User:Masel/Builds/Willbender

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Pistol + Torch Condition Willbender[edit]

Build Rating (Subjective)
Criterion Rating
Burst Damage 4/5
Sustained Damage 4/5
Utility Options 4/5
Survivability 3/5
Difficulty 1/5

Condition Willbender has a very simple-to-learn rotation and is lots of fun to play in open world. It has good burst damage for a condition build, since it mainly relies on Burning.png Burning. It has access to a lot of mobility via its Virtues and lots of utility built-in, making it an excellent choice for beginner Guardian players in instanced content and open world PvE. It can provide itself with many essential offensive boons (Might.png Might, Fury.png Fury, Alacrity.png Alacrity and a partial uptime on Quickness.png Quickness) and can share Alacrity.png Alacrity with allies very easily.

Link to the DPS Build in the Editor

Playstyle + Skills[edit]

Skill Type Skills
Virtues
Rushing Justice.png Flowing Resolve.png Crashing Courage.png Skill.png Skill.png
Pistol + Torch
Through the Heart.png Peacekeeper.png Symbol of Ignition.png Zealot's Flame.png Cleansing Flame.png
Utility
Litany of Wrath.png Whirling Light.png Purging Flames.png Signet of Wrath.png Heaven's Palm.png

Playstyle[edit]

Guardians evolve around Virtues and - as the name implies - are excellent support builds for allies. While they are great at supporting allies around them via Aegis.png Aegis, Stability.png Stability, condition cleanses and other boons, they have relatively low amounts of passive defense for themselves and a low amount of health. On top of that, they have relatively few native mobility options.

Virtues[edit]

Restorative Virtues Restorative Virtues[edit]

  • This trait is important, as it changes how often you can use damaging weapon skills, such as Zealot's Flame Zealot's Flame,  Zealot's Fire.png Zealot's Fire and  Symbol of Ignition.png Symbol of Ignition.
  • Every time a Virtue triggers, it reduces the cooldowns of your active weapon abilities by 1/4 second.
  • Combined with  Rushing Justice.png Rushing Justice, this trait makes condition willbender scale more heavily with Quickness.png Quickness, as it increases the pace of hits applied to enemies.
  • Through this, even pure power weapons become great options when they apply many hits in quick succession (e.g. Greatsword with  Whirling Wrath.png Whirling Wrath).

Rotation Concept[edit]

You can find my most recent rotation showcase here.
Damage Log
Section Notes
General Stuff
Careful:This build scales with the number of Boons on yourself. For guidance on setting up the training area, see my guide for it
  • The rotation concept is very simple: camp Pistol & Torch and win.
Opener
General Flow
  • Then use the following skills on cooldown:
  1. Rushing Justice.png Rushing Justice is priority #1, as explained above. This forces you into melee range every ~10 seconds.
  2. Purging Flames.png Purging Flames
  3. Symbol of Ignition.png Symbol of Ignition
  4. Zealot's Flame.png Zealot's Flame &  Zealot's Fire.png Zealot's Fire
  5. Peacekeeper.png Peacekeeper
  6. Whirling Light.png Whirling Light
CC Skills for Breakbar Damage

Gear & Traits[edit]

Important Stats (descending in Importance):

  1. 100% Burning.png Burning Duration
  2. ~30% Overall Condition duration
  3. Maximize Condition Damage
  • Since the vast majority of damage comes from Burning.png Burning, it is important to reach 100% condition duration on it.
Gear
Armor Prefix Rune
Illustrious Visor.png Head Sinister Superior Rune of Balthazar.pngSuperior Rune of Balthazar
Illustrious Pauldrons.png Shoulders Sinister Superior Rune of Balthazar.pngSuperior Rune of Balthazar
Illustrious Breastplate.png Chest Sinister Superior Rune of Balthazar.pngSuperior Rune of Balthazar
Illustrious Warfists.png Gloves Sinister Superior Rune of Balthazar.pngSuperior Rune of Balthazar
Illustrious Tassets.png Legs Sinister Superior Rune of Balthazar.pngSuperior Rune of Balthazar
Illustrious Greaves.png Boots Sinister Superior Rune of Balthazar.pngSuperior Rune of Balthazar
Trinket Prefix
Vial of Salt.png Amulet Viper's
Gift of Prescience.png Ring 1 Viper's
Armbrace of Truth.png Ring 2 Viper's
Black Ice Earring.png Accessory 1 Sinister
Vision.png Accessory 2 Viper's
Ad Infinitum.png Backpack Viper's
Weapon Prefix Sigil
Quip.png Pistol (Main Hand) Viper's Superior Sigil of Earth.pngSuperior Sigil of Earth
Rodgort.png Torch (Off Hand) Viper's Superior Sigil of Bursting.pngSuperior Sigil of Bursting
Meteorlogicus.png Scepter (Main Hand) Viper's Superior Sigil of Earth.pngSuperior Sigil of Earth
Purpose Item Type Source
Damage Ascended Food Cilantro and Cured Meat Flatbread.pngCilantro and Cured Meat Flatbread
Damage Non-Ascended Food Plate of Beef Rendang.pngPlate of Beef Rendang
Survivability Ascended Food Peppered Cured Meat Flatbread.pngPeppered Cured Meat Flatbread
Survivability Non-Ascended Food Oysters Gnashblade.pngOysters Gnashblade
Damage Utility Toxic Tuning Crystal.pngToxic Tuning Crystal
Survivability Utility Powerful Potion of Inquest Slaying.pngPotion Of Karka Toughness
Damage Relic Relic of the Fractal.pngRelic of the Fractal
Traits
Radiance
Radiance.png
Inner Fire.png
Wrath of Justice.png
Amplified Wrath.png
Justice is Blind.png
Right-Hand Strength.png
Renewed Justice.png
Radiant Fire.png
Radiant Power.png
Perfect Inscriptions.png
Healer's Resolution.png
Retribution (trait).png
Radiant Retaliation.png
Virtues
Virtues.png
Unscathed Contender.png
Virtuous Solace.png
Permeating Wrath.png
Inspired Virtue.png
Resolute Subconscious.png
Virtue of Resolution.png
Absolute Resolve.png
Power of the Virtuous.png
Battle Presence.png
Master of Consecrations.png
Glacial Heart.png
Indomitable Courage.png
Willbender
Willbender.png
Searing Pact.png
Restorative Virtues.png
Phoenix Protocol.png
Willbender Training.png
Power for Power.png
Righteous Sprint.png
Holy Reckoning.png
Lethal Tempo.png
Tyrant's Momentum.png
Conceited Curate.png
Vanguard Tactics.png
Deathless Courage.png
  • For a budget variant, simply replace all armor pieces of Viper's with rare/exotic Ritualist's and all ascended Sinister with rare/exotic Carrion. For the backpack, you can use a Crafter's backpack of the highest tier and select either Celestial or Rabid.
  • Ascended gear is always ideal, but exotic gear is fine for everything aside from higher-tier fractals.

Open World Build[edit]

You can find my most recent open world build showcase here.
Link to the Open World Build in the Editor

Increasing Survivability[edit]

For OW, it can make sense to make a build more forgiving, so that you can sustain on your own.

  • The first major step to increase survivability versus bosses is to stay on Pistol. That allows you to deal damage from range so you can kite dangerous enemies instead of facetanking their damage. You will have to go into melee for  Rushing Justice.png Rushing Justice periodically.
  • Staying alive on condi guradian builds is made easier by  Litany of Wrath.png Litany of Wrath, which heals you based on your damage dealt. If you have a bunch of burning stacks on the enemy, this will keep you alive for its duration. As pointed out above, it boils down to surviving the downtimes of  Litany of Wrath.png Litany of Wrath.
  • The gear can stay the same as for instanced content, but the more pieces of Ritualist's you have, the easier maintaining the Boons listed below becomes. Ritualist's Armor and Trinkets are cheap to buy, so you can just replace Viper's pieces with them. That will get you right between the two builds in terms of stats and provides a good allrounder setup of all kinds of PvE.
  • Use the survivability food and utility item listed above for -10% damage taken and 150 Toughness.

Boon Coverage[edit]

  1. Phoenix Protocol Phoenix Protocol grants you Alacrity.png Alacrity when you use  Flowing Resolve.png Flowing Resolve and when its passive effect triggers.
  2. Battle Presence Battle Presence makes you share it with allies. You can keep Permeating Wrath Permeating Wrath when you play alone for higher solo damage. Don't be selfish though.

Dealing with Incoming Conditions and Control effects[edit]