[Lucent Heart][Guide] Koutetsu's Solar Guardian Guide

Solar Guardian Guide by Koutetsu.
 
Source: Experience and such.

Introduction:

The Solar Guardian is one of the most versatile classes, you can build it in more than one way and it will still be useful. The usual weapon if choice is the two handed sword, but you can do with shield and sword as well.

In comparison to other classes you will, almost always, have lower damage, but that doesn't mean you don't pack a good punch. The SG has several stuns and skills that can help him/her do critical hits, and faster attacks than other classes, which makes up for the lack of range and damage. In addition, it is the most soloable class due to a much higher defense rate and health (Besides the CT).

The SG's mortal enemy is the magic damage classes, because we lack magic defense. Against a mage, it mostly comes down to who hits first. There's a way to counter magic that I will talk about later.

Now down to the stat bussiness:

For starters, and for begginners that don't know much about stats yet, STR isn't very useful. It does raise your damage, and I wouldn't say that the difference isn't noticeable, but the other stats work much better (In my opinion and many, many other SG's).

About CON, it's useful, raising your HP helps your soloability, but it's mostly good for PvE, Most of the times your HP will be ok without getting extra CON from embedded items and enchantments, but no one stops you from getting more.

DEX... ahh DEX, it raises your chance to dodge, and to turn a critical hit into a normal hit. DEX is one of the most useful stats for a SG for both PvP and PvE. In PvE, with a high enough DEX, enemies will miss you most of the times, making it great for soloing dungeons. In PvP, criticals hits at higher lvls are the way to go, cause crits do WAY more damage than a normal hit, and being able to turn a crit into a normal hit makes the attack almost, ALMOST, tickle you... I mean it does low damage.  (Sidenote: This only works for PHYSICAL attacks, magic will still turn you into a burnt potato).

SPI. Now comes the alternative for SGs against mages. SPI does almost the same as DEX, but against magic, which helps turn magic crits (And magic classes crit a LOT) into normal magic attacks. Beware though, that some magic attacks will still hit hard even if it's not a crit, but we have the HP to withstand that. SPI will also help with our annoyingly low mana regeneration.

PERC. This is the most popular stat because it raises your critical chance and hit chance. For an SG, it's useful of course, though personally, I think we have enough stuns (stuns raise critical chance) to make up for it, specially if you go for a damage set that gives better perc, but it's proven pretty good against DEX builds if you go full perc, since it also raises your accuracy, and devastating against whatever else. I'd say it's a great build too.

INT. No, just no.


If you're using a shield, you'll have the block stat. Blocking a hit will cut down the damage, and of course a blocked hit can't be a critical. Try using a heavy shield for a higher block stat, though some people also get light shields for the magic defense, even though the block is lower (You can switch anyway in combat, so you can get both).


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Now about skills, the following are very important and you should probably get them, or else... I mean it.

Onslaught: Dash stun, DASH... STUN. It also deals pretty good damage, usually the combo starter against ranged enemies, or against most enemies at that. Did I mention it's a freaking dash stun?

Guardian's Rage: This wonder gives us even more crit chance. After doing a critical hit with this buff on, you have 50% cchance of putting the enemy in a state where it's 75% more likely to be critted.

Crushing Blow (Only 2 handed sword): This is the high damage skill that you should always use after a stun, criticals with this are devastating. *you can skip it if you're not planning on using 2 handed*

Relentless Assault (Only 1 handed sword): The damage is lower than Crushing Blow's, but it has half the cooldown. It's the 1 handed alternative. *you can skip it if you're only planning on using 2 handers*

*Use both if the last 2 if you want like to switch between both weapons, it'll hurt your wallet though*

Toughness: Get this no matter what, it raises your HP a lot if you max it.

Shield Slam (Only with a shield equipped... duh): Does fixed damage, but it's still good when you crit with it, also stun! Yay!

Fissure: It does pretty bad damage if you don't upgrade it, but you you don't need to, the main point is that it's a long stun. I'd say get it!

Then the AoEs, these are mostly useful for mobbing:

Whirlwind: Regular AoE, not that much damage in my opinion unless you keep it upgraded, but it's what we have.

Crippling Cleave: Usually goes before Whirlwind, it doesn't stun mobs but it has that 75% crit chance debuff.

Blade Dance: Finisher. I usually use it after Whirlwind. If the enemy is below 30% HP it deals additional damage.

Vengeful Blade: Must have for boss fighting. Lowers the enemy's defense and raises crit damage against it by 10%. Stacks 5 times (50%+ Crit dmg).



Other useful skills:


Executioner's Blow: Finisher. Additional damage if the enemy is below 38% health.

Shield Stance: Awesome if you're using a shield, raises your block chance, but makes you slow.

Rupture: Damage over time. Stacks twice and it's nice to have if you ahve deep pockets and lots of mana, cause you're gonna need to lvl it a lot for it to count.

Rend: I just use this as a mana saver. It's only 2 MP to use so when I'm low, I can spam it to do faster dmg, even if it's low.

Taunt and Provoke: Single and AoE lure skills respectively, they're not pretty effective unless you keep them maxed.

Charge: Dash to another position, upgrade it for a farther distance. It's good to run away in emergencies, or get to those pesky mages/gunners when you're onslaught is cooling down.

Battle stance: I'd only use this at PvE, it increases your attack speed, but also your vulnerability to critical damage. Too risky to use it in PvP.



To be continued (Maybe)...