Guild Wars 2

I hate to create one of these topics, but after taking a year long break from the game and finding out about HoT, I’m wondering what the current PvE tier list is right now. I want to create a completely new toon and I’m wondering which class will have an easier time leveling to 80 and soloing quests and which classes have an easier time getting through PvE content. The help is appreciated! I also would love to know if stuff like gathering and crafting is worth my time.

Warrior, Guardian, Necromancer, Revenant.

To help you understand the scale: warrior/guardian can 1v3 veterans while ele struggling with 1 veteran (during leveling).

Actually, you get a birthday present in in-game mail when your character is a year old, so you should have one. One thing will be a scroll that instant-levels any character to 20, and another increases your XP gain for 24 hours of playing. Also, if you login every evening, you get a chest you can claim and if you do that every day, each month you’ll have received 10 free levels-worth of experience scrolls.

I say all of this because you should level what seems to be fun, not what levels most efficiently.

I’d also add that base Necros aren’t nearly as great as Reapers, which you can only enable once you hit 80.

DharcHero.2680:

I hate to create one of these topics, but after taking a year long break from the game and finding out about HoT, I’m wondering what the current PvE tier list is right now. I want to create a completely new toon and I’m wondering which class will have an easier time leveling to 80 and soloing quests and which classes have an easier time getting through PvE content.

For leveling up in the open world, no one has an easier time of it than the Necromancer. Slot a few minions and literally nothing else matters: they tank so much aggro that the game becomes an absolute breeze. Opinions get more contentious about how well the Necro does in tougher content (I still think they’re great) but I’ve leveled everyone but the Revenant to 80 through good old-fashioned open-world PvE (and a bit of crafting here and there) and the Necro is the hands-down king of it. It’s also a really fun profession to boot, and almost everyone agrees that their elite specialization (Reaper) was the best of the Elites released with HoT.

DharcHero.2680:

I also would love to know if stuff like gathering and crafting is worth my time.

Yes and yes. ANet has gone out of their way to create demand for crafting materials of all levels, and as a result it can be quite lucrative to run around anything except maybe the starter maps and just harvest mats from nodes. As for crafting, it can be quite expensive to level to 500 (or even to 400) but chances are you’ll want to get there eventually anyway since Ascended gear is all account-bound and mostly craft-only (there are a few ways to get it as drops but they’re unreliable IMX).

They are all fun really. Pick what you like and just enjoy the game.

Longbow ranger.

5 signet axe warrior will destroy open world pve while lvling and continue to do so at lvl 80 in core tyria, including cursed shore. Greatsword is what other people like but locking yourself down with 100b can be not so amusing.

However, guardian is probably much more entertaining and its greatsword burst allows movement aswell as allows 360 attack where warrior gs is a forward arc cleave. But guardian can be more fragile depending on skill loadout and how you gear stat and its mobility is limited/ wonky if you choose to slot teleports into the build they require targets where warriors need no targets for their movement skills.

Necro or Druid.

On my Necro I solo’d every single HP in Auric Basin with no issue (except for Balth where I had to bug him in order to solo him)

Druid was a bit more challenging but for the most part your pet soaks up the damage and you can heal him and keep him alive forever while you Dps the mobs.

It’s a hard question to answer, because there isn’t a “hard” class to compare it with. If you know the game, the difficulties of the classes range from easy, very easy, and faceroll. And at that point, even though a class may be easier, it isn’t necessarily stronger. For example, while a necro is arguably the most faceroll class, it doesn’t have the performance of an elementalist.

So really, there’s two tiers: who is easiest, and who is best. Going by best first, and this is my very quickly written and debatable list on the matter:

#1: Mesmer
#2: Engineer
#3: Elementalist
#4: Herald
#5: Warrior
#6: Guardian
#7: Thief
#8: Necromancer
#9: Ranger

But going by how easy the class is…

#1: Necro
#2: Ranger
#3: Warrior
#4: Thief
#5: Herald
#6: Guardian
#7: Mesmer
#8: Elementalist
#9: Engineer

Without HoT – Death Shroud power necro.
With HoT – Power reaper.

In any way, the necro will breeze through every thing. Of course when you just start you will kind of HAVE to start with minions as you’ll be rather squishy. But about level 45 you can start switching towards the DS power build. Very strong damage (mind you not direct but very fast and efficient kills) and fairly tanky as DS necro, fast direct hit damage and outlives pretty much everybody in tankiness as power reaper.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

It’s a hard question to answer, because there isn’t a “hard” class to compare it with. If you know the game, the difficulties of the classes range from easy, very easy, and faceroll. And at that point, even though a class may be easier, it isn’t necessarily stronger. For example, while a necro is arguably the most faceroll class, it doesn’t have the performance of an elementalist.

So really, there’s two tiers: who is easiest, and who is best. Going by best first, and this is my very quickly written and debatable list on the matter:

#1: Mesmer
#2: Engineer
#3: Elementalist
#4: Herald
#5: Warrior
#6: Guardian
#7: Thief
#8: Necromancer
#9: Ranger

But going by how easy the class is…

#1: Necro
#2: Ranger
#3: Warrior
#4: Thief
#5: Herald
#6: Guardian
#7: Mesmer
#8: Elementalist
#9: Engineer

Ele’s have one of the simplest DPS rotations in the game and yet you placed them directly under Engi’s for difficulty….

You can sit in fire with 3 buttons and have near-max dps. Not a very difficult class to play unless you were just trying to say they cannot facetank very well.

Perhpas, but for new players who simply have no idea what you mean, ele’s are quite tough to level and a lot is to do with their squishyness. Compared to Warriors who have an incredibly easy time of it whilst levelling, ele’s are placed about right in that list imo. ELe’s also have more skills to learn, since once a player has decided what weapons to use (and even Anet stated most players stick to one weapon they like and never deviate), they have 5+5 to learn, whilst ele’s have 4×4 to learn.

I would not agree to have thief and necro above guardian though

At level 80, it becomes very different.

As someone who has leveled up two guardians and two necros, necro wins by far as easiest to level. Even at level 80, I still prefer the necro. Because guardian does have to sacrifice damage for survivability, while necro doesn’t – that shroud makes all the difference

1. bearbow till 80. (faceroll with a little tank really)
2. DPS Reaper after 80
3. Mesmer (pure condi/dire) for survivability , i’ve had less deaths then any of my other chars combined. And i have one of ea class.

p.s. : my advice : choose a class you like, it’ll be the most fun and fastest to play since you’ll want to learn it. Levelling isn’t a problem, it’s versatility in the diff. aspects of the game (pve/fracs/bosses/WvW/…).
Don’t choose a toon that you’ll regret having levelled when it isn’t useful or managable in certain aspects of the game.

Just avoid thief, mesmer, and elementalist. Everything else will have a pretty easy time in leveling. Engi can be challenging for a new player (or someone who just wants a simple experience.)

Easiest, probably necro and guardian. With runners up being warrior and revenant and ranger.

Blooperz.6145:

Ele’s have one of the simplest DPS rotations in the game and yet you placed them directly under Engi’s for difficulty….

You can sit in fire with 3 buttons and have near-max dps. Not a very difficult class to play unless you were just trying to say they cannot facetank very well.

A staff Ele playing in group content has very easy damage rotations, this is true, but leveling to 80 in the open world is hellish for them. Eles are the squishiest profession in the game and their DPS tends to drop significantly when forced to kite. Additionally, they are very gear and trait-dependent, making early levels especially difficult. I would not recommend Elementalist to most people as their first character if they’re asking for an easy experience.

There is none. Choose what you like. Most easiest class is the one you love growing; most efficient class is defined by what you like doing. The limit is not in the game, but in your mind and imagination.

Blooperz.6145:

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

It’s a hard question to answer, because there isn’t a “hard” class to compare it with. If you know the game, the difficulties of the classes range from easy, very easy, and faceroll. And at that point, even though a class may be easier, it isn’t necessarily stronger. For example, while a necro is arguably the most faceroll class, it doesn’t have the performance of an elementalist.

So really, there’s two tiers: who is easiest, and who is best. Going by best first, and this is my very quickly written and debatable list on the matter:

#1: Mesmer
#2: Engineer
#3: Elementalist
#4: Herald
#5: Warrior
#6: Guardian
#7: Thief
#8: Necromancer
#9: Ranger

But going by how easy the class is…

#1: Necro
#2: Ranger
#3: Warrior
#4: Thief
#5: Herald
#6: Guardian
#7: Mesmer
#8: Elementalist
#9: Engineer

Ele’s have one of the simplest DPS rotations in the game and yet you placed them directly under Engi’s for difficulty….

You can sit in fire with 3 buttons and have near-max dps. Not a very difficult class to play unless you were just trying to say they cannot facetank very well.

The thing with ele’s is that, in PVE scenarios, they’re quite squishy. On HoT maps, my ele has the highest death count out of any of my other toons. Even with arcane shield and glyph of storms, I find myself going down much more often on my ele than any other class I play.

Alin.2468:

There is none. Choose what you like. Most easiest class is the one you love growing; most efficient class is defined by what you like doing. The limit is not in the game, but in your mind and imagination.

Deep.