Guild Wars 2

I just started playing GW2 and I’m looking for some advice about my first character. It appears to me that Warrior, Guardian, and Ranger seem to be the most “basic” profs, so I’m assuming they would be the best choice for a first character. I don’t really have any preference in regard to melee vs. ranged. I don’t have a ton of time to devote to the game, so I’ll only level 1 character at a time. That’s why I wanted to get some advice on which I should choose.

Which one would be the best choice for learning the game while leveling?
Are any of them more or less useful at max level?
Are any of them notably better in WvW style PvP?
Which is best for soloing and survivability?

Any constructive input is appreciated

Warrior or Guardian would be your best choice. For newbies, you want to be able to survive relatively well while learning the various aspects of the game, such as combat mechanics, exploration options, quests, events, etc.

Both warriors (with superior health and heavy armor) and Guardian (superior damage mitigation skills and heavy armor) will help you to survive PvE while you learn the various aspects of the game. Both professions are melee-oriented. If you are more interested in range, than Ranger will be good for survival because your pet can tank for you while you dish out range damage.

Don’t go Elementalist – you will die a lot in the initial part of leveling while learning the game, and the profession is hard to master as it requires a lot of situation awareness to switch attunement effectively.

Edit: Just saw the other questions from OP. Both warriors and guardian are effective at end-game, and are welcomed in dungeon runs and PvP.

Hi Gelmit,

i would agree with Yramrag. Go for either guardian or warrior. These 2 professions are fairly easy to learn the ropes and get around the game, especially if you go solo in PVE. That’s what i did My 1st character was a guardian and my 2nd one… well, a warrior

Have fun!

I’ve played so far a Ranger, Mesmer, and Guardian to 80 or 79, while I tried Engineer, Elementalist, and Necro at low levels (<30).

I would definitely recommend Guardian. They have so many abilities of “activate if something bad is going to happen” or “if something bad just happened” for survivability in solo PvE. (This is in addition to the dodge roll.) You can also help out a lot in WvW with a great selection of snares and easy to use support skills. Guardians have very poor downed skills, but you don’t get dropped easily anyway. The only weakness I can think of is the horribly weak scepter if you ever have to fight at max range.
The Ranger is also very survivable but I don’t find it as effective because a lot of its abilities come from pets which are harder to control than your own character abilities.

I’d agree that warrior, ranger and guardian are probably the most forgiving professions to learn with. I also think that in most cases anyone who sticks with any one profession for a good length of time will learn and adapt to that profession eventually, as you level and unlock things and figure out what works for you. Still, I would say that if you want something forgiving, go with guardian if you like mostly melee and ranger if you like mostly ranged.

Get a Ranger, buy a Longbow, and tame a Bear pet.

Sort of an “safe” but effective strat to fall back on if you are getting it handed to you. It also gives you the breathing space to get used to the mechanics of the game.
Don’t worry, as you level up and get better at the game you will diversify (playing 1 setup will eventually get boring), try different weapons/pets etc. but I recommend this starting setup for the new player.

Your race doesn’t matter as much, pick which ever race interests you. If all (or none) specifically speak out to you then I recommend Norn, they are the best race/area to get introduced to the game imo.

My first character was a Guardian, great for learning when to dodge, enemy animations and game mechanics on.
Can see Ranger also being a good starting place because of the pet tanking NPC’s.
Elementalist – my main, Dies a ridiculous amount in early PVE, is very squishy until you have enough trait points to build it right and requires a ton of kiting enemies.

Thief: learn how to dodge
Mesmer: learn how to juggle skills’ effects
Necromancer: learn how to juggle health bars
Guardian: learn how to block
Engineer: learn how to juggle skill sets
Elementalist: learn how to time and combo skills
Warrior: learn how to navigate a battlefield

At least in my experience. These overlap to an extent for each class.

Warrior. Easiest and most straightforward profession.

Ranger. Easy to play PvE due to tanking pet and endless avoidance.

Your results will vary…

I agree with folks so far. Some classes are easier to play at low levels; others are not. IMO, focus on surviving, exploring and learning game mechanics with your first couple characters.

My first character was an Asuran guardian. The animations, dialogue and story were entertaining. Leveling and surviving was easy and fast.

Just for grins I did a little weapon testing for you.
Continuous auto-attacks(#1 skill) using berserker weapons against lvl 80 white moas yield damage values of:
staff ranged 1/2 second cast time 500
mace melee 1/2 – 1 second cast time 600-1000
2h sword melee 1/2 second cast time 650-1000
scepter ranged 1/4 second cast time 500
hammer melee 1/2 -1.25 second cast time 650-850

Scepter may have lower per hit damage, but the auto-attack fires twice as fast as other attacks. I use it for mindless attacks during dragon attacks.

Regardless of what class you choose, make an effort to learn how to dodge, use controls, etc. Later in the game, there will be situations where you MUST dodge at the right time to avoid being killed, regardless of what gear you have or what class you play. Other classes (notably elementalist and thief) force you into learning this early, with little room for error- ranger, warrior, and guardian are more forgiving in that you can take more hits at first, but don’t let it become a crutch.

Warrior suffers from lack of sustained healing in endgame- to succeed as a endgame warrior, you must be very good at evading. Ranger suffers in endgame PvE due to problems with pet AI and lack of support options. Guardian is strong throughout and can afford to be less mobile (but not immobile) than the other classes thanks to protective boons and strong self-healing, but lacks a strong ranged option.

All classes are capable of soloing and surviving well with the right build. To cite an extreme case, a warrior, a ranger, and an elementalist have each soloed the entirety of AC story (the first dungeon), and I feel it’s only a matter of time before a guardian does it.

For getting used to the game, I’d say Warrior. They have the 2nd highest health pool in the game, or they may be tied for the highest with Necromancer. This class doesn’t have any kind of signature defensive ability that you could become dependent on, which helps you transition to other classes. Warriors can take a mix of personal buffs, control attacks, or AoE buffs. With such high variation, it can help you find the part of the game that you like best. Once you understand about what you prefer in a GW2 character, it makes it easier to make additional characters that suit you.

I used Warrior in the open beta weekends and for the initial month of the game’s launch. While it was amusing, I wanted to also try out the Thief class. When I made my 2nd character, I immediately felt the loss of my traditionally high health pool (from being a Warrior). However this wasn’t too much of a challenge to deal with. Since I enjoyed the AoE offensive buffs as a Warrior, I decided to slowly take the Thief’s AoE offensive buff line (which is very narrow and rather unpopular). To my surprise, I came to love my Thief character’s playstyle far more than I did on my Warrior. At this point, I only play my Warrior on a rare occassion. Yet I wouldn’t have found my way to the perfect class for me if I had started playing a Thief from the very start (since my ability choices would have likely been very different from what I’ve learned to love).

Engineer! All other professions are easy mode once you figure out how to play an engy well.

roachsrealm.9284:

Thief: learn how to dodge
Mesmer: learn how to juggle skills’ effects
Necromancer: learn how to juggle health bars
Guardian: learn how to block
Engineer: learn how to juggle skill sets
Elementalist: learn how to time and combo skills
Warrior: learn how to navigate a battlefield

At least in my experience. These overlap to an extent for each class.

Pretty much summed it up in my opinion

Having played a ranger and guard both to 80 and gearing em completely out, i’d say a ranger is “easier” to learn on. You have a pet that tanks or dps and you can hang at range for fights til you learn em. Guards are great but if you are not on top of dodging/blocking, you can get killed pretty fast being in up and close to a boss. Of course you can use a scepter at range too but meh. Only played a warrior to level 6 so can’t really comment on them.

As for what class is most useful or “wanted”, i’d say guard or warrior. Rangers kinda get the shaft as our pets die too easy in dungeons. Guards can make pretty much any run easy assuming they know what skills to slot for each fight.

Soloing, i’d say any of em can do it pretty easy. Rangers might have abit of an advantage there tho since they got pets and a BM specced ranger running 2 bears can pretty much take on anything in open world.

Warrior, Guardian and Rangers are all rather easy classes to start out with due to passive durability. All three allow you to carry passive signets instead of active skills, which makes life easier for a beginner.

All three have more complex and interesting playstyles, but at the very least, using signets on those will make your start easy. Once you get the hang of it, you can do whatever you want

I would actually disagree on the ranger part. The problem is that at much of the lower levels, you have a pet to tank for you. So, you learn less about dodging than the other classes. Warriors, Guardians and Mesmers are all good options. Engineer might be tricky to learn as there are a bunch of skill sets to learn.

I have an 80 Warrior/Mesmer/Guardian/Elementalist/Necromancer

Warrior – is faceroll all the way through the levels and is great for endgame. Get a GS and all power/precision gear and trait while leveling and you kill everything so fast it can rarely hit you.

Guardian – is also faceroll, very easy to play and level

Mesmer – do not make this your first char, you will die a lot . This was my first toon and I love it, but it is hard to level until you hit about level 60.

Elementalist – do not make this your first char, you will die a lot

Necromancer – Is easier than Mesmer/Elementalist but much harder than Warrior/Guardian

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I’ve leveled a Warrior, Guardian, and Ranger all to level 10. Now it’s time to decide which one I’m going to stick with. I’m eliminating Ranger from contention, because I just can’t get the hang of how the aggro mechanics work with a pet. Even my bear doesn’t seem to hold aggro very well at all. I end up running for my life, even when the bear still has a ton of health left.

I’m enjoying both Guardian and Warrior and I’m having a hard time deciding which one to make my “Main.”
Many of you have said that both are effective and in demand at max level. I guess it may come down to which one is better in WvW, especially at upper levels.

for learning the game? Guardian / Ranger / Warrior are probably the easiest to figure out and use
average learning curve: thief / necromancer
the hardest to learn how to use: elementalist / mesmer / engineer

I’m sorting these only by the complexity of most of their abilities. any profession can be good, you can figure out which suites your play-style the best later on.
guardian, warrior, and ranger are basic aim and shoot. skills will add to this, making you hit harder or have you last longer. ranger’s pet adds a bit of complexity but not so bad.
elementalist, mesmer, and engineer have a lot of tricky skills going on. a lot to pay attention to at the same time.

Don’t start with an Elementalist. I made that mistake, and now all the other professions seem so bland and slow in comparison.

Especially not a D/D Ele, its the GW2 equivalent of being on speed. Once you try anything else, you’ll start going through withdrawals. I do have an Engineer and Mesmer alt, low level, mainly as crafting/mules. I may one day level them up, but its like swimming in molasses.

The upside to the Engy is they can still get perma-swiftness without too much trouble, so they’re not as slow as the Mesmer out of combat. However, the Mesmer has a bunch of in combat mobility and teleports which makes them pretty fearsome and unpredictable, and the Focus #4 skill provides relatively decent swiftness uptime.