Guild Wars 2

Before people gasp and say MMO’s are for grouping, I already have a grouper, a Warrior that I love to pieces. I’m looking for something to do in my down time when I don’t feel like grouping up.

I already have both a ranger and a necromancer in their mid-20’s, the problem is that I enjoy both of them. I want to focus on one or the other and start to make some progress with them and playing both at the same time drastically reduces how quickly they move. It isn’t that I’m in any particular rush to get them to cap (I’m going to be 100%ing the world map on this character) but I would like to be able to make progress with them at a somewhat reasonable rate.

I enjoy pet classes and they both provide me with such in their own way. I would really appreciate some insight on how the two compare for soloing PvE in regards to soloing higher end things that are maybe not meant for solo, or at least harder for many classes while being easier for ranger or necromancer, things like that.

I’m personally leaning a little towards the ranger, they seem more laid back and sturdier than the necromancer, especially since you don’t have to keep an eye on all your pets. Just use 3 sigils, a bear/drake, and sip coffee. Of course that’s only in the mid 20’s, I don’t know how either of them play later on.

This would basically be my character for doing the various holiday events, and unlike my group character, I would be trying to max out crafting and the like for this one as well. Starting with tailor/weaponsmith or leather/huntsman, depending.
Long story short, looking for the better solo PvE class to play in my down time. I was just trying to flesh it out a bit more to see if it helped. Thank you in advance for the ideas.

There’s no way to answer this question for you, because preference is specific to the individual.

I leveled both profs traditionally and didn’t find a significant difference in that experience. Ranger requires more attention initially, until you get the hang of managing your pet(s); I didn’t find either more or less durable, more or less fun.

I also have L80s of both and I play both today. Both are fine soloing stuff that isn’t meant-to-be-soloed and both have their uses in groups along the way. I use necro with my fractal group because we’re not all that efficient and it’s good to have a super durable toon that can survive T4. I’ve also brought a healing druid, which I’ve used to keep a group alive through agony and various boss AoE.

In short, I don’t think there’s a significant difference for you based on the criteria you’ve provided so far.

If you forced me to choose one to start over and insisted that I get to 100% map completion, well, I’d choose necro, because you can pop a bunch of minions and roam with impunity, ignoring most of the foes without having to do much work. Ranger pet can handle a lot, too, but it requires more micromanagement.

I agree with Illconceived that there is not really any difference.

But there is never a reason to run a bear in PvE except for extremely specific encounters like in Fractals or trying to solo some Arah dungeon bosses . DPS pets should never die and are able to kill things, bears do really bad damage for pretty much no gain. If you really don’t want to heal your pet, run the HoT dinosaurs or a second drake.

Since a huge portion of ranger DPS is forcibly tied up in pets, make your pets be decent.

Thanks for the ideas.

If it makes a difference, I’m referring specifically to a pet focused Necromancer and a pet focused Ranger. Figure I should mention that since there are lots of ways to play Necromancer. Not sure how many ways you can play Ranger but I know their pets are always there.

From experience, my Minion Condi Necro can solo a lot of things, even champs due to their survivability. They have naturally high HP, as well as passive heal from Parasitic Contagion and Blood Fiend, even with just autoattacking, you usually survive most things in open world PVE.

Rangers can do the same, but with more active management of skills for harder enemies.

IMO, both are excellent for soloing. Necro has more passive survivability, Ranger needs more micromanagement.

I like rangers because they are the sturdiest medium armored profession, and they are fun, but for solo play I prefer necromancer. They are very versatile and they are great survivors. You can do a power build, minion master, or a condition build, and all of them are viable for PvE. I have two necros, a Viper condi build and the other is for roaming solo, she is a hybrid of a minion master and a power build. One of my favorite things to do is to use minions as bombs. There are no pets you can explode.

Well, I played both up to 35 now. Still having a hard time deciding which to play honestly. I managed to find and drop a champion on my necro, and both classes are capable of soloing the two champ bandits in the human zone (to be fair they aren’t all that dangerous, just massive health bags) so I guess I’m still not sure which to go with. Wish my ranger had been able to hunt down a random champion also, may have to just camp a spot and wait for it to spawn.

sutasafaia.4872:

Well, I played both up to 35 now. Still having a hard time deciding which to play honestly. I managed to find and drop a champion on my necro, and both classes are capable of soloing the two champ bandits in the human zone (to be fair they aren’t all that dangerous, just massive health bags) so I guess I’m still not sure which to go with. Wish my ranger had been able to hunt down a random champion also, may have to just camp a spot and wait for it to spawn.

This is pretty much what we’re telling you. Both professions can effortlessly solo anything in the open world. Just pick the one you like thematically if nothing else.

How does it work later on? I noticed with the necro my pets were dropping one by one and I had to constantly re-summon them, sometimes it got pretty close to running out of pets before I managed to get my flesh golem back up with its cooldown. For Ranger, wouldn’t you be able to just keep swapping pets and never be in danger of actually running out? Just wondering, since it seems like you would run out of pets much quicker later on with necro.

sutasafaia.4872:

How does it work later on? I noticed with the necro my pets were dropping one by one and I had to constantly re-summon them, sometimes it got pretty close to running out of pets before I managed to get my flesh golem back up with its cooldown. For Ranger, wouldn’t you be able to just keep swapping pets and never be in danger of actually running out? Just wondering, since it seems like you would run out of pets much quicker later on with necro.

For ranger, yes, that’s how it works. Your pets never die in PvE for the most part.

For necro, I’ve never actually played a minionmancer for any length of time. The base necro is so tanky you just stand there and whack at champions.

sutasafaia.4872:

I enjoy pet classes and they both provide me with such in their own way. I would really appreciate some insight on how the two compare for soloing PvE in regards to soloing higher end things that are maybe not meant for solo, or at least harder for many classes while being easier for ranger or necromancer, things like that.

Personally, I think Necro beats Ranger for that. I’m soloing some HoT HP’s with my Necro setup. Not entirely certain if Ranger could accomplish some of the things I’m doing on Necro. The problem with the Ranger pet tank is that you have one … if he’s down, you’re next. With necro, you can load up on minions. If one goes down, there are 4 more to go … and they are resilient if traited for it and they tank really well.

There is a down side though, while this build is almost untouchable, its damage would not be considered good. In fact, where trash mobs are concerned, it’s slow. So the bonus is that Ranger has better damage and IMO, more interesting builds.

I have both a Beastmaster Ranger and a Minionmancer Reaper. Both are extremely effective at soloing large targets. To me it’s a matter of flavor. They play differently. No way could I tell you one is better than the other. It really is just personal taste.

Obtena.7952:

Personally, I think Necro beats Ranger for that. I’m soloing some HoT HP’s with my Necro setup. Not entirely certain if Ranger could accomplish some of the things I’m doing on Necro.

My main is a ranger; I can pretty easily solo every HP challenge in HoT with the exception of the one that spawns 3 champs in VB.. Your pet gets a 100% heal every 16 seconds in addition to you healing it and it healing itself. If a champ kills your pet weren’t looking at the monitor.