Kind of…but considering the harsh nerf from last patch, it’s more or less just pulling even right now.
I consider the new guardian a very mild buff compared to the old version. And obviously strong buff compared to current version.
Guardian and Gung Ho cause drama in every party that has a Linker2 in it. The Peltasta uses guardian to stay alive, while the solo Kirito uses Gung Ho to kill the Peltasta. Both skills need their penalties removed.
Just looked at gungho again after not using it for months.
I doubt -60DEF can kill a peltasta. Similarly, after the most recent buff to guardian, I doubt a 2% PATK penalty will greatly upset a solo kirito.
But still, guardian and gungho are kinda weird in that only one can be used at once. It would be nice if you can use them at the same time and remove both of their penalties… Or like combine the two into 1 skill after their penalties are removed.