I have tested a boon duration build o and i think all our guardians should try it for a week.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUQQNApeWlYgyC3FyKEm4ERmiVWSMFYMjXPcoEZIA;TsAA1Cto6y4lwLrNuuk2s+Ysx8DA
Its powerful alone but the more people that have it the better. The principle is simple, using traits food and runes we get between 7O%%-90% increase in boon duration. I think the ideal is 80%.
In an ideal situation 4 guardians can keep protection, retaliation, regeneration and swiftness and possibly might up on a party of 20 at all times.
In practice ofc these will drop off or overlap or missomeone but in general most of these buffs will be up most of the time on most of the people.
The ideal would be having 2 guardian per group. The ideal number of guardians is the total warband divided by the number of Guardians plus one.
This gives us redundancy in case some one misses is afk is dead etc. It also allows for the fact that you never stand beside the same people.
imagine a warband where everyone takes 30% less damage, gets 167 health back a second, does 300 damage to everyone that hits him and runs a third faster.
Married to this we reduce coldowns on staff and shield and increase duration of retaliation.
Its the basis for a tank wall. It synergises with other guardians having a simialr spec
Runes:
It also requires runes. it takes 5-6 dungeon runs to get them, one set is easily crafted.
Boon duration is a huge deal in support roles and one of the best traits a Guardian can spec into in my opinion. If you really want to go with another trait line though, you can supplement this with armor runes.
2 Superior Runes of the Water
2 Superior Runes of the Monk
2 Major Runes of Sanctuary
This combination will give you +healing, + vitality, and +40% boon duration increase.
This rune set along with +30 in Virtues will give you +70% boon duration increase. If you consume Chocolate Omnomberry Cream, that will add +20% to your boon duration for 30 minutes, for a total of 90% boon duration increase, which is beast mode for a support Guardian who’s throwing boons around to their teammate (Yes, your boon duration increases apply to those you put boons on).
The food :
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chocolate_Omnomberry_Cream
The raspberry version is a cheap alternative.
Traits:
The Valor Trait Line:
Valor starts out by giving you +10 toughness and +1% critical damage per point. At it's max, you can gain a total of +300 toughness and +30% critical damage
Purity – Adept Major Trait
This next adept major trait only benefits the Guardian themselves. Simply put it cures one condition you suffer every 10 seconds. It has good synergy with your healing skill Signet of Resolve which also cures a condition every 10 seconds. Combine these two and you will cure 2 conditions every 10 seconds instead of one.
Honorable Shield – Master Major Trait
If you are using a mace and shield combination, there's no reason you shouldn't pick up this trait. It will regenerate your shield skills 20% faster. This means more protection and more healing. The only problem is that this trait shares the same tier, Master, as Mace of Justice.
Altruistic Healing – Grandmaster Major Trait
This is also a very simple trait. It will heal you anytime you've placed a boon on allies. Considering how many skills and traits you get that will place boons on your allies, this is a very powerful trait choice. Use this skill especially if you plan on tanking the brunt of any damage.
The Honor Trait Line:
When you invest in this trait line you are going to directly boost your sustain by increasing your overall HP with +10 Vitality per point, while also giving you a very important +10 to healing powe
Selfless Daring – Master Minor Trait
Grants your dodge an AoE heal at the end of your roll. How epic is that? A free heal and it holds great synergy with Vigorous Precision. If your timing and positioning is exceptional,
Superior Aria – Adept Major Trait
Your shouts recharge 20% faster. There are so many important and useful adept major traits but I'd put this one in the top. If you recall my utility skills review,
Two-Handed Mastery – Master Major Trait
This trait grants all two-handed weapon skills a 20% quicker cooldown. It's a pretty self-explanatory trait but also a very powerful one.
The Virtues Trait Line:
he first and arguably the most powerful stat you receive per point in this line is +1% to boon duration.
Vengeful – Adept Major Trait-Any retaliation effect will last 25% longer
Elite Focus – Master Major Trait -your tome durations will increase from 20 seconds to 30
Shouts:
Shouts are very powerful utility skills that provide a great amount of supportive boons. When you use a shout, your character will actually shout out the name of the skill. I find this to be really cool and extremely useful in identifying what shout is being used. Hold the Line, the first shout, is one that I use often when supporting in a tough situation. When you cast this skill it will grant protection and health regeneration to all nearby allies. It's essentially an AoE heal effect that also provides defense. Retreat is the next shout and it provides your team the chance to retreat effectively. Casting this skill will grant all nearby allies Aegis and swiftness. What more could you ask for when attempting to disengage safely?
Oh, let's not forget the most important shout. Save Yourselves! I absolutely love this skill. This little beauty will pull ALL conditions from nearby allies onto yourself and then give you just about every boon you could think of. On top of that, it puts so many boons on you that it's difficult to break down what's going on in your buff area. Save Yourselves! Will grant you 10 seconds of fury, vigor, might, protection, regeneration, swiftness, and retaliation. Insane. The final shout seems to pale in comparison to the previous one but it has it's uses. Stand Your Ground will grant yourself and all nearby allies stability.
The second Elite skill is called Tome of Courage and when cast it will replace all of your active skills with new ones. It is essentially like you picked up a new weapon called a tome and wielded it. Its number 1 skill is called Heal Area and does just that, heals all allies in the targeted area. Number 2 is called Purifying Ribbon and is similar to the focus skill Ray of Judgment. When cast it will bounce off of nearby allies, curing them, while hitting enemies to blind. The 3 skill is really cool and it's called Protective Spirit. This will grant protection and regeneration to all allies in front of you in a cone radius. 4th is a skill called Pacifism and it will daze a target for 3 seconds. The 5th and final skill is one hellva spell. It's called Light of Deliverance and it will fully heal up to 5 nearby allies. Yes, a full heal, even if from 1 health.
Weapons:
Mace shield
Essentially, what makes the guardian a support type is the one-handed mace and shield combination. One of the best parts of the one-handed mace's skills is simply the auto-attack, which heals both yourself and all nearby allies upon the third strike. The mace's number 2 attack, Symbol of Faith, is the most important of almost any skills you wield as a support guardian. Symbol of Faith smashes the ground in front of you to create a ring which gives regeneration to all allies within it and does damage to enemies every second. . The third and final mace skill is Protector's Strike, which will channel a shield in a small area around yourself and allies. This shield will block the next attack which would hit either you or any allies within the circle and damage the enemies within range. If the shield is not hit and broken, it will grant protection to all allies within range. The protection buff gives 33% damage reduction for a few seconds. Note that while you channel Protector's Strike, you can not attack.
Staff:
The staff offers with it a good combination of range, damage, and healing abilities. The first ability, which is your auto-attack, is a short ranged burst wave which will hit up to 5 targets in front of you. It's a fairly quick cast and can put out some decent damage. Your second ability, on number 2, is Orb of Light. This will send out a fairly large and slow moving orb toward your target which will damage any enemy it passes through. You can activate this ability a second time in order to detonate this orb which will heal all nearby allies.
If you are a fair distance away or even up close it can be difficult to determine exactly when you should explode the orb to heal nearby allies. I think this skill is very much something a new player will screw up a lot, but I also hope that players who spend a lot of time getting accustomed to it will be able to make it really shine in combat. The staff's third ability is called Symbol of Swiftness and just like Symbol of Faith, it can be enhanced with traits. I find this ability to mainly be good for traveling across a map as it's main function is to grant allies who pass through it swiftness. It's secondary effect is that it also damages any enemies inside it. When I am planning on doing a lot of traveling I always keep a staff in my equipped. The fourth ability for a staff can be considered it's most powerful and supportive skill of all of them. It's called Empower and it's a channeled spell, meaning you can't do anything while you are casting it. It's also got a fairly long cast time, at least 3 seconds I'd say, so be sure your not going to get killed while trying to use it. Empower will grant yourself and all nearby allies might while channeling, which improves your power. Once the channeling of Empower is completed, it will heal all nearby allies, which I think includes yourself but I'm not certain. This is a great spell for improving your party's effectiveness while also giving out a big burst heal. If you have a staff equipped use this skill every time it's off cooldown. The staff's final skill is something more situational than anything, but can be used to help you get away. It's called Line of Warding and does just about that. It makes a line across the ground where you cast it that will block any enemies from passing through.
PS Always have Wall of Reflection, always
