Well, if I am to choose between a tanking spec with 40k HP and 1300 Regen whose role is to stand there like a training dummy soaking damage, and a more aggressive build with lower defense stats and a hint of aggression, I would go for the second.
I understand that some people get the 'role in premades' too seriously, but personally I wouldn't care less about fighting people with R10s and perfect and still coming on top. Since I don't have a guild to run premades vs premades, I would go for the spec that is more fun for regular solo queues. But anyway that's just me, and you are right that if you are up against R10s-Perfect lolstombers then you need to get as Tanky as possible.
1300 Regen is to low. If you are going for a Deflect/Regen build you can easily get 12% now with Artifacts and around 40K HP. This adds a good amount of healing / survival and allows you to 1v2 pretty easily in pugs and destroy players. You do a lot more damage than you think.
About that kiting of the enemies: is not the T2 PvP Set now an option with the artifacts at hand which could boost Recovery and Regeneration which both the T2 PvP Set is lacking? I chose Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue and whould have a 15% Run Speed Increase at least.
But Armour Penetration and Crit Chance would still be bad.
Once I get all 3 of my Artifacts leveled up and finish my rank 10's I'll test out the PvP T2 Set. The set gives a huge amount of HP and the run speed combined with more block would be a nice addition.
Once I get all 3 of my Artifacts leveled up and finish my rank 10's I'll test out the PvP T2 Set. The set gives a huge amount of HP and the run speed combined with more block would be a nice addition.
The block gain is nice, but the speed gain is somewhat meh.
Basically, you are not gonna be able to Rush to a TR or CW if they decide to shift away, nor can u catch a GWF on sprint. And forget about the HR, ur only choice is to use Lunging strike.
I try that set for a bit and then realize if I want something mobile I would go GWF for the sprint. You can't build a GF into a GWF...
But again it is just my opinion, it might fit your playstyle never know till u try, especially if u go Tactician I would see the value of PVP T2 set.
The block gain is nice, but the speed gain is somewhat meh.
Basically, you are not gonna be able to Rush to a TR or CW if they decide to shift away, nor can u catch a GWF on sprint. And forget about the HR, ur only choice is to use Lunging strike.
I try that set for a bit and then realize if I want something mobile I would go GWF for the sprint. You can't build a GF into a GWF...
But again it is just my opinion, it might fit your playstyle never know till u try, especially if u go Tactician I would see the value of PVP T2 set.
I ran a speed build a long time ago with the T2 PvP Set + Darks. You can actually move pretty quick and if you throw in Into the Fray you move like a bullet. But the Set gives a lot of HP, so it helps balance out the lost of regen with the added HP. The set is pretty nice with the bonus power & deflect + movement speed allows you to dodge GF/GWFs better and catch up to CW's with shield up.
I ran a speed build a long time ago with the T2 PvP Set + Darks. You can actually move pretty quick and if you throw in Into the Fray you move like a bullet. But the Set gives a lot of HP, so it helps balance out the lost of regen with the added HP. The set is pretty nice with the bonus power & deflect + movement speed allows you to dodge GF/GWFs better and catch up to CW's with shield up.
I reckon myself to sit around points most of the time... I normally don't try to chase a good player regardless of class since I can be kited... regardless of class lol how funny is that. If I decide to chase that poor ******* I get on my mount
Hey DK, started playing NW a few days ago, and am currently a level 51 guardian fighter. Being the rebel that I am, I decided to spec for dps, or at least as much as I could get. Although to my dismay, i realized that the guide I was following was vastly outdated (was made back in august and wasn't updated for a long time). So here I am, asking if dps GF is still viable, or if I wasted my time leveling up a GF instead of a GWF.
When running with that tree for tanking PvE, what would you use as powers?
I assume Cleave and Threatening Rush for at-will powers.
Lunging Strike, Knight's Valor, and Frontline Surge for encounter powers.
Fighter's Recovery for one daily and I'm not sure what the other would be... Villain's Menace?
Enhanced Mark and Trample the Fallen make the most sense for passives.
Lakini, Halfling Guardian Fighter Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric Dragon Shard
i like the guide of yours, gives a lot of useful insight!
mostly based on information in here i created a power/feat selection for my girlfriend's GF (PvE tank). the only one exception so far is that i chose 1/3 shielded resurgence and did put them into weapon mastery for more crit.
but i am a bit undecided about the final 10 feat points.
i like shield defense, it's a great passive feat. of course, to get it, one takes plate agility, which is also nice (though i don't have a very high opinion on deflect in NWO due to the crappy deflect severity).
from the reading, also "fight on" sounds pretty impressive, though. i wonder whether you have some thoughts on this feat, since in your feat suggestions you always choose some other feat over it (shield defense, crushing pin, plate agility)
i also wonder whether you have a post in which you explain why you prefer conqueror path over tactician. i mean, looking at the feats of conqueror, they all are great and that path is kinda obvious. but i did read many of your posts in here and you seem to be an super dedicated team player. but with a good team, ITF could provide much more than what conqueror gives, no? i guess you tested it all and figured that it either doesn't fit your play style or it did not work that great (maybe threat issues?) or the bonus is so minor that it doesn't really matter.
i just wonder whether you can tell me whether i find a more detailed opinion of yours about this somewhere here. a "check the first 10 pages" is good enough for me :P
oh, one other thing: there is no need to put more than one point in combat superiority, right?
good job i like the fact that you are still active and keep things updated
some remarks about the guide itself:
a) "into the fray" is not bold in your guide, in case someone just glances over your guide, he/she could overlook this
b) in your race section maybe some stat advice would be good. i personally would assume that STR/CON is best for PvE (both tank and DPS) and my preferred starting stat allocation would be 15/16/13/11/11/9, i guess (swaps STR for DEX, but gives 1% increased recovery in return in comparison to the 16/16/12 roll). for my girlfriend this is already too late (she has a high DEX drow now ), but it can help some other newcomers
Hey DK, started playing NW a few days ago, and am currently a level 51 guardian fighter. Being the rebel that I am, I decided to spec for dps, or at least as much as I could get. Although to my dismay, i realized that the guide I was following was vastly outdated (was made back in august and wasn't updated for a long time). So here I am, asking if dps GF is still viable, or if I wasted my time leveling up a GF instead of a GWF.
PvE full DPS GF is fine and I have a build using Knights Cap /w Life Steal.
PvP you can simple swap gear to Deflect/Regen and still destroy pugs in PvP. You can go no gear at all and still destroy pugs in PvP because GF is just a very strong class.
When running with that tree for tanking PvE, what would you use as powers?
I assume Cleave and Threatening Rush for at-will powers.
Lunging Strike, Knight's Valor, and Frontline Surge for encounter powers.
Fighter's Recovery for one daily and I'm not sure what the other would be... Villain's Menace?
Enhanced Mark and Trample the Fallen make the most sense for passives.
PVE:
Encounters: Anvil (or Enforced Threat), Lunge, Knights Valor
Daily: Fighters Recovery and SoS
Passive: Trample the Fallen and Combat Superiority (or Enhanced Mark)
i like the guide of yours, gives a lot of useful insight!
mostly based on information in here i created a power/feat selection for my girlfriend's GF (PvE tank). the only one exception so far is that i chose 1/3 shielded resurgence and did put them into weapon mastery for more crit.
but i am a bit undecided about the final 10 feat points.
i like shield defense, it's a great passive feat. of course, to get it, one takes plate agility, which is also nice (though i don't have a very high opinion on deflect in NWO due to the crappy deflect severity).
from the reading, also "fight on" sounds pretty impressive, though. i wonder whether you have some thoughts on this feat, since in your feat suggestions you always choose some other feat over it (shield defense, crushing pin, plate agility)
i also wonder whether you have a post in which you explain why you prefer conqueror path over tactician. i mean, looking at the feats of conqueror, they all are great and that path is kinda obvious. but i did read many of your posts in here and you seem to be an super dedicated team player. but with a good team, ITF could provide much more than what conqueror gives, no? i guess you tested it all and figured that it either doesn't fit your play style or it did not work that great (maybe threat issues?) or the bonus is so minor that it doesn't really matter.
i just wonder whether you can tell me whether i find a more detailed opinion of yours about this somewhere here. a "check the first 10 pages" is good enough for me :P
oh, one other thing: there is no need to put more than one point in combat superiority, right?
good job i like the fact that you are still active and keep things updated
some remarks about the guide itself:
a) "into the fray" is not bold in your guide, in case someone just glances over your guide, he/she could overlook this
b) in your race section maybe some stat advice would be good. i personally would assume that STR/CON is best for PvE (both tank and DPS) and my preferred starting stat allocation would be 15/16/13/11/11/9, i guess (swaps STR for DEX, but gives 1% increased recovery in return in comparison to the 16/16/12 roll). for my girlfriend this is already too late (she has a high DEX drow now ), but it can help some other newcomers
Deflect is a flat 50% damage reduction that can not be mitigated. Since most GF's will have around a 50% DR, this gives another way to reduce damage by 50%. It's why I've valued deflect.
As for GF Tanks - DPS Hybrid Conqueror or Pure Tank Tactician. You can use protection if you want but it's the least damage of the 3.
I'm currently running Tactician Deflect/Regen for MOD 2 as Iron Vanguard and really enjoying it. With the large amount of increased regen the class is becoming very tanky.
PVE:
Encounters: Anvil (or Enforced Threat), Lunge, Knights Valor
Daily: Fighters Recovery and SoS
Passive: Trample the Fallen and Combat Superiority (or Enhanced Mark)
Awesome, thank you.
I assumed Frontline Surge because of Reinforced Surge, which should have synergy with Trample the Fallen and Crushing Pin (I assume knocking someone prone counts as "controlling" them), and Pin Down which increases the duration of being prone. Also, if I'm building for PvE and I'm not using Frontline Surge, should I get Wrathful Warrior instead for extra DPS? Theoretically, I'm getting tHP from Take Measure and probably from a DC too. Alternatively, I could put those 5 points into Plate Agility to further boost up my deflection.
Thanks for all of these tips, I'm still learning.
Lakini, Halfling Guardian Fighter Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric Dragon Shard
I assumed Frontline Surge because of Reinforced Surge, which should have synergy with Trample the Fallen and Crushing Pin (I assume knocking someone prone counts as "controlling" them), and Pin Down which increases the duration of being prone. Also, if I'm building for PvE and I'm not using Frontline Surge, should I get Wrathful Warrior instead for extra DPS? Theoretically, I'm getting tHP from Take Measure and probably from a DC too. Alternatively, I could put those 5 points into Plate Agility to further boost up my deflection.
Thanks for all of these tips, I'm still learning.
I use frontline surge if I am doing damage vs. Knights Valor. Just depends on if the group needs me to do damage or keep them alive. The issue is Knights Valor can easily get you killed if you are playing with a TR or Companions. So I ONLY use Knights Valor with very good guildmates and all others I use frontline.
I use frontline surge if I am doing damage vs. Knights Valor. Just depends on if the group needs me to do damage or keep them alive. The issue is Knights Valor can easily get you killed if you are playing with a TR or Companions. So I ONLY use Knights Valor with very good guildmates and all others I use frontline.
That makes sense, thank you. That gives me an idea what to do. I was just confused how Trample the Fallen and similar buffs that only affect controlled or prone targets would proc with your setup, but I see how they'd be useful if you use Frontline Surge in some situations.
Lakini, Halfling Guardian Fighter Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric Dragon Shard
Hi there. I want to be a half elf guardian. Why half elf? Because I love this race. I played half elf in Neverwinter Nights. But I know nothing about stats. What stats do I need for half elf guardian? Can someone please tell me? I would be very grateful.
"The only race that really makes any difference is Halfling when it comes to deflect builds due to halfling having a 4% deflect bonus. (3% + 2 Dex = 4%) Otherwise any race can tank/dps as a Guardian Fighter with minimal mix/max differences."
As a half-elf you get +2 to CON, which is good because that's the GF main stat. Then you get to pick from WIS or CHA for the other +2. Personally, I'd pick WIS, avoiding CC and having a longer prone on Frontline Surge would be good. Since I prefer augment pets on my GF I think that CHA is mostly a wasted stat.
Lakini, Halfling Guardian Fighter Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric Dragon Shard
Deflect is a flat 50% damage reduction that can not be mitigated. Since most GF's will have around a 50% DR, this gives another way to reduce damage by 50%. It's why I've valued deflect.
As for GF Tanks - DPS Hybrid Conqueror or Pure Tank Tactician. You can use protection if you want but it's the least damage of the 3.
I'm currently running Tactician Deflect/Regen for MOD 2 as Iron Vanguard and really enjoying it. With the large amount of increased regen the class is becoming very tanky.
well, i am still not sold to the value of deflect. of course it's good to have. but investing lots of points in there ... probably i am missing the picture of an already well T2-equipped GF.
i mean even if you *could* reach deflect 50%, it decreases the incoming damage further by about 25% only. if 1000 points in defense give you 5% DR than this bonus, in almost all cases, trumps swapping it for 1000 deflect if you gain at most 10% deflect.
i guess i have to do the math at which point the diminishing returns of defense are too much and deflect can take over, because it provides double the bonus.
i did not get what you mean with the 2nd paragraph. i am already sold that protector path is not the one to go, except maybe for the first feats (plate agility and shield defense), which you can take after going down another path.
for me it's mainly the difference between conqueror and tactician. the former is better damage-wise and thus probably has an easier time holding aggro, which helps the team. the 2nd one to me has its best feat (judging from what's written, i don't have *any* lvl 60 GF experience) with the one that improves ITF. 5% more damage for the team: assuming that you have a good team where the others provide, say, 86% of the damage, then 5% for your team corresponds to 86/(100-86)*5% =~ 30% more own damage output (i chose 86 just for readers to understand where i got my math from).
it's just that i think it'll be harder to hold aggro that way, plus you give up on one damage dealing encounter.
if aggro would be easy to generate and hold as a GF, even with low damage output, then i probably would prefer tactician, too, mostly due to the ITF bonus.
but so far i am not sure about aggro, thus i'd assume that the conqueror path is the safer decision, because it adds a lot to threat generation.
3rd paragraph: do you do PvE with it or PvP? tanky is good, i'd like that, in my head that's the natural role of a GF in a team but my girlfriend and me, we did LotMD and she was not able to keep aggro on the dragon, which did increase the difficulty of the boss fight significantly for the others. so ....being tanky and not dying is nice, but that doesn't help if the enemy is focusing on your teammates
so has anything changed with the new paragon stuff for the GF in pvp? Been absent as of late to the new changes and I rather ask a credible sources, such as yourself, for information rather than wading through piles of horse <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.
well, i am still not sold to the value of deflect. of course it's good to have. but investing lots of points in there ... probably i am missing the picture of an already well T2-equipped GF.
i mean even if you *could* reach deflect 50%, it decreases the incoming damage further by about 25% only. if 1000 points in defense give you 5% DR than this bonus, in almost all cases, trumps swapping it for 1000 deflect if you gain at most 10% deflect.
i guess i have to do the math at which point the diminishing returns of defense are too much and deflect can take over, because it provides double the bonus.
i did not get what you mean with the 2nd paragraph. i am already sold that protector path is not the one to go, except maybe for the first feats (plate agility and shield defense), which you can take after going down another path.
for me it's mainly the difference between conqueror and tactician. the former is better damage-wise and thus probably has an easier time holding aggro, which helps the team. the 2nd one to me has its best feat (judging from what's written, i don't have *any* lvl 60 GF experience) with the one that improves ITF. 5% more damage for the team: assuming that you have a good team where the others provide, say, 86% of the damage, then 5% for your team corresponds to 86/(100-86)*5% =~ 30% more own damage output (i chose 86 just for readers to understand where i got my math from).
it's just that i think it'll be harder to hold aggro that way, plus you give up on one damage dealing encounter.
if aggro would be easy to generate and hold as a GF, even with low damage output, then i probably would prefer tactician, too, mostly due to the ITF bonus.
but so far i am not sure about aggro, thus i'd assume that the conqueror path is the safer decision, because it adds a lot to threat generation.
3rd paragraph: do you do PvE with it or PvP? tanky is good, i'd like that, in my head that's the natural role of a GF in a team but my girlfriend and me, we did LotMD and she was not able to keep aggro on the dragon, which did increase the difficulty of the boss fight significantly for the others. so ....being tanky and not dying is nice, but that doesn't help if the enemy is focusing on your teammates
Deflect - NEVER enchant deflect, you get it from your feats and gear. (also never enchant defense)
Defense slots - Enchant Radiant HP
If your gear has lots of power then conqueror is great tree for you.
If your gear do not have lots of power then tactician is the tree for you.
If you are mainly a PvE player than make sure you grab Potent Challenge 3/3 as it helps hold aggro.
Single target is pretty easy to hold aggro on, you just need to be spamming damage and save taunts to snap aggro back.
so has anything changed with the new paragon stuff for the GF in pvp? Been absent as of late to the new changes and I rather ask a credible sources, such as yourself, for information rather than wading through piles of horse <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.
Thanks!
A couple pages ago I did a little write up on my tests on live. I did not enjoy swordmaster in PvP because you lose so many useful skills like frontline, threatening rush and Trample. The only change to my build right now I am testing is Tactician vs. Conqueror with my Deflect/Regen build.
For those who have crunched the numbers, what would be better - to go for life steal or regeneration (in case of a conqueror GF playing PvE only)?
Overall, Regeneration has the edge. While they have almost identical diminishing returns, Regeneration is more passive than Life Steal and will heal you behind your Guard (*) or while re-positioning - something you will do a LOT more often than any other melee, if not any other class. In addition, it heals you while under CC.
Finally, it is easier to stack Regeneration because gear itemization means much GF naturally has it. This is not the case for Lifesteal.
That said, a decent amount of Lifesteal with Villains Menace and attacks from it is not something to sneeze at, if you can get it!
(*) Note that GF's cannot drink potions while Guard is up.
0
kolbe11Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Overall, Regeneration has the edge. While they have almost identical diminishing returns, Regeneration is more passive than Life Steal and will heal you behind your Guard (*) or while re-positioning - something you will do a LOT more often than any other melee, if not any other class. In addition, it heals you while under CC.
I agree with this... to a point. Yes, Regen has an "edge" in that it is passive, but it only works when you are running or guarding.
Regen - Works while Guarding or running
Life Steal - Works while attacking/AoE'ing (burst heals)
So you have to analyze what type of player you are to determine the best route: Do you use your shield much, turtle or kite a lot? If the answer is no, lean more towards Life Steal.
As a Hybrid, I personally lean towards trying to keep them both at the same level. In my case: 900 Regen / 900 Life Steal.
"It is said that idle hands are the Devil's tools: Idle geek hands, however, came up with gunpowder, nuclear weapons, and toilet plungers." -Illiad
I agree with this... to a point. Yes, Regen has an "edge" in that it is passive, but it only works when you are running or guarding.
Regen - Works while Guarding or running
Life Steal - Works while attacking/AoE'ing (burst heals)
So you have to analyze what type of player you are to determine the best route: Do you use your shield much, turtle or kite a lot? If the answer is no, lean more towards Life Steal.
As a Hybrid, I personally lean towards trying to keep them both at the same level. In my case: 900 Regen / 900 Life Steal.
Regeneration is a passive heal that ticks every 3 seconds. It doesn't matter if you are CC, attacking, defending or even emote dancing. It's a passive heal and why it's so strong.
Life steal is a nice bonus and works well in high damage DPS builds and why it's now on all of the new Dread Ring gear.
Comments
1300 Regen is to low. If you are going for a Deflect/Regen build you can easily get 12% now with Artifacts and around 40K HP. This adds a good amount of healing / survival and allows you to 1v2 pretty easily in pugs and destroy players. You do a lot more damage than you think.
Once I get all 3 of my Artifacts leveled up and finish my rank 10's I'll test out the PvP T2 Set. The set gives a huge amount of HP and the run speed combined with more block would be a nice addition.
The block gain is nice, but the speed gain is somewhat meh.
Basically, you are not gonna be able to Rush to a TR or CW if they decide to shift away, nor can u catch a GWF on sprint. And forget about the HR, ur only choice is to use Lunging strike.
I try that set for a bit and then realize if I want something mobile I would go GWF for the sprint. You can't build a GF into a GWF...
But again it is just my opinion, it might fit your playstyle never know till u try, especially if u go Tactician I would see the value of PVP T2 set.
I ran a speed build a long time ago with the T2 PvP Set + Darks. You can actually move pretty quick and if you throw in Into the Fray you move like a bullet. But the Set gives a lot of HP, so it helps balance out the lost of regen with the added HP. The set is pretty nice with the bonus power & deflect + movement speed allows you to dodge GF/GWFs better and catch up to CW's with shield up.
I reckon myself to sit around points most of the time... I normally don't try to chase a good player regardless of class since I can be kited... regardless of class lol how funny is that. If I decide to chase that poor ******* I get on my mount
(I do not want to have to reset the build or in worst case delete it... XD)
You never need to delete a toon. The only thing you can't do is reroll your starting stats. But you can change the +4 Stats when you do a full respec
Thanks,
@ndh95
I assume Cleave and Threatening Rush for at-will powers.
Lunging Strike, Knight's Valor, and Frontline Surge for encounter powers.
Fighter's Recovery for one daily and I'm not sure what the other would be... Villain's Menace?
Enhanced Mark and Trample the Fallen make the most sense for passives.
Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric
Dragon Shard
i like the guide of yours, gives a lot of useful insight!
mostly based on information in here i created a power/feat selection for my girlfriend's GF (PvE tank). the only one exception so far is that i chose 1/3 shielded resurgence and did put them into weapon mastery for more crit.
but i am a bit undecided about the final 10 feat points.
i like shield defense, it's a great passive feat. of course, to get it, one takes plate agility, which is also nice (though i don't have a very high opinion on deflect in NWO due to the crappy deflect severity).
from the reading, also "fight on" sounds pretty impressive, though. i wonder whether you have some thoughts on this feat, since in your feat suggestions you always choose some other feat over it (shield defense, crushing pin, plate agility)
i also wonder whether you have a post in which you explain why you prefer conqueror path over tactician. i mean, looking at the feats of conqueror, they all are great and that path is kinda obvious. but i did read many of your posts in here and you seem to be an super dedicated team player. but with a good team, ITF could provide much more than what conqueror gives, no? i guess you tested it all and figured that it either doesn't fit your play style or it did not work that great (maybe threat issues?) or the bonus is so minor that it doesn't really matter.
i just wonder whether you can tell me whether i find a more detailed opinion of yours about this somewhere here. a "check the first 10 pages" is good enough for me :P
oh, one other thing: there is no need to put more than one point in combat superiority, right?
good job
some remarks about the guide itself:
a) "into the fray" is not bold in your guide, in case someone just glances over your guide, he/she could overlook this
b) in your race section maybe some stat advice would be good. i personally would assume that STR/CON is best for PvE (both tank and DPS) and my preferred starting stat allocation would be 15/16/13/11/11/9, i guess (swaps STR for DEX, but gives 1% increased recovery in return in comparison to the 16/16/12 roll). for my girlfriend this is already too late (she has a high DEX drow now
PvP or PvE?
PvE full DPS GF is fine and I have a build using Knights Cap /w Life Steal.
PvP you can simple swap gear to Deflect/Regen and still destroy pugs in PvP. You can go no gear at all and still destroy pugs in PvP because GF is just a very strong class.
PVE:
Encounters: Anvil (or Enforced Threat), Lunge, Knights Valor
Daily: Fighters Recovery and SoS
Passive: Trample the Fallen and Combat Superiority (or Enhanced Mark)
Deflect is a flat 50% damage reduction that can not be mitigated. Since most GF's will have around a 50% DR, this gives another way to reduce damage by 50%. It's why I've valued deflect.
As for GF Tanks - DPS Hybrid Conqueror or Pure Tank Tactician. You can use protection if you want but it's the least damage of the 3.
I'm currently running Tactician Deflect/Regen for MOD 2 as Iron Vanguard and really enjoying it. With the large amount of increased regen the class is becoming very tanky.
I assumed Frontline Surge because of Reinforced Surge, which should have synergy with Trample the Fallen and Crushing Pin (I assume knocking someone prone counts as "controlling" them), and Pin Down which increases the duration of being prone. Also, if I'm building for PvE and I'm not using Frontline Surge, should I get Wrathful Warrior instead for extra DPS? Theoretically, I'm getting tHP from Take Measure and probably from a DC too. Alternatively, I could put those 5 points into Plate Agility to further boost up my deflection.
Thanks for all of these tips, I'm still learning.
Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric
Dragon Shard
I use frontline surge if I am doing damage vs. Knights Valor. Just depends on if the group needs me to do damage or keep them alive. The issue is Knights Valor can easily get you killed if you are playing with a TR or Companions. So I ONLY use Knights Valor with very good guildmates and all others I use frontline.
Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric
Dragon Shard
"The only race that really makes any difference is Halfling when it comes to deflect builds due to halfling having a 4% deflect bonus. (3% + 2 Dex = 4%) Otherwise any race can tank/dps as a Guardian Fighter with minimal mix/max differences."
As a half-elf you get +2 to CON, which is good because that's the GF main stat. Then you get to pick from WIS or CHA for the other +2. Personally, I'd pick WIS, avoiding CC and having a longer prone on Frontline Surge would be good. Since I prefer augment pets on my GF I think that CHA is mostly a wasted stat.
Tomas, Human Devoted Cleric
Dragon Shard
well, i am still not sold to the value of deflect. of course it's good to have. but investing lots of points in there ... probably i am missing the picture of an already well T2-equipped GF.
i mean even if you *could* reach deflect 50%, it decreases the incoming damage further by about 25% only. if 1000 points in defense give you 5% DR than this bonus, in almost all cases, trumps swapping it for 1000 deflect if you gain at most 10% deflect.
i guess i have to do the math at which point the diminishing returns of defense are too much and deflect can take over, because it provides double the bonus.
i did not get what you mean with the 2nd paragraph. i am already sold that protector path is not the one to go, except maybe for the first feats (plate agility and shield defense), which you can take after going down another path.
for me it's mainly the difference between conqueror and tactician. the former is better damage-wise and thus probably has an easier time holding aggro, which helps the team. the 2nd one to me has its best feat (judging from what's written, i don't have *any* lvl 60 GF experience) with the one that improves ITF. 5% more damage for the team: assuming that you have a good team where the others provide, say, 86% of the damage, then 5% for your team corresponds to 86/(100-86)*5% =~ 30% more own damage output (i chose 86 just for readers to understand where i got my math from).
it's just that i think it'll be harder to hold aggro that way, plus you give up on one damage dealing encounter.
if aggro would be easy to generate and hold as a GF, even with low damage output, then i probably would prefer tactician, too, mostly due to the ITF bonus.
but so far i am not sure about aggro, thus i'd assume that the conqueror path is the safer decision, because it adds a lot to threat generation.
3rd paragraph: do you do PvE with it or PvP? tanky is good, i'd like that, in my head that's the natural role of a GF in a team
so has anything changed with the new paragon stuff for the GF in pvp? Been absent as of late to the new changes and I rather ask a credible sources, such as yourself, for information rather than wading through piles of horse <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.
Thanks!
Deflect - NEVER enchant deflect, you get it from your feats and gear. (also never enchant defense)
Defense slots - Enchant Radiant HP
If your gear has lots of power then conqueror is great tree for you.
If your gear do not have lots of power then tactician is the tree for you.
If you are mainly a PvE player than make sure you grab Potent Challenge 3/3 as it helps hold aggro.
Single target is pretty easy to hold aggro on, you just need to be spamming damage and save taunts to snap aggro back.
A couple pages ago I did a little write up on my tests on live. I did not enjoy swordmaster in PvP because you lose so many useful skills like frontline, threatening rush and Trample. The only change to my build right now I am testing is Tactician vs. Conqueror with my Deflect/Regen build.
I would like to ask what dread ring boons do you recommend?
Still running 2/2 fabled 2/2 regent conq path..
i'll have to get back to you as I don't have them memorized yet.
Overall, Regeneration has the edge. While they have almost identical diminishing returns, Regeneration is more passive than Life Steal and will heal you behind your Guard (*) or while re-positioning - something you will do a LOT more often than any other melee, if not any other class. In addition, it heals you while under CC.
Finally, it is easier to stack Regeneration because gear itemization means much GF naturally has it. This is not the case for Lifesteal.
That said, a decent amount of Lifesteal with Villains Menace and attacks from it is not something to sneeze at, if you can get it!
(*) Note that GF's cannot drink potions while Guard is up.
I agree with this... to a point. Yes, Regen has an "edge" in that it is passive, but it only works when you are running or guarding.
Regen - Works while Guarding or running
Life Steal - Works while attacking/AoE'ing (burst heals)
So you have to analyze what type of player you are to determine the best route: Do you use your shield much, turtle or kite a lot? If the answer is no, lean more towards Life Steal.
As a Hybrid, I personally lean towards trying to keep them both at the same level. In my case: 900 Regen / 900 Life Steal.
Regeneration is a passive heal that ticks every 3 seconds. It doesn't matter if you are CC, attacking, defending or even emote dancing. It's a passive heal and why it's so strong.
Life steal is a nice bonus and works well in high damage DPS builds and why it's now on all of the new Dread Ring gear.