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Guardian - Core Condition

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Open World, Open World General and Open World Core

Difficulty:
Easy
This build was last updated on August 21, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A basic core guardian build focused on condition damage. This build has good damage at range and strong defensive capabilities.

As this is a core build, it has options available to free-to-play players as well.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Torch
Sword
Utility

Weapon Variants

  • Greatsword - very high burst if using power-heavy variants
  • Staff - long-ranged option that is good for meta farming.

Skill Variants

  • Hammer of Wisdom - cc
  • Wall of Reflection - projectile hate
  • Judge's Intervention - teleport and damage
  • Hallowed Ground - long-duration stability
  • Sanctuary - high CC against champions and projectile hate
  • Renewed Focus - strong defensive tool


Template Code

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Specializations

Equipment

Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats.

Viper DPS Equipment

This variant uses equipment similar to existing Condi DPS Firebrand raid builds, making it an easy gearing option for general PVE.

Head
Viper
Shoulders
Viper
Chest
Viper
Hands
Viper
Legs
Viper
Feet
Viper
Backpiece
Viper
Accessory
Viper
Accessory
Viper
Amulet
Viper
Ring
Viper
Ring
Viper
Axe
Viper
Torch
Viper
Sigil
Sigil
Scepter
Viper
x
Viper
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6


Ritualist Generalist Equipment

Ritualist is a very strong set for this build that is used in some variants of Build:Firebrand_-_Condi_Firebrand and provides a smooth transition into instanced content while still being very strong for general open world.

Head
Viper
Shoulders
Viper
Chest
Viper
Hands
Viper
Legs
Viper
Feet
Viper
Backpiece
Viper
Accessory
Viper
Accessory
Viper
Amulet
Viper
Ring
Viper
Ring
Viper
Axe
Viper
Torch
Viper
Sigil
Sigil
Axe
Viper
Torch
Viper
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6


Trailblazer Bruiser Firebrand

This bruiser build features extremely high passive defense while sacrificing practically no damage. Its primary tradeoffs are a lack of flexibility, a lack of burst damage, and that the build is restricted for use in solo play only; it will not be good in large group or instanced activities. This set relies on the insane synergy between Trailblazer Trailblazer, Rune of Superior Rune of the Undead, , and . Along with a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Smoldering, this build caps out at 100% Burning Burning duration with extremely high condition damage.

Head
Trailblazer
Shoulders
Trailblazer
Chest
Trailblazer
Hands
Trailblazer
Legs
Trailblazer
Feet
Trailblazer
Backpiece
Trailblazer
Accessory
Trailblazer
Accessory
Trailblazer
Amulet
Trailblazer
Ring
Trailblazer
Ring
Trailblazer
Axe
Trailblazer
Torch
Trailblazer
Sigil
Sigil
Scepter
Trailblazer
Sigil
Rune
x6


  • This set also works with Dire Dire gear, combine with Rune of Superior Rune of Balthazar.

Free To Play Equipment

The following equipment is available to Free To Play players. It is not quite as powerful as the variants above, but holds its own even in instanced content.

Head
Carrion
Shoulders
Carrion
Chest
Carrion
Hands
Carrion
Legs
Carrion
Feet
Carrion
Backpiece
Carrion
Accessory
Carrion
Accessory
Carrion
Amulet
Carrion
Ring
Carrion
Ring
Carrion
Scepter
Carrion
Torch
Carrion
Sigil
Sigil
Sword
Carrion
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6



Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

  • Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
  • /
  • /

Defense

Farming

  • Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
  • /
  • (and variants)



Usage

Damage

Swap between Greatsword and Scepter/Torch for damage. You should open most fights on Greatsword if you can and once its cooldowns are spent, swap to scepter/torch for better sustained damage.

Scepter Priority:

  1. Purging Flames
  2. Symbol of Punishment
  3. Sword of Justice (or other spirit weapon)
  4. Zealot's Flame
  5. Cleansing Flame
  6. Chains of Light

Greatsword Priority:

  1. Purging Flames
  2. Symbol of Wrath
  3. Whirling Wrath
  4. Sword of Justice
  5. Leap of Faith
  6. Fill with auto-attacks

Sword Priority:

  1. Purging Flames
  2. Zealot's Flame
  3. Sword of Justice
  4. Zealot's Defense
  5. Symbol of Blades

Your Virtue of Justice passive will also make up a significant amount of your damage through Burning Burning. Use "Feel My Wrath!" off cooldown for Fury and Quickness uptime.

If you are about to kill a mob, activate Virtue of Justice for a large DPS increase, so long as you have Radiance traited.


Defense

  • Litany of Wrath is a massive heal.
  • Virtue of Courage / "Retreat!" provide an on-demand block
  • Shield of Wrath (focus) is a series of blocks
  • Virtue of Justice is an area blind but will reduce your DPS drastically if you don't quickly reset it.
  • Virtue of Resolve removes conditions and provides a small amount of healing.


Video Examples

Cele Guard vs Champion Mark I Golem

Retrieved from "https://metabattle.com/wiki/index.php?title=Build:Guardian_-_Core_Condition&oldid=12837"


Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 2 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
5 stars
Onlywrin gave this build 5 stars • August 2021
When it comes to Core builds this is unquestionably the strongest option. It's cheap to gear and outputs very high DPS for a core build. It's also quite versatile.
5 stars
Jack Armstrong gave this build 5 stars • February 2021
Loving this build--finally my Guardian is what I always wanted it to be but it never quite was. Guardian was the first profession I tried, and I've really wanted to like it, but it always ended up being too squishy for me--sure, it has a lot of defensive tricks, but if you don't play it perfectly, you're dead. No more. Though a Condi build, this one plays just like the Power builds, even using the same weapons. I often like to switch to the Zealous Blade trait and run Greatsword / Sword / Torch. Even in full Dire gear (which I can recommend), the initial burst is surprisingly close to that of the glass cannon Power builds, but now there's a strong follow-up burst of burning damage, and with 23k health 3k armor, it ain't no glass cannon. It's super cool that it's also a core build with cheap gear, runes, and sigils in the Trading Post. You can swap the Virtues trait line for Dragonhunter 3-1-1 (or whatever traits you prefer) for a decent Condi DH. You lose the damage boost and cleave of the Permeating Wrath trait, but gain some of it back with fixed traits Defender's Dogma and Pure of Sight, in addition to modified Virtues and access to traps and a trait that boosts run speed. Because of the speed boost, I often do this for farming, some dailies, etc. Switching Virtues to Firebrand 2-2-3 gives you essentially the Solo Firebrand build, though with different gear and utility skills. Seems like it could be fun to play around with variat

Comments

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