Guild Wars 2

I’ll give it a start according to my experience.
My experience is subjective to my own perception, so don’t bother flaming me for being inaccurate according to YOUR perception.

This is from a PVP point of view:

List goes from SSS Rank to F Rank

SSS Rank:
Elementalist
(D/D basically is invincible in 1 on 1 when played on decent Ele players, while they’re still extremely strong and helpful in a team fight. 0 counter because it’s jack of all trades, master of all, with great burning damage, great survivability, great mobility, and great support)

SS Rank:
Mesmer
(The current Mesmer is God of death in any +1 situation, able to quickly spike down any target in a +1 situation with stun lock, instant burst, boon removal and such. It is also good in 1 on 1 thanks to the buff in all kinds of manipulation skills, access to cleanse currently, and long lasting instant on demand stealth. An excellent team fighter, and the most needed dps class currently)

A Rank:
Warrior
(Rampage can down a group of people in 3 seconds, while the user himself is near invincible during the process. Immune to CC, near immune to direct damage, near immune to movement impairment. The 15 ICD quickness with such an easy requirement is also kinda strong. Double Endure pain is also annoying)

Guardian
(Extremely strong Burning application. Good survivability from Mediations. Good cleanse. Doesn’t sacrifice much for such a high condition dps. Lots of classic anti-burst invulnerable or block. Currently one of the saviors against Mesmer who doesn’t run too much cleanse XD.)

B Rank:
Necromancer
(Unholy Matrax makes Necro gets life force much more easily, thus making them very durable post patch. MM Necro can troll the current burning god Guardian lol. Power build does good damage)

Thief:
(Higher burst, excellent mobility, but kinda a one trick pony now. It’s not weak, just that other classes become abit too strong for thief to handle)

Engineer
(Suffers quite abit of nerf. Condition spec becomes stronger, but survivabilty gets quite a big hit. Elixir condition spec still works, but Celestial Rifle suffers alot in the current bur sty Meta)

C Rank:
Ranger
(Kinda terrible against the current Meta, while suffering numerous nerf during the process. Too much and too easy access to retaliation on many classes. Taunt is no longer useful against Mesmer, Ele. and Guardian who has long period of invulnerable and block. Was relatively weak even before the patch because of the node restriction that forces Ranger to fight in small space. No game-changing skills like Rampage. Sustain got outlasted by Ele. Burst is inferior than Mesmer, with too much counter-play)

F Rank:
Revenant
(Incomplete class is incomplete. DPS too low, Survivability is meh. Not able to handle the current overtoned Meta)

SSS:
Elementalist
Mesmer

A:
Guardian
Necromancer
Thief
Warrior

C:
Engineer
Ranger

FFF:
Revenant

I’m not sure how you rate warrior higher then thief, when there’s one thief per top team
and you can only find 1 warrior in like 5 top teams.

Also there’s more necro then warrior in ESL finals. also engi.

You forgot that a Mesmer can counter the DD Ele, especially if that Mesmer stunlocks. They’re the two best 1v1 classes currently.

lighter.2708:

I’m not sure how you rate warrior higher then thief, when there’s one thief per top team
and you can only find 1 warrior in like 5 top teams.

Also there’s more necro then warrior in ESL finals. also engi.

I think people are still adjusting to Rampage and learning how to counterplay it. Once eveyrone knows exactly what to do vs it, warrior will continue to decline in the meta until some balance is actually done of the more powerful classes.

Shadow Arts thief is also underrated in the OP, its basically unkillable now and still does a ton of damage, it’s just being outshone by Mes/Ele

infantrydiv.1620:

Shadow Arts thief is also underrated in the OP, its basically unkillable now and still does a ton of damage, it’s just being outshone by Mes/Ele

shadow arts was nerfed in the last patch, and the only heal worth taking got 3 seconds more cooldown added to it. how are they all of a sudden unkillable?

you forgot to mention that warrior is much lower in the tier when their rampage is on recharge, or non rampage warriors.

……wait are necros really considered that big of a threat nowadays? No seriously, maybe I’ve been spending too much time in the necro forums and all the negativity there right now is affecting my perception and play?

S:
Mesmer
Ele

A:
Guardian
Necromancer
Thief
Warrior

B:
Engineer
Ranger

Much is wrong with this list
You’re considering engagement in 1v1 and neglecting job class roles

TheLastNobody.8319:

……wait are necros really considered that big of a threat nowadays? No seriously, maybe I’ve been spending too much time in the necro forums and all the negativity there right now is affecting my perception and play?

Necros have always been decent in 1v1’s, which is what the lists all rank.

lighter.2708:

I’m not sure how you rate warrior higher then thief, when there’s one thief per top team
and you can only find 1 warrior in like 5 top teams.

Also there’s more necro then warrior in ESL finals. also engi.

Who cares for Premade tournaments?

Even otherwise, those tiers are utter nonsense. Alone for Foefire I use several classes depending on the state of the game and the opposing team or own compilation. Power Ranger is the God of the graveyard, Power Necro with Lich is the best Lord killer. And so everything has weaknesses and strengths.

Point Holders:
-> Ele
-> Bunker Guardian

Roamers:
-> Mesmer
-> Thief
-> Warrior
→ Guardian

Rest may be used as fillers…

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro is easily better than engi and ranger in their current deplorable states.

Daishi.6027:

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro under ranger? Top team in NA carries a necro and necros with cele signets absolutely much more useful (even power necro is lol) in teams than a ranger ever will be.

Please, ranger is definitely at the bottom of the tier list right now , no matter what list you make.

blitzkrieg.2451:

Daishi.6027:

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro under ranger? Top team in NA carries a necro and necros with cele signets absolutely much more useful (even power necro is lol) in teams than a ranger ever will be.

Please, ranger is definitely at the bottom of the tier list right now , no matter what list you make.

I’d go as far to say that even MM necro is more useful right now than a ranger, unless its Eurantien.

Condi necro though.. its so messed up right now that its best to pretend it doesn’t exist.

blitzkrieg.2451:

Daishi.6027:

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro under ranger? Top team in NA carries a necro and necros with cele signets absolutely much more useful (even power necro is lol) in teams than a ranger ever will be.

Please, ranger is definitely at the bottom of the tier list right now , no matter what list you make.

Abjured has Nos and he -only- play Necro, no matter how good or bad Necro is in certain meta. So using Abjured isn’t really good example… however Ranger is in much worse state for sure.

What is this .. This…. Respectable necro build you speak of?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

What is this .. This…. Respectable necro build you speak of?

You mean Nos?
→ Celestial
→ Spite (Signets)/Curses(Weakening Shroud)/SoulReaping
→ Staff , Dagger+Warhorn
→ Signets

Yeah Chaos, its the best necro build in years. It has tons of mightstacking, boon corruption, weakness, and is naturally tanky.

It still doesn’t have much group support but its beastly in 1v1 and has very high sustained damage.

The current Mesmer is God of death in any +1 situation, able to quickly spike down any target in a +1 situation with stun lock, instant burst, boon removal and such. It is also good in 1 on 1 thanks to the buff in all kinds of manipulation skills, access to cleanse currently, and long lasting instant on demand stealth.

Just to clarify, a Mesmer can’t have all of stunlock, strong condition clearing and PU in one build unless they give up the Dueling traitline which… no one does unless they’re running bunker/support.

Top Tier – Ele > Mesmer >> Guardian
Mid Tier – Warrior >> Thief > Engineer
Bottom Tier – Necro >> Ranger >>>>>>>>>>> Revenant

Fixing bugs across all classes, toning down burning and toning down overall dps will bring things closer to balance. Then, they should focus on maybe re-balancing Ele/Mesmer/Necro/Ranger.

Completely OP:
Ele

OP:
Mesmer

Decent Spot:
Guardian. The bunker guard has returned to glory.
Warrior – If Ramage is nerfed, they will fall into the below average category
Necro- The best place that it has been in PvP in a year.
Engi. – Lower than the other 3 in this category but ok. Nothing special. Just a barely average class.

Harder to rank:
Ranger: You don’t see them played much at higher levels, but their condi aids spec is really really good right now. Most of the players just haven’t moved on from power ranger yet though.

Thief: This is the hardest for me to rank. The class seems great with a top 10 thief, but otherwise, it is a liability to the team. In most PUG matches, the team with the most thieves loses.

style.6173:

Completely OP:
Ele

OP:
Mesmer

Decent Spot:
Guardian. The bunker guard has returned to glory.
Warrior – If Ramage is nerfed, they will fall into the below average category
Necro- The best place that it has been in PvP in a year.
Engi. – Lower than the other 3 in this category but ok. Nothing special. Just a barely average class.

Harder to rank:
Ranger: You don’t see them played much at higher levels, but their condi aids spec is really really good right now. Most of the players just haven’t moved on from power ranger yet though.

Thief: This is the hardest for me to rank. The class seems great with a top 10 thief, but otherwise, it is a liability to the team. In most PUG matches, the team with the most thieves loses.

I agree

Top Tier (required on every team)
D/D Ele (bonus points for being viable on teams with 2 eles), Mesmer (shatter or mantra), Thief (d/p)

Good Tier (Interchangeable parts that fit into teams)
Warrior (with Rampage), Guardian (bunker or medi, maybe even burn), Necro (cele), Engie (Soldier’s proc-engie), Staff ele, Survival ranger

Unviable tier: (many decent builds here, but they are all strictly worse than those above and its almost impossible to justify taking them)
pretty much anything else

I forgot, this is the week for Ele spec guys, stay ready for the infinite “opiness”

It would be fun

BlackBeard.2873:

Top Tier (required on every team)
D/D Ele (bonus points for being viable on teams with 2 eles), Mesmer (shatter or mantra), Thief (d/p)

Good Tier (Interchangeable parts that fit into teams)
Warrior (with Rampage), Guardian (bunker or medi, maybe even burn), Necro (cele), Engie (Soldier’s proc-engie), Staff ele, Survival ranger

Unviable tier: (many decent builds here, but they are all strictly worse than those above and its almost impossible to justify taking them)
pretty much anything else

Agree Thief has a kittened amount of damage.

Yeah, agree with the OP: ele again is king, Mesmer got a huge buff, engi thankfully is not completely OP any more, thief depends so much on the player (used to be my favourite class, now I can’t even play it anymore, its weird), warrior and necro are good, guard is pretty easy- great aoe burn damage, ranger is ok but just outshone by the top tier classes.

The only reason because thief is on meta is because is used like “Mesmer boost” to give him more aoe stealth and use him to force the other enemy mesmer to use more Cd lol.

Basically Mesmer is better in everything, don’t forget how strong is portal in a spvp match and now has a lower CD.

Thief has really only stealth and mobility now, other stuff is crap. And you need to be really a good thief to not create a big damage to your team.

Morwath.9817:

blitzkrieg.2451:

Daishi.6027:

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro under ranger? Top team in NA carries a necro and necros with cele signets absolutely much more useful (even power necro is lol) in teams than a ranger ever will be.

Please, ranger is definitely at the bottom of the tier list right now , no matter what list you make.

Abjured has Nos and he -only- play Necro, no matter how good or bad Necro is in certain meta. So using Abjured isn’t really good example… however Ranger is in much worse state for sure.

Did you watch the recent ESL? Saying Nos is the only necro there, you are completely mistaken (I know you’ll say “oh we are talking about Top NA”) But if you knew there are other necors beside Nos you wouldn’t have pointed that out.

StickerHappy.8052:

Morwath.9817:

blitzkrieg.2451:

Daishi.6027:

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro under ranger? Top team in NA carries a necro and necros with cele signets absolutely much more useful (even power necro is lol) in teams than a ranger ever will be.

Please, ranger is definitely at the bottom of the tier list right now , no matter what list you make.

Abjured has Nos and he -only- play Necro, no matter how good or bad Necro is in certain meta. So using Abjured isn’t really good example… however Ranger is in much worse state for sure.

Did you watch the recent ESL? Saying Nos is the only necro there, you are completely mistaken (I know you’ll say “oh we are talking about Top NA”) But if you knew there are other necors beside Nos you wouldn’t have pointed that out.

That’s not what he said.

I thought I was going to laugh at where Ele was placed.

I then saw Warrior and I fell out of my chair.

SSS
Mesmer
Ele

F
The rest

style.6173:

Completely OP:
Ele

OP:
Mesmer

Decent Spot:
Guardian. The bunker guard has returned to glory.
Warrior – If Ramage is nerfed, they will fall into the below average category
Necro- The best place that it has been in PvP in a year.
Engi. – Lower than the other 3 in this category but ok. Nothing special. Just a barely average class.

Harder to rank:
Ranger: You don’t see them played much at higher levels, but their condi aids spec is really really good right now. Most of the players just haven’t moved on from power ranger yet though.

Thief: This is the hardest for me to rank. The class seems great with a top 10 thief, but otherwise, it is a liability to the team. In most PUG matches, the team with the most thieves loses.

+1

From my experience thus far.
S+
Ele

S
Mesmer

A
Guard
Necro

B +
Thief
Warrior

C
Engi

C-
Ranger

I don’t like the concept of a class-specific tier-list, because in most cases, the class itself isn’t too strong/weak, but certain builds are. Here’s my more comprehensive list:

Top
Ele (D/D)
Mesmer (shatter)

Mid
Thief (D/P)
Guard (shout)
Warrior (rampage)
Necro (power or cele)
Ele (staff, S/D)
Engi (power or cele)

Bottom
Necro (condition)
Ranger (power and condition)
Engi (condition)
Thief (S/D)

Super:
Elementalist (D/D really didn’t need any buffs, now it is god mode with plenty of amazing trait synergy to choose from, can do any role)
Mesmer (another profession which got buffed too much, crazy amount stuns, blind, immobilize, set up burst from stealth, very short cooldown on escapes like blink, very long stealth, can do multiple roles as well)

Mid:
Guardian (almost at super tier, good sustain + burst + burns)
Warrior (without rampage + hammer/gs might be at bottom tier in the current meta)
Necromancer (power + celestial)
Thief (D/P is still strong)

Bottom:
Ranger (even though ranger got stronger, the current meta just doesn’t favor having them in a team, ranger is very strong in 1 vs 1 though)
Engineer (trait synergy is gone, baseline things missing, bugged, many traits very weak compared to any other profession)

S
Ele
Mes

A
Teef

B
Engi
Guard

C
Necro
War

D E F G H I J K
Ranger

Reading all the negatives about ranger, if anet would just buff ranger I would feel so op. It’s possible that you guys never played against solid ranger with proper build. As for me, I think ranger is in very solid place atm.

A – mes, ele, ranger
B+ – guard, necro, thief
B- – engi, war

ps: if u want to see what I can with my ranger, poke me anytime for duel

meow one twenty.4376:

StickerHappy.8052:

Morwath.9817:

blitzkrieg.2451:

Daishi.6027:

A:
Ele
Mes
Guard
Thief

B:
Warrior
Engie
Ranger

C:
Necro.

This being said I feel the gap between tiers are a lot closer than the segregation between tiers of previous metas. Everything regardless of spec has at least somewhat of a chance, and no major builds are 100% pushed out by either the nature of the meta or a hard counter..

So maybe A-, B, and C+?

Necro under ranger? Top team in NA carries a necro and necros with cele signets absolutely much more useful (even power necro is lol) in teams than a ranger ever will be.

Please, ranger is definitely at the bottom of the tier list right now , no matter what list you make.

Abjured has Nos and he -only- play Necro, no matter how good or bad Necro is in certain meta. So using Abjured isn’t really good example… however Ranger is in much worse state for sure.

Did you watch the recent ESL? Saying Nos is the only necro there, you are completely mistaken (I know you’ll say “oh we are talking about Top NA”) But if you knew there are other necors beside Nos you wouldn’t have pointed that out.

That’s not what he said.

^
Also, other Necros in other teams were clearly -1. Abjured probably could lose finals in last week, if enemies would have another Ele/Mesmer instead of their horrible and useless always downed Necro.

Miyu.8137:

Reading all the negatives about ranger, if anet would just buff ranger I would feel so op. It’s possible that you guys never played against solid ranger with proper build. As for me, I think ranger is in very solid place atm.

A – mes, ele, ranger
B+ – guard, necro, thief
B- – engi, war

ps: if u want to see what I can with my ranger, poke me anytime for duel

What a class/build can do in a duel is nearly irrelevant to how strong it is or how much use it is in PvP, there is a reason there was not a single ranger in the ESL EU tournament a couple of days ago…

Maybe because the players simply doesn’t believe to rangers or they are just bad playing it. I will still repeat it. Ranger is one of the best classes according me. Most ppl just having no clue how to use it.

I am not gonna argue with you or with anyone about how to play pvp. As for me the most important factor in pvp is 1v1 anyway, since in 3 points game you mostlikely fight on 2 nodes 1v1.

But back to ranger. I can’t see what other classes have while ranger doesn’t. Ranger can support your teams as any other class or even better, while still be one of the best 1v1 class.

Miyu.8137:

Maybe because the players simply doesn’t believe to rangers or they are just bad playing it. I will still repeat it. Ranger is one of the best classes according me. Most ppl just having no clue how to use it.

I am not gonna argue with you or with anyone about how to play pvp. As for me the most important factor in pvp is 1v1 anyway, since in 3 points game you mostlikely fight on 2 nodes 1v1.

But back to ranger. I can’t see what other classes have while ranger doesn’t. Ranger can support your teams as any other class or even better, while still be one of the best 1v1 class.

It’s always funny that some people have this self-righteousness of believing they’re one of those very few “special individuals” who knows how things work, while other 5 millions players and those top 100 individuals clearly have no idea of how things work.

Seriously, stop assuming other people, even the top players, are all idiots, and you’re the only one who knows how things work. Usually people who hold this idea have very limiting view point, and live in their little world of low tier competitive scene.

Their famous quote is always: “Most players don’t know bleh bleh bleh, I’m the only one that know how to make it work. I’m the only good player here, while other people are just bad because I have success in my low tier competition.”

Miyu.8137:

Maybe because the players simply doesn’t believe to rangers or they are just bad playing it. I will still repeat it. Ranger is one of the best classes according me. Most ppl just having no clue how to use it.

I am not gonna argue with you or with anyone about how to play pvp. As for me the most important factor in pvp is 1v1 anyway, since in 3 points game you mostlikely fight on 2 nodes 1v1.

But back to ranger. I can’t see what other classes have while ranger doesn’t. Ranger can support your teams as any other class or even better, while still be one of the best 1v1 class.

It doesn’t matters how good profession in 1v1 is, as long as:
→ it can’t do anything (including disengage) when enemy gets +1;
→ bring nothing to team fights.

Miyu.8137:

Maybe because the players simply doesn’t believe to rangers or they are just bad playing it. I will still repeat it. Ranger is one of the best classes according me. Most ppl just having no clue how to use it.

I am not gonna argue with you or with anyone about how to play pvp. As for me the most important factor in pvp is 1v1 anyway, since in 3 points game you mostlikely fight on 2 nodes 1v1.

But back to ranger. I can’t see what other classes have while ranger doesn’t. Ranger can support your teams as any other class or even better, while still be one of the best 1v1 class.

A few reasons why.

1. Ranger is designed to be a skirmishing class, which means they really can’t contest nodes. They have to keep moving to either kite or evade, and the small point sizes (except Foefire mid) don’t really let you do that.

2. Team support is very limited to a couple interrupts and Healing Spring. If it wasn’t for the mass of AoE cleansing, we could add Muddy Terrain and Entangle to that list. Ranger is pretty good at buffing itself, but allies…not so much. Before you mention Spirits, sorry, those suck.

3. Weak in most teamfights due to the pet getting AoE’d down, removing a decent portion of the Ranger’s damage and utility (dead wolf hurts the Ranger a ton)

The issue with Ranger in PvP right now isn’t that Rangers are weak. It’s that they are ill-suited to conquest. I suspect they will be one of the higher professions for Stronghold once a meta develops there.

Miyu.8137:

Maybe because the players simply doesn’t believe to rangers or they are just bad playing it. I will still repeat it. Ranger is one of the best classes according me. Most ppl just having no clue how to use it.

I am not gonna argue with you or with anyone about how to play pvp. As for me the most important factor in pvp is 1v1 anyway, since in 3 points game you mostlikely fight on 2 nodes 1v1.

But back to ranger. I can’t see what other classes have while ranger doesn’t. Ranger can support your teams as any other class or even better, while still be one of the best 1v1 class.

Other classes that compete for the same roll i.e. thieves and mesmers both have boon stripping, better mobility through porting, better burst damage, and high amounts of stealth for disengaging/rezzing.

Plus they don’t lose a percentage of their damage because it’s tied to A.I. with terrible pathing.

Ranger is extremely fun to play and it’s decently strong in 1v1’s (depending on the build you are fighting) but it isn’t close to being competitive when facing organized teams.

The relationship between classes is more symbiotic like the pokemon elemental system where one class may be weak in certain areas but exceed expectations in others. E.g. A well played d/p thief will lose to a well played medi guard. A well played Ele may lose to a well played Ranger.

Tiers would never work for this type of system, even 1v1. It would be more like a Chart.

You are all funny…

Top OP classes are:
1. Warrior, Mesmer, Thief, Ele
2. Rest

First three can kill a person in 5 secs, fourth is the best class overall now with no drawbacks.
Second line is just all others who fall behind in everything.

Pyriel.4370:

The relationship between classes is more symbiotic like the pokemon elemental system where one class may be weak in certain areas but exceed expectations in others. E.g. A well played d/p thief will lose to a well played medi guard. A well played Ele may lose to a well played Ranger.

Tiers would never work for this type of system, even 1v1. It would be more like a Chart.

I know this is slightly off topic but competitive pokemon players make tiers too.

Sunflowers.1729:

Pyriel.4370:

The relationship between classes is more symbiotic like the pokemon elemental system where one class may be weak in certain areas but exceed expectations in others. E.g. A well played d/p thief will lose to a well played medi guard. A well played Ele may lose to a well played Ranger.

Tiers would never work for this type of system, even 1v1. It would be more like a Chart.

I know this is slightly off topic but competitive pokemon players make tiers too.

Yep. Even though the lower tier like Under-used Pokemon may still beat Ubers with the right set-up and the right strategy, it is clear that Ubers have way more advantages, and can execute even better with the right set-up and the right strategy.

This theory works the same for GW2 too. It’s true that lower tier classes can still beat higher tier classes, but when you compare them closely in a team composition, there’re always better classes and worse classes.