Build advise and link to builder

[armbar.7815]

I am trying to build a DPS melee and fountain of healing build. Fountain of healing meaning mainly passive. I would like to have game play like a warrior with some healing. Here is my link. Let me know what can be improved please.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWiAYFlJw0YiMK2JOST3rSA-zV5YdJEIYUAhJRwYChZmQBnKqApzNhMKBNHA-w

[Infusion.7149]

Which game mode is this for , WVW? If it's for WvW and you aren't running "Stand Your Ground!" in groups you should probably play another class, honestly (no offense). Even a full heal firebrand doesn't compare to heal scrapper. The weakest skill you have on your bar right now is the Signet of Judgment skill, it does barely anything so I'd swap that out.

I suspect you don't have access to elite specs? I am basing any build changes off of core guard as a result as well as as avoiding any weapon/armor changes that involve harder to get stats.

Traitwise, I would not run Shattered Aegis, as it cannot critical and it does barely anything in terms of damage. You also don't have many sources of aegis on your own. I'd drop that for Symbolic Avenger if the goal is power damage.

If you're running healing power and not that much power + ferocity at all I would say sword+focus or sword+shield is a better option than greatsword if you decide to keep staff (I would not). The reason is you won't make full use of the extra damage greatsword has over sword+focus. If you're trying to make a support build then you probably want mace+shield instead.

As far as gear goes, you're split across too many types of stats. If you're splitting more than four ways it's extremely hard to be effective : I would recommend running marauder for a power build and supplementing the toughness with a durability rune. The condition damage in this build does barely anything because you don't have any real form of burn procs other than the virtue. This can be verified by looking at the bottom of gw2skills editor.

Without touching any of the armor or weapons, the best bet is to change all amulet, backpack, rings , and trinkets to assassin or marauder (keep the minstrel and viper stuff for other setups) and then use eagle runes. Use Eternal Ice shards from Bjora Marches for the most easy way to get them (except backpack) in a short time. Instead of elementalist rune, I would opt for Pack runes if you can't swap your armor out, Firework runes or something like Brawler Rune or Baelfire if you have more burn sources but your primary damage is from power.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWyAYx7lJw0YiMM2JO0T3rSA-zVZYgRBIGx4TFVg0VGZGCpXAmMNUYZD-w

Going from 0 heal power to 303 heal power only increases virtue of resolve from 315 to 383 ; Holy Strike (Staff 2) from 177 to 207 , Sanctuary from 522 to 567; Signet of Courage from 202 to 247. The main heal gain is on the dodge roll. Note that the only virtue you would want to activate regularly is Virtue of Justice because you lose the passive Resolve effect if you use it on a non-Firebrand.

If you're looking to be more of a support role I would instead pivot towards a more support oriented build setup with mace+shield instead of greatsword , as mace isn't a high damage weapon in any fashion. It would look more like this (classic AH Guard):http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWyAYl7lZw0YXMM2Je0S5LVA-zVhYPRM0pQgoPwoAOVUBSXpAGBmZIUdEkeBo6s0/mG-w

The idea is your support comes from shouts with Trooper runes for condi clears. This way you don't need to run purging flames or smite condition.By running mace+shield as well as Absolute Resolution, the greater investment into healing power is justified. At ~600 heal power you are within 60-70% of a full minstrel firebrand in terms of healing output (normally it'd be 70-80% if you run monk runes but in this case it is better to run trooper runes for condi clears).

Remember, a WvW build without much damage must have enough sustain or disengages to survive if ganked by roamers as you can't counter attack the person hitting you.

[armbar.7815]

oh wow. That makes way more sense. I appreciate the time you took on this. I am going to try it out. The stats look much better.

[armbar.7815]

ok, so I dont have any crafted gear. All my gear is from the black lion so I can swap out anything. Honestly, the stats in the stats in the builder are way over what I have. I am mainly looking at black lion stuff. Any suggestions?

[Infusion.7149]

I specifically only changed trinkets and weapons because I thought you might have an issue obtaining new gear. I really would not buy exotic trinkets and accessories at all given how readily ascended is to obtain.

If you have access to Bjora Marches you can exchange the Eternal Ice Shards for the Amulet with stat select function. The accessories / rings can be gotten from diflourite or mist born motes exchanged from eternal ice as well.For the damage build (sword) you could probably use assassin's but the vitality will be lower than marauder even though ferocity would be a bit higher. The only real healing stat you can get off the trading post for cheap that would work is Cleric's , since both Shaman and Settler are meant for condition typed healing builds while Magi doesn't have power so the precision isn't of much help.

Do you have access to Living Story season 4 (namely Sandswept Isles / Dragonfall) and Bjora Marches?

[ArchonWing.9480]

So what is this for? Open World? WvW? Dungeons?Do you have access to elite specs?

Guardian's probably not really the best class for this, but note above. If you're running solo, you really don't want staff as it does little damage.

[armbar.7815]

@Infusion.7149 said:I specifically only changed trinkets and weapons because I thought you might have an issue obtaining new gear. I really would not buy exotic trinkets and accessories at all given how readily ascended is to obtain.

If you have access to Bjora Marches you can exchange the Eternal Ice Shards for the Amulet with stat select function. The accessories / rings can be gotten from diflourite or mist born motes exchanged from eternal ice as well.For the damage build (sword) you could probably use assassin's but the vitality will be lower than marauder even though ferocity would be a bit higher. The only real healing stat you can get off the trading post for cheap that would work is Cleric's , since both Shaman and Settler are meant for condition typed healing builds while Magi doesn't have power so the precision isn't of much help.

Do you have access to Living Story season 4 (namely Sandswept Isles / Dragonfall) and Bjora Marches?

I do not have access to Living Season 4 atm.

[armbar.7815]

@ArchonWing.9480 said:So what is this for? Open World? WvW? Dungeons?Do you have access to elite specs?

Guardian's probably not really the best class for this, but note above. If you're running solo, you really don't want staff as it does little damage.

Yea this would be for WvW and storyline but mainly WvW.

[armbar.7815]

Specifically, I just purchased this game with the PoF and Hot packs.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

You can get ascended accessories from the LS3 maps as well. You can also use your skirmish tickets from WvW to get ascended accessories that are stat selectable.

As far as your build, pick either DPS melee or healing. Signet of Courage is more than enough to turn the tide of the fight.

Here is a sample build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWCBs2x7lJwQYKMM2JO+K+rKA-zVIYb0zXGJUCRmBuOLVpsB-w

Its a core Burn Guard build. There should be plenty of DPS and dodges in there to stay alive. I take SoA myself over Wall of Reflection, which is what most people take. SoA is less damage true, but it's perma projectile block that can either be used to fish out a dodge because they think it is SoJ, to protect a downed from projectiles, secure a down that only has projectiles attacks, weaken enemies, or placed at your feet while you make a ranged opponents dance trying to avoid your burn cancer.

Swap Radiance for Dragon Hunter or Firebrand if you want an espec version.

Here is a DH version I've used that worked so well I felt compelled to stop playing Burn DH out of fairness to other players...http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWCBs2x7lJwQYKMM2JO+WVtNA-zVIYb0zHI5RQSJ0lAOTDIOrA-w

F2 is a fairly decent AoE heal, but will also immobilize people for symbol/spirit weapon hate. Great for disengaging out of the front line as well. I spent on hour once south of bay in a long skirmish (deads kept coming back to get killed again) with this build. Pick a target out, drop your cancer, put SoA along the field of fire to suppress ranged DPS/fish dodges/apply weakness. Sword 2-> Sword 3 -> F2 back into the backline if you catch hate, or use F2 to heal allies. Pop F3 or Focus 5 prior to SoC to cover it, smart allies will see the cast and hug your furry tail. Count dodges, and use Scepter 3 to root them in place and then proceed to kill them with Scepter 2, SoJ, and Focus 4.

If you want to keep a more support/healing feel then take staff over one of the weapon sets and run some healing power stats.

[Infusion.7149]

@armbar.7815 said:Specifically, I just purchased this game with the PoF and Hot packs.

Before I suggest anything further and confuse you: Do you own the gear you first linked in your original post?

If you're new to WvW then I would think running 2500+ armor and 20K+ health or 25K+ health if you have no toughness is a good idea no matter how you reach it because your positioning probably hasn't been refined enough to give a lot of leeway on survivability.

For a damage build you want 2200+ power and ~190%+ ferocity with a decent critical chance (~50%+ before fury and food or close to it). If you aren't running mace or shield and don't have any real heal output skills then it's basically a damage build even if you run healing power (you really shouldn't if your build doesn't have its skills or traits scale off healing power well , as mentioned above).For a heal or support hybrid build normally you'd run 1300+ heal power but in this case because it's WvW the scaling is poor (it was nerfed recently across the board for all heal specs on just about every class) 600+ heal power is about right if you run mace+shield as your primary set. You'd retain about 70% effectiveness with ~600 heal power if you don't have access to monk runes currently.

The heal on auto attack for mace scales according to 367 + 0.5 x healing power so for a 600 heal power character you're looking at 667 heal every 3.26 full attack chain. If you were at 1300 heal power it'd be 1017 , so you'd effectively have ~66% of the heal on that alone , before counting the heal on dodges with the Honor traitline (129 + 0.6 x heal power) and such.

[armbar.7815]

DO I own that gear? No. I saw the build website and went with that I could choose. All my gear is exotic and only 3 stat native without any added items to boost em.

[Infusion.7149]

ArmorAh if you don't own the wanderer equipment then I would go for exotic stat-select armor from Verdant Brink (Bladed armor boxes : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bladed_armor for 500 airship parts + 1 gold) first for armor. Marauder is a very safe stat pick for armor if you're going for a damage build in WVW. I'd put any toughness in trinkets/amulet/rings or via brawler rune (off trading post about 1 gold each) , durability rune (Dragon's Stand in Heart of Thorns) , Trooper rune (for a support build with shouts , a bit more expensive at a few gold each). Cheap options include dolyak runes (7 silvers off trading post) and Melandru runes (about 4 silvers off the trading post) if you have marauder gear.

Marauder happens to be a Heart of Thorns stat that has tradable recipes and is not accountbound. If you have 400-500 armorsmith and weaponsmith that's an alternate route in the longterm for ascended level armor. (see https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Marauder_Intricate_Gossamer_Insignia )

WeaponsCompleting the City of Hope mission in Heart of Thorns with a guardian allows you to select auric mace, focus , or hammer ( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/City_of_Hope ). Pick focus as a stopgap measure til making ascended weapons if you plan on using sword+focus as a damage build. Unfortunately it's a wanderer stat item unlike crafted auric weapons. If you get this focus then I'd likely pair it with the <2 gold Crystalline Blade (assassin's stat that has precision) off trading post or a scepter such as Anura (~70-80 silver). If you want to run shield then I'd use Cavalier's Pearl Shell or Kryta's Embrace (Berserker stat) for ~70 silvers.

Amulet / ringRuby Orichalcum Amulet https://www.gw2bltc.com/en/item/13501-Ruby-Orichalcum-AmuletRuby Orichalcum Ring off the Trading post ~ 2.5 gold is probably the best bet if you do not do fractals https://www.gw2bltc.com/en/item/13417-Ruby-Orichalcum-Ring

Trinkets : I'd likely supplement toughness if it's for WVW using the Cavalier trinket from core Tyria : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cavalier%27s_Field_Guide#item3(Tactician Deathstrider at Cathedral of Glorious Victory) Keep in mind you would need an upgrade extractor to pull any upgrades from a karma trinket so don't put anything more than 1 gold into it.

Exotic level 80 Ebony Orichalcum Earring (Marauder stats) costs about 2 gold to make but it requires 400 jeweler and is accountbound.

Backpiece : the stat gain isn't as major, you can drop 9 gold on a ram lantern off the trading post to get an exotic stat select backpiece. A rare backpiece with soldier's stats is about 30 silvers or you can opt for lucky boar lantern (rare).

Combining the abovehttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWABw6t3lJw0YXMM2JO0T3rUA-zRxUBRG6QIhA3iCQMszIEOCCbQ4SHUI82FgnB-e

offensive power: 2231 power , ~47% crit chance , ~201% crit damagesurvivability: 2741 armor, ~18K health (~19K on focus set)

Gold outlay / financing this :

• 6x marauder armor pieces = 6 gold + 3K air ship parts
• 6x runes <8 silvers each = <0.5 gold
• sword <2 gold (can be used in PVE so it's not useless)
• shield <1 gold
• scepter <1 gold (can be used in PVE so it's not useless)
• focus = free with story mission
• amulet = 2.5 gold (can be used in PVE so it's not useless)
• ringx 2 = 5 gold for both (can be used in PVE so it's not useless)
• trinket/accessories x2 = 84K karma
• rare backpiece ~30 silvers
• crest of asssassin x3 (to put in trinkets/backpiece) = < 1 gold
• sigil of energy (for shield) 1.5 gold --- optional if you're tight on gold

TOTAL < 20 gold (10 days of daily achievements with no other PvE done)

---

In the long term if you plan on playing the meta minstrel guardian or any form of support, I'd look into Minstrel's Orichalcum Imbued Inscription awarded for Story Mission: The Jungle Provides in Heart of Thorns Act 1. This allows you to stat swap any ascended weapon to minstrel stat via the Mystic Forge. Dwayna and Flock runes are only ~ 8 silvers off the trading post so I would use those if you're playing full support and don't have monk runes.

Minstrel's insignia is ~7g each crafted right now so if you're new I wouldn't do that and go with the Bladed armor route.

The support build is pretty much unviable with core only stats as you'd end up using Cleric's with no crit chance for the most part. You would be able to get minstrel's from Bladed Armor though and you can buy Marshal's in the form of Sogolon's Purifier and Twister in a Jar (Nomad's stats). Would look more like http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAk6ZlZw0YXMM2Je0S5LVA-zRZUPRH6wLIsxwBGEIs+A-eOf course it would have barely any power whatsoever and no crit chance (typical minstrel problems).

If you're in a guild of any sort and participate in guild missions you can get ascended accessories from the guild commendation vendor. The issue is stats such as marauder or minstrel aren't available there. If you're going with a damage build you could probably run 2 piece of cavalier trinkets.

[armbar.7815]

Wow. Thank you! This is an epic workup. Thank you! I will go with it!