Guardian Build Review - WvW Solo Roaming

[Choppy.4183]

Howdy guardians.

 

I came across one of your peers yesterday who graciously gave me an education (read: serial kittenkicking) using a build that was similar to this, and I was hoping some of you more experienced folks could give some feedback on it, it's utility for solo roaming in wvw, and weaknesses/limitations I should be aware of.

 

Reason being, the build looked fun and I thought I'd roll up a guardian to give it a whirl (but wanted to be aware of potential red flags before I do).

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAIx7lFw6YfMQ2IW8PmrfA-zVRYBR9GOsyIzqqzU1kDSY83SVmRA-w

 

Anyway, I just made up the gear. All I know is he was running pretty glassy (he told me) and used a hydromancy sigil and these weapons. Glacial Blow was a murder factory.

 

One thing that confused me was using Shelter. Litany of Wrath looks much better to me, so was wondering if any of you had insight into why Shelter might be a better choice.

 

As for its use for solo roaming, one limitation I guess would be escaping the horde. But its combat mobility (sticking to target) is exceptional.

[montecristo.1324]

It seems to me he was playing a simple radiant hammer, it's a really famous and old build.

 

You can probably find it on metabattle.

 

The only couple of changes I would make to your version are: virtues go with middle or top trait on the first column, remove purging flames and take smite condition.

 

For the equipment you can run both berserker/marauder with fighter runes or Valkyrie but you will need intelligence sigil on your hammer.

 

The basic combos are hammer 2 while judgement intervention or hammer 5 while judgement intervention.

 

Personally I also prefer run scepter focus over sword shield but it doesn't change a lot, that is supposed to be the defensive set. I prefer running focus over shield because you get another blast finisher good for cleanses.

 

Last but not least, changing the second column of virtues to top trait you can also play GS instead of hammer, and that is the radiant GS.

 

 

[Choppy.4183]

7 hours ago, montecristo.1324 said:

It seems to me he was playing a simple radiant hammer, it's a really famous and old build.

 

You can probably find it on metabattle.

 

The only couple of changes I would make to your version are: virtues go with middle or top trait on the first column, remove purging flames and take smite condition.

 

For the equipment you can run both berserker/marauder with fighter runes or Valkyrie but you will need intelligence sigil on your hammer.

 

The basic combos are hammer 2 while judgement intervention or hammer 5 while judgement intervention.

 

Personally I also prefer run scepter focus over sword shield but it doesn't change a lot, that is supposed to be the defensive set. I prefer running focus over shield because you get another blast finisher good for cleanses.

 

Last but not least, changing the second column of virtues to top trait you can also play GS instead of hammer, and that is the radiant GS.

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the response. I'll read up on your suggestions and look up the build on metabattle too.

 

About the Intelligence sigil... is it really necessary? With retal up the crit chance is 82%, which goes to 100% with fury. I can see that fury uptime isn't that great, but I'd assumed pretty solid uptime for retal.  Is that not the case?

[montecristo.1324]

3 hours ago, Choppy.4183 said:

 

Thanks so much for the response. I'll read up on your suggestions and look up the build on metabattle too.

 

About the Intelligence sigil... is it really necessary? With retal up the crit chance is 82%, which goes to 100% with fury. I can see that fury uptime isn't that great, but I'd assumed pretty solid uptime for retal.  Is that not the case?

 

Don't know I usually play it in pvp with int sigil because the point of the build is to have few solid spikes and missing one is quite bad. You can try without it and see how it goes

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

11 hours ago, montecristo.1324 said:

 

Don't know I usually play it in pvp with int sigil because the point of the build is to have few solid spikes and missing one is quite bad. You can try without it and see how it goes

 

the whole point of radiance is that it gives u 100% crit when u have retal and fury up. with this build u get perma fury+retal so intel is just a waste unless enemy team has insane boonrips (2+ scg stacks or smth)

 

  

On 5/11/2021 at 2:53 PM, Choppy.4183 said:

 

 

Anyway, I just made up the gear. All I know is he was running pretty glassy (he told me) and used a hydromancy sigil and these weapons. Glacial Blow was a murder factory.

 

One thing that confused me was using Shelter. Litany of Wrath looks much better to me, so was wondering if any of you had insight into why Shelter might be a better choice.

 

Gear here is no good. Mix zerk/valk for 45% crit chance exactly, and use fireworks runes

 

Shelter is far better against competent opponents who dont just facetank your damage. a well timed shelter can easily mitigate 5k+ dmg in addition to the 6k healing (4.5k base + 1.5k from lesser smite). only thing to beware of is unblockable CC

Edited May 13, 2021 by Hogwarts Zebra.8597

[Choppy.4183]

9 hours ago, Hogwarts Zebra.8597 said:

 

the whole point of radiance is that it gives u 100% crit when u have retal and fury up. with this build u get perma fury+retal so intel is just a waste unless enemy team has insane boonrips (2+ scg stacks or smth)

 

  

Gear here is no good. Mix zerk/valk for 45% crit chance exactly, and use fireworks runes

 

Shelter is far better against competent opponents who dont just facetank your damage. a well timed shelter can easily mitigate 5k+ dmg in addition to the 6k healing (4.5k base + 1.5k from lesser smite). only thing to beware of is unblockable CC

 

I noticed the gear choices you recommended on metabattle. The end result appears to be 7k (approx 60%) more health plus 25% movement speed at the cost of a truckload more damage and greater boon duration.

 

The health is undeniably a big one, but I kind of expected guardian mitigations to offset that a bit (aegis, prot, blocks, blinds). I currently run full glass on a ranger (slightly more health, slightly less armor), but I rely on mobility and ranged damage pressure when melee is too hot. Are the guardian tools not enough to fill the range/(escape) mobility void? As another data point, I used to run full glass warrior for years while roaming, which was all melee like this build, had about the same health pool as your gear version, but far fewer mitigations and healing offset by better (though not great) escape potential.

 

As for shelter, it certainly makes sense and I'll have to defer to the wisdom of people who've actually played the class. My thinking between the two is that LoW is traited to give 3k immediately and then a single Glacial Blow would give another 3k, etc, etc., and on a shorter cd vs the 4.5k of Shelter plus damage mitigation, which will provide more value in a scrum but only a delay against a competent player while stopping all counterpressure from me. This might be just a matter of being opposite to my normal fight logic so I'm not fully appreciating the value of the skill, especially as part of the total guardian package. First hand experience is definitely needed.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Choppy.4183

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

16 minutes ago, Choppy.4183 said:

 

I noticed the gear choices you recommended on metabattle. The end result appears to be 7k (approx 60%) more health plus 25% movement speed at the cost of a truckload more damage and greater boon duration.

 

The health is undeniably a big one, but I kind of expected guardian mitigations to offset that a bit (aegis, prot, blocks, blinds). I currently run full glass on a ranger (slightly more health, slightly less armor), but I rely on mobility and ranged damage pressure when melee is too hot. Are the guardian tools not enough to fill the range/(escape) mobility void? As another data point, I used to run full glass warrior for years while roaming, which was all melee like this build, had about the same health pool as your gear version, but far fewer mitigations and healing offset by better (though not great) escape potential.

 

As for shelter, it certainly makes sense and I'll have to defer to the wisdom of people who've actually played the class. My thinking between the two is that LoW is traited to give 3k immediately and then a single Glacial Blow would give another 3k, etc, etc., and on a shorter cd vs the 4.5k of Shelter plus damage mitigation, which will provide more value in a scrum but only a delay against a competent player while stopping all counterpressure from me. This might be just a matter of being opposite to my normal fight logic so I'm not fully appreciating the value of the skill, especially as part of the total guardian package. First hand experience is definitely needed.

fireworks runes already gives 15% boon duration, u dont need any more from gear. The extra health is MASSIVE. You simply cannot roam in wvw with 11k health, heavy armor or otherwise. u will get 1shot by way too many things (nade barrage, true shot, spinal shivers, etc). Full glass ranger still has 16k health, and full glass warr has 19k health--very different from being full glass and having only 11k health. You will also find that guardian has some of the worst escape potential in the game. You can stick to targets quite easily, but disengaging is literally impossible unless u can find a neutral mob to use JI+sw2 on, but even then if the enemy has a 600+ range port, u will not be getting out of combat. 

 

Also you do not lose any damage at all with this setup compared to yours. It's literally just full zerk damage, since any crit chance above 45% is wasted cuz u get +20% from fury and +25% from retal and +10% against burning targets (+55% total)

 

As for litany, what if u miss your glacial blow? it has a pretty obvious animation and good players will be able to consistently dodge it. u end up with garbage healing while also taking 3k+ more dmg than u would've if you'd had access to the block from shelter

Edited May 13, 2021 by Hogwarts Zebra.8597

[Choppy.4183]

37 minutes ago, Hogwarts Zebra.8597 said:

fireworks runes already gives 15% boon duration, u dont need any more from gear. The extra health is MASSIVE. You simply cannot roam in wvw with 11k health, heavy armor or otherwise. u will get 1shot by way too many things (nade barrage, true shot, spinal shivers, etc). Full glass ranger still has 16k health, and full glass warr has 19k health--very different from being full glass and having only 11k health. You will also find that guardian has some of the worst escape potential in the game. You can stick to targets quite easily, but disengaging is literally impossible unless u can find a neutral mob to use JI+sw2 on, but even then if the enemy has a 600+ range port, u will not be getting out of combat. 

 

Also you do not lose any damage at all with this setup compared to yours. It's literally just full zerk damage, since any crit chance above 45% is wasted cuz u get +20% from fury and +25% from retal and +10% against burning targets (+55% total)

 

As for litany, what if u miss your glacial blow? it has a pretty obvious animation and good players will be able to consistently dodge it. u end up with garbage healing while also taking 3k+ more dmg than u would've if you'd had access to the block from shelter

 

For sure, if +25% boon duration doesn't give you any more mileage than +15%, then the extra concentration is wasted. The extra damage I was referring to was from the higher crit damage, the +10% from the runes, and an assumption that the higher concentration would result in higher damage (more critical, more might, etc). If those assumptions are wrong, then yeah, it wipes that right off the table.

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

16 minutes ago, Choppy.4183 said:

 

For sure, if +25% boon duration doesn't give you any more mileage than +15%, then the extra concentration is wasted. The extra damage I was referring to was from the higher crit damage, the +10% from the runes, and an assumption that the higher concentration would result in higher damage (more critical, more might, etc). If those assumptions are wrong, then yeah, it wipes that right off the table.

yep 0% boon duration is already enough to upkeep perma fury+retal for 100% crit, 15% just makes it easier. u do lose a little dmg from runes, but fireworks still gives +175 power and some decent might so the difference isnt very significant

Edited May 13, 2021 by Hogwarts Zebra.8597