I'm doing something wrong and I don't know what. Need a guardian angel here. (PvE)

I've really had a bumpy relationship with Guardian as then I was trying it out, I wasn't a fan of any of the weapons until someone mentioned the Sword.Since then I was truly enjoying Guardian with Sword/Torch.Then I found out Dragonhunter uses Bow and I was super happy for this and been using that with my sword/torch. Had some better survivability within it, but felt really slow with really long cooldowns on it as well.Firebrand I truly liked the feeling of when I 1st tried it out... but then...

...I've gotten to some of the higher level areas...

Dragonhunter can hold on it's own, but as I've mentioned with the cooldowns makes it that after a while I get downed in no time.Firebrand... forget it. It can't last a few veterans (or maybe just 1) without dying due to how slow mantras also were and if I used all up they have really long cooldowns as well.

Can someone tell me what's the best set up for Guardian to not only do good damage, but at least last longer than a few seconds without dying areas like HoT/PoF and Living World?Keep hearing how great Guardians are supposed to be in both the offense and defense, but I just can't seem to get a way to have both so I can take on things like I can on my Thief, Necro, and (for the most part) my Ranger.

I also got this issue on Mesmer/Mirage, but this isn't the Mesmer board... so I won't bother asking that here.

I assume you've acquired at least exotic, lvl 80 level gear. That's the first big thing.I'd also suggest taking a focus offhand. The blind and block will help keep you up more.Have you tried Hammer recently? It's symbol on autoattack gives protection and you can trait it to heal you while you stand in it. Hammer is also a good utility pick for breakbars and general mob control.Consider maybe building more defensive and then easing off those traits/skills as you need them less. And don't feel obligated to take mantras or traps. The other skills might just work better for you.

I personally like the sword/focus with bow in open world. Combined with traps as slot skills. What i do is place my traps and try to lure/pull mobs into it. My melee weapons are used for quick burst kills. and outside of that i mainly use my lb to keep that range and some cc. Works fine for me. Build looks like this if you are interested

A couple of things come to mind that you can consider.

The new mantras are very powerful, but don't cast as quickly as the DH or core versions. You need to take into account this additional time and plan accordingly on when you use them. Also, try to never use the last charge and the cool downs are actually quite good.

Pay attention to keeping aegis up for the big hits. Guardians have low base health and can't face tank big spike damage, but are very well suited to handling smaller damage over time with the F2 skill. The new healing mantra and F3 should allow you to have aegis up when you need it so you can avoid the big hits. This, combined with dodging and proper positioning (i.e. don't stand in the red circles) are really the key to guardian survivability.

Switch out your off hand to either shield for more aegis on demand or focus for more blinds/blocks.

For what it's worth, I am currently running this build which is essentially the fairly standard retaliation power build with the DH trait line switched out for Firebrand.I find that it is just as survivable if not more so than the DH version and it is much easier for me to keep my retaliation up (which translates into damage) with the FB version when running solo.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8ensADFBjtCBGCBkCjl7BrqAEASX7j0UaM1KD0uKUA-jBSBQBU4iAwIlgXRZAlU/BP6GAwTAQkK9ox+DAA-e

Good luck!

@"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:I've really had a bumpy relationship with Guardian as then I was trying it out, I wasn't a fan of any of the weapons until someone mentioned the Sword.Can someone tell me what's the best set up for Guardian to not only do good damage, but at least last longer than a few seconds without dying areas like HoT/PoF and Living World?

Hi Ayumi, my first alt is guardian, and the build I play is a modified version of this:

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Radiant_Hammer

I do use it with greatsword instead of hammer, and I switch between that and sword/focus. For my utilities I usually go with shouts instead of these (keep Smite Cond if you need condition removal). For open-world PvE, I find it has great mobility, handles large mobs in events and can even solo some champions with no trouble. The shouts offer great buffs for both offense and defense, sword and focus is great for defense, and greatsword is good damage with a bit of control. For gear I use assassin's weapons for a bit of extra crit, and the rest of my gear is split evenly between berzerker and Valkyrie for a boost to the health pool. You don't need a ton of precision with this build and you will still crit most of the time due to the selected traits, if you play the build right.

Actually I guess my build has drifted enough from the Radiant Hammer that I should just give you the actual build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8dnkICVDhlCB+7A8DhD/hyGAf7dmjwKMDvhbe+BA-jRCBQBXSdlKpSxZUCaIdDQ4CAgl9HlGA4JAEgDCwIVmBA-e

If I don't need condition removal or if I need stability more, I swap out Smite Condition for Stand Your Ground. If you need a bit more tankiness instead, you could swap in Hold the Line. If you don't need defense you can swap focus for torch for more burning.

And here's a short video of the build against a veteran Mordrem Teragriff. https://youtu.be/ZfWIq5AYRXk

@"stone cold.8609" said:[...]For what it's worth, I am currently running this build which is essentially the fairly standard retaliation power build with the DH trait line switched out for Firebrand.I find that it is just as survivable if not more so than the DH version and it is much easier for me to keep my retaliation up (which translates into damage) with the FB version when running solo.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8ensADFBjtCBGCBkCjl7BrqAEASX7j0UaM1KD0uKUA-jBSBQBU4iAwIlgXRZAlU/BP6GAwTAQkK9ox+DAA-e

Good luck!

This looks pretty interesting!

Being new to Guardian myself, any chance you could give us a bit of a run-down on how you actually play this when it comes to anything like a "rotation" in combat? Do you think a build like this would work for a regular old core guardian until I can unlock firebrand/Dragonhunter?

If not, then I'll try to run the build that Bladezephyr posted until I can unlock the elite spec(s). :)

@Minax.3284 said:

@"stone cold.8609" said:[...]For what it's worth, I am currently running this build which is essentially the fairly standard retaliation power build with the DH trait line switched out for Firebrand.I find that it is just as survivable if not more so than the DH version and it is much easier for me to keep my retaliation up (which translates into damage) with the FB version when running solo.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8ensADFBjtCBGCBkCjl7BrqAEASX7j0UaM1KD0uKUA-jBSBQBU4iAwIlgXRZAlU/BP6GAwTAQkK9ox+DAA-e

Good luck!

Sure Minax, I'll try!

Remember that even though you have heavy armor, you really can't face tank in this game, so positioning and dodging is still important.Keep retaliation and might up as much as possible for good damage.Keep Aegis up for the big hits.Add in enough passive/traited health regeneration to sustain the smaller damage.

This build has been around for a while and will work fine with core using the Virtues trait line using Virtue of Retribution trait and the Radiance trait Renewed Justice resetting your F1 Virtue of Justice on kill to give you good up time on retaliation. Your sources of retaliation with a core build will be GS skill 4, Stand Your Ground, and every time you activate a Virtue (which should be a lot with Renewed Justice/F1 spamming). In contrast your sources of retaliation for the FB build will be GS 4 skill, Shield 4 skill, Mantra of Solice, Mantra of Liberation, Stand Your Ground, and every time that Aegis ends. Remember to an eye on your buffs and learn to rotate to one of these skills to keep retaliation up as much as possible.

The rotation is the fairly standard GS burst/weapon swap/F1 spam:Open with GS4 then GS2 in the symbol (and inside the hit box of the enemy for maximum damage) then GS3 in symbol as well.Swap to Sword/Shield. Sword 2 then Sword AA then swap back to GS when cool downs are over.Throughout all of this, keep spamming F1 and Stand Your Ground when it renews to keep up your retaliation as much as possible.

Keep an eye on your Aegis and be ready to use either F3 or Shield 4 if you need it.If you need to range, equip a Scepter.

I hope this helps and good luck!