Soloing with a Guard

[sasulkin]

Hi guys, I recently made a fae guardian and have lvled up to 22.I am currently in the Sta Line with 3  points in the double attack ability, that is as far as I have gotten.I really like the class because of how well we tank but the problem  I am having is soloing.The problem is that I just cannot put out enough damage. I can barely fight an even con solo encounter, and I cannot do a blue group solo encounter without dying.I run out of power and then just sit there and die while autoattacking.What I am wondering is if it gets any easier to solo or will I be stuck LFG for the rest of my career?Thanks so much guys!<div></div>

[Astery]

/LFG

[Siniac]

I soloed my guard most of the way to 70.  It's tough but it can be done.  Of course he was a twink with all Mastercrafted and Adept 3's.  Stamina AA line is a must for the soloing guard.It will be much much better for you to group though.  Much much much better.<div></div>

[coochic]

 No problem solo'ing with my guardian. But like the other guy my guard is a twink so, i'm not sure what normal DPS would be from a guardian. Mine kills fine, blue heroics no problem. 

[Freliant]

because of the changes that happened, the tank lines have lost 90% of their dps. Its no fault of your own, we just were really hit hard with the nerf bat. Prior to the update, tanks would do 500dps on average at level 70. Now, they barely break 145dps... its really sad.

[Drucha]

A couple of observations I'd add from my Level 37 Guardian:1) We seem to depend far more on our armour and weapons than some classes. I'll keep skills at App4 rather than Ad1 or 3 and spend the cash on armour and weapons. The rather...high...price of Guardian Adepts past 30 was also a factor there though. Basically, spend cash on good armour, then a good weapon (take a look at a marauder morningstar if you hae the cash), then skills.2) A trick I've been using to basically get a 'free' shot at the enemy - use shield bash, jump backwards, quickly switch to ranged combat and then return to your normal rhythm. If it works, you character will knock down the enemy, jump back, fire off an arrow and then re-engage in melee. If the arrow hits, it can potentially serve an extra 300+ damage in the 30s over just staying in punching range3) As AAs go, I drove hard into the wisdom line (although I was using a mace at the time so belly smash was a handy thing to have). As it stands, I'd argue that the extra DPS, mitigation and ultimately the removal of stance penalties more than outweighs the 4 points sunk into wisdom.<div></div>

[Skeptycal]

___________________________ because of the changes that happened, the tank lines have lost 90% of their dps. Its no fault of your own, we just were really hit hard with the nerf bat. Prior to the update, tanks would do 500dps on average at level 70. Now, they barely break 145dps... its really sad. ___________________________ I have not noticed this amazing drop in dps AT ALL. I have noticed I get hit harder by most everything, but my dps hasn't changed much in parses. What types of fights have you seen this dramatic change in dps? <div></div>

[TuinalOfTheNexus]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Freliant wrote:<BR> because of the changes that happened, the tank lines have lost 90% of their dps. Its no fault of your own, we just were really hit hard with the nerf bat. Prior to the update, tanks would do 500dps on average at level 70. Now, they barely break 145dps... its really sad.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>This is untrue, I was parsing ~500 last night (HoS). The effects of the update are only really noticable versus orange con epics, and even then 145 would mean you would no longer be the tank, because the mobs would be attacking the rest of the raid.</P> <P>Solo, very little difference post-LU, it's still, and always has been awful to solo as a Guardian.</P> <P>My advice to the OP:</P> <P>- Firstly, if you only want to solo, seriously contemplate betraying to Berserker. They are, hands down, a better solo class. Not even a debate about it. What Guardians offer is the best raid tanking, and the best group tanking against tough encounters (e.g. CMM, Nizara). They remain inferior to Berserkers in exp grind groups.</P> <P>- If you decide you want to stay as a Guardian;</P> <UL> <LI>Solo always in offensive stance. The added longevity of defensive stance never offsets the loss in DPS from misses / lower str.</LI> <LI>Learn to use shield bash as a strategic tool. One trick is to shield bash, take a short few steps back, then use Entrench. You effectively gain ~7 seconds with the mob rooted out of auto-attack range, but within CA range. This lets you use bow attacks and CAs whilst stopping the mob from attacking you. To further increase the duration of the root, activate Wall of Brawn first, then your CAs have a chance of extending the root by 10 seconds.</LI> <LI>Any means you can use to slow / root mobs is a big advantage. The new glacial temper adornments offer a 20-second snare proc, which you can use to bow kite (although at lower levels the snare is such a low % this might not be feasible).</LI></UL> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[coochic]

 Yeah, i disagree with the DPS nerfing. I'm still very much the same in my damage.

[Terron]

I mostly solo with my guard who is now level 61.I started just after LU13 and at that stage soloing a single solo blue mob was beyond me.Things improved gradually.Imediately after the last update soloing seemed to have got significantly worse. I was taking a lot more damage, but it seems to have been adjusted back, so that now I take only a little more damage than before.Running OOP during a fight happens quite often, but that need not mean you loose the fight.You are in a race  - who can lower the opponents health to zero fast enough.That does not just depend on your ability to do damage, but also on your ability to reduce the enemies ability to damage you.You have CAs that debuff DPS and and attack skills. At level 40 (iirc) you get one that dazes the target for a while (prevents autoattacks).For equipment the most important thing is an master-crafted imbued chest piece - the healing proc is very important when soloing. You get hit a lot so it procs frequently. So get out and harvest until you have a steel and a sparkling item then ask a armoursmith to make it up for you (much cheaper than buying one). Perhaps as an interrim get a imbued carbonite chest armour, which will probably be cheaper.Then get the rest of your armour upgraded to AQ stuff or mastercrafted. You do know that there is a series of quests for armour (AQs) that you can start at level 20?Get yourself a decent weapon. There are several HQs that provide legendary weapons as rewards, but you will need a few more levels first.Do the training is a shield HQ for the shiney brass shield once you can. You will need a group to do it shortly after level 30 - but groups for HQs are generally fairly easy to get. Unfortunately ends with a long and tedious raid inn Deathfist Citadel, but there is a side quest that gives some good armour there (Prince Agak (sp?)).Get some power regen potions for when you do go OOP.Imbued rings of strength and stamina are good - they will proc frequently for better in-combat health regen and DPS.Once you are high enough getting a prismatic weapon with its large power regen is very useful. I got fabled weapons from the one DoF raid I've been on, but still have my prismatic sword hotkeyed to swap in when my power drops.I've gone doen the strength line of AAs - the final ability (increased crits and DPS when under 50% health) is useless for grouping but seems to be making a significant differece when soloing.Sorry I've gone on a bit.Yes soloing a guard is hard.Guards are very dependant on equipment, concentrate on improving that by harvest and doingn the quests that provide good stuff.It may get worse, but will get better if you stick at it.<div></div>

[Illmarr]

<P>I mostly solo'd my Guardian (My main and first toon on present server) to current level, grouping mainly to finish HQs. Never killed without a quest involved, so no exp grinds. At 66 I have no issues soloing single, non-heroic mobs 2-3 levels above me, but I have all Adept 3 arts and a couple of Masters (Though for the life of me the level 57 defensive hate proc may as well be app1 as often as I see "tries to confound soandso with Hold the Line but soandso resists" spam)  <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>Harvest! Harvest everything. Ore for armor and weapons/Shield. Loam for Combat Arts. Every tier starting with T4 I always made sure I had imbued BP/Legs and 2 imbued weapons. (This is probably changed to be a mastercrafted one hander and a Shield for most though, I didn't have access to APs at the start). I never bothered with a full seven piece set until I hit 62, just made sure I had the BP/Legs. I try to do as many quests as I can before they green out, so I've always filled my invisible slots with quest rewards or drops and managed to be able to progress just fine (In my opinion, YMMV.) Never pay retail on the broker. That's for people gearing up twinks <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Harvest your rares, offer a nice donation and have your arts and gear comissioned by a Tradeskiller, you'll both be happy.</P> <P>Also on weapons now, compare the imbue effect vs an adornment, since you cannot have both on the same player made weapon. The Polished Granite Tomahawk quest I've done on all three of my melee characters. Can get it at 25 The +power proc and ward are nice for soloing. Head to the Thundering Steppes and learn to speak Giant to be able to get started. Training is a Shield you can get at 32 in Zek.</P> <P>I'm not sure yet if Fae have Armor Quests like there were in Qeynos and Freeport, but if you've followed all the quest lines out of GFay, the starting quests in BB give level 17 stuff with a total of +8-10 to stats and an average of 15 health/power items.</P> <P> </P> <P>For now try and stick to solo encounters. Lots of times group encounters come with a healer in them, so if you don't burn it down first you'll just get worn down. Change the color on spell messages so you can easily see the message when "soandso calls upon ancesteral spirits" or curative spirits or some variation on that. Then use the taunt or Shield Bash or Kick to interrupt the cast.</P>