Guardian - Core Spirit Burn Guard
The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good
Focused on: Condition damage
Designed for: PvP Conquest
Difficulty:
Easy
This build was last updated on May 29, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.
Overview
A PvP Core Condition Guardian build with a very versatile support DPS toolkit. Guardian is capable of high condition damage bursts while and also providing support for the team via defensive boons including 
Stability, 
Protection and 
Aegis plus the AoE cleansing.
Skill Bar
Sword/Focus
Scepter/Torch
Utility
Skill Variants
Weapons
- Mace over Sword - more forgiving and beginner friendly option with increased sustain but no mobility.
Template Code
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Specializations
Variants
- The damage from could easily overwhelm an entire enemy team if they ball up (for example if they are rezing their downed teammate) as its AoE damage scales with the number of targets. Taking this trait however leaves you without a stunbreak, which could force you to drop to pick up something like or . If you're cutting out PF then you should also take for the first slot of Virtues.
Equipment
Scepter
Torch
Sigil
Sigil
Sword
Focus
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet
Relic
Equipment Variants
Sigils
- over Doom - better defense against incoming conditions at the expense of damage and condi variety.
Usage
General
- Your role is to rotate where the teamfight is and keep doing heavy AoE damage.
- This PvP build lacks toughness, so it may seem pretty squishy at first. Good situational awareness and proper use of CDs distinguish a good Condi Guardian from a dead one.
- (F1) does most of the damage. You want to keep the passive effect most of the time and only use the active when you know your opponent can't cleanse it or when you need a quick burst to secure a kill.
- When you kill an opponent recharges your F1 back, so always use this skill when an enemy is about to be finished off (preferably in range of your temmates because the active can be shared with allies).
- Using the F1 too early is a bit risky because then you're going to do next to no damage until it recharges.
- can be used both offensively and defensively, it's one of your strongest skills. When used at the right moment, you can protect your team or yourself by destroying projectiles and mitigating strike damage through
Weakness. The Weakness could also act as a cover condition for bursts.
- is not easy to place well, it might take some practice. Try placing it in a way that it either covers most of the capture point, hits multiple targets, or forces others to dodge through it at a chokepoint. When you're being focused try casting it under your feet so that enemies who attack you like Thieves have to either facetank your damage or disengage.
- is by far your strongest ability, and you have to be especially careful with where you place it. You can use it to rid your team of conditions, pressure multiple opponents or cleave downed enemies.
Ratings
Burn guard always does well in lower tiers but fizzles out as it climbs higher. The damage is great in certain situations where you can make your enemy actually tank it (like dropping spirit weapons on downed enemies who are being revived), but once you get to a rating where people aren't glued to capture points it's hard to get value out of this build because you don't have the mobility to chase after them and they won't be standing in your symbols and other AoEs, which is where most of the damage comes from. It's somewhat versatile at least, so that's a positive, it can share valuable boons including Stability with the team while also having multiple condition removals for allies. Works best when it can stay on the sidelines doing damage, but kind of crumbles fast when focused by multiple enemies as it doesn't have the mobility to kit, healing is really low and its defensive CDs are very limited. Shield of the Avenger however is really underrated, the high uptime of projectile hate and Weakness are probably the best things about the build. Perfectly viable option for F2P players but otherwise I wouldn't really recommend it unless you really enjoy the playstyle.
This build can be quite convincing in some situations, but is not suitable for all match-ups, especially as you are relatively vulnerable to builds with heavy cc and/or mobility, which is often the case in the current meta.
However, the build offers good consistent damage from burning, ideally if you can place damage with your fields some distance away as there are not projectiles. In addition to this, the build has very high projectile block capacities.
The build is actually fun to play. You can do good damage, especially if your team is already functioning well on the node, but is outmatched vs good opponents whenever they get what you are playing. In 1vs1/2 situations, success is very dependent on the opponent.
Comments
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