Guild Wars 2

Other than a Thief. My first 80 was a Thief, and I’ve never really enjoyed it much.

I prefer to play solo while picking off stragglers & reinforcements to the Zerg. I currently play a Ranger, and while I’ve enjoyed it, lately it seems that no one wants to stick around and fight. Most people seem more interested in just getting back to the safety of numbers & tagging enemies, and I just doing have enough killing power to stop them.

So I’m looking for a class that can drop people before they can get back to their safety bkittenies. I’d also prefer to be a little bit tanky, as I’m often in outnumbered fights. Of course, mobility is important to be able to avoid the larger groups.

Whatdoyathink?

I’d say ele and thief are the two best roamers

Ranger .5/10/35/5/20

The key to roaming is being able to escape from a bad situation while at the same time being able to stop someone from running back to their base.

I agree with Furiousbeard’s post.

Blackbird.4382:

lately it seems that no one wants to stick around and fight. Most people seem more interested in just getting back to the safety of numbers & tagging enemies

Gotta bait people out. Poking towers/keeps is the best way to draw out some scouts. Generally these will be experienced WvW players because the new ones don’t go scouting. Keep an escape ready and let the guards knock you around for a bit. Most people are likely to close in for a kill. Or maybe it’s because I play a thief and nobody likes us.

Ranger is the best roamer

In all seriousness, some builds are designed that do far better in duels than others. For example, if two people of equal skill were to play staff ele and D/D ele, I can already tell you who is going to win the vast majority of fights. However, if we’re talking about who is more effective at supporting and doing AOE damage, then staff takes the cake.

And no not-bad DD ele would ever take pride in killing a staff ele. It’s just silly.

Engi by far, they are the best class because they are prepared for every situation, and is one of the strongest in 1 v1.

GabGar.4962:

Engi by far, they are the best class because they are prepared for every situation, and is one of the strongest in 1 v1.

Do they have the needed mobility?

Blackbird.4382:

GabGar.4962:

Engi by far, they are the best class because they are prepared for every situation, and is one of the strongest in 1 v1.

Do they have the needed mobility?

Yes, but not as much as an ele or thief. They have a way about them that can get them out of any situation. Engineer, however, has mobility and can kite large groups of players when necessay, but lacks raw getaway prowess.

If you do choose the Engineer i’d recomend looking into the various p/p elixir builds.

Based on what I see , Thief, mesmer, ele/ranger, the rest. Thief and Mesmer are at the top because they are the only 2 class that can combine high burst with ability to escape zerg balls via stealth. Roaming is not the same as 1 v 1. It’s 1 v 2 , 1 v 3 and get away from a zerg ball when you need. So find a class that can kill fast and not die to 6 people chasing you down.

Blackbird.4382:

I currently play a Ranger, and while I’ve enjoyed it, lately it seems that /b no one wants to stick around and fight./b Most people seem more interested in just getting back to the safety of numbers & tagging enemies, and I just doing have enough killing power to stop them.

When I usually roam on my Thief, using either my full zerk build or my venom share build I usually don’t bother killing the Rangers I come across unless they won’t leave me alone. I can easily drop them if I wanted to with both builds. If you want a roamer, go with Mesmer, Thief, or Elementalist. No one wants to fight a good Mesemer…

Ele is the best solo class, rivaling the thief.

But if you want something a bit different I would say eng, there are quite a few videos of them soloing that are very impressive. They are fast, and easily able to 1vX but no quick ways to escape a zerg though.

Ele DnD
————-

CC

immobilize signet ~(esitmate)3.25sec
Magnetic grasp ~ 2.5 sec
Frozen burst ~snare 3sec
Eathquake~ Knockdown ~1.5sec
updraft ~knockdown ~ 1.5sec
impale ~ snare/bleed ~ 1.5sec
Ring of earth ~ snare/bleed ~ 2.5 sec

Aside from CC, lets consider

defensive spells

Frost Aura
Shocking Aura
Mist- Cantrip
edit: Add – Arcane shield from arcane trait. Very handy.

Aside from defensive, how about

The perfect escape artist

Burning Speed ~ 400 units
RTL ~ 1500 units
Lightning Flash ~ 600

How about Combo fields, DPS, cleansing, great heals, fiery greatsword elite skill(hits 2k to 8k)etc.

So without a doubt, Ele makes an awesome roamer. Problem is that most are bunker and are a pain to take down but they also dont kill that quick. We call them ticks.

Fuzzion.2504:

Aside from defensive, how about

The perfect escape artist

Burning Speed ~ 400 units
RTL ~ 1500 units
Lightning Flash ~ 600

How about Combo fields, DPS, cleansing, great heals, fiery greatsword elite skill(hits 2k to 8k)etc.

You forgot to add the mobility fiery greatsword adds in addition to the above. Plus the high uptime on swiftness.

And the fact that ride the lightening is the only charge attack in the game unaffected by cripples and chill.

but op wants a class that can actually kill the target reliably.

d/d bunker ele is not such a class, period. despite what all the whiners on this forum say, they lack true damage.

luckily for you op you already got the best roaming class, thief. nothing beats thief in roaming/1v2,3 situations.

I would also recommend engineer. Everybody sees an engineer and just HAS to fight them because well, how hard can it be right? They don’t need to be able to catch up to people as people don’t view them as a threat usually. At least that’s been my experience. Even thieves just keep on trying instead of running away, killing themselves oh so swiftly with confusion.

Teamkiller.4315:

Ranger is the best roamer

Completely agree there.. Nice DPS (through conditions) and quite some evades, whilst getting away easy from a zerg ball..
I <3 my ranger

GuardianOMS.8067:

Ranger .5/10/35/5/20

But I heard 40/.3/34.7/0/0 is better…

I like the beastmaster ranger as roamer. You + your pet can even facetank a 150 and sometimes a 200 supply camp. While you are not the fastest killer your damage is still nice and in 1v1 there is not much that can kill you. There are a few ppl who can run away but really not many if you chase them for a while. With shortbow you have your slow and stun pretty often and with greatsword you have decent mobility.
If you are a norn it is no matter what class you are playing because with the snow leopard elite no zerg will get you if you use snow leopard early enough.
I love my ranger for roaming. Often I kill dollys while 2-4 people defend it and I manage to get away.

About the engineer solo roaming I have a question: How do you cap for example a 150 supply camp without picking out single mobs (which might take too much time).
From what I have experienced with my engineer I was not able to survive the entire camp and at the same time kill them quickly. I was able before omnomberries were nerfed but now I lack the healing really.
The ranger has the huge advantage that his pets tank like crazy and the ranger himself is also a crazy bunker.
I saw a video of an ele soloing a camp and he was also using his elite for a “pet” elemental. It seems the pets offer the needed tankiness it requires to rather easily solo upgraded supply camps efficiently.

Can other classes solo a 150+ supply camp? Best I’ve done was a 200 camp. 250 Camps are crazy especially as the mobs respawn fast^^

Elem D/D
Mesmer
Engineer

I roam on all of my 80’s, they are all viable. But the only class that doesn’t lose 1v2 fights is my condition mesmer. Running around with 2,000+ condition it melts every class. I run glamor confusion on him with dodge roll clones. But he can’t move very quickly, so no scouting. And on Tier 1, you better be freaking good. When I come across a zerg of 80, there is no chance to survive tho.

As for scout / yak slapping / supply camp ninja’s I like my d/d ele the best. If you don’t engage fights with enemy players or zergs they will never catch you. I have been spotted and chased by SoR and JQ zergs with great lols on my behalf. it’s great when they stop to stack might then charge, just to never catch me. I have solo’d camps with my d/d ele.

And to question the people saying rangers are the best scouts, that is until you face a good condition mesmer. that feedback, well timed, with confusion + blind + more confusion + scepter #3 confusion, + staff #2+#3 shatter, plus dodge roll and decoy reshatter. Eh seriously, there is no class that can attack when you have 2000+ condition dmg, they will kill themselves. so it doesn’t really matter what they are doing, attacking you, or attacking something else, just confusion bomb them and lol. with the uptime of conditions because of 20 points in domination for the glamor→confusion trait, plus 33% longer confusion in illusions. they sit at 4-15 stacks, but they tick for 2-8k dmg. that melts your face. mesmers are like shadow priests in arena. get to know them, and don’t attack, just run.