Guild Wars 2

Since we can get no definitive word from Anet whether the commander tag will remain soul bound or go account bound, what class or classes do you think is best for a commander tag? Is there one best class?

Commander tag is soul bound. Bunker is the best class.

One could argue pure bunker-spec D/D Ele. Survivability, maneuverability, and some nice escape techniques. Of course, I ever get a tag, it’s going on my main (Sylvari Mesmer).

I gave it to my warrior and sometimes I regret it, a commander above all things, needs mobility, so a Thief or an Ele would be the perfect commander. However, as a warrior I can out-survive any thief or ele so I’m on the fence.

Advent.6193:

One could argue pure bunker-spec D/D Ele. Survivability, maneuverability, and some nice escape techniques. Of course, I ever get a tag, it’s going on my main (Sylvari Mesmer).

No you are about as incorrect as you can be about this. A D/D ele cannot sustain in the front line even bunker spec, they rely completely on mobility. The also do not have range to afford them to sit in the back. Last thing you want is a commander that is bouncing all over the battle field. A staff ele could do it though.

Any tank built class works good as a Commander. I always target enemy commanders and some of them just WON’T DIE.

It would seem best, to me to put it on a class that kind of needs to be in a group so was thinking of putting it on my necro since necros really can’t be a solo roamer.

The ‘best’ commander classes are those with high survivability and direct sustainability to control the fight. For example, Necros and guardians are good choices.

You do not want classes like thieves, d/d eles bouncing all over the place, or anyone running glass cannon ever.

Biggest height of male Norn char
Guardian class. Maybe Warrior too.

Paradox Xion.1038:

It would seem best, to me to put it on a class that kind of needs to be in a group so was thinking of putting it on my necro since necros really can’t be a solo roamer.

Great choice for several reasons. You can sustain from the front and have some abilities that help control the fight.

Personally I like guardian as commander or mess

I have two toons with a Commander pin, one I bought, and the other was donated to me through my Guild. The first one that I bought was on my Warrior, which I made because I thought I would be able to tank and survive and yada yada. That was false. I did make a name for myself though, so when I made a Guardian to make a team with some friends of mine in the Guild, and kept just using my Guardian, shelving my Warrior, the guild donated 90g to get me a new pin on my Guardian since they’re not account bound. Needless to say I have a MUCH higher survivalbility, meaning I can stay alive, assess the battlefield, and still be useful.

Basically, I think that a Guardian is an ideal choice for the Commander pin.

I would have said mesmer as it requires coordination to get people to use viel and portals properly.

Ive observed good commanders try to coordinate it and especially PUG mesmers are just not reliable. They don’t know distance of portal or where a portal should be placed.

In EB one time the commander must have said 6 o’clock to smc inner gate a dozen times with regards to the 5 golems we had. The first mesmer took the golems to south outer, even tho the wall was down, the next portal took the golems to 3 o’clock inner, all we did was display our golems for the zerg to wipe. One mesmer commander may not have saved the golems that day, but maybe it would have.

Mesmer because they have by far the most raid utility and tricks.

So playing one yourself cuts out the middle-man if you ever want to perform fancy portal moves.

Other than that you want something fairly durable like a Guardian and ideally something that is easy to play so you can focus on other things.

Dee Jay.2460:

Mesmer because they have by far the most raid utility and tricks.

So playing one yourself cuts out the middle-man if you ever want to perform fancy portal moves.

Other than that you want something fairly durable like a Guardian and ideally something that is easy to play so you can focus on other things.

See, I wouldn’t want to be the relied upon Mesmer and Commander, because what if you need to hide as a mesmer, but yet your the only Commander on the map? It would be quite a pickle, because as any Commander knows, the pugs are lost without a pin to follow. ;/

My only issue with a mesmer leading is due to the fact that in order to use portals the most effectively, they have to leave the zerg they are leading to do so temporarily. Not only that, attempting to set up a portal in some circumstance (like behind a choke point) might make you lose your commander.

Good area to discuss I’ve seen plenty of commanders in all roles, but ideally, survivability, mobility, presence would all be most attractive. For me guardian is the best for the role.

I had a similar discussion with my guilds leader/commander (Mesmer), and they were saying its nice to stay at the back on a ranged char and maintain a large field of vision and overview of the skirmishes, but at times it would be nicer to have the zerg follow him directly into the meat grinder

I think at the end of the day its more about the player behind the tag than the class they’ve chosen it on. A bad commander will be bad no matter if they’re bunker specced, light, heavy, or medium armoured or mobile

Warrior/Guardian/Elementalist … Mainly since they are the classes who usually are on the tanky side of things and can be very good bunkers.

Put in the end it’s the personal opinion of the person buying the tag. And that is usually how people justify good/bad commanders.

Any profession that has survivability and speed. If the commander dies too fast, you risks the zerg dissolving. And it’s also the commanders job to run ahead into battle, meaning the commander will often get the majority of enemy fire on him. If the commander doesn’t have enough speed, he can’t run ahead of others, which means the zerg will start to move slowly, as everyone has to wait for the commander to catch up.