Guild Wars 2

Doesn’t that mean that your build is running at lower effectiveness half of the time? (Because it’s a support build, and you’re only really supporting when allies are near.)

I posit you don’t actually need to dedicate so much points to support. This will give you more survivability and will increase your overall effectiveness.

Quick question: In tPvP (5v5), are you often in situations where allies could benefit from all that support? I’m only asking because when I do 5v5, I’m very often on my own, defending a point.

I do not mean any offense, but I don’t see how your build works. Might explaining it?

Anyway, as andy said, use Pure of Voice and Runes of the Soldier, which will make your overall build synergy a lot better and help you survive against conditions a lot better. Doing so also allows you to use an extra Shout instead of Contemplation of Purity if you’d like, which frees up a trait that is currently not doing very much.

Looks like a very interesting build. Would you mind sharing it?

I like my weapons simple and realistic. I pretty much abhor fantasy weapons that look like they’ll break or get stuck when you actually use them.
For Hammers I’ve liked the elegant simplicity of the (I think) Krytan skin.

See how much I cared Seriously, I’m being very, very disinterested in the personal story. I only do it because the rewards are pretty good (although the Armor I’m now getting looks horrible).

Also, something completely unrelated: I really like your name. Did you know there was a Belgian band with that name (Absinthe Minded)?

Is there a Guardian in the human storyline?
But I doubt I’d have a favorite. I find it very hard to care about any NPC in this game. Or the storyline.

Yeah, it’s mainly Guardians who defend one specific place (as in: they bunker down). It sacrifices damage for survivability and control.
It’s more an archetype than a specific build.

I find the Mace too slow and defensive, even for point defense, so I default to Sword/Shield.
Hammer is probably our best weapon to keep a point clear from enemies. It has 3 of its five skills dedicated to exactly that and the other two skills offer you Protection, high damage and Retaliation.
Maybe you should compromise and use Hammer together with Sword/Shield or with Mace/Focus?

And yeah, aggression is very important. If the point allows it (like with The Beach and The Mine) I like to play further in the field, so I can intercept incoming enemies before they even reach the point (but not so far that I can’t easily return).

“We already have a trait that removes conditions when we shout!”
Yup. So now I can remove two with one skill, and get a boon out of the deal as well. Works great versus Mesmers and Necromancers.

I mostly use Rune of The Soldier, since I play a very defensive Shout-build and I’d be silly not to use it.

I’ll be sure to check it out as soon as I can. I’m looking forward to it.

Yes, I think this is fair. The Guardian needs protection from conditions because of their low health. And in order to remove ALL THE CONDITIONS, you need to trait in a specific way and/or pick the right utility skills, leaving you open against more direct damage or another strategy.
You just met your counter in a condition removal Guardian (and I must say, if your condition build relies on 1 condition, I think you need to rethink it), just like I can only occasionally win from condition-Necromancers.
Every build will have a counter. You have the bad luck of playing a build that is bad against a common Guardian build.

I think it’s important when designing a build that works “everywhere”, you should keep an eye on any possible major trait that could be chosen in a specific spot. Major traits are easily swappable.

@Silver: Any skill that’s primarily a punishment for stupid people is a win!
Maybe I should start a Mesmer

Yes.
It’s not even that hard and there is more than one way to go about it.
People might be confused because we retain a bit of support, even when going all out on the offensive.

There’s Judge’s Intervention combined with everything.
I also have a basic combination for keeping people of a point.

1. Banish them of the point.
2. Zealot’s Embrace to lock them down for a bit
3. Ring of Warding, so they can’t get closer
4. Swap to Sword+Shield and use Shield of Absorption when they’re trying to attack me.
   Then I start smacking them about for a bit and start all over again.

You could swap them out depending on the situation.
But if you really only want to use one, I’d go with the Scepter for WvWvW

In situations like that, you’ll have to make a choice. Either stand on the point and wait, or try to get out of their line of sight, or attack them.
What you could do is attack one, then, as the other goes to the point, blink to them with the Sword and then knock them off it, or fight them on the point.
Alternatively, you could use Flashing Blade to got to one of them (or just walk up to them) and knock that one closer to the other, so you can fight both at the same time.

Also, consider using a Shield. I use one in my point defense build, and it helps me greatly in situations like this. It’s a couple of extra seconds that I can ignore their attacks.

Kita.7819:

All but Sword/Torch.

Are you saying that this combination doesn’t work?

I don’t think the skill needs a buff of any kind. Good placement of it requires skill and foresight.
I do think there’s a general issue with our Wards. Being able to dodge through it shouldn’t be possible (or is this intended)? I’m okay that people with Stability can cross it, but it would be cool if Stability only stopped the knockdown.

Judge’s Intervention a mediocre movement skill? Judge’s Intervention is arguably (read: arguably)Guardian’s best utility skill. Equipping it and calling it a wasted slot is just wrong. It’s OK if it doesn’t ‘fit’ your build, but let’s keep things in perspective.

I agree. I weep every time it doesn’t fit in my build (and since I play very defensive builds, that happens very often).

Good points.
I don’t think Zeaot’s Defense needs to be usable on the move, but I certainly won’t complain if it was.
Also: Don’t touch my Shield

And I think the Staff needs a total rework. There is no internal synergy or overarching theme to the weapon. It’s like they took all the leftover skills and put them on a big stick.

I don’t think you can actually have “bad” weapon combinations, unless you go out of your way to trait in a very inefficient way.
The reason Scepter/Shield isn’t used as often is probably because A) a lot of people think the Shield is bad and because it’s the lowest damage option.
But of control you can’t really do much better. Despite all the hate the Scepter (deservedly) gets, Chains of Light is a really good skill.

The Shield is my go-to offhand, especially in sPvP.
Shield of Judgment has a bit of a high cooldown for the effect, but Protection is one of the best boons there is, and it’s a bit of ranged damage for when you’re chasing someone.
The utility of Shield of Absorption is nearly endless. The knockback alone would be amazing, but being able to cancel it for healing or the fact that it’s a combo-field makes it all the better.

As for advice: Try to use Shield of Judgment with allies in the cone to get the most of it, but don’t focus on that too much. Don’t do weird positioning just in order to grant your allies the boon.
Shield of Absorption should probably be used for the knockback 90% of the time. Also, make sure you press the button again just before the channel-bar ends, because the healing might save your life.

Archmortal.1027:

Upon further thought, the Warrior Longbow skillset could be transcribed onto Guardians and it would be pretty much perfect for us. Looking at the skillset I’m not sure why it was put on a warrior instead when they already have a rifle and axe for ranged.

The Warrior’s “thing” is that he’s a master of all weapons. They have access to pretty much every non-magical weapon apart from pistols.

Targeting doesn’t work, and it’s unlikely it ever will.
Not having spells that target friendly players is symbolic to the death of dedicated healing and the holy trinity.

It just need a system where it ignores everything except for players (unless there are no players around).

No, it does not.
People don’t seem to realize the power that comes from our Line/Ring of Warding.

I don’t think there’s room (aesthetically) for such weapons. What would make them different (aesthetically) from the Rifles that already exist.

Oh and @Celestina and everyone else who says Rifles wouldn’t fit the Guardian. I still haven’t heard/read a proper argument on this. (Apart from fantasy traditionalism in the form of “guns can’t be magic”, which is easily countered.)

@Archmortal: It’s also worth noting that your very first Aegis of a fight will not heal you, since you’re at full health.

Either class could do what you described. Guardians can do as much damage as any other profession (but they can’t really do much burst damage).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQNAR8elYgKCHEyvDfYFRuALFE0gVFiH+hKepwhSE;TsAA1CtoMyYkwIrROjkGtAZIyOEA

Here you go.
If you have any further questions/comments, feel free to ask them.

I tested it myself. I took no traits apart from Pure of Heart and no healing gear at all. Then I went to the training enemies in the Mist (I think I tested it against the Guardian there). I let him smack me about a bit so I had lost health and then I activated Virtue of Courage or used “Retreat!”.

“Pure of Heart: This heals for around 650 with no other healing increases. Just so you know.”
I’ve tested this when I wrote up my trait analysis.

redknight.8036:

A.net needs to stop being afraid of granting direct heals utility. Most of the high healing utility are lackluster and has a long cooldown/gimmick that makes them not even worth using.

This is by design. Arenanet was set on not having any healers in the game, which resulted in everyone having a personal heal and other heals being rather ineffective. This doesn’t matter much if the skill also has a nice other effect (Sanctuary), but on skills like Merciful Intervention, the healing is more or less the main reason to take, so it feels lackluster.

“People who have a lot of health, in the range of 20k or so, tend to do so at the expense of toughness or damage. If it’s at the expense of damage, you’re not doing anyone any favors, including yourself.”
I must say this doesn’t necessarily hold true in every type of content. In sPvP I have low damage, but I can keep one (or two, if I’m playing well or they’re playing poorly) enemies busy for over 2 minutes if need be, which is a lot longer than if I would just kill them.

As Brutally said: You can remove two conditions with one shout in this setup. And Pure of Voice is given preference by the game, so if you have only one condition, you will gain an additional boon.

Stiyl.2308:

Thanks for the wall of information,
I changed my build a lot, it looks like this now.

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.3.12.3.0.18.5.32.0.30.54.61.60.65.77.8.8.7.152.157.0.167.170.0.185.0.0.201.0.0.0.0.0.20.20.10.15.5

I focused more on condition removal, signets and swapped my torch for a focus.
But I don’t know which runes to put on my weapons and armor, could you help me with that?

Regards, Stiyl

Runes and sigils is as much art as it is science. You’ll have to find what works for you. I would advice you on picking up runes with Toughness.

Your new build is a lot better. It’s still a mix of offense and defense, but is clearly favoring a damage-oriented playstyle.
I took the build for a spin, and it worked okay. I did change the second major trait in Radiance to Inscribed Removal, because the two passive condition removers weren’t enough.
I found two problems with the build (one of which is a bit subjective).
The first was that your build was highly susceptible to conditions (which is easily fixed by using Inscribed Removal).
The second problem was that it didn’t play like a point-defense build (which is what you’re trying to use it for, right?).
Their are two reasons for it: 1) The damage on the build is pretty great and you can burst down quite some people easily. This lends itself to an aggressive playstyle which encourages you to leave your points (as opposed to my usual build, which loves staying on a point). 2) There is no real way of keeping someone of a point, which is often necessary to neutralize or defend a point.

I also did some free tournaments with a modified build and it was a lot better there than it was in 8v8.
I swapped the Focus for the Shield, so I had a strong knockback and I took 10 points out of Zeal (which weren’t doing much, all thing considered) and put them in Valor, to increase my Toughness.

It depends on what you want and which content you run, but for survivability you’ll need both.

I don’t really enjoy damage-builds, but I prefer power/precision over condition damage, since we only have one condition.

I know. It’s my favorite as well, but as far as I can tell, it’s the only one that causes problems. But copy-pasting the link works, so it’s not that big an issue.

The “bad link” issue is due to a semicolon in the link-address. There’s not much you do about it, except using another skill tool.

Ars Valde.8693:

@Ynna: Because some people suck at making builds. It’s not their thing, they’re not adept at it, and they are more comfortable taking another build someone suggests and tweaking it their own way.

Hmmm. I guess that’s understandable. But I find it really hard to make a “bad” build. You’d have to be doing it on purpose.

Am I beefy enough?
Maybe. It’s hard to tell without actually playing the build (and I don’t have access to a computer this weekend.) I do find it weird that all your traits are focused on doing loads of damage, while your utilities and gear are pretty much tailored to a more defensive playstyle. A big problem is the lack of condition removal, which is pretty kitten important in sPvP.
Am I strong in team-fights?
Frankly, no. Or better said, you’ll not be better in a team-fight than you are on your own, and you’re team won’t benefit more from your presence than they would from any other player. It’s a rather ‘’selfish" build, but so are most damage-focused builds, so don’t feel bad about that.
Am I strong solo?
Probably, yeah. Again, it’s hard to say without actually playing, but you should be able to hold your own in 1v1 and probably do okay in 1v2. What I’d be worried about is not having enough raw damage to overpower an enemy, or not being defensive enough to outlast them. Maybe this build is a good middle-ground, but I doubt it.
What should I change?
It’s hard to say, since your build lacks focus. I’m going to try and rework it, without changing what I think is the core of the build. The core is probably that it’s somewhere in between damage and survivability.
Changes I would make:
Weapons
You’re over-relying on the Greatsword with your traits and for little reason. If you want to hold points, I’d advice picking up the Hammer instead, but then you’ll have to do away with your points in Zeal (more on that later).
I also don’t think the Torch is the perfect off-hand for you here. If you want an off-hand that works like your build (mix between offensive and defensive), I’d go with the Focus. Also consider the Shield if you’re mainly holding points.
Utilities
Your utilities don’t get any trait-support. Maybe pick up a few traits that improve your Signets (I’m suggesting Signets, because that would easiest would your current point-allocation) and picking up a few more signets. Signet of Resolve will give you a bit more condition removal and if you go until Grandmaster in Radiance (losing points in Zeal), each Signet will remove a condition.
If you prefer Shouts, adjust the traits in Honor and maybe max that out as well (again, giving you access to condition removal).
Traits
Zeal is only really good if you use Spirit Weapons or Symbols, and you’re not really relying on either. Most of the points from this line could be reallocated, either putting more in Radiance or Honor (unless you start traiting anew).
Generally speaking, you have too much traits that only benefit one weapon (or one skill), which isn’t really efficient.
Grade my build between 0-10.
5.5/10 _"Come see me after class."
It’s not a terrible build and it might work for you, but it’s main problem is that it lacks focus, which also makes it hard to give feedback on it. You took a lot of good skills and good traits, but they don’t really work well together. I’m also unsure as to how well your build fits with your role. This build looks designed to roam around, instead of holding points.
How does your build play?

I’d go for offensive stats (Power, Crit Chance, Crit Damage) until you find yourself dying too easy, and then take a bit more defensive stats (Vitality and Toughness).
As for traits, it’s hard to go wrong, so just try out things until you find what works for you. Retraiting doesn’t cost a lot.
If you’re unsure on how to trait: Start with the weapons and utilities you like, and build around them.

I’m not going to give you a build.
Sorry.
I’m going to ask you a question.
How would you (Rainydays.[sub]5368[/sub]) make a Spirit Weapon build?

I also have a question that could be considered condescending (but isn’t meant like that), so don’t read the following sentence if you get offended easily.
Why didn’t you make your own build, test it out and then come ask for feeback?

What are you going to use the build for? That’s pretty important.

It’s not that hard. Just put points in Honor and Valor you want high survivability.

I only initiate when I want to cap a point (in sPvP). It generally goes: Flashing Blade —> Zealot’s Defense-→(Switch to Hammer)—>Banish

It’s great in sPvP as well, for getting people of points. Or if you do this with Ring of Warding, it’s great for chasing people.
I kinda regret that Judge’s Intervention doesn’t really fit in my PvP build.

The game doesn’t differentiate between allies.