I'm looking for opinions on this build from Guardians currently clearing Operations content.
http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500f0G0uZhGrMMhdzMM.1
What this build gains:
Commanding Awe
Unless I'm reading it wrong or the tooltip is wacky, this is a straight 4% damage reduction. That's good.
Unremitting/Protector
Leaping around is super fun and extremely good mitigation.
Perma-crit/Perma-free Blade Storm
With a hybrid build you're leaping around anyway, so Blade Storm is almost always free (hence why I saw fit to trade Victory Rush to get 3/3 Momentum). It's timed perfectly with Overhead Slash so after every one you just throw out a free crit Blade Storm (which also applies a mediocre dot). Threat city. When it's time to Blade Storm but you don't have a leap up pop Combat Focus.
For me this seems to be in the ballpark of 2-3x more damage over deep Defense or more traditional Vig/hybrid build.
Warding Call / Blade Barricade
My 2 favorite Defense tree talents - you don't lose them with this build.
What this build loses:
Command
This is the biggie imo. I feel like the added threat should be able to make up for a longer time in between Challenging Calls, but I dunno - I could be wrong.
Blade Barrier
This seems to be a pretty decent talent. I simply don't think it's worth giving up Commanding Awe and all of the added threat you get by investing more in Vigilance. Again, I could be wrong.
Hilt Strike / Guardian Slash
Defense tree's threat abilities. I just don't see either of these generating more threat and certainly not more damage than Overhead Slash / perma-crit Blade Storm.