Guild Wars 2

I’m returning after about a year or so and I used to play a lot of D/D Ele. I’ve always like roaming or traveling with a small group of people flipping camps or ganking other small groups/roamers.

I’ve heard D/D Ele is no longer viable which makes me sad. What’s out there now that has a similar play style? Is Thief still good?

Thanks!

Warrior

/15 charrs.

Bunker Tempest with D/W is very viable and in a team nearly unkillable. Ours easily tanks 3v1 and will often drop 20+ stacks of group might before a fight. Stay close to one and conditions are irrelevant.

Jeknar.6184:

Warrior

More specifically Boon Duration Stance Warriors with Durability runes and Damage Reduction food. It is stupid OP at the moment. Enjoy the 5 digit Eviscerates while being bunker and supporting your teammates with boons.

Mesmer obviously.

I have to say the worst, as in nastiest, group I came across the past few weeks was 2 thief’s and a warrior. One thief was condi ghost, one was straight up glass, and the warrior was just a wrecking machine who you could down but the thief’s would stealth and rez what seemed like instantly. As much as a pain in the kitten they were, it was one of the most difficult encounters I’ve seen in small group play.

You could always be a druid wimp and longbow it up. Seems like those guys are becoming more common.

Bruiser scrapper is the most fun for me atm. Probably not the best but wrecks stuck in small group fights.

necro. obviously im not biased as its my favorite class and really the only one i play. deff not biased.

Here you can read the opinion of 100+ people in previous threads:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/WvW-Roaming-rank-the-classes-why

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Best-Profession-for-Roaming-in-Tier-1-WvW

I don’t believe there is a strong difference but I would put elementalist and necro somewhat lower than others.

Me and my guild can find a use for pretty much anything (with limits). Just never found a good enough warrior or rev to run with before, so can’t speak for those.

Famine.7915:

Me and my guild can find a use for pretty much anything (with limits). Just never found a good enough warrior or rev to run with before, so can’t speak for those.

Boon Duration Warriors with Durability are stupid good right now especially in skirmish. A bunker Tempest with the same Boon Duration along with three stance Warriors will have no fear taking on 3x their numbers.

sophiewhite.3149:

necro. obviously im not biased as its my favorite class and really the only one i play. deff not biased.

It’s good to have a necro around so we can give a sacrificial offering to appease the angry mob when they decide to chase down our group…

“FEED THE NECRO TO THE ZERG AND RUN!”

Guess we just never run into good warriors. Most of the time we just sit and wait to kill them while their endure pains wear out. :/

Might try one out sometime is we find someone that can and wants to play it.

Famine.7915:

Me and my guild can find a use for pretty much anything (with limits). Just never found a good enough warrior or rev to run with before, so can’t speak for those.

I was the first power rev main in my guild. It is definitely worth having one for small team play, especially if you have a good comp with support heals and stealth. The amount of offensive support they put out (50% boon duration, pulsing might fury swiftness and even protection if you’re good, and AoE 10 prevent crit damage for team) will be very helpful.

Invocation power rev imo plays like an evade thief. Extremely glassy and can drop bombs, sustains mostly through not getting hit and saving your heals. Condi rev losses out on some of the might swiftness fury and protection because they often don’t take glint, but you do gain AoE resistance.

With my roaming guild we used to go with somr kind of boonshare squad… something similar to:

Scrapper bruiser (hammer durability zerker)
Tempest auramancer (dagger focus trooper celestial)
Revenant (shiro dragon durability zerker)
Dragon Hunter (Bow GS durability zerker+marauder)
Warrior Berserker (GS Axe+Shield durability zerker)

This configuration (or something similar) allow us to win 10+ … Hits like a truck and is really strong against power damage. Only need to focus condi players first, delete them ASAP and try to stay close for better use of boon share, condition cleanses and heals.

ApaWanka.2698:

Scrapper bruiser (hammer durability zerker)
Tempest auramancer (dagger focus trooper celestial)
Revenant (shiro dragon durability zerker)
Dragon Hunter (Bow GS durability zerker)
Warrior Berserker (GS Axe+Shield durability zerker)

Anyone else see the pattern?

Its a really strong rune who works really good with zerker/marauder stats (thats the other part of the pattern xP )

For organized roaming groups, boonshare/boonduration is really important atm and allow small organized group to defeat bigger groups less organized.

I didnt say that is fair or new…. Ive said that it works. Even if the stats “looks similar” each part of the puzzle have an specific rol in the group.

Jeknar.6184:

It’s good to have a necro around so we can give a sacrificial offering to appease the angry mob when they decide to chase down our group…

“FEED THE NECRO TO THE ZERG AND RUN!”

Condi Bomb Necros are the new offensive strikers in skirmish. BOO is running a setup that absolutely melts players in a couple seconds while maintaining a very strong bunker setup. I couldn’t engage them long enough to decipher their blend I kept going down so fast.

Straegen.2938:

Jeknar.6184:

It’s good to have a necro around so we can give a sacrificial offering to appease the angry mob when they decide to chase down our group…

“FEED THE NECRO TO THE ZERG AND RUN!”

Condi Bomb Necros are the new offensive strikers in skirmish. BOO is running a setup that absolutely melts players in a couple seconds while maintaining a very strong bunker setup. I couldn’t engage them long enough to decipher their blend I kept going down so fast.

But isn’t BOO a zerg guild? This thread is about roaming.

Ele is still viable, just not in the way it once was. Now its all about the minstrel ele support build for groups.

At this point in the games life(ded gaem) pretty much play what you want as long as it’s mildly effective for your group and you enjoy playing it.

You are coming back to the game at a time when condis are brokenly strong. And Anet has done nothing to address this. Same with boon spam/duration. So bring boons/boon duration builds, and bring a lot of condi clear(or resistance spam) to WvW.

Warrior, Mesmer and Druid are the best solo/2-3 man group choices imo, they pack the right tools to strive through most difficult scenarios (outnumbered fights and running away from blobs or big hunt groups).

I would place Scrapper with those three, but you don’t have as many tools to deal with those difficult situations, once you’re stuck in fights without stealth, you’ll have to fight or die in most situations.

If you’re running with a small group with mostly power builds, condi boon corrupt necros are viable in this boon sharing meta, this what I’ve been running with my guildies to good success in outnumbered scenarios, prepare to get focused though, so pack at least 1 or 2 stun breakers and spectral walk jukes can help you get a breather.

A skilled Thief can probably be the best roamer in most situations.

Guardian, Elementalist and Rev are more situational in most scenarios.

Any profession can solo roam, some just are more prepared for that than others.

Lahm.7056:

I would place Scrapper with those three, but you don’t have as many tools to deal with those difficult situations, once you’re stuck in fights without stealth, you’ll have to fight or die in most situations.

Lolwat? Scrapper has the best small scale utility in the stomp gyro. Out of your three classes, the druid is useless small scale (and what I would target first when fighting a group of those three). Tanky as kitten but with little damage or damage and glassy is the two common variants.

Dawdler.8521:

Lahm.7056:

I would place Scrapper with those three, but you don’t have as many tools to deal with those difficult situations, once you’re stuck in fights without stealth, you’ll have to fight or die in most situations.

Lolwat? Scrapper has the best small scale utility in the stomp gyro. Out of your three classes, the druid is useless small scale (and what I would target first when fighting a group of those three). Tanky as kitten but with little damage or damage and glassy is the two common variants.

I didn’t place Scrapper with those 3 because you cannot disengage an outnumbered fight aswell as they can, access to stealth is limited, your stealth gyro will get popped instantly. (Talking about open field encounters, if towers or camps are in range, then it’s always an obvious advantage).

Now, if you’re planning to take your chances and fight, then yes you can do better than any of those professions. Druids are easy to focus if you pin them down after they used their mobility and cleanses, but a good Druid will play their advantages and not let you get close enough for that to happen and just reset the fight, seen it happen way too often against 2-3 players, their sustain and kiting potential is too kitten good, unless you’re a Thief as good as the Druid, oh and they can also stealth and immobilize you just to make it worse.

You’re right about the part that Druid loses effectiveness the bigger the fight grows.

Jeknar.6184:

sophiewhite.3149:

necro. obviously im not biased as its my favorite class and really the only one i play. deff not biased.

It’s good to have a necro around so we can give a sacrificial offering to appease the angry mob when they decide to chase down our group…

“FEED THE NECRO TO THE ZERG AND RUN!”

Feels like every single group I run with. It is fun though to cast locust swarm/plague and cause chaos to the enemy zerg lol

Lahm.7056:

but a good Druid will play their advantages and not let you get close enough for that to happen and just reset the fight, seen it happen way too often against 2-3 players, their sustain and kiting potential is too kitten good, unless you’re a Thief as good as the Druid, oh and they can also stealth and immobilize you just to make it worse.

It can be done with core Ranger too, although to far less of an extent. I roam on a standard pew pew Ranger and am capable of resetting and running away from fights easily with Quick Draw + double Swoop, Hunter’s Shut and controlled pet CC’s. Ranger/Druid is in general a very strong roamer if you’re capable with it’s mobility. It’s very possible to go entire fights without ever taking any damage besides possibly from Retaliation. I literally go about 75% of my fights (at least ones I see coming) without ever taking a hit. You’ve just gotta know when to juke/kite and Ranger/Druid has very strong potential for both.

Just wanted to expand on the point that Ranger/Druid is a very strong roamer as it has access to many of the key things that make a good roaming profession.

As of recently, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing warrior again personally. Both condi warrior and power warrior are pretty good right now for roaming.

Pre-last patch with the nurfs, I mained ele, but since they nurfed air over load so much, it is not worth playing to me anymore. Not enough damage.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I literally go about 75% of my fights (at least ones I see coming) without ever taking a hit.

Yeah I deal with that crap every day. Between retal and resistance anet really needs to give rangers a way to strip boons.

Jeknar.6184:

But isn’t BOO a zerg guild? This thread is about roaming.

They run skirmish and pickup fights by SM frequently.

Jim Hunter.6821:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I literally go about 75% of my fights (at least ones I see coming) without ever taking a hit.

Yeah I deal with that crap every day. Between retal and resistance anet really needs to give rangers a way to strip boons.

Considering everything is a boonfiest now, every professions could use a bit more boon removal options. And please, reliable ones, not 45 secs to remove 3 boons which will be reapplied at least 2 more times after you can cast it again.

Jeknar.6184:

Considering everything is a boonfiest now, every professions could use a bit more boon removal options. And please, reliable ones, not kitten to remove 3 boons which will be reapplied at least 2 more times after you can cast it again.

This is where it gets a little comical. Thieves have decent boon steal access… BUT… the boon steal order is fixed. Fixed in a way that prevents thieves from actually ripping the boons that kill them. Might, Resistance, Fury… yeah those are at the back of the bus.

Something a Thief never says: “Whew thank goodness I got that Regen off instead of those 20 might stacks”.

Even when they do manage to steal a big ole stack off a warrior… they only get one stack in return regardless of how many the target has. So it isn’t really stealing as much as getting kittened.

Jeknar.6184:

Jim Hunter.6821:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I literally go about 75% of my fights (at least ones I see coming) without ever taking a hit.

Yeah I deal with that crap every day. Between retal and resistance anet really needs to give rangers a way to strip boons.

Considering everything is a boonfiest now, every professions could use a bit more boon removal options. And please, reliable ones, not 45 secs to remove 3 boons which will be reapplied at least 2 more times after you can cast it again.

I think it’s fair that boon ripping is limited to some professions, since it’s more of a “unique” trait and make those professions desirable in groups for that matter.

Looking at the current meta, I see Necro having a better chance of fitting in havoc squads with the sole intent of disrupting with condition burst variety and boon ripping/corrupting.

Traited signets give you this possibility by corrupting boons when you use them, Signet of Locust alone can corrupt 10 boons on 5 enemy players within range.

Corrupt Boon is also on a 15s cooldown, which is pretty good.