Guardian FB Hybrid that beats SB/Scourge/standard FB

[Jax.5261]

Hey guys,

 

I've recently been going through a ton of Firebrand builds to find something that works in the meta. I ended up settling on a variation of the build Tage ran in the mAT (valour over virtues) but found that I was relying entirely on my allies and I couldn't win a 1v1 only hold until somebody else gets over to the point. In some games it was absolutely god tier and the support it gave was way too strong for them to deal with but in other games our team couldn't even use the support and I was next to useless.

 

After talking to a lot of people and testing a lot of builds my friend Arken showed me his build and, although it's still a bunker, it has a lot of DPS. It can 1v1 almost every build and is incredibly strong against the current, top meta picks. Here's my quick guide on how to set it up and some footage of me using it:

 

 

Have a play around, once you get used to it you'll be able to beat most things.

PS: I'm no where near as good as I used to be and I'm practicing every day to try get back to that level =)

[Saiyan.1704]

How does it compare to regular Condi Virtue FB?

 

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/home/leaving?target=http%3A%2F%2Fgw2skills.net%2Feditor%2F%3FvVAQRAne8dnsADFBjdDBOCDkCjlHCDLA0AySZvn5z9ZveuPDoA-jZhAQB%2Fb%2FBA8EAO3BBQilB43JAAA

 

Virtually the build above (excluding Rune). Depending on your level of team support you want to to have, can go Team Healway Support (the link), having a bigger AoE Symbol proc, or Valor for more self sustains and more self cleanses with Heal mantra.

[Jax.5261]

> @Saiyan.1704 said:

> How does it compare to regular Condi Virtue FB?

>

> https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/home/leaving?target=http%3A%2F%2Fgw2skills.net%2Feditor%2F%3FvVAQRAne8dnsADFBjdDBOCDkCjlHCDLA0AySZvn5z9ZveuPDoA-jZhAQB%2Fb%2FBA8EAO3BBQilB43JAAA

>

> Virtually the build above (excluding Rune). Depending on your level of team support you want to to have, can go Team Healway Support (the link), having a bigger AoE Symbol proc, or Valor for more self sustains and more self cleanses with Heal mantra.

 

I really do believe in trying every option and not just guessing, so I tried your build in 10 games this morning. I really like it, it's high damage and really fun but the issues start coming up when you play against the meta builds. The reason I don't like burn guards at the moment is that SB and Necro will just put the condi's back on you, the stacks aren't big enough or covered enough to keep them on the enemy. Same with playing against another FB (they cleanse too fast), that's why I was looking for a build that used power.

 

The build I was showing has 30.66% crit chance from stats, 15% from RHS and 50% from instincts. which is 95% chance to crit for your scepter/axe. Although the initial damage is lower than the other build the DoT from symbols constantly being up, the small amount of burns you apply and your abilities will out damage the other build pretty quickly in a longer engagement.

 

So I'd say the build I posted is much better in the current meta for 1v1's and is much better against SB's.

[kKagari.6804]

Guardian is in such an awesome place right now, so flexible, so many build options.

[Saiyan.1704]

> @Jax.5261 said:

> > @Saiyan.1704 said:

> > How does it compare to regular Condi Virtue FB?

> >

> > https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/home/leaving?target=http%3A%2F%2Fgw2skills.net%2Feditor%2F%3FvVAQRAne8dnsADFBjdDBOCDkCjlHCDLA0AySZvn5z9ZveuPDoA-jZhAQB%2Fb%2FBA8EAO3BBQilB43JAAA

> >

> > Virtually the build above (excluding Rune). Depending on your level of team support you want to to have, can go Team Healway Support (the link), having a bigger AoE Symbol proc, or Valor for more self sustains and more self cleanses with Heal mantra.

>

> I really do believe in trying every option and not just guessing, so I tried your build in 10 games this morning. I really like it, it's high damage and really fun but the issues start coming up when you play against the meta builds. The reason I don't like burn guards at the moment is that SB and Necro will just put the condi's back on you, the stacks aren't big enough or covered enough to keep them on the enemy. Same with playing against another FB (they cleanse too fast), that's why I was looking for a build that used power.

>

> The build I was showing has 30.66% crit chance from stats, 15% from RHS and 50% from instincts. which is 95% chance to crit for your scepter/axe. Although the initial damage is lower than the other build the DoT from symbols constantly being up, the small amount of burns you apply and your abilities will out damage the other build pretty quickly in a longer engagement.

>

> So I'd say the build I posted is much better in the current meta for 1v1's and is much better against SB's.

 

The build in question does have the potential to beat Spellbreakers and Scourges, though, i never had an issue with Scourges. That said I use Valor (extra cleanse) instead of Honor when fighting Scourges and when fighting SB I use larger symbols to dmg better while kiting. SB will Only beat you if he consistently kites.

 

All that said, in a few controlled environments I could never beat a Scourge 1v1. Prepatch they we're at 80% health (give or take). Post nerf patch, a 20% or less health before I enter Downed state. Huge differences. I will say that I was on Valor when dueling.

 

Let me now if you were using the selfish builds (valor) I listed or just the link I posted which was a Honor team supporting build.

[cat.8975]

I feel like people have been sleeping on the crazy power damage axe does (too busy trying to make condi viable in a world of scourges/spellbreakers). The symbol does the same amount of damage as the sword symbol (3.0 scaling), and the auto chain is a 0.72 - 0.72 - 2.4

 

#**2.4**

 

It's not even that slow. When comparing without quickness, axe auto chain has ~25% more dps than sword auto, and ~50% more dps than scepter auto.

 

The pull is great too.

[Blasino.3128]

Silven your back???

[Jax.5261]

> @Blasino.3128 said:

> Silven your back???

 

Yeah I'm back, playing 4-10 hours a day to try get back into form. =)

 

> @cat.8975 said:

> I feel like people have been sleeping on the crazy power damage axe does (too busy trying to make condi viable in a world of scourges/spellbreakers). The symbol does the same amount of damage as the sword symbol (3.0 scaling), and the auto chain is a 0.72 - 0.72 - 2.4

>

> #**2.4**

>

> It's not even that slow. When comparing without quickness, axe auto chain has ~25% more dps than sword auto, and ~50% more dps than scepter auto.

>

> The pull is great too.

 

Yeah the dps is amazing on the axe. The Axe 3's accuracy is pretty trash unfortunately but if you delay using it until they've blown cooldowns it's great.> @Saiyan.1704 said:

> > @Jax.5261 said:

> > > @Saiyan.1704 said:

> > > How does it compare to regular Condi Virtue FB?

> > >

> > > https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/home/leaving?target=http%3A%2F%2Fgw2skills.net%2Feditor%2F%3FvVAQRAne8dnsADFBjdDBOCDkCjlHCDLA0AySZvn5z9ZveuPDoA-jZhAQB%2Fb%2FBA8EAO3BBQilB43JAAA

> > >

> > > Virtually the build above (excluding Rune). Depending on your level of team support you want to to have, can go Team Healway Support (the link), having a bigger AoE Symbol proc, or Valor for more self sustains and more self cleanses with Heal mantra.

> >

> > I really do believe in trying every option and not just guessing, so I tried your build in 10 games this morning. I really like it, it's high damage and really fun but the issues start coming up when you play against the meta builds. The reason I don't like burn guards at the moment is that SB and Necro will just put the condi's back on you, the stacks aren't big enough or covered enough to keep them on the enemy. Same with playing against another FB (they cleanse too fast), that's why I was looking for a build that used power.

> >

> > The build I was showing has 30.66% crit chance from stats, 15% from RHS and 50% from instincts. which is 95% chance to crit for your scepter/axe. Although the initial damage is lower than the other build the DoT from symbols constantly being up, the small amount of burns you apply and your abilities will out damage the other build pretty quickly in a longer engagement.

> >

> > So I'd say the build I posted is much better in the current meta for 1v1's and is much better against SB's.

>

> The build in question does have the potential to beat Spellbreakers and Scourges, though, i never had an issue with Scourges. That said I use Valor (extra cleanse) instead of Honor when fighting Scourges and when fighting SB I use larger symbols to dmg better while kiting. SB will Only beat you if he consistently kites.

>

> All that said, in a few controlled environments I could never beat a Scourge 1v1. Prepatch they we're at 80% health (give or take). Post nerf patch, a 20% or less health before I enter Downed state. Huge differences. I will say that I was on Valor when dueling.

>

> Let me now if you were using the selfish builds (valor) I listed or just the link I posted which was a Honor team supporting build.

 

Yeah that was just with the build you linked not the variations sorry. But I have a video coming showing this build dominate the burn bunkers. =)

edit: let me expand a bit. When you get up against a condi-bunker you can clean the burn so fast you dont take any damage from it while dishing out a large amount of damage to them. In that specific match up I feel the build I posted is considerably better.

 

The other thing I want to mention is how many variations there are of each build. You can run symbols or the increased heal or staff or axe or different mantras or SYG, there's just soooo much variety it's hard to compare two builds together because they have so much overlap. So when we're comparing two are we comparing every variant? Because that gets to a point where it's just comparing the Amulet. Genuinely curious about that one =)