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Hello! I'm reposting a some builds for Guardian that I posted on the guild's FB group right after the new trait changes, since a lot of people was confused with the new changes.
These builds are meant to be *basic* WvW builds, to get you started and familiar with the playstyle, and then let you adapt and change them to match your own preference and playstyle. They represent the two main playstyles that Guardian does in WvW, and can also be used in PvP with some tweaks, as well as PvE if you slap on some Zerk. But the main idea is that these will get you familiar with the Guardian in WvW/PvP, and give you a good start to find your own personal preference as you get better at the class and find specific needs.
A note, I'll only give rough guidelines for Stats/items, and no specific lists. Everyone tend to have their own preferences on this, and it can vary quite a bit between people. I'll try to give some recommendations on good *starting stats* to get used to the class. Personally use Celestial for just about anything, and I bet all the “Pro's” are going to scream and yell at me for that, so won't recommend it :)
-= Meditation Roamer =-
Description: The most general roaming build for guardian.
Pros:
- Good Mobility
- Good Condi removal
- Good Sustain (Medi heals)
- Good Damage
Cons:
- Selfish, no group play
- Usually full melee, no ranged
- Useless at sieges (get ram mastery)
- Legacy: This should be a general Meditation aggressive version, pretty similar to the old 06611 build. This does not take the old 21614 build into account, but you should be able to make something up by losing either Zeal or Radiance and pick Virtues instead, some fun options there.
- Unlocks: If you have not unlocked skills and traits yet, then start with unlocking: “Meditation training”. “Zeal”, “Radiance” and “Valor”.
- Skills: Shelter, Smite Condition, Judge's Intervention, Contemplation of Purity, Renewed Focus
- Stats: Commonly Berserker stats, but if you want something easier to start with try mixing Soldier/Zerk, or Knight.
- Runes: Traveler for the speed bonus and +all stats. Or the usual suspects: Melandru, Strength, Hoelbrak. Divinity would be a decently cheap option for start.
- Weapons: Most popular with Greatsword + Sword/Focus. change around as you wish, scepter, torch, mace and hammer are all popular. Avoid staff and shield on this.
Traits with Description:
Zeal traits: 2-2-2
- Fiery Wrath (bonus vs burning enemies, now reduced down to 7%, still good)
- Zealous Blade (Greatsword, +5% dmg, slight heals on hit, and 20% reduced recharge)
- Shattered Aegis (your Aegis explodes for decent damage)
Radiance traits: 2-3-1
- Right Hand Strength (one handed weapons bonus critical hit, and 20% recharge sword)
- Retribution (+10% dmg while you got retaliation, new guardian fave)
- Amplified Wrath (Burning damage +15%, and burn when block)
Valor traits: 2-3-2
- Smite Condition (Gives you a free “Smite Condition” skill when using heal, with all medi traits)
- Communal Defenses (when you block, grant aegis to allies)
- Monk's Focus (Meditation skills heal on use, give Fury to allies close, and recharge 20%)
Traits Explanations:
- Meditations: Smite Condition + Monk's Focus (These are the basics of meditation build, so keep these)
- Damage: Fiery Wrath + Retribution (These gives you damage bonuses, they're very good, so think hard before you change these)
- Weapons: Zealous Blade + Right Hand Strength (These improves specific weapons, so if you want to use different weapons you can change these)
- Misc: Communal Defenses + Shattered Aegis + Amplified Wrath (These three synergy together, when your Aegis gets hit, it burns and damages enemy, and gives Aegis to allies to doo the same. You can change these out if you want to. Especially Communal Defenses to Strength In Numbers)
Virtues:
- Justice/Fire: Blinds, and recharges each time an enemy dies that you have tagged. Most times just spam this when it is ready, works great in zerg fights and vs NPCs. Remember that this also works aoe on up to 5 other players, best group support you got on this build.
- Resolve/Heal: Nothing traited for this, so just use it for an extra aoe heal when needed.
- Courage/Aegis: Your Aegis blows up and puts people on fire. Activate to give aoe Aegis that also blows up, especially to avoid a big attack. Also, remember to activate to block specific attacks like downed CC attacks to stop your stomp.
Adapting:
Skills: You can replace Contemplation Of Purity for something else. Purging Flames is a good option for fire field and condition clear. But test anything you want, you will lose your clutch condi removal, and an extra minor heal. Keep the other two Meditations as they are needed for build. You can use the new Meditation Heal skill, but I'd still stick with Shelter as with Meditations it becomes blocks, heal+heal, condition removal, and extra damage all at the same time. Elite, Renewed Focus is pretty much the best one for this, survival and virtues + all the meditation bonuses. You can try Feel My Wrath for more bursty.
Weapons: Mace/Focus + Hammer is an interesting variant, Judge Intervention + Banish teleport knockback is fun. And mace can burst pretty well when you get familiar with it.
Traits: Pretty much outlined this above in the Traits Explanation.
Stats: This build generally uses direct damage, and as most roaming builds makes use of stats for damage, and only minimum needed + active defences for survival. There are multiple ways to adjust this for new players that need some learning curve. Mixing in some Celestial, Soldier or Knight trinkets with the rest Zerk will give you some defensive stats without crippling the damage output. This can also make good use of Condition Damage so Carrion can be useful. This could also be changed into a decent burn/condition damage build, so play with the amulets in PvP to find something that works for you.
-= Support Bunker =-
Description: All-round support build for small to large groups.
Pros:
- Great group condition cleansing
- Great support/boons
- Good survivability
- Good for siege
Cons:
- Low mobility
- Low damage alone
- Legacy: This is the equivalent of old “Healway” 00266, “Zerg Cmd” 00662, and “AH bunker” 01661
- Unlocks: If you have not unlocked skills and traits yet, then start with unlocking: “shout training”, “valor”, “honor” and “virtues”.
- Skills: Shelter, Hold the Line, Stand your Ground, Save Yourself, Feel My Wrath
- Stats: In PvP Clerics amulet for bunker. For WvW the easiest to start with is Soldier + Cleric mix. For zerg busting Soldier. Remove trinkets and put in more Berserk as you get better.
- Runes: Trooper is the best option for the extra condition removal on shouts. Other goos ones are Melandru, Hoelbrak, Traveler if you just can't live without the speed bonus. Dolyak runes should be a cheaper option for new players.
- Weapons: Staff is the most important but the other one is optional, popular choices are Greatsword and Hammer. Mace or Sword +Focus is also good depending on how you play.
Traits with Description:
Valor traits: 1-2-1
- Strength of the Fallen (remove condi every 10 second, and slower health loss when downed)
- Strength In Numbers (allies gain +150 toughness)
- Altruistic Healing (applying a boon to allies heals you)
Honor traits: 3-1-1
- Protectors Impact (half falling damage)
- Honorable Staff (staff 20% faster recharge and 20% boon duration, which is bugged in tooltips but works)
- Pure of Voice (Good old, shouts remove conditions and replace with boons, also shouts 20% faster)
Virtues traits: 2-2-3
- Retaliatory Subconscious (Retaliation and aegis on most hard control)
- Absolute Resolution (Same old OP trait, Virtue resolve stronger passive, active removes 3 condi)
- Indomitable Courage (Same old, virtue of courage breaks stun and gives stability)
Traits Explanation:
- The most important ones are: Altruistic Healing, Pure of Voice, Absolute Resolution and Indomitable Courage. You shouldn't change these unless you want to completely change how the build works.
- Honorable Staff is near mandatory since you will want a staff on this build, and boon duration is great.
- Strength In Numbers is one of our best party buffs, wouldn't recommend changing it.
- The others can be changed around if desired, especially Retaliatory Subconscious can be replaced if you want the Consecration trait instead.
Virtues:
- Justice/Fire: Traited in might on activate but not much else. Use it for boosting entire group's damage, otherwise keep it for the passive.
- Resolve/Heal: Because of Absolute Resolution this trait is great. The passive regen becomes useful with high armor, and the active gives regeneration and removes 3 conditions in aoe. Managing to use passive vs active is important.
- Courage/Aegis: Because of Indomitable Courage this is also great. When activated gives Stability and Retaliation in aoe for 5 players, great party support.
Adapting:
Traits: Detailed this above.
Skills: You can replace Save Yourself with something else. Retreat for another shout with swift, combined with boon duration and the staff symbol you can keep 100% swift uptime, but it is fairly useless in combat. Consecrations can be very useful, or even the Signet that gives you less damage. Shelter is the only Heal I can recommend, the Healing Breeze shout one might be nice, but those seconds of block is priceless, learn to use it to stop big enemy attacks. For elite it is either renewed justice for the invulnerability, or Feel My Wrath for great party support and more low cooldown condi removal, I prefer the shout.
Weapons: For small group Staff/Greatsword, for Zergs Staff/Hammer, you can adapt this for roaming (2+) with greatsword/sword+focus as well, though the loss of staff is a bit counter productive. In general try Staff + Any weapon you like, you can even trait in the shield trait to make shield somewhat useful. Worst weapon with this is probably torch.
Stats: This build is fond of the defensive stats, don't believe this means it is a tank, nor that it will keep you alive. As always use active defences, positioning, and spam Hold the Line when you can. You want a good toughness and some vitality to survive. Soldier/Cleric mix is a good start for new players. As you get better with the build, you can start changing out to more Berserk, Sinister, Knight etc. Alternatively you can try this as a condi build with Dire/Apotechary since you keep the same defensive stats.
