Optimal Gearing for a non-endgame PVE Guardian

So I just came back from a long break and used my Level 80 Boost on my Guardian to be my new main who is currently focusing on World Completion/Personal Story then onto HoT and PoF content.

I have customized my starter soldier gear with Zerker weapons, and new Runes/Jewels that push my crit to 35% and crit damage to 185% unbuffed (Using the Radiance build to be able to maximize those stats). So far this has been doing wonders for me, but I want to experiment with other builds and don't want to have to have 3 sets of gear when I want to swap builds (Power, Condi, Support).

I don't plan to do much if any raid/fractals, I will be focusing mostly on open world PVE, WvW, and sPvP for endgame. So with that in mind; would getting Celestial Ascended rewards (Accessories, trinkets, back, armor) when they come up in HoT/PoF content be a solid option for me seeing as how I don't plan to do endgame PVE, and Celestial I read is still pretty good in WvW?

My goal is to get a single set of ascended gear then work towards the legendary armor (WvW/PvP version) so I can then swap builds/stats at ease. I would still get Zerker/Viper etc on my weapons as they are focused for what they do. No reason to get celestial on a greatsword lol.

What are your thoughts? I know Celestial is crap for any endgame content other the WvW. But with the end goal to eventually have legendary armor to get whatever stats I need, would Celestial ascended gear be a good thing in my situation (no plans for Fractals/Raids)?

Thanks for your input!

Are you planning to only use the default (core) Guardian specialization, or do you have an interest in Firebrand and/or Dragonhunter spec? You may not want to get too concerned with selecting ascended gear until you've chosen a preferred specialization.

Personally, I love Firebrand and mostly do open world and some WvW. I run:

• Celestial Trinkets
• Viper Armor (open world set: Flame Legion runes, WvW: Stars runes)
• Marshal Weapons (GS (Force/Smoldering sigils) & Staff(Transference/Smoldering sigils))

Personally I recommend full berserker for every class in PVE, competitive or not. It's not as hard to play with as you'd think. The enemies die extremely fast, and because of that the rate at which you get loot is higher.

@TheAgedGnome.7520 said:Are you planning to only use the default (core) Guardian specialization, or do you have an interest in Firebrand and/or Dragonhunter spec? You may not want to get too concerned with selecting ascended gear until you've chosen a preferred specialization.

Personally, I love Firebrand and mostly do open world and some WvW. I run:

• Celestial Trinkets
• Viper Armor (open world set: Flame Legion runes, WvW: Stars runes)
• Marshal Weapons (GS (Force/Smoldering sigils) & Staff(Transference/Smoldering sigils))

I do plan to test out every build as the become available, i have body elite specializations unlocked but not maxed out yet. Firebrand looks very interesting!

But I don't want to get 2-3 more sets of exotic gear just to test builds, and I definitely don't want to grind out 2-3 sets of ascended gear either. That was my whole idea behind doing the celestial set first, then focusing hardcore on getting the legendary armor in pvp asap

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Personally I recommend full berserker for every class in PVE, competitive or not. It's not as hard to play with as you'd think. The enemies die extremely fast, and because of that the rate at which you get loot is higher.

Oh trust me i know zerker is BiS for power builds, but as a returning player I only had enough gold to upgrade what little i could from the starter soldier gear from the lvl 80 boost.

The recommended open world PvE setup is either power DH or condi FB. Power DH, I do not go full berserker. I have some Valkyrie pieces to get my HP around 13k, but you can get more. Anything with toughness is a total waste.

FB is even easier. Balthazar runes + smoldering sigil + traits get you to 90% burn duration. I usually go full sinister for highest condi damage in the shortest time.

For either build use heal, Litany of Wrath and you should have no sustainability issues at all in open world PvE.

SPvP, there are three functional setups, FB support, FB dps/Support and core power. I would refer for GW2 metabattle for details.

I am not very knowledgeable regarding WvW. FB support/dps is great for zerging. Everything else is mediocre or not viable at all. Again, GW2 metabattle is your friend.

Good hunting!