Guild Wars 2

Pretty new guild wars 2 player here, and i had some questions about racial bonus you get when you choose an race.
I searched the forums alot but didn’t get a clear answer so i’ll ask.

How good are those racial spells in both PVP and PVE? (Or are racial spells disabled in pvp?)
Do you use them late game or are they just for early game?

At the moment i’m picking my race based on the best racial spells, however if they are not good late game then i’d much prefer to pick classes based on how i want them to look.

I’ve seen this advice alot of times: “Its only cosmetic, just choose how you wanna look! racial bonuses are not that much!”
They are still clearly not only cosmetic since they all have different spells.

So i wanna be completely sure, are racial bonuses completely forgettable or are they actually useful late game for some professions?
And secondly, which professions should pick which race if there are an better choice of race?

Hope somone can help me, and thanks for any replies!

Racials are disabled in PvP but in PvE the human racial is great especially for a thief or others with weak elite skills. Avatar of Melandru has a long charge time AoE snare, can remove conditions from a group near him, passive stability, and summon healing wells. Since thief doesn’t normally have access to such skills it compliments him nicely. Asura has a good radiation field racial but my Asura is an elementalist so fiery greatsword and tornado beat it out by far.

Yes shadow refuge can heal while removing conditions (I’m traited for it) but the AoM healing doesn’t overwrite other more valuable combo fields that do burning while in a place like Tequatl you’ll really want the stability Melandru offers so you can remove conditions as they stack. It’s best to avoid orange circles, but isn’t totally realistic since dodging out of them typically lands into another one.

I think you are confusing terms here. There are no racial bonuses. There are race specific skills. These skills are generally poorer version of regular profession skills. Race in this game is purely cosmetic with racial skills added to give them a bit more flavour/lore.

To answer the question race affects the way you look and what story you get at the start. Racial skills are unusable in sPvP and have very situational uses in PvE which can be generally overshadowed by profession specific skills or mechanics.

As such I’d advise you just pick the race based on how you want your class to look. If you want a big bruiser warrior then Charr or Norn would probably look better for you. If you want an angry armoured midget hacking peoples shins (like I did) then Asura is a better choice.

The racial skills tend to be fairly ignorable for the most part. They can be useful before you unlock a class elite but it’s rare to see them used later in the game. I’d recommend focusing more on what you like than on what skills each race has.

Are the racial skills negligible? Yes.

Should your racial pick revolve around these skill? Absolutely not.

Are racial skills designed as fluff and fun side stuff? Yes.

Is it likely that racial skills get revamped and/or made more useful or worth a serious slot on your skillbar? Very very unlikely.

As was mentioned, they are even diabled in spvp and most builds created will not consider them.

Thanks for all the helpful replied guys!
I will now focus my character around how i want him/her to look, and not around what racial skills they get.
I always hated games where the race gives stats/special skills since maybe i want to look like for example an orc who can do magic, but i cannot do this since i will only get bonus stats to damage and tankinis for example since i picked an orc.

Very well written replies as well i have to say!
Thanks for answering all my question in details. i would pick an answer, however all the answers are so good that i dont want to just pick one.
Better to make potential future readers read all the answers instead of just one.

Echo the above, for the most part.

I find the occasional racial skill can be useful, but by no means required. My keepaway thief adds Shrapnel Mine to his kitten nal, since the actual thief traps are kind of garbage (though I’m learning to love Ambush~). And the class elites aren’t so hot half the time either, so sometimes I’ll slot a racial.

The downside to the flexibility is that the racials don’t have tags to synergize. They don’t get trait benefits for reduced cooldowns or increased effects. So, like some of the above said, don’t pick a race based on racial skills.