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Dobri's Easy-to-Play Solo PvE Guardian :)


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So, I decided to jump in quickly to share my build for the Guardian. I realize from a certain point of view and I still quite the newbie, but this build got me to 80, and I didn't die that much in the process - and of course, I was doing 90% of the game solo, since the EU Fissure of Woe isn't very populated :)

This is the basic solo build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQRAsd7dlYgKDXESIEgIA

 

I did, however, do a lot of exploring (over 40% map explored just on that char in a week), and managed to solo any Skill Challenge that came my way, so I picked up lots of useful party skills, like Save Yourselves, Hold the Line, Stand Your Ground, Retreat and Tome of Courage. It is very easy to switch to any of those if you play a party Guardian. Being able to cast many party buffs triples the value of your guardian.

 

1. Why Sword + Focus, when Greatsword is so awesome?

If you have to solo, the Greatsword is just as much of a hindrance, than it is a bonus, due to the lack of protection. Granted, you can go to a lower--level area and train a lot of enemies and just start swinging for some awesome XP, but that's not how I play :) I wanna go to the 70+ areas and still be able to hold my own against those enemies. With this setup, you have 2 blinding skills, which effectively makes your enemy's attacks miss - and as you get to learn the enemy's animations, you will know exactly when to hit it! Keeping in mind you have a passive shield that renews every 40 seconds, and a Shield of Wrath that absorbs up to 3 attacks or explodes for some damage, and that you can double tap a button to dodge, you are really well protected.

 

With this type of guardian I was even able to solo a few champion enemies by keeping them constantly missing or having my blocks nullify their attacks. Giant Wasp is the first that comes to mind :)

 

2. Why signets?

Since I had to solo a lot, I had little time to hit buttons like crazy, and was more occupied by keeping the enemies in check. Being swarmed by 3-4 enemies just because you were oblivious to them makes your day a lousy one. So I would rather enjoy the passive +power, -damage effect, rather than spam skills like crazy. Besides, the whole point is to be an easy to play build, lol :D

For offense, you can see that I kept the Purging Flames + Shield of Wrath combo, which, being the newbie I am, discovered on my own - and even put it on buttons 7 and 5 (default) so that I can access it quickly :) It does some nice damage to multiple enemies, and it has a nice sync with Tome of Wrath - when you do the combo, just hit the 0 and "Feel my Wrath!" This way I was able to down 4-5 swarming branded enemies of 60+ level easily :)

 

3. Traits.

My traits followed the same build logic:

20 Zeal - power is always good for a guardian. I picked level 10 as Fiery Wrath (+10% damage vs burning) and level 20 alternates between Focused mastery (-20% focus skill regen), Scepter Power (+5% Scepter Damage) and +50% damage when downed (I switch it on when I go to a very dangerous area - really helps)

30 Radiance - Singets Recharge 20% faster and +5% Sword and Spear Damage are a no-brainer for this build - being able to have your passive bonus back quickly is awesome. At level 30 you can pick extra 15% crit chance for one-handed weapons, which is really cool, and has a nice synergy with Honor. The added precision (crit) and condition damage (fire) just sweeten the deal.

20 Honor - extra HP is key when soloing. for level 10 I took protective Reviver (weirdly enough people are more worried about themselves than their allies - I am not, so I usually run around reviving any NPC or unknown player I meet), which works nicely against bosses too, effectively helping both of you; level 20 is Empowering Might (extra might to allies when you score a crit) - it has a good synergy with the Radiance trait tree too.).

 

You can always go for 30 Zeal for more damage, but I don't find the last tier skills useful - they are all Greatsword focused. 30 Honor is kinda ok, but I'd rather have the crit/might bonus from Radiance. Helps in a party too :)

 

With this, you don't even need some wicked weapons or armor to solo. Just keep the enemy disabled and whack away :)

Edited by Dobri
  • Like! 1
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1st: Welcome aboard Ferguson's Crossing! I'm sure you won't regret it! And, since you me are on the same time zone (well, more or less), I'm looking forward to seeing you online regularly!


Your build is nice and solid, but just an opinion about the greatsword:

skill 1 - grants might on every third blow. You'll only have 1 continuous stack going at a time before the 1st runs down and the next one kicks in, but if you have 5 points in virtues you gain 1 stack of might with Virtue of Justice. That makes 2 stacks. If you throw in a "Save Yourselves!" - that's 3 stacks of might... Not that much but "Save yourselves" is just such a nice skill! According to wiki you'll gain 105 power with 3 stacks --> 0.375 * Level + 5 = Power and Condition Damage per stack

Skill 2 - lots of damage and works well with the order of skill 5, another 5, then 4, then 2 (combo finisher cleansing bolts which removes conditions), then 3 (combo finisher retaliation just as skill 4 is about to run out)

skill 3 - blinds your target

skill 4 - damage + retaliation!

skill 5 - this is a good DoT skill, but I let it run for only a few seconds before pulling the crowd in toward me, with a 4 for damage and a 2 for some more excessive damage.


But those signets are nice and I also used to have them up all the time. There is just something nice about pounding your apponent to the ground and then applying vulnerability.

I also use signet of resolve, but don't discount Shelter. Although this does not heal as much as signet of resolve does, it does offer 2 seconds of blocking while healing. Since your build does not have Renewed Focus for that 3 seconds of blocking, you might wanna see if Shelter can help you supply that emergency block while your shields and blinds are on cool down.
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I see you have Focus as the off-hand on both sets. Since they would share a cooldown, that is not something I would ever do. (Of course, I am a 'weapon-swapping fool'. Shared cooldown might not be a big issue for you.)

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So, I decided to jump in quickly to share my build for the Guardian. I realize from a certain point of view and I still quite the newbie, but this build got me to 80, and I didn't die that much in the process - and of course, I was doing 90% of the game solo, since the EU Fissure of Woe isn't very populated :)

This is the basic solo build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQRAsd7dlYgKDXESIEgIA

 

I did, however, do a lot of exploring (over 40% map explored just on that char in a week), and managed to solo any Skill Challenge that came my way, so I picked up lots of useful party skills, like Save Yourselves, Hold the Line, Stand Your Ground, Retreat and Tome of Courage. It is very easy to switch to any of those if you play a party Guardian. Being able to cast many party buffs triples the value of your guardian.

 

1. Why Sword + Focus, when Greatsword is so awesome?

If you have to solo, the Greatsword is just as much of a hindrance, than it is a bonus, due to the lack of protection. Granted, you can go to a lower--level area and train a lot of enemies and just start swinging for some awesome XP, but that's not how I play :) I wanna go to the 70+ areas and still be able to hold my own against those enemies. With this setup, you have 2 blinding skills, which effectively makes your enemy's attacks miss - and as you get to learn the enemy's animations, you will know exactly when to hit it! Keeping in mind you have a passive shield that renews every 40 seconds, and a Shield of Wrath that absorbs up to 3 attacks or explodes for some damage, and that you can double tap a button to dodge, you are really well protected.

 

With this type of guardian I was even able to solo a few champion enemies by keeping them constantly missing or having my blocks nullify their attacks. Giant Wasp is the first that comes to mind :)

 

2. Why signets?

Since I had to solo a lot, I had little time to hit buttons like crazy, and was more occupied by keeping the enemies in check. Being swarmed by 3-4 enemies just because you were oblivious to them makes your day a lousy one. So I would rather enjoy the passive +power, -damage effect, rather than spam skills like crazy. Besides, the whole point is to be an easy to play build, lol :D

For offense, you can see that I kept the Purging Flames + Shield of Wrath combo, which, being the newbie I am, discovered on my own - and even put it on buttons 6 and 5 (default) so that I can access it quickly :) It does some nice damage to multiple enemies, and it has a nice sync with Tome of Wrath - when you do the combo, just hit the 0 and "Feel my Wrath!" This way I was able to down 4-5 swarming branded enemies of 60+ level easily :)

 

3. Traits.

My traits followed the same build logic:

20 Zeal - power is always good for a guardian. I picked level 10 as Fiery Wrath (+10% damage vs burning) and level 20 alternates between Focused mastery (-20% focus skill regen), Scepter Power (+5% Scepter Damage) and +50% damage when downed (I switch it on when I go to a very dangerous area - really helps)

30 Radiance - Singets Recharge 20% faster and +5% Sword and Spear Damage are a no-brainer for this build - being able to have your passive bonus back quickly is awesome. At level 30 you can pick extra 15% crit chance for one-handed weapons, which is really cool, and has a nice synergy with Honor. The added precision (crit) and condition damage (fire) just sweeten the deal.

20 Honor - extra HP is key when soloing. for level 10 I took protective Reviver (weirdly enough people are more worried about themselves than their allies - I am not, so I usually run around reviving any NPC or unknown player I meet), which works nicely against bosses too, effectively helping both of you; level 20 is Empowering Might (extra might to allies when you score a crit) - it has a good synergy with the Radiance trait tree too.).

 

You can always go for 30 Zeal for more damage, but I don't find the last tier skills useful - they are all Greatsword focused. 30 Honor is kinda ok, but I'd rather have the crit/might bonus from Radiance. Helps in a party too :)

 

With this, you don't even need some wicked weapons or armor to solo. Just keep the enemy disabled and whack away :)

 

 

I love this Dobri! It's cuz Scleameth posted a sick guide too on the Guardians which had me so excited for the game again, which had me almost reach for that create button this weekend cept for the demand of forum and wiki...but now you got me going, specially with that word "easy" in your title.

I used to play strictly melee before for GW2, and have tried now with a few rangeds, and necromancer, maybe this class with that sick Great Sword you mention will be enough to send me into addiction heaven who's buzz I so crave?

 

:D

 

gogo

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Well, this guide popped up mainly because my guardian girl had to take on everything on her own, mainly due to the underpopulated server with few level 80's. I had to solo all kinds of enemies, and my equipment was most of the time below par, so I had to go to some high-level areas to get better stuff and still hold my own. I also completely agree about the shared cooldown, but I tend to turn to scepter only as a battle opener to draw in the opponents, or draw ranged enemies exactly where I want them to (like on my freshly cast Area of Effect Smite), and then switch and teleport to blind them and keep them in place.

 

I gotta admit, having to discover and invent stuff through trial and failure really got me going for this game :) Now, as I hit 80 I read a few things, and people have to put very solid build up there, but still, the thrill of the DIY stuff is a big one :)

 

And btw, I felt that gogo just slapped me on the head with something. That guy likes to play melee... and here I am thinking he is a tree-hugger :D

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  • 4 months later...

Good Day!

 

I just started a Guardian! Mainly because I will be solo 99% of the time and felt I might have better life expectancy. I found this thread thru Google and it sounds VERY interesting. HOWEVER.. I clicked on the URL for the actual Builds in this thread and NONE of them are filled in on those URLS.. Is there an alternate Site where they can be found? Are they Outdated now? :) Hope this thread isnt dead.. haha

 

Ta Ta! Lynlee

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Welcome aboard!

 

I am getting the same thing now. The build site may have changed since Dobri posted his build. I think his writeup covers most of his build, but it is not as concise as a build link.

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