Guild Wars 2

Hello all, I’m returning to the game after… quite some time away. Pretty much only played for 6 months or so after launch. I’ve read up on HoT and all the new goodies that came with it, as well as the major changes from before that. But there are a few things I’m somewhat confused about, mostly when it comes to Elite Specs and which Profession(s) I want to focus on playing.

I am primarily interested in PvE content, and both solo / open world stuff and group content like Dungeons. I mostly play ranged support or healer characters, but I don’t mind melee damage dealers if I find them fun to play. The Professions I’m mostly interested in playing are Ranger, Elementalist, and Mesmer. I played enough Warrior and Thief at launch, and have no interest in Engineer. I’m on the fence about Guardian, Revenant, and Necromancer.

That said, what Professions, and Elite Specializations, are good for what (Damage, Support/Heals, “Tanking”)? And are there any that are considered not worth playing atm?

Which Elite Specs, if any, are considered “mandatory”? From what I’ve gathered some are straight buffs to the base class (like Chronomancer and Tempest), while others change it or add something new (like Druid or Dragonhunter). Example, if I play a Ranger will I be expected to be a Druid and only a Druid? Can I DPS as a non-Druid Ranger or would I be better served playing another Profession entirely?

Sorry if these kinds of questions gets asked all the time, but I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed after coming back after over 3 years away.

EDIT: Basically, I’d like to know what each Profession and Elite Spec is good at or sucks at.

Ranged support healing transfers 10000% to Druid. Druid is a Ranger specialization and best active healer Even if you go full heal, pet still does insane amount of dmg, well the right pet does (you could also check the elementalist with Tempest elit spec using warhorn – specifically auramancer build if you group play, its not such straight forward healer, but its an interesting support. Do mind that you loose dps going full heal, while Druid does not thanks to his pet.

For pure survival/tankiness I would say a proper Guardian build (don’t pick his elit spec. Dragonhunter). Hint: old bunker guardian build

Insane amount of dmg with the right rotation would be zerk Revenant (using his Herald elite spec. Easy to stay alive when you know your skills, if team targets one player its killed in sec regardless of his build. Constant furry uptime! Use shiro+glint build

This is from my own pvp experience, but it goes pretty much the same for pve. Druid still best active healer, tank is opened for more classes (warrior, guardian, necro) and for dps even more – mesmer would lack some pve edge comparing to others, necros elit spec using great sword is a bit slow but deadly but what I would like to point out that best aoe dmg would come from Elementalist.

Welcome back!

For PvE, the only elite spec that are not consider mandatory is Scrapper for engineer. But that’s that it’s for meta build used in raid and high level fractal and you talked about dungeon and open world. The later is relax and don’t really need any meta build you can play whatever you want. Since you can do whaveter you want, they can pretty much all do anything, but I can list you what they are best in (usually using a meta build or a variance around meta build, which you are not obligated to play in Open World or dungeon, or even low level fractals).

Ranger/Druid : They are healer and buffer. You can play them in Condition with Axe/Torch & Shortbow or in direct damage with Sword/Axe & Staff. You can go full dammage with either Viper/Sinister for condi or Beserker for power. Or you can go full heal if you want. But the full heal isn’t needed everywhere. I would only use it in Raid, Open World and maybe in some high level fractal.

Elementalist are the king of damage, but they are also squishy. The most used weapons are Staff or Dagger/Warhorn, but Dagger/Focus is great for surviability. They have a place everywhere.

Mesmer are strait up buffer. They have terrible damage, but are a mandatory profession in raid as they can give perma quickness to everybody and a good amount of alacrity. Two powerfull buffs. It’s highly dependent on trait so they can be a pain to play as you level up and you gonna need to play a different build when solo because the normal buffer build is all about buffing others, so terrible in solo.