Greetings, shield brothers and sisters! This week I want to respond to a reader request and outline how Guardians benefit (and can benefit others) through the use of the cross-profession combination system. These combos prove that, when it comes to group play, the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Where the inexperienced player may not even be aware that such combinations exist, a seasoned veteran will look for opportunities to use them to his or her advantage.

After today’s article, you’ll be able to count yourselves among the latter.

For those who are unaware, many abilities across each profession fall into two different categories: Fields and Finishers. Fields are elemental in nature, and correspond to a persistent ground-based effect that trigger from a specific ability. 

Finishers are also tied to abilities, and they react with fields to create powerful effects above and beyond what just the field or finisher would do alone. 

This list of how each finisher reacts with each field is taken from the official Guild Wars 2 Wiki, and it’s extensive. 

Field Blast Finisher   Leap Finisher   Projectile Finisher   Whirl Finisher 
Dark Area Blindness Blindness Life stealing Leeching Bolts
Ethereal Area Chaos Armor Chaos Armor Confusion Confusing Bolts
Fire Area Might (x3) Fire Armor Burning Burning Bolts
Ice Area Frost Armor Frost Armor Chilled Chilling Bolts
Light Area Retaliation Retaliation Remove Condition Cleansing Bolts
Lightning Area Swiftness Dazing Strike Vulnerability Brutal Bolts
Poison Area Weakness Weakness Poison Poison Bolts
Smoke Area Stealth Stealth Blindness Blinding Bolts
Water Area Healing Healing Regeneration Healing Bolts

 

As Guardians, we’ll start with a look at the fields we can create. This becomes important for advanced solo play and for maximizing your contribution in groups. The two fields we have mastery over are Light and Fire. 

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Light is, by far, our most frequently created field. It ties to a number of our weapon abilities and utility skills, including:

Once in place, Light fields react differently with each type of finisher.
 
A Light/Blast combo will result in Area Retaliation, giving you and up to 4 more of your allies Retaliation for a few seconds. A Light/Leap combo will give the Guardian a personal Retaliation boon. Retaliation reflects a portion of damage done to the target back to its source, and since it stacks in duration, there’s never a bad time to have it active. Retaliation combos can have their duration extended when used in conjunction with the Vengeful adept trait in the Virtues line. 
 
A Light/Projectile combo will remove conditions from allies who are in the path of the projectiles.  A Light/Whirl combo will remove conditions from up to 5 allies around the person who triggers it. It is important to note that these 5 allies will not include the person triggering the combo, as they are at the center from which the whirl emanates.
 
 
BY FIRE BE PURGED!
 
Our methods of creating a Fire field are far fewer in number compared to Light. In fact, there are only two utility skills which allow us to do so:
Fire combinations are a bit more varied in their effects, depending on the finisher.
 
A Fire/Blast combo will give you and up to 4 of your nearby allies 3 stacks of Might.  
A Fire/Leap combo results in Fire Armor, which burns nearby enemies for 3 seconds. 
A Fire/Projectile combo will set the projectiles ablaze as they pass through the field, adding fire damage to the attacks. 
A Fire/Whirl combo will launch fiery bolts at up to 5 enemies in every direction.
 
If you love the Fiery Wrath adept trait in the Zeal line as much as I do, then understanding how Fire fields and finishers work is going to be especially important. 
 
 
FINISHING TOUCHES
 
Just because we can’t create other types of fields doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of them. If you routinely party with players of specific professions, practice adding finishers to their fields. If you’re running with random allies in WvW or in dynamic events, you can still put the information here to good use. It may be a bit more challenging at first compared to knowing exactly what fields your friends are using, but mastering skills like this one is part of what makes this game so great. Eventually, instead of happy accidents, your combos will be carefully timed, tactical advantages. 
 
The first step is knowing which finishers we have access to and which we don’t. 
 
Blast Finishers:
  • Judgment  – Tome of Wrath. Not the most reliable source, given the 3-minute cooldown of the elite skill, but it’s still a source. 
  • Mighty Blow - Hammer. With a 5-second cooldown, this is our go-to solution for blast finishers.
  • Shield of Wrath - Focus. This blast finisher has a 45-second cooldown (36 seconds with Focused Mastery). Not only is it one of the best defensive abilities in the game, but it triggers its finisher upon activation. 
Leap Finisher:
  • Leap of Faith - Greatsword. This is our one and only leap. Our other gap-closers are teleports and do not interact with fields in any way. Remember that Leap of Faith already has a built-in area of effect blind, so avoid using it on Dark fields. Blind stacks in duration, but it’s almost pointless to do so, given how quickly attacks happen in the game. Personally, I believe blinds should stack in intensity instead, so 3 blinds would make the next 3 attacks miss, but that’s a fight for another day.
Whirl Finishers:
  • Binding Blade - Greatsword. Understanding that this ability has more uses than just the secondary pull separates novices from veterans.
  • Protector’s Strike - Mace. Similar to the Focus, this Whirl only triggers as a secondary contingency if you aren’t struck. 
  • Whirling Wrath - Greatsword. The marquee ability of our Greatsword just got even better! Look for fields, and SPIN TO WIN!
 
If you’re looking for a Projectile Finisher, you’re out of luck. We’re the only profession without one. Our slow little scepter bubbles don’t count. It’s not all bad, though. Since they aren’t projectiles, they aren’t affected by abilities that reflect or absorb projectiles. That’s knowledge you may find useful as well one day.
 
I’d like to thank our community member Siege for suggesting this article. Remember that you’re free to use the comments section and our forums to submit your own suggestions!
 
Next week I’ll be back to cover leveling your Guardian from 41-80.
 
Until then…
 
Remain vigilant.
 
 
Centurion