Trying to make Guardian

[Cheshire Rabbid.7430]

I'm having a bit of trouble trying to make my Guardian. You see what I'm trying to do is make my Guardian that can heal without a loss too much DPS. It a bit confusing but I guess I'm trying to make them like a paladin. able to do all three of healing, tanking, and DPS. Now I'm not asked to be all good at three but at least of two of them where I'm ok at and one where I'm best at. Take a look at what I got so far and see if there are any changes I can make. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWzAEl7lVUxsybgZNvA3ZnOyPmpUA-zRRYPRsOMKanRqy0qVWWcA-e.

[Ayrilana.1396]

What are you trying to tank?

[Rukia.4802]

I'm assuming open world as a 1 build does all? Signet of judgement will give 10% flat dmg reduce, merciful intervention would heal both you and ally in current traits.

You could go sword/shield with mace/focus for even more blocks. You have so much toughness that it'll have some diminishing returns. GW2 is more about active mitigation rather than passive as I'm sure you know, no matter what toughness you have you'll still get 1shot by the big ones if you don't avoid with block/dodge.

I would go radiance 3/3/3 or 2/3/3 to make use of your ferocity cuz you have no crit.

[Virtuality.8351]

@"sdt.1697" said:...You see what I'm trying to do is make my Guardian that can heal without a loss too much DPS. It a bit confusing but I guess I'm trying to make them like a paladin. able to do all three of healing, tanking, and DPS...

I am no expert of healing, but I'd suggest that you specify by 'healing' do you mean for yourself or for a group of allies. Also, it'd be nice if you list the expansions you own so people could decide whether certain specializations or attribute combinations are available to you.

You might as well specify the scenario that the build is intended to work within, like, soloing open world, etc.

Also, with 5% critical chance, you'd hardly hit hard. And for a hybrid build it is unlikely any one of the three would be top tier. Specify which one you'd like to prioritize over the other two.

[Virtuality.8351]

Let me break this down for you.

First of all, here are your aims: DPS, tanking & healing.

Yet, you need attributes in order to perform each function effectively. Direct DPS is governed by 3 attributes: Power, Precision and Ferocity. Condition DPS is governed by 2: Condition Damage and Expertise. Armor is governed by Toughness. Healing is governed by Healing Power.

Since you have decided to go hybrid, attribute points will be thinned out across these different functions and attribute types. As a result, you will hardly ever come out to be the "best" at anything, but at most pretty good at one and ok at the other two. (Supposedly the build is for running in the open world, I'd prioritize DPS, with tanking coming in next and healing the third, since damage can be always sidestepped or dodged away from.)

However, there are still things that we can do to build a hybrid character as effective as possible:

A. You would be looking for means to add to your total attribute point pool,B. You would be looking for means that in effect provide the same bonus as the attribute points would have, and thus relieving some to be allocated into elsewhere needed.

For A, you'd be looking at gears with 4 attribute types, as they provide in total more attribute points than gears with 3. That is to say, if the combination actually serves your purpose. We'll get into that later.

For B, you'd be looking at a great variety of functions.

Let's start with Boons. Guardian happens to have access to a great range of boons, and it'd be a shame not to utilize those. But, let's start with the common ones, say, Fury, which gives you 20% Critical Chance bonus (equal to 420 Precision), or, Protection, which reduce incoming damage by 33% (equal to 1.5x of your current Armor; equal to an astonishing 3406 in Armor with 0 additional Toughness).

Then there are those less common boons, such as Retaliation. For Guardian though, we'd like to have Retaliation not for itself, but for its synergy with the following traits in Radiance: Righteous Instincts and Retribution, providing 25% Critical Chance (equal to 525 Precision) and 10% overall damage bonus respectively.

Supposedly the build is designed mainly for solo play, we need to be self sufficient with these boons. In order to maintain the huge bonus these three Boons provide, we'd take the following utility skills, as they are the major sources: "Stand the Ground!', "Hold the Line!" and "Save Yourselves". We'd also take the trait in Valor. Pure of Voice, to reduce the recharge time of these skills. And since we are already taking Valor and Radiance line, we might as well take Honorable Staff for bonus Concentration (Boon Duration, to help maintain these Boons), Protector's Impact (additional source of Protection), and Healer's Retribution (additional source of Retaliation).

For the healing skill slot we'd take "Receive the Light!" for group healing, and for the elite skill one we'd take "Feel My Wraith!" for Quickness and Fury. Both are also in the Shout category and enjoy the recharge time reduction thanks to Pure of Voice. If more healing is preferred, take Signet of Courage instead.

This is what the build would look like so far. Without a single point of attribute from gears, we'd already have 60% Critical Chance thanks to Fury, Retaliation with Righteous Instincts and Radiant Power.

Now, it is time to decide the attribute combination of the gear. At this point it would be good to further enhance the Boon Duration by putting points in Concentration, in order to have better Boon uptime coverage. If we can achieve permanent uptime coverage of Fury, Retaliation and Protection, we only need a relatively low amount of Precision to achieve 100% Critical Chance, and 0 Toughness to be 'tanky'. Though, we'd also like this build to hit hard, and, as you requested, heal sufficiently.

You might ask, "But why allocating attribute points into Concentration for Boon Duration, instead of directly into Precision and Toughness, then?" The answer is efficiency. It takes only 15 points in Concentration to raise 1% Boon duration, and by maintaining Precision (equal to 420 Precision), Retaliation (equal to 525 Precision if traited) and Protection (equal to 1135 Toughness with no other additional source) you secure the bonus effect equal to 2080 attribute points. In other words, though of course exaggerated, even if you throw 1500 into Concentration for 100% Boon Duration, it'd still be much worth it. Not to mention most of the sources of your boons also share their effect with allies.

On the contrary, it takes 21 points in Precision to raise a single point of Critical Chance, and a more than 1k of Toughness to become as 'tanky'. Not to mention that Toughness has a diminishing return for being the divider in the calculation of direct damage. I think it is all pretty clear.

So, Boon coverage, hitting hard and healing well. That means Concentration/Boon Duration, Power with Precision & Ferocity, and Healing Power. Unfortunately, at this moment we do not have any combination of 5 attribute types, so either we'll have to mix and match, or we'd have to cut off some demand.

This is an example of a mix and match build:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWjAYJlZwwYasMGJW+TXA-zRRYBRFTN4zIQVQESBFvElA-e(The weapons here are just placeholders and you can freely choose whatever you'd prefer without affecting the build's core capability.)

• 2.55k Power
• 100% Critical Chance and Critical Damage in group events with Banner of Discipline and Spotter, and 90% respectively soloing.
• Permanent coverage of Retaliation, Fury, Vigor, and 25% bonus movement speed.
• 80% coverage of Protection.I'd like to mention here that Vigor is particularly good here, as you not only dodge more and avoid more damage, but also AoE-heal more, thanks to the minor trait in Honor, Selfless Daring.

If you'd prefer to have more Healing Power than Power, simply swap the runes to something else, say, Runes of the Rebirth:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWjAYJlZwwYasMGJW+TXA-zRRYBRFTN4zIQVQESB7uElA-eIt offers the same as above except a bit less Fury uptime, with lower damage (2.38k Power) and more healing capability.

Even more healing-centered, with 100% Boon Duration:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWjAYJlZwwYasMGJW+TXA-zRJYqRF/ZEoKICpgdXiSA-e

• 2.38k Power
• 60% Critical Chance and Critical Damage soloing.
• Permenant coverage of Retaliation, Fury, Vigor, 25% bonus movement seed, Protection, Regeneration.
• 50% coverage of Stability and Swiftness and 40% coverage of Quickness.
• 1260 Healing Power.

Or alternatively, here is an example of completely leaving out some demand, in this case, healing power:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWjAYJlZwwYasMGJW+TXA-zRRYBRFAH+zIQVQESBFvElA-e

• 2.38k Power
• 100% Critical Chance and Critical Damage soloing (though likely overcapped in group events)
• Permenant coverage of Retaliation, Fury, Vigor, 25% bonus movement seed, Protection, Regeneration.
• 50% coverage of Stability and Swiftness and 40% coverage of Quickness.

Whichever template you might want to build upon from, you are still left with a free specialization/trait line and both weapon sets to choose.

[otto.5684]

I can tell you a long story. Short version play Fire Brand. Zero toughness. A bit of HP. The less healing power the more stats you can allocate to damage. Will work better with condi damage. While guardian may seem to fit into the paladin type, core guardian and dragon hunter can only dps. You can play support/heal core, but it is way out classed by fire brand, and not viable in anything remotely competitive. And dragon hunter can only power dps.

Some hints from your build:

Do not use Litany of Wraith if you do not deal enough damage it will not heal for much.Never use signet of mercy unless you are specifically playing support, with a group. There are many other skills that are much more worth than 180 healing power.Smite is a good skill. But it is more of dps kinda skill. Healing does not scale much. And you should not use Valor in PvE anyway.Do not use signet of courage, ever. There is no situation where is it better than any other elite skill. The healing it does is beyond abysmal, even with healing power.

[TamX.1870]

Excellent break-up, @Virtuality.8351! I was about to write about Celestial Firebrand, which could be close to the public idea of a paladin. But yes, Celestial FB would miss concentration, which indeed buffs stats considerably, and yes, at the moment the best bet for that is to go for power damage because of e.g. Harrier and Diviner stat distributions. If we look very traditional hybrid builds, I think they revolve around Shaman and Apothecary pieces, that is, heals, condi damage and Vita + Toughness.

@otto.5684 said:I can tell you a long story. Short version play Fire Brand. Zero toughness. A bit of HP. The less healing power the more stats you can allocate to damage. Will work better with condi damage. While guardian may seem to fit into the paladin type, core guardian and dragon hunter can only dps. You can play support/heal core, but it is way out classed by fire brand, and not viable in anything remotely competitive. And dragon hunter can only power dps.

Very true, IMO.