Build:Guardian - Radiant Greatsword Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on October 24, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A core Power Guardian build for WvW roaming, also usable by F2P players. Radiant Greatsword is all about pulling off massive bursts and downing enemies before your defensive cooldowns run out.

Skill Bar

Greatsword

Sword/Focus

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• Resolute Subconscious can be considered if you're having trouble utilizing Unscathed Contender and want to squeeze out a bit more sustain or Resolution from the build.

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Cavalier

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Cavalier

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Greatsword
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Marauder

Focus
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Note: if you're F2P then Marauder stats won't show up as an option on stat-selectible gear, but you can still buy Exotic Marauder gear from the Trading Post. For armor pieces simply search for "Marauder", you'll find the trinkets under the name of "Ebony Orichalcum" Ring and Earring.

Runes

Rune of Surging isn't available for F2P players, in that case something else will have to suffice:

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Traveler - retains the passive mobility boost from Surging but the stats are worse.

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Brawler - tanky option that still retains quite a lot of Power but the lack of movement speed boost makes the build sluggish.

Consumables

Food

• - strong mix of sustain and damage.

• - cheaper defensive option.

• - active damage mitigation via more access to dodging.
  • is a cheaper version of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew and sufficient enough in most cases.

• - non-ascended offensive option.

Utility

• or

Usage

General

• Radiant Power adds 10% crit chance against burning foes, Fury adds the usual 20% and Resolution will further increase it by 25% thanks to Righteous Instincts. Always try to maintain Resolution, but don't spam all the sources at once otherwise boon removal can be too punishing.

• When roaming with a group, try to aid allies with Virtue of Courage as traited with Indomitable Courage it can break stun and apply stability among other things.

• Virtue of Justice is refreshed after each kill so make sure you always have it on cooldown right before a kill. Using it also applies AoE Blind which can be useful for stomping or making high priority skills miss.

• Try to burn through all of your virtues before resorting to Renewed Focus. RF is a great skill to use if you're being focues by the enemy team and you don't have any CDs left. Just keep in mind that this skill makes you lose capture point contribution for its duration.
  • Your virtues that aren't on CD can be (and should be) activated while channeling this elite.
  • Don't blow Virtue of Resolve until the last moment of the channel. Let it heal you as much as possible.

• Every utility skill is a meditation, therefore can be used both defensively and offensively thanks to the Fury and healing from Monk's Focus.

Sword/Focus

• This is the defensive set of the build, but still has some hard hitting skills.

• The main source of burst damage here comes from Zealot's Defense. Note that the projectiles can be very unreliable in anything but melee range.

• Symbol of Blades has many uses: vertical mobility via teleportation, symbol for cleaving, Blind to make an important skill miss, or a combo field which can be used for AoE cleansing by executing a blast finisher in it.

• Ray of Judgment is a ranged skill with great damage over time.

• Shield of Wrath is both an excellent defensive and offensive skill (more about that below). As far as defense goes, this can be used to block important attacks even while stunned. Always try to use it in a symbol (a Light field) for AoE condition cleansing.

Greatsword

• Whirling Wrath is the main burst skill in the build, make sure it lands - do an unexpected ranged burst with Judge's Intervention, or use it after pulling targets in with Binding Blade.
• If you're swapping to GS in melee range of your opponent, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Hydromancy makes it harder for them to build distance while Sigil of Superior Sigil of Rage makes it easier to land your burst. Hydromancy also does great damage on its own.

• When in combat, always try to combo Leap of Faith in a Light field such as Symbol of Wrath for Light Aura. Few things to note when using this for mobility:
  • If you're OOC (out of combat), swap weapons just before the leap finishes in order to cancel the final part of the skill which would otherwise bring you to a halt.
  • In combat this can be used for jumping away from the fight to avoid damage. To do that simply just detarget (click anywhere on your screen that's not an enemy player) before using the skill, and make sure that auto-targetting is disabled.

• Binding Blade is useful even when the target has Stability and thus cannot be pulled. The damage over time part of this skill is decent, and you could time it in a way that the target's stability runs out before binding blade does, allowing you to pull them in later. Note: the skill itself can be dodged, but once the blades are attached, you can pull targets out of any kind of evade frame! Last but not least, the blades seek out enemies even if they are Stealthed.

Main burst combo (preferably executed from a safe distance):

1. If possible, have an active Aegis to gain the damage bonus fromUnscathed Contender.
2. Shield of Wrath should be activated before the combo. Try not to get hit because you'll need it to explode for damage. Wait until only ~1 second remains of its duration then quickly proceed with the rest of the combo.
3. Weapon Swap (in combat this also triggers your sigils).
4. Whirling Wrath - start casting it from range.
5. Judge's Intervention to teleport to the target right before WW starts doing damage.
6. Virtue of Justice the moment you get into melee range in order to gain Resolution from Virtue of Resolution.
7. Optional: Smite Condition to get rid of conditions like Weakness or just to squeeze in a tiny bit of extra damage.

Related Builds

• Radiant GS (sPvP) - Conquest PvP version of the build.