Guild Wars 2

Apologies, phor, I didn’t mention the major traits. As previously mentioned you should usually pick traits to compliment your playstyle.

However, the ones I use are the following:
*Zeal – II Firey Wrath
*Radiance – II Signet Mastery, X Powerful Blades, XI Right Handed Strength
*Honor – II Superior Aria, VIII Empowering Might, XI Pure of Voice

All of those have worked very well for me. The only one I’m not 100% on is Empowering Might, which has some other possible options to replace it. Overall I’ve found it greatly supports the team though, so I keep going back to it.

Hope this helps you a bit phor, apologies for not including it in the original post.

Any questions come up while playing it please let me know understanding how fights work is obviously very important to dungeon survival, but this build should let you have the tools you need to be successful.

I’m hoping this build can provide a baseline idea for guardians that like an all-around versatile build which can output solid damage while staying incredibly tough (and also providing support for your group).

10/30/0/30/0 (aka 10 in Zeal, 30 Radiance, 30 Honor) Sword+Focus and Scepter+Shield

PvE and PvP gear has differing stats, if anyone was unaware. The following is for PvE gearing, though I’ve had great success with this build in PvP as well.

All armor is Knights (Toughness > Power + Precision) and all jewelry is Valkyrie (Power > Vitality + Critical Damage).

Stats on weapons can be berserkers or knights. Sigil of Force, Bloodlust, or Accuracy are all ones I have been using recently. Many sigils are viable, I just found the above three at reasonable prices.

Utility Spells are “Save Yourselves” and “Hold the Line” plus whatever third utility fits the situation best. “Hold the Line” is my preference, but Signet of Justice and “Retreat” also are ideal in certain scenarios.

Pros of the build:
-Permanent Vigor, enough that you can constantly dodge to get healing and keep your damage bonus from Elusive Power going.
-Incredible staying power for your entire group. Conditions being turned into boons from shouts and healing from dodges helps everyone. Not to mention the benefits of the shouts themselves, which are significant.
-Two stun breakers, which is crucial for many dungeon scenarios.
-Significant sustained damage in almost any scenario. Your sword is very powerful and crits an incredible amount for high damage. On those fights where you have to back out to do damage at range your scepter can really pack a punch at range with smite.
-When tanking in melee you have 3 blinds and an absorb shield, enough to keep an aggressive opponent at bay for a long time when you include all the dodges you’re doing.
-Enough toughness and vigor to easily act as the initiator/tank vs bosses.

Cons of the build:
-Very limited crowd control. One knockback and one root is really all you provide.
-Kiting and mobility can be challenging. You can easily have swiftness with “Retreat” and “Save Yourselves” but beyond that you lack the tools necessary to keep opponents at bay.
-Limited condition damage (some burning) can make high armor opponents affect your damage output more than some builds.
-Restricted AOE damage. Your sword still hits multiple foes, and smite can hit multiple targets as well, but nowhere near the AOE damage that other classes or greatsword can put out.

I’ve managed to have some glorious moments with this build. I’m hoping some of you will find similar success. As with any build in this game, your playstyle will greatly change the details of how successful you are with it, so adjust as needed to your preferred style.