Guild Wars 2

Hello PvP forum. I’m new to GW2, but not MMOs. In the past I’ve always preferred to play a healer class, and I’m trying to determine which option will best satisfy my preference for keeping teammate standing. (I realize there are no pure healers, and part of learning whatever profession I choose will be doing damage and/or controlling the other team.)

I think I’ve narrowed it down to ele or druid (but I’m open to persuasion). My primary interest is likely spvp, but my boyfriend enjoys pve so a raid-viable support option is a bonus.

I’ve been reading MetaBattle.com and these forums, and watching Twitch streams, but it’s only making my indecision worse.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hello nox,

Elementalist for Spvp, and you can consider it as a pure healer. Aura, Boon share, heavy sustain as druid is more sustain / heavy control / teleporting downstate allies.
For raids, druid is here to support, ele to DPS.

I haven’t played druid, but healbot ele is pretty good at what it’s meant for. I missed playing a healer in an mmo and with auras, boon spamming, aoe condi cleanse, and aoe healing… Ele definitely scratches that heal itch.

(This is only for spvp though, I haven’t touched a raid.)

An ele will be the closest to a pure healer at this time. Druids offer a bit less heal/condi clear/boon support but make up for it in cc.

Druid for CC and big heals.
Ele for boons and medium heals dispensed rapidly.
Guard for utility, lots of boons and small heals dispensed rapidly. (Double edge sword fighting more than 1 necro)

Of course it will depend on your build and playstyle, but those 3 should be really good. If you’re using METAbattle and are fairly new, best to roll with Druid/Ele META builds.

Thank you for the replies, this is all helpful info. I think I’ll try a druid first, since it felt like it had a lower skill floor (at least for me, based on my brief, slightly drunk attempts at some spvp). Hopefully I’ll get lucky with Tomes of Knowledge and can quickly level up an alt elementalist.

nox.8901:

Thank you for the replies, this is all helpful info. I think I’ll try a druid first, since it felt like it had a lower skill floor (at least for me, based on my brief, slightly drunk attempts at some spvp). Hopefully I’ll get lucky with Tomes of Knowledge and can quickly level up an alt elementalist.

Druid is a lot harder to play efficiently at higher levels of play, because they’re squishier, more vulnerable to conditions, and are more limited by cooldowns.

Ele is super easy at lower brackets because no one knows how to deal with damage or sustain.