Howdy! I’m Graal and I’m ready to reveal the “awesome plans” we have for the Guardian class in the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion. Guardians are getting a much more substantial revision in this expansion than other classes, though nothing like the changes in gameplay of the previous Minstrel or Warden updates. The primary purpose of this revision is to allow the Guardian to take a sustained DPS role with an increased emphasis on Damage over Time effects. First though, I want to tell you about the improved skills that you will learn in Rohan.

 

Level 77 : Improved Sweeping Cut - This skill will cause all of the targets to Bleed with a Damage over Time (DoT) effect. This new bleed can be further increased with Salt the Wound.

Level 80 : Improved Shield Swipe - This skill will add even more threat than previously.

Level 83 : Improved Thrust – This skill has a greatly increased DoT effect.

 

And now for the main part of this revision.

  

Parry Stance has been removed.

 

Overpower Stance

 

Many skills will have different effects in Overpower Stance.

Catch a Breath will increase the amount healed.

Force Opening will always add a Parry event.

Guardian’s Defence will now have a 2 second induction with limited knockback.

 

 

Keen Blade 2 set bonus is now -5% power cost for all attack skills

Keen Blade 3 set bonus gains +10% critical damage magnitude in addition to current bonus.

Keen Blade 4 set bonus gains +10% critical damage magnitude in addition to current bonus.

 

Haemorrhage – will now cause a bleed 100% of the time though the damage will pulse in 4 second increments instead of 2 seconds. This bleed can stack up to 2 times. In addition there is a 50% chance for an additional bleed with half the magnitude as the primary bleed. This trait will also gain +10% critical damage magnitude.

  

We have removed the 1h versus 2h restriction on all Guardian weapon legacies except for Bash damage, which retains the 1h limitation for obvious reasons.

 

We feel that these changes will allow a Guardian to do almost as much damage as the Champion/Hunter/Runekeeper in DPS stance and, more importantly, be able to maintain it. Some may question the reduction in mitigation ratings, but we felt the greater morale pool of the guardian as well as the possibility of using a shield while in Overpower necessitated some penalty. Because Guardians should be well into diminishing returns on their mitigation ratings it should not be as bad as taking 30% more damage. The addition of inductions to stance switching is to prevent stance dancing as a normal part of the guardian’s rotation. That these inductions have limited knockback means that even while being pounded by multiple monsters the guardian will be able to switch stance without too much difficulty.