First of all, I will introduce myself. My character is called Kishekzun and I am currently playing on the Darth Nihilus server on the Republic side, GM of the PvE Exile guild. I am offering this little guide because I see that a lot of people consider our little Guardians and Ravagers to be only tanks or PvP classes, but they are also very good DPS when raiding and I will try to show that to you!
PS: As some find that there are only guides for the Republic classes, I will do a version of the Guardian and Ravager talent tree each time, the same for the combat cycle etc. ..
Talent trees
- Tree for Pest: 4/36/6
- Tree for Guardian: 4/36/6
Among the most important points: the 8% damage on Expert Strike and Rampage, these are the biggest damage resources among these two classes and specialties Vigilance and Vengeance. Preparation and Visceral Hate are very useful and enjoyable talents when you do your daily work but to go on a raid, they are totally useless. They prefer the Fatal Throw which allows you to jump on the boss having already put the broken armor.
Brutality and sharp lunge are also essential because since 2.0 and thanks to Sharpening and Destruction, elimination is part of our cycle: gaining 7.5% crit on it is essential!
Priority skills and cycle
Both Guardian Vigilance and Ravager Vengance are classes at DOT. However, your biggest source of DPS will come from your Expert Strike or and your Rampage. These attacks represent at least 20% of your total DPS because the originality of this specialty is the chance to refresh the cooldown of these two skills by using the Plasmic Iron and the Air Slit (Smash and Impale for the Ravager).
I was talking earlier about DOT (damage over time): 3 attacks will allow you to pose some.
- Plasmic Iron / Shatter: a DOT of 12 seconds with 4 charges.
- Aerial Lunge / Impale: a 6 second DOT with 6 charges (so one per second ... thank you captain obvious!).
- Blade Storm / Force Cry: A 6 second DOT with 6 stacks as well.
The object of the game is to maintain these 3 DOTs as long as possible. Plasmic Iron / Shatter is the easiest to keep because the cooldown of this skill is 12 seconds, like the duration of its DOT. Air Lunge / Impale and Blade Storm / Force Cry both have 9 second cooldowns for DOTs lasting only 6 seconds, you won't be able to keep all 3 together but it is imperative to never go below 2 active DOTs. This is because your burn damage is around 18% of your total damage, so it's imperative to keep it on for as long as possible.
Cycle
- Boss opening
- Cycle during combat
- Saber throwing
- Force leap
- Expert Strike / Rampage
- Aerial Lunge / Impalement
- Plasma iron / Smash
- Blade Storm / Force Cry
NEVER USE BLADE STORM / FORCE SCREW WITHOUT BOTH LOADS!
Likewise, you will tend to re-roll your expert strike / rampage if ever your aerial / impale lunge causes it to trigger directly. I don't think this is the best thing to do, other than when you need a lot of DPS (burst). Indeed, it is better to keep your expert strike combined with 2 or 3 DOT otherwise you will lose DPS.
The cycle is not very difficult in itself, however we must not be wrong! The object of the game is to always keep two DOTs on the enemy:
- Expert Strike / Rampage
- Aerial Lunge / Impalement
- Plasma iron / Smash
- Blade Storm / Force Cry
Since 2.0, elimination and Vicious Throw are part of your cycle. Indeed, Expert Strike / Rampage and your DOTs have a chance to trigger it. But how do you use it in your cycle? Be aware that this skill will also give you a charge of Force Flood / Savagery, so don't waste it! Indeed, if you see that you have your two charges, wait until you can launch your Force Cry or Blade Storm and use your elimination only afterwards, this will avoid wasting one of your precious charges!
If your Expert Strike / Rampage triggers during your cycle: LAUNCH IT ONLY IF YOU HAVE AT LEAST 2 DOTS ACTIVE otherwise you will lose dps.
I don't put the sweep / shock in the base cycle. It is however very useful, because it is free, and allows you to manage the cooldown of your skills. Use it if there are 2 seconds left on your main attacks (Air Lunge in particular) so as not to stay 2 seconds without doing anything and losing DPS.
Your Fatal Strike / Fatal Assault must be used to increase your concentration by 7 points thanks to the two skill points on Fatal Rage and Victorious Flood in your talent tree. You should use it in harmony with your Focus in combat. Never use your Fatal Strike if your combat focus is within 2 seconds of triggering, it would be a terrible mess and you will have to spam your whitestroke in the meantime to regain focus, which will be fatal to your DPS.
Equipment and optimization
Relics
Since 2.0, wonderful relics have appeared:
Relics of Unannounced Assault : Késako? These are relics that have a 30% chance to give you a big power bonus (510 for the Arkanian for example) every 20 seconds and for 6 seconds. These relics are ESSENTIAL! If you can't buy the Basic Bons or if you didn't get them from raids, do some warzones and get the less powerful PvP versions, which are still very useful.
For the second relic, I chose the classic clickable which grants a power bonus for 30 sec with a two-minute CD. I think it's a very effective combo and also allows you to have a burst just in case!
Precisely: how to make a burst with a Guardian / Pest? It is very useful, especially for making small contests on our friend Kephess the eternal!
Air Slash-Plasmic Iron-Blade Storm- Expert Strike- Elimination
And when the boss is below 30%?
Plasmic Iron / Smash - Elimination / Vicious Throw - Expert Strike / Rampage - Saber Throw - Aerial Slash / Impale - Lethal Strike - Elimination etc ...
Critical influx or Full power?
Prior to 2.0, we were looking to achieve 30% crit and at least 75% surge, with 100% accuracy (CAC) and therefore 110% Force accuracy. Is this orientation still relevant today? Well I think not. The course of precision is always the order of the day but not for the critic and influx. Indeed, since 2.0, the gain in main statistics compensates for this lack of criticism. You'll be able to easily climb to 3200/3300 Stamina with a full Stamina upgrade, which will give you around 20% CAC Crit and 25% Strength Crit, with the majority of your attacks being in Strength (Plasma Iron, Blade Storm / Shout). by force etc ...).
Indeed, I find that 25% of Force Crit is more than enough because you will criticize 100% of your Blade Storm / Force Cry in particular. I think boosting your force damage bonus is a lot more profitable. Here is a screenshot of my gear at the moment (mostly 72 but with main hand 69):
You can see I don't have 100% accuracy yet, I'm not optimized yet.
To give you an idea:
- Power 1311
- Critical Index 0
- Influx index 376
- Precision index 355
What set bonus?
Since 2.0 we have the right to new set bonuses on Arkanian and underworld stuff, namely:
- saber throwing at CAC
- 8% Blade Storm damage / Force Cry
I first said to myself: "Hmm 8% on the blade storm, it's not bad" but I immediately looked at the sentry's equipment and I saw: 8% damage on the expert strike! I therefore advise you to make small mixtures. Indeed, your expert strike / rampage is your first damage resource by far, so boosting is a priority!
And what does all this give concretely?
This part is there to give an example of dps, I do not want to make a contest. As you can see, I did not post any curves or graphics because I do not think that all of these things are necessary to advance in the game, I wanted above all to make a simple and accessible guide. Here is my little record:
Record
Basically 2780 dps over 6min30, I think it's pretty good and still I have some progress to make and some stuff to recover (weapon 72 ahhhhhh !!!). I seriously think this is a class that can reach 3K dps with good optimization.
I hope that this little guide, which does not pretend to be "THE GUARDIAN'S BIBLE", can help you progress and have a good time with your friends in the game!
Some additional elements have been added in a second article: Guardian / Ravager DPS (update).
