Guardian build that uses staff, open world

[Freya Hallgrim.1074]

Hey all

Searched over the forums for people who had a similar idea but they are all outdated, ie before staff was changed

Been playing around with a few builds and started loving the staff caster vibe on my guardian, currently running it with firebrand. Anyone any good builds I could try and see what’s best for my play style

 

Have yet to do a dungeon, WvW or engage in pvp, I am just open world

I mainly play solo, but I don’t mind supporting others who show up.

 

I had thought of running this with full seraph gear so condition based, but don’t mind power (have plenty of power gear)

 

Don’t care if it’s meta or not, I wanna run staff, not a fan of this whole it’s not optimal, wanna play the game how I want ?

 

Anyway thanks for reading and hope to hear some thoughts. Stay safe fellow commanders

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

Well, there is the

by Risen Howl. It is optimized for WvW and focuses on condition damage. Many people will tell you that EVERYTHING works in open world, so this should work too.

 

I also created a nuker-build not so long ago. It focuses on power & support. Revisited it this afternoon, tested it in the hydra-canyon below the Temple of Kormir. It works. You can stay alive and kill the enemies, even down there. DPS is low, obviously. Also tested it in other level 80 areas. If you are interested, open the spoiler.

 

>!Blue Spellcaster

>! 

>!

>! Traits:

>! A mage-build that uses the _Dragonhunter_ Spezialization. We use two traps and fight our enemies preferably ranged. The traps come in handy, whenever our opponents get too close. That applies for the Heal as well as for the high damage trap. In addition we empower the Virtue of Justice to trigger more often and cause cripple, which will then increase our range damage.

>!

>! _Zeal_ allows us to inflict Vulnerability when we have Fury. We empower the Scepter/might-generation and Spirit Weapons, which we can also use on range. In addition Symbols are empowered.

>!

>! _Honor_ empowers the Staff, healing-skill and helps us maintaining almost 100 % uptime of Fury and Quickness.

>!

>! -

>! **Gear:**

>!

>! Diviner Trinkets for additional boon-duration + power-damage focus.

>! Marauder's Armor for power-damage with a focus on empowering critical hit rate and boosting Vitality (max. HP).

>! Assassin's Weapons for power-damage with a focus on empowering critical hit rate.

>!

>! Superior Rune of the Traveler enhances all of your attributes a little, grants + 15 % Boon Duration and + 10 % Condition Duration, which we mostly need to maintain an (un)healthy level of Vulnerability on your targets. In addition you gain 25 % movement speed, which is very useful on a character that aims for distance to its targets (kiting).

>!

>! Superior Sigil of Celerity on the Scepter, to trigger Quickness via Chains of Light.

>! Superior Sigil of Rage on Focus and Staff, to trigger Quickness on critical hits.

>! Superior Sigil of Strength on Staff, to maintain Might stacks similar to the Scepter. (The rare-sigil is a lot cheaper and works fine, the exotic one is hilariously expensive atm)

>!

>! -

>! **Combat:**

>! Start the fight with Feel My Wrath and Chains of Light (Scepter + Focus). At that point you can decide if you want to switch to Staff or stay on Scepter at first. Both weapons have long range auto-attacks which are ridiculously fast nukes, thanks to that Quickness. If you stay on Scepter, cast Ray of Judgement and Symbol of Punishment to enhance the damage.

>!

>! If the opponent gets closer, use Line of Warding to block its path. Walk back to enhance your damage again. Holy Strike & Symbol of Swiftness to wear the targets down.

>!

>! Is the opponent is a little stronger, feel free to summon your Sword of Justice to assist your nukes. If the enemy uses projectiles or charges up a powerful attack, summon the Hammer of Wisdom to interrupt it.

>!

>! Once your HP drops below 40 %, drop your heal-trap and pretend to run away. Either set the Procession of Blades close to that or use it later.

>!

>! If the enemies get into melee range, spam Symbols and Sprit Weapons while running in circles. Make sure to step into your own Symbols and Holy Strike to gain additional health and boons.

>!

>! -

>!

>! Notes:

>! - Spear of Justice enhances damage drastically. It is a good option if you only fight a single target or a boss. Else the virtue's passive is more useful.

>! - Swiftness can be acquired either by stepping into your Symbol of Swiftness or by using a Spring Roll, which enhances boon-duration and grants long swiftness upon kills. If both is not an option, you still move 25 % faster, thanks to the Rune Set.

>! - You can replace the Superior Sigil of Strength with a Superior Sigil of Hobbling. Might stacks can be stacked with the Scepter auto-attack and Empower. That way you can extend the cripple duration, which should improve your kiting abilities and allow you to use that + 10 % damage-boost on cripple better.

>! - Stunbreak variant: Replace Hammer of Wisdom with Stand Your Ground. The hammer is good for playing Support, while other players keep the enemy busy in melee. Your shouts are low on cooldown anyway. If you happen to get disabled, quickly switch to scepter + focus and use Shield of Wrath to prevent further damage.

>! - Cleanse variant: Replace Hammer of Wisdom with Smite Condition.

>! - Emergency Heal/Evade: Wings of Resolve (almost 4k HP).

>! - Melee variant: Replace the Scepter + Focus with a Hammer, same sigils. Use Banish to trigger the Sigil of Celerity. Due to the high Quickness uptime, the clunky Hammer performs a lot better. If the Hammer is too weak for you, pick a sword instead and trigger the Sigil of Celerity via Spear of Justice => Hunter's Verdict OR Hammer of Wisdom.

 

 

 

[Freya Hallgrim.1074]

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> Well, there is the

by Risen Howl. It is optimized for WvW and focuses on condition damage. Many people will tell you that EVERYTHING works in open world, so this should work too.

>

> I also created a nuker-build not so long ago. It focuses on power & support. Revisited it this afternoon, tested it in the hydra-canyon below the Temple of Kormir. It works. You can stay alive and kill the enemies, even down there. DPS is low, obviously. Also tested it in other level 80 areas. If you are interested, open the spoiler.

>

> >!Blue Spellcaster

> >! 

> >!

> >! Traits:

> >! A mage-build that uses the _Dragonhunter_ Spezialization. We use two traps and fight our enemies preferably ranged. The traps come in handy, whenever our opponents get too close. That applies for the Heal as well as for the high damage trap. In addition we empower the Virtue of Justice to trigger more often and cause cripple, which will then increase our range damage.

> >!

> >! _Zeal_ allows us to inflict Vulnerability when we have Fury. We empower the Scepter/might-generation and Spirit Weapons, which we can also use on range. In addition Symbols are empowered.

> >!

> >! _Honor_ empowers the Staff, healing-skill and helps us maintaining almost 100 % uptime of Fury and Quickness.

> >!

> >! -

> >! **Gear:**

> >!

> >! Diviner Trinkets for additional boon-duration + power-damage focus.

> >! Marauder's Armor for power-damage with a focus on empowering critical hit rate and boosting Vitality (max. HP).

> >! Assassin's Weapons for power-damage with a focus on empowering critical hit rate.

> >!

> >! Superior Rune of the Traveler enhances all of your attributes a little, grants + 15 % Boon Duration and + 10 % Condition Duration, which we mostly need to maintain an (un)healthy level of Vulnerability on your targets. In addition you gain 25 % movement speed, which is very useful on a character that aims for distance to its targets (kiting).

> >!

> >! Superior Sigil of Celerity on the Scepter, to trigger Quickness via Chains of Light.

> >! Superior Sigil of Rage on Focus and Staff, to trigger Quickness on critical hits.

> >! Superior Sigil of Strength on Staff, to maintain Might stacks similar to the Scepter. (The rare-sigil is a lot cheaper and works fine, the exotic one is hilariously expensive atm)

> >!

> >! -

> >! **Combat:**

> >! Start the fight with Feel My Wrath and Chains of Light (Scepter + Focus). At that point you can decide if you want to switch to Staff or stay on Scepter at first. Both weapons have long range auto-attacks which are ridiculously fast nukes, thanks to that Quickness. If you stay on Scepter, cast Ray of Judgement and Symbol of Punishment to enhance the damage.

> >!

> >! If the opponent gets closer, use Line of Warding to block its path. Walk back to enhance your damage again. Holy Strike & Symbol of Swiftness to wear the targets down.

> >!

> >! Is the opponent is a little stronger, feel free to summon your Sword of Justice to assist your nukes. If the enemy uses projectiles or charges up a powerful attack, summon the Hammer of Wisdom to interrupt it.

> >!

> >! Once your HP drops below 40 %, drop your heal-trap and pretend to run away. Either set the Procession of Blades close to that or use it later.

> >!

> >! If the enemies get into melee range, spam Symbols and Sprit Weapons while running in circles. Make sure to step into your own Symbols and Holy Strike to gain additional health and boons.

> >!

> >! -

> >!

> >! Notes:

> >! - Spear of Justice enhances damage drastically. It is a good option if you only fight a single target or a boss. Else the virtue's passive is more useful.

> >! - Swiftness can be acquired either by stepping into your Symbol of Swiftness or by using a Spring Roll, which enhances boon-duration and grants long swiftness upon kills. If both is not an option, you still move 25 % faster, thanks to the Rune Set.

> >! - You can replace the Superior Sigil of Strength with a Superior Sigil of Hobbling. Might stacks can be stacked with the Scepter auto-attack and Empower. That way you can extend the cripple duration, which should improve your kiting abilities and allow you to use that + 10 % damage-boost on cripple better.

> >! - Stunbreak variant: Replace Hammer of Wisdom with Stand Your Ground. The hammer is good for playing Support, while other players keep the enemy busy in melee. Your shouts are low on cooldown anyway. If you happen to get disabled, quickly switch to scepter + focus and use Shield of Wrath to prevent further damage.

> >! - Cleanse variant: Replace Hammer of Wisdom with Smite Condition.

> >! - Emergency Heal/Evade: Wings of Resolve (almost 4k HP).

> >! - Melee variant: Replace the Scepter + Focus with a Hammer, same sigils. Use Banish to trigger the Sigil of Celerity. Due to the high Quickness uptime, the clunky Hammer performs a lot better. If the Hammer is too weak for you, pick a sword instead and trigger the Sigil of Celerity via Spear of Justice => Hunter's Verdict OR Hammer of Wisdom.

>

>

>

 

Both very interesting builds, can't wait to try them both, thank you for taking the time to write all you did :)

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> Well, there is the

by Risen Howl. It is optimized for WvW and focuses on condition damage. Many people will tell you that EVERYTHING works in open world, so this should work too.

 

Everything works in open world because you can rely on other people doing most of the work and when it doesn't work just blame it on not having enough people. :/

 

 

 

[Ashantara.8731]

There is no efficient open world staff build for Guardian. The staff on Guardian is a support weapon (see skills), hence it works best in a support build, which is only useful in WvW or Strike Missions (or during big meta events, if you don't want to DPS and only heal/support).

 

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> Well, there is the

by Risen Howl. It is optimized for WvW and focuses on condition damage.

 

Condition damage builds, and damage builds in general on the Guardian, have much more efficient weaponry available than the staff.

[Seera.5916]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> There is no efficient open world staff build for Guardian. The staff on Guardian is a support weapon (see skills), hence it works best in a support build, which is only useful in WvW or Strike Missions (or during big meta events, if you don't want to DPS and only heal/support).

>

> > @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> > Well, there is the

by Risen Howl. It is optimized for WvW and focuses on condition damage.

>

> Condition damage builds, and damage builds in general on the Guardian, have much more efficient weaponry available than the staff.

 

Well, the OP doesn't care if it's meta or not. Just that it's viable. So it being support oriented with low DPS doesn't seem to be something that bothers them.

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Seera.5916" said:

> Well, the OP doesn't care if it's meta or not. Just that it's viable. So it being support oriented with low DPS doesn't seem to be something that bothers them.

 

I got that, but I thought I should advise them _against_ it, because it will likely end up in frustration when you are incapable of killing your opponents within a proper time frame.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

I pondered an extended time about sending my build only as PM, knowing posting it here would spark that exact reaction. But a lot of these requests remain unanswered until they get lost in the depths of the forum pages. Staff Guardian was once a cool thing in the game. Nowadays it is mostly a support weapon to compete a little with Druid.

 

I found Risen Howl's build **after** I completed mine. I knew the WvW community had a DPS build that also featured Staff & Scepter. Looked at it and realized how insanely powerful it was, compared to the thing I bodged together in the last 2-3 hours. Should I only post the link to his video? On the other hand, I tested my build. I picked one of my characters, geared him and trained a while to figure out a way to survive & play it. It does work, but perform obviously worse than most guardian builds I played. For Story & open world content, you can get through. I have seen dedicated healers doing story content solo. So I decided to link both and let the topic-starter decide.

 

Staff is obviously not a good weapon to camp on. But build-requests like these keep me motivated to try out different things, beyond the regular builds. It always surprises me how many synergies are hidden within the game, which enhance those unique playstyles. You are also free to post your own suggestions.