Guardian
THESE RESOURCES ARE FOR PRE-7.0 GAME CONTENT AND ARE NO LONGER UP TO DATE.
Discipline Guides
Advanced Class Set Bonuses
Lord of Pain
Increased drop rate from operations.
(2) +2% Endurance
(4) Reduces the cooldown of Challenging Call by 5 seconds.
(6) Challenging Call increases your damage reduction by 2.5% for each enemy it hits. This effect lasts 10 seconds.
Comments: Is technically BIS for mitigation since Flawless Riposte does not add any mitigation. That said, it's defensive benefits are low due to (1) the long CD of AoE taunt; and (2) a short duration and low boost to DR unless absolutely swamped in adds. In most cases Flawless Riposte will perform better by shortening the encounter through superior tank DPS. As of 6.1.2, I would prefer the new Fulminating Defense set bonus for its much higher DR on internal/elemental damage. However, given the difficulty in obtaining the new set bonus I expect to continue running Lord of Pain.
Flawless Riposte
Increased drop rate from Nature of Progress (Dxun operation).
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Riposte has no cooldown.
(6) Taking damage during Enure grants Retaliator stacks, increasing the damage of your next Riposte by 10% per stack.
Comments: BIS for tanks for high M/R fights or for tanks desiring a high DPS tank gear set. Given the sizable increase in DPS and modest mitigation boost by Lord of Pain in non-AoE encounters, this is a viable alternative (though very difficult to obtain).
Fulminating Defense
Increased drop rate from The Nature of Progress Operation on Master Mode Difficulty, and has a small chance from Unidentified items on the Spoils of War vendors.
(2) +2% Endurance
(4) Challenging Call gets two charges.
(6) Enure increases elemental and internal damage reduction by 75% for 3 seconds.
Comments: This set bonus will be clearly the best in slot set bonus as Lord of Pain is not that great. The 6-piece set bonus is really strong as it provides a massive DR buff to I/E damage that generally bypasses most mitigation. This is the Guardian equivalent to the Vanguard Emergency Power set bonus. It is not as strong since it's DR is for a specific type of damage but it is the type that is toughest to mitigate.
Advanced Class Tacticals
Grit Teeth
Crafted by Biochem.
The cooldown of Focused Defense is reduced by 2 seconds when you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once per second.
Comments: BIS for tanks on any fights where huge burst damage is not a concern and where incoming damage is consistent enough to fully utilize the self-heal and consistently reduce CD times. Otherwise use Makashi Strike or Leviathan's Hide.
Higher Focus
Increased drop rate from Conquest.
Enrage builds one Force Clarity ability charge.
Comments: This tactical would be the best DPS tactical among the general class tacticals and is a decent option if none of the specialization BIS tacticals are available.
Rancor's Tail
Increased drop rate from PVP.
Activating Saber Ward finishes the cooldown of Force Push.
Comments: Not a great tactical. An extra Force Push is slightly better than nothing, but only if you go to decimal places when measuring.
Throwing Arm
Increased drop rate from PVP.
Saber Throw lowers the targets accuracy by 70% for 6 seconds.
Comments: May have situational use in PVP but I would prefer Grit Teeth even for DPS due to its effectively 30s cooldown and massive heal to full potential.