Edit by Bryan: Please note that this build has been somewhat outdated due to recent shield changes. For more up-to-date information kindly refer to the updated version of this build, as provided by the author further down in this thread: http://forum.london2038.com/t/guide-shield-dps-guardian/2183/19
This one is porbably the most complicated build i did so far (and it is going to be a long guide). It resulted from the balancing discussion about the guardian and i wanted to see if i can make one that actually kills stuff reasonably fast with shield skills.
I found it is possible but it is alot more complicated to play than lets say a MM because you need to make use of a lot of skills and items and bring it together to do your maximum amount of damage.
AOE damage will not be a problem at all thats where he shines. The problem is when you stand against a Cata boss with high HP. And there you can expect average damage between 500-1400 in the damage meter. And from my experience 1000 is where the melting experience starts. But i was able to pass the Morax dps test and thats why i am posting now.
First the skilltree and a short explanation how this plays out. And then the required gear to make it work:
https://london2038.com/skill-planner/#Guardian,50,50,0,v1.00001610242091000225001000000002490
I assume a +1 Helmet and one point goes into Aura Stability (which in the planner sits in grand aura)
So you can see there are alot of skills in use. The damage peaks will come from Shield throw and to a lesser extend from Shield turn.
During the normal Cata and Rift clearing you go in and taunt a few times, then anchor, let the mobs surround you and shield turn and throw. Turn often is enough.
This can clear the whole entrance area of a Rift in seconds which gives you nice satisfying feeling when it makes “clonk” with shield turn and “badadam” with throw and 30 mobs including elites die around you.
You have to check though that your shield of faith is available because dropping your shields means you can get shocked. Getting shocked while being surrounded results most of the time in death. So you need to watch your shields and react quickly if you do this pull action (or use shield emitters).
And that is also the reason why i went for Aura of stability and have the elemental aura running. It is discussable how these 3 points are distributed in the auras but for the time being i use this setup.
The defensive and passive skills are minimal as you can see because we are going full damage options.
You can also run around and just use turn (which has a good reach) and throw without anchor which depends on the mobs that are around but generally the quickest way to clear a level is using taunts and anchor.
I use bash for killing single mobs as it is the quickes way to kill single lower hp mobs. Often in combination with shield charge as a teleport skill with nice range. Bash has its function and i use it more and more - max bash could be a thing. Stampede is a get out skill when you taunted too many mobs and you see that it is not going to work because shock is incoming.
Now on bosses things get more complicated. Here Shield Throw is your main skill. And that is because not only has it 50% crit but it is the mechanic of shield throw that makes it the best damage option.
When you throw your shield it bounces off the target and seems to prefer to bounce into the direction of the next mob available. If there is none it sometimes retargets the original mob resulting in multiple hits or it bounces of a wall and back to your orignial target with the same effect.
So with Cata bosses i taunt them in a gangway and check that the area is clear of other mobs. Then i check if my throw gives me multiple hits or bounces off into nirvana in which case i or the mob needs to reposition. Against single mobs Throw is a bit erratic but you have to deal with it as it has the highest damage potential.
If everything is set you can start the damage combo and it goes as follows:
First anchor of course, then heavenly condemn (i explain later where you get that skill from as i dont spend any points on it and it includes a swtich back and forth of weapons sets) which works for most bosses (Taloc excluded) and gives 20% armor reduction, then shield turn with which in the best case you phase and then throw for maximum dmg, turn, throw, condemn, turn, throw, turn throw, condemn etc.
You see it is not the most straight forward thing and you can fuck up the combo easily or something happens like a mob turns up or suddenly the shield doesnt multi hit. But it is doable and works ok most of the time. Of course there are Bosses that are awkward like the Cata Squadro which even in taunted state runs around like mad or the Cata 5 boss which seems to have a resistance to a damage type i am doing as he takes alot longer than others. Flying bosses like Valar or the Cata 2 boss can be annoying but most of the time denounce pins them quite well. Abyss bosses are no problem whatsoever (just dont use throw in the first phase of Dreadnought).
Now you might say sounds nice and dandy but shields suck where does the damage come from?
This is where we have to get into the gear and stat details.
First of all shield skills qualify as melee skills and thus every point of strength increases your damage by 2%. Shield throw gives you 50% crit and your critdamage gets increased with every point in accuracy. So in the end stats wherever they come from generally increase your damage as you can distribute them via attribute retraining.
Having stats on your gear is allways good. You also need to know that your damage increase through strength is additive to increases through crit and increase% dmg on gear and probably skills, which means your 28% Jugulator guards are inferior to a pair of intrepid trousers with 30 strength and putting more skill points into shield master is questionable when you already have 600% increase through strength.
This being said there is another source of stats apart from armor and the statpoint you get through quests that i utilize and that is a strength vorpal. You only use shield skills so your mainhand weapon is not being used which opens up the use of a 7 slot Vorpal Ripper filled with strength mods which can give you 100-140 strength.
So you can easily end up at 400 strength total which translates into 800% dmg. You also get 100% from Anchor. Another 20% from Shieldmaster. But you can see the 2 points in Shieldmaster dont really add alot and you need 3 skillpoints for that.
Getting more Accu as i said increases your critdam (and also works additively) but you dont have alot of that naturally but your shield throw has 50% crit, so thats a dilemma. But there is a piece of gear that you should get hold of which offers critdam, critchance and strength. And that is the Face of the Crusader Tower Helmet. You need to aug a +1 Guardian skills on it though. It is quite an important piece of gear as it is also providing you with your only shield penetration affix and you need that to procc your effects against shielded mobs.
It is time to get multiplicative damage into the equation. Affixes on armor and weapons that are elemental damage are scarce but should be sought after wherever possible. So the Seraph set gloves offer up to 20% physical dmg as does the archangel cincture belt. They multiply all the dmg you get from strength and crit- so they are set.
A trinket can also have elemental damage and mine has spectral damage and phase. You will need to have spectral damage somewhere.
Your shield should also have those affixes and they come on Mythical Shields. So you end up with 80-100% elemental damage that multiplies your strength damage.
Speaking of the shield finally. In my build it has to be a Dissector shield (there is also Merkabah build but that works differently and is slower). The reason is the 2 slots it can come with. If you put two mods with high phase into it and have phase on your trinket you can end up with 500+ phase and thus a 1500 phase shield turn. And phase gives you another 50% multiplikator as phased mobs take 50% more dmg (and also deal 50% less damage). Also Dissector shields poison nearly anything and phase means poison then does mor dmg.
This also explains why you need spectral damage somewhere, be it as an affix on the shield, the trinket or as a mod.
Now comes the last multiplicator ( i am not 100% sure if it is a sole multiplicator or if gets mixed together with phase). And that comes in form of armor reduction via heavenly condemnation (could also be via hamper). You can get nearly max denounce/heavenly condemnation if you put a Goldies Tactic and a Keeper of the Northstar into a secondary weaponset and quickly switch to denounce.
It is also pretty handy as the denounce range is very long.
Thats it. Lotsa strength on gear and vorpal, some mandatory pieces of gear, a good Dissector shield, Goldies/Northstar and alot of skilluse to get everything together.
Video might follow when i get the time as allways.
