Thread: Building my OP set

I've pretty much reached a stale point on my guard. I've got my ToO gear, kindred with the new factions, empowered jewelry set. A friend asked me to spar him in OP. Of course, I lost since I don't know how to build an OP guard and, at the time, didn't have much in the way of might gear. I manged to start collecting might gear (currently I can get my might to 1286, with vit at 1371. that includes two Draigoch armor pieces, the boots from the ToO OP set, with shoulders, cloak, and jewelry from various quests).

This set up did well for me when I was solo questing in the GR area, but in a spar I didn't stand a chance. I noticed how I pushed my might my Agi went down as well, with the above might set I have 170 agi. Now I never paid any mind to agi because I usually run with a shield and focus on my vitality and might. (This is the way I play my guard with a shield, I do NOT want a side discussion of the importance of agi in tank mode, save that for a different thread).

In OP, particularly in PvP cases (not necessarily in the moors, mind you), is agi as important as might?
What's a good 'balance' between might, agi and vit? I'm assuming as a guard in OP we still need quite a bit of health as our DPS doesn't match an actual DPS class.

What about item legacies? I just got a 2-hander SA crafted for me with the following legacies:
+Whirling retaliation damage
-Over power cost
+Guardian's ward duration (thinking of trading this legacy for a stat)
-Guardian's pledge cool down (thinking of trading this legacy for a stat.)
+targeted melee skill range
+Guardian bleed pulses. (not quite sure how to use this)

(It also came with +28 vit, +236 morale, +28 agi)

In terms of relics, I'm looking at relics that give a bonus to might and crit ratings, and power for the crafted relic. I haven't actually set any yet though.

Any advice on building my OP set?

With enough time and dedication you can get your Overpower Guardian build to a point that you will be happy to spar with it. It sounds as though you are enjoying your first tastes in Overpower.

Your Might is starting to get there. It was around the 1200-1300 range in Might that I really began to felt as though I could begin to contribute to dps in a group, and also the first time that I built up enough confidence in my build to venture out into the Moors in Overpower.

With the full ToO OP set you will get both plenty of Might and Agility. The next thing is to look for jewellery that, along with giving Might also gives Agility, or the combination of Might and Vitality.

For an Overpower build I like to have an absolute minimum of 550 Agility, but prefer to run over 600. Depending on the weapon, gear and jewellery that I am wearing I can get my Agility over 700, and in my extreme build my Agility towers over 900, although that is complete overkill.

With 1700 Might I can comfortably have my Morale rest over 10k and still have decent mitigations, high resistance.

For Critical Chance I like to have a minimum of 16%, but preferably 17-21%. Finesse for PvE, 14% is fine.. for raiding I like to bump that up to 17%. For PvMP and PvP I like to bump my Finesse to around 23%.

In my extreme glass cannon build I can get my Might over 2200, which in this build my Agility also is over 900, 23.5% crit, 22.7% Finesse, but my Morale sits as a measly 7k.

I'll follow-up with a post showing exactly what I have...

Regardless, it will have to be your driving passion that moves you forward in your Overpower build. Don't get discouraged by the large number of people that will say that Guards cannot dps, and the many groups that will turn you down for dps roles.

I only changed my 2h axe and put might on my belt and wep. I sit at 700 might and even though i do wield a ####-ton on dps i still go to the moors. With my regular tanking armor and just my 2h in OP the warg pack on windfola couldn't kill me because of my resist and mits. Avg hit was only 700, but it was enough to out-stand them. I am gonna grab the dps ToO set t osee how much better the dps will get i just dont want to lose all my mits.

Originally Posted by Zerric

I only changed my 2h axe and put might on my belt and wep. I sit at 700 might and even though i do wield a ####-ton on dps i still go to the moors. With my regular tanking armor and just my 2h in OP the warg pack on windfola couldn't kill me because of my resist and mits. Avg hit was only 700, but it was enough to out-stand them. I am gonna grab the dps ToO set t osee how much better the dps will get i just dont want to lose all my mits.

Obviously you want to keep your mitigations up, but as you acquire your Audacity pieces you will find that you can trade some of your mitigations for other stats. Audacity is more beneficial to you the lower your mitigations are:

Unbuffed ::: with Audacity R7 ::: difference
0% , 30% , 30%
10% , 37% , 27%
20% , 44% , 24%
30% , 51% , 21%
40% , 58% , 18%
50% , 65% , 15%
60% , 72% , 12%
70% , 79% , 9%

So as you can see, if for instance your mitigation stat; be it physical, common or tactical; is capped at 70% Audacity is only going to effectively give you an additional 9% mitigation, whereas if you have 0% mitigation you'd get the full 30% from Audacity.

I try to aim for my common and tactical mitigations to be in the 50-60% range, allowing me to make use of 12-15% of the 30% from Audacity, which will allow me to increase my stats for Might, Agility, Crit and Finesse.

700 Might for Overpower is not going to work. Here are some stepping stone goals to set for yourself...

1. Might 1200-1300 (without Audacity pieces).
2. Might 1200-1300 and Agility above 500 (without Audacity pieces).
3. Might 1500 and Agility 500 (without Audacity pieces).
5. Might 1800 and Agility 700 (without Audacity pieces).
6. Might 1500 and Agility 600 (with Audacity pieces).

FINAL 7a. Might 1500+, Agility 600+, Morale 10,000+ (with Audacity pieces).
FINAL 7b. Might 1800+, Agility 700+, Morale 10,000+ (without Audacity pieces).

Zonflux, list your jewelry and such that you use for OP!

[ PvMP ]

Morale: 10,005 *butter zone
Power: 2201
Might: 1507 *butter zone
Agility: 689 *butter zone
Vitality: 1238
Critical Hit: 6503 (17.1%) <-- still too low, wishlist 19+%
Finesse: 6252 (17.4%) <-- still too low, wishlist 20+%
Resistance: 9393 (24.0%) *anything 20+% is butter zone
Common Mitigation: 9549 (63.8%)
Tactical Mitigation: 10,411 (54.9%)

Earrings:

[Empowered Anduin Martyr's Earring] ~ Stangard barter
[Knight's Platinum Stud] ~ skraids

Necklace:

[Ancient Moonstone and Topaz Necklace] ~ Oxclan barter

Bracelets:

[Bracelet of the Fallen Orcs] ~ RoF T2
[Bracelet of Wrath's Hour] ~ Galtrev barter

Rings:

[Empowered Anduin Martyr's Ring] ~ Stangard barter
[Orc Taskmaster's Ring] ~ RoF T2

Pocket:

[Empowered Anduin Martyr's Bauble] ~ Stangard barter

If I'm taking lots of tactical damage or in the Moors fighting a creep such as a Warg, BA, Weaver or Defiler then sometimes I will swap in [Gregolin].

For gear I am currently using some of my Orthanc gear but only because I have not acquired more of my Audacity pieces yet.

Orthanc:

[Helm of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Breastplate of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

*sometimes I'll swap to a chest piece with 1k Finesse if a creep is difficult to kill

[Leggings of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

Galtrev:

[Wyrmscale Protector's Cloak]

Ettenmoors:

[Pauldrons of the Fearless] ~ Moors, has tactical mitigation
[Gauntlets of the Sovereign's Blade] ~ Moors
[Sabatons of the Fearless] ~ Moors, has tactical mitigation

[ PvE ]

Morale: 9986
Power: 2361
Might: 1695
Agility: 622
Vitality: 1205
Critical Hit: 6668 (17.3%)
Finesse: 6038 (16.9%)
Resistance: 9327 (23.9%)
Common Mitigation: 9859 (64.4%)
Tactical Mitigation: 8853 (50.3%)

Necklace:

[Ancient Moonstone and Topaz Necklace]

Orthanc:

[Helm of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Breastplate of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

[Leggings of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

Galtrev:

[Wyrmscale Protector's Cloak]

Ettenmoors:

[Pauldrons of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Gauntlets of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Sabatons of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

[ PvE ] ~ tactical mitigation

Morale: 10,068
Power: 2201
Might: 1531
Agility: 653
Vitality: 1285
Critical Hit: 6518 (17.1%)
Finesse: 5006 (14.4%)
Resistance: 9487 (24.2%)
Common Mitigation: 9691 (64.1%)
Tactical Mitigation: 12,112 (59.1%)

Necklace:

[Gregolin]

Orthanc:

[Helm of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Breastplate of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

[Leggings of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

Galtrev:

[Wyrmscale Protector's Cloak]

Ettenmoors:

[Pauldrons of the Fearless] ~ Moors, has tactical mitigation
[Gauntlets of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Sabatons of the Fearless] ~ Moors, has tactical mitigation

[ PvE ] ~ glass cannon

Morale: 6966
Power: 2651
Might: 1958
Agility: 622
Vitality: 672
Critical Hit: 7984 (19.4%)
Finesse: 5978 (16.7%)
Resistance: 7757 (20.7%)
Common Mitigation: 9319 (63.4%)
Tactical Mitigation: 6721 (42.7%)

Earrings:

[Knight's Platinum Stud] x2 ~ skraids

Necklace:

[Ancient Moonstone and Topaz Necklace] ~ Oxclan barter

Bracelets:

[Bracelet of the Fallen Orcs] ~ RoF T2
[Bracelet of Wrath's Hour] ~ Galtrev barter

Rings:

[Ring of the Dragon] ~ Galtrev barter
[Exquisite Great River Ring of Valour] ~ Great River craft

Pocket:

[Book of Defensive Manoeuvres] ~ crafted drop recipe

Orthanc:

[Helm of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Breastplate of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

[Leggings of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

Galtrev:

[Wyrmscale Blademaster's Cloak]

Ettenmoors:

[Pauldrons of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Gauntlets of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter
[Sabatons of the Laighathel] ~ Oxclan barter

In my glass cannon build, with trail food, buffs and cappy banner I can get my Might over 2200. The IDOME and Motivated buffs also bump my Morale over 8k, and if there is a Minstrel present with Tale of Battle my Morale gets over 8.5k in my glass cannon build.

Thanks so much for posting that. VERY detailed and makes me happy to see I have a lot of the items already. Time to work on Acid and Saruman to get the rest of my ToO armor

Thank you for the responses; My current goal is to get my agi up to 500 and keep my might at 1200.
I went and got the Ancient Moonstone and Topaz necklace from the Ox-Clan batter and the Empowered Anduin's Victor's Bauble.
(I have the Empowered Martyr's set in my tank gear, so I can easily switch back to it if needed.)

I'll be putting the time I spend on my guard gathering better gear.

In the meantime though, I definitely need some advice on LI's. Belt legacies in particular. I've got my weapon legacies close to where I want them, but my belt legacies I'm not sure about. Its also related to the fact that I'm not one hundred percent on a skill rotation in OP. What major legacies should I be looking at for PvP? The minor legacies I have on my current PvP belt are the three stager related legacies (duration, positional damage and crit).

I would like some advice on relics as well. I set some relics on my OP belt but that was pre-U6 (if that matters), and haven't set any on my OP weapon.

And one last question at thatabguy: what do you mean by butter zone?

(Major) Sting Damamge

(Minor) Stagger Positional Damage
(Minor) Stagger Critical Rating
(Minor) Stagger Effect Duration

After that the rest below are optional...

(Minor) Power Restore on Reactions
(Minor) Might

... ... ...

For weapons I like to actually have two legendaries; one for single-target and another for AoE dps.

[ Single-target ]

(Major) Overwhelm Critical Rating
(Minor) Targeted Melee Skills Range
(Minor) Bleed Pulses
(Minor) Bleed Damage
____________optional
(Minor) Might
(Minor) Agility

[ AoE ]

(Major) AoE targets
(Major) Whirling damage
(Major) Sweeping Cut damage
(Minor) Targeted Melee Skills Range
____________optional
(Minor) Might
(Minor) Agility

... ... ...

For relics I like;
Setting -> {...} Settings of Endings *crit and devastate
Gem -> {...} Gem of Speed *agility and crit
Rune -> {...} Rune of Wisdom *quicker attacks

Guard DPS is all about critting and critting often. Unbuffed you MUST be above 15%. As a bare minumum I recommend having 17-19% crit rating, and then circumstantial for things like Moors or Sparring I recommend 22-24% crit.

Finesse I like to recommend 14-16% for fellowship quests, and 17% for raids. For Moors and Sparring I like to recommend 21-23% Finesse.

More of what a dps guardian is capable of, this is from on-level content...
* I should also mention that I had ZERO buffs, ie; the ONLY buff that I had on was my Overpower Stance which isn't a buff.
* From Battle of The Way of Smith, set to duo but solo'd with Herbalist for healing.

Originally Posted by thatabguy

More of what a dps guardian is capable of, this is from on-level content...
* I should also mention that I had ZERO buffs, ie; the ONLY buff that I had on was my Overpower Stance which isn't a buff.
* From Battle of The Way of Smith, set to duo but solo'd with Herbalist for healing.

I was just wondering which runes/settings/gems you used to get those stats.

Originally Posted by mattandandrew

I was just wondering which runes/settings/gems you used to get those stats.

Well, I was running around 2200 Might there, but I'm actually going to be trying toning that down to under 2000 whilst trying to focus more heavily directly towards Physical Mastery if I can. While Might adds to Physical Mastery I have found there to be somewhat of a soft cap or diminishing returns on what you get from Might, or at least it feels that way sometimes. I start to feel it after 1500 Might, and more-so after 1700. From 2000 to 2300 Might I can barely tell the difference (yes, I can get my Might over 2300, but that drops my morale to 6700).

For Settings I use the Devastate Magnitude ones. For Gems I use Agility + Crit. For Rune I use the minus Attack Duration. For crafted I use Might + Crit chance.

I like to try to run with 17-19% Finesse and 19-21% Crit. Having a high crit chance is more important to an OP-Guard than any other dps class in the game since we do not have any critical magnitude legacies. With Captain buffs you want to strive to have your crit chance around between 21-23%. We will never hit regularly for over 3k damage, and if we do it is because the target has been debuffed to hell. However, with a high crit chance we will regularly hit for between 1500-2700, and quite often for over 2000. In the end we want to aim to have our average damage around the 1k mark. You'll notice for the total duration of that run my total crit chance (crits + devs) was 33.6%... if you minus my ranged auto-attacks and a few other skills that don't crit as often then the ones that count most the crit percentages were actually much higher for those. Oftentimes I'll find my AoE's to crit 35-45% of the time, and my To the King to crit over 60% of the time.

If you don't care about single-target dps then you can have one Legendary item for your Overpower build, and in this case you would spec it for AoE. So have AoE targets, sweeping cut damage, whirling damage, vexing damage. Probably a Might legacy, and hopefully your weapon has a passive Might bonus on it.

With an AoE build, in a matter of a few seconds you can unleash over 30 attacks on your targets, assuming there are several targets; max or close to max rank AoE targets, and use Whirling, Sweeping, Vexing.. make sure Ward is active to help supply more Parry events, Sting buff from Orthanc set adds 1200 Physical Mastery.

With a steady stream of Parry events from your tank, or if you have aggro then Pledge, you'll be so busy with AoE skills that you'll struggle to find time to do other skills such as Guardian's Ward, Sting, Overwhelm and To the King.

Above all else... the way that Guardians currently are, we will never be a single-target dps class. Until Turbine changes that we are an AoE class. For single-target debuff contribute by applying bleeds, Stagger debuff and popping CJ's.

Originally Posted by thatabguy

Well, I was running around 2200 Might there, but I'm actually going to be trying toning that down to under 2000 whilst trying to focus more heavily directly towards Physical Mastery if I can. While Might adds to Physical Mastery I have found there to be somewhat of a soft cap or diminishing returns on what you get from Might, or at least it feels that way sometimes. I start to feel it after 1500 Might, and more-so after 1700. From 2000 to 2300 Might I can barely tell the difference (yes, I can get my Might over 2300, but that drops my morale to 6700).

I think one might gives you 10 physical mastery no matter how much you have. While the conversion between mastery and increaed damage % is not quite as straight forward I dont think you will see any benefits (in damage terms) with replacing x might with 10x mastery. If however for every might you lose you can gain more than 10 times as much mastery then you should see a damage increase but will of course lose some parry and mitigation.

Originally Posted by thatabguy

Well, I was running around 2200 Might there, but I'm actually going to be trying toning that down to under 2000 whilst trying to focus more heavily directly towards Physical Mastery if I can. While Might adds to Physical Mastery I have found there to be somewhat of a soft cap or diminishing returns on what you get from Might, or at least it feels that way sometimes. I start to feel it after 1500 Might, and more-so after 1700. From 2000 to 2300 Might I can barely tell the difference (yes, I can get my Might over 2300, but that drops my morale to 6700).

For Settings I use the Devastate Magnitude ones. For Gems I use Agility + Crit. For Rune I use the minus Attack Duration. For crafted I use Might + Crit chance.

I like to try to run with 17-19% Finesse and 19-21% Crit. Having a high crit chance is more important to an OP-Guard than any other dps class in the game since we do not have any critical magnitude legacies. With Captain buffs you want to strive to have your crit chance around between 21-23%. We will never hit regularly for over 3k damage, and if we do it is because the target has been debuffed to hell. However, with a high crit chance we will regularly hit for between 1500-2700, and quite often for over 2000. In the end we want to aim to have our average damage around the 1k mark. You'll notice for the total duration of that run my total crit chance (crits + devs) was 33.6%... if you minus my ranged auto-attacks and a few other skills that don't crit as often then the ones that count most the crit percentages were actually much higher for those. Oftentimes I'll find my AoE's to crit 35-45% of the time, and my To the King to crit over 60% of the time.

If you don't care about single-target dps then you can have one Legendary item for your Overpower build, and in this case you would spec it for AoE. So have AoE targets, sweeping cut damage, whirling damage, vexing damage. Probably a Might legacy, and hopefully your weapon has a passive Might bonus on it.

With an AoE build, in a matter of a few seconds you can unleash over 30 attacks on your targets, assuming there are several targets; max or close to max rank AoE targets, and use Whirling, Sweeping, Vexing.. make sure Ward is active to help supply more Parry events, Sting buff from Orthanc set adds 1200 Physical Mastery.

With a steady stream of Parry events from your tank, or if you have aggro then Pledge, you'll be so busy with AoE skills that you'll struggle to find time to do other skills such as Guardian's Ward, Sting, Overwhelm and To the King.

Above all else... the way that Guardians currently are, we will never be a single-target dps class. Until Turbine changes that we are an AoE class. For single-target debuff contribute by applying bleeds, Stagger debuff and popping CJ's.

I'm looking at your PvMP build and am wondering how you can get your might that high with the gear you use. I'm at around 1,150 might with very similar jewelry, although my armor is not the same.

Jewelry:
Empowered Anduin Martyr's Set
Exquisite Great River Earring of Might
Ancient Moonstone and Topaz Necklace
Exquisite Great River Bracelet of Strength
Bracelet of Wrath's Hour
Exquisite Great River Ring of Valour

Armor:
Graven Full Helm of Resolve
Great River Shoulders with Tact Mit on them (can't remember name)
Treiglur-Clog (cloak)
Chest, Leggings, and Gloves, of the Indomitable Protector
Sabatons of the Sovereign's Blade

Originally Posted by mattandandrew

I'm looking at your PvMP build and am wondering how you can get your might that high with the gear you use. I'm at around 1,150 might with very similar jewelry, although my armor is not the same.

I have been tweaking my PvMP build a little bit since my post, but you must realize that as you accumulate more PvMP pieces your Might is going to take a drastic hit. I call it the double-wammy nerf by Turbine to help balance the Moors; 1) lower our Might so that we do less dps 2) give everyone Audacity; together as a result we do way less damage to Creeps. This succeeded in allowing Moors fights to draw out a while longer, so kudos to Turbine for that.

Having said that I have since accumulated new jewellery and an additional moors piece so my stats are a little bit different.

[ PvMP ]

Morale: 9422
Power: 2276
Might: 1490
Agility: 696
Vitality: 1183
Critical Hit: 7672 (18.9%)
Finesse: 7320 (19.7%)
Resistance: 9333 (23.9%)
Common Mitigation: 8925 (62.6%)
Tactical Mitigation: 10191 (54.3%)

Earrings:

[Empowered Anduin Victor's Earring] +126 Might
[Empowered Anduin Martyr's Earring] +63 Might

Necklace:

[Ancient Moonstone and Topaz Necklace] +77 Might

Bracelets:

[Bracelet of the Fallen Orcs] +126 Might
[Bracelet of Wrath's Hour] +92 Might

Rings:

[Empowered Anduin Martyr's Ring] +63 Might
[Empowered Anduin Victor's Ring] +126 Might

Pocket:

[Empowered Anduin Martyr's Bauble] +63 Might

Victor set bonus: +31 Might

I do now have [Sarchol] and I still have [Gregolin], so for battles where I am taking lots of tactical damage such as against Weavers, BAs, Wargs and Warleaders I will swap in those. Going full-on tactical mitigation I get 60.4% tactical mitigation, 8654 Morale and 1413 Might.

Orthanc:

[Helm of the Laighathel] +121 Might
[Breastplate of the Sovereign's Blade] +34 Might

[Leggings of the Laighathel] +101 Might

Galtrev:

[Wyrmscale Protector's Cloak]

Ettenmoors:

[Pauldrons of the Fearless] +101 Might
[Gauntlets of the Sovereign's Blade] +34 Might
[Sabatons of the Fearless] +101 Might

Orthanc set bonus: +34 Might

Relics: +20 Might
Legacies: +76 Might
Passives: 0 Might
Scrolls: 0 Might
Virtues: 0 Might

Overall I have managed to keep my stats similar. However in an effort to keep my Might up after acquiring my PvMP chest piece I started wearing some of the Victor's jewellery pieces to offset the loss in Might going from the Orthanc to PvMP chest piece. As a result my Morale took a slight hit. I justify the increase in Audacity to hopefully offset the loss in Morale.

That said, you can squeeze out extra Might using stat legacies +34-45 Might, the new Westfold crafted relic which has +20 Might, and sometimes your legendary item will even have a passive Might bonus on it. I could probably squeeze another 50-70 Might in trade of Agility, but.. I'm trying hard to keep my Agility around 700 if at all possible.