Guild Wars 2

I’m new to the game (Hello, community!) and I’m wondering what’s the best race and profession for a beginner. I’m not asking for the easiest build out there and I certainly wouldn’t mind picking the hardest, but I want to know which race and profession go well together (I know that as well as profession abilities, there are racial ones too) and would give a beginner a good taste of what the game has to offer.

Thanks for reading!

Esrevinue.4016:

AdaephonDelat.3890:

Race is mainly aesthetic so honestly it’s up to you on that one. There are a few racial skills that work quite well with some professions (Mesmer and the Asuran skill “Technobabble” come to mind) but otherwise just go with what ever you like.

Profession wise what sort of play style do you enjoy?

I like hanging back a bit, always battling but not necessarily up close all the time.

All have ranged ability though although guard is not great at range. Like I said try something since you have 5 slots, don’t like it by 20 or so try something else.

Race is mainly aesthetic so honestly it’s up to you on that one. There are a few racial skills that work quite well with some professions (Mesmer and the Asuran skill “Technobabble” come to mind) but otherwise just go with what ever you like.

Profession wise what sort of play style do you enjoy?

charr thief =)

AncientYs.8613:

charr thief =)

Theif if you want to be frustrated because of dying.

Easiest to pick up and play warrior.
Easy to use pet to take aggro, ranger.
5 slots to play with to get what you want.

Welcome!

Race-wise, it doesn’t really matter what you pick outside of the first half of the Personal Story since racial abilities tend to be sub-par to profession abilities; go for the one you find most interesting.

Profession-wise it’ll be down to opinion. I’m currently leveling up an Elementalist and enjoying it more than when I leveled my Warrior. What sort of playstyle are you looking at?

AdaephonDelat.3890:

Race is mainly aesthetic so honestly it’s up to you on that one. There are a few racial skills that work quite well with some professions (Mesmer and the Asuran skill “Technobabble” come to mind) but otherwise just go with what ever you like.

Profession wise what sort of play style do you enjoy?

TheDaiBish.9735:

Welcome!

Race-wise, it doesn’t really matter what you pick outside of the first half of the Personal Story since racial abilities tend to be sub-par to profession abilities; go for the one you find most interesting.

Profession-wise it’ll be down to opinion. I’m currently leveling up an Elementalist and enjoying it more than when I leveled my Warrior. What sort of playstyle are you looking at?

I like hanging back a bit, always battling but not necessarily up close all the time.

Esrevinue.4016:

I like hanging back a bit, always battling but not necessarily up close all the time.

Well, with every profession that has weapon-swap ability, you have the option of equipping a melee set and a ranged set (i.e. Rifle and Axe/Mace for Warrior) so you can go melee, deal a burst of damage, switch to your rifle then knock them away and start shooting from afar.

Elementalist is a bit different since they don’t have a weapon-swap meaning you’re somewhat tied to the range of your weapons.

I recommend human warrior.

Warrior has a really gentle learning curve while still being extremely effective at endgame if you stick with it.

Human because then the world will be in a scale relative to your character that you’ll expect. Contrast with playing a Norn where you’ll feel like you move really slow (it’s the same, really), barely jump at all (the same really), and wonder why centaurs are supposed to be dangerous since you could probably pick them up and carry one under each arm .

Esrevinue.4016:

I like hanging back a bit, always battling but not necessarily up close all the time.

Have you looked at Elementalist or Engineer? They’re kinda difficult to master (and fair warning but you’ll probably die a lot early on but you did say you didn’t mind playing a more difficult class) but they have solid ranged options.
For Ele you have long range with staff or mid range with scepter/X (focus or dagger your choice really).
For Engi you have rifle and grenade kit as long range and for mid range weapons you have pistol/X (another pistol or a shield), flamethrower and elixir gun.

Both of these options also offer good team support e.g. Ele has access to water fields which can be used to heal teammates (note this doesn’t mean it’s a healer just that it’s some of the skills they have)

I remember when i first played an elementalist – it was horrible. Nearly each battle I got downed. At max level he is very nice. But leveling was painfull. The same with thief (on damage). But my second thief, a conditioner, was great. Now he is one of my favorites. Very recommendable. Engineer had a damage lack … at least for me (Flamethrower). With the Grenadekit he is fun to play, also Conditioner/De-Cap/Turreter (name it, what you want). I suggest Rangers, Warriors and Guardians. Nothing really wrong with these and very easy to play.

Race? Only one answer: Charr, because Charr!

Warrior, Guardian and Ranger are maybe the “easiests” class to start with and learn
how the game works.
If you get used to how the game works its much less frustrating when you try the
“not so easy” classes like elementalist or thief.