Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

Newbie here.

I know that the active combat in GW2 (dodging, rolls, etc.) is part of the appeal of the game. And so any character of any profession is going to be doing it to some degree.

That being said, I’m really not a huge fan of overly-twitchy gameplay and would curious to hear some options for professions/builds that are, maybe, a less dodge-dependent than others.

For now at least, I am mostly thinking about basic open-world questing to level up. I’ve never been a big pvp-er in any MMO that I’ve played so not terribly concerned about pvp. Nor, for the short term, do I see myself doing a lot of content that requires full parties. Mostly soloing on the landscape and joining in randomly on whatever other world events are popping up.

I know from reading the basic descriptions of the professions that probably guardian is the most likely answer… but I’m hoping there might be some other options as well that are less obvious.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Warrior, Guardian and Ranger would probably be your three best bets. Guardian has many defensive options, Warrior just has innately high defensive stats, and Ranger has a pet that you can use to tank for you.

That said, the dodging doesn’t have to be overly twitchy, most of the attacks that you want to dodge have noticeable animations. This is good, because even as a Warrior, Guardian or Ranger, there’s going to be times when you’ll need to dodge things, even if it’s not as often as if you were playing, say, a Thief or an Elementalist.

Over time you’ll get better at the dodging. I say that as someone with very little in the way of twitch reflexes. I did have to get a Naga HEX mouse because I couldn’t coordinate high mobility with skill use all on the keyboard.

I’ve leveled at least one of each profession to 80. I would say my lowest amount of dodges come on my support-built guardian (she does minimal dps, though, so killing things takes a loooong time) with scepter/focus and tons of purifying shout utilities, followed by my staff necromancer with the blood fiend healing minion to semi-tank.

You still need to at least move out of bad things, but the dodge itself comes into play less often when you have other ways of stopping attacks (Guardian aegis via the F skills and the Retreat! shout is excellent for that, along with Focus 5 which absorbs 3 hits). Not to mention Guardians can survive the ill effects of missing a dodge more easily than others might.

You might find guardian amazingly fun. I know I did, it went from my “never gonna play this” (pre-launch) to “doing a dungeon? Lemme get on my guardian.” Her dps is laughable but she’s often been the last one standing and has even finished fights when the boss was low enough when her friends took dirt naps that it wasn’t rude to make them wait and watch her slug it out.

Mesmer clones/phantasms can save you from being targeted enough to reduce the twitch dodging needed, but mesmer is reportedly harder to deal with leveling these days given the current trait unlock system. I didn’t really play mesmer until I was comfortable with mobility and dodging anyway, so I can’t say how it feels as a newcomer to GW2 gameplay.

No matter how minimal you make your twitch dodging, however, you will still have to do it. Eventually it won’t seem so hard, I promise, as you learn the tells and the timing and what must be dodged and what can be soaked.

Necromancer, If you prefer light armour. Equip wells and make good use of deathshroud
(I tend to facetank mob-groups on Cursed Shore – usually works like a charm, even is mostly Berzerker armour.)

While some profs/specs may have a bigger cushion, dodging is an integral part of not dying in this game.

However, like Frotee said, if you abuse the crap out of Deathshroud a Necro can handle a lot more facetanking than others.

I really appreciate all the responses so far. I am going to continue to monitor this, so if anyone else has any input, please know it will be read and appreciated. Thanks to all who already responded!

Something that would help immensely would be to do a write up of what you’ve tried and what you did and did not like about each.

Open world? Thief with pistol in the off hand …

Dodging takes some getting used to, but after a while it gets to be second nature. You learn really fast if your survival depends on it.

I don’t think really think any of the light-armoured characters are dodge-proof. My first character was an elementalist and the only way I managed to stay alive was to stay ranged (waaaay ranged) until I got used to dodging.

Having said that, the guardian is very tanky and can take a few more hits before needing to scramble out of the way. The warrior, unfortunately, has far less heal and protect options and I actually found out I needed to dodge more than any other character I’ve leveled.

I’d say, try out a couple of professions, there is no rule that says you have to fully level one character before trying out another.

About dodging:

There is a key set up for dodging, the default is “V” I think. Although some don’t like the double tap to dodge I do. Double tap W to dodge forward, very useful. Double tap S to dodge backward, double tap Q to dodge to the left and E to dodge to the right.

I love dodging so much I have some of my professions traited to take advantage – thief to leave those tacks behind, engineer to leave a bomb and mesmer to create a clone.

Some weapons skills on some professions are a dodge. One of my favorites is the elementalist’s staff 4 while in fire. It leaves a burning trail behind that those chasing after her end up burning themselves to death.

The only problem I have is that endurance must be up so can’t dodge as often as I would like.

Some of these later posts also giving me something good to think about. Thanks.

In reference to “Double Tap” dodging:

IMO, one of the biggest negatives that I found to the double tap dodge is Jumping Puzzles.
So much so that I reassigned my dodge to my mouse wheel so I don’t mistakenly fall due to a miss key.

Now if you don’t do JPs, Vistas or run near any cliffs, then I guess you are fine.

Just to chime in after playing a few days… I tried guardian, still had to dodge some but you were right, his tankiness and self-healing means he can last through some hits. I also tried a ranger, and liked that even more… pet holds a lot of aggro so only rarely do I need to hop around on him. Experimented with a few other classses (thief/mesmer) but they didn’t fit my style. So sticking with ranger and guardian for now. Thanks again to all who shared wisdom!

MithrilSoul.5049:

I also tried a ranger, and liked that even more… pet holds a lot of aggro so only rarely do I need to hop around on him.

Bearbow may be great for leveling, but it’s a bad habit to get into should you ever want to do anything beyond low intensity open world stuff. Learn how to use everything the prof has to offer while you’re leveling. That way if you do decide to do PvP, WvW, or dungeons at some point you don’t get destroyed because you’ve spent all your time staring at bear butt waiting for LB #2 to come off cooldown.

Keep in mind learning the combat aspects of this game with a LB Ranger is a BAD IDEA….

1. Pet will be a decent “tank” in general mob Open World combat, but the minute they charge a heavy hitting Champ, they are going to drop like a stone and your Tank (and part of your DPS) is gone.
2. The Champ then turns his attentions your way…..
3. Once your pet goes down (and the swap pet bites it also), you are now on your own. You must kite, dodge, block and evade all the damage coming your way now (WHILE continuing to do DPS to actually kill the enemy engaging you)
4. Wait….you never learned to do that because your pet was always tanking melee and you just stood at range attacking w/ LB?

There IS a reason that BearBow is kind of a reviled arch-type profession in the game. Please know that I play a LB Ranger (but I have never used a Bear), but I spend more than half my combat with my GS out going toe to toe with what’s left of the mobs my ranged attacks didn’t take down in the first exchange.

You NEED to know how to avoid damage to be successful in combat in GW2 and Dodging is just part of that equation. I get that the OP wants less active combat, but that desire will put you at a distinct disadvantage in more challenging combat situations later in the game. It also puts any player around you in the position of needing to Rez you when you fail to survive. I’m in no way saying you can’t go down….all of us do for some reason or another, but not wanting to DODGE should not be one of those reasons.