Bladezephyr.5714

If this is for PvE, it's basically a slightly more defensive version of the usual Power DPS core build on metabattle. (https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Power_DPS) You probably don't really need the extra defense. If I went virtues I'd rather take permeating wrath for the AoE passive burn to tag mobs and proc Fiery Wrath and Radian Power, use the virtue of justice active for short fights against a single target or before whirling wrath, or to blind harder-hitting mobs. Use the passive in other situations. The rest of your choices I commented on extensively in my video about my own similar build with Honor instead of Virtues. Since a lot of your damage will come from your symbols, and Honor buffs symbols considerably (50% longer duration and a wider radius, plus a bit of extra healing) you might find this actually works better for you: Note in PvP the radius is nerfed.

Sorry, your original post said nothing of the sort. I missed the one sentence in your second post where you did say that as my eyes jumped right to the video. Your first post just said the skill bugged/failed... It didn't fail. You just didn't see the effect. Not really the same thing. You switched away from the combat log, but the bits of the video I watched which had the combat log showed: * the skill triggered * the damage effect triggered * the burning effect triggered * the weakness triggered * no projectiles were evidently reflected, but neither did any hit you, that I saw at least That seems to suggest that there were no projectiles to reflect, and other than the visual bug ollbertan mentioned, the skill is working... not failing. The only thing you're not getting is visual feedback that everything is working as intended. That's annoying, but doesn't seem to make the skill "unusable." Your original post--while didn't say so outright--strongly suggested the skill often wasn't working at all ("33% of the time it doesn't spawn at all (but still consumes ammo)"), but that's not the case.

> @"Ragnar.4257" said: > Just to prove I'm not imagining things, here is a recording of ONE unranked game, in which out of 15 attempted uses of Shield, 13 of them failed/bugged. Only 2 worked properly. Did you actually look at your combat log? 13:41 You hit Gwen Copperclaw for 355 using Shield of the Avenger 13:41 You hit Morticia Addams for 457 using Shield of the Avenger ... 13:41 You hit Morticia Addams for 529 using Shield of the Avenger 13:41 Gwen Copperclaw evaded your Sheild of the Avenger Shield Fail Counter: 2 Actual shield failures: zero. ... 13:42 You hit Gwen Copperclaw for 351 using Shield of the Avenger 13:42 You critically hit Morticia Addams for 1,065 [i think, number not clear in vid] using Shield of the Avenger 13:42 You hit Flesh Golem for 329 using Shield of the Avenger Shield Fail Counter: 3 Actual shield failures: zero Looks like it's working fine to me. There are also numerous logs about burning being applied at the same time, but I didn't comment about that since it's hard/impossible to identify the source of burning. But they're happening at the same time so it seems right. So it does seem like this is just a visual bug, but it's working as intended.

> @"Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582" said: > That would be reality. Defense of towers is very difficult because you can rarely stand or place siege anywhere that isnt bomb-able from the ground outside, which is kinda ridiculous. In what scenario would a defender on a wall ever be at a disadvantage to those attacking? One where magic exists. One like GW2.

I solved this problem by dropping firebrand and going back to core guardian. I set up this build with inexperienced players transitioning from core Tyria to expansion content in mind, but TBH I haven't been able to beat it with any of the FB builds I've tried, and I have been trying... That said, I do think FB offers tons of survivability... and yes, swapping into F2 and F3 is one way to get it. Trouble is you lose DPS when you do. I wouldn't be surprised if expert players can get more out of a good FB build than I can, but I think for the average player this build is going to work better (particularly for solo open-world content, which seems to be the OP's concern).