Making the most out of my 80-boosted Guardian

I am coming back to the game after a bit of a hiatus...I have an 80 thief, almost 80 engi, and a slew of alts. But I wanted to make use of my lvl 80 boost and decided to role a Guardian (Holy Warrior tropes have really been my thing lately). And I wanted to make the most use out of that lvl 80 boost gear as possible. Now I know straight Soldiers is good for nobody. but I wanted to spend as little as possible getting it upgraded so I built this build. It keeps the GS and Scepter/Shield combo, I updated the traits, and swapped out a few key items to get some better stats.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR7enkICNChlCB+7AEEhj7hK3hj4Jazg2tQrFQAkuA-jFCBABAcRAyR9nwN/R4+DToEMFdDHp8LgnAAA-w

Main changes:

• I swapped to zerker weapons, but kept the sigils the same (Does anyone know if you can remove the sigils from the booster weapons or do I have to buy new ones?)
• I swapped out to Superior Runes of the Golemancer and Exquisite Ebony Jewel for Precision and Ferocity bumps as that is what Soldiers is lacking.

This gives me almost 2500 power, plenty of toughness, 18k health, 30% crit (which is all I need to my understanding with Radiance), and 185% crit damage.Does this look like an all-around good build to take on HoT and PoF?

Also, on a side-note: do you think I should do the first mission in PoF for the mount, then go to HoT and stay in order story-wise?

You're asking a couple of questions, so I'll try to compartmentalize them.

1- Build is fine. Even after they nerfed RI, you still get a massive amount of crit when retaliation is up. One suggestion I'd make would be to Swap permeating wrath for Indomitable Courge in the virtues tree. Your F1 should always be on cooldown anyways since by activating it you get retaliation, and the cooldown is reset when you kill something, so it becomes part of your rotation. IC gives you a nice stunbreak + stability.2- Traits: I'd rune Bane Signet (extra power + breakbar damage), Sword of Justice (nice DPS + applies vuln), Smite Condition (low cooldown condi cleanse + AoE damage). For your elite, Feel My Wrath is solid, but I find in open world play I would often just forget to use it as things die so quickly. I normally use Signet of Courage when in open world for a constant passive healing pulse.3 - I prefer Scepter / Shield myself, but Scepter / Focus is better for DPS. Just thought you should know :)4 - Golemancer runes are fine, and your logic is sound, but I would have gone with Eagle runes instead. No point switching them out now though.

Have fun!

EDIT: Your call to make, but the Raptor does make leveling way easier, and is very helpful in getting around in HoT content as you can skip through groups of mobs.

Thank you so much for your input! Ill check them out!

Oh, let me add, that if you do decide to get the Raptor, you might as well get the Springer as well. That requires you to spend at least some time in PoF to earn mastery points, but it can all be done on the 1st map, so you wouldn't be spoiling much of the story. Check out Dulfy's guides for a walk through.

HoT terrain is most punishing on the 'z' axis, and having a vertical jump boost from the springer can make early exploration a lot easier, at least until you have several of the HoT masteries unlocked, namely those attached to gliding.

Keep in mind that HoT content tends to be more difficult that PoF. The mounts will help a lot in movement. For HoT masteries, glding updrafts and itzel jumping mushrooms need to be your highest priorities. Also, core pact commander mastery needs to be your priority in the core maps - the last one gives you auto-loot and it is simply game-changing from a QoL standpoint.

Welcome back to GW2!

On one of my alt accounts, my boosted Guardian just uses level 78 Berserker armors with Rune of the Flame Legion, and level 78 Berserker weapons with major Sigil of Force and sup Sigil of Accuracy. I just left the boosted trinkets as they are due to cost. It’s really cheap to get level 78 gears and I haven’t encountered anything even remotely challenging (almost done with all PoF HP’s) so your gears should be fine.

Depending on your profession, build, and preference for how fast you want to kill things, you may not even need to buy additional gears, for now. On another alt account, my Necro just uses the boosted gears and enemies die fast enough that I don’t feel the need to get something more offensive.

Everyone Thank you for your help and insights. So I went with my plan and upgraded the weapons/runes/jewels in the starter armor and I melt things pretty fast in PoF maps. I also went ahead and got the Raptor and Springer Mounts as yall have suggested and I am so glad I did! Now I am going around unlocking all Waypoints in Core Tyria and doing my personal story (ill go back to do Map Completion later), then onto HoT and PoF content!