Guild Wars 2

I’m looking for a character to do high level fractals, raids and general PVE with. I know the ascended armor has a very tiny boost in stats compared to exotic armor (2%), but I need it for the added agony resistance mainly. I was wondering which class would optimally benefit from having ascended armor (along with the other ascended gear)?

Some criteria to base the ranking of good vs bad classes on:
- how is the survivability/dps in the open world solo?
- is the class in high demand for raids/fractals? (thief is an example of a class NOT to take)
- does the class benefit optimally from the extra stats? (I heard condition damage benefits even less from the ascended gear than direct damage, though I don’t know why)

Since I plan on only outfitting one character with full ascended gear, I’d like to make sure I pick a class I won’t regret.

I love mesmer so I always suggest it!

Ascended armor is account bound, so you can move it between characters. So if you do outfit one character in ascended you could actually outfit three.

Mesmer, Ele, Necro is the best 3 for me

I suppose that’s true. Mesmer is a good suggestion I think. Still, the stats cannot be changed anymore and the vigils also cost a lot. I doubt I can go in full Berserker gear to raids.

Babyburger.3104:

I suppose that’s true. Mesmer is a good suggestion I think. Still, the stats cannot be changed anymore and the vigils also cost a lot. I doubt I can go in full Berserker gear to raids.

What do you mean “Stats cannot be changed anymore” ? Has the mystic forge thing to restat ascended gear been removed ?

Necromancer. High Survivability and great damage. Fractals Yes Raids not really but kinda.

Warriors. High Survivability. Fractals Yes and Raids Yes. Leave fractal parties that have two in them. The universe teeters out of alignment and everything goes wrong somehow when they try and do fractals together. I don’t know first hand, but my warrior friend in Discord doesn’t sound like he’s having any fun when it happens.

Heal Druid. High Survivability. Fractals Yes Raids Yes
Condi Druid. High Survivability. Fractals Yes Raids Yes
Power Druid that doesn’t heal. Fractals Yes you’re alive and healing yourself. Amazing job. Please stop making these. Raids No

Elementalist. Fractals, Raids, and all pve content, yes forever. You randomly die and res and die and res. I like it, and if you go staff that’s the only weapon you’ll ever need to make. The other options are there though.

Power thief. Fractals Yes and Raids Yes. It’s kinda hard to play at first but it has higher dps then ele so it’s better to take in raids. It’s dps is single target though, so bosses with a large hit box mean an ele will be better. Things like Xera and Vale Guardian can be done better with a thief. Parties will want an ele more no matter what though.

Power Revenant. Fractals Yes and Raids kinda. They have all the tools for everything, but what they were known for was taken away, so they are no longer looked for in raids as a class they can’t go without.

Condi Engineer. Fractals Yes and Raids Yes. Has the highest skill cap in the game if we’re talking max dps possible. Just nothing but internal cool downs you have to keep track in your head since you can’t see them when you’re using a different kit. Also you’re expected to know every CC nuance you have in raids on top of keeping your dps rotation perfect. Best condi class, but most painful to learn. Also not that survivable in fractals.
Power engineer. Fractals kinda Raids no. It’s been doing great in the nightmare fractal. It’s highly survivable with whatever they’re doing. Not the best dps, but it isn’t bad.

Mesmer. Fractals Yes Raids Yes. I don’t recommend this for fractals at all. It’s low dps but tons of excessive make other people do ridiculous damage. I find it can be frustrating to have all your long cool downs wasted. But it does have a place and I here condi mesmer is better for Fractals.

Guardian. High Survivability. Fractals Yes Raids kinda. They’re nice to have in fractals with Aegis usually being put on everyone. It will get wasted on random condi bosses like Volcanic, but they can destroy him with reflects so they’re still good to bring there. Then Raids I think they’re pretty much only used for Slothasor.

One poor description of all the classes à la mode
Now I want ice cream o.o

ThomasC.1056:

Babyburger.3104:

I suppose that’s true. Mesmer is a good suggestion I think. Still, the stats cannot be changed anymore and the vigils also cost a lot. I doubt I can go in full Berserker gear to raids.

What do you mean “Stats cannot be changed anymore” ? Has the mystic forge thing to restat ascended gear been removed ?

still works…
so OP just choose the 3 classes (of the same weight) you would like the best, then if you need to switch use the recipe

CMM.6712:

ThomasC.1056:

Babyburger.3104:

I suppose that’s true. Mesmer is a good suggestion I think. Still, the stats cannot be changed anymore and the vigils also cost a lot. I doubt I can go in full Berserker gear to raids.

What do you mean “Stats cannot be changed anymore” ? Has the mystic forge thing to restat ascended gear been removed ?

still works…
so OP just choose the 3 classes (of the same weight) you would like the best, then if you need to switch use the recipe

Well OP is correct if they are buying their ascended for spvp currency those cant be stat changed at this moment.

Linken.6345:

CMM.6712:

ThomasC.1056:

Babyburger.3104:

I suppose that’s true. Mesmer is a good suggestion I think. Still, the stats cannot be changed anymore and the vigils also cost a lot. I doubt I can go in full Berserker gear to raids.

What do you mean “Stats cannot be changed anymore” ? Has the mystic forge thing to restat ascended gear been removed ?

still works…
so OP just choose the 3 classes (of the same weight) you would like the best, then if you need to switch use the recipe

Well OP is correct if they are buying their ascended for spvp currency those cant be stat changed at this moment.

Hmm wasn’t aware of that, glad I didn’t find it out the hard way

Remember that Ascended Gear is account bound, so you should decide on a weight class instead of a specific class. That way, if you find out that you don’t like the first class as much as you thought you would, you have two more options.

I would go with light ascended armor. Both chronomancer and tempest are a lot of fun to play (and so is reaper for that matter), and both of them will always find a spot in raid groups.

Been playing Fractals seriously with my guild mates for years now. Out of all the professions I have, I always go back to my boon share Chronomancer. It is by far the most fun profession for me to play. It can be as simple or as intricate as you make it out to be and has various ways of ensuring you don’t eat dirt. I bring the unique alacrity buff and quickness to a group, both of which are always appreciated and wanted. I have a tempest and a reaper and both are fine to bring too but they are ‘get in as much damage as possible’, where as the Chrono there’s always something else for me to be doing and I never get bored.

Also…my favorite skill in the whole game is on a Chrono focus, the temporal curtain pull is so useful for helping the necros get their epidemics off and just general grouping for cleaving. I get the most fun watching whole groups just go ‘yoink’ and be pulled right into death.

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys. I will go with the mesmer then.

Btw yes, I’m using the pvp currency to buy the ascended armor.

Cheers!

These are the current raid builds I would use: http://qtfy.enjin.com/builds
Hopefully this can help with your decision, I will say however, that to be completely geared, some classes (Mesmer) are much more time consuming and/or difficult because of the runes and sigils you will have to use.
My advice: Ranger, Warrior, Ele are the easiest to gear and are needed for all raids, easy fractals and normal PvE.

PSA: You cannot change the stats on the PvP ascended gear like you can with normal Ascended gear, make sure you pick the right stats!!!

I would caution here. Seems to me that choosing a class to fit the armor you are going to get is putting the cart before the horse, especially if you can’t transfer or change the stats from the PVP ascended gear. You might get stuck with a class you don’t like and armor that isn’t very well suited to the task.

If you’re picking mesmer go with the raids build since you can’t change after.