Verdict on Guardians?

[LastSanctum]

So Ive been gathering a lot of word of mouth opinions and feed back on Guardians sense they hit live, but Ied like to ask the Community what they think and how they feel about the Archetype now that we've got a few of the bugs worked out.

Ive seen some talk about it in the LFG channel In Game, so I thought Ied toss a post up here to gather more data. (Thanks to @nebber for the idea)

[Donkyhotay]

They're pretty fun, very much a "jack" AT where they can do a little bit of everything but don't specialize in anything. As I've heard others say, they very much remind me of a VEAT but easier to play since they have normal powersets like other AT's.

[Nod]

I'm still tinkering with them but would say that so far... the right combo is incredibly fun to play.

My Earth Assault/Energy Composition guardian is one of my top 10 favorite characters ever, including Live.

There are some less-than-stellar builds out there, but nothing I'd call a trap build. Nothing so terrible it'd put you off the AT altogether, just some builds that are tougher than others to get a handle on. (Electric Assault/Stone Composition has been a real bear to get good with, I'd say that's my most challenging so far)

[Joshex]

I've been toying with the feeling that they are a bit OP. I wasn't sure, but I have consistently outdamaged damage ATs on mine. The range is good, but not many damaging AoEs (at least in my choice of sets, I honestly could probably build an AoE Centric Guard if I wanted, that might be about as OP as my wp/elec tank.

I actually haven't even touched the control aspects yet, been ignoring those powers atm. I am also slotted for damage so that might be why. It is a bit end heavy, I find running my toggles is hard to keep up and have to pick which ones I need, but thats kinda normal before you do sets so. It seems fairly good after trying to critique it. honestly I'm not done critiquing it. I'm only at level 19.

[Nod]

(Electric Assault/Stone Composition has been a real bear to get good with, I'd say that's my most challenging so far)

Quite honestly I did end up giving up on that one. Got "Rock-M Shock-M" to level 48 mostly by teaming but whenever I was trying to solo it was just too much of a grind.
Electric Assault was okay but the melee aspect vs the ranged aspect was not as much fun. Plus Not enough (any...) endurance generation and the pseudo-heal just didn't cut the mustard.

I'm currently working on a VEAT but my next Guardian project probably will be either something with that pistols/kungfu mix or maybe cold something.

[Rejolt]

The idea of an electric melee kinetics toon with defense auras sounds fun (Elec/Energy Guardian). Was elec assault the issue or the pairing the issue?

[Nod]

The idea of an electric melee kinetics toon with defense auras sounds fun (Elec/Energy Guardian). Was elec assault the issue or the pairing the issue?

No it was mostly that Stone Composition doesn't have anything for endurance or true healing.
Pretty much any attacks set can be made okay-to-great- with proper slotting and enhancing.

I think a lot of the problem is that I made R-M S-M AFTER I made S0L1D.
Earth Assault/Energy Composition was flat-out amazing.

[Biospark]

Hello Heroes,

I realize this is an old post, but Guardians are the reason I came to Rebirth from... elsewhere.

This is the AT I wanted the Defender to be back at launch in 2004.
Great balance of Melee and Ranged plus support and survival.
The lower damage is on par with Defenders, which is perfect.

I look forward to trying dozens of combinations, but again,  Job Well Done !!!

[NecropolisNathaniel]

I know this is an old post from June of 2021, but screw it, I'm gonna reply anyway.

The Guardian is an archetype that is capable dealing damage while having the ability to offer heavy support to your teammates and even to yourself. Their inherent ability known as Resolve grants them the ability to acquire Status Protection and Absorption after defeating an enemy. This inherent ability stacks up to three times, and can affect nearby teammates.

Their survivability is a bit better than a Blaster, Corruptor, or Dominator thanks to their Composition power sets granting them defense abilities. While their survivability doesn't measure up to the Brute and Tanker archetypes, their overall damage output and support capabilities are perfectly balanced, making the Guardian an all-purpose character in a sense.

However, the Guardian itself can be a massive endurance hog if you don't plan out your build well. It's best to give yourself Endurance Reduction enhancements for the abilities you get that require you to use a lot of endurance. Even if it won't help with the endurance problem much, those enhancements will make a difference, especially the IOs that you may want to craft that relies on recovery and endurance reduction.

Overall, the Guardian is a solid archetype that delivers everything that you can possibly need for bringing villains to justice or gutting heroes like fish, but they don't hold a candle compared to the Blaster or Stalker in my honest opinion.

That is all. My honest opinion on the Guardian archetype.