Focus variations (which seemed to be more focused on small group fights) <— interesting but not viable in group

My acknowledgements

• I can’t “live off” a single set of weapons
• I need to apply constant pressure (since I don’t dot)
• Symbols can play a big role in guardian DPS (and tagging)
• Shelter is the best heal (blocks in WvW seem to be uber).
• Player skill makes the guardian more then traits and weapons
• Uptime of Virtues passive is nearly always better (can you confirm this?)

What I love about guardians

• Love Staff + Hammer double warding
• Love Hammer CC and sustain dps + protection symbol
• Love 1800 teleport gap shorten with Sword #2 + Judge’s Intervention (w/ blind or burn)

Not so much into

• I do NOT want AH (no player dependency please, despite being OP)
• I am not that fond of GS because it’s mainly burst and I already have other professions for that.
• Scepter seems boring (slow-mo blue balls?)

My dreams

To max Chill uptime with Glacial Heart (hammer on crit) + Chill sigils/runes (on hit, on be hit, on swap) for insane chill uptime. I think though I’d need to give up too much to make this work and I’m also unsure how (in)efficient this would be when trains collide.

Interesting chains

1. Hammer + Sword/??? : 1800 teleport w/ burn -> hammer immobilize -> hammer ward lock ->hammer auto sustain dmg -> hammer #4 CC before Ward disappears -> Sword #3
2. Hammer + Staff : Symbols (larger + longer) -> Wards

Utilities
I’m very keen on mixing 3 different types of utilities:

• Judge’s intervention (makes up for not having the GS leap) (+ stun breaks)
• “Stand Your Ground!” stability shout (+ stun breaks)
• Signet of Judgment 10% damage reduce (+ stun breaks)

Why not others

• “Hold the Line!”: hammer will be setting protection symbols constantly

What to swap for
Good practice will be to have a swap-able skill and I’d say:

• in big groups Judges intervention swaps for some Consecration

Stats

I’m completely lost here. Also because the whole build needs to blend together.

Toughness: I know the minimum Armor in WvW is advised to be 2800. Where around are you comfortable without sacrificing too much other stats?

Vitality: Also no idea and probably goes hand in hand with Toughness.

Power vs Crits: what is best for Hammer sustain dmg in distribution of Power/Precision/Ferocity? I have the feeling that high power, mid-high precision, mid-low ferocity would wield best results if aiming at some crit procs… but hammer slow hitting also makes me feel like high power, mid precision, mid ferocity could wield better crits… or how would 100% focus on power feel like? Is there such thing as a critless truck-hitting :o?

Condition damage and Healing power: is any of these worth ANY investment? I mean cond damage could affect burn… that’s it. Healing power I’m not so confident how much it is worth vs +Toughness or +Vitality. How does it make Virtue #2 and Shelter scale? I couldn’t find a common agreement anywhere I searched.

The rest

My remaining doubts reside on survivability factors and I am aware I will probably have to sacrifice something to get a nice balance of beefiness and survivability. Ultimately… what traits to use.

Vigor uptime and dodges… I love dodges… but does this mean I need to have crit chance to proc “Vigorous Precision” minor? Or are guardians supposed to rely more on blocks? (I am used to insane vigor uptime on my Ele)

Protection I get enough from Hammer symbol, but what Symbol trait is a must and what is not so needed? I could feel 2 seconds and larger area are both insanely helpful.

Look forward for y’all insights ^^

don’t hold back, but try to be constructive

Eva (morunas)

I am quite sure ANet has in its plans to add profiles but like every product you have to let it go bit by bit to maximize profit. I would gladly spend 2000 gems per profile on a character as long as I could insta-switch between traits WHEN out of combat of course. Not necessarily between WvW and rest of PvE but also for instance if I am soloing/small group in WvW with guild, or if I have to take a certain role in big Guild WvW movement.

I really hope though that if they have it planned it will be up soon because this is a deciding factor on how many people will play GW2 how often. I have to admit I am playing less WvW (and not more of the rest) because of this limit. My mesmer for instance is speced for large/mid organized group and I just don’t have the patience to go to LA and respec.

I mean if we would include profiling weapons equipped it would bring A LOT of programming challenges, but Trait profiling? Would be a joke to implement.

ANet if you have nobody to implement Trait profiles I will do it for free! ^^