Guild Wars 2

Since GW2 has gotten rid of the whole Heal-Tank-DPS trinity mechanic, I’m finding it fun to experiment with different variations of class combinations to see what works well.

So far my favorite combination of players has been

2 Guardians w/ Hammers in one of their slots
1 Necromancer
1 Elementalist, spending most of the time attuned to water
1 Ranger

I really liked this combination because the elementalist would put down an area heal, and then in the course of naturally attacking, the 2 guardians would end up slamming the ground with hammers, creating a sort-of ultra area heal class combo spell. The Necro was good for kiting enemies to get them alone, and the Ranger was an awesome last person because his bow attacks were able to do lots of condition damage. The necro and Ranger both had minions/pets that were able to provide extra targets to soak some of the damage off of everyone.

Anyway, that was my favorite combo. What are some good/fun combinations of classes you’ve found?

It really depends on the instance and player using the characters:o But I tend to like 1 melee class with 4 range class.

1x Warrior/Guardian/Thief
1x Ranger (Me)
1x Ele/Mesmer
1x Engi/Necro
1x Extra range class but melee class works.

But anything really works. The more variety the different each instance feels like:P Just need well geared, good players and experience and all dungeon runs become enjoyable. A touch of humor from each player also helps;)

I truly don’t give a kitten of who is on my party, honestly. When i make a pug, who join , join. And i never found a failure, except on player’s performance, not surely because of his class.

As someone who is 1 path away from dungeon master, these are my thoughts:

1 guardian – Holy kitten reflect wall and that thing that makes monsters unable to reach you is so good. As someone who has done countless dungeons runs I’m surprised and seriously disappointed in most guardians who never seem to use these.

1 warrior – The damage, the survivability, ETC. 5 signet builds need not apply in serious settings, but can easily slot in during say, a CoF path 1 or something.

1 ele – The staff skills are just really nice. Sadly you arent there to damage, but to support. Reflecting projectile, weakening bosses, throwing down combo fields, and healing is what you are there for. Any ele who spends most of his time in fire attunement might as well just re-roll another class who can actually auto-attack for proper damage without being made of tissue paper.

1 mesmer – As long as they know how to use their phantasms, and when to blow them up when against a boss that punishes you for overaggro. Time warp and Moa form alone are reason enough to carry one of these imo.

1 Thief/necro/warrior/guardian – Take your pick. Thieves have DPS, and stealth reviving. Necro’s have conditions (and sweet sweet poison, which is godly for anything that heals: such as most things in arah) warriors are just overall good, as are guardians.

Things to avoid like the plague – rangers.
Sorry to sound mean rangers, but you usually do not bring much to the table. Lower DPS than other classes, annoying pets that aggro things, and can cause bosses to royally screw people, lackluster AOE’s, inability to hit certain objects (such as the AC burrows) Rangers just do not impress me in dungeons.

Do these even exist tier? – engineers.
I do not play an engineer, nor have I really seen a lot of them, so I cant comment on how they dungeon. Ive yet to meet one who seriously impressed me in some manner. But at the same time ive never gone “man that engy was dragging us down that run”. If any engineers would like to comment on what makes them good and/or bad for dungeons it would be nice.

Zenyatoo.4059:

As someone who is 1 path away from dungeon master, these are my thoughts:

1 guardian – Holy kitten reflect wall and that thing that makes monsters unable to reach you is so good. As someone who has done countless dungeons runs I’m surprised and seriously disappointed in most guardians who never seem to use these.

1 warrior – The damage, the survivability, ETC. 5 signet builds need not apply in serious settings, but can easily slot in during say, a CoF path 1 or something.

1 ele – The staff skills are just really nice. Sadly you arent there to damage, but to support. Reflecting projectile, weakening bosses, throwing down combo fields, and healing is what you are there for. Any ele who spends most of his time in fire attunement might as well just re-roll another class who can actually auto-attack for proper damage without being made of tissue paper.

1 mesmer – As long as they know how to use their phantasms, and when to blow them up when against a boss that punishes you for overaggro. Time warp and Moa form alone are reason enough to carry one of these imo.

1 Thief/necro/warrior/guardian – Take your pick. Thieves have DPS, and stealth reviving. Necro’s have conditions (and sweet sweet poison, which is godly for anything that heals: such as most things in arah) warriors are just overall good, as are guardians.

Things to avoid like the plague – rangers.
Sorry to sound mean rangers, but you usually do not bring much to the table. Lower DPS than other classes, annoying pets that aggro things, and can cause bosses to royally screw people, lackluster AOE’s, inability to hit certain objects (such as the AC burrows) Rangers just do not impress me in dungeons.

Do these even exist tier? – engineers.
I do not play an engineer, nor have I really seen a lot of them, so I cant comment on how they dungeon. Ive yet to meet one who seriously impressed me in some manner. But at the same time ive never gone “man that engy was dragging us down that run”. If any engineers would like to comment on what makes them good and/or bad for dungeons it would be nice.

A skilled ranger can do wonders with their pets. A noob ranger doesnt utilize the pets various abilities. A skilled ranger will also utilize traps when necessary, and in the AC dungeon? A rangers spike + fire trap which creates a combo field does wonders to the over all dps of the team on the mounds. You just havnt played with any good rangers;)

Engis are great to have, they have a lot of toys for different situations. I would strongly recommend having an engi in any dungeon if possible. But of course, same issue as a ranger. The engi needs to know how to change his build for different occasions.

X5 warrior.

Banner rez each other ftw.

DKP.4196:

A skilled ranger can do wonders with their pets. A noob ranger doesnt utilize the pets various abilities. A skilled ranger will also utilize traps when necessary, and in the AC dungeon? A rangers spike + fire trap which creates a combo field does wonders to the over all dps of the team on the mounds. You just havnt played with any good rangers;)

Engis are great to have, they have a lot of toys for different situations. I would strongly recommend having an engi in any dungeon if possible. But of course, same issue as a ranger. The engi needs to know how to change his build for different occasions.

A fire trap. excellent. Meanwhile an ele can drop 2 fire fields without needing to stop auto attacking (which is actually hitting) he also doesnt need to burn a utility slot for it. I really dont think combo fields are a good enough reason to bring a ranger, unless they have a specific combo field type thats hard to get elsewhere. Which fire is really not. I’ve played with plenty of rangers. But the fact is, most of them (no, strike that, ALL of them) have rolled shortbow/longbow. Now, this may be their only viable choice. but it limits their AoE to 2 skills unless they use up their utility slots. Then you get into the single target damage which is less than a warriors by a good margin (while also having less natural tankiness) while this might indicate warriors are OP rather than rangers are UP, it still wont make me bring a ranger over a warrior.

insofar as pets, the issue is rarely what they do in a fight. Here’s an example from arah. During the lupicus fight, a pet will NEVER stack ontop of you. It will always be off the the side. If lupicus puts a grub on the pet (which can happen) then your entire team has to react to that. Something that they wouldnt have to do if you werent a ranger. While not party-wiping, it’s extra work that can often slip up some groups. Also when running along walls in order to fight the champion spider instead of the champion giant, the pet will often refuse to hug the wall (and it cant always be stowed, as there are monsters nearby which put you into combat as you run) this means the pet can draw additional aggro. Likewise for room clearing right before hand, where most people utilize the nearby ledges, pets will charge down into about 6 monsters to reach the target.

Basically a pet needs to be on “dont attack” or stowed more often than not. Which just makes them a ridiculous feature.

I’m not saying ranger players are bad. I’m not saying im happy with the fact that I never bring them. I just know that odds are bringing pretty much any other class will give us a higher chance of success than a ranger will. Rangers fall into a similar vein as ele’s in that they HAVE to be skilled or they will be a detriment. And i’d prefer not to risk it unless I know for a fact that the ranger is skilled. (when I dungeon with my guild we often do have a ranger. But when I PuG I avoid them as much as I can)

Zenyatoo.4059:

DKP.4196:

A skilled ranger can do wonders with their pets. A noob ranger doesnt utilize the pets various abilities. A skilled ranger will also utilize traps when necessary, and in the AC dungeon? A rangers spike + fire trap which creates a combo field does wonders to the over all dps of the team on the mounds. You just havnt played with any good rangers;)

Engis are great to have, they have a lot of toys for different situations. I would strongly recommend having an engi in any dungeon if possible. But of course, same issue as a ranger. The engi needs to know how to change his build for different occasions.

A fire trap. excellent. Meanwhile an ele can drop 2 fire fields without needing to stop auto attacking (which is actually hitting) he also doesnt need to burn a utility slot for it. I really dont think combo fields are a good enough reason to bring a ranger, unless they have a specific combo field type thats hard to get elsewhere. Which fire is really not. I’ve played with plenty of rangers. But the fact is, most of them (no, strike that, ALL of them) have rolled shortbow/longbow. Now, this may be their only viable choice. but it limits their AoE to 2 skills unless they use up their utility slots. Then you get into the single target damage which is less than a warriors by a good margin (while also having less natural tankiness) while this might indicate warriors are OP rather than rangers are UP, it still wont make me bring a ranger over a warrior.

insofar as pets, the issue is rarely what they do in a fight. Here’s an example from arah. During the lupicus fight, a pet will NEVER stack ontop of you. It will always be off the the side. If lupicus puts a grub on the pet (which can happen) then your entire team has to react to that. Something that they wouldnt have to do if you werent a ranger. While not party-wiping, it’s extra work that can often slip up some groups. Also when running along walls in order to fight the champion spider instead of the champion giant, the pet will often refuse to hug the wall (and it cant always be stowed, as there are monsters nearby which put you into combat as you run) this means the pet can draw additional aggro. Likewise for room clearing right before hand, where most people utilize the nearby ledges, pets will charge down into about 6 monsters to reach the target.

Basically a pet needs to be on “dont attack” or stowed more often than not. Which just makes them a ridiculous feature.

I’m not saying ranger players are bad. I’m not saying im happy with the fact that I never bring them. I just know that odds are bringing pretty much any other class will give us a higher chance of success than a ranger will. Rangers fall into a similar vein as ele’s in that they HAVE to be skilled or they will be a detriment. And i’d prefer not to risk it unless I know for a fact that the ranger is skilled. (when I dungeon with my guild we often do have a ranger. But when I PuG I avoid them as much as I can)

I go longbow/Sword+dagger. I still say your rolling with ranger noobs:) I have nearly 700hours on my Ranger alone. I know what im doing and I can assure you that if a Ranger knows what to do. The problems above shoudlnt be a problem.

Lupicus shouldnt even be on the list;) Path 4 sparks, a ranger pet can HELP a lot of used properly. Call back pet with f3 and tap f4 to swap it out at the right time. BOOM free spark lured:)

Any PUG group. Makes every dungeon a different experience.8)

DKP.4196:

I go longbow/Sword+dagger. I still say your rolling with ranger noobs:) I have nearly 700hours on my Ranger alone. I know what im doing and I can assure you that if a Ranger knows what to do. The problems above shoudlnt be a problem.

Lupicus shouldnt even be on the list;) Path 4 sparks, a ranger pet can HELP a lot of used properly. Call back pet with f3 and tap f4 to swap it out at the right time. BOOM free spark lured:)

I’ve never experimented with sword/dagger. But from looking at the skills it does seem much better than shortbow. Still lacking in the AoE department though. How do you handle paths with tons of risen grubs, or even just tons of normal risen? How do you deal with any dungeon that spews out trash monsters in large quantities for that matter? Also I run all 3 AC paths every day for the money it gives. Can Sword/Dagger allow you to hit the burrows properly? If not, do they allow you to take and hold aggro of the tons of gravelings?

also i’ll bring up lupicus as it’s in every arah path, which is where teamcomp, exotics, and so on actually do matter. And pets just arent good for phase 1 or 3. And if you have a bad phase 1 phase 2 is worse. and if you have a bad phase 3, then the fight takes ages.

As for spark luring, you can usually just do 3 on 1 player and 2 on another which is easy enough without a pet. If anything i’d consider pet a disadvantage here, because it may mean you have to regulate the ranger to a specific role just to counter the fact that his pet likes to draw aggro. .

Pets are awsome in phase 2 and 3 for lupicus. Phase 2 lupicus does shadow walk onto the pet, and phase 3, lupicus does agro on the pet. It takes some stress off the players.

Also the spark phase, we all got our preferences, but id rather hate on the mesmer as their illus are much more annoying that pets. Pets arent even a issue here.

Edit:

Regarding the AC burrows its currently bugged for most, but yes it does hit from time to time. You can even dodge/evade with the sword/dagger so you dont get downed as often if you ever do get downed. Plus add some traps to the recipe + zephyr. Your good to go. The use of pet here depends on what the team lacks.

DKP.4196:

Pets are awsome in phase 2 and 3 for lupicus. Phase 2 lupicus does shadow walk onto the pet, and phase 3, lupicus does agro on the pet. It takes some stress off the players.

Also the spark phase, we all got our preferences, but id rather hate on the mesmer as their illus are much more annoying that pets. Pets arent even a issue here.

Phase 3 lupicus drains hp. AFAIK he can do this for pets. Which generally speaking wont dodge it like players do. o.o

I dunno, I think i’d accept a mesmer phantasm just because time warp is so good on simin. As soon as the first spark phase is over, pop that time warp and simins hp just plummets. as long as they’re keeping their phatasms in check it’s ok. Which is pretty much “as soon as sparks spawn I explode them all” that’s all it takes.

Zenyatoo.4059:

DKP.4196:

Pets are awsome in phase 2 and 3 for lupicus. Phase 2 lupicus does shadow walk onto the pet, and phase 3, lupicus does agro on the pet. It takes some stress off the players.

Also the spark phase, we all got our preferences, but id rather hate on the mesmer as their illus are much more annoying that pets. Pets arent even a issue here.

Phase 3 lupicus drains hp. AFAIK he can do this for pets. Which generally speaking wont dodge it like players do. o.o

I dunno, I think i’d accept a mesmer phantasm just because time warp is so good on simin. As soon as the first spark phase is over, pop that time warp and simins hp just plummets. as long as they’re keeping their phatasms in check it’s ok. Which is pretty much “as soon as sparks spawn I explode them all” that’s all it takes.

A good ranger would call back his pet OR swap it out to avoid the life steal;( You need a good ranger;)

Simini, yeah mesmer ult is very usefull but other than that lol…at simini idk. But the Sword + Dagger + snake traps + zephyr + Frost spirit from the ranger during Siminis fight is exceptional;) + the pet swap. The Dps keeps on piling up,

DKP.4196:

Zenyatoo.4059:

DKP.4196:

Pets are awsome in phase 2 and 3 for lupicus. Phase 2 lupicus does shadow walk onto the pet, and phase 3, lupicus does agro on the pet. It takes some stress off the players.

Also the spark phase, we all got our preferences, but id rather hate on the mesmer as their illus are much more annoying that pets. Pets arent even a issue here.

Phase 3 lupicus drains hp. AFAIK he can do this for pets. Which generally speaking wont dodge it like players do. o.o

I dunno, I think i’d accept a mesmer phantasm just because time warp is so good on simin. As soon as the first spark phase is over, pop that time warp and simins hp just plummets. as long as they’re keeping their phatasms in check it’s ok. Which is pretty much “as soon as sparks spawn I explode them all” that’s all it takes.

A good ranger would call back his pet OR swap it out to avoid the life steal;( You need a good ranger;)

Simini, yeah mesmer ult is very usefull but other than that lol…at simini idk. But the Sword + Dagger + snake traps + zephyr + Frost spirit from the ranger during Siminis fight is exceptional;) + the pet swap. The Dps keeps on piling up,

I still dont think you’d outDPS a warrior on simin. But I digress.

and your point with lupicus is still null. because at the end of the day it means that I would need to find a highly skilled ranger (of which I have apparently never found ever) just to not have them be a detriment to my team. :|

Zenyatoo.4059:

DKP.4196:

Zenyatoo.4059:

DKP.4196:

Pets are awsome in phase 2 and 3 for lupicus. Phase 2 lupicus does shadow walk onto the pet, and phase 3, lupicus does agro on the pet. It takes some stress off the players.

Also the spark phase, we all got our preferences, but id rather hate on the mesmer as their illus are much more annoying that pets. Pets arent even a issue here.

Phase 3 lupicus drains hp. AFAIK he can do this for pets. Which generally speaking wont dodge it like players do. o.o

I dunno, I think i’d accept a mesmer phantasm just because time warp is so good on simin. As soon as the first spark phase is over, pop that time warp and simins hp just plummets. as long as they’re keeping their phatasms in check it’s ok. Which is pretty much “as soon as sparks spawn I explode them all” that’s all it takes.

A good ranger would call back his pet OR swap it out to avoid the life steal;( You need a good ranger;)

Simini, yeah mesmer ult is very usefull but other than that lol…at simini idk. But the Sword + Dagger + snake traps + zephyr + Frost spirit from the ranger during Siminis fight is exceptional;) + the pet swap. The Dps keeps on piling up,

I still dont think you’d outDPS a warrior on simin. But I digress.

and your point with lupicus is still null. because at the end of the day it means that I would need to find a highly skilled ranger (of which I have apparently never found ever) just to not have them be a detriment to my team. :|

Haha, we are out there:P

Also, no a ranger wont beat a warrior in melee dps since its a ranged hero;) But they arent as useless as you think. We can constantly apply poison on simini too, which a warrior would have difficulty with.

you dont hv mesmers in ur group? …note to self never run a dungeon with this guy lol

Also want to add the medic packs or whtever engis drop. These are great to omnomnom:D

1 Guardian
1 Warrior
1 Ele
1 Mesmer
1 Thf

imho, that combo pretty much has everything you need for various dungeons. Thf has more poisons then Necro also.

My usual dungeon group is guardian, warrior, ranger, thief, and ele or mesmer. Everyone go in melee range (Man Mode) for most boss fights so everyone gets boons and heals from each other. Thing melt so fast its ridiculous.

My group I play with most nights generally comprises of:

2 Guardians
1 Thief
1 Mesmer
1 Ele

All around great team comp, I don’t really have an argument for why it would be better/worse than others; it’s just what professions the five us made. I feel like between the two guardians and the ele we always have plenty of defense, the mesmer provides extra utility via time warp, feed back, null field and chaos storm. Thief’s AoE stealth and DPS is appreciable.