Guild Wars 2

These are a little more affordable:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Plate_of_Orrian_Steak_Frittes

Unless clumsy can produce evidence of the amount he claims being healed, I suggest following what the wiki and what other guardians have posted about empower.

Group Stability is a hell of a drug.

-Rick James

In addition the notes state: Affects up to five allies, including the guardian.

Going full zerker does not mean going glass cannon. Use your traits for support and defensive purposes for the situation at hand. Use the zerker gear to maximize your damage regardless of your build.

As others have said this applies to PvE. WWW is a different beast.

Kjeldoran.3849:

Blasino.3128:

Blasino.3128:

Do you mind showing the math as to how you got the 1500 toughness? Meaning can you show your baseline and comparisons, like whats the numbers look like with 1450 toughness and why isn’t it optimal or 1550 toughness?

And does this 1500 toughness apply to all classes or just guardian/warrior?

And what about your other parameters? Can you show the math?

Where did you get the average damage is 2000?

I appreciate the explanation but seeing the actual calculations with the formulas, tables, or graphing you used would help me since I’m a numbers person.

I’m curious if you have answers to my questions.

Man are you serious? There isn’t a mathematical formula to explain that… try it yourself and you will se i haven’t the time to retry every single build only in order to show you that 1500 toughness for some reason is the right quantity… but again… TRY it yourselves.

1) 1500 tougness isn’t a quantity “to apply” to a class but it’s simply the quantity of thougness which an equip can give you (with 0/5/30/30/5 traits) in order to don’t lose other stats for vitality… so basically it depends from equip and build and so every class with this build (0/5/30/30/5) get the best equilibration between toughness and vitality at 1500 (there also some other factors to consider…)

2) read above

3) personal experiences and anyway i showed you the % in Hp so don’t care about a number… because this is an assuredness

PS: do you want to see what? a graphic? tabulas? are you kidding right? man this is a game… direct experience is the best to learn something… you can’t use a graphic (o.O ??) to learn to play… so go in wvw and try yourselves and you will find that every math formula or graphic is useless because all depends from circumstances …

Ummm you told me you calculated this to the millimeter. For someone who makes this claim, I do expect things like formulas, statistics, and such.

So basically this is all based on the eye test? Which is fine if that is what you want to roll with, but don’t claim about your precise calculations when you didn’t make any.

Blasino.3128:

Do you mind showing the math as to how you got the 1500 toughness? Meaning can you show your baseline and comparisons, like whats the numbers look like with 1450 toughness and why isn’t it optimal or 1550 toughness?

And does this 1500 toughness apply to all classes or just guardian/warrior?

And what about your other parameters? Can you show the math?

Where did you get the average damage is 2000?

I appreciate the explanation but seeing the actual calculations with the formulas, tables, or graphing you used would help me since I’m a numbers person.

I’m curious if you have answers to my questions.

Do you mind showing the math as to how you got the 1500 toughness? Meaning can you show your baseline and comparisons, like whats the numbers look like with 1450 toughness and why isn’t it optimal or 1550 toughness?

And does this 1500 toughness apply to all classes or just guardian/warrior?

And what about your other parameters? Can you show the math?

Where did you get the average damage is 2000?

I appreciate the explanation but seeing the actual calculations with the formulas, tables, or graphing you used would help me since I’m a numbers person.

Kjeldoran.3849:

Blasino.3128:

then use knights and a ruby orb… I suggested either one. So what would be the issue of going knights or a combo?

And how are you calculating this to a millimeter?

i cant put on knight because ill lose vitality and then i cant get more without unbalancing all… it’s a really difficult situation…

anyway i have some fixed parameters:
toughness -> capped at 1500 in order to don’t die too fast
vitality -> 1000 more hp togheter with thougness make you really harder to kill
precision -> a cap of 50% (with food) is enough for pve (and wvw ofc) because if you want to get more (for exemple 60% +) you need to greatly improve your crit damage and you can’t since you have to cap before toughness and vitality.
critical damage -> read above, 100% is enough to deal massive damage
power -> the only flexible parameter: the more power you have, the better is.

so that was the only build i finded who respected every single paramenter

Ok, so those are your parameters. But how did you come to them? What are your calculations that determine those things are optimal?

then use knights and a ruby orb… I suggested either one. So what would be the issue of going knights or a combo?

And how are you calculating this to a millimeter?

Suggestion:

Your boots and coat should be zerker and your legs and and helm should be soldiers or knights for better stat ratios. The upgrade in your boots should be either the ruby or beryl orb.

Whether or not its a symbol build in your eyes, this based off of Kaypud’s orignal designed that he deemed a symbol build =). I’m not trying to be misleading with the title and give the explanation in the OP.

Zeal is our worse trait line and to get those minors you are sacrificing a lot by either pulling out of honor or valor.

Using persistence is a good idea, but I perfer the merciful as it heals with the other symbols also. Getting that extra 130 healing for the pulse is important as combat can force you out of your symbol. Of course I’m not worried about the healing coefficients for this build. Kaypud originally had all three symbol traits in honor (before the fix to pure of voice).

@Alexei – Thanks for the compliments =).

I just started frap’n my gameplay so I should be posting some videos soon. I’m using it more to correct my own mistakes, but I know people like to see a build in action before trying it out.

Update (7/24/13):

-Made it tankier. It was a request by people who run/want to run this build.
-Improved the guide.

Kapchiy is the quechua word for art. For those who do not know me, I like naming my builds and characters using my wife’s people’s language. Symbols are sorta like art… ok maybe its a stretch.

Build:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7;4NF-40L3RG-90;9;54TT4;443A29A;1J;045F04l4MRl46-n-F61-J12dYq8jVp0t1y27_9a-o-G-2i;5kW7Xk06X;9;9;9;47;9;0VT-6d (Thanks Razor)

-Add 250 precision or 11.9% crit change from sigil of perception stacks (I use stackers before heading out)
-Four piece citadel provides 31.5 seconds of fury

So how does this work? Well its a dps symbol build whose origins go back to what Kaypud started in tpvp. It isn’t the most popular build as some of the higher ranked guardians I’ve talked to aren’t the biggest fans of running symbol dps. The same goes for WWW as there are no points to assault or defend which basically defeats the purpose of the build. For PvE, it works pretty well (though really high level fractals there are better ways to go). I love using symbols and for months I have run one in WWW outside of going my usual full support. I constantly tweak it after testing and patches.

PvE – Great
WWW / Solo Roaming – Not ideal, but can work
WWW / Small group – Great
WWW / Zerg – Great

The symbols in this build work in your favor on many levels:

1) They buff you and your allies
2) They heal you and your allies
3) You receive healing from buffing your yourself and allies
4) AoE damage to your enemies
5) Forces players to move out of the symbols
7) Removes conditions with projectile finisher
8) Provides retaliation with leap/blast finishers

It does have problems:

1) To buff and receive healing it requires you/allies to stand in the symbol
2) To damage your enemies it requires them to stand in the symbol
3) The condition removal is pretty random and not dependable

While there are only 3 cons, they are pretty big. So the mindset in using this build is keep it selfish. Use the symbols to help your survivability first and then your allies second. Meaning you aren’t going to be able to drop a quick 8k of healing on a teammate getting bursted down like in a pure support build. Your symbols act as constant healing. If your allies happen to be in it great, if not, no biggie. You are going to sit in your symbols unless combat dictates otherwise.

Skill bar options (I try keep at least 2 shouts, one of them being SYG):

-Heal: Signet of Resolve, some people prefer this over Shelter
-Smite Condition: Single condi cleanse and nice AoE damage
-Wall of Reflect: Helps in zerg combat
-Purging Flames: Group condi clense, forces enemies to move, AoE burning
-Bane Signet: Another 10% damage reduction, always nice

Even though I show Staff, Mace/Focus in the build, you use a variety of weapon sets depending on who I’m running with and the situation.

Staff, Mace/Focus (Defensive):

-Great survivability
-Good AoE DPS
-Good support options
-Has a burst option, but not as reliable due to tell signs of shield of wrath and lack of JI
-Use RoJ at melee range
-Can switch out Wirt of Merciful to Writ of Persistence

Staff, Hammer (Control):
I use this set a lot. For PvE I use full zerkers, and most times use Writ of Persistence instead of Pure of Voice.

-Less reliable symbols; however, symbol provides group protection
-Good AoE DPS
-Great CC
-Good support options
-No burst
-Can switch out Writ of Merciful to Two-Handed Mastery (I know it makes it less of symbol build, but who cares)

Staff, Mace/Torch (Offensive):
My favorite set

-Good survivability
-Good AoE DPS
-Good Support options
-Use ZF at melee range
-Has a reliable burst with ZF and P.Strike
-Do not use CF as part of damage rotation, situational: Cleansing condi’s off allies. Hitting enemies at ranged. Good healing with crits (around 1k). Chasing down enemies if you cannot switch to staff.
-Can switch out Wirt of Merciful to Writ of Persistence

Staff, Mace/Shield (Support):
Never ever used this set

-Good survivability
-Good AoE DPS
-Good Support Options
-Good CC
-No burst
-Can switch out Wirt of Merciful to Writ of Persistence

Greatsword, Mace/Focus or Torch (Offensive)

-Great Burst potential (w/ torch, less so w/ focus)
-Great AoE DPS
-Poor Support
-Average Survivability with Torch
-Good Survivability with Focus
-Good idea to use SYG, Smite Condition, and Retreat
-Can switch out Wirt of Merciful to Writ of Persistence

Greatsword, Hammer (Offensive, CC)

-No real burst
-Great AoE DPS
-Good CC
-Average Survivability
-Less Reliable Symbols
-I would use: SYG, Smite Condition, Retreat

I promise to get some videos up using this build. I was working on one, but I want to use footage with the latest changes.

It is pretty funny watching their reactions. So which one of us has been sleeping around with Anet to keep getting these nice “tweeks”?

If I suggested an off-hand greatsword is that ok? A greatsword is a sword!

And who wouldn’t to wield two greatswords!

Yeah as others have pointed out, some issues with the build. But if this build is enjoyable roll with it. In no way I want to change your play style, these are just my opinions.

Your lack of condition removal and low vitality which makes you more susceptible to conditions.

Going 10 into Zeal almost seems like a waste. You do not have the burst to take advantage of the Fiery Wrath Trait. I would take that 5 into virtues since the minor is very strong regardless of build. I would also take 5 into radiance to take justice is blind since zealot’s speed is not a very good trait. The blind will give you more damage negation increasing your defense.

Writ of exaltation is a waste as symbols aren’t the best thing for www, especially with your setup. Normally you would want to run writ of mercy and have a mace handy with that trait. I used to run a DPS/Support symbol build because I enjoyed it, but it definitely had its short comings.

Your weapon sets are popular with most guardians, though I’m not a fan of GS.

The GS, is tough to use against skilled opponents due to its tell signs except for the auto attack and leap of faith. Too land some of the attacks you really need to use JI in conjunction. For example Binding Blades and JI at the opponent before the animation is finished will almost guarantee a hit. Same with whirling wrath (though you still won’t land the full burst). Now for roaming a GS is helpful due to leap of faith which gives you some mobility.

In addition to roaming, sword #2 gives you additional mobility. But like the GS, Zealot’s Defense is hard to land due to tell signs and the ease of getting away from the attack.

Running save yourselves and lyssa runes are addition sources to give you quick swiftness and boons to recovery if you need to pull out.

I only point out the last two, because with just you and your girlfriend out there you will most likely needs ways to get out of trouble (IE getting blind sided by a zerg, or getting overwhelmed by a skilled group). As a warrior it’s easier; however, its tougher for a guardian.

Also, Stand your ground is a very strong skill even with a meditation build. I’m not saying you have to use it, but just keep in mind that it is probably one of our best skills for a guardian.

I hope you find these useful =).

What is the purpose of the build? Solo roaming? Small Group? Zerg?

Hunter.4783:

Its funny because you actually believe what you are saying.

Im well aware you can run zerker in as 30/30/10 but you will find thakittens not nearly as effective as lets say knights armor with boon duration or soldier runes because you will lack

- Armor
- Secondary effects from runes

Most of the ignorance or bias in this thread comes from the fact that people are used to being carried from other anchors, and hence they can afford to run DPS.

Having 5 people in TS kinda trivializes things.

However in a pug with 3 other warriors and a GC necro you will find that full zerker will not be helping you much and all your points become null
Even had that one teamate that keeps dying every 5 sec to Mai’s shadowstep? Ever had another mate who keeps DCing every fight?
These are 2 common scenariors in you see in pugs and have to make due. True guardians are able to give 150% of their current role in order to carry the party or distract the boss long enough for others to pull off the rez or simply 4 man the boss.
GC guardians like yourself cannot do any of the above because they have to use all their current toolbox just to stay alive.

And no, i am not advertising full PVT armor and accessories because they would be silly. Heck i use full zerker accessories myself. I am however against full zerker armor and weapons because even though you will be rocking 112% crit dmg, your role will only be limited to DPS and that of a GC

Why couldn’t you run runes of the soldier on zerker gear? I do.

And running all zerker gear doesn’t mean you are a glass canon. Who said run glass canon? At what point did anybody on this forum said it was a good idea to go glass canon?

You are making a lot of assumptions in your posts.

I have almost 2500 armor and 16k hp running full zerker gear. Is this your definition of a glass canon?

Like foofad said, you can still run a support with zerker gear. Zerker gear doesn’t stop anyone from removing conditions, applying CC, or providing boons.

You made a definitive statement that Full zerker is bad. This statement is false.

You just stated “everyone is too stuck up to give any sort of constructive feed back.” I see a lot of constructive feedback here.

I was curious on the effect of -condition duration food. If it were to drop burning to under 1 second does that mean damage does not apply?

Yoke.4671:

Tomb of Courage? staff4 and some utility skills let u tank boss in field to lose stacks, and 30s~ CDs not 3min.
And Ive like base 300 Heal-power…

Since the canon phase is a 1 minute+ (increasing in time per phase), and the boss takes a little while to DPS down, the cooldown on the tome doesn’t matter.

6 piece bonus of Superior Rune of the Guardian adds 1 second of burning on block. I dunno if that would be useful for a burning.

Silven, but he left. He has a thread on the forums about the different builds and such.

Acandis is another guardian of note.

For the AOE cannon phase stay together as a group. When you are spread out the cannons tend to aim spread out. When you are running around together the canons tend to aim towards the group leaving open spaces to run to.

When you are removing the shield off the captain, have the group stay near you and face tank the boss with tome of courage in the electric field the 1st mate launches. The boss will drop to around 3 or so stacks left.

Congrats guys. You all did great. Good game plan and team synergy.

I run it with full zeker, but its usually with my friends I normally dungeon with so I know we have each others back.

Tome of Courage is very useful in the last fight to get the bosses shield removed.

Aeolus.3615:

timidobserver.7925:

Going full condition doesn’t work, but if you craft your gear correctly and take the new grandmaster trait you can manage pretty good power, condition damage, and toughness. Something like 3k power, 700-800 condition damage, 3k toughness, 15-16k health.

I think it works out well if you can whirling wrath for 5k while at the same time burning them nearly constantly for some absurd amount.

3k toughness?

better yet 3k power?!

I use the tome of courage in www when i’m in a small group.

I use it on the new dungeon to group face tank the boss in the circles to get her shield removed.

Very nice thoughts here Brutaly

Wow man, good luck with real life =). I’ll send you a whisper if I see you on.

I’m wondering if Pure of heart is worth it for a support build if we are putting aegis on everyone, every 30 seconds.

A) Run dungeons, WWW, craft, or temples for exotic gear. Run fractals, daily, guild missions, and WWW for ascended gear. You can use the build craft website to get an idea how you will gear your guardian. To Save money and time I’d run your guardian in PvP just get a feel for the build if you like it or not. While its not going to be the best translation to the PvE or WWW world it still helps.

I just messaged Silven. It seems he cannot make it. Will Acandis take over?

Harbinger.8637:

There’s actually a couple of interesting builds I want to try out when this hits.

Also I don’t think it’s fake. If it was fake Anet would have said something or just removed all the threads.

They have removed (not merged/moved/closed) threads on this unofficial patch on the discussion forum.

For WWW/PvP, it can be a DPS weapon if you are geared for it. Not a burst weapon, but a sustained damage of 1k – 1.5k per conical hit to multiple targets. However, it’s a weapon more geared for team/zerg fights. A guardian who knows how to use the staff properly can ruin a thieves’ and eles’ day. This is outside of the support options it does or can do (depending on traiting).

For the GS, its a great DPS weapon with a decent CC in its number 5 attack. However, against skilled players it looses value as its easy to avoid its hardest hitting attacks, CC, and symbol do to casting time and tell signs. In PvE its a great weapon to use.

I’ll be honest, I do not really buy all this. It seems sorta out there.

I run an AH, symbol healing/dps build with staff, mace/torch. 10 pieces of my gear is zerker.

I’m still tanky, can pump out a potential 10k burst every 22 seconds, have steady dps, provide constant healing to my group w/o having to invest in healing power, condition removal/boons with shouts, and CC.

It all depends how you synergize and build your guardian. Our survivability will always come from protection buff, aegis, shelter, renewed focus, and blinds before our toughness, vit, healing power, and heals are taken into effect.

Name: Uturunku Yana
Account Name: Blasino.3128
Rank: 12

Hey Bash,

Akamon told me about your build, because I told him I’ve been running 4 citadel, and 2 vamp with my WWW symbol build. Works like a charm. I use sigil of blood instead of leeching for the extra damage and it also procs off of symbol pulses.

Right now I just use Orrian Steak Fritters, I haven’t changed over to pies.

I understand your point of needing to get hit for vamp to be worth it. I do get targeted and hit a lot. Maybe because I run staff, mace/torch. So generally, it has been worth it for me.

Your leeching idea applies to many builds.

What?! No, celestial ascended trinkets!?! This isn’t Rinzler, who are you imposter!

I actually started to get back into my mesmer again. I’ve been running 10/30/0/0/30 with Scepter/torch (or focus), sword/pistol. My gearing is slightly different but similar as I use Cav, zerker, and knights. For food because I’m a cheapo I’ve been using the Orrian Steak fitters (100 power, 70 vit).

Kinda scary that I start running a build similar to yours….

Ruby Orbs, Ogre, and Wurm are good candidates.

As for Devils comment, if you pug or are not with a skilled group it is a good idea to get some survivability up.

However if you are with a strong group that knows the dungeons inside and out you can run all zerker w/ dps upgrades. I do it with any dungeon/fracs.

Symbol DPS builds work great against thieves. Of course its hard to catch them with this build, but 1v1 you usually won’t die to a thief.

CC and group damage negation is probably the surefire way to “tank” in this game as there is no official aggro table that is known.

There is the rumor and some experimentation of having high toughness attracting PvE mobs. The only thing that I’ve seen officially said by a Dev was proximity plays a role.

I love my guardian. It is by far my favorite profession currently. I also play an 80 mesmer (2nd fav), 80 d/d ele, and 80 thief.

The one thing about this profession that I think does better then any other profession is being able to support your team while being able to do ample damage and provide ample control.

Most professions have to give up more of the other two aspects to be able to sufficiently provide the same level of support a guardian can.

The might stacking hammer sounds really interesting. I would like to see that build when you are done with it =).

Having a lot of toughness isn’t a bad thing. Diminishing returns start to get worse around 2900 – 2920 but it isn’t as huge as people make it sound. (I run 2813).

Having a lot of Vit isn’t a bad thing either. It really depends on how your guardian is built and your own personal gameplay.

Just like healing power. Really investing in healing power comes with the use of our dodge roll trait. Outside of that it doesn’t scale the best.

I’m intrigued =).

Excellent videos =).

Keep them coming! Great gameplay too!

Pyroatheist.9031:

Mesmer’s definitely dps better than guardians, in response to that question, for what it’s worth anyway.

I’m curious as to where you got that conclusion?

Please be careful with that website =). If you switch out too many gears it will bug out and not properly adjust the stats.

Its happened to me on a couple of occasions.

Now for a guardian to survive, our AoE blinds, blocks, invulnerability, and dodges is what defines us more then our stats. The damage negation >>>> then the defensive stats.

If you are trying to just look at the stats themselves taking everything out of the equation then a warrior will do better then a guardian.