But already got mr.Awesome Matter's ! tykind sir again
Guardian
Bunker/Support Builds
How's it goin everyone!
Since i've been playing heavy defensive builds for guardian and warrior since the first beta weekend event. I figured it was time to share some of the awesome builds i've encountered and had the chance to play. Since my GS warrior guide is going to be covered in a video i thought it only right to make a written guide as well. My warrior guide is due to be released tuesday if all goes well with finishing editing and gaining a few more clips. With that being said let's get into it!
What is a bunker build and why do i keep hearing the term "bunker"?
A bunker build is someone who builds heavily into defensive trees with their profession. It can range from bunker necromancers to the more used guardian/warrior builds. Hell you'll even see bunker eles.... so get used to hearing the term. Bunker build professions are mostly used to hold nodes in tournaments and sPvP until your team can come back and defend the node you were keeping controlled.
Why should i play a bunker guardian?
Most people frown on the healthpool of the guardian.. but you need to try and not focus so much on the low healthpool and focus more on that crazy amount of utility they have. With the insane amount of toughness/retaliation for those high DPS professions to take the pressure off and the insane amount of condition removal for condition professions and also the crazy amount of team support you can provide while playing a bunker build guardian. It's an extremely popular build in the competitive PvP scene and you're gonna see it everywhere.
Builds
Pubstomping 2 hander / Mace - Shield:
http://gw2skills.net...SOkkIt2YAxOkJGA
Description:
This build is aimed more at pubstomping/solo q'ing in sPvP hence the ogre runes and bloodlust sigil. This build can be used in tournaments but if you intend on using it i recommend swapping the ogre runes for earth or soldier runes for increased toughness. The amount of heals generated in this build give you enough self sustain and condition removal with meditations and the damage with mighty blow on a reduced cooldown gives a good amount of cleave damage on a node. With this build you do have 2 knock backs with one coming from your 2 handed maces and the second coming from your #5 skill with shield. you also have 2 stun breakers with comtemplation of purity and stand your ground plus significant condition removal with COP and absolute resolution in your traits. Retaliation from stand your ground gives heavy melee a huge thing to worry about when attacking you and also gives you the stability to stomp in the heat of the fight without having to worry about incoming cc.
1H Sword/Shield - Scepter/Focus:
http://gw2skills.net...Oudk7swYgxOkZIA
Description:
This build for me i went a little bit more offensive to provide some steady DPS for my team while maintaining my support role. Lets face it scepter damage is fast and it does a ton of damage for a one handed weapon. With the buff they made to smite it is also a good AOE to put on a node for cleave damage to support your team. I chose earth runes for my defensive stats to give me a little bit more toughness and the 5% chance to pop protection. This build has a significant loss in healthpool due to running soldiers amulet with beserkers jewel. But with right handed strength you are pushing 35% chance to crit and if you went for ogre runes you could also get to about 40% chance to crit while maintaining a support role.
while it isn't as beefy i enjoy playing this build the most as shield of wrath blocks a great amount of damage while being able to put out sustained DPS with scepter with a decent amount of burn damage. Scepter also has good chase value with chains of light as well as being able to swap to sword for flashing blade and zealots defense. I know i can get a zealots to hit for roughly 4000 - 4400 on a light to medium armor target. This is a good build to switch to if you're facing a more condition based team as i went for save yourselves for the support capability in team fights. But as always with Save Yourselves you have to be wary on if there is a necro around because corrupt boon can change the tide of the fight on you in a second. Almost every necro will be running corrupt boon. If you want you can swap out sword for mace and adjust accordingly to your preferences.
More builds will be added over the course of the next few days.
EDIT: Accidently chose the instant meditations down the valor tree. I suggest going with honorable shield. Sorry for the confusion.
Signet of Resolve vs Shelter:
I see a lot of guardians still running shelter and i ask myself why? I get that you are drawn to the 2 seconds of blocking but you are also only getting half a heal as well. With Signet of Resolve you are getting a condition removal every 10 seconds and a full heal. so this means if you are taking a substantial amount of damage... you pop your condition removals for regen and hit your heal for a full heal and get back on the defensive. 2 seconds of blocking is just not worth it in my eyes to only get half the health back. While for other clases that go for things that like that (IE sword pistol mesmers with blurred frenzy) your job is to keep conditions off you and your team at all costs. You need to be open to the fact that guardian is a tanky support role and is meant to be played that way. And just losing the condition removal and a full heal over 2 seconds of blocking is just not worth it to me.
I hope this guide shines some light on bunker guardians for some of you and gives you the urge to try and learn how to play one. I know some of the guardian skill sets can have a medium to high skill cap when chained together properly and i wouldn't recommend this for any beginner player. Node holding is a key role in tournament style play and can change the whole course of the game. So i would advise only playing the role when you feel comfortable that you can perform it.
This guide is a work in progress and will be updated when new builds are found or game mechanics are adjusted by Arena-net after patching.
If you have any builds to suggest or comments feel free to post them below for discussion.
- Re - VOK. =P
Edited by RevokUS, 24 September 2012 - 11:18 AM.
