Guild Wars 2

Hey there!

Intro:

After a rather long while I’m looking to return to the game. A lot has changed since I left (wtf Lion’s Arch?!) and I’d like to ask for help from people that are up to date with their gw2 stuff.

What I’m looking for:

- a fast one (i.e. one that has the run speed buff. I love jumping puzzles, as well as simply running around the zones and this is a crucial point for me);
- can (meaning as a valid, strong spec, not as an obscure possibility) be played entirely ranged with shortbow/longbow/staff etc… don’t like guns though (love ranged combat, ability to kite and such);
- does good AoE (can be from direct damage just as much as from DOTs).

Final comments:

I am aware these aren’t very specific, but I’m not looking for someone pointing me towards one specific profession/build and calling ’that’s the one you want!‘.
Rather than that, I’d like to see what options do I have and then pick what looks like the most fun

Anywho. Thank you very much for any help.

A thief with shortbow or a ranger with either long or shortbow. Thief definitely has better AoE than ranger, however a full ranged setup is bad, regardless of weapons/class

Staff Ele with signet of air equipped. The signet gives you a 25% speed boost and staff is a good ranged weapon with plenty of AoE attacks.

Carpboy.7145:

A thief with shortbow or a ranger with either long or shortbow. Thief definitely has better AoE than ranger, however a full ranged setup is bad, regardless of weapons/class

Yeah, I’m considering a shortbow thief, it’s definitely something I’m interested in. It doesn’t have to be a full ranged setup… I think I could live with some melee :P

AdaephonDelat.3890:

Staff Ele with signet of air equipped. The signet gives you a 25% speed boost and staff is a good ranged weapon with plenty of AoE attacks.

Staff ele is the very close second on my list at the moment. However, I remember staff having rather poor damage, making it viable mainly for group play. Has this changed?

Sage.2870:

Carpboy.7145:

A thief with shortbow or a ranger with either long or shortbow. Thief definitely has better AoE than ranger, however a full ranged setup is bad, regardless of weapons/class

Yeah, I’m considering a shortbow thief, it’s definitely something I’m interested in. It doesn’t have to be a full ranged setup… I think I could live with some melee :P

AdaephonDelat.3890:

Staff Ele with signet of air equipped. The signet gives you a 25% speed boost and staff is a good ranged weapon with plenty of AoE attacks.

Staff ele is the very close second on my list at the moment. However, I remember staff having rather poor damage, making it viable mainly for group play. Has this changed?

Staff Ele camping fire with the appropriate traits is actually an incredibly damaging spec, and many dungeon groups bring them. You’ll still want to be within 600 range for Stone Splinters (Earth 6) for an extra 10% damage boost.

Definitely sounds like you want a staff or scepter ele. Imo shortbow for thief is more of a utility weapon, not a main DPS weapon, and rangers… meh idk much about rangers except that the average ranger (in my experience) have been bad players. Ele on the other hand is amazing for perma-swiftness, range (even while using daggers), and AoE. Engineer may be a second choice. They can perma-swiftness with Speedy Kits, are 95% ranged, and have plenty of AoE.

Ye take an ele they are the best all-rounders and i say to everyone that it is possible for anyone in this game to find an ele build that they enjoy due to their diversity. You mentioned jumping puzzles, just been finally getting round to completing them all and i can say the ride the lightning skill is amazing for them. just jump RTL and smash into the wall on the other side skipping the difficult jump. LOVE IT

not to mention with a staff you can do the ranged then take a conjured weapon such as the lightning hammer to deal as much dps as any other melee class. Then take the firey greatsword for seriously fast dungeon runs.

Make an ele you wont regret it.

I think staff necro with axe or scepter+warhorn in your second set satisfies your requirements. Staff gives ranged AoE and utility, and warhorn gives swiftness. Plenty of viable necro builds to choose from based on whether you run WvW/PvE etc. Also take spectral walk utility skill which grants a long duration swiftness and gives you a spectral recall in case you fall during a jumping puzzle.

Staff ele.
While it lacks mobility skills, it can apply aoe perma swiftness or just equip a signet for 25% movement speed.
Ranged in this game is really really bad, except for staff ele and granade engineers, they are intented to be ranged and doing fine that way.
Aoe all over the place. Fireball can hit up to 3 targets, while Lava font (fire#2) can hit 5 targets and has a nearly 100% uptime. Of course you have Meteor shower, Ice bow and Glyph of storms for additional aoe madness.

But you didn’t specified one thing. PvE or WvW? If PvE, watch this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wVNHgbTzGQ

Sage.2870:

Carpboy.7145:

A thief with shortbow or a ranger with either long or shortbow. Thief definitely has better AoE than ranger, however a full ranged setup is bad, regardless of weapons/class

Yeah, I’m considering a shortbow thief, it’s definitely something I’m interested in. It doesn’t have to be a full ranged setup… I think I could live with some melee :P

AdaephonDelat.3890:

Staff Ele with signet of air equipped. The signet gives you a 25% speed boost and staff is a good ranged weapon with plenty of AoE attacks.

Staff ele is the very close second on my list at the moment. However, I remember staff having rather poor damage, making it viable mainly for group play. Has this changed?

Staff Ele is pretty much required for WvW and PvE. Also, if you use Arcane Brilliance and Arcane Wave, you can double blast a lightning field and use windborn speed on top of that along with getting more swiftness for attuning to air nets a hefty amount of swiftness. Then just swap attunements and swap back to air once it’s off CD to get more swiftness, and use all those CD’s I mentioned once they’re down. You can have perma swiftness if you keep using that rotation:

Air>WindbornSpeed>StaticField>ArcaneBrilliance>ArcaneWave>XAttunement>Air>repeat x infinity.

IMO, you’d be happy with a thief. I love going d/d and shortbow. I only have 5 80’s and I think thief would best suit what you’re looking for. Aside from range, Guardian also meets most of your requirement. Sceptre isn’t a terrible choice but definitely not the best. You could easily go Greatsword or Hammer with weapon switch to Sceptre/Focus or Sceptre/Torch for more DPS.

Guardian’s with staff can be extremely fun in WvW. The class can provide a lot of support and be a pain in the kitten to kill if setup properly.. plus the “loot stick” smacking every person in the opposing zerg can lead to a nice amount of rewards. Gives swiftness symbol that stacks swiftness per pulse.. plus retreat skill gives you approx 30 sec of swiftness with a 12 sec cooldown on the staff skill. Can almost keep perma swiftness with it.

Sage.2870:

What I’m looking for:

- a fast one (i.e. one that has the run speed buff. I love jumping puzzles, as well as simply running around the zones and this is a crucial point for me);
- can (meaning as a valid, strong spec, not as an obscure possibility) be played entirely ranged with shortbow/longbow/staff etc… don’t like guns though (love ranged combat, ability to kite and such);
- does good AoE (can be from direct damage just as much as from DOTs).

I’m hesitant to name any profession since none actually fit the bill.

All professions except Mesmer and guardian have easy perma-speed boosts, in the way of signets or traits.

Ranger is the only profession that can use bows as the main weapons. All others it’s a supplement weapon or gimmicky.

100% ranged combat is generally looked down upon because it doesn’t cleave and keeps you out of range of your allies’ boons.

Elementalist and engineer are the only professions that have solid ranged aoe. Engineer is a gun class, so that’s out. Ele uses staff and scepter and dagger.