Guild Wars 2

SO i got a elementalist and a warrior to lvl 30 but I dont know which on to stick with, i cant tell which will be better. can some one tell me the advantages of each. Like which has better DPS, PVP, and dungeons. I also constantly play with my friend who is a guardian so i don’t worry about solo playing.

choose what you think is most fun

Warrior – easy

Elementalist – not so much

well i think both are fun but sometimes i feel like the elemental dmg out put is low but idk if that is cuz i am a low lvl

Warrior is supposedly easy, never played it though. What is fact though is that they are the most survivable. Highest health with highest armor, so you are tougher with a pure damage build than an elementalist built fully for survival. Elementalist has the lowest health with the lowest armor.

If you want to go through the game fast and easy, either to learn its basics or because you dont plan on being anywhere near hardcore, start with warrior. If you want to be challenged and forced to learn to survive, start an elementalist, and be ready for pain.

You could try perusing the pertinent Profession forums, and see what people say over there. Good luck. =)

Elementalist is more technical and requires more skill than Warrior, but as it stands in the right hands has the highest DPS in PvE/Dungeons. They are very versatile and can provide a lot of support to go alone with their attack. Their wide AoE’s and support abilities also make them invaluable in WvW. Unfortunately due to some nerfs a while back, they’ve been struggling in SPvP for the past while.

Warrior is a very easy to play class which is largely due to its natural bulk making it very forgiving to play. They’re something of a bread n’ butter DPS/Control class across all mods, to varying degrees, depending on the mode.

Tamerlame.8364:

SO i got a elementalist and a warrior to lvl 30 but I dont know which on to stick with, i cant tell which will be better. can some one tell me the advantages of each. Like which has better DPS, PVP, and dungeons. I also constantly play with my friend who is a guardian so i don’t worry about solo playing.

Elementalist has a far higher DPS output than warrior when traited properly, and starts pulling away more once you stack buffs (Might/Fury and vulnerability on the enemy etc.) They can put out insane AoE pressure and kill most things extremely fast. (See attachment) Their downside however is that they are the glassiest class in the entire game and die extremely easy. The same applies for PvP where they can wipe out complete points in a matter of seconds if left untouched (http://a.pomf.se/cpztzy.webm)

Warriors might have lower overall DPS, but they have banners which can give the party a huge buff to their damage. If you are the only warrior in your party you should always aim for having the discipline and strength banner up at all times. They are also great might stackers with the new phalanx strength trait which is great for PUGs (Pick Up Groups) In organized groups the trait is kind of lacking since you will be coordinating your buffs anyways.

In the end, it’s a personal preference of which one you should play, but in my opinion i like elementalist more.

You can look how heavy armor profession are dominant in this game just browsing each section.

Ele used to outdps warrior by a a little, but only if kept alive from a guardian (surprise…a heavy armor).

A warrior nowaday is told to have even higher dps with a certain build, the highest armor, the highest vitality, the highest mobility, longest range, best healing skill etc etc etc.

Unfortunately its quite boring, whereas elementalist could be slightly more fun.
But beware, leveling an elementalist is not so easy, and the top dps builds are almost as unfun as a warrior (the only difference is you have to evade more than a warrior because anything will oneshot you).

And also starts with the concept that due to the “lack of trinity” (actually there is the trinity in Warrior-Warrior-guardian), melee skills will outdamage any ranged skill..so you will sit in melee using your long range skills ._. or a conjured copy of a warrior’s hammer/greatsword.

Warrior,
Elementalist leveling will wear you out.

when you will level up your warrior and still will want an ele, start it then.

lvling the elementalist isnt a problem because i play with my friend who is a guardian so he tanks everything

Ele is much more fun
Ele and Guardian also make a pretty great leveling combo- so there is that.
Ele turns into a beast at higher levels-at least mine did.

Warrior is like watching paint dry- my third one made it to lvl 26- seriously thinking of deleting her yet again even though I spent a total make over kit on her.

Fun is rather subjective really.

Warrior plays more like a character from an action-MMO, whilst elementalist feels more traditional-MMO. In PvE anyways.

Elementalist has a higher damage potential, but is also a lot squishier. Parties will want both, since you need both elementalist and warrior to be optimised for a speedrun.

If you’re new, a warrior is very good for getting to grips with the game mechanics and such. In terms of survivability vs dmg output, warrior is probably, if not THE, best. Because of the generalist nature of the class it never really feels like it excels at any one particular thing but with the right gear you’re looking at exceptionally good performance in all spheres. Even full damage spec, zerker, warriors have much better survivability than you would expect. Other zerker builds, except necromancer because of their access to certain skills, tend to be extremely fragile.

I don’t see why eles having a little more dps matters. Its not a big difference and its not hard for wars to get into squads and to get that max dps the ele has to go glassy and rely on being in a pro squad.

Eles are versatile and one of the hardest classes to learn and you have to pay attention all the time. It keeps the game from getting boring for some ppl and is torture for others. Wars are incredibly strong in both defense and offense but so many times you can set them to autoattack and go get a coffee. I think how much interaction you need to stay interested in the game is the biggest difference.

Azrael.4960:

If you’re new, a warrior is very good for getting to grips with the game mechanics and such. In terms of survivability vs dmg output, warrior is probably, if not THE, best. Because of the generalist nature of the class it never really feels like it excels at any one particular thing but with the right gear you’re looking at exceptionally good performance in all spheres. Even full damage spec, zerker, warriors have much better survivability than you would expect. Other zerker builds, except necromancer because of their access to certain skills, tend to be extremely fragile.

I did warrior for maybe 8 hours total in beta before jumping head first into an Elementalist come head start. Warrior was under level 20 at the time the Beta ended and I only participated in the final beta weekend.

And I did it because I was new. Because I didn’t know the mechanics. You reach the spot where your skills have to grow sooner with the Elementalist than you do with the Warrior. And that’s what I wanted. The challenge. Challenges are fun for me.

And my Elementalist was my first level 80 and is still my main.

And as the OP has leveled both 30, they probably have a good grasp of the basics of this game.

So they need to look at which one will be more fun to play for them.

Tamerlame.8364:

SO i got a elementalist and a warrior to lvl 30 but I dont know which on to stick with, i cant tell which will be better. can some one tell me the advantages of each. Like which has better DPS, PVP, and dungeons. I also constantly play with my friend who is a guardian so i don’t worry about solo playing.

I have leveled both to 80 (my first 2 characters too).

I would suggest Elementalist as your main to start though. It is very squishy and will require you to get a feel for moving, dodging, and knowing your skill rotation. This will help you in the future as you level more alts.

I did world completion with my norn warrior and it was a lot of fun. Very strong, and I felt pretty bad-a against most mobs. However, Warrior may teach you some bad habits that will negatively affect your game play in other classes.

Just my personal experience though. Choose what YOU have the most fun at.

LordByron.8369:

You can look how heavy armor profession are dominant in this game just browsing each section.

Ele used to outdps warrior by a a little, but only if kept alive from a guardian (surprise…a heavy armor).

A good elementalist can survive fine without a guardian — having aegis is a nice defense for when you miss a dodge, but it’s possible to avoid being downed if you know the encounters — this description is not accurate, and if you read through the dungeon forum you’ll understand why Elementalist is a good class to learn.

LordByron.8369:

A warrior nowaday is told to have even higher dps with a certain build, the highest armor, the highest vitality, the highest mobility, longest range, best healing skill etc etc etc.

DPS: no
Armor: yes
Vit: yes
Mobility: yes
Range: no
Best healing: debatable

Check http://gwscr.com/ if you want to see what optimal meta teams can do.

LordByron.8369:

Unfortunately its quite boring, whereas elementalist could be slightly more fun.
But beware, leveling an elementalist is not so easy, and the top dps builds are almost as unfun as a warrior (the only difference is you have to evade more than a warrior because anything will oneshot you).

And also starts with the concept that due to the “lack of trinity” (actually there is the trinity in Warrior-Warrior-guardian), melee skills will outdamage any ranged skill..so you will sit in melee using your long range skills ._. or a conjured copy of a warrior’s hammer/greatsword.

If you sit in melee using ranged skills with anything other than a staff (dps + fire field) or a skills for might stacking, you’re probably it wrong.

Elementalist is harder to play because it’s glassier, but played correctly it’s fun and versatile. If you’re looking for easy mode, Warrior is a better choice … but if you’re looking to learn the classes well, it’s not better than Ele — just different.

Tamerlame.8364:

lvling the elementalist isnt a problem because i play with my friend who is a guardian so he tanks everything

……you will both eventually realize there is no true TANK in this game and things will quickly go very sideways for that plan. Just letting you know.

Ele likely has higher POTENTIAL DPS but lacks long term survivability and requires FAR more tactical thought and twitch skill than the Warrior. Nobody would deny that the Ele requires more “work” to perform at a high level and an Ele is much more likely to suffer badly when a mistake is made (less forgiving of player error).

The Warrior is certainly more survivable and very forgiving of bad or “lazy” gameplay. That being said, a well played warrior can deal impressive damage and be a force to be reckoned with.

Since you are playing both of them, you can decide which gameplay you like, but at LVL 30 you are not going to get a good “feel” for both classes. Maybe take them both into PvP where you can give them both a good test run at LVL 80 specs?

Roll an Ele and never look back.

Seriously, the skill ceiling is the highest of all the other professions, and you’ll need to use your brain to play one, and actively defend/heal yourself and allies while putting out damage on enemies, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll have complete understanding of the game mechanics, and be a very accurate and articulate player in your actions and cooldowns.

If you want to just roll your face along your keys while not really learning a thing because you don’t need to dodge/evade or use active defenses, then play a warrior. Seriously, Healing Signet heals for you. You don’t even have to press your heal as it’s passive. So absurdly mind numbing for me personally. People keep saying to “play a warrior while you learn the game,” but the double edged sword here is that you won’t be challenged to learn a thing as a Warrior has so much just handed to it in the form of damage/CC/defense that you can get to 80 without having to learn much of the mechanics as they can all be cheesed.

Anet has also claimed in some red posts that they’re “looking into the warrior,” and how some warrior mechanics are too easily accessible. Also, Ele just had some of their nerfs from previous patches rolled back. Ele’s have returned and are better than ever thanks to strength runes!

In the end, it really comes down to your playstyle. Are you tactical? Do you think about supporting your team while fighting? Do you like attunement dancing? Do you like having to swap into water attunement to heal yourself and allies? Do you like utilizing combo fields for maximum boon uptime? Do you like the looks of heavy armor, or light armor?

Depending on how you respond to those questions, you’ll know which is the better option for yourself. Personally, I like Ele as I love attunement dancing, handing out boons like candy, healing, and doing some of the best damage in the game all at the same time. You can also have perma swiftness on an Ele. Try that on a warrior.

Tamerlame.8364:

SO i got a elementalist and a warrior to lvl 30 but I dont know which on to stick with, i cant tell which will be better. can some one tell me the advantages of each. Like which has better DPS, PVP, and dungeons. I also constantly play with my friend who is a guardian so i don’t worry about solo playing.

Both can be powerful in any setting, so you need to determine the playstyle you enjoy most before deciding. My honest advice is to keep playing both until you find a style you enjoy more.

They both have great DPS potential and group support. Ele generally takes more skill to play though, because it has the lowest base health which requires active defense to survive. For warrior you just bash things in melee. For ele you have to learn the nuances of attunement swapping, popping defensive cooldowns at the right times, proper dodging, proper positioning, use of combo fields, etc. It’s a hell of a lot more fun imo.

Anomaly.7612:

…..
If you want to just roll your face along your keys while not really learning a thing because you don’t need to dodge/evade or use active defenses, then play a warrior. …..

The above statement is totally unnecessary and a gross exaggeration of the class in general. Up to that point, your post was intelligent and factual….then you posted that line of total FUD and I quit reading….good job.

Of course, a warrior is easier to play, but that does not mean that every warrior out there plays “lazy”, never dodges nor uses any defensive skills. Just because a Warrior can possibly survive an encounter like that does not mean every Warrior plays that way.

BTW, I play both classes (in fact, I play ALL of them) and we are all overjoyed that you “love your Ele”, but players of other classes would appreciate it if you didn’t translate that “love” into disparaging posts that border on lies and insults.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Anomaly.7612:

…..
If you want to just roll your face along your keys while not really learning a thing because you don’t need to dodge/evade or use active defenses, then play a warrior. …..

The above statement is totally unnecessary and a gross exaggeration of the class in general. Up to that point, your post was intelligent and factual….then you posted that line of total FUD and I quit reading….good job.

Of course, a warrior is easier to play, but that does not mean that every warrior out there plays “lazy”, never dodges nor uses any defensive skills. Just because a Warrior can possibly survive an encounter like that does not mean every Warrior plays that way.

BTW, I play both classes (in fact, I play ALL of them) and we are all overjoyed that you “love your Ele”, but players of other classes would appreciate it if you didn’t translate that “love” into disparaging posts that border on lies and insults.

So…..You’re saying warriors can “possibly survive an encounter like that,” which was in reference to me saying “not using dodges/defensive skills?” Because then I’m called a liar and insulting for saying those things so I’m a little confused, even though warrior can in fact do those things, whereas some other professions simply cannot. Ele being one of them.

I definitely agree that I could have been more objective, you totally got me there. Hyperbole in jest to be taken in kind, but what I said wasn’t a lie. An easier class doesn’t require harsher knowledge of game mechanics as its harder counterpart.

I said you were exaggerating and provided EFFED UP DATA to a new player, not that you were a “liar”. Put that quote up on the Warrior forum and if you don’t get feedback that most will find it “insulting”, I’ll take back that part.

I know plenty of Eles that hardly ever change attunements…..there are bad players in every class and not learning the knowledge of the game is part of that issue (for ALL players). You are not REQUIRED to learn game mechanics to play an Ele either (you will just suck at it…and die a bunch). Again, Warriors are far more forgiving and MAY be a better choice to START playing the game with because of that.

Tossing a brand new player into a highly techncial class has a much higher likelyhood of making them quite the game in frustration than teaching them to learn the mechanics of the game….it highly depends on the player and what they are looking to “invest” in the game.

Brother Grimm.5176:

I said you were exaggerating and provided EFFED UP DATA to a new player, not that you were a “liar”. Put that quote up on the Warrior forum and if you don’t get feedback that most will find it “insulting”, I’ll take back that part.

I know plenty of Eles that hardly ever change attunements…..there are bad players in every class and not learning the knowledge of the game is part of that issue (for ALL players). You are not REQUIRED to learn game mechanics to play an Ele either (you will just suck at it…and die a bunch). Again, Warriors are far more forgiving and MAY be a better choice to START playing the game with because of that.

Tossing a brand new player into a highly techncial class has a much higher likelyhood of making them quite the game in frustration than teaching them to learn the mechanics of the game….it highly depends on the player and what they are looking to “invest” in the game.

To be fair, it wasn’t really data. That’s giving me way too much credit, but thanks none the less. It really depends on the player and the level of difficulty that they prefer in the end. Some people like to start a game off on hard mode, others on easy.

So OP, what did you choose? Hard mode, or easy?

If you are able to tie your own shoes, you’re probably better off playing ele.
just my 2 cents, i may be a cynic

Bawi.9541:

If you are able to tie your own shoes, you’re probably better off playing ele.
just my 2 cents, i may be a cynic

The warrior hate just seems to drip off both of your guys, posts….I’ve never understood the need to disparage another class when the issue is with PLAYERS not the class itself.

Nevermind….pick what you want OP. I was just trying to balance out that there is much more to this decision than just hard vs easy, but obviously you have to be an drooling, moron to play a warrior and playing an Ele makes you a mental giant that should toss sideways insults at the lowlier classes….

You’re already 30, enjoy the class, and have a guardian friend you’re leveling with. Ele all the way.

Ele is much more dynamic and warrior can get quite boring.

I can understand warrior is kinda boring to play, doesn’t mean all are incompetent and don’t dodge/use utilities at all. we are a signet based class for the most part but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options. Healing Surge is an active heal skill that is actually better than HS for burst heal or if fight lasts less than 20 secs. also perma swiftness is easier on warrior than ele, don’t know why there is misinformation.

I ran arah p2 with pug today and an ele was constantly dying, me (warrior) and 2 others had to carry at lupi. of course this doesn’t mean that ele is a bad class, its just dependent on skill/experience. For dungeons I use my ele for the ones it is best for, usually AC and CoE. for the harder content I use warrior because a glass ele is still squishier, no matter your level of skill and use of heals/invuln you will usually need to rely on a guard to mitigate the dmg. For speed runs it might be better, but when starting out most usually die a lot on ele (I still get downed sometimes). Besides most ele don’t even know how to might stack or use any active defenses. Some will even stack like 6 might with a staff, and think they did a good job. bottom line its harder to screw up as warrior because its an easy class that you can faceroll (won’t deny that), but you will also have to dodge/use defenses since they are not that op.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Bawi.9541:

If you are able to tie your own shoes, you’re probably better off playing ele.
just my 2 cents, i may be a cynic

The warrior hate just seems to drip off both of your guys, posts….I’ve never understood the need to disparage another class when the issue is with PLAYERS not the class itself.

Nevermind….pick what you want OP. I was just trying to balance out that there is much more to this decision than just hard vs easy, but obviously you have to be an drooling, moron to play a warrior and playing an Ele makes you a mental giant that should toss sideways insults at the lowlier classes….

Ironically, I die at least as much on my warrior as on my ele — and that’s mostly using lightning hammer, so it’s not like I’m standing in the distance using staff; I think I just know ele skills and limits better. I don’t think war play is brainless — especially if you use banners appropriately; a good war is fun to play with. But I do think it’s less complicated than ele.

If you don’t mind more complexity, ele has great utility and does good damage. But ele is also fragile, and I’ve heard a number of guildies (especially earlier in the game’s history) complaining about how hard it was to keep their ele up.

My main was ele; I switched to guard in frustration when I was doing pvp, and found guard can be a lot of fun too; now I alternate between those two chars. I’ve played all the other classes, but I’m better at some than others… I think that’s a L2P issue more than a class issue (except Ele in sPvP — the HP pool is too small IMO).

Brother Grimm.5176:

Bawi.9541:

If you are able to tie your own shoes, you’re probably better off playing ele.
just my 2 cents, i may be a cynic

The warrior hate just seems to drip off both of your guys, posts….I’ve never understood the need to disparage another class when the issue is with PLAYERS not the class itself.

Warrior gets above average results in pretty much every game mode for below average input/skill/knowledge. Your statement that this is a player-issue is wrong. It is ANet that has given warriors the toolkit that made them what they are.
I don’t know how to break it down further so you can maybe understand it, sorry mate :/

Bawi.9541:

Warrior gets above average results in pretty much every game mode for below average input/skill/knowledge. Your statement that this is a player-issue is wrong. It is ANet that has given warriors the toolkit that made them what they are.

There is barely 15% dmg reduction from light to heavy armor, there is nothing anet can do about that. In recent patches they have also nerfed HS and buffed ele skills, but I guess people will always find something to complain about. I guarantee its a player issue. If I am PvE on glass ele I’m rarely downed anymore, even without a guard. Yes you will need to put more effort to stay alive (that’s why I prefer warrior most times) but its basically the same survivability on both. Besides you see bad warriors all the time.. not like every warrior will run meta and full banner. some like to go full sig and die a lot. even a warrior in arah pug who died every time, maybe 10 times on the last run in p2. someone told him the defensive utilities to get, he refused and complained everyone told him what to do. his exact words “i’m not getting skills that i haven’t traited for” …

nagr.1593:

Bawi.9541:

Warrior gets above average results in pretty much every game mode for below average input/skill/knowledge. Your statement that this is a player-issue is wrong. It is ANet that has given warriors the toolkit that made them what they are.

If I am PvE on glass ele I’m rarely downed anymore, even without a guard. Yes you will need to put more effort to stay alive (that’s why I prefer warrior most times) but its basically the same survivability on both.

Weren’t you gonna prove your point? Because all you type argues in favor of my point. That same dude would have died 2500 times on an ele in the same run.

/edith: rofl, i just realized you main warrior, sorry for taking you seriously, won’t happen again :<

Well if you still haven’t made up your mind i strongly recommend a elementalist. In most dungeons an elementalist is capable of dishing out up to twice the dps of any other class thanks to their fiery greatsword (they even do more dps than a warrior who has the fiery greatsword) and after that they can use their lightning hammer which about matches a warriors output dps, not to mention the constant blast finishers that come from this.

In terms of spvp someone said that a few nerfs have made them weak, however these nerfs have been reverted and they are now considered one of the stronger professions in pvp. With a skilled ele (running current meta build) you can take a skilled warrior (also running meta) however you have to work hard for it. However due to the warriors heavy armour and large hp you realise that 2 warriors are better than 2 eles. But thats a discussion about a tpvp setup.

lastly the learning curve for a elementalist is one of the hardest and the warrior is one of the easiest, that said though you should still pick an elementalist as if you grasp the game mechanics as an elementalist you will have very little trouble playing any other class as a secondary class.