Struggling with Guardian

[chrispy.7182]

I made a Guardian and I am now level 80.

I am finding it very difficult to optimise a solo PvE build

I need a build with high survivability and decent DPS

I want to be able to solo Bounties and Champions

Is that possible? Can you please link your builds and give me some tips

Thank you!

[RUNICBLACK.7630]

@chrispy.7182 said:

• I made a Guardian and I am now level 80.Congratz
• I am finding it very difficult to optimise a solo PvE buildDid you level him all the way up or did you insta level him to 80
• • I need a build with high survivability and decent DPSIs this a Core Guardian or one of the Elites , you have a lot of options but bare in mind youwill have a bit of adjustment if you haven't worked with the class mechanics all the way thruCore Tyria and your first time in the HoT and PoF also requires some adjustment (althoughthis can be said with any of the classes)
• I want to be able to solo Bounties and ChampionsThis will totally depend on which bounty or champion your fighting some are easier andsome will be much harder if not impossible depending on your own skill with the class and build
• Is that possible? Can you please link your builds and give me some tipsYes and no depending on the details. As far as a link goes check out metabattle.com and there arealso some people that post their builds to youtube and they also give additional pointers
• Thank you!

You kind of need a little more info to get any real help being as nobody has any real idea of your skill ,and just saying Bounties and Champions covers a wide range of difficulties.

[chrispy.7182]

Hey

• I leveled him pretty quickly with tomes and some dungeons
• I have the full FB Specialisation, can also spec for the DH but need more points
• I main Mesmer Mirage and can solo almost anything with him and I'm familair with all PoF and HoT maps
• I will check out Metabattle

[otto.5684]

I dunno about soloing bounties, in general. You can easily solo most champions in full dps gear. Mesmer, especially condi mirage with staff, is probably the strongest champion solo build in the game. If this is what you are looking for, guardian is not the right class.

Dps guardian is AOE burst. All dps builds do that. I would start with full dps, and the hierarchy of adding PvE sustainability is as follows:

Drop zeal for valor, if using FB condi, DH for valor if using power. use some mediation utilities.Use shield and mace as secondary weapon.Add some HP to your build.Have a second set with toughness and/or HP.

This works for both FB and DH, though DH would lose far more damage If you start dropping precision and ferocity.

[Mortuari.1048]

I know the feeling ... been dusting off my account and trying to start the first expansion content with my old level 80 guardian, but for some reason I can't seem tu survive most things especially the AoE stuff. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but pretty sure it's been so long ago that I completely forgot which skills to use in what situation. Really wondering if I should delete one of my alt characters and start a Guardian from Scratch.

[kermithefrog.7169]

FB can't solo bounties at the same level as condi mirage & condi renegade with the same level of easiness.

It's definitely doable since people solo fractals w/ FB, but I think it's a LOT harder to pilot than condi mirage & condi renegade (imo the easiest OW builds)

[Nabbut.7480]

Guardian is for helping others not for soloing.

[SLOTH.5231]

@paShadoWn.5723 said:Guardian is for helping others not for soloing.

Fake news. Guardian isn’t like other classes in that you need to know how to properly play it to survive. People try to face tank with it and you’ll die quickly if you don’t know how to play the class.

[otto.5684]

@paShadoWn.5723 said:Guardian is for helping others not for soloing.

You can play as support. However guardian does significant damage and 2 of the best PvE heals in the game.

The only thing guardian is not good at in pve, is trying to solo things not meant to be soloed, like bounties.

[Zuras.5394]

@otto.5684 said:

@paShadoWn.5723 said:Guardian is for helping others not for soloing.

You can play as support. However guardian does significant damage and 2 of the best PvE heals in the game.

The only thing guardian is not good at in pve, is trying to solo things not meant to be soloed, like bounties.

But doesn't this basically defeat the meaning behind a Guardian? Right now the Guardian FB plays as a glass cannon. And unless your buzzing on jolt using enhanced reflexes, Trying to solo with a FB at least IS really difficult with the suggested builds from the two popular build sites. I have yet to try a DH so I don't know what play style is like for it.

I've been trying various trait combos for the past few weeks to give a FB build decent solo chance and so far nothing. I think Arenanet took the Guardian out of Guardian and instead made a glass cannon build with an ironic name. Just my opinion of this profession. And yes I'm disappointed I had hoped for better.

[otto.5684]

@Zuras.5394 said:

@otto.5684 said:

@paShadoWn.5723 said:Guardian is for helping others not for soloing.

You can play as support. However guardian does significant damage and 2 of the best PvE heals in the game.

The only thing guardian is not good at in pve, is trying to solo things not meant to be soloed, like bounties.

But doesn't this basically defeat the meaning behind a Guardian? Right now the Guardian FB plays as a glass cannon. And unless your buzzing on jolt using enhanced reflexes, Trying to solo with a FB at least IS really difficult with the suggested builds from the two popular build sites. I have yet to try a DH so I don't know what play style is like for it.

I've been trying various trait combos for the past few weeks to give a FB build decent solo chance and so far nothing. I think Arenanet took the Guardian out of Guardian and instead made a glass cannon build with an ironic name. Just my opinion of this profession. And yes I'm disappointed I had hoped for better.

Yes, guardian in GW2 is mostly aesthetics. To be fair, there are many healing, support and somewhat tanky options. On the damage side, it is aoe nuke. You can describe most guardian dps options as berserker.

[rcaneknight.4320]

Check out this for a FB build that can solo some champs and bounties.

I play DH and it works pretty well. Also have a glass cannon FB but am going to try out this build

[djgLXXII.1907]

@SLOTH.5231 said:

@paShadoWn.5723 said:Guardian is for helping others not for soloing.

People try to face tank with it and you’ll die quickly if you don’t know how to play the class.

So, question then, which profession + build

is

the most face-tanky? What's the best choice if one wants to just stand there and take it like a man?

[crazyhusky.2985]

@"chrispy.7182" said:

• I made a Guardian and I am now level 80.
• I am finding it very difficult to optimise a solo PvE build
• • I need a build with high survivability and decent DPS
• I want to be able to solo Bounties and Champions
• Is that possible? Can you please link your builds and give me some tips
• Thank you!

Here is a power DH build I usehttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWyAEt3lFwcYYMEWJO0L/tcA-zRZYBR96cIIExwBVGRUVVkq2OA-e

It's pretty much the standard Power build. but the armour is different.

I have it set up you get 100% crit when under fury and Retaltion.This build centred around Greatsword, Using Greatsword Skills 4 and then 2.If you use Processes of Blades (the trap) with GS4 you should instantly get 100% for crit for a few seconds.You can exchange "Stand your ground" out for "complation of purity" if you want a condi cleanse while keeping a stun break, it is useful for heavy condi fights.

Stand your ground is there for scepter since you have no way of getting Retaltion without Greatsword other than using the healing skill.

The armour is marudaer with zerker accessories amd 1 valkyrie ring and maruder trinket.You're already capped on crit fury and Retaltion with full zerkers so I subbed out of the zerker armour for Vitality.If you go over 100% crit, you're kinda of wasting stats that can be used elsewhere.So this build gives you 15,000 HP to survive longer, without having to sacrifice too much damage.

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

@crazyhusky.2985I'd use save yourselves shout instead of stand your ground. it's also a stunbreak, has much longer retal duration, and gives fury as well

[otto.5684]

@Hogwarts Zebra.8597 said:@crazyhusky.2985I'd use save yourselves shout instead of stand your ground. it's also a stunbreak, has much longer retal duration, and gives fury as well

FYI, both save yourselves and stand your ground have 20% retaliation uptime (10/50 and 6/30).

[crazyhusky.2985]

@Hogwarts Zebra.8597 said:@crazyhusky.2985I'd use save yourselves shout instead of stand your ground. it's also a stunbreak, has much longer retal duration, and gives fury as well

True. but Stand your ground has a shorter cool duration which breaking out of stuns more often, it also gives stability preventing CC and stuns for a short while.Secondly Save yourselves also draws in condition from allies to you, for someone who wants a general build to survive, getting more conditions on you is counter to what they want.

[JohnWater.5760]

I like DH much more than FB, I don't know about soloing Bounties never tried that.But I can solo almost everything in Open World with DH, He's my main btw.I can play DH easily because I played with him a lot.I'm running full Berserker with Dragonhunter Runes.Scepter and Focus are very good, good attack and good defense.Greatsword have a great damage and mobility.Longbow is amazing for single target and long ranged.

Light DragonBerserker - Superior Rune of Dragonhunter[&DQEqOhA/GzkmDwAAihIAAP4AAABIAQAAtRIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWlAMFlVwcYTMEWJO0L/tcA-zVIYRU9fGNJVrQVJzZh0RL-w

Edit: I forgot to tell you, Ascendant make a good difference from Exotic

[Armen.1483]

People speculate that "staff mirage" is better than firebrand have no idea about the insane dps firebrand can put out there. Ofc staff mirage is an easy mode (even though I prefer axe variant), but firebrand can do anything mirage does solo sometimes fb does even better if can't profit from torment/confusion. Just take a snowcrows build, swap the skills and get the Feel my wrath and Mantra of Potence, a lil bit of concentration (concentration sigils and a ring will do) for some might and quickness, and maybe swap the Unrelenting Criticism for Liberator's Vow for some more quickness if needed and you'll be fine (like this: https://imgur.com/Zo3Bt51 ). For gear you could run the standart cqfb build, it might be sore simple: https://snowcrows.com/raids/builds/guardian/firebrand/condition%20quickness/ (I would take Lgendary lore over Salward Speed when solo even if I lose quickness) If pressured too much you can take the shield or focus for some blocks, sometimes a stunbraek can be handy, sometimes cleanse mantra, but all this is kinda situational, firebrand has all tools in belt for anything. For cc you don't have solid options, so you'd rather stick to CC consumables like shovels/rocks etc. And firebrand is an easy class too, just need practice with it, you can't just start the class and be a god just like that, you gotta train a lil. Resetting f1 tome on kill is the most important skill you gotta learn. Sometimes it's worth to drag some small enemeis to your bossfight to reset your tome on them.