Feating a Guardian - Part 2: The Polearm Guardian

Following on from Part 1, which covered the survivability feats from the Juggernaut and Soldier, trees, Part 2 will cover what is required to build a Tempest Polearm spec capable of tanking any instance from Sanctum of the Burning Souls to the Tier 1 instances in Kyllikkis Crypt, Yahkmars Cave and The Dragons Lair (Vistrix).

Tier 2 is much harder to tank as a Tempest specced Guardian due to the nature of the encounters (large amount of movement and fears make it difficult to constantly have Guard active) but this build is great for everything else in the game.

Continuation of Feats...

31-34: Storm Blade (Tempest – Continue this ability which is required to go further down the Tempest tree)

Level 40 Build

35-39: Revenge (Tempest – Increase DPS from Guard combo attacks)
40-44: Power Sweeps (Tempest – Flashing Arc is the bread and butter attack of the Polearm Guardian)
45-45: Brutal Sweeps (Tempest – Increase Critical Strike chance of Flashing Arc. Procs often)

Level 50 Build

46-49: Redoubt (Tempest: Increase evade chance, good mitigation and procs often)
50-50: Relentless Assault (Tempest – Reduce cooldown of polearm combos)
51-51: Impale (Tempest – Charge with associated bleed)
52-52: Redoubt (Tempest – Fill out this feat)
53-54: Bleeding Revenge (Tempest – More as filler, can be replaced by Disarming Aggression)
55-56: Ability: Combat Mastery Stratagem (Tempest – DPS increase which can be used with either polearm of sword and board)

Level 60 Build

57-59: Ability: Combat Mastery Stratagem (Tempest – Fill out this ability)
60-64: Master Pikeman (Tempest – Increased DPS on polearm combos)
65-65: Defiance (Tempest – Healing on melee damage)
66-66: Volcanic Rage (Soldier – Temporary increase in DPS)
67-67: Ability – Cry of Havok (Juggernaut – AoE threat ability)

Level 70 Build

68-71: Ability – Cry of Havok (Juggernaut – Fill out this ability)
72-76: Sustained Rage (Soldier – Increased DPS)
77-79: Ability – Hateful Strikes (Soldier – Temporary 20% increase in hate generation)

Level 80 Build

Abilities

It is a must to keep the Guarded buff up at all times, so whenever it is off cooldown, you should be using the guard combo. The cooldown is 10 seconds less than the buff, so there is some scope for finishing off another combo, but keep in mind that it takes about 4.5 seconds to activate the Guard combo...

Otherwise, Flashing Arc will be your break and butter, with Reckoning used whenever it is available (after a successful Flashing Arc). Flashing Arc is on a short cooldown with the Relentless Assault feat, so you shoudl be able to cycle through your two highest ranks with an instant Reckoning in between.

Keep Disable and Stagger on your shortcut bar for that little bit of extra stamina or CC.

So you want to DPS...

For the DPS PvE Guardian, I would tend to remove some of the hate generation feats form the Soldier and Juggernaut Trees and place them in buffs for the Frenzy Stance. Something like this build is a useful DPS build while maintaining the ability to tank.