The Condi Firebrand is a self-sufficient DPS build, which is not entirely relying on support from the party. This is achieved by bringing slightly more than 50% Quickness to the party. Further, this build brings Stability for the team. Don't be fooled though; the DPS sacrifice is neglectable so that the Condi Firebrand maintains consistent very high DPS. In addition to that, a free utility slot allows the Condi Firebrand to adapt to almost any situation and fill the parties' needs ideally.
The beginner version should not be played in the slot of a Quickness-provider. Instead, it is a fully fledged DPS class! The added Quickness will help to cover potential gaps in Quickness application and alleviate some of stress the Quickness-provider might face.
This is a great build to get started in fractals as you provide a base amount of supportive utility. As you progress through fractals and discover new depths of the immersive gameplay of Guild Wars 2, you can tweak this build more and more. Before reading the advanced version of this page, we recommend acquiring an in-depth understanding of your CC skills and when to use them efficiently. You also should be able to hit more than 45% Quickness uptime (measure this with the arc-dps boon table addon). And finally, you should be able to execute the basic step-by-step rotation provided below without spending too much thought on it.
The advanced page provides a more complete overview of all the utilities the Guardian has to offer. If you ever feel like you are missing information feel free to already swap to the advanced page!
Although this build lists 150 Agony Resistance, it is not a strict requirement! We recommend getting started with this build anyway - even if it might be suboptimal while being in Tier 1 or 2 fractals. Keep upgrading your Agony Resistance until you reach the suggested variant. In the beginning, it is much more important to learn about fractal mechanics and your skills rather than equipping optimal gear.
Equipment
You will want the following weapons to swap to during fractal runs:
Greatsword for pulling adds in Nightmare CM after MAMA and some T4s
Whenever a charge comes back, use both Mantras once again. Keep at 0 charges and at 2 charges for when you need healing. You can cast these while casting other skills as they are instant-casts.
Note: Using more often than every 7 seconds will not result in more Quickness due to the cooldown of .
Step 2: Basic Skills
Start by using the following 3 skills off-cooldown in this order of priority:
Step 3: F1 Tome
Whenever your is up, enter it and do the following rotation:
Step 4: Torch 4
Lastly, add to your rotation.
If you press , you will gain a stack of that you can throw at your enemy.
will give you an additional every 10 seconds.
Once you have 2 charges, throw both of them.
Note: Unless you execute the rotation perfectly, this will eventually de-sync. Once this happens, just use both the you get from and off-cooldown.
Improving Further
Once you are comfortable with the above steps, you are already doing most of the full rotation and will be able to deal great damage.
There will be a few additional things on the advanced page to improve further but if you got here, you already know the most important things and these will have a smaller impact than what you learned so far.
The additional steps are:
Before opening your damage tome , swap to scepter and drop a (Sc2).
Do not auto-attack while on scepter. Scepter auto-attacks are your weakest skills. Instead fill the gaps with (Torch 5) and (Torch 4).
Drop a final before swapping back to axe.
Step-by-Step Video
This video shows the step-by-step approach to the rotation listed on the left.
by Ascers
Golem rotation
This video shows the full rotation on the golem. It will slightly vary from the step-by-step version.