Guardian - Power DPS

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The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great.

Focused on: Direct damage, Utility.

Designed for:

Fractals

 

Raid

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 Unscathed Contender. 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

GreatswordHealingUtilityElite

Scepter/Focus

Weapon Variants

• Sword provides better cleave damage than Scepter, and is better against moving targets.

Skill Variants

Healing Skill

• Shelter can be used to help nullify niche mechanics, such as Slothasor's shake attack.

Utilities

• "Retreat!" is mandatory if you are the only base Guardian in your subgroup. If you have another Guardian and can share your Virtue of Courage casts, you can trade it for more utility.
• Smite Condition can be used for a slight DPS increase (approximately 300-400).
• "Stand Your Ground!" provides more Retaliation as well as a stun break and Stability.
• Hallowed Ground can be used for more Retaliation and Stability.
• Hammer of Wisdom provides additional CC if needed.
• Wall of Reflection or Shield of the Avenger if projectile defense is needed.

Specializations

Variants

• Perfect Inscriptions provides a damage buff for your subgroup whenever you cast Bane Signet. 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 Right-Hand Strength instead of Healer's Retribution and
  instead of
  on your greatsword.

Equipment

6x

Superior Rune of the Scholar

18x

Mighty Infusion

Variants

• If running 24px Righteous Instincts this build overcaps crit chance with fury, retaliation, Spotter, Banner of Discipline, etc. If you are confident in the uptime of these buffs, you can run more Valkyrie gear for extra survivability.
• If running Perfect Inscriptions, take Right-Hand Strength instead of Healer's Retribution 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 Soup

  Nourishment (1 h):

  +100 Power+70 Ferocity+10% Experience from Kills

  Consumable

Utility

• Potent Superior Sharpening Stone

  Potent Superior Sharpening Stone

  Nourishment (1 h):

  Gain power equal to 3% of your precisionGain power equal to 6% of your ferocity+10 Experience from kills

  Consumable

Usage

Opening Rotation

Start in Greatsword.

1. Sword of Justice
2. Symbol of Wrath, cancel the aftercast with movement or weapon stow.
3. Smite Condition
4. Whirling Wrath
5. Weapon swap
6. Symbol of Punishment
7. Shield of Wrath
8. Sword of Justice
9. Ray of Judgment
10. Symbol of Punishment
11. Sword of Justice
12. Autoattack until Symbol of Punishment is available
13. Symbol of Punishment
14. Weapon swap

Loop Rotation

1. Symbol of Wrath, cancel the aftercast with movement or weapon stow.
2. Whirling Wrath
3. Strike

   ½

   Strike

   Strike your foe.

   Damage: 296

   Number of Targets: 3

   Range: 130
     
   Vengeful Strike

   ½

   Vengeful Strike

   Strike your foe again.

   Damage: 296

   Number of Targets: 3

   Range: 130
     
   Wrathful Strike

   ½

   Wrathful Strike

   Attack with a final, powerful strike that applies might for each foe you strike.

   Damage: 443

   Might (5s): +30 Power, +30 Condition Damage

   Number of Targets: 3

   Range: 130
   x2
4. Leap of Faith
5. Binding Blade
6. Whirling Wrath
7. Strike

   ½

   Strike

   Strike your foe.

   Damage: 296

   Number of Targets: 3

   Range: 130
     
   Vengeful Strike

   ½

   Vengeful Strike

   Strike your foe again.

   Damage: 296

   Number of Targets: 3

   Range: 130
     
   Wrathful Strike

   ½

   Wrathful Strike

   Attack with a final, powerful strike that applies might for each foe you strike.

   Damage: 443

   Might (5s): +30 Power, +30 Condition Damage

   Number of Targets: 3

   Range: 130
   x3
8. Symbol of Wrath, cancel the aftercast with movement or weapon stow.
9. Whirling Wrath
10. Weapon swap
11. Symbol of Punishment
12. Shield of Wrath
13. Ray of Judgment
14. Sword of Justice, chain-cast this after each scepter symbol.
15. Autoattack until Symbol of Punishment is available
16. Symbol of Punishment
17. Autoattack until Symbol of Punishment is available
18. Symbol of Punishment
19. Weapon swap and repeat

Video example

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 "Retreat!" or Virtue of Courage.
• Symbol of Wrath 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 Symbol of Wrath, but if you notice it is running low you can use your heal skill Litany of Wrath or your virtues to increase your retaliation uptime.
• Use Sword of Justice with Symbol of Punishment 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 "Feel My Wrath!" if your group is struggling to maintain Quickness.
• If there are additional targets nearby, you can stand inside of the boss as you cast Binding Blade 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

• Bane Signet 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 "Retreat!" with Hammer of Wisdom for an additional 200 breakbar damage.
• Binding Blade

  ¾

  25

  Binding Blade

  Throw 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: 369

  Number of Targets: 5

  Maximum Blade Duration: 10 seconds

  Maximum Leash Range: 600

  Combo Finisher: Whirl
    
  Pull

  ¾

  Pull

  Pull your foes to you.

  Leash Range: 600

  Range: 600
  pulls your target for 150 breakbar damage.

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.
• Litany of Wrath 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 "Retreat!" so your group has aegis for the first slam. You do not have to dodge this slam, as you can immediately reapply aegis with Virtue of Courage.
• Try to always position yourself behind Gorseval.
• The Retaliation from Gorseval is incredibly dangerous. We can ignore it for 6 seconds via Litany of Wrath, 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 Binding Blade to pull slublings to the group.
• Shelter 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 Binding Blade. 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 Hammer of Wisdom 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 Perfect Inscriptions 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 Binding Blade.

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 Virtue of Resolve to cleanse your allies immediately after the soul-split attack.