Support Guardian

October 2024

Build offers good sustain for allies and self with lots of application and good revive capabilities, while having decent mobility.

Build fundamentals

Your main role as a support is to heal, sustain and revive your allies, either in team fights or when a sidenoder is under pressure. During fights, avoid standing in the center of the fight or on the node, as you are rather squishy. Try to stand at ~600 range and heal from a safe distance.

Healing

Both your weapon sets offer a good amount of healing, Holy Strike and Empower in staff, and Shield of Absorption > Shield of Absorption on the shield can be used to heal, but all of those can have more situational uses (Holy Strike is blast finisher, Empower can be used to stack while helping maintain pressure, and finally Shield of Absorption can push the enemy off the node or off the kiting spot and absorb projectiles.

Additionally Virtue of Resolve and "Receive the Light!" offer strong healing while also cleansing.

You should also be aware of the “passive” healing your build offers, and use it more actively. Selfless Daring heals around you after a Dodge, and  Pure of Heart makes every you apply heal after it blocks. Shield of Judgment and "Advance!" are your best ways to apply .

On top of the healing you provide to others, you will also heal yourself with Altruistic Healing while providing boons, and boon application on this build is very good.

Condition cleansing

You can cleanse directly with Virtue of Resolve, or utilize your traits and combo fields.

The combination of Pure of Voice and Relic of the Trooper makes all your shouts cleanse 2 conditions on any allies affected and blast Holy Strike on top of a symbol, usually Symbol of Swiftness, will AoE cleanse.

Note: while "Stand Your Ground!" is a shout, it should be used to stunbreak or apply rather than condition cleanse.

Gameplay tips

Your main panic button is Renewed Focus, make sure to not waste it early in the fight. You can first try to use Symbol of Blades and the from "Advance!" or Symbol of Swiftness to escape. Line of Warding can help yourself or an ally kite away but you can also use it to interrupt skills.

While reviving or using Signet of Mercy, use "Stand Your Ground!" or Virtue of Courage to make sure you’re not interrupted. If possible, try to revive manually before using Signet of Mercy to make use of Protective Reviver.

Aside from boons, use Virtue of Justice when allies are around you to grant them extra damage.

If you find yourself not using shield much, you can switch your Stalwart Defender for Redemption as it is also a good trait.

Matchups

Despite having a lot of sources of condition cleanse, this build actually struggles against condition builds.

Alternatives

• Rune of the Guardian is a viable option.
• Relic of the Defender is good self-sustain if there’s very little condition pressure from the enemy team.