2012-01-08, 02:49 PM
Alilatias Wrote:I'm no expert on Paladins, but I would assume that Guardians would place more emphasis on their utility skills rather than their offensive skills.
In which case, I'd probably reduce Electric Smite down to 1 (only 15% physical and magic attack difference between Level 1 and 7, which can probably be made up by a skill plate that increases the damage by 20%), and distribute the SP elsewhere. You're not going to be a Crusader, so just being able to use the skill should be enough.
If you have any plans to go to the higher level Nests as a Guardian (specifically Apocalypse and Archbishop Nest, and if you become good enough and have the gear, Sea Dragon and Green Dragon), almost everyone will demand that you have max level Provoke along with a skill plate for it. Some might demand maxed Elemental Aura as well. Reducing Electric Smite down to 1 should allow you to max Provoke and get Elemental Aura to 4.
I'm not sure about not having any points in Divine Ascension and Divine Vengeance. They're both passive click skills which might be useful, but I have no idea how the attacks are executed (as in, what's their delay, what kind of drawbacks are there to trying to use those skills, and so on).
Then again, the defensive/utility skills are far more important, and I don't see anything that should be sacrificed for those two skills, unless you decide to get Divine Ascension instead of getting Elemental Aura to 4. I am worried that there might be future 3rd specialization skills that require the two skills as pre-requisites, but I suppose we'll deal with that when we actually get there.
(Holy crap, Armor Break seems to cause a crapton of damage for a skill with an 8 second cooldown. Is that for real?)
My guild leader happens to be a Paladin that is planning to become a Guardian, so I'll ask him about Paladin skills the next time he's online.
I would agree, personally, on leaving Smite at Lv1 in order to better some of the other skills, but he appears to want a little more offensive power than a Guardian would have normally. Guardian has almost nothing as far as attacks, and even well-geared Guardians don't really compare to the rest, so it made sense that he would want a little more power while still keeping the majority of what he needs.
Divine Ascension and Vengeance are 100% useless and are a complete waste of SP. They're counterattacking skills, really only used to control mobs that are surrounding you. Other than that you won't get much out of them, say, in a boss battle or something. They should never be learned in my honest opinion; they just aren't useful enough to give up valuable SP on that could be better used elsewhere.
Also, yes, Armor Break is very powerful, and with a very short cooldown. It's recommended to be maxed because of how powerful it is, and its debuffing qualities. Very useful for normal mobs as well as bosses, especially Nest bosses. It is one of the only ''real'' offensive skills a Guardian will ever learn.
I happen to be going Guardian as well with my Paladin.