Guild Wars 2

Hi,
I’m currently downloading GW2 and was wondering if anyone could help me choose what I should be. I’m a type of player that likes to support others by keeping them alive, how I keep them alive doesn’t really matter, I can adapt to it.

Tell me if I need to be more specific and thanks!

In GW2 you don’t really have healers, and if you focus your character to be full healer you’ll have a bad time.
Here we have support focused classes, for that Guardian is a good one, Elementarist also have many tools to heal the party and also cause damage, I think those are the easiest ones to be effective and also support the group.

Belzebu.3912:

In GW2 you don’t really have healers, and if you focus your character to be full healer you’ll have a bad time.
Here we have support focused classes, for that Guardian is a good one, Elementarist also have many tools to heal the party and also cause damage, I think those are the easiest ones to be effective and also support the group.

Thanks for the fast reply. Yeah, I did inform myself that there are no such thing as a healer in GW2. How exactly does the guardian support the group? And if you could choose between having a guardian or elementalist in your group, which one would you choose?

An elixir-tossing engineer is also a decent supporter, if a bit erratic.

tairneanach.8427:

An elixir-tossing engineer is also a decent supporter, if a bit erratic.

Interesting. I’ll probably have to use some time with the game to understand which profession suits me the best. I think the guardian is the most attractive so far though.

A guardian is usually a frontline class; they tend to be in the middle of the action while most support oriented Elementalists are in the back casting spells far away (not saying you can’t be ranged with Guardian or melee with ele).

Guardian tends to support allies with boons (buffs). Most of the boons they provide are defense oriented. They also have the ability to give Aegis (It’s a boon that blocks the next attack that would normally hit you) to the entire party. Also they tend to be very effective at removing conditions (Blind, Burning, Bleed etc etc). Guardian is a very good class to start off as they tend to be easier to pick up and the learning curve isn’t as steep as it is on an Ele.

Elementalist tend not to be beginner friendly. They are one of the squishiest classes (lowest base health and lowest base armor in game) in the game. But if you play one they are insanely fun. An elementalist is kind of a mix of everything. They can support fairly well while providing good DPS at the same time. Elementalists can conjure weapons for your allies to use which tend to have cool effects (one of them being ice bow which has one of the highest damage skills in game). Along with conjures they can provide combo fields which give allies effects that stand in them. You can combine the field with a “Finisher” for added effects. Instead of providing boons directly as a guardian does they tend to support them by controlling what the enemy does and what effects the party gets from these boons. They are also the closest thing in here to your traditional healer in an mmo. If you use staff and water attunement you can provide some decent heals to the party that way.

Yes, guardians have the virtues mechanic and many traits of the guardians allow you to share it with your party, also many skills gives boons, cleanse conditions and protect your allies, making a very supportive class and still gives opportunity to contribute with damage.

Engineer have A LOT of support potential, but I don’t recommend as a 1st character, use the several kits and toolbelts isn’t easy and in a support build you can’t help much with damage, just like the elementarist I suggested, they have a good support potential but isn’t easy to play as, but is easier than engineer.

TL;DR
I’d also like to recommend Guardian.

Why?:
GW2 meta is currently build around as much DPS as possible in PvE and every class can do that, the key, how-ever, is offering as much support as you can with a minimal loss in DPS. imo generally a Guardian offers the most: Condition Removal, Reflect (anti-projectile by bouncing it back to it’s source,) Stability (prevents stun, knockback etc.) or Protection (33% damage reduction) Aegis (blocks next attack) Blinds (next outgoing attack misses) Mesmer also supports the team in similar ways (Reflects, Condition Removal, Short-lasting Stability) but not nearly as much as the Guardian, but they add to the team in different ways. (Portals, some Stealth etc.)

You can spec any class as a healer or supporter, but it’s currently in a bad place, negating damage (dodging, reflects, aegis etc) often does a lot more than any of your heals can do and can be provided by DPS-specs just as good, whilst killing an opponent faster.

For WvW there’s more option to go something else than Damage and support shines a lot more. Any class can build quite nicely around anything support or healer-like (Necromancers can go for healing wells, Engineers for healing Bombs etc.) but most commenly people use the Waterfields from Elementalists, Engineer and Rangers to then Blast them for Area Healing. Guardians are often seen as a must since they can apply (long-lasting) Stability to a group of 5, which is needed with all the crowd control.

All this makes Guardian a solid choice for both PvE and WvW for someone who enjoys supporting the team. As a bonus they’re also quite easy and forgiving to level, their HP might be on the low-end, all their group-support keeps them alive in a solo situation. Perfect for a new player (but can feel a bit difficult when you start with team-content.)

I didn’t include sPvP since I feel almost every class have their strenght and weaknesses there and skill and versitility is suddently a lot more important than in PvE or even WvW. On top of that any low-level character has instantly access to all the skills and traits (with few exceptions to new traits/skills anyone has to unlock.)

In wvw guards give stability, usually are water field blasters, and able to remove conditions, provide heals through their ulti. Just to name a few.

While Eles are the ones to lay down the water fields for the Guardians to blast.

In dungeons, Eles provide some support through swirling wind, but can’t be compared with the Guardians who are expected to give on demand aegis, condi cleanse and reflects. Notice none of these is in any way a form of healing. The only thing close to that is the hammer autoattack giving protection for high level fractals.

Healing in dungeon in an organized setting is mostly unnecessary. In a pug situation, you’d be better off focusing on healing yourself than the whole group. Dmg mitigation > healing.

Thanks alot guys. I’m really glad I posted this here.
I’ll go ahead and create my Sylvari Guardian!

Each class can be built towards a certain play style. Also, you have a large set of skills/abilities, but only a handful can be active at a time. So you can switch up how you want to play on the fly. Even thief has ability that can cloak the entire party to escape.

Probably engineer or elementalist have the best support type builds that can heal/buff players.

I would recommend Ranger.