Guild Wars 2

Read first: There are many factors that go into overall class effectiveness: skill, build, comp, teamwork, opponent, etc. This tier list is to get a general idea of how well a class can perform in SPVP. Special cases or situations can be discussed in the thread, but for the poll, please answer this specifically:

When played well, with the best available build and competent teammates/opponents, this class performs:

S: Superior – Dominates outcomes of matches, no counters easily available
A: Above Average – Strongly influences the match, difficult to counter
B: Average – Contributes well to match outcome and has balanced strengths and weaknesses
C: Below Average – Not much potential to affect outcome of match, or is only situationally effective
F: Not viable – Dominated by other classes, rarely effective

Elementalist
Engineer
Guardian
Mesmer
Necromancer
Ranger
Thief
Warrior

Other notes:

• This poll is for 5v5 games. Team and solo queue can be considered, but the emphasis is on what works in a situation with good players and teamwork.
• If there are multiple builds available for a class, consider the strongest one.
• Not for hotjoin
• Not for duels or 2v2s
• Not for skyhammer
• Not for evaluating multiple class builds. Use class forums or metabattle for that.

If you want to go into more detail than just the general response, do it in the thread.

Update 10/17:- For a quick and dirty ranking list, I gave every class a score from their average rating (1-5), and then assigned a letter +/- to it. Here it is:

Ele 4.49 A+
Eng 4.27 A+
Teef 3.68 A-
War 3.58 A-
Mes 3.54 A-
Guard 3.37 B+
Nec 3.16 B
Rngr 3.02 B

Can i answer to this poll even if i dont have any pve knowledge ?

I love how ele is considered “S” with no counters easily available. Ofc eles dont die to focus fire or to necro/thief/mesmers.

Seriously stop polling such stuff in a forum where 90% are casual PvPers and have never been in the situation “When played well, with the best available build and competent teammates/opponents, this class performs”

Answered the poll, and would rank as follows:

- Ele (A)
- War (A)
- Engi (A-)
- Guard (A-)
- Mesmer (B+)
- Necro (B)
- Thief (B)
- Ranger (B-)

I’ll just start by saying that I truly believe every class is between an A and a B- as I have listed, and can work well in the right hands. The game will never be truly balanced being a MMO, but it’s better than probably all the others. The issue usually lies with situations without enough counter-play whether it be instants, passives, poor animations, etc.

As long as D/D Ele is viable in a teamfight it will always be strong as it can pump out a lot of support, aoe, some CC, and safe stomp/rez with mist. And lets not forget they still have the best downed state in the game.

Warrior is the same deal as an ele in a teamfight with earthshaker and combustive shot just being plain great on point, stab for rez/stomps, standard for rezzing, good CC, only heal in the game without any requirement except to slot it, and can be great to send towards a side point to 1v1.

Engi can be a real menace to deal with on side nodes if you can’t CC lock or Condi bomb them, bring great ranged pressure on points during team fights, stomp/rez with elixir S, provide some team heals with blasts on their water field, and annoying soft CC with chill/cripple/immob, and interrupt rezzes with overcharged shot against the downed enemy (my personal favorite).

Guardian has been the same and will most likely always be the same. I don’t think I need a lot of detail here at this point at what a great class this is to have in a teamfight especially in mid with the ability to do so much support for it’s team.

Mesmer has actually always be a top tier class with the exception of thief having such a large advantage against them (consume plasma is just too much with protection uptime of over 10 seconds, giving stab/aegis/regen/vigor, constant port pressure, and everybody running trickery for reduced cooldown). Shatter can wreck a bunker, remove boons, can spike any half-hp target in general, portal is never terrible in general for a quick advantage to a node, a lot of potential interrupts, and can safe rez/stomp if it’s really called for. Their downstate generally prevents a stomp unless it’s against a single stealthed enemy.

Necro is still basically played the same way as it has really always been. Condi/terror spikes, boon corruption, position yourself well or pay the price, poor mobility, really good for (quick) 1v1, a well timed lich can be nasty, but once everybody knows you are a zerk you may as well put the target over your head yourself and ensure you have a baby-sitter. Despite what anybody will say they still work in certain comps, and can turn a fight in a hurry, but can become a huge liability with positional mistakes.

Thief has been played the same through nerfs/buffs. Always zerk, always looking to decap if the opponent is lazy, prevents stomps through refuge/rupts/stealing stab, pressures the edges, executes low and/or out of position targets, best mobility to create quick 2v1 and 3v2’s. A well played thief is still a gem to have on your team as they aren’t going to put themselves in position to die. Problem is there really aren’t as many good ones out there as think they are. I mean that for 5v5, as 1v1 I don’t care, and thief shouldn’t be looking for 1v1’s anyway unless its another zerk squishy. Lastly, they have the 2nd best downstate in the game.

Ranger I’m still not sold on. Sure it’s great to troll hotjoints and WvW with your 1500 range 100blades, but I’d rather bring a zerk warrior/thief/mesmer to a team fight as they are for the most part a selfish build when they go zerk. They still make pretty good home defenders as a bunker, put some condi pressure up, spirit rez, and work well in some comps. Good downed state in a 1v1 if the opponent can’t safe stomp, and if you both go down, gg. In general a good class to start out with to learn the game as I would say it and warrior are easiest to be effective with at entry-level.

I would like to see a list that is a little more specifc like listing weaps, amy and traits.

Elementalist A
Engineer A
Guardian A
Mesmer F
Necromancer B
Ranger B
Thief A
Warrior S

crono.7283:

Mesmer F

Typo? If not, could you explain why you think that?

Ele S
Necro B
Mesmer B
Everything else A

Jekkt.6045:

I love how ele is considered “S” with no counters easily available. Ofc eles dont die to focus fire or to necro/thief/mesmers.

Seriously stop polling such stuff in a forum where 90% are casual PvPers and have never been in the situation “When played well, with the best available build and competent teammates/opponents, this class performs”

Focusing fire is not a counter and necro/thief/mesmer does not counter a dd ele (necro does do alright against them but it is not an unwinnable match up by the ele).

Just my opinion
- Ele (S)
- War (B)
- Engi (A)
- Guard (A-)
- Mesmer (B+)
- Necro (C+)
- Thief (A)
- Ranger (B)

It also depends a lot on builds so hard kinda hard to say ^^

Ele :A+
War :A
Eng :A
Thief :A
Mesmer :A-
Necro :B+
Guard :A
Ranger :B

“This poll is for 5v5 games. Team and solo queue can be considered, but the emphasis is on what works in a situation with good players and teamwork.” and “Not for duels or 2v2s”

Those two things in mind, along with what the class should be doing, I’d rank as follows. Short explanation under. (You might just wanna skip to those).

Ele: A-
War: C
Eng: B
Thief: B+
Mesmer : A-
Necro: B-
Guard: S
Ranger: C

Ele: Good control and nuking, which is what an elementalist should do. Not too squishy, but not too tanky. They definitely have gotten back to being versatile. They can do well in team fights since they bring AE effects to both offense and defense. Still feel slightly… Lacking.

War: Rely on speed, CC, and toughness to survive. The faster they can finish a fight, the better since they get weaker as they fight. Right now, they’re mostly just glorified CC cannons. That’s it really. AoE CC cannons. That’s really most of all that we bring to a fight. Due to poor utilities we also have to have the fight mostly done in about 10 seconds or we’re dead. But hey, we’re really good at making that happen since people like to run zerker.

Eng: Can be helpful in team situations, but only with limited fields and turrets (GLaDOS would be disappointed at the lack of neurotoxin, but ok with the number of turrets). Primarily act as the single target CC cannon that the warrior cannot be. Most control type abilities, like mines and bombs are poorly made and either aren’t used or used solely because they can control one point really, really OK. They could be better in team fights, especially since they have the potential to be a battlefield medic (medkits + medkit on turret drop).

Thief: Stabby stabby, vanish, stabby stabby, vanish. Dead person. They do what they are made for really well. Sadly, when they pass around their prime team utility, most other look at it and say, “what is this? two rather useless venom applications? It better be the stun venom!” Could really do with more team type…well, STUFF!

Mesmer: Control a person to death, but control team utilities for themselves. Good at managing to control a person to death without being overly CC dependent (Engie + warrior, we’re looking at you two) but seem to have to use all their team fight utility on themselves to make it happen. But when they do use a utility for the team, everybody likes 50% faster attacks.

Necro: Come in some variety, the solo only minion, the DoT everything and laugh because I’m waaay too tanky to die, and the power necro. The first and last are fine. It’d be nice if the first could deal with more people, but it’s more solo only. Power necro does good to “awesome hahahaha!” damage and can have a team utility to help debuff or buff with. The problem is the normal DoT one. It’s too many damage DoTs, applied too quickly, with far too much survivability in most cases. Did I mention most of it is AoE all the time? No? It is! That’s not to say it wipes groups out, but it can very quickly kill anyone but a good guardian. Needs less damage, and more attrition.

Guard: Despite paltry changes they do what they do really well. They’re also the only nonOP class, which causes quite a lot of “We want that too =(”. They can group cleanse, throw down some awesome fields, and the only real downside is they are very, heavily boon dependent. They have a few problems that still need fixing, that never seem to be, but do what they need to excellently.

Ranger: I’ve actually started to notice rangers attacking me for a change. Before I though I was being sneezed at. To my surprise, they’re actually starting to deal damage too. If we could keep this going and give them some fields to throw down, or buffs thrown out from their pet and more damage, that’d be awesome!

Elementalist – S
Engineer – S
Warrior – A
Necromancer – A
Thief – A
Guardian – B
Mesmer – B
Ranger – C

Take a look at the “standard” comp atm:
Mesmer
Thief
Ele
Guard
Smth (ranger, engi, second ele, warrior)
The reason for this is simple imo:
Mesmer is S+ , the other 3 professions (thief,guard,ele) are taken because they work best with mesmer, thief is needed to complement burst to be able to kill stuff, guard and ele to support mesmer/thief, since they dont have condi cleanse/sustain inherent in their builds. Last spot is somewhat free, you can specialize in what you want to add, will probably be a strong 1v1er with “high – mid” to “high” survivability, with good teamfight, just an overall strong class.
Thats why imo these tierlists dont work on their own, playing the same classes but without mesmer just wont work, mesmer is by far the strongest single profession, the rest is build around (obv. mesmer still wouldnt work if there weren’t strong support speccs like guard/ele, so the comp doesnt really excel without those either).

The NA meta is much different. The typical comp in NA is 2 eles, 1 engi, 1 warrior, and 1 other. The other can be an engi, a warrior, a necro, or a thief. I feel like it’s possible to build around all the classes, but the classes I rank high stand out on what they bring to any comp they’re added to.

Elementalist – S+. outstanding 1v1, team play. Above average when outnumbered.
Engineer – A outstanding 1v1 play, Above average team play. Average when outnumbered.
Warrior – B Above average Team play (if shout heal) Above average 1v1 Play. Average when outnumbered.
Necromancer – C Outstanding 1v1 play, Average team play. Horrible/travesty when outnumbered.
Thief – S Outstanding 1v1 play, Above Average Team Play, Outstanding when outnumbered.
Guardian – A Below Average 1v1 play, Outstanding Team play, Above Average when outnumbered.
Mesmer – B Average 1v1 play, Above Average team play, Average when outnumbered.
Ranger – C Average 1v1 Play, outstanding team play. Travesty when outnumbered.

There are some classes that do moderately well in all situations, and some that are incredible amazing in some situations but lacking in others.

- Ele (S)
- Engi (S)
-I’d just like to see a nerf to celestial. That would put both classes as an A for team PvP. (For non tournaments, turret engi still needs a nerf)

- War (A)
- Guard (A)
—Both are in a good spot right now. I would like to see warriors have 1 small change: Not able to contest or cap a point when under the effects of endure pain. Guards are still in a good place, but aren’t mandatory anymore, which is a good thing.

- Mesmer (A-)
- Necro (A-)
—Decent spot. Not much different than the B+ group

- Thief (B+)
- Ranger (B+)
—Both are still viable, but its more about the skill of the individual than the status of the class. For thief, I’d like to see a cloak n dagger buff and a revealed reduction to 3 seconds to match Pve. For ranger, I think they just need some time for the meta to evolve.

Ele S (Wins all 1v1, good support, good team fight)
Engi A (Good 1v1s, decent team fight, kinda squishy but takes out guardians)
Warrior B (Good cc, not very good 1v1 anymore)
Guard C (Can’t 1v1 at all, focused too quickly in team fights, pretty useless)
Mesmer B- (Good utility, bad 1v1, focused much too easily)
Necro A+ (Wins ALL 1v1, wins ALL 2v2, good utility, replaces mesmer, not focused easily)
Thief B+ (Great mobility, good 1v1, good spike, but not on par with other top classes)
Ranger B (new condi ranger build is interesting, wins a lot of 1v1 but thats it)

TIL engi has no counters

S: Elementalist
(Nothing influences the game as this really powerful class. 1 v 1 god, no counter, swiftness for the complete group at start, passive heal like a bozz, combofields + blast finisher, AoE Teamfight Damage + Heals, Condi removal and a lot of boons[2 stabilitys aswell], one of the best mobility, even mobility for your team, nothing more to say)

A: Warrior
(Still really powerful. A Hambow has a rezzbanner, to get teammates up really well. Stability, COMPLETE God mode. AoE Stuns, AoE Burning, long immo, still really powerful in 1 v 1 [except vs ele], combo field and finsisher, passive heal like a bozz)

Thief
(Highest Mobility with elementalist, huge spike damage, invis, shadow refuge in teamfights. 1 v 1 strong, extremely powerful in combination with mesmer, combo fiel + finisher, Stuns and good AoE, can remove stability easily [really annoying])

B: Guardian
(really good AoE Support, teamfight strong, you can hold 1 v 1 forever or really really long, blocks, boons for the team, a little AoE Damage, the only stability for the group, mobility isn’t that great)

Mesmer (A Tier if you combine him with Thief, teamfight strong, 1 v 1 is risky and not really good but sometimes have a chance. Huge Spike Damage, Stealth, Moa, Mobility is good, really good range)

Engineer
(One of the best elites in the game, AoE Burning and other good conds, has good survive, with 2 Blocks + immunity, good range on grenades, combo fields + finisher, stealth, good 1 v 1)

C: Ranger
(Has some good moments, teamfight strong if you build him like that but then he is really bad in 1 v 1, 1 v 1 ok but then he is bad in teamfights. AoE Rezz that can trigger multiple times, can bunker, mobility is ok, range is ok]

Nekro
(Has really good moments aswell, bunkerkiller, 1 v 1 is ok, can bunker a bit with elite, AoE Conds, can remove stability but not as good as a thief, mobility isn’t that good, teamfights are really good [in combination with Engi really destroyable], ok range)

XSamX.7182:

S: Elementalist
(Nothing influences the game as this really powerful class. 1 v 1 god, no counter, swiftness for the complete group at start, passive heal like a bozz, combofields + blast finisher, AoE Teamfight Damage + Heals, Condi removal and a lot of boons[2 stabilitys aswell], one of the best mobility, even mobility for your team, nothing more to say)

A: Warrior
(Still really powerful. A Hambow has a rezzbanner, to get teammates up really well. Stability, COMPLETE God mode. AoE Stuns, AoE Burning, long immo, still really powerful in 1 v 1 [except vs ele], combo field and finsisher, passive heal like a bozz)

Thief
(Highest Mobility with elementalist, huge spike damage, invis, shadow refuge in teamfights. 1 v 1 strong, extremely powerful in combination with mesmer, combo fiel + finisher, Stuns and good AoE, can remove stability easily [really annoying])

B: Guardian
(really good AoE Support, teamfight strong, you can hold 1 v 1 forever or really really long, blocks, boons for the team, a little AoE Damage, the only stability for the group, mobility isn’t that great)

Mesmer (A Tier if you combine him with Thief, teamfight strong, 1 v 1 is risky and not really good but sometimes have a chance. Huge Spike Damage, Stealth, Moa, Mobility is good, really good range)

Engineer
(One of the best elites in the game, AoE Burning and other good conds, has good survive, with 2 Blocks + immunity, good range on grenades, combo fields + finisher, stealth, good 1 v 1)

C: Ranger
(Has some good moments, teamfight strong if you build him like that but then he is really bad in 1 v 1, 1 v 1 ok but then he is bad in teamfights. AoE Rezz that can trigger multiple times, can bunker, mobility is ok, range is ok]

Nekro
(Has really good moments aswell, bunkerkiller, 1 v 1 is ok, can bunker a bit with elite, AoE Conds, can remove stability but not as good as a thief, mobility isn’t that good, teamfights are really good [in combination with Engi really destroyable], ok range)

I’m basing this off the best players ive seen on each class….
Necro is not an ok 1v1, its the best 1v1 in the game
Engi is 2nd best 1v1er in the game

Also engi thrashes ele 1v1, and necro goes about 50-50 with it (best vs best)
I understand on EU, there are no good engis and necros, but i assure you they are 2 of the 3 best classes in the game

Engi Necro Ele – T1
Warrior Thief – T2
Ranger Mesmer Guardian – T3

Mike.4830:

XSamX.7182:

S: Elementalist
(Nothing influences the game as this really powerful class. 1 v 1 god, no counter, swiftness for the complete group at start, passive heal like a bozz, combofields + blast finisher, AoE Teamfight Damage + Heals, Condi removal and a lot of boons[2 stabilitys aswell], one of the best mobility, even mobility for your team, nothing more to say)

A: Warrior
(Still really powerful. A Hambow has a rezzbanner, to get teammates up really well. Stability, COMPLETE God mode. AoE Stuns, AoE Burning, long immo, still really powerful in 1 v 1 [except vs ele], combo field and finsisher, passive heal like a bozz)

Thief
(Highest Mobility with elementalist, huge spike damage, invis, shadow refuge in teamfights. 1 v 1 strong, extremely powerful in combination with mesmer, combo fiel + finisher, Stuns and good AoE, can remove stability easily [really annoying])

B: Guardian
(really good AoE Support, teamfight strong, you can hold 1 v 1 forever or really really long, blocks, boons for the team, a little AoE Damage, the only stability for the group, mobility isn’t that great)

Mesmer (A Tier if you combine him with Thief, teamfight strong, 1 v 1 is risky and not really good but sometimes have a chance. Huge Spike Damage, Stealth, Moa, Mobility is good, really good range)

Engineer
(One of the best elites in the game, AoE Burning and other good conds, has good survive, with 2 Blocks + immunity, good range on grenades, combo fields + finisher, stealth, good 1 v 1)

C: Ranger
(Has some good moments, teamfight strong if you build him like that but then he is really bad in 1 v 1, 1 v 1 ok but then he is bad in teamfights. AoE Rezz that can trigger multiple times, can bunker, mobility is ok, range is ok]

Nekro
(Has really good moments aswell, bunkerkiller, 1 v 1 is ok, can bunker a bit with elite, AoE Conds, can remove stability but not as good as a thief, mobility isn’t that good, teamfights are really good [in combination with Engi really destroyable], ok range)

I’m basing this off the best players ive seen on each class….
Necro is not an ok 1v1, its the best 1v1 in the game
Engi is 2nd best 1v1er in the game

Also engi thrashes ele 1v1, and necro goes about 50-50 with it (best vs best)
I understand on EU, there are no good engis and necros, but i assure you they are 2 of the 3 best classes in the game

Engi Necro Ele – T1
Warrior Thief – T2
Ranger Mesmer Guardian – T3

Are you talking about meta build used in tq or dueling builds?

Necro>engi
Condi ranger, condi wars, ele are 50/50 with engi in 1v1.

Now if we talking about dueling builds its totally different strong coz then you have to take into account pd condi thief and condi pu mesmers.

Backpack’s honestly not trolling here. Necro wins every 1v1 except against a really good ele, and even then it’s a close fight. Engi always loses to necro, but beats everything else. Ele is definitely below those two in terms of 1v1 capabilities.

I think the main thing that’s missing from Backpack’s list is the synergy of Guardian/Mesmer/Thief. It may not be meta on NA, but it’s still a strong comp.

I think ele is better than engi in terms of 1v1 potential. and lots not forget medi guard beats necro!

^ kitten excuse for losing to eles on his engineer.

OlrunTheBlade.1486:

Elementalist – S
Engineer – S
Warrior – A
Necromancer – A
Thief – A
Guardian – B
Mesmer – B
Ranger – C

Ranger at B as well, but I agree with this list.

I definitely think it’s possible with the right build, but I just haven’t seen it being run effectively in team queues.

It hold’s it’s own well against your typical side point builds, have found it particularly effective against engi’s (talking about SoTF condi builds), but is easily focused down. Also kind of overshadowed by necro.

Elementalist A+
Engineer A-
Guardian A
Mesmer B
Necromancer B-
Ranger B-
Thief A-
Warrior B

IMO the game is not that imbalanced currently.

Ever since I came back a few months ago I’ve started rating personal player skill way above class or comp. Instead of fearing X match up I’ve started fearing X player more.

With that said here is my list, and it could change based on one person showing me the viability of something at any moment.

Elementalist A+ (dd ele only, every other spec/weapon set is more like B-, if that)
Engineer A
Necro A
Thief A-
Mesmer B+
Guardian B-
Warrior B-
Ranger C+

Realistically this community isn’t quite big enough to get a full on representation of each class. For example. I felt like necro was really weak, then I met nos. If this one guy wasn’t in the community I would have rated necro way lower. Maybe the community just lacks that one guy that could have shown rangers potential. If the community was bigger, we wouldn’t need these few players to show us the potential of the classes. There would be hundreds of good players of each class and we’d get a much better feel for where things are at.

Sorry if that insults any rangers out there. I personally think it’s more likely that ranger just isn’t that good :P

And one last edit. I have this sneaking suspicion that engineer is more of a middle-ground class and it’s only performing so well because of the distinct lack of good necromancer players on top teams. It’s just a suspicion though. For now I will keep believing engineer is very strong.

The game is pretty balanced overall atm, but here’s my list:

Elementalist: A+
Engineer: A
Guardian: A-
Thief: B+*
Mesmer: B+*
Warrior: B
Ranger: B
Necro: B

• Thief + Mesmer Combo: A

I honestly think there are no S ranked classes. Elementalist don’t dominate the game to the point where there are absolutely zero ways to deal with them or have zero counters. If that were the case you would bring 5 eles to a structured match which isn’t the case.

Elementalist: A+ : Lots of viable builds, great sustain, damage, can overall fulfill almost any role adequately.

Engineer: A: Amazing CC, great healing, excellent at contesting and holding points, very tedious and annoying to deal with and can be difficult to kill with all the CC they pack and the AoE damage.

Warrior: B+: Still has excellent CC, damage and tankiness, however most lack mobility, isn’t hard to take them down once berserker stance is down and if you overload them with conditions

Necro: B+: Only thing that keeps them from being A is their vulnerability to CC and limited mobility. Other than that they are monsters in terms of condi output, CC, damage soaking, and more than easily changes the tide of a fight more so than any other class.

Don’t have time to explain the rest but

Thief: B+
Mesmer: B
Guardian: B
Ranger: B-

I’m honestly surprised a mesmer is so High and a Necro is so low.

Phantaram I have to agree. Ever watch nos vs good fights? Poor five gauge…

Yea engis main weakness’ have been kind of pushed to the side of the meta. If I was fighting a team with condi ranger, necro, engi ( and doesn’t matter but lets say 2 d/d eles cele) my engi would be in severe pain most of the match. I may even be a liability if I was the main target on engi (which I should be).

tbh I hate that type of system where counters exist but… gw2 isn’t set up in a way where counters won’t exist.

Ele – S+
Engi- S (only in this meta)
Warr – A+
Thief – A+
Mesmer – only with a thief A- (mesmer becomes the target)
Ranger – I feel like team comp is whats making ranger not the best. Give them time. A -
Guardian – In this meta…. B
Necro – Only works with a good player + comp B +

Ele – S+
Engie – S
Warrior- A
Thief – A
Mesmer- B
Ranger- -B
Necromancer- A
Guardian – B

The obviousness of Engineer’s and Elementalist’s have been beaten to death so i’ll leave at that. Warrior is still very strong due to its sustain/dmg output but has very obvious telegraphs so I wouldn’t consider it OP anymore. Thief still seems to be very strong due to rotations/burst potential. Mesmer with Thief seem to be an amazing combination, takes a lot more risk to play due to its lack of mobility(outside of portal). Rangers don’t really have an identity yet, I honestly have no idea where to put them. Necromancer is incredibly powerful, especially with a team, i’m pretty sure it’s the one profession that will always dominate in a 1v1 against anything else of equal skill. And finally, Guardian, the one profession that used to be(still is in EU) the standard bunker. It’s slowly being taken out of the meta(for the wrong reasons) for a more self-sustaining comp. Everyone wants to be able to do everything and it’s gotten to a point to where you can take a profession that has around the same team support with more sustain/offensive pressure.

We need to move away from such compositions. They offer very little to no risk and too much reward. It pains me to say it but when the game released, there were tons of high burst builds but they had quite a bit of risk attached to them. That was proper risk/reward. Now it seems too much passive/AI play is flooding the game which is toxic to proper play.

TL;DR: We need less passive play(stats) and more risk involved with this game. Getting tired of random procs that do too much and skill activation doing too little.

Phantaram.1265:

Elementalist A+ (dd ele only, every other spec/weapon set is more like B-, if that)
Engineer A
Necro A
Thief A-
Mesmer B+
Guardian B-
Warrior B-
Ranger C+

this, and i also believe that ranger can be higher. tho, imo, necro is not that great in 5v5 match up compare to engi and ele, even necro dominate them 1v1…i would probably give necro an A- or B+…but maybe thats because i haven’t see nos in a 5v5 game much.

I feel this poll is slightly convoluted
A class can be bad in certain team compositions or very good in others
Team composition “as a whole” should be more of a focus than individual build rating

You should switch this topic up to: Which 5 man composition is generally the best?

Elementalist – S
Engineer – A+
Necromancer – A
Thief – A
Mesmer (with thief) – A
Warrior – B
Guardian – B
Ranger – C
Mesmer (without thief) – C

when did rangers get on the low list again?i have been gone a few months me and a few others do great 1v1 2v1 with are heal build most of the time we could last long enough 3v1 for back up to show up but then again we was using the build everyone was talking kitten on because it was an old build that still worked great just not has good has it used to

ppl says ranger is C becuz they have no idea of what is working atm or how to play it.THey want to stick to their old build which is getting countered/known so much that nobody loose to it.

War: Soldier Hambow A Celestial Axebow A- Gs Weird Stuff B or C depending on ammy
Necro: Condi/Terror A Power B
Engi: Celestial A+ Everything else not power A- Static Discharge C
Mesmer: Shatter A Everything else C
Ranger: Condi (Rabid or Celestial) A Power C
Ele: Celestial d/d S Celestial Staff A+ Everything else not zerk B Zerk dps B-
Guardian: Bunker A Dps A-
Thief: s/d A s/p B d/p A-

May change a bit considering enemy team’s comp and hardcounters but this should be it…pretty much

Ok, reran the numbers after a couple days worth of voting. Here’s the score:

Ele 4.49 A+
Eng 4.27 A+
Teef 3.68 A-
War 3.58 A-
Mes 3.54 A-
Guard 3.37 B+
Nec 3.16 B
Rngr 3.02 B

My cutoff for S tier is four point five (how did that get censored), so ele is hovering just barely under that.

So what can be taken away from this? Here’s some opinions:

• No one seems to be viewed as grossly underpowered. That’s my favorite tidbit coming out of this as it’s rare to see decent performance out of every class at once.
• Guard, Nec, Ranger, Mes, War, and Thief are separated by just over half a point of rating. That’s also really nice to see.
• Ele and engi seem to be slight outliers, both at high A tier. It sounds like they can be beaten, but perhaps slightly too good at too many situations compared to other classes.

Class tier list:
Celestial: S+++

Everything else: A

moi.4398:

Balance celestial -> Game goes in his most balanced state in 2 years

Balance might stacking too