Guild Wars 2

Topic.

I just took a Necro to level 80, and I’m cirrently 40% into Reaper Elite. I’m liking the class so far, but as an altoholitc, I’d like to make and take another character to Elite Spec, since I want a DPS based toon (My reaper will be tank).

What class should I take?

Ele has the highest power dps against everything standing still. Viper engineer against health sponges (raid bosses). Rev and mesmer give dps + group utility.

Wanna roll your face on your keyboard and still do good dps in PvE? Roll a Revenant. Full ’zerker gear, pop unrelenting assault in shiro, sword auto attack to win.

Revenant, PS Berserker for POWER

Engineer for CONDITION

Are other classes viable? yes! exactly as power Ranger was viable before the new trait system, viable but you will be discriminated on LFG.

That’s a shame… I had a Herald but ended up erasing her because I found the class extremely boring to play. I have a level 10 engi, but I don’t get how to play her, since it takes me half a year to kill any mob I find with any kit…

Aldath.1275:

That’s a shame… I had a Herald but ended up erasing her because I found the class extremely boring to play. I have a level 10 engi, but I don’t get how to play her, since it takes me half a year to kill any mob I find with any kit…

as an engi, you have to swap your kits a lot (a freaking lot) to make good dmg. The high dps rotation of an engi is like 40 skills. So you need a lot of practice to kill the mobs.
If you have problems in the low lvl area i would recommend the rifle, grenade kit, bomb kit and a tower. With most power stats that worked for me pretty good. It still is slower than an ele.

A Condi Berserker (Warrior spec) is pretty high dps against enemys with large hitboxes like Bloomhunger or the second Raid boss.

Frostfire.7492:

Aldath.1275:

That’s a shame… I had a Herald but ended up erasing her because I found the class extremely boring to play. I have a level 10 engi, but I don’t get how to play her, since it takes me half a year to kill any mob I find with any kit…

as an engi, you have to swap your kits a lot (a freaking lot) to make good dmg. The high dps rotation of an engi is like 40 skills. So you need a lot of practice to kill the mobs.
If you have problems in the low lvl area i would recommend the rifle, grenade kit, bomb kit and a tower. With most power stats that worked for me pretty good. It still is slower than an ele.

A Condi Berserker (Warrior spec) is pretty high dps against enemys with large hitboxes like Bloomhunger or the second Raid boss.

That could be a problem then, since the reason why I don’t play Ele is because of how piano-ey the class is.

I’m leveling a Mesmer (7), a Guardian (63) and a Ranger (32). I like the Mesmer so far, but I also feel it deals sub-par DPS; at least for now. Leveling her will be a slow, painful process but I hope it’s worth it.

Aldath.1275:

I’m leveling a Mesmer (7), a Guardian (63) and a Ranger (32). I like the Mesmer so far, but I also feel it deals sub-par DPS; at least for now. Leveling her will be a slow, painful process but I hope it’s worth it.

Mesmer is one of the classes with the least dps in early levels because most of your damageskills are traitbased, so aslong as you don’t have all three Traitlines your dmg is pretty low. But if you reach lvl 80 and get to the point where you can “evolve” him to a chronomancer the dmg and utility goes through the roof. So it is definetly a class worth leveling.
Guardian has good dps and utility, compared to revs and warriors it is pretty low though. If you want to run fractals this is a good class, for Raids in my opinion not so much.
Ranger. This one is difficult, the ranger dmg isn’t that great and a lot of people really hate to play with this class, because there are a lot of players who just longbow 4 everything away, forgett to pull their pets back and so on. But a heal druid is pretty handy in raids, so you might want to consider this.
My advice would be to level the guardian and the mesmer, it dosn’t take that long to reach lvl 80, the bigger problem would be the ascended equip. Maybe join a beginner friendly Raid Guild, maybe they are missing one of the classes and help you to level and equip it.

Every class can do good enough in raids.
Depends on what kind of roles you want to fulfill and what boss you’re looking at, as each boss has different kinds of builds/group comps that work better on them (in regard to raids)

Rev, War and Engi are rather safe bets though. Druids are wanted too because they have a whole lot of buffs only they can bring.

beefjus.9347:

Wanna roll your face on your keyboard and still do good dps in PvE? Roll a Revenant. Full ’zerker gear, pop unrelenting assault in shiro, sword auto attack to win.

This is not how you play revenant. Every decent rev knows that using UA means they’ll be losing DPS, which is not something you want, especially in raids.

To the topic, every boss is different. While on VG you can be fine with reaper tank, on Gorseval you might want your druid to tank and on Sabetha you don’t need it at all. That’s the same with dps classes. For example ele is pretty bad on VG but very good on the next two bosses. DPS classes that are suitable for most encounters: revenant, viper engi, ps warrior…

If people are trying to decide on what class to play for raids, I suggest thinking less about what is “most optimal” and more about what is more likely to be needed.

For example, it’s pretty common for groups to want 2 revenants and 2 PS warriors. It can be argued that a chronomancer is just as optimal for a group as one of these classes, but groups probably won’t want more than 1 of these since the benefit of additional chronomancers becomes a bit redundant.

On the other hand, if you already have 2 revenants, you can have a 3rd keep up prot instead of might/fury to produce more boon benefits while also bringing very high dps. With warriors, if you already have 2 PS wars, you can have the additional warriors run condi, which fills the role of both ranged and condition DPS. Condi warriors also do some of the best DPS on the Gorseval fight due to the large hit box.

So you can pick a class that’s not only viable, but also very strong and still have trouble fitting in a group.

My top recommendations for people looking to be accepted into groups would be:
1) Revenant (Have a Zerk DPS and maybe a tank set too)
2) Warrior (Zerk DPS and Viper dps set)
3) Condi Engi (Have a Viper dps set and maybe a Rabid tank set too)

If your budget is tight, Revenant is your best bet since building a viper condi set is really expensive and time consuming.

Laraley.7695:

beefjus.9347:

Wanna roll your face on your keyboard and still do good dps in PvE? Roll a Revenant. Full ’zerker gear, pop unrelenting assault in shiro, sword auto attack to win.

This is not how you play revenant. Every decent rev knows that using UA means they’ll be losing DPS, which is not something you want, especially in raids.

To the topic, every boss is different. While on VG you can be fine with reaper tank, on Gorseval you might want your druid to tank and on Sabetha you don’t need it at all. That’s the same with dps classes. For example ele is pretty bad on VG but very good on the next two bosses. DPS classes that are suitable for most encounters: revenant, viper engi, ps warrior…

Relax man, I was overly simplifying it to show emphasis. Haha! Any good Revenant knows that simply auto attacking and using UA will result in a DPS loss.

If you enjoy your Necro, you might consider to keep your choice within light armor class because you can share your ascended or even legendary armors among your toons.

beefjus.9347:

Wanna roll your face on your keyboard and still do good dps in PvE? Roll a Revenant. Full ’zerker gear, pop unrelenting assault in shiro, sword auto attack to win.

Pretty much this

Dahkeus.8243:

If people are trying to decide on what class to play for raids, I suggest thinking less about what is “most optimal” and more about what is more likely to be needed.

This.

To add to that though, due to the nature of MMOs, balance changes will happen and shifts in optimal group meta can and will occure. So giving up on something fun class wise “just to get in” will not keep you safe.

Your best bet remains to play with a group of friends, guildies or established raid group. If you have the skill and/or are demonstrating the desire to learn and improve, most people will be happy to group with you.

Dahkeus.8243:

My top recommendations for people looking to be accepted into groups would be:
1) Revenant (Have a Zerk DPS and maybe a tank set too)
2) Warrior (Zerk DPS and Viper dps set)
3) Condi Engi (Have a Viper dps set and maybe a Rabid tank set too)

If your budget is tight, Revenant is your best bet since building a viper condi set is really expensive and time consuming.

Good summery.

Also for alternate playstyles consider running as tank or healer. Both are positions that are desired for raids and fewer people have the gear for at the moment. If you are decent at that performing, you’ll not have to worry about getting replaced for another dps (unlike for example revenant, which there are quite a few of at the moment).

Just make sure you don’t fall in the trap of making clerics or nomads or other such damage useless gear. Read up on what the recommended gearset is for your healer/tank. Overtanking is a thing, and to much toughness (due to agreo mechanics) is a big “no no” as well.

Oh my bad. I meant “Impossible Odds” not “Unrelenting Assault” (I keep on mixing their names up)! Hahaha! /derp

Easy to play classes that are meta tier: condi warr, power revenant.
Support classes that are meta tier: chrono, druid
Hard to play: tempest, condi engi.

FYi I’ve played condi warr and power rev, both are insanely strong but the simplicity gets boring so fast so I’ve rerolled to chronomancer for a dps/support style of play and it’s ALOT more enjoyable!

If you are getting ascended armor, maybe ele and chrono are your best bets. This way, you can share everything between them.

Adjust.6903:

Easy to play classes that are meta tier: condi warr, power revenant.
Support classes that are meta tier: chrono, druid
Hard to play: tempest, condi engi.

FYi I’ve played condi warr and power rev, both are insanely strong but the simplicity gets boring so fast so I’ve rerolled to chronomancer for a dps/support style of play and it’s ALOT more enjoyable!

Also good summery.

Funny, after 3 years of mesmer, I did the exact opposite. I switched to revenant as main, mesmer and guardian as second. It’s nice to occasionally just not worry about stuff.

I have to say though, Mesmer has to be one of the best redesigns a class has gotten out of MMOs I’ve played (Daoc, WoW, ST:ToR, Warhammer Online). It’s super fun now, even deeper than before (and I always considered mesmer between medium and hard difficulty) and has near gamebraking group utility.

Nobody wants necro or thieves in raids. You will be heavily discriminated.

Samnang.1879:

Nobody wants necro or thieves in raids. You will be heavily discriminated.

Necro can have his spot about raids. Thief apparently is decent as venomshare or staff DD but I haven’t seen either in action so I can’t really confirm that. Also you’re probably talking about pugs and you don’t want to raid with them in the first place.

Samnang.1879:

Nobody wants necro or thieves in raids. You will be heavily discriminated.

I killed Gorseval today with a group that had a condi reaper.

@OP: Herald is probably the best class for VG and Sabetha, for Gorseval the best class is condi warrior.

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Samnang.1879:

Nobody wants necro or thieves in raids. You will be heavily discriminated.

I killed Gorseval today with a group that had a condi reaper.

@OP: Herald is probably the best class for VG and Sabetha, for Gorseval the best class is condi warrior.

Woodenpotatoes was talking about a epedemic strat that seemed to work quite well.

roelvanesch.2817:

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Samnang.1879:

Nobody wants necro or thieves in raids. You will be heavily discriminated.

I killed Gorseval today with a group that had a condi reaper.

@OP: Herald is probably the best class for VG and Sabetha, for Gorseval the best class is condi warrior.

Woodenpotatoes was talking about a epedemic strat that seemed to work quite well.

Yes, that requires two reapers though, since you want to jiggle the conditions around (spread from boss to trash back to boss)

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Yes, that requires two reapers though, since you want to jiggle the conditions around (spread from boss to trash back to boss)

It work with only one, there is no magical number where this is bad or good. That said, if you only have one, you should have like 1-2 other condition build like Engie or Warrior to keep burn and bleed at 25 to maximize the Epidemic.

Thaddeus.4891:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Yes, that requires two reapers though, since you want to jiggle the conditions around (spread from boss to trash back to boss)

It work with only one, there is no magical number where this is bad or good. That said, if you only have one, you should have like 1-2 other condition build like Engie or Warrior to keep burn and bleed at 25 to maximize the Epidemic.

Let me put it another way then: It works most efficently with 2+ reapers as the first epidemic can be used to throw conditions onto the trash and every subsequent epidemic can be used to throw them back to the boss.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Necro can have his spot about raids. Thief apparently is decent as venomshare or staff DD but I haven’t seen either in action so I can’t really confirm that. Also you’re probably talking about pugs and you don’t want to raid with them in the first place.

Thief staff DD it’s not “decent”, it’s probably the highest power DPS available, I just finished the weekly VG run, done with 1:50 remaining on timer, and with 4 guys pugged (DH, Druid, DD, 2 Heralds, PS war, Chrono, Engi, Necro, Tempest).

But until people will follow blindly other people comps, there’ll be always be class discrimination based on ignorance.

Galandil.9641:

Thief staff DD it’s not “decent”, it’s probably the highest power DPS available

Staff daredevil is, in fact, decent. Highest power DPS available, on paper, is tempest, which blows everything else away by a wide margin. It depends on an immobile target to hit those numbers however and falls off pretty mightily when bosses need to move around.

If tempest isn’t in the picture then sword herald, hammer guardian, and staff daredevil are all pretty similar in damage, and which one will be better depends on the situation. With no external quickness, a herald using Impossible Odds is the clear winner, with daredevil a good bit behind that and hammer guardian bringing up the rear. With a lot of external quickness from your mesmer(s) or otherwise, this order reverses – herald is still great if no longer as spectacular, daredevil a touch ahead of the herald, and hammer guardian out in front as the king of direct DPS.

Realistically you shouldn’t care whether you are getting direct or condition DPS (bosses require condition DPS, not the other way around), and that means that viper warrior and viper engineer are the true kings of the pack. There’s nothing preventing you from stacking 8 condition warriors on some of these bosses and melting them in record time.

Still, any of those 6 is a good damage dealer, and discrimination against thieves aside (only somewhat justified – the damage is there but it offers a lot less than the other 5 on top of that) they are all solid choices to fill a raid DPS role.

Herald is still better with plenty of external quickness, as that allows them to run Shiro/Mallyx.

Edit: Glint/Mallyx

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Herald is still better with plenty of external quickness, as that allows them to run Shiro/Mallyx.

do you enjoy losing dps?

Necro is really powerful for all 3 boss fights. Just not enough people have one geared and you need 2 for the strat that makes them that good.

NoTrigger.8396:

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Herald is still better with plenty of external quickness, as that allows them to run Shiro/Mallyx.

do you enjoy losing dps?

Not sure how you lose DPS, you can easily have full quickness uptime without shiro.

I started Sabetha trying it in Shiro/Glint. After a few tries I switched to Glint/Mallyx because our Mesmer was giving me 100% quickness uptime.

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

NoTrigger.8396:

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Herald is still better with plenty of external quickness, as that allows them to run Shiro/Mallyx.

do you enjoy losing dps?

Not sure how you lose DPS, you can easily have full quickness uptime without shiro.

and thats exactly why shiro mallyx would be a dps loss compared to glint mallyx

NoTrigger.8396:

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

NoTrigger.8396:

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Herald is still better with plenty of external quickness, as that allows them to run Shiro/Mallyx.

do you enjoy losing dps?

Not sure how you lose DPS, you can easily have full quickness uptime without shiro.

and thats exactly why shiro mallyx would be a dps loss compared to glint mallyx

My bad I meant Glint/Mallyx

to be honest I did not see many staff Thiefs in raids (youtube ).
Most groups were running 2-3 condi engi, 2-3 revs, 2-3 warr

harold.3526:

Revenant, PS Berserker for POWER

Engineer for CONDITION

Are other classes viable? yes! exactly as power Ranger was viable before the new trait system, viable but you will be discriminated on LFG.

Harold, a post like this contributes to that kind of discrimination, though I don’t think that’s what you meant.

Since you don’t want a button masher I’d suggest Condi Warrior. Burns stacks with party support are always wanted.

rogerwilko.6895:

to be honest I did not see many staff Thiefs in raids (youtube ).
Most groups were running 2-3 condi engi, 2-3 revs, 2-3 warr

Because most thieves are a liability. Also, why would you take a thief when you cant take something with near equivalent damage, greater durability and significantly higher group utility that wears heavy armor making them less likely to be the bosses new carpet ?

Dire necromancer is good. Works well in PvE.

Junkpile.7439:

Dire necromancer is good. Works well in PvE.

Not close to optimal though. The OP wants fractals and raids.

Junkpile.7439:

Dire necromancer is good. Works well in PvE.

Unless you plan on tanking that raid/fractal, that toughness on Dire will screw you.

As is, you don’t want ANY toughness unless you are the tank (for raids/fractals).

Read his signature, he isn’t serious.

Mega Skeleton.8259:

harold.3526:

Revenant, PS Berserker for POWER

Engineer for CONDITION

Are other classes viable? yes! exactly as power Ranger was viable before the new trait system, viable but you will be discriminated on LFG.

Harold, a post like this contributes to that kind of discrimination, though I don’t think that’s what you meant.

His post isn’t to blame. It’s the truth behind his post that really drives this.