A Fourth Guardian Rework...

Okay... I will preface this with the admission that I am a Dominating Blow Guardian addict and I have been ever since I was introduced to this game. Every league I start a Dominating Blow Guardian. If I'm not league-starting Dominating Blow Guardian... it's because I'm support Guardian. If I'm not Guardian... I end up making one later in the league. If I don't make one later in the league... it's because I'm playing a build that's meant to be on Guardian but I decided to play on another ascendancy because Guardian doesn't feel right in his current state. You get the gist. Everyone I know believes I'm 'the Dominating Blow/Guardian guy' and I embrace it. Today I'm going to use it because I used to love this ascendancy to bits. I loved the concept of being flexible between a minion build and playing with my friends... I loved being able to offer a tool not easily obtained... and I want Guardian and this game to be the best it can be. So today I want to address Guardian's fourth rework.

We were all there. GGG was most definitely there. Guardian got another rework this patch which removed his per Aura buff and his Link notable. It was to be expected... as for the majority if not 'all' of Settlers he went criminally underused. Most players don't have feelings towards that fact as he's not a beloved ascendancy in the way that Deadeye... Juggernaut... Trickster... or Gladiator are. Gladiator had people rallying for years about him... same with Juggernaut. Not a lot of people talk about Guardian as a consequence of his popularity... which allows every balance change done to just fly by. It's just the bald man way.

Most people will agree that the Link iteration of Harmony of Purpose was undesired. Linking typically wasn't a play style that a player wanted... despite being good when given a chance. Most wanted to buff someone in a unique way... but not behind something as finicky or "clunky" as a Link. The Conduit Aura iteration in comparison had potential but it was limited by its restriction to party members. Despite their flaws they still tried to accomplish something; one can buff their allies. That's what Guardian has always done. Buff an ally... make them stronger. Replacing it with a periodic Shrine buff doesn't make sense in relation to the rest of Guardian's kit... especially since he cannot share the buff with allies. What is it meant to do to enhance him or his allies' power? They do nothing to buff any minion a typical Guardian will use... whether built into the Ascendancy or from skills... and they encourage an archetype that his tree simply doesn't support or complement. Most players will also only ever need a very specific buff or two... making the new notable a waste until they receive them. It has been a general consensus that pendulum buffs don't feel right with him... let alone this one. The notable should certainly have been something else... which leads me into the new Unwavering Faith.

Unwavering Faith has gone through several iterations as well. Many will remember that it once gave PDR and percentage life regeneration per Aura. That was considered its best state... but also most grossly strong when in the hands of an Ascendant or Guardian Aurabot with the right resources. It was changed to Recovery Rate... which could still be very strong in the right hands. Subjectively... I believe it was the best state that notable could have been in; a strong buff that makes an impact on a build but requires a foundation to make use of. Objectively... it was underused. Regardless of its popularity... it is Guardian's unique per Aura buff. Without it... what is the reason to choose him as an Aura support despite that being his projected and perceived archetype? The typical Aura support doesn't scale Radiant Faith as Mana Guardian is a dedicated build for that... and doubly so... Mana Guardian doesn't care about Mana Reservation Efficiency due to not running any meaningful Auras. The average player can get that elsewhere... it's in abundance around the tree and on modifiers. Why would one choose the 50% Mana Reservation Efficiency over Necromancer... who can give them more value with Attack/Cast speed... or Ascendant... who can make up for the loss of Aura effect from Guardian's small nodes with a simple Champion allocation?

With that said... what is Guardian supposed to be? Is he solely an Aura ascendancy? An Aura ascendancy that coincidentally also works with minions or vice-versa like the iteration that had Onslaught Aura? Solely a minion ascendancy like his iteration with the exclusive Sentinel of Purity buffs? A Aura-Minion hybrid moonlighting as a Link ascendancy like right now? Because none of these things feel like they're being encouraged or guided towards with his tools. He seems like a completely discordant starter ascendancy with ideas being thrown at him left and right but nothing seems to stick... since instead of nudging him towards a direction... each rework has uprooted him and fundamentally changed something about him in a negative way. This attempt in particular objectively seems like an attempt to mesh together an existing ascendancy and a Phrecia ascendancy... whose concepts and goals for the player's usage clash too fiercely to ever result in a working kit. Would the 50% reservation efficiency not be something Paladin would have had? Was the shrine buff not something that Daughter of Oshabi was built around? Removing working thematic notables and implanting random ones from an explicit meme league just makes it seem that after a year of waiting... GGG isn't taking PoE1 seriously anymore.

It also doesn't help that said removed notables are then distributed around to other places on the general passive tree or other ascendancies... solidifying the idea that he doesn't have a shape or defined archetype like his counterparts and you aren't supposed to choose him to achieve anything in particular. For example... Harmony of Purpose's old charge generation denial aspect was turned into a mastery. Now it's happened again with the same notable... just different stats. Guardian also formerly had the 10% more Damage Aura which was a staple for his minion builds... and in Ancestor... that was removed with his third rework. Soon after in Necropolis... Necromancer was given that modifier as a permanent global buff to minions... along with a previous buff granting permanent Unholy Might. That makes it clear; Necromancer is for minions... she's meant to excel at them and offer things no other ascendancy can for them... one goes Necromancer for doing good with minions. But she can also do Auras or corpse skills if she so pleases while also having the only source of minion leeching to player life. That double standard is notable as having a unique and uncontested monopoly was why he was reworked for the second time. Necromancer couldn't contest Sentinels while Guardian was around. With every subsequent rework he has only gained things accessible by anyone. Recovery Rate... Attack/Cast speed... Damage redirection... the three elemental Aura skills.

So then... what is Guardian for on that front? He no longer has that more Damage Aura even if he were to choose to support players with it. While the Anger/Hatred/Wrath Auras from Elemental Relics are useful... most Aura supports will prefer to run them at increased effectiveness... making it a waste of four points when more value is desired. He no longer has the increased Damage Aura from his Sentinel of Purity iteration... nor does he have Onslaught/Speed Auras. He just has Elemental Relics... which with the introduction of Mercenaries who can very much run those same Auras for free... are no longer as valuable as they were for how limited they are in scalability... and Sentinel of Radiance... which could easily be replaced by Automation Steelskin for a fraction of the effort and upkeep.

A Guardian could certainly play around Radiant Faith for Mana Guardian and support a player that way... yet as I mentioned before... nothing on his tree complements that. In fact... playing Hierophant and Flesh Flaming Radiant Faith would be more valuable than playing Guardian. Hierophant's tree complements what the build wants much better; maximum Mana first and foremost along with Energy Shield scaling with Mana. A Mana Guardian has no practical use for Aura Effect on small nodes... random Shrine Buffs... or Sentinel of Radiance. Even Bastion of Hope tends to go unused as many damage carries will tell you to stop using your Shield Charge or your Links. A Guardian could also be an Aura support intended for players. However... he now provides no unique per Aura buff after losing his Recovery Rate... offers subpar elemental Auras compared to what the typical Ascendant will run... and provides nothing in the Link department aside from convenient placement on the passive tree. The only unique Auras left to his name are Radiant Faith... which again... the typical Aura support will not utilize to even half of its full potential... and Bastion of Hope... which is just some easily replaceable & 'conditional' block chance.

Guardian and what he offers has been made progressively irrelevant due to mass accessibility... and in the case of his Sentinel of Purity iteration... intentionally removing his features in order to grant equal opportunities to other ascendancies. He is already spread thin to get these 'lucrative' Elemental Relic and Reservation notables as he has to all eight points for them. Someone like Berserker (who tends to be considered as in the same poor state as Guardian) gets more value in six points. Trickster gets immense value out of every single notable. What unique... valuable... 'irreplaceable' thing does he offer to a minion or a player with those eight used points that one couldn't simply accomplish on another ascendancy with just a few more minutes spent in PoB and some currency? 'What sets Guardian apart from going unascended?'

One could just play a different build. They certainly would be better off playing Hierophant or Inquisitor while Flesh Flaming what they so imperatively need from Guardian... like an Energy Blade player typically would. It's the simple solution most will think of; "Just play a different build or ascendancy." It's easy to think that without ever acknowledging his glaring flaws. With the way he is built... so many inflexible stats and inconsistent buffs and unsupportable skills... one is almost actively 'guided off' of him like he is merely a stepping stone for their build's potential instead of a complement to the end result. An ascendancy shouldn't feel so insignificant... it's one of the biggest increases in power a character can have. Sentinel of Radiance was targeted after his release for making Acts trivial for any Templar... but the majority of the ascendancy seems to have the goal of giving easy value in mind and nothing else. These new changes only reinforce that.

This should not have happened four times with continuously degrading results. His popularity has continued the same trend of jumping up with a patch that reworks him and then decreasing to a lower point than he'd been before after another patch or two. Is that not a clear pattern of something being wrong with the approach?

GGG... please decide what you want him to be. An alternative to minions... the go-to Aura ascendancy... a Sentinel of Purity/Dominance/Absolution/Radiance/what-have-you ascendancy... anything... but he needs to be 'cohesive.' This newest rework is anything but. Please take some time to reconsider these changes. I always hope with every patch that you come up with something better for Guardian. I will give this a chance... but it's hard to see the trend repeat itself without attention being brought to it or the degrading state. People used to think Guardian and go Dominating Blow... maybe Absolution... sprinkle in some Chains of Command... an SRS alternative even if you don't feel like Necromancer. Now even my more recently preferred skill Chains of Command is just extremely subpar on him despite it being a very popular build prior to his third rework. I could go Necro... but that doesn't change the root issue at all or eliminate the possibilities of it happening with other ascendancies in the future. When I play Guardian... I think "Let me play Dom Blow so I can get through Acts... I'll buy some gear then go Inquis/Hiero for it because they work better. I don't want to be on this for longer than I have to." Never "I could stay this ascendancy for the league. This feels good... I could keep going with this." anymore like I used to. I really want that to change.

If I had to recommend something... attach the reservation to Radiant Faith... and leave Unwavering Faith as it is with Recovery Rate. Nerf Radiant Faith if you need to. Think of something new for Harmony of Purpose... maybe turn it into a node granting increases and reductions to Minion Life affects player Life or Energy Shield at 50% effectiveness... to synergize with Sentinel of Radiance and Elemental Relics' explosion along with the resilience Guardian seeks? Change Time of Need into something that benefits more than just him and isn't a pendulum buff... like a Life as Extra Energy Shield Aura or maybe one of Paladin's nodes to grant Aura effect when Linked. If not that... consider reopening the other side of Guardian's tree to a balance between exclusivity and flexibility like was attempted with the Sentinel of Purity/Onslaught iterations. Maybe even consider taking some nodes from Puppeteer if Phrecia really is the direction that he wants to be pushed in. Something that makes a player look at it and think about how well it all fits together. An ascendancy is a powerful tool with a thematic purpose. Give him thematic purpose. Even if it's silly... even if it will warrant a nerf in the future... at least it will make 'sense.' Maybe someone will recommend better ideas than mine.

But who knows; maybe this is a fluke... you're warming back up after all that time on a PoE2 mindset. All I really ask is that you give better effort than this... either now or when this happens again for the inevitable fifth time GGG.

I wish you the best and a smooth 3.26 launch.