If doing dungeons is your thing and you play with semi-organized group. I suggest since your starting out run 15/25/0/20/10 with hammer and gs/sword focus. Whenever you get used to the role of a guardian (which isn't taking aggro but nullifying big hits with use of blinds/blocks. The current DPS meta is 20/25/0/0/25 and for fractals 15/25/0/20/10 is currently the meta in which you only use hammer for the permanent protection.

Healing Skills:
Shelter - By far the best heal skill it's better to block the hit that was initially going to kill you. However it's not always necessary.
Signet of Resolve - Huge burst heal, however much longer cool-down than shelter. I use it from time to time.

Utilities:
Retreat - This should almost always be on your bar.
Stand Your Ground - Whenever stability is needed and the fight is shorter.
Hallowed Ground - Use whenever knockbacks are a huge issue.
Purging Flames - Use for might stacks and condition removal if needed.
Wall of Reflection - This is another skill that should always be on your bar. A few dungeons you don't need reflects (Crucible of Eternity and a select few of other paths).
Shield of the Avenger - When projectiles are more than wall can handle and or if there is a mesmer if your group.
Bane Signet - Huge power boost. Use when there is a free slot in your bar.
Save Yourselves - Nice DPS boost with the boons you receive.

Elite Skills:
Renewed Focus - This is by far one of the better skills you have. It's for the most part always my elite skill, rarely change.



(Turn up your volume, his voice is a little monotone

This post was edited by pLaguE_89 on Jan 30 2014 02:33pm

Guardian builds need to focus on what Guardians are actually good at first, before worrying about character DPS
That build doesn't event suggest Water/Monk/Traveler +45% set or the use of Empower (which adds far more DPS to the party collective than the above build ever would)

Not sure how this ever became considered "meta" but it looks to me like people who Warrior tried to find a way to Warrior on a Guardian

This post was edited by TSBoyer on Jan 31 2014 01:25am

Empower is possibly the worst might in the game, if you're running with a organized group who have no problem with 25 stacks of might. Using empower is a significant DPS loss. Water/Monk/Traveler are pathetic to run in if you're doing dungeons and you only want to do that. The best way to deal with dungeons in this game is pure DPS. There is no Holy Trinity. Any type of boon duration does nothing if you're in an organized group.

Guardian's have the highest DPS auto-attack in the game with sword. Not utilizing that is outrageous. To be limited to using only greatsword in any dungeon is not good. Staff is useless unless you're pre-stacking swiftness.



This post was edited by pLaguE_89 on Jan 31 2014 01:59am

I believe this boss takes a bit more damage than any other boss.

It's a showcase of the DPS output. It's not to show consistent numbers but what you can do with full buffs.

100% wrong on all fronts

With 20 to 30 virtues and a +45% set, Empower lasts 17s and recharges in 16s
It adds +420 power +420 condition to the entire party
Empower gives 12 stacks of might, not 25
Empower cycling is easy to do and maintain due to it's long duration
How is this a loss in DPS, when it buffs the entire party's DPS and you're still able to swing around a GS in 15s intravels?

You said that: Pure DPS is the best way to handle dungeons and that boon duration does nothing
-> Might and Fury are boons that greatly enhance DPS
-> Upon that, long duration full party Protection/Stability/Regeneration and frequent Aegising/Blinding are all things that allow the party to "Engage" LONGER without needing to "Disengage", this directly equates to DPS over a 60 second intravel
The words of someone saying: "Any type of boon duration does nothing if you're in an organized group" are the words of someone who needs to Warrior, not Guardian

About there being no Holy Trinity:
A Holy Trinity meta appears in any game once players have identified "what is more important to use" as compared to what is less important
This isn't merely a term that applies to GW1: (Healer / Disabler / Damage Spiker), that is simply how the trinity had shown itself in GW1
Even if "The Holy Trinity" was simply an MMORPG affliction, you need to understand that it is indeed still present in GW2
But rather than having extreme class jobs "like the warrior who deals damage and has shit heals" or "the monk that heals who has no damage" or "the Mesmer who disables someone's build that has no damage and shit healing"
The ability to damage, heal and disable is apparent in every class in GW2 but some classes are still better at certain things than others
To see and feel the trinity again, you need to tweak character classes towards what they are good at and you'll see that the trinity does indeed still exist

Example:
If all players were equally skilled in this match up, what team would win?

* Melee Ranger trying to bunk
* Thief helping the Ranger bunk
* Guarding trying to roam while ranging with Scepter, stated for serk setup
* Tanky Warrior roaming with a Rifle
* Mesmer allocated for pure damage with a dual sword setup

VS.

* Guardian traited to bunk home with heavy control to keep players off base and heavy defensive buffs/heal
* Guardian traited to bunk mid with heavy control to keep players off base and heavy defensive buffs/heal
* Warrior with good Hammer DPS and much control, traited to roam between home and mid to assist bunkers
* Warrior with very good Greatsword DPS and slight control, traited to roam between home and mid, to assist bunkers
* Mesmer traited for 1v1 killing, fast roaming across the map and ability to disengage if necessary (Thief would have been mentioned in this slot if it was able to 1v1 hold a cap but as of now Mesmer does the job better)


Point being:
If the trinity did not exist, team #1 should stand a viable chance against team #2 but the reality is that team #1 is going to get romped by team #2
Why? Because team #2 has Warriors doing Warrioring, Guardians doing Guarding and tricky/sneaky classes (Mesmer or Thief) doing what requires trickery and sneaking

The only reason why you aren't noticing in PvE that (other things besides DPS are important) is because A-Net is not releasing content that is difficult enough to push you in the same way that competitive PvP does
or in the way that GW1 Hard Mode did

Imagen 5 Arah zombies running up to your party
1 is a Guardian stated to bunk/buff/heal/stability his party and control your party members away from the other zombies so that you can't kill them
1 is a water ele spamming healing fields that still has decent spell damage
1 is a Spirit Ranger with a longbow, who is designed to target the highest DPS in the group and repeatedly knock it back away from the other zombies
1 is a Hammer Warrior stated to bunk who has a lot of control, he does nothing but enter your groups vicinity and start knocking down, stunning everyone, repeatedly
1 is a Thief, designed for Extreme DPS, he repeatedly attacks the lowest tough character in the group with backstabs and retreats in to invisibility at 50% life and doesn't come back until he is healed
* This group of zombies always stack, calls targets together and always attack the same person until they are down
* They also, revive each other out of single downed state in their stack

Welcome to GW1 Hard Mode
This single mob will be harder than anything you've seen in GW2 up to this point
The aggro system and overall AI will be much more advanced that random creatures that fall for a good stack pull
Big DPS alone will not cut it here, you'll need a lot of different effects to take apart this party
It will become like PvP, where you need to diagnose a weakness in the party's dynamic before you target that and take the party members out, one by one


Like in GW1, anyone on any class can throw on a damage build and have Mhenlo follow them through normal mode
But Hard Mode, becomes an entirely different story ~ Time to learn what the purpose of your class is really about
This is exactly my point about the claim of a "meta DPS Guard build"
The guys who follow that guide, are playing on Normal Mode

This post was edited by TSBoyer on Jan 31 2014 03:24pm

I played the GW1 farmed a lot of the harder content. You're right, dungeons right now aren't challenging. As long as blocks,blinds,dodging are in the game, you can completely avoid being damaged. There is no point in trying to take a class that has less personal DPS collectively and dragging the group DPS down by not running optimal builds. The BEST group DPS contributor is blast finishing firefields and warrior's banners, along with frost spirit from ranger. While I'm all for someone who is newer to the game/dungeons to use staff, however if you're running in an organized group there is no need to use empower if the party is killing the boss before the 25 stacks of might you already have hasn't gone down yet. I loved farming in the first Guild Wars it WAS challenging and was a lot of fun, but as long as you are able to completely nullify incoming hits with aegis/blinds/knockdowns, DPS roles are going to be the best way to deal with dungeons and the fastest way possible.

Guard has highest auto attack DPS? What?
GW1 farming was challenging? What?