Guild Wars 2

I’ve always rotated between classes. Master of none. Want to finally “main” a class and really invest into it.

I’m debating Mesmer, Ele, Necro.

Mesmer was my first class. Love it technically but it just seems boring for some reason and squishy. I just spam 1 on my GS after my clones are up.

Ele: Also squishy but cant deal crazy damage i think. Bad for soloing content though?

Necro: Seems to be good at everything and can solo..

Opinions? I’m leaning towards Necro, but maybe ele since I have more into my ele and just know it better. Any pros or cons of each class in the current state of the game?

Simply said:

At this moment in GW2:

• Elementalist/Tempest is wanted for everything as main dmg dealer.
  - DPS or heal options, heal is niche.
  -HIGHEST PVE DPS CLASS IN GW2: taken in nearly anything in PvE.
  -Solid ranged options.
  - Due to the enormous amount of skill options sometimes overwhelming to learn.
  - Staff has 20 skills, any other set 20 as well. this means you can have up to 35 diferent skills in a build… (think Glyph’s elementals, storms….)
  - Knowledge of combo’s is a must. Else do not bother.
  - Even in DPS form you can fill up any hole in a group comp except giving alacrity and swftness (as theya are mesmer only).
  - You need a thorough knowledge of your skills, and traits to be usefull…
  - No weapon swap.
  - Glass build in PvE (Zerk)
  - Least costs of gearing (Zerk = cheap),
  - Just need 2 weaponsets (dagger/warhorn and Staff),
  - Runes can be bought on TP,
  - Food is okay priced.

• Mesmer/Chronomancer is wanted in a lot of content as support class DPS or miche as condition build
  - DPS (chronomancer) is used in most PvE things,
  - Condi builds mostly have use in PvP and WVW.
  - DPS chrono is meta in most comps.
  - VERY LOW DPS, average/good Condition build
  - Okay sustain.
  - Ranged options mostly in condi class, as the DPS is used sometimes as tank..
  - Good use of chrono is limited by rotation.
  - Little bit of toughness in Commanders parts/ trinkets armor.
  - Pretty expensive to gear
  - Nasty aquirable runes for meta build,
  - Commanders is expensive to aquire
  - Needing 2 swords, focus, shield, GS.
  - Meta food is expensive and partially account bound
  - Niche use “minstrel bunker” has no other uses then RAIDS.

• Necromancer/Reaper is used in some PvE things mostly to full fill niche roles as condi build.
  - Power Necro sees limited use in WvW.
  - Condi is part of old Fractals Meta.
  - Low DPS and DOT,
  - Overall extremely good sustain.
  - Knowledge of it’s Combo’s tend to be usefull.
  - Glass build in PvE using Viper’s
  - Moderate costs of gearing
  - Using scepter , dagger and warhorn, maybe a staff.
  - Viper’s is easier to aquire then commanders,
  - Runes are from TA dungeon.
  - Food is pretty expensive but can be bought on the TP.

I have 20 characters:

• Heavy
  - 3 warriors (PS DPS, PS condi, (WvW) shout heal)
  - 3 guardians (DPS, Bunker Support, burn)
  - 1 Revenant (-mule-)
• Medium
  - 2 rangers (Druid/DPS, Condi)
  - 2 thieves (DPS, Condi)
  - 1 engineer (-mule-)
• Light
  - 3 necro’s (Hybrid, Bunker Condi, WvW support/DPS)
  - 3 elementalists (DPS, Glass heal, Bunker support)
  - 2 mesmers. (DPS chrono, Condi)

Thank you for the information! I was actually just looking into Viper gear. Acquiring it is very confusing. It seems that the easiest way is to just level crafting and make everything?

You don’t have to be squishy with any class. Use different builds for different purposes. The system is quite flexible. Want an invincible elementalist? Try running celestial gear with earth/air/tempest. Even tough champions like Balthazar or mushroom queen will have a tough time taking you down, whether other players are there to help or not.

For group play, break out the berserker gear and swap some traits around. Your group will thank you for the damage output.

Well IMHO crafting tends to be very usefull. But other sources do exist, lucky drops from high level fractals, WvW, certain wolrd bosses, event map drops and so on… also see the second part of this post.

A far as squishy goes:

- You’ll learn telegraphs and bosses eventually lowering the need to run bunker(ish) stats…
- I’ll be honest. and say I sometimes also use my WvW builds/armors for PvE if I’m lazy, or tired or just not into doing everything perfect…

As stated I have 20 characters. of these 5 have builds I can use in WvW.
- The Necro support character (zealot/clerics with dwayna’s runes) (WvW only)
- The support ele (Minstrels/monk (very low dmg (~200-350/hit), but never dies in PvE), I can carry ppl trough lvl 99 and 100 fractals without them losing the 90% buff though. (150 AR)
- The boon/support guardian (Commanders/Clerics with monk) does do okay in PvE (150 AR)
- The Necro Condi character (full Trailblazer/nightmare) is pretty tanky… (150 AR)
- The Shout heal Warrior (zealot/clerics with trooper) is mostly obsolete, but I like it anyways. can be very usefull for things with condi pressure (only wvw infusion) I use it to go trio AC with ppl with lower then 1500 AP.

All these builds are or were made to last in WvW, and are way to tanky for speedruns and such, but will be extremely durable in PvE, being the last ones standing in any content….

As for getting your gear:

At start:

• use whatever you have, get (cheap) runes and try to aquire usefull trinkets & backs
• HoT stats, most of them tend to be very expensive to get so most ppl use vanilla stats for exotics:
  - (making berserker relatively easy to get…)
  - (options ro condi builds could be sinister (partially locked away behind LW S2, rampager or carrion)
• trinkets can be aquired in bloodstone fen/ember bay and bitterfrost frontier for the HoT stats
  OR
  Trinkets can be aquired in low level fractals in fractals/ guild missiosn and laurels from daily login for vanilla stats

later:

• collect/craft ascneded armor and then -if needed- swap stats or choose the correct stats from boxes, and then move from there…

• Asnceded armor (and (in some cases) weapons) can be aquired via:
  - Crafting, mats are partially timegated and somewhat expensive, you’ll need recipe’s in some cases (sometimes behind content)
  - fractals (requiring AR in infusion slots ( mostly on asnceded gear!) for higher levels for more rewards and faster progression)
  - raids (requiring ascneded weapons/trinkets to start in most cases) can drop armor and you can buy it from vendors after your killed the boss(-es)
  - World bosses (lucky drops freom tequatleand triple trouble)
  - WvW (I had 1 box in 890 ranks)
  - PvP (at this moment the PvP season is on, allowing to get some armor pieces by buying them, they seem stat selectable.)

2 remarks:

1. Condition duration is MANDATORY for condition builds in PvE, unfortunatley max condi duration is only obtainable using HoT stat: Expertise you can get up to 90% in some casesd using gear focussing on only 1 condition, but unless you play a class whcih is very limited to 1 or 2 conditions (Ele (burning/bleeds) or guard (burning only) you’ll have difficulty maxing your condition dmg out.
   Note: mesmer has a signet giving +20% condi duration, with food (30%), nightmare and trappers (25%) and malice(10%) you’ll be at 85% duration without any need for HoT stats.
2. Boon duration is a serious boost to your abilities in PvE when booning/ supporting:
   Concentration will be usefull , but this HoT only stat is costly to procure… you can however get “work around” gear provided you can afford losing some stats, (platinum doubloons for example)