Currently in the process of unlocking the different Elite Specs for Guardian. This video might be a year old by now, but it's so useful for learning about Willbender, amazing
For exotics, one way to bypass the armor crystals is craft the Harrier's Warbeast armor. You can buy/farm the recipies up, prices vary, but the mats tend to be way cheaper than actually crafting celestial or trailblazer. You craft the armor then select the stat you want (it is account bound).
Another option could be the Bladed armor from Verdant Brink. If you've got a lot of airship parts, you can trade them in for 5/6 armor pieces, with the chest armor being obtainable from the map's night meta. You can even score the head and shoulder armor pieces from airship cargo.
Thank you so much for telling me that Firebrand is for Teams, and Willbender for Solo. I mostly solo, and just started a Guardian after playing an Engineer, and all I've heard is Firebrand. I also appreciate the information you've given on pre-level 80 builds. It's been very helpful when starting out. As you said in your other video, a lot of veterans have forgotten what it's like to start new, and everything is based on a meta level 80 raid build. I started an Engineer 4 years ago, stopped playing for 4 years, and now have no idea what I'm doing. All of the updates seem to make a lot of videos/information obsolete, making it even harder to get information. Thanks for helping out
Always nice to see one of your "One Build" for all game modes videos that uses armor that I already have spent time crafting Ascended versions of. I think I will enjoy Willbender more with Celestial armor, as it felt too squishy when I first tried it after release using Viper's gear
You can technically bypass the Charged Quartz timegate by opening Wintersday Gifts or Trick or Treat bags, both of which have a chance to drop Charged Quartz (though Wintersday Gift has a higher chance). I do this time to time when I cba to get it daily
I just came here to say that I love how your guardian looks. Sylvari is actually a fitting race for that profession, because they value chivalry and have lots of Arthurian and Celtic influences ^^ Definitely thinking about creating a Sylvari Guardian myself now ^^
oh dang... I was sitting there trying to figure out why the willbender build wasnt showing up from the build comp video you made. I really like using greatsword... and liked the build from that video, but the build on the page didnt match the one from the other video. Looking forward to seeing this build and seeing if greatsword is still viable in this iteration.
@@GrubySzymek yeah I've been running around with this build for a few days now. I had to put together mats for the armor and runes. Its extremely fun. I'm very much enjoying it. The ability to dart from one target to the next is amazing. Feels crazy to have a guardian with this much mobility. I'm going to try the gs later today. Thanks for the tip.
Hm, didn't expect to see Celestial here. Played plenty of it when EoD just dropped, didn't feel the oomph compared to cele firebrand, honestly. Swapped to a Power variant, which is also a rather versatile one, but in the end, I'm glad that it's still a thing and it works good for you :) P. S. Also to me Rolling Light > Stand Your Ground at all times. 15 sec CD (in pve) stunbreak with a free CC attached to it, who needs 5man stab anyway :D
It makes more sense to split gear sets between PvE and PvP imo, since this kinda excludes any kind of endgame PvE stuff. And since you can do 99% of OW content with raiding gear very easily by adjusting traits or just a few gear pieces only (if at all), it makes more sense to use that as a starting point. When you include pvp, people going for strikes/raids/group open world content will find themselves in a situation where would be better off with a completely different gear set after all. This isn't meant to hate on these videos (not at all!), they're very well made and provide lots of valuable information, but on the PvE side of things, you can do quite a bit better compared to what's suggested here.
If you want to run raid builds then you should run raid builds, but raid builds are not flexible and will be much more punished in situations they aren't optimal than open world builds where they aren't. If you think raids are more important than PvP, well then that's your point of view, but there are many people who want to just get raids done and move on.
@@Vallun Raid builds are very flexible, a lot more than snowcrows etc. make them come across. Just change traits + just a few gear pieces and you can solo any HP/bounty, and pretty easily. And there's more than raids: fractals, strikes and OW meta events all have similar requirements compared to raids, while the requirements for PvP/WvW are very different. OW is kinda in between them because you need some personal survivability, but for pretty much all OW content people would be better off running raid gear with minor tweaks. That's why I said it makes more sense to seperate PvE and PvP and have seperate builds & gear for them. It's not really an opinion or a point of view, just a matter of efficiency. And i wanted to make people aware because it seems to be a question coming up repeatedly in the comments under several of these videos.
@@MaselMMO It makes a lot of sense to me because this is how I play the game, I try not to adhere to "requirements" others set for me. and when I do group content I don't expect others to adhere to anything besides a basic role and the game's mechanics
Hello @Vallun - is this Build still viable even with the current state of the game/balance patch? And shouldnt you not just straight use Greatsword since what I saw as occasionaly newbie in this game for over 10 years now that in the guardian lifecycle it seems to NEVER had any better weapon for Guardian than the GS all along.
This is great been wanting to play gw2 Classes was hard but been thinking guardian this really helps so end game question I’ve been thinking a class that can do anything
hey Vallun, Example at 12:23 I notice your skill markers on ground don't show up, do you have some setting set to just Activate automatically where your curser is placed? I Can't find it in the options. Let me know :) subbed.
@@Vallun OH - interesting, I was looking only at the check-boxes! ... Thanks!! - it's a drop down box/option for the main thing "Combat/Movement - Ground Targeting" - Good Luck to you.
@@Vallun I suppose being able to choose an open world suited build by DPS would give players even more freedom to choose. I sometimes wonder if my build does any damage or is it 5k dps and I am just shooting everyone in the foot around me.
@@DrSharpSaw Cele doesn't do 5k dps on guardian, it's in the range of 18-25k. This is not a raid build, it's a versatile build. Cele guardian easily one of the absolute strongest builds for any PvE content aside from raiding. I've been running cele HB/FB in fractal CM's for more than a year and I can't tell you how many times it carries just because it doesn't get downed in one hit to every boss attack like many toxic tryhards in berserker/viper's. It's amazing how fun the game is, and how enjoyable your groups can be when people aren't constantly staring at a DPS meter like it's the holy bible.
@@WarlogicGaming Though it's also very nice when your group melts the boss with ease without having to repeat same mechanics for 5 minutes :? Glass half empty, half full situation. I do agree cele FB is strong. But I doubt many builds can pump those numbers on cele.
Willbender or Dragon hunter for playing solo ?? (already built your Firebrand but I find it more useful as a support; still really good for everything)
Hey Vallun, I'm using your gear from your firebrand build, just want to ask 2 main questions. 1) For your will bender, is rune of the fireworks fine? (Only have 1 set of gears, and I still want to play the firebrand sometimes) 2) What are your thoughts on Balthazar vs firework runes?
@@Vallun I'm actually in the same situation, using both your builds and can`t decide which one to go with. Are there runes that would work on both of your builds so you could swap between them? If Balthazar is already the answer, i did not get it :) sorry
@@Vallun Would maybe durability runes be a good choice as well for all around on both FB and Willbender builds? I also only have 1 set of celestial gear for the Firebrand build and now this Willbender build like OP stated. I see that this Willbender WvW build has durability runes. I am in between Balthazar and Durability runes because I still play Celestial FB for PvE group content and also Willbender in WvW. So I am wondering if durability runes would be the choice. Thoughts?
Hey Vallun, I'm really loving the Cele build for Firebrand. Given that I tend to switch specialization a lot, and Defender Runes costs charged quartz, do you think it's better to use Firework for Willbender? or Defenders for Firebrand if I only have 1 set of ascended celestial gear?
@@Vallun Oh wow! Thank you very much for replying! I’m really enjoying Celestial FB at the moment! I’m able to do stuff that I usually can’t do, but now I can do it with ease! I’m yet to try the Cele Willbender! i bet it’s more fast paced! The only thing that I really get conscious about is whenever I join a party like for Fractals or Strike. I really get conscious when they ask what role am I. With Cele FB or Cele Willbender, it’s safe to say that I can be a DPS role, right? I’m really loving this build! I might not have the highest DPS, but I make it up for the utilities that I can provide to the team. And not to mention, I rarely go downstate with this build!
@@Vallun Hi Vallun! Quick question, same scenario, if I only have 1 set of celestial armor, and I tend to go FB with groups and Willbender solo, what’s better? Defender Runes or Balthazar?
@@Vallun What do you think about vampirism runes? I've gotten so used to them with my dragonhunter that I feel very squishy with other runes when pulling a pack of mobs and bursting them down. They proc off a kill so they're different compared to defenders, but on the other hand they provide power&vitality (defender's 5% and vampirism's 10% heals scale with total hp instead of healing, unless the wording it totally misleading), heal more, and are dirt cheap (this mostly matters to new players, of course).
Last time I needed charged quartz I spent 3/4 of a year charging it daily so now I have a full stack of 250 OUTSIDE the bank space "just in case". I think I would never to charge quartz again...
What does your average burst look like in PvE? I really like your use of the more defensive conceited curate and rune of the defender, but concerned about the DPS loss if dropping Balthazar Runes and searing pact.
Been running around with this for a couple days now. By no means do I have the playstyle or keybinds down, as I just started playing again for the first time since HoT, but I haven't had much issue with dps. This build even when I don't do a great rotation Burns through targets during the events and content I've done. I've been able to solo some champions that back during HoT release I got rolled on most the time. So I'd say its pretty solid. Probably more so when played even better.
balthazar is good too, but generally the build has enough damage yet lacks sustain, getting even more damage doesnt work so well if you cant survive long enough to dish it out
I was working on cele gear anyway because of the old Firebrand build for every mode you had, but I was looking at Willbender and really thought cele would work on that too. I don't have the abundance of charged quartz stocked for the runes, so would the runes suggested in the WvW build link (durability) suffice in PvE too?
I do HoT Verdant Brink meta for chests/airship parts for stat select reward boots/helm/gloves/shoulders and then do pvp glorious reward track to get the stat select chest and legs (I think three is a WvW track too) Even done casually a full set really doesn’t take that long. I find this the easiest and cheapest way to get a full set of your choice stats.
aww man... and i already have a full 6pc Dragon stats armour all ready.... Vallun's build vids always makes me regret my decision on stat changing my asc gears
It's fine!, just look up a Power Willbender guide! That's pretty versatile and fun to play as well, sword/sword is more of a power weapon set anyway and you can chose between scepter/focus or greatsword for 2nd weapon. It's not as top tier in pve as a condi willbender, but still quite good in open world.
@@Vallun About your build on guildjen as "hybrid WB", may I ask you why would you suggest using a Potent Master Tuning Crystal (3% precision / 8% expertise) in a build with 0 expertise? Wouldn’t it be a far better option to use a Toxic Focusing Crystal (3% power / 3% precision), as power is one of the main stats of this build?
IIRC Willbender already has 25% movement speed in a minor trait so it's a bit of a waste. But that being said the boon and condi duration isn't bad. I don't have a recommendation for cele though since I play power Willbender though. I do have a friend I havoc with in WvW that plays viper cele mix Willbender with Durability runes.
@@Vallun thank you for your answer and im sorry for asking you a lot of questions, i have finally open willbender class (just now), and able to place 2 swords in the weapon slots (main hand and off hand), but i only got 3 weapon skills when i use the sword in my off hand. from your video i saw that the sword in your off hand slot says "either hand", do i need to find an "either hand" sword or am i doing something wrong?
you could but you should try the raid builds at guildjen.com for that since raids/wvw zerging are the few areas of the game that have extremely specific builds
@@inglodatara i mean in the opening sequence you could see a 20k burn tick during the burst, but saying "this does 20k dps" is just not relevant because in what situation? with what buffs?
I have been playing ALOT aroundd PvE and somewhat decent at WvW roaming and dueling. But I gotta say a few things about this guide. The PvE build which is shown is not viable in Fractals, Fracs CM or Raids. Granted, the survival is decent, but the DPS and support is severely lacking to compete in these areas of content, and usually some notice to the enemies attack patterns and basic movement and dodging is pretty much a guarantee to not only become a better performing player, but also maximizing the build output. The use of Unscathed Contender in WvW somewhat baffles me, as you would not be able to actually keep any Aegis to benefit from this trait, unless you aim to fight afk players.
Well, I admit there is not way I could listen to your obvious babbling for nearly half an hour, life is too short for that. I checked the Equipment section that you decided to bookmark - and hey, isn't this video one build for all? Make yourself clear next time teeny-weeny "creator".
@@Vallun so... when i join your group and do nothing userfull you cant kick me or else you toxic? Looks like leech stance. Can't see on your video dps meter and boons uptime btw.
I like your vids.. but this game is hacked to death at this point. You got Willbenders popping 50 stacks of Might solo......people taking NO dmg ever............no CD's......lol. it is pretty.. but it is a P2W all the way.......thru gold and gear.....then the BS.
@@hurt12398 you could download the game tomorrow and buy your top gear in a day thru $$$ to buy gold and gems. Pretty straight forward. The game is fun and pretty.
