Question: Class and Elite Spec Rundown

[Ditrit.3014]

Hey guys,

I'm an old GW2 player who's making a bit of a return to the game. I've played on and off this game from near release. I used to be big on PvP and played every class and variation imaginable at the time. That being said, a lot has changed since those original days (PvP seems a lot less bustling for one), and for that reason, with the HoT and PoT expansions I'm looking at enjoying the PvE content this game has to offer, but still enjoy hopping into the Mists every now and then for a bit of fun. Coming back to the game I feel really out of touch (rightfully so) with that old sense of knowledge.

 

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My question is simply: What is the current sorta consensus (or even your personal opinion) on some/all of the elite specs, and even perhaps on the core classes currently (if they've changed in a meaningful way since near the start of the game)?

 

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For example, I've seen there have been some changes to the Warrior's tactics line to make it more interesting (?). And on another note, from what I can gather it appears that Holosmith has gotten a nerf, whereas before the consensus seemed to be that holo was a lot more fun and could do a lot more damage. I could probably go patch note diving, but it has never given me a good sense of where each class is currently (whether for WvW, PvE, groups, or PvP), and rather mostly tells me numbers. I've tried looking for statistics on the game, but that isn't really giving me a good sense either, except that Guardians are still pretty popular.

I'm not looking for what is particularly my playstyle, but I am wondering what the other classes/specs look like.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You could try reading threads in the 'Professions' sub-forums.

 

Good luck.

[Konrad Curze.5130]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> You could try reading threads in the 'Professions' sub-forums.

>

 

Resume of the prof subs: all professions suck and are unarguably the worst in the game and the most in dire need of attention/buffs, while at the same time all the opponent's profs have it so much better and are all overpowered

 

 

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

Well, if you are wondering about the meta, there are websites you can look up builds on such as metabattle, snowcrows, or godsofpvp. As for actually understanding why certain builds are meta or how they function, there is no simple answer. Its best if you just play and experience it for yourself.

[Arcaniaxs.4519]

Assuming that we are talking about pve endgames ( fractal-raids-strikes )

Warrior- as berserker it is mostly a support/dps as banner slave. Eighter condi and power works on it

They can optimize for a solid condi or dps build that has good dmg

Spellbreaker isnt used in pve endgame cuz idk reasons

Guardian- is just best at everything(healer/dps condi and power/boon support/good at tank)... it is rumoured that it may be able to provide alarcity in future xD

Revenant

Renegade is a support/dps role in pve that provides alacrity to 10 members has good dps

It can also be a solid condi dps that has insane dmg in some bosses

I saw uses for heralds and they were awesome but its not very common

Ranger

Also good at everything except tanking

Druid is the meta healer in raids and supports large variety of boons

Druird also has a condi dps build

Soulbeast is a solid dps role and has very high dmg. Both condi build and power

Thief

Mostly daredevil is used as a high dmg dealer class in pve with ez rotation. Doesnt provide a very good support except its cc

Deadeye is a high dmg dealer too but due to its unforgiving rotation it isnt used much. But its very strong and used mostly as pylon kiter in qadim2 boss

Thief also has a boon support build relying on a stolen skill granted by only 4 raid bosses. But its very strong in those bosses cuz supporting all boons for 10 squad members except alacrity

Engineer is mostly used as holosmith dps role with insane dmg.

Scrapper is sometimes used as healer and boon support but its super rare

Necromancer

Reaper is used as a power dps role but some think it has lower dmg compared to other builds. But it has insane cleave dmg like daredevil

Scourge is used as a condi dps and mostly as a second healer for bosses that teleport players and down them far from the group

Scourge can instantly teleport downed players to it self and has a great revive abilities

Elementalist

Weaver is used as a fast paced dps role with hard and rewarding rotations with high dmg. Both condi and power

Some think condi weaver has the highest dmg and hardest rotation

Tempest is used as a dps role or a healer/boon support role

The dps can be codi or power

Both with high dmg but it isnt very common to see one

The healer build has awesome condi remove and boon supporting plus good healing and unique buffs with sharing auras

Mesmer

Mirage is mostly used as a projectile reflector and meta in condi dps bosses due to great amount of condi dmg

Chronomancer is a meta support class

It provides large amount of boons and is the mta tank in raids as well

There is a dps build for it that has the highest bdnchmark dmg in snowcrows website. It isnt very common to see one

I hope that this comment helped u

If anyone saw a mistake i wrote then correct me plz xD sry for any mistake

 

[Ditrit.3014]

> @"Konrad Curze.5130" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > You could try reading threads in the 'Professions' sub-forums.

> >

>

> Resume of the prof subs: all professions suck and are unarguably the worst in the game and the most in dire need of attention/buffs, while at the same time all the opponent's profs have it so much better and are all overpowered

>

>

 

This is partially what I'm hoping to avoid. The Professions' sub-forums seems to be full of complaints, theory crafting (such as about the balance of specific skills), asking for help, and people wishing for more content. My question doesn't touch on any of this as I'm just looking for a sorta standard summary of what a person thinks about a class/spec.

 

> @"Paradoxoglanis.1904" said:

> Well, if you are wondering about the meta, there are websites you can look up builds on such as metabattle, snowcrows, or godsofpvp. As for actually understanding why certain builds are meta or how they function, there is no simple answer. Its best if you just play and experience it for yourself.

 

I've taken a look at GW2 efficiency before posting this, and it didn't answer my question - it was again about popularities of classes and the like rather than touching on why those popularities outside of aesthetics might stand. I'll take a look at the other sites you mention as I haven't heard of them, thank you! :D

As I'm a returning player, the amount of time it's going to take to not only try out each of the core classes, but also play them and their specs in enough depth to get a feel is what I find daunting atm. Especially since it appears that I can't try the elite specs right out the gate in PvE from what I can tell.

 

One of the things I loved about the Mists when I first started playing this game was that *I could* try out different builds easily and accessibly. But as I'm now looking at the other aspects of the game (such as PvE), that no longer holds for quick and yet thorough theory crafting.

[Roche.7491]

> @"Arcaniaxs.4519" said:

> Assuming that we are talking about pve endgames ( fractal-raids-strikes )

> Warrior- as berserker it is mostly a support/dps as banner slave. Eighter condi and power works on it

> They can optimize for a solid condi or dps build that has good dmg

> Spellbreaker isnt used in pve endgame cuz idk reasons

> Guardian- is just best at everything(healer/dps condi and power/boon support/good at tank)... it is rumoured that it may be able to provide alarcity in future xD

> Revenant

> Renegade is a support/dps role in pve that provides alacrity to 10 members has good dps

> It can also be a solid condi dps that has insane dmg in some bosses

> I saw uses for heralds and they were awesome but its not very common

> Ranger

> Also good at everything except tanking

> Druid is the meta healer in raids and supports large variety of boons

> Druird also has a condi dps build

> Soulbeast is a solid dps role and has very high dmg. Both condi build and power

> Thief

> Mostly daredevil is used as a high dmg dealer class in pve with ez rotation. Doesnt provide a very good support except its cc

> Deadeye is a high dmg dealer too but due to its unforgiving rotation it isnt used much. But its very strong and used mostly as pylon kiter in qadim2 boss

> Thief also has a boon support build relying on a stolen skill granted by only 4 raid bosses. But its very strong in those bosses cuz supporting all boons for 10 squad members except alacrity

> Engineer is mostly used as holosmith dps role with insane dmg.

> Scrapper is sometimes used as healer and boon support but its super rare

> Necromancer

> Reaper is used as a power dps role but some think it has lower dmg compared to other builds. But it has insane cleave dmg like daredevil

> Scourge is used as a condi dps and mostly as a second healer for bosses that teleport players and down them far from the group

> Scourge can instantly teleport downed players to it self and has a great revive abilities

> Elementalist

> Weaver is used as a fast paced dps role with hard and rewarding rotations with high dmg. Both condi and power

> Some think condi weaver has the highest dmg and hardest rotation

> Tempest is used as a dps role or a healer/boon support role

> The dps can be codi or power

> Both with high dmg but it isnt very common to see one

> The healer build has awesome condi remove and boon supporting plus good healing and unique buffs with sharing auras

> Mesmer

> Mirage is mostly used as a projectile reflector and meta in condi dps bosses due to great amount of condi dmg

> Chronomancer is a meta support class

> It provides large amount of boons and is the mta tank in raids as well

> There is a dps build for it that has the highest bdnchmark dmg in snowcrows website. It isnt very common to see one

> I hope that this comment helped u

> If anyone saw a mistake i wrote then correct me plz xD sry for any mistake

>

 

It seems that there is too many dps.

 

Can you rank them from 1-10 in pve?

[Arcaniaxs.4519]

Look... all classes have a dps build that is viable

Some builds and classes have easier rotations

Some have harder and more complex rotations. For example

Daredevil and berserker deal nearly the same amount of dmg. But due to daredevil having a very easier rotation it can be faster and deal more dmg in some situations

Some classes have dmg modifiers. Like guardians need retaliation boon for maxing their dps or weavers needing 100% alarcity and quickness uptime for their rotation to work well but providing these isnt always as ez as we want. Right?

I suggest my own personal classes for dps

Power builds:

1 holo

2 soulbeast and dragonhunter

3 weaver and daredevil

4 berserker

5 reaper

Chrono can be top if u know the rotations well

Condi builds

1 fire brand

2 renegade and weaver

3 soulbeast and berserker

 

DPS wise it is diffrent but i counted the ezness in rotations too

Daredevil and firebrand have the simplest rotations and they both provide very very high dmgs as well. Daredevil may require a bit experience and training so u wont lose ur bursts and manage ur endurance :)

Hope these info helps u

Also dragon hunter is accepted everywhere

[AliamRationem.5172]

Hi! I'm mostly a solo open world player, but I have done plenty of solo roaming and some PvP and fractals, too. I like to find a play style that feels right to me and a build that is adaptable to everything I do.

 

So, my vote goes to Weaver. Amazing damage and sustain, but tricky to get the hang of. Here's a video with build link in comments:

 

[Ditrit.3014]

> @"Arcaniaxs.4519" said:

> Look... all classes have a dps build that is viable

 

100%, which surprises me constantly about this game, I can play a Thief and have one experience, and then play as a DPS warrior and have a completely different one. Thank you tons for the short rundown of the specs.

 

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> Hi! I'm mostly a solo open world player, but I have done plenty of solo roaming and some PvP and fractals, too. I like to find a play style that feels right to me and a build that is adaptable to everything I do.

>

> So, my vote goes to Weaver. Amazing damage and sustain, but tricky to get the hang of. Here's a video with build link in comments:

>

>

 

:O I've been running Power Daredevil for a bit now, and looking at your damage numbers I'm blown away. I don't know if it's my build, my exotic-only gear (except for the rings), or your experience, probably a bit of it all. I've been wanting to revisit Elementalist. But back when the game was fairly new, my impressions were essentially "you have to work a lot harder for a similar payoff." Your vid has me kinda sold on giving weaver a look.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Ditrit.3014" said:

> > @"Arcaniaxs.4519" said:

> > Look... all classes have a dps build that is viable

>

> 100%, which surprises me constantly about this game, I can play a Thief and have one experience, and then play as a DPS warrior and have a completely different one. Thank you tons for the short rundown of the specs.

>

> > @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > Hi! I'm mostly a solo open world player, but I have done plenty of solo roaming and some PvP and fractals, too. I like to find a play style that feels right to me and a build that is adaptable to everything I do.

> >

> > So, my vote goes to Weaver. Amazing damage and sustain, but tricky to get the hang of. Here's a video with build link in comments:

> >

> >

>

> :O I've been running Power Daredevil for a bit now, and looking at your damage numbers I'm blown away. I don't know if it's my build, my exotic-only gear (except for the rings), or your experience, probably a bit of it all. I've been wanting to revisit Elementalist. But back when the game was fairly new, my impressions were essentially "you have to work a lot harder for a similar payoff." Your vid has me kinda sold on giving weaver a look.

 

Thanks!

 

Your impressions are not wrong. I found weaver pretty difficult to learn. It has a lot more skills than other classes and you can't access them all within a single swap. This isn't really like any other class, even core ele or tempest. At the same time, the pace is frenetic, as you're swapping attunements every 3-4s. The window to make decisions is much smaller than it is for other classes. Where other classes frequently do not swap on cooldown, but as needed, weaver has to rotate continuously and those choices are often critical to everything you do (DPS, sustain, CC).

 

We were talking in another thread about the complexity of weaver vs. other classes. I think this little clip of a quadruple blast heal combo on riptide illustrates the point:

 

 

This is undoubtedly more effort than pushing the 6 key. However, it's also a ton of healing, generates barrier, evasion, interrupts, reflects, and cleansing - and with primordial stance and glyph of elemental power, you can even roll some nice damage into that! More effort? Definitely! But I wouldn't say it goes unrewarded!

 

More importantly, I find this really fun to play!