Guild Wars 2

Without the sigil of smoldering you will still get the extra second so there is a flaw in your test. You would need to get rid of the other burning duration sources to see it work. I think it is still bugged as reported by foofad in his pyroclasm thread that is stickied.

With Sigil of Battle and other things you can pretty much keep up 15 might with just swapping weapons and have +7% bonus damage bonus. I think you missed that part of my post. It doesn’t require work to keep those stacks up. You don’t need allies for this.

Though, I understand if you value the burning duration. It could be a wash, though I think that strength/battle combo comes out on top.

Do you have a video of where you can keep up burning on another player consistently? I haven’t seen anyone show this yet. I see people constantly say that its “easy” and they can do it, but no one has produced visible proof. All I’ve been able to do is apply large amounts of burning in spurts and then there is a period where there is no burning.

Lord Trejgon.2809:

@Blasino I’ve got situation descripted above with my roamer build adapted to suite little more group fights (exchanged meditations for shouts and messed with traits to reflect it to be precise) and picked tome of wrath just because just a while earlier we were ordered to atack from distance and I had no viable ranged AoE

condi dmg is some but not so great – remnants of old time in meaning of some ascended trinkets with condi dmg no idea what those “others” had but still that atackers melted quite rapidly

hmm I think I’ll run some more experiments on case of burning pressure – since retraiting doesn’t cost

Please let me know what you find.

One day I’ll have the time and money to outfit this build in www. My guild has been pulling me to tpvp lately. Yay bunker…

Sigil of Smoldering I believe is bugged since the April 15th patch, unless I missed the hotfix.

Also, I would run with runes of strength with battle sigils. With an easy upkeep of 15 might stacks your power and condi damage is going to better then with your current rune set.

Its a pretty nice build, I like it.

Guardians are useful in all facets of the game.

I’d still make one if its your style of play.

I guess should have been a bit more specific about the build. I and vT does not zerg in WWW. I’ll update the OP to reflect this build being used for roaming. If I were to zerg, Harbinger has much better builds, and would definitely be using staff and hammer.

messiah you are right about the negative condi food. It will hurt this build a little; however, as much as its considered meta to run this food and find it funny that most people do not run this food. Its rare. But this can be countered by running Koi Cakes.

In addition, the purpose of this build is to have direct damage as my primary and burning as my secondary form of damage. I depend on bursting with torch, VoJ, and sometimes immob in PF to get my burning off.

Why? I want my might to get stacked and I want my opponent to blow their condi removals before I start my reliable applications of burning.

Also, your build lacks group support and the survivability of my build. My build also does much more damage as applying burning “constantly” on one target is not reliable on a guardian even when built for it. Your videos even reflect this. The one time you applied burning effectively was after you blew through most of your skills on an ele that ran away in a 12 second battle. Besides that your burning application was random.

If I could I would like to try full celestial with this build. But its just too much of a pain. For Spvp that is what I have been testing it with.

You do bring up good points. I appreciate it, though I will disagree on the use of strength runes. I can get 9 might up immediately and gradually keep up more stacks during a fight.

I made some updates to the build.

Updates:

9/25/2014
Updated build, thanks to Amins suggestion. Another video will be coming soon with new build.

9/14/2014
Brand New Build Information: Started from scratch

After a 3 month Hiatus, I started to play again. I am still not a fan of condition damage on a guardian; however, I found a way to make it work for me. I only use this build for solo roaming or duels in spvp. I run my support build when in small man WWW and my bunker for tpvp.

Current Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQRApd7flsApQotCxZI8DNR8Ql9Y0ivY1BQC8oXNDA-TVyCABAcQAUVJ4O7P8i+BDM/1kyPfU/ZiTAgEPBASBso0I-w

Please note there is an error in the build site: There will not be 100% burning duration. I choose additional condition duration food in case people run negative condition duration in addition to protect the core of the build. In addition if you want to use the ascended version go full dire. I opted to stay in Exotic as I’m still trying to improve the build.

The core: Amplified Wrath, Defender’s Flame, Superior Rune of the Guardian, Mace, Focus, Shelter. You apply 3 seconds of burning per block at almost 1k a tick. This is the focus of the build, to punish people as they attack you. This is great for people who enjoy playing a defensive style gameplay (like myself).

Below is a vid on play testing. Please note you will see different setups throughout the video as I was trying many variations.

Where is your CC to take your opponents off points?

And is PF enough condi clears for your team and yourself with this condi meta?

No projectile reflects?

How do you fight ranged opponents w/o getting off the point?

Jax are symbol builds still a viable option now? The condi meta is ridiculous right now. I wonder if they have to be retweeked to run PF, Smite, SYG.

They have always been my favorite builds but have avoided running them lately.

For PvP as a bunker, I take Melandru since I"m usually running 2 consecrations.

I guess in Spvp anything could work. But for tpvp what is the purpose of your build? What role is it going to fill on your team?

Mid Bunker?
Decap?
Roamer?
Home Bunker?

Unless you don’t care about tpvp, then my question is mute.

Here is the thread Brutaly is talking about. A lot of good information here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/page/4#post3917471

I would check out a majority of the stickies on the Guardian forum. Its a wealth of knowledge.

You want a grind… play LOTRO.

What stinks about this is I already got hit with Daily bug and lost out on laurels. Now I got this bug and I’ve missed a week of coms.

That doesn’t count the 2 coms I missed the previous week because the megaserver design prevented us from being able to activate the mission as other guilds already started it.

I guess I’m unlucky.

We are the best community because we win in stickies!

Howdy Engie Community,

I started to play engie for the past 2 months, and I love it. A ton of fun. My 2nd favorite profession now.

I was wondering if there was some good info threads out there about specific roles an Engie can fulfill in tpvp.

I normally run mid bunker guardian, but I have another guy I run with who wants to start playing guardian. So I figured I could switch to engie.

I’ve seen some amazing engies that our group has picked up for arena who do a great job holding home and supporting mid when needed (like the turrent build). Any info would be helpful and I appreciate it greatly.

Yep awesome job! Congrats. This just enhances how informative and great the guardian forums are.

No it isn’t. The concept still works and the build is very strong, especially since the ferocity change.

Amins said it best, what synergizes who you run with.

I run a healway version with CoP, MI, and WoR. Why? I can pump out about 7-8k healing to a target in a second. The people I run with love it and understand the quirkiness of MI. So it actually works well. I also use GS/Staff. Why? Mobility. When you are fighting 3v7 you need to be able to disengage and kite a little bit turn around and as a group take down the target that caught up with you (namely glass thieves/wars).

However, this doesn’t mean it works well with everyone. I mean MI is clunky so you could be wasting heals on someone who doesn’t need it especially if you start running with more people. If you run with staff ele’s or engie’s then having MB on hammer is awesome. All those little things matter.

Add me to the list

Harbinger.8637:

Obviously it’s commander Siegerazer, he can use Ring of Warding with greatsword.

Seriously though, there is no “best”. There are a lot of talented Guards out there that play different aspect of the game. Ken, Obal, Brutaly, Silven, Amins, and the list goes on. However that’s the nice thing about the Guardian community, everyone is extremely helpful, and tries their best to help others out.

This is easily the top section when you compare it to the other professions’ subforms.

Thank You!

I’m surprised how little people mention Siege Razor. I guess people don’t WWW or fight him. I mean the guy uses binding blades on people who are walls and pulls them down. Why can’t our binding blades do that!?!

R u kidding man? Even your “apology” post is insulting and fake. You aren’t sorry, you are just trying to justify your actions.

ArchonWing.9480:

foofad.5162:

ArchonWing.9480:

foofad.5162:

You run into the same problems in WvW – No Wall to punish ranged attackers, no Purging Flames to mass cleanse after condition bursts, no Hallowed Ground to support your zerg clash at choke points.

Oh triple shouts is dead in zerg wvw too? What are people building then? Do tell, I’ve been wanting to do consecrations for quite a while.

Pretty much what I said – WoR to punish ranged, Hallowed Ground to give mass stability in zerg clashes and during fights over choke points, Purging Flames for mass cleanses after the initial merge, and Sanctuary never because it’s basically only useful for point control in sPvP. Stand Your Ground remains excellent though, always good to bring that – again for the Stability. Gotta do something about those hammer warriors.

Ah, SYG/HG combo sounds like fun. We would lose protection, and is purging flames/absolute resolution more reliable than shout condi removal?

Also this would be 20 into virtues I’d assume.

I have to say it is. You are usually using your shouts for other purposes and the condi removal is secondary. And being able to remove 6 condis from a party in a matter of seconds with 2 skills is pretty nice without killing all of your utilities.

Here is an ele thread that mentions them: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Aquatic-Benevolence-Research-Notes/first#post3948182

It seems to effect other things besides the number 6 heal.

messiah.1908:

with 100% duration its doubled
JI 6 seconds
VOJ 2 seconds every 5th attack (so smite which hit 8-16 times proc voj it so well)
torch #4 is 3 stacks for 6 seconds
each block 2 seconds
torch #5 is 10 hits (also proc voj it very well)
PF 8 seconds

so basic rotation against clump group is
1. smite
2. torch 4
3. ji
4. torch 5
5. heal which block or PF
6. GS #4 sow
etc

dont expect to see 30 seconds in 20 group fight as probably they will cleanse it but you can re-put the condition right after. and also enemies move around so it hard to target the same enemies to continue stack your burning
so expect to see enemy burning 1k for 3-5 seconds and your main target for 8-15 seconds which is so far the best aoe dmg
if you can target 10 ppl and cause only 3 seconds burning its 10*3*1000=30,000 dmg (3k each enemy) didnt consider the direct dmg which can be 1k-2k each hit so 50k dmg in 3 seconds

BTW, Sigil of Smoldering and the Radiance trait are bugged.

So how are you getting 100% burning duration?

^ All of this are excellent points.

Hey mrauls (This is the engie you dueled about a month ago),

Sorry about your frustrations =/. This is what I run (Healway variant):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQJARWlsApVo97wZI8DNRCBl5M+P2foFp4yAsAA-TFCEABDqE0KlfUq+TFXAAe2fAgDBwDPBA30FEAAB4m3MbezAH9oH9oH9odzbe0be0bWGAmxA-w

You can replace staff with sword/focus. You can replace speed with trav’s. Add 450 power and 2k health from sigil and WWW buffs.

It isn’t the most sexy build and you aren’t going to blow anyone up. It has a lot of condi removal. Most 1v1s are either a win or a draw, not a lot of losses. With a partner or small group it works really well. I have videos they just aren’t put together or else I’d upload them.

But triple meds is probably the way to go.

I’m glad you are keeping this up to date. I pretty much just link this thread to “What build for WWW” threads haha.

I can’t wait to see your updates Silven.

I think the issues are:

How does going 30 into Zeal help your group or how does it outdamage a guardian built for damage or support? I mean since most support builds run 0/0/4/6/4 or 0/0/2/6/6, what are you going to pull off of what trait lines to get Aplified Wrath while keeping support options.

And does going 30 into Zeal out damage a support builds normal attacks? I mean really the only way to prove that is to show detailed analysis on the math which I’m sure foofad is doing in his pryoclasm thread. Before this trait the answer was no, it doesn’t. With the trait, it “could” be yes, but I doubt it and even then you loose out on supporting your own team while having a possible small buff in damage.

And if you want perma burning on a target then you will need to go 4 into virtues and get rid of absolute resolution. That’s less condi removal for everyone. Otherwise you are just randomly applying burning to different targets for 1-2 seconds and not permanently.

In the end I don’t see how this is viable. Burning builds have less support options then most builds, less sustain then most builds, or it can’t out damage most builds.

That is a lot of burning, but that still does not equate to permanent burning even with everything you stated.

Engie just needs incendiary powder and bombs to keep perma burning. You are right about the mesmer, my mistake.

My other question is how are is everyone here keeping with perma burning on one target with these builds?

Sword auto itself takes 2.5 seconds for its auto to fire off (this includes animation time) for 1 second of burning.

The videos do not show anyone here keeping up perma burning unless I’m missing something.

messiah.1908:

here is my test in spvp with rabid gear and GS

hell of fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFbopJeE2UY

You lost the arena match.

And the other part is hot join.

I am failing to see the effectiveness of your build.

This gameplay is pre-patch right? Not sure what server you play on but I didn’t see you facing too many condi roamers which after this patch has been running rampid.

messiah.1908:

the main difference is guardian can put perma burning while other profession cant.

I keep seeing this being said. An engie can put up perma burning. So can a mesmer.

Outside of that (this isn’t directed to anyone specifically), it would be cool to see some PvP gameplay videos of these condi builds? Its one thing to write about how its effective, and how to x, y, and z. But seeing it is what makes people believers.

We lost 2 guild challenges because guilds already started them.

Ummm Siegerazor DUH…

Nothing subjective about that…..

Yeah appreciate the feedback letting us know you are working on it, though I was fairly sure you were well aware of it and working on it.

Sucks weekend is coming, I hope you can figure it out today so you guys don’t have to do overtime.

Thanks for doing this obal. It’s very helpful.

I was hoping you said something like every hit or at least 2 hits haha.

I know, but at least they are trying to give us a condi build. The idea is interesting, but not implemented in the best way.

We can only hope they improve things.

Here is the thread, but yes it is stickied:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/page/4#post3598694

Great Thread from Harbinger about Guardian and WWW: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-World-Vs-World-The-Guardian-and-You/first#post3918826

Though there may be a couple of changes with the new traits (possible use of communal defense in zergs) its still a very sound thread.

Really a lot of builds work great in a zerg due to people balling up. But in a more organized zerg there are better builds.

Some things to remember in zerg fighting: blasting static fields to stack swiftness during the move, blasting fire fields and stacking might before a fight, and blasting water fields during a fight. Be careful with the use of your light fields as they can mess up other fields.

With this in mind hammer and staff are generally very good zerg weapons for a guardian.

Interesting, it might be a step closer to a condi build of some sorts. You can’t clense retal so that is a plus (boon strip sure). At least this trait is in the radiance line which is a little more useful then zeal.

Same daily bug for me….

Thanks, appreciate it.

For Mind Wrack, is each clone a separate attack? I think you might see where I’m trying to go with this…

I haven’t had a chance to test things much since I’m in training all week and have little access to the game.

Thanks ahead of time for any insight.

I didn’t even think that was possible… 0.o

Aza.2105:

I’m not sure how you guys are testing. Is it in spvp or pve/wvw? In spvp the difference between scaling with power vs condition isn’t very apparent. In fact, I’m not even sure if it properly works???

In pve I tested. With a full zerker set and 2396 power, retaliation hits for around 386 per hit. Using a rabid set, veggie pizza and a tuning crystal and having 1659 condition dmg, retaliation hits for 456per hit. From my observation, radiant retaliation does make ret better with condition damage than power.

I suspect that the retaliation damage cap in pvp has something to do with the scaling not appearing to be better.

Retal is nerfed is in WWW also just like PvP. Just in PVE it isn’t.

Aza.2105:

Blasino.3128:

I’d argue Engie can do a better job of keeping up burning.

Explain.

Incendiary Powder and Fire Bombs is 100% uptime. You can throw in Rocket Kick too. That is without Condi duration.

And you do not have to build for it like a guardian would.

I’d argue Engie can do a better job of keeping up burning.