Most wanted PvE specs for Guardian?

[EpicName.4523]

Alright, I want to have a viable PvE spec/gear for any profession despite not playing it much, just in case I have the sudden desire to do it. 

Mighty Teapot released such tier lists from time to time, but there is nothing since the last balance patch(which I did not read because the number crunching and profession balance is not something I can get proper conclusions about).

From what I understand, Revenants are the top-tier PvE beats at the moment, with each of its specs being good or even broken. What about guardian? I checked snowcrows and it seems they have listed 3 recommended specs - HfB and two variations of the Willbender. I had Quickness Firebrand equipped in mostly ritualist exotics, but it seems to have fallen off. I guess it's time to scrap it and change to Willbender. But which version? Power or condi?

Is celestial Firebrand viable? Especially in fractals? Vallun released video years ago, but it's obviously pretty outdated, so I wanted to know if it can still work? Is Firebrand even good for anything but support?

[Sobx.1758]

Groups are actively looking for FBs. Groups are basically NOT actively looking for willbenders. So if it's about most wanted guardian spec, it's most probably still fb -of course it also depends what you're willing to do within the group.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[EpicName.4523]

Well, I assume groups are looking for support FBs, not dps ones. 

This is from the guardian part of the site:

https://snowcrows.com/builds?profession=Guardian

The only recommended FB is the support version. Quickness FB can be "effective" as seen from the second page, but I guess not really in demand?

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

When it comes to PVE, there's a few things to consider.  For overworld stuff, everything works.  I run around in full berserker and vipers, but for guardian I'll even occasionally run a full griever build just to be weird.  Unless you plan on soloing difficult champions, I'd just stick with glass cannon gear.  Guardians have a lot of active defenses, and can deal with most problems using their utilities or their virtues.

Structured PVE is broken into 3 roles.  Quickness, Alacrity, and DPS.  The healer and the tank is usually one of the two buffers.  Willbender alac is more of a meme than anything else, and QuickFB's future is a bit uncertain at the moment.  However, it is probably safe to consider running either a Condition Quickness build, a Heal Quickness build, or a Heal Tank.  Condi quick runs ritualist gear, heal quickness runs harrier, and heal tank runs enough Minstrel pieces to get the highest toughness on the team.

When it comes to DPS, there is rarely a role that is specifically requested.  The DPS recruits for raids/strikes/fractals are usually fills for empty spaces once all of the buffs are handled.  Guardian does have some mechanical advantages to it through projectile management, stability, aegis, and an excellent CC in sanctuary.  Keep aware and pick your utilities accordingly.  Guardian has a big disadvantage in that they don't have a good means to do ranged damage, especially on condition builds.  However, given the value of stability, aegis, and reflects in this game the Guardian is generally a valued teammate, even if they're just DPS.

Whether to go with a condition or strike damage build changes depending on the context.  If you're new to PVE as a whole, it is hard to go wrong with Berserkers.  It takes awhile for condi DPS to catch up to strike damage, so it is only really "worth it" to use condi builds against enemies that have a lot of health.  Boss fractals, Strikes, and Raids are generally condi friendly.  Non-boss fractals favor strike damage, as does most content in the overworld.  You can still use condi, but be aware of the ramp up.  Thankfully, Guardian has one of the fastest ramp ups regarding condi builds, so it isn't that bad when using them out of place.

The Guardian's elite specs are pretty good.  Currently, Willbender is the best at DPS, no matter if it is condi or strike.  Firebrand has a large toolbox, so it is used as either a quickness or a heal + quickness build.  Dragonhunter is in an odd spot.  It still does good strike damage, and it has access to the Longbow for a better ranged offense, but to my knowledge there's currently no "role" for Dragonhunter to fill that Willbender doesn't.  The level of demand and scrutiny is really dependent on the team your joining.  I'd like to say that you wouldn't be kicked from a team for playing DPS Firebrand or DPS dragonhunter, and in all likelyhood you probably won't, but know that the kind of people petty enough to do it are also the kind of people who'd command squads just to enforce their pettiness.  

[draxynnic.3719]

Something to be aware of is that while people reflexively go to Snowcrows because they were the first to really get serious about analysing build performance and making that information publicly available, they tend to orient their recommendations to the pinnacle of PvE players - the people who'll go into basically any raid, strike or fractal (except maybe HTCM) without any real concern about the possibility of failing, just about how quickly they can succeed. Something like hardstuck.gg might be a better source for what's actually being used in the wider community. (Note also, though, that snowcrows now splits their builds between "Recommended" and "Effective". When Snowcrows uses the term "Effective" they're not using it in the "anything works in open world lol" sense, they're using it in a sense of "this is really good for general play, it's just not the speedrunner's choice".)

When I join a group as a firebrand, I generally say that I can HB or QB, and while I get asked to HB more often than QB, it's not exactly a 'once in a blue moon' thing. It'll usually be decided by whatever the alacrity provider is doing, and I have the flexibility to cover heals or damage based on what they're not doing.

It's also worth noting that firebrand is probably the quickness provider that's being messed with the least in the upcoming patch. About the only concern people have is the charge recovery time of mantras no longer being reduced by Weighty Terms, but there was apparently a comment by a dev in a stream that the recovery time reduction was being baselined along with all of the other cooldown reductions. If that's true, firebrand is getting a small net buff with the update. Meanwhile, every other quickness provider apart from harbinger is either going to be brand new (deadeye, untamed, you could arguably include berserker in this category), or is going to have its method of granting quickness significantly altered (catalyst, scrapper, chrono, herald, berserker if not in the previous category). This could mean that for at least a week or so afterwards, firebrand is going to be Old Reliable as people figure out how functional the others actually are.

Either way, I wouldn't toss it out right away - at least wait until the balance environment settles after the patch. What I would probably recommend is for you to keep your QB gear, and work on getting HB and/or condibender gear (for three reasons - condibender at least theoretically has a ranged weapon, powerbender relies more on aftercast cancels and maintaining aegis, and condibender gear is close enough to DPScondibrand gear that you can switch between them reasonably conveniently, although the same is also true between powerbender and powerhunter). That should give you a fair amount of flexibility. For ultimate flexibility, have an alt you can switch to for alac, although that will understandably take time.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

16 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

condibender at least theoretically has a ranged weapon

All guards, including FB, will theoretically have ranged weapons (scepter, longbow, and pistols). 🙃
We'll have to wait until August to see how the theoretical become actual. I'm excited! Even though pistol would not have been my first choice.

[draxynnic.3719]

2 hours ago, Gaiawolf.8261 said:

All guards, including FB, will theoretically have ranged weapons (scepter, longbow, and pistols). 🙃
We'll have to wait until August to see how the theoretical become actual. I'm excited! Even though pistol would not have been my first choice.

Obviously, I made that post before the announcement, but I think it is significant that the meta condibender build is using scepter as part of its build now. While powerbender used sword/focus and greatsword.

Mind you, there's a good chance that in a month, condibender scepter will be replaced by axe...

[Gaiawolf.8261]

22 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Obviously, I made that post before the announcement, but I think it is significant that the meta condibender build is using scepter as part of its build now. While powerbender used sword/focus and greatsword.

Mind you, there's a good chance that in a month, condibender scepter will be replaced by axe...

We can test them out this weekend too. I do wonder how they will compare.