ArenaNet has revealed the first profession coming to Guild Wars 2 that was not featured in the original Guild Wars. The second of the game’s two fighter professions, the guardian is the first brand-new class for the game.
Guardians will be more defensive- and protective-based fighters than their warrior counterparts. They use passive abilities that allow them to either endure long-standing battles on their own or pass them over to their allies for a brief period of time.
"The guardian is a devoted fighter who calls upon powerful virtues to smite enemies and protect allies," read the profession description. "As dangerous with a staff as he is with a mighty two-handed hammer, a true guardian is a master tactician who knows when to sacrifice his own defenses to empower his allies to achieve victory."
Each guardian has four special skills unique to the profession: spirit weapons, symbols, wards, and aegis.
Spirit weapons can be summoned by the guardian as a separate entity to fight alongside him or her for a limited time and cannot be attacked by enemies. Symbols can be placed on the ground and will last for a few seconds, either delivering damage to enemies or benefits to allies.
Wards are spells that are placed on the ground and prevent both enemies and their attacks from coming through while allies are able pass through freely. Aegis is a skill that allows players to block the next attack against them and is usable through the profession’s Courage virtue.
There are three total virtues with the guardian: Justice, Courage, and Resolve. Justice causes burning for every guardian’s fifth attack, Courage grants the Aegis skill every 30 seconds, and Resolve constantly has the guardian regenerating health. Each of these abilities can be passed on to the guardian’s allies, but it will be removed from the guardian himself/herself and have to recharge (60 seconds for Justice, 120 seconds for Courage and Resolve).
Guardian’s are far from light when it comes to using weapons. They can have access to a mace, scepter, or sword in their main hand and a focus, shield, or torch in their off hand, or they can use both hands to wield a greatsword, hammer, or staff.
The source at the bottom of the story will show you clips of five of the guardian’s skills. The video here shows one of them: Wall of Deflection.
