Guild Wars 2

Hey guys.

I know roles like tank/healer/dps is not prominent in GW2. However I want a class that is good at support in dungeons, using control, healing and utility. I really want to play mesmer so I was wondering how Mesmers do in dungeons – particularly when it comes to disables and mitigating damage through CC, buffing and debuffing. I want a more supportive role that focuses on keeping the team alive.

So when it comes to PVE – especially dungeons (ignoring PVP completely) Will the Mesmer hit jackpot on this desired playstyle or should I roll a Guardian or maybe Necromancer instead?

Another option is elementalist based on healing. I read early after launch that even though pure healing classes are abolished. Elementalists can still be built to heal really well?

Any advice is welcome.

Guardian

Guardian

Guardian

Also Guardian

Thanks Wasabi

Guardian really is the ultimate support and is likely to stay that way?

Two guardians for range immunity. Rest is whatever. I have a strong discrimination against rangers and thieves however.

Whatever you like, and feeling you’re having fun with. No class is better than others at all, who answer you is a fanboy of his class or pretend to tell you “we need healers/tanks!”

If unsure, try a bit all of them, if you’re having fun at beginning with that class, later is better. Necro minionmaster is a good example, or ranger. About both, there is a key to learn for both, who makes the class hard to manage, or hated by others like Trungalung: pets management. Learn properly how to deal with them or you’re hated and an useless bag. If you’re not having fun/ not willing to give a bit of your time learning their behaviour/commands, and more in a mood to spam buttons spanking enemies, maybe melee, go melee like warriors etc. Up to you, as you see. Ignore suggestions and “we need guardians”. We don’t

i never ask particular classes…..

But when i play with a guardian (well not every guardian just some builds) the game is easier.

Has to be said that:
-ranger
-mesmer
-thief
-engineer

Are great too for other purposes…
Also some warrior builds __

I just want one of any ._., well btw a good guardians makes life simpler for everyone.

LordByron.8369:

i never ask particular classes…..

But when i play with a guardian (well not every guardian just some builds) the game is easier.

Has to be said that:
-ranger
-mesmer
-thief
-engineer

Are great too for other purposes…
Also some warrior builds __

I just want one of any ._., well btw a good guardians makes life simpler for everyone.

Engineer… great for 1500 range aoe/dps plus lots of options for utility/support. Put us in the same category as rangers? HOW DARE YOU SIR… how dare you!

Guardians and Mesmers can both do supportive actions, but not in the same way.

Guardians are more oriented to protect the party from taking damage (blue invincibility aoe bubble for exemple), while Mesmers can help controlling the map (mass invisibility, teleport portal) or give a huge dps boost with their elite bubble.

If you felt like playing mesmer, do it! You won’t be disappointed.

I’m playing an ele and done a lot of dungeons (currently at fractal lvl 30+) but if I reroll it will definitively do a mesmer

This is only imho ofc

This game is all about warriors and guardians.

Did some dungeons last night, party of 3 guardians 2 warriors, we just plowed thru everything, did CoF path 1 in under 15 min, path 2 in less than 20. It was glorious.

I have the same (and maybe way better) excting dynamic glorious memories of parties without even one of both, go figure.

PowerCat.5738:

This game is all about warriors and guardians.

Did some dungeons last night, party of 3 guardians 2 warriors, we just plowed thru everything, did CoF path 1 in under 15 min, path 2 in less than 20. It was glorious.

Agree a lot. You want a dungeon class? warrior or guardian of shouts. You never play bad whit this guys in that builds.

my warrior is pretty great at dungeons, im in process of leveling a guardian as they are just the best at tanking/support. I have mantra healing on my mes at moment but aside from portal fun and time warp I don’t feel like Im contributing much.

Necromancers are totally underestimated. Between staff and death shroud, you have 2 fears. What’s so special about fear? It always works on bosses regardless of their defiance stacks. Because of this, necro is the most effective at interrupting big boss attacks. Also, necro has good damage output, good survivability, and a little bit of party healing if you build right.

As for your question about Elementalists, they make good healers with staff water attunement. They output a ton of sustained AoE healing. The drawback to water attunement on staff is that it deals almost no damage. You’ll have to switch to other attunements to get damage. You can also use the conjured weapons to deal damage while in water attunement, which is cool because there is a trait which gives your whole party regen while you are in water attunement. Elementalist is great, but it’s also the squishiest profession.

Honestly, Guardian and Warrior are just the easiest to play effectively. I’ve dungeoned with a lot of people, and I am pretty sure every profession is good when played properly.

I’d recommend to play what you enjoy with one caveat: Don’t play a Ranger. I hate to say it, but Rangers slow down every run and basically have to be carried by the rest of their team. In their current state, Rangers are downright bad in dungeons. They’re the only class I discriminate against, and I really wish it weren’t that way, but it is what it is.

Khristophoros.7194:

Necromancers are totally underestimated. Between staff and death shroud, you have 2 fears. What’s so special about fear? It always works on bosses regardless of their defiance stacks. Because of this, necro is the most effective at interrupting big boss attacks. Also, necro has good damage output, good survivability, and a little bit of party healing if you build right.

As for your question about Elementalists, they make good healers with staff water attunement. They output a ton of sustained AoE healing. The drawback to water attunement on staff is that it deals almost no damage. You’ll have to switch to other attunements to get damage. You can also use the conjured weapons to deal damage while in water attunement, which is cool because there is a trait which gives your whole party regen while you are in water attunement. Elementalist is great, but it’s also the squishiest profession.

Honestly, Guardian and Warrior are just the easiest to play effectively. I’ve dungeoned with a lot of people, and I am pretty sure every profession is good when played properly.

Agree 100%. And ye, people just want all now and easy, easy to play, easy when grouping, buttonspamming if possible, and uh, a dodge, right.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Rangers are…the only class I discriminate against, and I really wish it weren’t that way, but it is what it is.

More or less feel the same way about thieves, would properly bring a ranger over a thief.

Right now you got 2 fantastic dungeon classes(warrior, guardian), 4 really good classes(ele, engi, mesmer and necro) and 2 classes that are pretty lacking.

Thieves that are competent are exceptional in dungeons. I bring my guildies who have Thieves all the time. Stealth ressing is clutch in otherwise tough encounters, and their spammable blast finishers can might stack like no one’s business. The problem is when the Thief is terrible and thinks he can melee ridiculous bosses. I will concede that they have a very high skill threshold for being useful, but for my guild I never mind bringing them.

They are definitely a close second in terms of ‘general uselessness’ though. No disagreement there. At least they can be useful in the right hands. Rangers are just bad.

You should see necros pretending to be mm, puzzled why his minions are playing alone somewhere or making a mess. Use your brain, dedicate yourself to learn their behaviour and how to leash them? Nah.

Rising Dusk.2408:

I’d recommend to play what you enjoy with one caveat: Don’t play a Ranger. I hate to say it, but Rangers slow down every run and basically have to be carried by the rest of their team. In their current state, Rangers are downright bad in dungeons. They’re the only class I discriminate against, and I really wish it weren’t that way, but it is what it is.

I play with a bunch of ranger players and we always have good runs, even with 3 rangers. We joke about how rangers “suck” as we smash the dungeons.

They’re probably getting buffed today anyway though… rofl…

Most dungeons aren’t hard enough where it matters, and in some places Rangers actually shine (Giganticus, for instance), but in most places I see a Ranger and cry a little inside. But yeah, hopefully they see a buff today that changes my mind.

Ye lol, i love them, expecially who learn how to use their pets. I lost the count of how many times i wrote “please , that pet on passive, for this battle” lol.

First of all i’d like to say that you come with the right attitude to produce efficient and smooth dungeon runs. the question you must first ask is " how can I support my group". even as full dps you can always use skills or utilities to support in various ways.

That said, the second most important thing is your group composition, and that should ultimately decide which class or build might do better than another.
If you just go with pugs however, I would suggest playing whatever you like most and make the best of it.

I can tell you that certain classes usually do better in pugs simply because they are less common or their support type is needed more often.
The guardian for example can support in many ways which makes him adaptable. and some of his support options are not often found in other classes in similar quality. example: group stability buffs.

Healers are also a good example since dps checks are not so common and it allows more room for error. guardians and elementalists come to mind.

I’m really liking my Sword/Pistol Thief for dungeons. The evade on Pistol Whip combined with heals and lifesteals (primarily Omnomberry Pie) allows me to stay in melee a lot, and the AE damage is great if the mobs are pulled together.

We also have solid utility with practically limitless blind fields, an instant ranged interrupt, group Fury+Might (and Swiftness) on Steal, and the ability to steal boons off mobs and grant them to allies. That’s not even considering the Venom Share build, which I think is supposed to be our support spec.

Rangers. I’m serious! Birds and Cats are amazing with their 3.2k crits!

As for you, you can crit around 1.5k on crit using sword, which honestly isn’t bad considering you could have access to Quickness for 2 seconds every 15 seconds. Sword/Dagger gives you one of the most evasive options in the entire game!

Longbow is also pretty amazing for its team support, and its sheer damage at higher levels when geared properly. You obviously won’t be able to match a Hundreds Blades Warrior, but believe me, Longbow could reliably strike foes with Rapid Fire rather than pinning you in place. That in my opinion makes it the superior skill, especially at 1500 range.

Some people complain pets are glass, but I haven’t had problems. You need to swap pets wisely, as well as utility skills like “Guard!” and or your F3 to call them back when the boss is about to unleash an AoE. Swapping pets depending on your situation is also a must, learning when to switch your Brown Bear with condition removal for your Spiders with immobilize is pretty essential.

But overall, having actually experienced a Ranger in PvE, I recommend them for dungeons if you want something fun and efficient to play, but difficult to master!

If you’re just pugging, any class is fine honestly. It’s more about how you use your character than anything, and frankly most pugs kind of are terrible.

Guardians have great projectile nullification, and good support with decent healing/might stacking/crowd controlling/pulling, and can eat a lot of damage by default usually.

Warriors bring excellent AoE damage (assuming it’s not one of those dumb rifle only Warriors or something), quite a bit of natural beefiness, and can equip/trait themselves to make it feel like conditions don’t even exist. If needed they can bring a lot of control. Don’t underestimate damage as being “useful” to the group, either – the faster something dies, the less time it has to wear down your group and the less chance your group has of getting screwed over by something random.

Thieves can bring decent projectile nullification, and they can go glass cannon while staying alive easily by using stealth aggro drop mechanics, which means they can bring tons of damage without being a liability if played properly. Shadow Refuge is very useful for some skips, especially with less capable players as it can be like a 10+ second buffer. Blinding Pistol can make you a tank vs. most mobs, weirdly enough. Power tree + shortbow = easy permanent AoE weakness if you need it, too. Power tree + dagger = permanent single target weakness as well. Clusterbomb blast finishers with 0 cooldown can be fun to play with, too.

Elementalists have pretty good healing, and can maintain ridiculous uptime on protection + regen + swiftness + tons of might for an entire team solo along with those heals. Protection is one of the dumber and stronger buffs in the game with -33% damage received, it’s like tacking on the toughness from a full set of Knights armor for free. Not to mention that they can bring lots of good CCs, and Meteor Storm + Frost Bow will rip through some stuff in dungeon encounters like nothing else can really even come close to. They’ve got some decent aoe condition clearing too.

Mesmers can maintain stupid ridiculous reflection uptime on a lot of stuff, making fights trivial (ex. all of freaking CM). Blink + Veil + Mass Invisibility + Portal makes most skips trivial. Time Warp is pretty much broken.

Engineers equipped with grenades (which is what probably 90% of engineers do) deal a ton of AoE damage while also easily AoE stacking 18-25 stacks of Vulnerability permanently to make sure that everyone else is doing a ton of damage. They’ve also got some okay AoE healing and condition removal, depending on how they’re specced.

I’ll be honest, I’ve got little idea about the other two classes since I’ve actually yet to really use and level either of them. From what I’ve seen other players in my group do, though, the Ranger water field is pretty ridiculous with some coordination (15 second duration water field…?!?), and Necro wells are pretty useful for mass blinds/condition removal and some builds are great for applying vulnerability as well.

I will say that 2 Guardians + 2 Warriors + whatever is pretty much super easymode though. Guardians are probably the most versatile and useful overall in dungeons. In general though, you can succeed easily enough with pretty much anything as long as you play well and don’t be stubborn about what you use.

Just go warrior or guardian and get it over with.

Other classes are fun to play, but they don’t come close to warrior/guardian dps and versatility

Nazario.4760:

Hey guys.

I know roles like tank/healer/dps is not prominent in GW2. However I want a class that is good at support in dungeons, using control, healing and utility. I really want to play mesmer

You’ve just answered your question there.

Mesmers are a bit slow for solo levelling (lack of AoE or other good ways to dispatch large groups of weak enemies), but they’re one of the most useful classes to have in group.

People will practically pay for a good mesmer in CM, for example. Plus, with enough experience and a tailored build, mesmers can solo half the bosses in the game.

People who can’t see past guardians and warriors are either stuck in a WoW / SWTOR mentality or have just had very bad luck with the mesmers / elementalists / necromancers / etc. that they’ve played with.

Best way to go in dungeons is full glass cannon.Once you’ve learned all the mechanics ,Support and Survivability are a none issue.So , the best class to go in dungeons whit is the one that packs the most damage.

Just go warrior or guardian and get it over with.
Other classes are fun to play, but they don’t come close to warrior/guardian dps and versatility

Now its funny you say that because I play both a Warrior and a Thief and the funny part is that Thief DPS is FAR supperior to Warrior.Anyone who plays Warrior and Thief and plays them well will tell you the same thing.And I can always prove what I just said if you don’t take my word for it.

My advice, play whit what ever class you want to play , you wont be dissapointed.I didn’t play all the classes in dungeons yet but I experimented whit them a lot in Heart of the mists, and I can tell, they are all realy good.

While all professions played well bring a lot to a group, some professions are straight-up easier to play (at least to achieve group benefit) than others in PvE. Thieves are an excellent example, and it follows that since more thieves are poorly played than, say, guardians, that thieves are in general weaker in dungeons. While a coordinated guild group may definitely want a thief for what a skilled one can bring to a group, a pick-up group is going to seek professions that are generally easier to play. Guardians/warriors are generally better largely because they allow a lot more room for mistakes due to their natural durability, and their utility roles are pretty easy to pull off.

NightyNight.1823:

Best way to go in dungeons is full glass cannon.Once you’ve learned all the mechanics ,Support and Survivability are a none issue.So , the best class to go in dungeons whit is the one that packs the most damage.

Just go warrior or guardian and get it over with.
Other classes are fun to play, but they don’t come close to warrior/guardian dps and versatility

Now its funny you say that because I play both a Warrior and a Thief and the funny part is that Thief DPS is FAR supperior to Warrior.Anyone who plays Warrior and Thief and plays them well will tell you the same thing.And I can always prove what I just said if you don’t take my word for it.

My advice, play whit what ever class you want to play , you wont be dissapointed.I didn’t play all the classes in dungeons yet but I experimented whit them a lot in Heart of the mists, and I can tell, they are all realy good.

To underline what I’ve already said , this is a screen shot of some numbers I pull whit my Thief in Arah.
Thats a total 62.522 .
To give you an idea of how fast that happened.
2x double strike = 0.25s
Wild Strike=0.25s
Lotus strike=0.25s
Cloak and Dagger =0.5s
Backstab=0.25s
Heartseeker=0.75s
Thats a total of 3.50 ? I wont do the maths again ,its tedius >.<
Now 3.50 is exacly the time it takes for a Warriors 100 blades to kick off.Come to me whit a hundred blades that hits 62.522.Or AXE Warrior whit damage that equals 62.522 in 3.5 seconds.
PS:Thats not a burst , thats sustainable dps.You can keep it running indefinitely.
PS2:Damage can be even bigger whit trickery trait 5% damage from the back (which I had and didn’t use) and more stacks of might .Ohh and Food.

NightyNight.1823:

To give you an idea of how fast that happened.
2x double strike = 0.25s
Wild Strike=0.25s
Lotus strike=0.25s
Cloak and Dagger =0.5s
Backstab=0.25s
Heartseeker=0.75s
Thats a total of 3.50 ? I wont do the maths again ,its tedius >.<

Activation time is not an accurate gauge of how long an ability actually takes to use and how long before you can use another one, which is why you can’t do things like Pistol Whip in under a second, or throw 4 Dancing Daggers in 1 second. Cloak and Dagger is particularly obvious in its actual animation and execution not matching the mere 0.5s listed “activation time”.

While all those skills were used in rapid succession, I’m sure, you’ll find the actual clock time for execution to be well over 3.5 seconds unless you’re using quickness.

BS , C&D are instant activation , it doesn’t take longer than the timer says.It doesn’t take time to use.And HS if you’re next to him it also doesn’t take longer than 0.75. So yes thats pretty much accurate. DD and PW are different abilities.

As for being able to support CC heal and all other aformentioned needs and wants you will find the biggest one to be a guardian however a necro can do all of these and still do some stupid conditions, I personally play a warrior and find that I can only help my group deal more damage it isn’t a bad thing but I like it.

Every profession is capable of a support role, however the play-style is a bit different.
If this helps your decision, I can tell you that I love having mesmers in my group no matter what spec they choose. Time warp and the ethereal combo-fields they lay down for chaos armor are incredibly helpful!