Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

I posted back a few weeks ago asking for some advice but I have finally cleared my schedule enough to get focused and play. So figured I’d get some last opinions before sinking in my teeth.

Background: Long time MMO player. Played GW2 when it came out and stayed for about a year. Then long hiatus. Previously in GW2 all I did was PVE. This time I am wanting to do wvw, pvp, pve, etc. I am approaching 50 years and my twitch reflex is starting to slow down some but I still do pretty well.

I currently have casualed up a Mesmer to 80 (don’t yet have full chrono), engy at 80 (boosted), Ranger at 80 (don’t yet have full druid), necro at 71, Warrior in his 40s, guardian in his 30s, thief in his 30s.

As topic states I am looking for a condi class. I solo or duo mostly with the wife. She doesn’t pvp, but will roam with me. She has all classes at 80 or nearly so.

So of the classes I have…for condi, mobility/durability which would you recommend and why? Also, if possible for each suggested class…what would you recommend as a good class pairing to go with? Be as detailed as you like. Strengths and weaknesses, how certain pairings cover each others weaknesses, or compliment each others strengths. No info is irrelevant.

Thanks in advance for your opinions and time.

Ari

I’d recommend the one you most enjoy. All of those choices are solid, and with the exception of necromancer, all of them are acceptable or desirable in raids. Every one is desirable everywhere else.

(Also, “desirable in raids” simply means “in the popular structure that is used by the very best guild that talks about this publicly”, not “can be used in a group that successfully clears the content” and all.)

Problem I’m facing is that I enjoy them all. Hence why ive got 1 of each class.

Which of those condi classes has the best over all mobility/durability?

Ari

Usually you want different builds for PvE and PvP/WvW, so you might want to consider running different classes for those types of game modes (or the same class but not condi only).

If you really want only 1 class and condi only, i would recommend warrior or necro. Both have condi builds that are at least “ok’ish” in all gamemodes, even though they are not the most mobile in WvW, so that can be an issue in outnumbered situations. Necro pairs well with supportive classes in wvw roaming, like tempest, druid, scrapper or maybe even dh. Warrior can be paired with anything.

Condi mesmer is great for WvW roaming and PvP, but not that good for PvE (usually mesmer should run supportive builds there).
Condi ranger/druid is great for PvE, but bad in PvP/WvW. Power druid is pretty decent for roaming though. Similar goes for engi/scrapper.
Guards and thieves are better of going power in all game modes, but condi works too in WvW.

I don’t mind shifting between builds, skills, traits, or for that matter even weapons.

I definitely want to solo/small group roam not zerg in WvW. In pvp I think I want to try n focus on holding points/aiding team fights. PVE mostly being a slightly tank dps. Wife will always be heal/support.

Based on reading around on quite a few threads….maybe a power DH/Burn Guard? Or a vanilla warrior – sword n board/longbow condi?

As long as I have a solid condition option I’ll be happy. I love attrition fighting styles. Laying in build up dmg while using one’s personal skills/character skills to survive long enough is the kinda challenge I enjoy. In various past pvp/open world PvP I loved 1v1 & 1vX fights.

Ari

DomAri.2351:

Problem I’m facing is that I enjoy them all. Hence why ive got 1 of each class. Which of those condi classes has the best over all mobility/durability?

Why not both? Thankfully, GW2 makes alts quite painless.

Anyhow … mesmer only has move speed boosts in their chronomancer trait line, so you are stuck with that if you want the 25 percent out of combat. They have good in-combat mobility and utility mobility though. (They do have quickness via the … focus, I think? One offhand, anyway, and one sigil that gives 50 percent uptime on it.)

Rangers with druid have a 33% out of combat move speed boost that competes with nothing all that significantly interesting for solo play, so if that’s what you are concerned about, that’s the choice. They don’t have an amazingly huge amount of mobility on their condition weapons though.

Necro is either dagger or signet, and the dagger move speed trait line isn’t part of the current “meta” condi builds, so while you can do things with quickness and warhorn, it’s vaguely annoying. I just accepted a signet with an emergency heal on press while doing open world stuff.

Hope that helps at least a bit. None of them super-slow or immobile. Oh, and engi has solid 25% options, I think both trait and some utility skill slot or other, but I know less about them than the others.

edit to add: PS: go reaper, it’s the best.

You could go warrior as there is a meta build for condi and if you wanted to go power you can just chance gear and some traits. Also being PS makes you class that’s wanted for raid and other events where might stacking in required.

I have 2 mains which are both in condition gear. They have their pros and cons of course. Ranger is the more mobile and flexible of the two, while Reaper is more durable and at least for me has more endurance vs stronger enemies. I prefer ranger vs melee foes due to stuns, traps and cripples, Reaper vs casters to be able to send conditions back, corrupt boons or cleanse.

So I’ve been trying out various combos and while ranger works well for condi or power, and has good mobility options I’m not really feeling it atm. Same with the necro and the mezmer. Engy seems to require a lot of piano playing, and was wearing me out.

Been spending more time on the guard, war, and thief. Even low level the durability/utility of burn guard is quite fun. War is a blast in power and condi, and seems mobile enough. Thief is fun for both but is much squished. Heard DD rather eases that problem with enhanced dodging.

So I’m focusing on those 3 right now. My alt-itis gets bad if doing more than 2 at a time so I’ll find my 2 out of those 3.

Appreciate the feed back so far, and anyone running those 3 classes is welcome to toss out their experiences and opinions.

Thanks again all,
Ari

Double dagger seems to be the setup if you want condi thief, though do note in deadly arts (?) one of the traits allows daggers a chance to poison, so if you frequently attack, the stacks can build. Add trickery minor “leading attacks” and that damage will ramp up, especially with the increased poison damage on deadly arts as well.

As for guardian, if you’re looking to maximise your burning potential it’d be considerable to have a torch; a trait also allows you to have a free zealot’s flame activation on crit (10s cooldown) which you can throw for good damage+burn.

As for warrior, sword main does some fair bleeds, but that becomes a considerable burn generator when you unlock berserker elite spec. You’re mostly power-based until then.

My $0.02, anyone care to add some value?

I am definitely going to try out double dagger at 80. Right now in the 40s with my thief and am doing swd/p + p/p with a power set up. Just goes a lot faster than d/p or anything else I tried. If next E-spec gives thief rifle I may keep him power. A sniper thief would be a ton of fun.

Guard is currently my fav of the 3. Power or burn – both do well at low level. Getting the more frequent burn procs and the aoe proc helped a ton. Think this may be the main. So many fun ways to play. Sc/t + sw/sh right now. The lower base health was an issue if I tried too hard vs multi mob, but a gear upgrade, changing my heal, n adding a healing utility for the “Oh crude” moments made it much smoother. Just the run speed thing. Feel so slow most of the time.

I do enjoy sword and board, with lb, on the war. The bleeds n burns are fun. Crits a lot as well. This is the only 1 of the 3 I feel I can kite with and not be touched unless I choose to stay in melee. Easy to bounce in and out. Sword leap and shield leap add tons of mobility, some good control, and the toughness/health buffer let’s me just keep rolling without interuption.

Going to keep working on all 3 for now. Will probably drop 1 of em around 50, to focus on the other 2. Works killed my playtime this week. So I’m taking a day away and will come back with fresh eyes Mon eve.

Have a great weekend all and thanks again for all the advice.

Ari