Follow up to Bloody Pulp

[Rob626]

<p>So after experimenting with a very offensively based build and discovering that death came very quickly,  I would like to hear some ideas on the best defensive aa build.  Let's assume that hate and dps are not concerns and think only of increasing survivability.  What aa selections would allow foes (both pvp and pve) to beat on a guardian until they give up in frustration and head out to the pub?</p>

[Bhuhdiy]

I've gone round and round with AA's, and I've finally settled on one I'm happy with. STA 4/5/8/8 STR 4/4/8/8 Yes, back to the old buckler spec (I don't think I have to tell you how much 86% to double attack helps with agro), but don't read too much into that.  I use the buckler for all trash, and for any named that presents problems with agro for our raid.  For the harder hitting named, I have a simple solution - equip my tower shield *shrug*.  Most named encounters, I've found, raid members tend to be more careful with agro.  It's on the trash where everyone tries to see how big their [I cannot control my vocabulary]is and who can top the dps list. So with 86% double attack, +10% hate and extra crits (STR line), agro has been much less of an issue.  You just have to make sure the raid understands that you will be generating less agro when the situation calls for your tower shield, warn them beforehand, and that if they pull agro on the boss you will have their [I cannot control my vocabulary]surgically removed.  If your dps classes can't deal with this, it's not your problem, it's theirs. As to the argument for INT line and extra parry - my parry is usually capped (raid buffed) at 455.  Most boss mobs' offensive abilities have been super-buffed to the point where parry isn't gonna help you anyway, you're mainly relying on your riposte and block.  Look at your log sometime, for a fight like Treyloth.  See any parry's in there? not many... blocks? ripostes? misses? ... yeah. I've also found it's usually reasonably safe, once a tough named mob is fully debuffed, to throw the buckler on for a bit - especially while short term mit bufs are up.  Just be aware that while your tower shield is in your bag, your healers are having to heal you a lot more often, and may be having trouble keeping up with the debuffs.  I like to throw the buckler on during named encounters off and on for 10-15 seconds at a time if agro tends to be a problem for that fight, but only after the mob us FULLY debuffed, and I always make sure to have the tower on for the majority of the fight. Oh and one other thing, the Guardian specific AAs, the 2nd set of 50, increasing the damage of all your hard hitting CA's is a good investment for generating more agro.

[Ep]

If your a raid tank. imo the only defensive option is to go down the last line in the Guardian/eof tree(stalwarting i believe?) argue how you might but block/decreased tos/ plant/ and increased timers on wall and more mit on command , are about the only things that'll help you be more defensive. sure you can debuff, longer, more, but other classes do it better. after that you can look at the warrior tree, but aside from the end line agi, 12s parry you really do not have any defensive options. Def+parry get near or are max'd for raid tanks, so agi/int line in effect are negated and str/sta are truely dps lines in nature. Wis line well it stands to reason that spending 8aa points for 300mit just ain't what it used to be. Also as a guard, your buffs pretty much negate the penalties for end line wis aa.(sure you can have more, but you'll still be one leg up on the other fighters, who need a templar/warden in order to have suffiencent skill to even hit the mob.