Guardian - Power DPS
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Contents
Overview
- Variant of Dragonhunter - Power DPS. On boss fights where damage is easy to avoid, this build is capable of much higher DPS than its Dragonhunter counterpart thanks to . It is also the best dungeon and fractal build for players without access to Heart of Thorns.
- The build is heavily reliant on both
Aegis and 
Retaliation for DPS, so ensure as much uptime on these boons as possible.
Skill Bar
Weapon Variants
- Sword provides better cleave damage than Scepter, and is better against moving targets.
Skill Variants
Healing Skill
- can be used to help nullify niche mechanics, such as Slothasor's shake attack.
Utilities
- is mandatory if you are the only base Guardian in your subgroup. If you have another Guardian and can share your casts, you can trade it for more utility.
- can be used for a slight DPS increase (approximately 300-400).
- provides more Retaliation as well as a stun break and
Stability. - can be used for more Retaliation and Stability.
- provides additional CC if needed.
- or if projectile defense is needed.
Specializations
Variants
- provides a damage buff for your subgroup whenever you cast . This is technically the highest DPS trait on most fights, but requires good team coordination to make full use of it. If running this, take instead of and instead of on your greatsword.
Equipment
6x
Superior Rune of the Scholar
18x
Mighty Infusion
Variants
- If running this build overcaps crit chance with fury, retaliation, , , etc. If you are confident in the uptime of these buffs, you can run more Valkyrie gear for extra survivability.
- If running , take instead of and instead of on your greatsword.
- Swap for slaying sigils where applicable in fractals
Consumables
Food
Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup
Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash SoupNourishment (1 h):
+100 Power+70 Ferocity+10% Experience from KillsConsumable
Utility
Potent Superior Sharpening Stone
Potent Superior Sharpening StoneNourishment (1 h):
Gain power equal to 3% of your precisionGain power equal to 6% of your ferocity+10 Experience from killsConsumable
Usage
Opening Rotation
Start in Greatsword.
- , cancel the aftercast with movement or weapon stow.
Weapon swap- Autoattack until is available
- Weapon swap
Loop Rotation
- , cancel the aftercast with movement or weapon stow.
Strike½
StrikeStrike your foe.
Damage: 296
Number of Targets: 3
Range: 130
Vengeful Strike½Vengeful StrikeStrike your foe again.Damage: 296Number of Targets: 3Range: 130 x2
Wrathful Strike½Wrathful StrikeAttack with a final, powerful strike that applies might for each foe you strike.Damage: 443
Might (5s): +30 Power, +30 Condition DamageNumber of Targets: 3Range: 130- Strike½StrikeStrike your foe.Damage: 296Number of Targets: 3Range: 130 Vengeful Strike½Vengeful StrikeStrike your foe again.Damage: 296Number of Targets: 3Range: 130 x3 Wrathful Strike½Wrathful StrikeAttack with a final, powerful strike that applies might for each foe you strike.Damage: 443Might (5s): +30 Power, +30 Condition DamageNumber of Targets: 3Range: 130
- , cancel the aftercast with movement or weapon stow.
- Weapon swap
- , chain-cast this after each scepter symbol.
- Autoattack until is available
- Autoattack until is available
- Weapon swap and repeat
- The rotation in this video features an extra greatsword auto attack after the Leap of Faith + Binding Blade combo, but it requires very precise timing and aftercast cancelling to pull off successfully. While learning, you can omit this attack.
Notes
- Never interrupt your greatsword autoattack chain.
- Pay very close attention to where you stand, and watch your buff bar to ensure that you have Aegis. Whenever you lose aegis, refresh it by casting either or .
- can be cancelled by walking or stowing your weapon. This dramatically speeds up the aftercast of the skill.
- Retaliation should be maintained by your chronomancers as long as they stand in your , but if you notice it is running low you can use your heal skill or your virtues to increase your retaliation uptime.
- Use with to mitigate interrupted auto attacks. Make sure to never have full charges of this skill, but otherwise it is fine to hold off on casting it for long periods of time.
- Use if your group is struggling to maintain
Quickness. - If there are additional targets nearby, you can stand inside of the boss as you cast to deal additional damage. Any of the full auto attack chains in greatsword can be replaced with GS5 + GS3, but you should avoid replacing the first two unless there are additional targets.
Breakbar
- is your strongest hard CC, but it should only be used in emergencies since it's a considerable DPS loss (unless you are running the Perfect Inscriptions trait).
- You can replace with for an additional 200 breakbar damage.
Binding Blade¾25
Binding BladeThrow blades at your foes, causing damage over time. Bound foes can be pulled to you. The effect ends when a foe moves out of range.Damage: 369Number of Targets: 5
Maximum Blade Duration: 10 seconds
Maximum Leash Range: 600
Combo Finisher: Whirl
pulls your target for 150 breakbar damage.
Pull¾PullPull your foes to you.Leash Range: 600Range: 600
Encounter-Specific Tips
The difficulty ratings attached to each fight are not meant to represent the difficulty of each individual boss, but rather the difficulty of playing this build on said boss.
See Dragonhunter - Power DPS for general Guardian/Dragonhunter tips.
Spirit Vale
Don't play this build on Sabetha.
Vale Guardian
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
- This fight can be moderately difficult to maintain aegis on, as the teleport AoEs will strip aegis when they're spawned on you or when they expire. With enough practice, you can get a feel for when they're going to spawn and ensure that you're a fair distance away.
- Avoid the seekers at all costs, their aura strips your aegis.
- can be used if you know your group is going to miss a green. This should full-heal you in <1s.
Ghost Events
- Suck it up and swap back to Dragonhunter. Abuse the adrenal mushrooms to cast your traps and pulls more frequently.
- Sword may be a fair replacement to scepter for more mobility.
Gorseval the Multifarious
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
- Open the fight with so your group has aegis for the first slam. You do not have to dodge this slam, as you can immediately reapply aegis with .
- Try to always position yourself behind Gorseval.
- The Retaliation from Gorseval is incredibly dangerous. We can ignore it for 6 seconds via , allowing us to continue our rotation during the CC phase.
Salvation Pass
Don't play this build on Bandit Trio or Matthias.
Slothasor
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
- You can use to pull slublings to the group.
- can be used to block the shake attack.
- The fear is blockable, and as such it will strip your aegis. Be prepared to reapply it immediately.
Stronghold of the Faithful
Don't play this build on Escort or Xera.
Keep Construct
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
- This fight can be tricky to maintain aegis on due to the statue adds.
- Keep Construct's auto attack chain has 3 parts. The first and third hits are in front of him, but the second is behind. Keep this in mind so you can sidestep each melee attack.
- The spawn locations of the statue adds count as additional targets for . You can abuse this for some absolutely massive hits.
- Do not be afraid to cast all of your CC during the breakbar (including signet). You will have it all up again by the time Keep Construct is vulnerable.
- The burn phase can be the most frustrating part of this fight, as there is often an add just outside of cleave range hitting you and stripping your aegis. You may have to tiptoe in and out of the boss and pay very close attention to your aegis buff here.
Bastion of the Penitent
Cairn the Indomitable
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
- The most difficult part of this fight comes from your allies. Another player being ported can cause Cairn to turn around and hit you, despite your best efforts to stay behind him.
- Avoid the teleport circles.
Mursaat Overseer
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
- The hot floor tiles and the statue auras will remove your aegis. Keep this in mind when reapplying it, as you don't want to just immediately lose it again.
- Otherwise, this fight is the closest thing we have to a DPS golem in raids next to Cairn.
Samarog
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
- Bring for this fight. So long as you stay behind Samarog (and out of the spear aoes), you should never lose aegis.
- While you're at it, run here as well. Your team will be thankful when you contribute 500-650 breakbar damage each time.
- Try to stay behind Guldheim during the add phase.
Deimos
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
- Dodge every circular flail swipe.
- Be ready to reapply aegis after the mind crush attack.
- Hands/Oils count as additional targets for .
Hall of Chains
Don't play this build on River of Souls.
Soulless Horror
Difficulty: ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
- Every third attack is the PBAoE that you have to dodge.
- Wurms strip your aegis.
- Nearly everything strips your aegis.
- This build is borderline unplayable here, but it's a great way to challenge yourself.
Statues of Grenth
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
- Aside from the base difficulty of these encounters, you shouldn't have too many issues maintaining aegis.
Voice in the Void
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
- This build is pretty easy to play on Dhuum, so long as you understand the fight mechanics beforehand.
- Try to save your to cleanse your allies immediately after the soul-split attack.
Dragonhunter is a pretty good DPS class, and this is basically a strictly better Dragonhunter on raid bosses where you can keep up aegis. For F2P dungeon/fractal players, it's also fairly strong in its own right and one of the best builds that doesn't require expansions.