Returning Player from Core GW2 (Solo PVE quester/explorer) , need help with Guardian Build

Hello forum friends

Im returning player from Core GW2 , my mains are ranger , necro and guardian. Im currently trying to build for all 3 with purpose of entering HoT doing quests , story and map completion as solo player.

I already setup a GS / Sword+Shield build for HoT adventure (solo) with gear focusing on (Power+Vitality+Toughness) and full Rune of Dolyak (vitality+toughness) and Retaliation oriented build with %crit provided by retaliation. Is this preferable build for HoT roaming ? i got nice vitality but i envy those guardians with higher %crit using berserker gear (and low vitality)..

should i go for Berserker gear or focus on vitality when im soloing HoT / Map Completion ?

Thanks all in advance for the advice

*PS : Below is me asking the question for my Ranger and Necrohttps://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/50468/returning-player-from-core-gw2-solo-pve-quester-explorer-need-help-with-ranger-build-corehttps://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/50469/returning-player-from-core-gw2-solo-pve-quester-explorer-need-help-with-necro-build-for-hot

I don't really like telling people what they SHOULD do. I'll focus more on things that you could do.Honestly I think you're way too tanky. Are you using the Soldier gear from the Level 80-Booster? Are you playing as core or Dragonhunter? Because that has a big influence on what direction you might take.If core, I'd go for something along these lines:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8el0AhyhYpQwQIwPEH3DV+DHxSsWABQ6afg2tQB-jxBBQB7RXAFuAANSJIAeCAXS9nRq8rI7PQIgRjBA-ePrimary focus is on Retal generation. That said, if you find you get enough retal from Virtue of Retribution and other sources, you can drop Wrathful Spirit for Fiery Wrath. If you can keep retal and burning up, you'll be at 97% crit chance on Sword/X and at 82% on Greatsword while still having over 20k health. The runes are placeholders until you can afford Force/Air. Accuracy/Blood will cost you 20s per pair, Force/Air is about 8g. Ofc it's up to you.For Dragonhunter, you swap some skills for traps, drop Virtues for DH, and pick up full Berserker stuff. DH has more active defenses which enables you to go glassier IMO. For core, being extremely glassy is just unnecessary.

Get berserker gear, anything else ist "wrong",you will take hours longer to complete stuff and likely die more. Dead mob don't do damage.

Core guardian is as good as dh for story in my experience. Do use sceptre and torch thought, shield sucks sadly.

To complete maps start with hp run zergs they will walk you through the maze like hot zones. Don't give up,the maps get a lot more fun once I have 100mp invested in the gliding,shrooms and so on.

Thanks Yannir for the link of the build , i got the gear from TP and i focus on core build since i do not have complete DH skill line yet , except for ability to use LB. And yes , i am currentlu speccing your build focusing on retaliation crit% with GS and Swords.

Previously i use Power/Toughness/Vitality build with mace+shield and GS and the skill lines that support them .. it is a monster in defense but it is slow killing mobs and barely crit even though i got the weapon sigil crit +7% and 3x 100% crit when swapping weapons.. (sigil of intelligence)

your build is fun , i got big crits and its great.. thanks for the assist and i dond mind being told what to do since im at loss in this stage of game..

@"jan.7915" said:Get berserker gear, anything else ist "wrong"To complete maps start with hp run zergs they will walk you through the maze like hot zones. Don't give up,the maps get a lot more fun once I have 100mp invested in the gliding,shrooms and so on.

thanks for the input and advise , yes im looking for berserker gear as soon as i can afford them.. currently wearing the free exotic they give you when you use instant 80 token.

i got the glider wing (from my ranger doing first HoT story) and currently aiming for Gliding Updraft and Mushroom Jump masteries..

Oh, I did forget that Exotic gear doesn't give as much stats, my bad. Shouldn't matter much though. When you do upgrade to Asc, pick them up as Berserker's. The glassy playstyle does take some getting used to but just go slow. People will expect Berserker stuff when you get to the point you want to try out endgame stuff like fractals or raiding.

And as Jan said, pick up Scepter/Torch especially for high health opponents like Champions. Sword is great for burst damage but it's effectiveness drops off rapidly after using 2 and 3. That's not an issue with Scepter. Although it's not as fun a weapon but the DPS is there.

If you're doing a Retal build for Guardian, you can try using Cavelier's (Tou/Pwr/Fer) instead to boost outgoing Crit damage without giving up too much defense. This build started getting popular around the forums the past few months, and is not hard to operate. The Runes of Durability are obtained from Auric Basin, and cost map tokens plus 2 Gold each, or if you have Proof of Heroics from WvW (if you have them). The Concentration sigils are expensive, but you can get them off the TP. The Boon duration from both is there to help keep Retal, Might and Defense boons up while fighting, which in turn fuels your Crit damage. Losing boon overlap in a fight isn't particularly bad, but your damage output will drop when retal is down.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8en8cC97gddCeDBEEhl4BTe/1/WgWlg8VkqKA0AqXA-jxBGQB2R3wiU/RJK/Q3+DA8JAUFlgA4iAQIABjBA-e

General rule is to wait for a weapon swap before firing off your main boon skills (Save yourself and Feel My Wrath), to get the max bonus on boon uptime. Contemplation of Purity is your condi purge, so try to wait for the condis to stack up a bit before using it (so you can convert them all to boons). The healing trap is strong for its cool down, and is usually enough to recover health if you take too much damage.

The Firebrand Variant is stronger with everything the tomes have to offer, but requires Path of Fire and a bit more skill juggling. Uses the same equipment, but it generates a lot more boons, upkeeps most of them better, and shares those boons by default. I'd recommend unlocking this instead of Dragon Hunter if you have POF, as you can simply do a lot more with it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8enkICFBj97AuCBEEhl4Bb/leT7pWlg8VkqKA0AqXA-jxBGQBVRJ4iU/BAXEA7obAd7PAwnAgSU+RIABjBA-e

(Source video)

@"starlinvf.1358" said:If you're doing a Retal build for Guardian, you can try using Cavelier's (Tou/Pwr/Fer) instead to boost outgoing Crit damage without giving up too much defense. This build started getting popular around the forums the past few months, and is not hard to operate. The Runes of Durability are obtained from Auric Basin, and cost map tokens plus 2 Gold each, or if you have Proof of Heroics from WvW (if you have them). The Concentration sigils are expensive, but you can get them off the TP. The Boon duration from both is there to help keep Retal, Might and Defense boons up while fighting, which in turn fuels your Crit damage. Losing boon overlap in a fight isn't particularly bad, but your damage output will drop when retal is down.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8en8cC97gddCeDBEEhl4BTe/1/WgWlg8VkqKA0AqXA-jxBGQB2R3wiU/RJK/Q3+DA8JAUFlgA4iAQIABjBA-e

General rule is to wait for a weapon swap before firing off your main boon skills (Save yourself and Feel My Wrath), to get the max bonus on boon uptime. Contemplation of Purity is your condi purge, so try to wait for the condis to stack up a bit before using it (so you can convert them all to boons). The healing trap is strong for its cool down, and is usually enough to recover health if you take too much damage.

The Firebrand Variant is stronger with everything the tomes have to offer, but requires Path of Fire and a bit more skill juggling. Uses the same equipment, but it generates a lot more boons, upkeeps most of them better, and shares those boons by default. I'd recommend unlocking this instead of Dragon Hunter if you have POF, as you can simply do a lot more with it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8enkICFBj97AuCBEEhl4Bb/leT7pWlg8VkqKA0AqXA-jxBGQBVRJ4iU/BAXEA7obAd7PAwnAgSU+RIABjBA-e

(Source video)

Dude, these are good builds but really... Superior Sigil of Concentration? It costs almost 40g, and I think a recently returning player has more important things to throw their gold at. Like a griffon.. Or gearing up the 2 other characters as well.

I'm far from an expert, but just wanted to mention that I use a core Guardian built much like yours with OP defensive stats - more for a lark than anything else really. I'm armed with sword/focus and mace/shield. The one thing I keep seeing that is absolutely wrong is that you will be killed a lot with this build. I almost never die. Sure, it takes forever to kill anything (solo), but it's extremely survival-friendly. To be clear - I do NOT recommend this type of gear. I'm just saying it's hard to die with that build. Often fights go on so long that someone is bound to come along and pile some dps on.

@Yannir.4132 said:

@"starlinvf.1358" said:If you're doing a Retal build for Guardian, you can try using Cavelier's (Tou/Pwr/Fer) instead to boost outgoing Crit damage without giving up too much defense. This build started getting popular around the forums the past few months, and is not hard to operate. The Runes of Durability are obtained from Auric Basin, and cost map tokens plus 2 Gold each, or if you have Proof of Heroics from WvW (if you have them). The Concentration sigils are expensive, but you can get them off the TP. The Boon duration from both is there to help keep Retal, Might and Defense boons up while fighting, which in turn fuels your Crit damage. Losing boon overlap in a fight isn't particularly bad, but your damage output will drop when retal is down.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8en8cC97gddCeDBEEhl4BTe/1/WgWlg8VkqKA0AqXA-jxBGQB2R3wiU/RJK/Q3+DA8JAUFlgA4iAQIABjBA-e

General rule is to wait for a weapon swap before firing off your main boon skills (Save yourself and Feel My Wrath), to get the max bonus on boon uptime. Contemplation of Purity is your condi purge, so try to wait for the condis to stack up a bit before using it (so you can convert them all to boons). The healing trap is strong for its cool down, and is usually enough to recover health if you take too much damage.

The Firebrand Variant is stronger with everything the tomes have to offer, but requires Path of Fire and a bit more skill juggling. Uses the same equipment, but it generates a lot more boons, upkeeps most of them better, and shares those boons by default. I'd recommend unlocking this instead of Dragon Hunter if you have POF, as you can simply do a lot more with it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8enkICFBj97AuCBEEhl4Bb/leT7pWlg8VkqKA0AqXA-jxBGQBVRJ4iU/BAXEA7obAd7PAwnAgSU+RIABjBA-e

(Source video)

And what makes you assume he can't afford it? Secondly, hes looking for a solid solo build, and its extremely hard to substitute Concentration does for a Boon focused build. Because C. What else gives +33% Boon duration in just one item like that? And (Header 4): even at 80g for Two, you can get both of those faster then the 250g needed for the Griffon, PLUS he'd need to complete Path of Fire story, which means he'd also have to have 3 other mounts at that point (which all cost Gold), done masteries up to a certain point, and already be an established event farmer, which doesn't need the Griffon unless you're getting into the high speed Istan meta train.

(Perry Rant) In the Grand scheme of things, the first 100g is going to be a pain no matter what..... and the Mounts... only really become a big issue with Path of Fire maps. And given what you need to do just to START the Griffon quest, I'd say getting a build that enables him to go murdering things faster then they can murder him back, is a good initial investment. And in the time it takes for him to say...... Rescue a botched invasion, save a bunch of frogs from being brainwashed by another colored frogs, relive the most terrifying moments of Jurassic park, meet an entire organization of ascended heroes dedicated to ONE JOB, and becoming the only person to not be utterly incompetent at that ONE JOB, encounter the BIGGEST cockroaches in history, and go up against a Dragon who Ego is soooooo big, it is beyond your ability to comprehend; (inhales) followed by a trip the Desert, where you're chasing "The God of War", decide the allegiance of city for the sake of a fancy backpack, piss off a bunch of really angry metal people, take a part time job at a Rabbit farm, wander aimlessly around the Desert for 5 hours trying to figure out what Choya are, invade North Korea, and face your final foe..... which if you followed the build advise correctly, are now dressed as Balthazar and seeking to replace him in your mad quest for ultimate power and rights to "angry god" trademark.... at least until Sony comes along and sues you both.

So I'd say he has a decent amount of time to earn some money between the time he starts his murderous rampage across Tyria, and when the Griffon quest unlocks, setting off a slightly less murderous rampage across the deserts of Elona.

@starlinvf.1358 said:And what makes you assume he can't afford it? Secondly, hes looking for a solid solo build, and its extremely hard to substitute Concentration does for a Boon focused build. Because C. What else gives +33% Boon duration in just one item like that? And (Header 4): even at 80g for Two, you can get both of those faster then the 250g needed for the Griffon, PLUS he'd need to complete Path of Fire story, which means he'd also have to have 3 other mounts at that point (which all cost Gold), done masteries up to a certain point, and already be an established event farmer, which doesn't need the Griffon unless you're getting into the high speed Istan meta train.

Just saying that this is a neat build but it isn't the best build in the history of GW2, and that the effort and gold required to build it up is kind of a novelty you can do when you have extra gold to throw around. That 80 gold is away from those other things, and you're making it sound like he has to play this build. But it's just not worth the effort when you're at a point when you just need a build that's relatively easy to gear, cheap and works just as well.

I was thinking of trying out the Firebrand-version myself somewhere in the near future though. I did play PoF story on Firebrand but afterwards I went right back to DH, and only played Fb in PvP since then. I would like to revisit Firebrand with a good build up my sleeve.

Wow, this all great to hear what about linking some useful guides for players to that are returning from Core GW2 game along with newer players. I haven't seen anything from looking on the internet of a one-stop shop for getting into the game and learning about this story along with learning each class with skills.