Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, was just wondering what everyone’s opinion on what the best 1v1 profession is at the moment. Before you answer, yes I know pvp entails a lot more than 1v1s. Regardless of the answers here I plan on keeping my ranger and my thief as my go-to professions for pvp.

Sometimes I just get in the mood to hop into an unranked and just kill people though. It’s not often, but it does happen from time to time. I’d like a build that excels at it more than any other build. Is there a consensus in the pvp community? If not, then what’s YOUR opinion on it?

Definitely D/D ele.

DD Ee, then Power Ranger, then Mantra Mes, IMO

• A well played thief will never die in 1v1, but it requires skill to actually down people.
• Mesmer can’t die either, and can burst most zerker classes in a few seconds.
• D/D ele can’t die unless you face a decent Necro, but may have problem actually down people if they are decent (don’t walk in and out of the ring of fire)

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

Even if people complains about the actual state of thieves, when you focus on 1v1 and not winning a node is still one of the best profs for duel someone. DD ele is also good, but its being carried by their current state and not for having good 1v1 tools imo

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

it’s only good thanks to them not balancing Beastly Warden at all. the fact that it’s bugged and goes through every form of defense (evades, blinds, invulns, blocks) further makes it “good”.

rangers are so desperate to be viable they resort to exploiting a bug en masse.

Krysard.1364:

Even if people complains about the actual state of a theif, when you focus on 1v1 and not winning a node is still one of the best profs for duel someone. DD ele is also good, but its being carried by their current state and not for having good 1v1 tools imo

For some reason I just can’t get thief 1v1s down. I do it a lot better on my power ranger really. When I play thief I just try to focus on +1ing and rotating since I tend to lose most 1v1s. I assume I’m just bad at it but I have no clue how to improve in the 1v1 department on him, I just feel like I have no clue what I’m doing. :p

Neceromancer, either hybrid or condi do amazing in 1v1s if they have life force. Minions also work well for 1v1 except vs. zerker warrior or elixir based engineer.

They can’t disengage a +ed fight without flesh wurm/and or plague though, which can make the whole goal of 1v1ing things a but convoluted.

DD Ele in sPvP, Warrior or PU Mesmer in WvW

Natsuaga.5980:

Krysard.1364:

Even if people complains about the actual state of a theif, when you focus on 1v1 and not winning a node is still one of the best profs for duel someone. DD ele is also good, but its being carried by their current state and not for having good 1v1 tools imo

For some reason I just can’t get thief 1v1s down. I do it a lot better on my power ranger really. When I play thief I just try to focus on +1ing and rotating since I tend to lose most 1v1s. I assume I’m just bad at it but I have no clue how to improve in the 1v1 department on him, I just feel like I have no clue what I’m doing. :p

As said,a 1v1 in a match and an actual duel have nothing to do, in a duel you can use stealth to reset your cds and engage and disengage when needed, while in a conquest match you are just losing your time doing a 1v1. Also, you dont fight in order to win a node, but in order to survive, so kite and detrtition gameplay are more used than in a normal fight

sinject.4607:

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

it’s only good thanks to them not balancing Beastly Warden at all. the fact that it’s bugged and goes through every form of defense (evades, blinds, invulns, blocks) further makes it “good”.

rangers are so desperate to be viable they resort to exploiting a bug en masse.

I don’t need taunt to beat people up. Sadly it’s simply the best option we have in Beastmastery trait line. Hopefully they fix taunt and buff useless traits ranger currently has.

as with most gw2 related questions that begin with “What class is the best for…” the answer is ele. It hard counters all other classes and their builds. Yes even necro, ele will always win that fight if we disengages around 50% health and prevents necro traits from kicking in.

In any case ele needs more sustain, i saw one die today, that shouldnt happen ever

Photinous.4628:

Definitely D/D ele.

/Thread

D/D ele, but Mesmer up there as well.

I play a MM condition build. And I kill more or less all that D/D ele that I find XD
I can also kill a lot of mesmers, but they’re harder to kill, expecially skilled players.
I kill them also with my condition guardian (with some problems sometimes, but I kill them if they’re not really PRO).

Actually dd ele and mesmers can be the best in 1vs1 but if they find a build they fear there’s still nothing they can do to win.

A good class and a good build can make your work easier but there’s still a large amount of builds on all classes that can counter yours.

There’s a lot of builds on rangers that if well played can be really powerfull, the same about warrior and engi.

D/D ele and mesmer PU can be the two you can find better if you master them, but there will always be someone that you really can’t defeat.

Play with the class and the build you really like.

I do that with my MM condi necro, with a personal build, and I can kill that kitten DD eles “easy”.

If a Thief, at optimal play (knowing when to stay in stealth and when to burst) you’ll kill a mesmer with little retaliation. They will not be able to set up illusions and shatters are easy to evade. But everything else meta will rag on you.

If a Mesmer, you’ll have range and utility, less stealth and instant burst damage than a thief but you can go toe to toe with d/d eles and other sustained builds when specced to deal with them. However as mentioned before optimal thieves will kill you, and you are likely to lose the point against the rest of the meta.

If a Ele, you will have little problems but a well played Mesmer can kill you, however you’ll keep the point contesed the whole way through and thats presuming you don’t bail. but thieves along with the rest of the meta will struggle to keep you down.

Condi ranger.

15char

lol at people saying thief. No.

dd ele. and condi specs for most classes are the best at 1v1.

LOL at the idea that Mesmer can’t die. Revenant is by far the best 1v1. It’s like “wtf just happened?.”

After Revenant, D/D ele is probably your best choice. Still, PvP really isn’t about 1v1. I’ve lost many a game because teammates were more focused on proving something than gaining points.

Skullface.7293:

sinject.4607:

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

it’s only good thanks to them not balancing Beastly Warden at all. the fact that it’s bugged and goes through every form of defense (evades, blinds, invulns, blocks) further makes it “good”.

rangers are so desperate to be viable they resort to exploiting a bug en masse.

I don’t need taunt to beat people up. Sadly it’s simply the best option we have in Beastmastery trait line. Hopefully they fix taunt and buff useless traits ranger currently has.

taunt is is a literal 100% guaranteed hard CC (and the prime reason birds are meta pets) rangers that can then chain with either CC from traps, greatsword, or longbow for a guaranteed burst from either. it’s essentially a way worse form of confounding suggestions that has shaped ranger’s meta entirely.

so i sincerely doubt you “don’t need taunt to beat people up” when it’s a mechanic so overpowered in fights it pulls an otherwise lack luster profession to ban-worthy status in 1v1 tournaments.

Condi cele/bunker mesmer built right has the strongest 1v1 potential I’ve ever seen in spvp. I’ve been dueling since release.

Grimreaper.5370:

Condi cele/bunker mesmer built right has the strongest 1v1 potential I’ve ever seen in spvp. I’ve been dueling since release.

This +1

I would compare their position to burn guard prepatch. Great 1v1 abilities but not so hot in certain 2v2+ skirmish scenarios.

If we’re talking about all Conquest pvp scenarios, d/d cele ele but otherwise, Reap answered OP’s question.

Krysard.1364:

Also, you dont fight in order to win a node, but in order to survive, so kite and detrtition gameplay are more used than in a normal fight

This. The current Thief in Conquest is like an early Arya Stark. Sure, you have a pointy sword with which to poke the random fat kid who isn’t paying attention, but you’d be a lot better off hiding or running away while screaming like a little girl.

To the people saying Thief: not really, unless you want to be an opportunist that swoops in to burst down someone at 50% health who has abilities on CD. Still, not really a role other professions can’t also perform (and without the many problems Thief has).

Anyway, for general 1v1 purposes I would recommend Ele (D/D), Mesmer, possibly Guardian. Good luck.

sinject.4607:

taunt is is a literal 100% guaranteed hard CC (and the prime reason birds are meta pets)

It is only guaranteed if the pet is alive and in range (and you don’t have stab, invuln, or any sort of condi immunity). Those requirements are not too hard to fulfill with bird pets in 1vs1 on even terrain – which makes taunt extremly stong in some cases, yes.

However even in the described situation the pet can be kited or killed (birds are not tanky and pets in general are very vulnerable to conditions – just wait for petswap before the burst), therefore taunt is never 100% reliable, just like everything tied to the pet. Add some ledges and aoe/cleave from multiple players and you get a pretty mediocre grandmastertrait.

Pets are rangers strengh and weakness at the same time. They can be op or completely useless. Which makes it so hard to balance.

@topic in general
It depends a lot on the specific situation but just like most have already mentioned Cele Ele, Mesmer, (Power) Ranger and Necro (with full DS) are usually the best candidates for 1vs1.

Mantra shatter mesmer is best for dueling so far. Condi is good but it’s pretty brainless so I don’t recommend it if you want to l2p. After that it’s d/x cele ele

Thank you for the advice everyone!

I tried both shatter mesmer and d/d ele in pvp for awhile the other day, didn’t like them so much.

While power ranger wasn’t even close to as recommended as the others, I was pleasantly surprised to see it on here a decent amount of times. Since I already am confident in power ranger and since I like it so much I’ll be sticking with it since a good number of people think it’s pretty good in 1v1s.

Good power rangers are scary. Live strong, ranger bro!

Power Necro!

loljk we suck.

DDE

15 charr

UmbraNoctis.1907:

sinject.4607:

taunt is is a literal 100% guaranteed hard CC (and the prime reason birds are meta pets)

It is only guaranteed if the pet is alive and in range (and you don’t have stab, invuln, or any sort of condi immunity). Those requirements are not too hard to fulfill with bird pets in 1vs1 on even terrain – which makes taunt extremly stong in some cases, yes.

However even in the described situation the pet can be kited or killed (birds are not tanky and pets in general are very vulnerable to conditions – just wait for petswap before the burst), therefore taunt is never 100% reliable, just like everything tied to the pet. Add some ledges and aoe/cleave from multiple players and you get a pretty mediocre grandmastertrait.

Pets are rangers strengh and weakness at the same time. They can be op or completely useless. Which makes it so hard to balance.

@topic in general
It depends a lot on the specific situation but just like most have already mentioned Cele Ele, Mesmer, (Power) Ranger and Necro (with full DS) are usually the best candidates for 1vs1.

Pretty sure he already said this bUT it’s bugged. It’s working on invulns blocks etc. I don’t know the extent to which it works since I’m almost always on a necro… but I’m like 98% it was happening to my reaper even when I had stab up.

Elementalist could change with specializations

Necromancer (cele or condi) wins pretty much every 1v1 matchup, more matchups that d/d ele wins.

NeXeD.3042:

Pretty sure he already said this bUT it’s bugged. It’s working on invulns blocks etc. I don’t know the extent to which it works since I’m almost always on a necro… but I’m like 98% it was happening to my reaper even when I had stab up.

It does not go through invuln, stability and any sort of condi immunity. It does go through blocks and evade skills. I’m not 100% sure about dodge rolls and blind (but i think it goes through blinds, but not dodge rolls – the instant nature makes it very hard to dodge though.)

As far a i know, the only official statement about beastly warden says:

Beastly Warden: Fixed an issue that allowed players to taunt targets that should not have been affected.

Of course this doesn’t say, it can’t be still bugged, but as long there is no official statement about how it is intended to work, we don’t know. However I don’t think it should go through evades and blinds (Mainly because of those poor thieves ^^).

OlrunTheBlade.1486:

DD Ee, then Power Ranger, then Mantra Mes, IMO

DD ee nice english OlrunTheBabe

AFAIK, mesmers and rangers were the apex predators of 1v1 combat from 2012 – June 22, 2015. Not certain what dominates in 1v1 today. I’m guessing maybe ele and mesmer

I dont understand why so many of you included ranger in here. They are basically free kills in 1v1s for me across all my toons and a wide variety of builds. Once in a great while I run into the full melee ranger that is somewhat tricky and challenging and on rare occasion gets me, but otherwise 90% to 95% of them just suck. They just use bow and try to pew-pew. While its ok for a +1 function, the otehr classes / builds do +1s much better while at same time providing far more team utility and survivability.

Tongku.5326:

I dont understand why so many of you included ranger in here. They are basically free kills in 1v1s for me across all my toons and a wide variety of builds. Once in a great while I run into the full melee ranger that is somewhat tricky and challenging and on rare occasion gets me, but otherwise 90% to 95% of them just suck. They just use bow and try to pew-pew. While its ok for a +1 function, the otehr classes / builds do +1s much better while at same time providing far more team utility and survivability.

LOL NOT all rangers, especially the 1v1 variety, run pew pew bow. You prolly don’t have enough dueling mileage. I’ve seen rangers own d/d eles.

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

Ranger shines best with others.

This is pvp, so team matters to any really good players.

Ranger right now is bugged – not all, but many of us can’t choose our pets nor get to the menu while in pvp.

It started on one and then spread to my other Ranger.

Now I am looking for something ELSE viable to do dailies with… I am not doing ten games to do dailies.

Ranger rocks and they broke it.

Tongku.5326:

I dont understand why so many of you included ranger in here. They are basically free kills in 1v1s for me across all my toons and a wide variety of builds. Once in a great while I run into the full melee ranger that is somewhat tricky and challenging and on rare occasion gets me, but otherwise 90% to 95% of them just suck. They just use bow and try to pew-pew. While its ok for a +1 function, the otehr classes / builds do +1s much better while at same time providing far more team utility and survivability.

I’d like to see you kill a really good Ranger.

sinject.4607:

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

it’s only good thanks to them not balancing Beastly Warden at all. the fact that it’s bugged and goes through every form of defense (evades, blinds, invulns, blocks) further makes it “good”.

rangers are so desperate to be viable they resort to exploiting a bug en masse.

That is actually very amusing. You call it broken, but Rangers do have skills that are unblockable.
And honestly, calling out a ranger? Should I point out the D/D & Vampirism?

A callout to all Rangers we need you guys to stop using Beastly Warden as 1 player considers it an exploit. hahahaha

Wolfs Shadow.7234:

sinject.4607:

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

it’s only good thanks to them not balancing Beastly Warden at all. the fact that it’s bugged and goes through every form of defense (evades, blinds, invulns, blocks) further makes it “good”.

rangers are so desperate to be viable they resort to exploiting a bug en masse.

That is actually very amusing. You call it broken, but Rangers do have skills that are unblockable.
And honestly, calling out a ranger? Should I point out the D/D & Vampirism?

A callout to all Rangers we need you guys to stop using Beastly Warden as 1 player considers it an exploit. hahahaha

This was a necro’d thread. Read the date that he posted that. When he posted that Beastly Warden was bugged and was working through dodge, block, etc etc. You look silly.

Drennon.7190:

Wolfs Shadow.7234:

sinject.4607:

Natsuaga.5980:

Well I’ve seen a lot of D/D ele here. I’ll give it a try but it’s not something that immediately catches my interest unfortunately. I’ll give it 10 or so games and see how it goes, thanks

Was surprised to see Power Ranger being mentioned. I play a power ranger and while it feels decent to me I see a ton of people saying it’s no good.

it’s only good thanks to them not balancing Beastly Warden at all. the fact that it’s bugged and goes through every form of defense (evades, blinds, invulns, blocks) further makes it “good”.

rangers are so desperate to be viable they resort to exploiting a bug en masse.

That is actually very amusing. You call it broken, but Rangers do have skills that are unblockable.
And honestly, calling out a ranger? Should I point out the D/D & Vampirism?

A callout to all Rangers we need you guys to stop using Beastly Warden as 1 player considers it an exploit. hahahaha

This was a necro’d thread. Read the date that he posted that. When he posted that Beastly Warden was bugged and was working through dodge, block, etc etc. You look silly.

hahahaahah what is silly is the fact that Beastly Warden is the only viable trait in the traitline worth a kitten . To call out rangers for using a bug as if every rangers was purposely exploiting is the most amusing and pathetic excuse there is.

The date is irrelevant.