Guardian WvW | Large Group Hammer, Staff | Assaulter WvW AH-Guardian - Video Guide included!
Table of Contents
Summary
Hi! This is a complete guide for a tanky Altruistic Healing Guardian. It's most suitable for WvW group play and zerg fights It shines the more allies you have around you.
I will provide in depth description of: gear choice and where to get it, tips n tricks on weapon and utility skills and a trait walk-through. Footage from WvW-battles will also be included.
If you don't fancy reading these huge wall of texts there's also a FULL VIDEO GUIDE that covers everything in detail.
Some abbreviations will be used in the guide but I'll try keeping it to a minimum.
AoE = Area of Effect
AH = Altruistic Healing
CD = Cooldown
Condi = Condition
If you want in-depth knowledge bout a trait or ability try clicking it. Links to the GW2 Wiki on most of them. Try clicking the abbreviations above! Enjoy the guide!
About me: "I'm a 32y nerd from Sweden. Proud member of the Swedish multi gaming community Friskyttarna.eu. Played MMO's non-stop for about 13y, started out with Everquest I. The games I played most are SWG, Planetside 1, WoW and SWTOR besides GW2. I don't like single-player games hehe. Yes I played WoW - was priest healer in Nihilum and got some world first in vanilla/tbc.
Played GW2 since the first beta event and got all professions to level 80. If you need to get in contact with me in-game my ID is Zkarlet.2478
Shout out to everyone in my guild Friskyttarna.eu and especially Ulmir that has given me a lot of pointers on the build."
I. Weapons and Skills
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- Hammer Bash½Bash your foe.Damage: 333Range: 130
- Symbol of Protection1¼Symbol. Create a symbol that gives protection to you and your allies.Damage: 370Damage (4x): 740x3Protection: 1 sCombo Field: LightRange: 180
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Weapon and Skill Details
Virtues
F1 - Virtue of Justice
Will also AoE blind due to 5 in radiance "Justice is Blind" and grant might, 5 in virtues "Inspired Virtue". Pop it right after engaging. Make sure you got enemies/allies near you though. May also be used for countering/blind interrupts when stomping.
F2 - Virtue of Resolve
The regen stacks with other classes regen like Elementalist in water attunement. Also stacks with normal regen boon. Don't activate unless you or nearby allies really need the extra heal. Will also grant normal regen on activation due to 5 in virtues "Inspired Virtue".
F3 - Virute of Courage
The active ability is far superior to the passive. Activate on engage to give aegis and protection for you and your allies. Remember aegis can be used for stomping if you time it well. Aegis/block also grant you might due to synergy with 25 in valor "Might of the Protector".
Hammer
1 - Hammer Swing > Hammer Bash > Symbol of Protection
Don't stop swinging! You wan't that symbol on the third hit. Do 2 skill in the symbol for a combo finisher that grants AoE retaliation. Great synergy with AH and remember radius of symbols was recently buffed.
2 - Might Blow
Good damage and low CD blast finisher. Very useful for boon stacking. Use on CD when in battle especially if combo field under you and there almost always is if in big fight.
3 - Zealot's Embrace
A piercing immobilize with 1200 range. Hits first 5 people. Good to combo 3 + 5 skill. Can also be a life safer if you need to bail - turn around quick and aim it. You don't need a target.
4 - Banish
The only interrupt you got. Use for interrupting stomps and knocking people off cliffs. No that great in zergs. Remember to check if target got stability up.
5 - Ring of Warding
Very useful on engage for making your enemies pop their stability early. Use wisely in choke points if you need to cut people of. Even if the tool tip ain't saying it also acts like a combo field light. Use 5 + 2 skill for AoE retaliation!
Staff
1 - Wave of Wrath
Your bread and butter skill for tagging players and cleaning up the battlefield. If you take into account it's AoE and hits very wide it's not to bad dps. Useful in those skillag encounters in Stonemist Castle. Remember you can use it through gates.
2 - Orb of Light > Flash of Light
This skill is one of your few ranged attack. Abuse the low CD for to help dps on oils/cannons. The Orb can also be aimed like in a FPS game if you don't have a target and then popped for a nice heal. Double tap it for a nice AoE heal around you.
3 - Symbol of Swiftness
Almost permanent swiftness with our high boon duration. Great synergies with AH as every tick (5) of swiftness you and your allies get will heal you so use also in the middle of combat. Remember to toss it on oils/cannons, the symbol itself does a bit of damage. Combo hammer 2 for retaliation.
4 - Empower
Probably the strongest skill in your arsenal and also our biggest heal. Each time it ticks (3) it will heal you due to AH. Also a final heal that scales great with healing power. As it's such a useful skill try not to get interrupted, good for using when you got stability. Tip: If you have a mesmer around tell them when you buff so they can double the stacks with Signet of inspiration.
5 - Line of Warding
Similar characteristics as hammer 5 Ring of Warding. Also a combo field even if tool tip doesn't say. Can be dropped while moving and also behind you. Great for cutting of players in choke-points. Use on engage or cutting of people trying to revive.
Heal
Shelter - The healing amount isn't massive but the block will save your life countless of times - trust me. It acts more like a life saver ability as most of your healing will come trough AH. You also get might each time you block with 25 in valour "Might of the Protector". That might gained on block procs will heal you through AH!
Utility 1
Signet of Judgment - There are som alternatives but I find myself using SoJ most frequently. The -10% dmg is upright amazing, especially when frontlining/commanding. It's often underestimated but what if I tell you it equals ~700 thoughness.
Utility 2
Hold the Line! - Protection is a very strong boon. Low CD and AoE makes this great for both condition clearing and healing with AH.
Utility 3
Stand Your Ground! - Probably our best utility. The skill will affect five persons (group priority nowdays) and grant them stability which is super important in WvW. The stun break is only for you though.
Options
You can try swapping out "Signet of Judgment" depending on your playstyle and situation. The other strong contestants are: "Purging Flames", "Sanctuary" and "Save yourselves!". I would never ever drop "Stand Your Ground!". I don't recommend running with less than two shouts because to great synergy with boon duration, condition clearing and healing due to AH.
II. Traits
Zeal
Radiance
Valor
Honor
Trait Details
Zeal
Nothing useful for us in this trait line. Lets move on...
Radiance
5 - Justice is Blind
Blinds got buffed some patches ago and don't go away until the enemy actually hits you. Before you could just take a swing and the blind was gone. It offers great mitigation and can also be used to counter interrupts when stomping. Can be switched for 5 in virtues "Vengeful" when tagging enemies in zergs.
Valor
5 - Valorous Defence
A nice litte bonus when you're about to go low. Blocking through aegis will also give us might. Internal CD is 90 sec.
10 - Strength in Numbers
Also recently buffed from 70 toughness to 150. The buff will trigger once you engage in combat and won't add to your toughness in your Hero Panel until then. Synergy with 20 in valor "Retributive Armor" and 5 in honor "Vigorous Precision".
15 - Courageous Return
Not a gamebreaker but keep an extra eye on that F3 cause it should be on CD if you're about to die.
20 - Retributive Armor
This will double up your critical chance (without fury). Got nice synergy with 5 in honor "Vigorous Precision". Vigor equals evades and healing through dodges. I recommend taking this over "Purity". If you feel you need a tiny bit more condi clearing go for "Purity" but it's really random and might trigger when there's no condi on you or clearing that 1 sec of bleed.
25 - Might of the Protector
A great passive that together with aegis and your block heal "Shelter" will grant a lot of might.
30 - Altruistic Healing
The cornerstone of the whole build. This is what makes you that colossus soaking all that damage in the front-line, not your toughness or vitality. Every time a boon goes out from you and buffs you or your allies you will receive a heal. It's in the numbers of 85 per boon but it adds up really fast. Skills that channel boons tend to work the best, like symbols and especially "Empower" on your staff.
Take a minute to read the Wiki about AH HERE!
Honor
5 - Vigorous Precision
With a bit of crit chance and the low CD, vigor will be on you all the time. Vigor is great as dodging is really important for us. Dodge equals evades and 1k AoE heal.
10 - Superior Aria
Running with 2-3 shouts makes this very strong. Great synergy all over the place with booning, AH and 30 in honor "Pure of Voice".
15 - Selfless Daring
Very strong minor trait, even stronger for a full cleric build as it scales 1.0 with healing power. Don't waste dodges, by now we clearly see how important they are. Will heal about 1k AoE on each dodge with our setup.
20 - Empowering Might
Works hand-in-hand with AH and with your massive boon duration your party will have alot of might. Very useful when there's is skill lag because you still get the healing from the might proccing.
25 - Elusive Power
Will grant us 10% extra direct damage when our endurance meter isn't full. Don't evaluate to much as you want to put the focus for dodging more towards evades and heals.
30 - Pure of Voice
Our main condition clearing. Running with three shout will on average clear a condition every 11 sec. Have an eye on the party frame as the condition clearing through shouts also effects your allies.
Virtues
5 - Inspired Virtue
Doesn't say in the tooltip but these boons will also land on your allies who are in range. Great synergy with AH. Even dps guardians tends to put points here as it's a strong minor that's easy to get.
Options
When just mindlessly zerging drop 5 in radiance and pick-up 10 in virtues "Vengeful". More retaliation will let you tag more players and due to that rank faster and get more lootbags. If running with "Sanctuary", 10 in virtues "Conscecrated Ground" is very good. It will make your sanctuary 9 sec AND make it ground targeted.
III. Stat Specifics & Effects
Primary Stats
- Health 17535 (+5890)
- Vitality 1505 (+589)
- Armor 3072 (+945)
- Toughness 1861 (+945)
- Attack 2942 (+915)
- Power 1831 (+915)
- Critical Hit 9% (+9%)
- Precision 1104 (+188)
Secondary Stats
- Boon Duration 20% (+20%)
- Condition Damage 58 (+58)
- Condition Duration (self) -40% (+-40%)
- Critical Damage 20% (+20%)
- DMG Taken from Guards and Lords -4% (+-4%)
- DMG to Guards and Lords 2% (+2%)
- Damage 1111 (+0%)
- Damage Reduction 10% (+10%)
- Defense 1211 (+0)
- Experience from Kills 20% (+20%)
- Ferocity 308 (+308)
- Healing Power 1007 (+1007)
- Virtue Recharge Rate 5% (+5%)
Boons
Conditions
Control
Fields & Finishers
Stat and Effect Details
For some professions and builds, especially where critical damage has to be taken into account, gearing right is really difficult. Lucky for us we don't depend on crits that much. You can spend endless hours and sleepless nights thinking of what is optimal but in the end it's up to you! When putting together our stat pool I look at it like this.
1. I wan't enough HP to be able to take a stun + burst. I'm not comfortable being in the front with 14k hp and I know 25k will gimp my other stats. Aim for 18-22k. Remember the "Robust" buff from WvW when calculating. When you reach WvW-rank 115 "Applied Fortitude" +2500 HP will top you off nice!
2. Just being able to soak damage will make your enemies ignore you. That hammer is far more effective with power backing it up. Power is almost always mathematically better for builds with less than approximately 30% crit dmg than precision. A great deal of our damage will come from retaliation, it scales with power.
3. Healing power should be in the numbers so that your dodge heal together with other heals like staff "Empower" heal a fair amount. Altruistic healing scales poorly 0.01 with healing power so no need to stack this towards outrageous numbers.
With the reasoning above and personal experience I've come to the conclusion on the stats above. Don't be afraid to experiment on gear but think twice before transmuting stats. You might wanna save the item completely if you want to switch back.
IV. Food, Armor, Trinkets & Upgrade Items
Food Nourishment
Condition Duration (self): -40%
Vitality: 70
Experience from Kills: 10%
- (30min)
- Condition Duration (self): -40%
- Vitality: 70
- Experience from Kills: 10%
Utility Nourishment
Gain power equal to 6% of your toughness
Gain power equal to 4% of your vitality
Experience from Kills: 10%
- (30min)
- Gain power equal to 6% of your toughness
- Gain power equal to 4% of your vitality
- Experience from Kills: 10%
Armor & Runes
- Defense: 121
- Healing Power: 25
- Boon Duration: 5%
- Healing Power: 50
- +10% Boon Duration; 25% chance when struck to heal for a small amount. (Cooldown: 15 seconds)
- Healing Power: 100
- +10% outgoing heal effectiveness to allies.
- Defense: 121
- Healing Power: 25
- Boon Duration: 5%
- Healing Power: 50
- +10% Boon Duration; 25% chance when struck to heal for a small amount. (Cooldown: 15 seconds)
- Healing Power: 100
- +10% outgoing heal effectiveness to allies.
- Defense: 363
- Healing Power: 25
- Boon Duration: 5%
- Healing Power: 50
- 25% chance when struck to remove a condition. (Cooldown: 30 seconds)
- Healing Power: 100
- +15% Boon Duration; when you use a heal skill, you and nearby allies are healed for a small amount. (Cooldown: 10 seconds)
- Defense: 182
- Healing Power: 25
- Boon Duration: 5%
- Healing Power: 50
- 25% chance when struck to remove a condition. (Cooldown: 30 seconds)
- Healing Power: 100
- +15% Boon Duration; when you use a heal skill, you and nearby allies are healed for a small amount. (Cooldown: 10 seconds)
- Defense: 242
- +8 to All Stats
- Boon Duration: 5%
- +12 to All Stats
- +10% Boon Duration; +10% Condition Duration
- +16 to All Stats
- Movement Speed: 25%
- Defense: 182
- +8 to All Stats
- Boon Duration: 5%
- +12 to All Stats
- +10% Boon Duration; +10% Condition Duration
- +16 to All Stats
- Movement Speed: 25%
Armor Stat Totals
- Defense 1211
- Healing Power 58
- Boon Duration 15%
- Power 8
- Precision 8
- Toughness 8
- Vitality 8
- Condition Damage 8
- Ferocity 8
Rune Bonuses
Superior Rune of the Monk- Healing Power: 25
- Boon Duration: 5%
- Healing Power: 25
- Boon Duration: 5%
- +8 to All Stats
- Boon Duration: 5%
Accessories & Jewels
- Healing Power: 5
- DMG Taken from Guards and Lords: -1%
- Healing Power: 5
- DMG Taken from Guards and Lords: -1%
- Healing Power: 5
- DMG Taken from Guards and Lords: -1%
- Power: 5
- DMG to Guards and Lords: 1%
- Healing Power: 5
- DMG Taken from Guards and Lords: -1%
- Power: 5
- DMG to Guards and Lords: 1%
Accessory Totals
- Power:499
- Toughness:466
- Healing Power:649
- Vitality:40
- DMG Taken from Guards and Lords:-4%
- DMG to Guards and Lords:2%
Weapon Set Sigils
- Weapon Strength: 985-1111
- Power: 239
- Toughness: 171
- Vitality: 171
- Weapon Strength: -
Weapon Set I
Sigil of Superior EnergyYou gain 50% of your endurance when you swap to this weapon while in combat. (This effect cannot trigger more than once every 9s)
- Weapon Strength: 985-1111
- Power: 239
- Toughness: 171
- Vitality: 171
- Weapon Strength: -
Weapon Set II
Sigil of Superior EnergyYou gain 50% of your endurance when you swap to this weapon while in combat. (This effect cannot trigger more than once every 9s)
Upgrade Item Details
Nourishment
Food - With a lot of toughness and healing your main threat are conditions, especially in smaller more unorganized groups with less condi clearing. Recently they nerfed/fixed "Pure of Voice" so bit more defense against condis is needed. I recommend "Bowl of Poultry and Leek Soup" for -36% condition duration. Remember awful Immobilizes counts as a condition. Stuns don't though. If you're feeling rich go for "Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup", that takes it up to -40% duration but is very expensive.
In large encounters "Omnomberry Compote" is amazing! It's often overlooked but it's really strong. Each time a player, that you tagged, is killed you will gain about 930 health. This is invaluable in huge sieges. Run around tag with your staff and enjoy staying at full health.
Utility - Hands down go with the "Superior Sharpening Stone". The other options ain't cutting it and as mentioned on the stat section power is golden.
V. Basic Gameplay
Check out my video guide for gameplay footage! Go big, go Norn, go Frank the tank!
Main Skill Rotation
VI. Gearing
There are many ways to obtain your armor and weapons. The trinkets and runes acquire some additional work than just playing WvW. Here's a complete list on the items needed. How, where and their cost.
Armor P/V/T (Soldier)
WvW armor merchant
1689 WvW-badges or 950 WvW-badges and 5,44g for a complete set.
Dungeon merchants
Sorrows Embrace, Ascalonian Catacombs or Honor of the Wave merchants.
1380 tokens for a complete set.
Karma merchants in Orr
Every piece except helm obtainable.
Shoulders, coat, gloves and legs from Melandru Temple. Click HERE for status!
42k Karma per piece.
Weapons P/V/T (Soldier)
WvW weapon merchant
2-Handed weapons cost 1g and 198 WvW-badges each.
Dungeon merchants
Sorrows Embrace, Ascalonian Catacombs or Honor of the Wave merchants.
2-Handed weapons cost 390 tokens each.
Armor Runes
2 x Superior Rune of the Monk
Ascalonian Catacombs - 120 tokens each
2 x Superior Rune of the Water
Craft with tailoring or buy on trading post. Click HERE for price!
2 x Superior Rune of the Traveler
Buy on trading post. Click HERE for price!
Weapon Sigils
2 x Superior Sigil of Energy
Buy on trading post. Click HERE for price!
Back Item P/V/T
Acquired from Grenth temple in Orr
Cost 42k karma. Click HERE for temple status!
Buy Jewel on trading post. Click HERE for price!
Also available in Fractals for 1350 tokens
Can be upgraded with 500 tokens to ascended quality. Total 1850 tokens.
Amulet (Cleric)
Buy from Laurel merchant in a Major City
Cost 30 laurels
Buy from Laurel merchant in WvW
Cost 20 laurels and 250 WvW-badges
Rings x 2 (Cleric)
Random drop from Fractals lvl 10 and over.
Buy for Pristine Fractal daily tokens. Cost 10 each.
Buy from Laurel merchant in a Major City. Cost 35 laurels each.
Buy from Laurel merchant in WvW. Cost 25 laurels and 250 WvW-badges.
Accessorys x 2 (Cleric)
Buy from laurel merchant in cities or WvW. Cost 40 laurels and 50 globs of ectoplasm.
Buy from guild gommendation Trader in Lions Arch. Cost 12 guild commendations and 5g.
Infusions x 5
Buy basic quality infusions from lauren merchants in major cities or WvW. Cost 5 laurels each.
Buy fine quality infusions from lauren merchants in WvW. Cost 5 laurels and 125 WvW-badges each.
Is there any benefit to taking the might on dodge food, with +40% endurance? extra dodges + extra boon. It doesn't stack with vigor, but your crit rate is quite low to trigger the 5point trait in honor.
As seen in the gameplay (approx 27:30) my vigor up-time is actually around 80%. That to me makes the +40% endurance portion of that food obsolete (as it doesn't stack with vigor as u stated). The extra might on dodge alone isn't worth it in my opinion over other foods like compote or -condi duration.
The energy sigils won't be "best-in-slot" for every occasion, but they will be very strong in both small, medium and big fights. Great overall. If you know the size of your next battle and got weapons with different sigils go for it! Stamina sigil on staff is really good in zerg-mode and as you state hydromancy on hammer could be really good in smaller fight. Again, thx for commenting!
Salutations!