Guild Wars 2

I am stuck between these two classes, I’m not sure which one to have as my last character. I have tried both classes before but not for that long, only for 8 or 9 levels grinding so I know their style-ish and I’m not sure which one I like better. I’m not asking a stupid which one do I like better, I’m asking about different aspects in their full style.

Which one is more durable and has better survivability in pve, dungeons and stuff like that?
Which is an easier to play style, like how to play is easier to learn?
Which class is more beginner friendly, I’m fairly new to gw2?
And finally, which class can be traited for higher dps? I would probably use a condition build for necromancer, and an offensive but good enough survivability build for the guardian.

Thanks guys. Also said character would be a charr so which class would look better, skill animations and armour-wise?

Answer to all of your questions: Guardian

Don’t even bother with necromancer at this point if you don’t already have one, they’re having their day in PvP right now but they’re still subpar in PvE and will probably get nerfed back to how useless they were on release soon enough.

Guardian has the most group buffs and can do group buffs while in a damage build.

Necromancer has the least group buffs aside from thief and actively worsens group buffs by being immune to healing in Death Shroud and overwriting combo fields with subpar versions.

Guardian is indisputably #1 in survivability.

Necromancer is more beginner friendly until 80. Then you will die over and over from being unable to dodge and block as much as a guardian, not to mention getting kicked out of fractal runs.

Necromancer has slightly higher damage. This does not matter when their group support is nil (no reflect, boons, or massive damage), when you must be in melee with light armor and use unreliable minions to do maximum damage, and when other professions who have more of everything else do more damage (lightning hammer elementalist area heals, area buffs, and autoattacks for maximum dps at the same time with 0 effort…warrior has unique banner buffs and other boons along with massive damage…mesmer has multiple support abilities along with potentially highest sustained dps…).

90% of charr I see are guardian or warrior.

Amiavamp is a bit pessemistic there.

Necromancers have a larger base health pool than guardians, plus they also have deathshroud to soak up damage on top of that. It is true you don’t heal while in deathshroud but, that does not make anybody elses wealing less as he seems to imply.

Necros only overwrite other’s fields if they run a wells build and if they cast over other’s fields.

Guardians have subpar AoE (IMHO) compared to a condi necro with epidemic, and are much more effective at clearing out non-boss mobs than guardians.

Necro’s are a debuffing class that is built around taking damage and slow attrition at range (for the most part). Guardians are a buffing class builit around healing and melee damage (for the most part). Both are good classes. It just depends on if you want to buff your party (mostly defensive buffs btw) and melee most of the time or debuff the enemy at a range. The greatest utility for any group is killing the enemy effectively, buffs, debuff, etc., aside. Both get the job done.

BTW, I have worked up to mid 30’s fractals with my necro and have never been kicked from a party once.

Guard beats necro in burst damage.
Necro beats guard in sustained damage. (power and condi)
Guard beats necro in survivability.
Necro beats guard in kitability. (kite-ability)
Guard beats necro in group buffs.
Necro beats guard in group damage. (aoe)

Guard
In wvw you will be a zerg surfer. Currently only 1 or 2 viable meta builds.
In dungeons (elitist version) you will be on reflects, dps rotations, and group buffs.
In pvp most likely mid point bunker or meditation burst roamer.

Necro
Wvw allows you to be condi or power. Zerg herder.
Not alot of group utility in dungeons. Most people wont want you in their group.
Awesome pvp. Cake walk as condimancer, rewarding as powermancer.

Stand The Wall.6987:

Most people wont want you in their group.

I’ll say again, played necro for over a year and never had a problem with grouping or dungeons. As far as my experence goes, this is a myth.

Biggest reason to go necro right now is for PvP/WvW. If you want more full-spectrum capability I would make Guardian, they are valued more in PvE, as well as being useful in PvP/WvW.

Both carry some powerful arguments but I look at guardians as tanks and not so nimble though their condition removal and healing boosts give them a ton of survivability.

A D/D necro can move fast, pour a kitten-ton of condi damage to a single opponent or switch to a staff and have huge AoE condi damage. 2-5 on a staff are AoE marks which can be thrown against gates and walls, into the path of the opposing zerg causing damage that ignores armor.

My vote is necro over guardian.

I have both at 80, My guard is full zerk and my necro is Power>precision>crit/condi basically all berserkers.

Both of these classes have completely different styles of defense, and offense. At least my builds do. My necro can destroy trash in an insane fashion, while they both do about the same on bosses damage wise, but the fact that I am not giving group buffs while doing this damage, is a big let down.

I can survive on both forever, even as full zerk. The guardian is a lot more user friendly, all classes evade and guardians can get vigor(100%faster energy regen) on crit. They also receive never ending regen, but so does necro. Necro’s have deathshroud, which causes invulnerability. If deathshroud is traited into, it gets quite insane.

My summary

Necro
-Insane aoe- Has epidemic on a 15sec cd, it spreads all conditions to nearby foes. XD Mark a target, have your group focus fire and spread 15 stacks of confions, 25 stacks of vulnerability, weakness etc etc etc aoe weakness is a group buff in its own right. Plus all of the aoe weapons and skill
-Deathshroud- Makes you invincible, and can be ridiculous if traited properly. You can use it instead of evade, to bypass damage.
-Mobility- you have none lol but that is why you have an invincible mode. I personally chose a norn because of this. Snow leopard is great for skipping difficult trash, not that you will need it at 80 tho.

Guardian
-Buffs- even if full zerk you can give them. Group stability, retaliation and protection is no joke(also regen, but who cares). You also passively, and physically if you choose, give aegies to block one attack, which in gw is serious business as most pve situations revolve around being 1 hit.
-Elite- Opinionated response. I would choose a race that you like the racial elite for guardian. Guardian elites just aren’t fun in pve, imo. for pve
-Heals- Outside of regen, you actually have a few heals available that can be/is given to the group as well. Nice for sustaining damage.

The two are opposites. Guard wears heavy and has the lowest health pool. Necros wear light and have the highest health pool.

IMO

Necro has a higher skill cap than guardian. Both are fun. If boredom sets in easily for you than I would have to suggest necro, as it takes a lil more practice and understanding of your build and profession. BUT if you want to have those easy and fast runs, roll guardian. I play guard when I want to get some quick gold and being lazy, I play necro when I want to be more active with my character. I use neither for pvp or wvw. that is what my warrior and ele is for, I make different characters for different parts of the game. If you do this than roll necro, if you don’t then roll guardian as it is, more so, universally ok.

I rolled a female Guardian as my very first GW2 character. My only complaint (and the disclaimer is that this could be solely based on the “build” I have for her) is that she doesn’t seem to move as fast as my other classed characters (except for my Norn Ranger, as I rolled her to be pretty beefy lol). There are, however, slot skills that can help with it (the ‘Retreat’ shout is one that immediately comes to mind) and the fact that there’s always speed booster drops from BL chests.

Anyhoo – my Guardian is a bad motor scooter otherwise. She kicks MAJOR butt in combat, and now that she’s lvl 80 she’s probably my favorite so far (flaws and all). I’d say that you really couldn’t go wrong with either one, but I play my Guardian the most.