Guide to guard crafting

[bendover]

I'm usually asked alot in game as to what guard I should do and all this and that. So I figured it would be easier to make a thread to be able to resort back to for questions. Now these ideas are based on MY opinion as I have just about all the useful possible guards on one toon and can really determine what seems to work where and when.

Melee type build (including tanks with no ac): Non epic
1st- Disintegrate 13.5 untyped damage per hit
2nd- Lightning Strike 12 electric damage per hit
3rd- Corrosive Salt 8.3 untyped damage per hit
4th- Steam 4.5 untyped damage per hit
5th- Crushing Wave 4.86 bludgeoning and 4.86 cold damage per hit
6th- Incineration 14.5 fire damage per hit

The damage per hit is taken in account the approximate amount of damage a guard will deal divided by the amount it procs in 100 hits. Incineration will deal the most overall damage but as end game is all immune to fire I put it down as the 6th top DPS guard to have.

Melee type build (including tanks with no ac): Epic
1st- Freezing Ice 5% on 35 fort DC to auto-crit for 8 seconds
2nd- Earth Grab 5% on 35 reflex DC to auto-crit for 6 seconds
3rd- Trap the soul 2% on 30 will DC to auto-kill
4th- Incineration (see above) highest possible DPS guard
5th- Disintegration (see above) 2nd highest
6th- Lightning Strike (see above) 3rd highest

Couple things to note here DO NOT use radiance. Mobs still seem to move around like crazy when they are blinded and hit with a mass hold, or dance or whatever the case. So please put your radiance guard down here. I'm also certain air guard does the same thing so please leave these two guards at home.

Melee type build with AC (AC relevant enough for end-game excluding epics)
1st- Radiance 20% to deal 4d6 light damage + blind
2nd- Steam 25% to deal 2d8+8 untyped
3rd- Earthen not sure the exact proc rate but I know it's high and casts stonekin
4th- Enervation ~5% to drain negative levels
5th- Freezing Ice/Earth Grab
6th- Incineration

I know it's tough to consider wearing guards with an AC toon so these are some of the guards I figured will help the best. Most of them are impacting your AC directly by affecting a mob. Whether it's making them blind, giving them negative levels or auto-criting them. AC builds also do get hit with glancing blows so the damage portion of radiance and then your steam here are big with their high proc rates. They might not do much damage but with raid boss tanking this adds up.

Ranged DPS builds
1st- Freezing Ice Auto crit
2nd- Earth Grab Auto crit
3rd- Air guard 2.5 chance to knockdown on a 30 reflex save
4th- Radiance Auto blind
5th- Magma Surge 5.23 fire damage per hit with a 6 second slow effect
6th- Slay Living 5% on 30 will DC to have slay living casted

Again this goes back to the idea of NOT being hit as you're ranged DPS but these guards are here to help you maintain just that if you are being hit. All of these guards effect movement with the last one giving you the chance of just killing your mob out right.

Raid boss tank
1st- Disintegrate
2nd- Lightning Strike
3rd- Corrosive Salt
4th- Steam
5th- Crushing Wave
6th- Earthen Guard

A raid boss tank's ideal when they are minimzing damage taken with maximizing damage out put so these are the type of guards that you'd want to look into if your character is going to be fullfiling that role in your raid.


So this is my guide to building your guards based on your toon build and what not. Again this is all based on my opinions in all these situations with the guards on one character. If you don't agree great do your thing. This is just a reference guide for those that are interested and having questions concerning what I should do when. Hope it helps you.

[Crazyfruit]

I saw you have Steam (less damage) ranked higher than Crushing Wave.
Are many things resistant to bludgeon damage?

Nice seeing Incineration listed here btw.
Most people totally glaze over it, but I really liked it on a TR.

[bendover]

I saw you have Steam (less damage) ranked higher than Crushing Wave.
Are many things resistant to bludgeon damage?

Nice seeing Incineration listed here btw.
Most people totally glaze over it, but I really liked it on a TR.

The only thing that comes to my mind was that box thingy in epic snitch and I was actually just thinking about that after I made this post. I personally like steam more because it's Water + Good which will open up more crafting possibilities then just a triple water.

[elricken]

Awesome Guide

[Glenalth]

I've noticed that Concordant Opposition can be useful for tanking because of the HP component of it, more so for high DR situations where you're only being hit for a few points of damage.

[systemstate]

So, for a WF barbarian's first guard item- would you recommend ConOp or Disintegration? Perhaps I should first ask, if wearing two guard items with different effects, do they both have a chance to proc?

If not, then I'll only be making one in the short-term.

[bendover]

So, for a WF barbarian's first guard item- would you recommend ConOp or Disintegration? Perhaps I should first ask, if wearing two guard items with different effects, do they both have a chance to proc?

If not, then I'll only be making one in the short-term.

Id have a very hard time bringing myself to crafting a concordant opps item on a barbarian. My guard favored soul is filled with all GS items and now of them are concordan opps. I would definitely start with disintegrate for your barbarian. And as long as the guard is worded any different they stack. Examples would be minor fire guard and lesser fire guard will stack.

[Grecan]

<snip> Perhaps I should first ask, if wearing two guard items with different effects, do they both have a chance to proc? <snip>

They both have a chance to proc, with each guard's chance being independent of the other.

But i thought that even having two exactly same guards works the same way. Let's say u have two Freezing Ice guards, there's a 5% chance for the one to proc and 5% for the other, but that doesn't make it a 10% (and for double-duration) Freezing Ice (they don't stack, they exist independently).

I'm not 100% sure about that though, i'm waiting for what more knowledgeable people than me will say

[Glenalth]

Id have a very hard time bringing myself to crafting a concordant opps item on a barbarian

I wouldn't do it as a first guard. Maybe down the line when you have a surplus of materials.

[bendover]

They both have a chance to proc, with each guard's chance being independent of the other.

But i thought that even having two exactly same guards works the same way. Let's say u have two Freezing Ice guards, there's a 5% chance for the one to proc and 5% for the other, but that doesn't make it a 10% (and for double-duration) Freezing Ice (they don't stack, they exist independently).

I'm not 100% sure about that though, i'm waiting for what more knowledgeable people than me will say

That's going to be incorrect. If the guard is worded exactly the same they will both function as one.

And I want to elaborate more on Steam over Crushing Wave. Steam is by far the most consistant guard as it's proc rate is at 25%. So when you're tanking it's not not going to go off. Every couple hits steam is going to proc and that ~18 damage or so can be a difference (along with others) in holding agro or not holding agro. As opposed to crushing wave which I've got around 4% is a good likiness that it won't proc and if it does you're hiting a raid boss for 3 to 4 ticks of approximately 35 bludgeoning damaging.

[bendover]

I wouldn't do it as a first guard. Maybe down the line when you have a surplus of materials.

Yea, but that's about as far as I'd go with it. It's just too much to sacrifice in my opinion. You're giving up an accessory slot which can be very vital and you're losing a chance at having another guard in it's place. Just a real tough decision and even tougher if you're not with a mana pool.

[Grecan]

That's going to be incorrect. If the guard is worded exactly the same they will both function as one.

I'll take your word on that, but at least my first sentence was correct, wasn't it?

[bendover]

I'll take your word on that, but at least my first sentence was correct, wasn't it?

Like guards like concordant opposition and air guard yes. They both have a chance to proc both effects on the same hit.

[k1ngp1n]

Smexy guide.

[voodoogroves]

Nice breakdowns.

I've decided on my rogue that if I'm going to pull aggro and lose sneak, I'm going to guard folks to death. So far it is amusing, though self healing is not as easy if I were a caster-type.

That said, I'm staring at Pale Master as a great guard-ish build. Fire Shield, Death Aura, Bramble Casters / Glacial Stuff / Demon Consort and maybe a Cloak of Curses ... tasty goodness!

[bendover]

Nice breakdowns.

I've decided on my rogue that if I'm going to pull aggro and lose sneak, I'm going to guard folks to death. So far it is amusing, though self healing is not as easy if I were a caster-type.

That said, I'm staring at Pale Master as a great guard-ish build. Fire Shield, Death Aura, Bramble Casters / Glacial Stuff / Demon Consort and maybe a Cloak of Curses ... tasty goodness!

I've been meaning to add a portion just for Rogues. And I think the best guards for rogues are going to be the ones that allow your sneak attack or for you to not be getting hit. Radiance, Freezing Ice, Earthgrab, and Air guard are the four I'd choose there.

[voodoogroves]

I've been meaning to add a portion just for Rogues. And I think the best guards for rogues are going to be the ones that allow your sneak attack or for you to not be getting hit. Radiance, Freezing Ice, Earthgrab, and Air guard are the four I'd choose there.

I've got a couple sets of gear. One looks remarkably like this ... damage avoidance. The other is all-damages-all-the-time, thinking if I DO get aggro in a boss fight I've lost my sneak, and I need to keep my DPS up. For that mode i'm running Corrosive Salt, Disintegration on my DT ... w/ Inceneration on my HP item and Lightning Strike on my CHA skills item.

[bendover]

I've got a couple sets of gear. One looks remarkably like this ... damage avoidance. The other is all-damages-all-the-time, thinking if I DO get aggro in a boss fight I've lost my sneak, and I need to keep my DPS up. For that mode i'm running Corrosive Salt, Disintegration on my DT ... w/ Inceneration on my HP item and Lightning Strike on my CHA skills item.

Great set of damage guards to build around. You've got the four highest damage dealing guards, but I'd definitly be wearing the damage avoiding ones.

[aradelothion]

Hey ben! Quick question on ranged guards; why is freezing ice > earth grab? Does it proc more/is more reliable? Is it because of the duration? Or the kind of saves it targets? Thanks for the guide btw

[bendover]

Hey ben! Quick question on ranged guards; why is freezing ice > earth grab? Does it proc more/is more reliable? Is it because of the duration? Or the kind of saves it targets? Thanks for the guide btw

It seems to proc more often then earth grab. The difference with that is though if you're fighting a very high fort save mob you'll notice them balance out. It is a double sharded GS vs a single sharded GS for a reason. And the duration for earth grab is 4 seconds vs 6 seconds for freezing ice. I honestly could be wrong on the durations because I"m in the middle of a TR and when they are stuck they are dead in a swing so if I'm incorrect it's 6 seconds vs 8 seconds.