Guardians! What are some viable playstyles?

[Egg Shennn]

I played mine to 16th or 17th level

I used a combo of scepter/focus & greatsword.
Against Melee foes;
I found leading off with scepter, fire a couple auto attacks as you get into range, and immobolize them with chains while putting smite on them. It keeps them in place for the smite to be effective. Keep firing auto attacks which slowly target the foe. Just start backing up as they come at you, while firing auto attacks, put on Shield of wrath and switch to Greatsword as they close in, and launch into your greatsword routine.

Against ranged foes, using wall of reflection while targeting them with your ranged attacks weakens them lots, then move in with greatsword to finish them.

Healing breeze was pretty cool, I liked using that to help heal groups I was with. Reasonably effective but cool looking.

I saved up skill points and bought the summon worm skill, it was 7 points so I thought it may be decent, but it didn't really seem that effective and felt disappointing for 7 skill points. The hammer of wisdom wasn't spectacular or anything but it seemed better than the worm and cost a whole lot less points to get.

[Guided Daggers]

I just realised how awesome Martyr + Contemplation of Purity can be for support. You help your team and make yourself stronger at the same time. Must try next BWE.

[calderstrake]

I saved up skill points and bought the summon worm skill, it was 7 points so I thought it may be decent, but it didn't really seem that effective and felt disappointing for 7 skill points.

I agree with this assessment.

I also spent the 7 points on the wurm and was drastically unimpressed. It didn't do enough damage and it didn't track when I moved to different enemies. If this is how it is meant to behave, it should only cost 2-3 points.

And a bit on-topic: I used sword+torch most of the time, but I didn't really pay attention to what skills I was using. I wasn't able to get a greatsword until near the end and decided to play Elementalist instead. Next time I will take the advice listed here and check out the other play styles. Great thread!

After trying out 4 classes, I checked to see what level they all were. Guardian was already level 6 and the rest were only 2-3. I guess that speaks a bit to the fun with playing Guardian.

[Alaris]

I got to level 30 using a press cheat ;)

I got myself 3 weapon skills, but I tried them once and that might have been a mistake. I summoned them outside of combat, and by the time I entered combat they were gone. I think they are meant to be used while in-combat.

The thing about guardians that I realize is lack of learning on my part is that they have a pretty unique way to implement support/healing. I enjoyed monk redbar-up as well as protting, and I enjoyed resto rit a lot more (in part because I could more easily hybrid prot/heal or prot/heal/damage). What attracts me to guardian is that he has the potential to switch between many very different gameplays, melee, ranged, support, prot...

I'm sure it'll be a top 3 profession for me, but I have to play it more before it becomes that... I have to learn it better.

[XaiXo]

Yeah, that's a point: The Spirit Weapons SUCK. All of them. Even with the Hammer+No Destruction when Commanded Trait, it sucks - And that's the best one due to KD.


I got my Guardian to level 26, and was certainly the most fun out of the ones I played.

[Alaris]

Well, unlike necro minions or ranger pets, I think spirit weapons were not meant to be the blunt of your damage. More like adding to your already considerable dps.

I won't rule them out yet, because I have yet to try other optional skills and see how those compare.

[Guided Daggers]

If I find some time to play during BWE2, I'll try out some combo's I've been thinking of. One is with the staff and a utility skill, another one is with Greatsword + Hammer. Pretty excited.

[Tsukasa Kamiya]

[ Warning, Wall O' Text incoming ]

I played Guardian exclusively during BWE1 and the stress test since it was the profession i wanted to make my main, and while i was in no way amazing, i know it's something i'll get the hang of with practice, loved every minute of playing it, and managed to get to level 18 by the end of the Stress test.

My favourite weapon combination and pretty much the only combination i used was Sword + Shield / Staff, i just fealt like i had enough control, support and damage with those weapons.

The greatsword was great and it made me wish we had a 3rd weapon set, as i would take that aswell no questions asked, but i found Sword/Shield + Staff met my playstyle more. Torch, hammer, focus and Scepter i barely used, and when i did i couldn't get to grips with them, might be something i get with practice, or perhaps they just aren't my style ( Though the Torch's Cleansing flame and Hammer's "Banish" are beyond awesome i must admit), guess i'll see next BWE =D.

Sword + Shield allowed me to close gaps in both PvE and WvW and help deal quite a bit of damage, buffing allies with the shields "Shield of Judgement" skill (I tended to use it more as an ally buff rather than for it's damage), and giving a quick defence when arrows and the sort came flying our way with "Shield of Absorbtion".

The staff allowed me a great deal of control, and i remember quite a few good moments in WvW i achieved through use of the staff.

First was using the staff's "Line of Warding" to help block a group of enemy players from coming out of a tunnel, allowing us to get into position to launch a full on assault on them.

The second was helping take a keep in WvW, we hadn't taken out the oil above the door yet so there wasnt much i could do without risking death, while everyone else was blasting the door i saw a group of enemy players trying to run past into the keep, so i ran up to their portal door and placed another line of warding infront of it.

Enemy players tried to run in, couldn't cause of the line, then proceeded to explode as the concentrated gaze of 30 or so allied players settled upon them. Thats one thing i love about GW2 combat, i mgiht not have been able to do damage to the door or wall defenders at that time, but i was able to stop a small group of enemy players running in to help attack from the walls.

I fealt quite awesome after that

Besides that i found myself running around helping take out large groups of players, and the odd seperated lone player, and then mostly reviving people who had been taken out, i found Sanctuary particularly awesome for that especially since it keeps enemies out and heals, it's perfect for helping cover while you and others try and revive people, or even in PvE when you and your allies are in a tough spot and need 10 seconds to heal and replan.

The thing i failed on most was the virtues, i didn't activate a single virtue during the entire weekend or stress test, and even now i don't know why, the burning could have helped taken the door and enemy players out faster, the regen could have kept the people around me alive, and the Aegis could have blocked some deadly attacks, yet i never thaught to use them once, this is something i intend to remedy this coming BWE, i think i was just so happy to finally be playing that i didn't actually try and think beyond what was on my skillbar, definitly gonna concentrate more next time.

Traits i didn't get to try (Again i earned them, about 7 i think, yet didn't actually put them in anything ) but i have done some theory crafting and would like to run some traits around ground targeted concentrations ( Targetable Sanctuary FTW!) and the Aegis buffs (Which i hope to try and test this next time to see if they work the way i think they do).

I loved the Utility "Retreat!" ( Needs to be renamed imo since no one'actually used it to retreat....) but was dissapointed to learn it only effects 5 people max, and even though it says it gives an Aegis aswell as Swiftness, i never saw anyone around me get an Aegis when i used it, i think it gave them protection instead, so not sure what was the bug there, the description or the effect.

I also bought healing breeze as another self heal and due to the fact i could heal people around me, but found it very lacking, when i needed to use it (Low health) i found myself trying to position myself so i could heal allies too, which meant i didn't use it in time most of the time and ended up being downed, and when i DID manage to use it, the people i was intending to heal moved away due to GW2's highly mobile combat, meaning it only healed me, so i ended up switching back to shelter due to it's 2 second block.

So that's how i played and intend to try and play my Guardian in the following events and release, even though i played a Warrior in GW1 i found i loved the "Support / damage" the Guardian allows me to provide with those two weapon sets, so i see myself providing a damage role when people need it, with buffs along the way, and then switching to support via the staff when we need it or i deem another way to control the battle in our favor.

TL;DR: I played as a mix of support / damage rather than all out damage or all out healing / boon'ing

[Alaris]

Great story Tsukasa.

I'll probably aim to be a hybrid damage/support as well, but in a way that I can be more support or more damage depending on my weapon swap rather than support+damage all the time. I have no clear idea on how I'll be doing that.

I liked the scepter as ranged weapon when I played, I was not fond of the staff's ranged attacks. Though line of warding seems pretty fun when used well.

I played PvE only with guardian, seems like WvW will be a very different experience!

[Tsukasa Kamiya]

Great story Tsukasa.

I'll probably aim to be a hybrid damage/support as well, but in a way that I can be more support or more damage depending on my weapon swap rather than support+damage all the time. I have no clear idea on how I'll be doing that.

I liked the scepter as ranged weapon when I played, I was not fond of the staff's ranged attacks. Though line of warding seems pretty fun when used well.

I played PvE only with guardian, seems like WvW will be a very different experience!

I found Damage / Support to be my ideal role in honesty.

Before the rumors about Tiered traits came along, i had theorycrafted a trait set that allowed me to make use of Aegis to a greater degree, but not only do i need to wait and see if thats even viable anymore, i also need to test the traits out and see if they work as i think they do.

The General gist though was buffing my Aegis to heal allies when its removed, and burn foes near the allys when it's removed, aswell as allowing me to heal allies by dodging and allow my Sanctuary to be ground targetable, so again focusing more on support than outright damage, but need to get to BWE2 to see how Traits are being done now and if those Aegis buff traits work like i think they do (I would like to think Aegis buffs would effect any Aegis i apply to others, but it could be something that effects just me, which is what i need to test).

The scepter didn't impress me really, i do love the chains of light and Smite but the spammable skill is just incredibly poor imo, the words "Slow Moving" should not exist in GW2's fast paced movement based combat imo, and apparenty it is something Arenanet are taking a look at according to the official forums, imo the scepter spam skill needs to be a projectlie that moves just like the other proffesions projectiles do.

It was embarrasing trying to attack the oil above the door or the keep defenders on the wall in WvW only to fire this little ball that slowly creeps across the floor before fizzeling out a few second later, buff it to something like the Guardian Trident spam skill and i'll be more inclined to use the scepter, especially if it has a healing or condition removal effect.

Staff i absolutely loved though, it's not perfect yet, but the line of warding was invaluable really in almost any encounter and i love the AOE nature of the spam skill, i wouldnt mind an increase in range to the Staff to make it slightly longer range but i'm happy with it as it is, never seemed to get any conditions whenever i used Martyr though o_o

But yeah Line of Warding is good fun to control your opponents, used it quite a few times to block enemys from getting to an ally that was trying to back away, wouldn't mind it lasting a little longer, but its usefull when used at the right time, which is really what GW2's combat is about.

The Guardian was really fun to WvW with, especially when you can assist people with protection and other boons, quite a few times i used the staffs Symbol of swiftness to speed up our groups as we ran from one keep to another ( Needs a longer duration though imo...), definitly reccomend trying it in WvW next time Alaris!

Just keep in mind that the actual Keep sieges are where we are kinda restricted, we don't (Atm) have any long range options, so we can't attack people on the walls or even attack the oil pots above the doors, so you kinda have to stand back and try and buff people while you wait for the others to take out the pot so you can melee the door without risk of being seriously damaged by the oil.

Taking out people inside the keep once your in and defending your team from players coming from behind while assaulting the keep itself is good though since we have alot of "Close the gap" and control skills and reasonable damage output.

And like i mentioned before being strategic with your skills can be even more beneficial in WvW, blocking the enemy reinforcements from their door with Line of Warding being the prime example, also gonna try and buy "Hold the line" next time since the swiftness from "Retreat" wasn't a great deal of use to people standing still assaulting a door and the "Aegis" in the description never actually appeared xD

But yeah definitly reccomend trying it in WvW, was a very fun experience for me, and i'm someone who usually hates PvP

- Tsukasa