Guardian - Burst Burning

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on January 26, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A PvP Guardian build designed for bursting with Template:Gw2skill while still doing some Power based damage.

Skill Bar

Sword/Focus

Scepter/Torch

Utility

Slot Changes

For the optional slot:

• Purging Flames - great AoE damage and cleansing. Take Master of Consecrations on Virtues.

• Smite Condition - on-demand cleansing and healing on short CD.

Template Code

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Equipment

Sword

Focus

Sigil

Sigil

Scepter

Torch

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Equipment Variants

Rune

• Rune of Balthazar - if you're willing to sacrifice a significant chunk of your mobility for better burst damage.

Sigils

• If you need more sustain, use Sigil of Energy and Sigil of Cleansing either on one set or both.

Usage

General

• Symbol of Blades lets you make shortcuts, for example teleporting up to midpoint on Battle of Khylo from outside of the building.

• Condition transfer (such as Putrid Mark or Arcane Thievery) can quickly turn the tides against you. Try to block line of sight after a burst to make them unable to transfer, or use Renewed Focus if it guarantees the kill.

• 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.

• Monk's Focus turns meditations (2 of your utilities + the elite and heal skill) into even better defensive tools. There's another meditation which can proc from your heal via the trait Smiter's Boon which also turns your heal into a minor source of cleansing.

• Ray of Judgment is a ranged skill with great damage over time. Swapping weapons while this skill is active will proc your sigils on the target on the next tick.

• Shield of Wrath 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.

Damage

• General playstyle: part of the reason why this build isn't rated higher is due to the fact that it's relatively easy to shut down, as the only frequently accessible condition in the build is Burning with not much else to cover it from removal. Then of course the sustain's also on the lower end of the spectrum, so as a result you'll be exploiting the build's true strength - burst damage. You'll want to burst targets down before they get a chance to even react.

• Most of the damage will come passively from Virtue of Justice. A couple of things to note:
  • Keep the active up as long as possible, use its active portion only as a final resort in case a Blind could save you.
  • Thanks to Permeating Wrath the passive of this skill is greatly enhanced, especially when targets ball up. Let's say 2 enemies are reviving a downed teammate. If you hit 3 targets with 1 sword slash, the passive will immediately be charged and 1 stack of AoE Burning will be inflicted on all of them. Throw in a Symbol of Punishment, Zealot's Flame passive, and a Cleansing Flame channel to top it off and this can quickly snowball into an entire team wipe for them in a matter of seconds.
  • Renewed Justice refreshes this skill upon killing an enemy, which means you should active it just before a downed target dies. Activating this virtue also blinds enemies around you, making it great for finishing off Guardians/Revenants/Warriors/Engineers/Rangers/Necromancers by blinding their downstate CC.

• Zealot's Flame - which can also trigger on crit from Radiant Fire - is one of the strongest skills in the build. Note that the skill doesn't share a CD with the trait proc nor does it stack duration. The passive ticks are powerful enough already, but the true burst damage comes from throwing it at your target (preferably in melee as it's very easy to miss with) - usually you should wait until only 1-2 seconds remain of the passive before throwing it for maximum efficiency.
  • If you want to do instant burst from range, start casting Zealot's Fire and teleport in with Judge's Intervention near the end of the channel.