Guild Wars 2

From my own personal observations i see several classes that dominate W3 either through great skill or through Sheer power..

Elle – The dagger /dagger ele played well can take on groups of poor warriors easily (many youtube videos showing this) .. i see one i run :-P

Thief – No need to repeat what most people know already (hopefully culling will be fixed)

Ranger – yes, you read right… either in groups or 1v1 rangers are killing machines as a good player will melt melee classes before they can land a hit.

Guardians – Very hard to kill if specced right but still wouldn’t last against a well played ranger/Ele due to their range (from in-game observations)

Warrior – Oh dear… Great burst damage but with so many ranged classes blasting you before you manage to get in a hit in, forget about 1v1 (hammer and gs do very well in zergs though)

All these observations are from watching the classes in-game over the last few months (ok, allow for bad play by some classes but if played well then above seems to be true)

thoughts?

Budchgon.2108:

Guardians – Very hard to kill if specced right but still wouldn’t last against a well played ranger/Ele due to their range (from in-game observations)

Lol, not sure what you’re talking about. I run a meditations guard with sword/focus and greatsword swap. With a 600 range sword port, 1200 range judge’s intervention port and a 600 range gs leap, I’m on ranged classes like stink on a monkey.

where is the mesmer?

dominant is Elle, Thief, Ranger, Mesmer and maybe a Guardian

I think class representation in WvW has some to do with what people wanted to play in PvE and through the personal story. Otherwise I think there’d be more mesmers and less warriors and rangers.

Tbh I find rangers as one of the easiest classes to kill for my guardian. They can’t spam their snares so I can catch up with swiftness. Also, a well timed Wall of Reflection is a win vs many rangers

Where’s the engineer, we’re awesome :O and hard to kill if bunker spec’d (not just tankcat spec’d, but for reference, there’s a well known nice vid about that spec on youtube and a good thread about it in the engi subforums).
I know some may have almost choked laughing for me mentioning this class for the list, but seriously I hardly loose any 1v1 although I’m a mediocre player and I love playing bait pulling a large group and surviving when a large fight gets stagnant.

How do you define “dominant”? Being able to kill other players 1v1?

What kind of Rangers are you guys talking about being good in WvW? They all seem to be easy to beat. Glass Cannon, Cond/Trap.. I see them drop like flies.

Gab Superstar.4059:

How do you define “dominant”? Being able to kill other players 1v1?

Was thinking this exact thought but you beat me to it …

“Poor Warriors”, you gotta be joking, there’s a reason why they’re the premium frontline fighters and it’s not being arrow pinata’s.

Ranger mentioned in a “dominant classes” thread. Is today April Fools?

Dominant – Winning 1v1/small/medium groups …
Large zergs rely too much on spamming aoe for me to make out any outstanding classes (although i do see ellies and rangers making up a large percentage of zergs)

Engineers played right are amazing, but many are not and maybe that is why i rarely see them in W3 …

As for Guardians abilities, i agree they can close the range quickly but then the Ranger can dodge/evade then shoot you to death once at distance again (seen this happen many times when an overconfident Guardian takes on a Ranger looking for easy kill only to take dirt nap.
As stated, this is from personal observations and a good player can make any class shine but the few i highlighted seem to be the ones i see mainly being played well.

You should add the necro to your list. They help a lot with fighting zergs or keeping walls clean.

Yes, i’m currently making a support Necro and i agree they are very good and fill a lot of rolls.
What mainly suprised me is how low the Warrior i rank in the list… (although i have seen a few good warrior players but even these pale in comparison to a well played Ellie/Ranger)

Personally, I think my necro build is pretty dominant. I somehow specced my necro to be a tank/condition/support build. I don’t know how, but I do not die easily. I do some pretty heavy damage over time, not burst. I am also NOT very good 1v1, I never have been though, could just be me. In a group of 5+ I am pure destruction.

Budchgon.2108:

Dominant – Winning 1v1/small/medium groups …
Large zergs rely too much on spamming aoe for me to make out any outstanding classes (although i do see ellies and rangers making up a large percentage of zergs)

Engineers played right are amazing, but many are not and maybe that is why i rarely see them in W3 …

As for Guardians abilities, i agree they can close the range quickly but then the Ranger can dodge/evade then shoot you to death once at distance again (seen this happen many times when an overconfident Guardian takes on a Ranger looking for easy kill only to take dirt nap.
As stated, this is from personal observations and a good player can make any class shine but the few i highlighted seem to be the ones i see mainly being played well.

1v1 I couldn’t really care less about.

For small / medium sized groups every professions fills a role when played right.

@Budchgon

Just watch for the 100 nade engineer, it’s coming back and it’s hitting hard.

Mesmer, Guardian, Ele, War, necro, thief, eng, ranger.

This is not counting small 5 man skirmishes and they are in order and it’s simply my opinion. I feel any class can be built to perform tasks in wvw to their best. However mesmer portals, veil, and time warp are simply game breaking.

tluv.5821:

Personally, I think my necro build is pretty dominant. I somehow specced my necro to be a tank/condition/support build. I don’t know how, but I do not die easily. I do some pretty heavy damage over time, not burst. I am also NOT very good 1v1, I never have been though, could just be me. In a group of 5+ I am pure destruction.

Carrion gear? I run the same on my Necro (although I have not played him much lately).

I love Necro as a support DPS class. The pressure from conditions is very powerful and Epidemic on a 20+ stack of bleeds just melts glass cannons (been on the receiving end on my Thief a few times). I just wish Necro had a bit more in-combat mobility.

I think Warriors get a bad run. There are some really good warriors out there, but the majority don’t build and play them right.

Necromancers, IMO are the strongest overall class in WvW. But I also think the majority of Necros build them wrong. I can solo any class and as a Necro main I am never concerned with 1v1ing a thief or Elementalist for flags. Their AoE spells right now are pretty devestating in zerg vs zerg as you can cripple, blind fear, poison and frost the entire zerg. They have the best support abilities, they can remove all conditions and apply multiple AoE heals and they can pull players off walls as well as hit them hard with marks to relieve siege. I think Necros will be one of the hard hit ones during the upcoming AoE nerfs though.

To me, Elementalists and Thiefs fill the same rolls. Except Eles can protect siege during a counter seige, making them a little more useful. You could argue that thiefs provide the offensive role in a counter siege situation, but even good thiefs get dunked when they have to hit out marks layed all around the siege and then get eaten by the zerg.

Mesmers provide very specific roles in the game that all other classes could only dream of. Portal bombing is a thing for a reason. Pulling off the wall has too long a range and confusion is just a rough mechanic, unless your a necro.

Overall Id probably put Rangers and Guardians at the lower end, but not by alot.

I like rangers in my group they got entangle;) all i care about…….hands down elem d/d or thief awesome in 1 vs 1-5…but shatter mesmer is getting close;) guardians are gods:P

Every class is viable if played well. Though some classes are easier to play than others.

Some classes are superb solo roamer (1vs1) while others shine in group or zerg battles. So you can hardly compare one and another.