What are the fastest classes/builds you have fought in WvW? What are those class you simply cannot catch or have difficultly catching.?
“Fast” is vague so lets divide it into two categories. First is sprint (who can cover the most ground in a few seconds) and second is sustained (who can run across EB the fastest). The only ground rule is the suggested class/build has to be an effective WvW build. Not interested in hearing about a theoretical build nobody would play but I am interested in the high mobility builds that are being run in WvW today.
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“Youre lips are movin and youre complaining about something thats wingeing.”
Thief and eh thief. Shortbow and s/? Along with shadowstep utility and run signet you will be the fastest. Though guardians burst gap closing is second with sword 2 and JI.
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Go warrior with the Tactics trait quick breathing and Discipline trait Signet Mastery, and equip a sword/warhorn and Signet of Rage.
Permanent Swiftness and the sword #2 skill is a great leap skill that recharges quickly and gives the warrior the edge in long-distance running.
As for covering a distance in combat, the thief shadowstepping and steal skills, along with the previously mentioned guardian skills are probably the fastest.
Warrior with sword/warhorn in one weapon set and Greatsword in the other, and bulls charge utility is the fastest sprint and fastest sustained speed in the game.
Sprint: GS3, Bullscharge, GS5, sword 2 (get reduced cooldowns to go even faster)
Sustain, warhorn 4, signet of rage (permaswift)
Evasion though is different than raw speed. Thieves are the most evasive class and come in second for raw speed (assuming traiting/building for speed).
I’m running centaur runes with Withdraw for perma-swiftness. Add in Heartseeker spam to go even faster (2 Heartseekers = 1 Infiltrator’s Arrow for both distance and initiative cost). Plus Shadowstep.
That’s not including if there are valid targets around, which there almost always are. At that point, add Infiltrator’s Signet and Steal to the list. And if you really want to get sneaky, Shadow Shot can also be used as a cheaper version of Infiltrator’s Arrow. The trick is to dodge roll right after the teleport but before the dagger attack happens. If the dagger hits, you’ll drop to combat speed.
Surprised the ele isn’t on the list. Permanent swiftness, ride the lightning for 1200, lightning flash for 900, burning speed for 600, magnetic leap for 900 and conjure firesword allows for another 1800.
The thief also has a heal with an evade that shoots back 600+ feet which can be used to lunge forward. The dodge can be traited to add swiftness and HS goes a bit further when swiftness is engaged. There is a hitch between two HS uses so not sure it is better than one Inf Arrow but it is pretty close if not better.
Course the warrior has several skills that allow it to burst forward by several thousand feet. Not sure of the build that does it but I have seen it sprint faster than my thief can keep up in a short run. Once they hit those cooldowns they are pretty slow though.
Oddly the Ranger can be a pretty fast class. The GS has an 1100 range charge that comes up every 12.5s and I think it can be every 10s with a trait. Add in the warhorn speed, pet switch speed trait and a signet for running faster out of combat. Not the fastest sprint but might give someone a hard time trying to run it down.
Someone said mesmers can be speed daemons but I have never really had a problem catching one aside from their annoying clones.
Sarcasm For Hire [SFH]
“Youre lips are movin and youre complaining about something thats wingeing.”
People overvalue charge/leap attacks for mobility. Burning speed is 600 range, but if you’re using it to catch someone who is running away, it’s only going to close ~200 range. SB thief is on a completely different level from other classes, not just in distance covered, but ability to move on the z axis.
Warrior and ranger are a distant 2nd, with mesmer and ele being an even more distant 3rd. Guardian doesn’t have amazing traveling speed, but their chase speed is up there with warrior and ranger.
“We recognize that the changes to [ele] will essentially remove it from play. In the future,
we may consider whether or not there is an incarnation of [ele] that would be viable
but balanced. For now, we do not expect it to see serious use.” – ANet
Warrior and ranger are a distant 2nd, with mesmer and ele being an even more distant 3rd.
Unless you’re talking about staff ele’s, mesmers are not remotely in the same class for sustained travel speed.
Mesmers have pretty good in-combat movement, at least if running Staff + Sword + Blink, but their sustained travel speed is down below Guardians, unless they run Focus + Runes of the Air (or Centaur which nobody does) and then they’re roughly equivalent with about ~80% swiftness uptime and some movement tricks (Blink, reverse Phase Retreat).
Warrior and ranger are a distant 2nd, with mesmer and ele being an even more distant 3rd.
Unless you’re talking about staff ele’s, mesmers are not remotely in the same class for sustained travel speed.
Mesmers have pretty good in-combat movement, at least if running Staff + Sword + Blink, but their sustained travel speed is down below Guardians, unless they run Focus + Runes of the Air (or Centaur which nobody does) and then they’re roughly equivalent with about ~80% swiftness uptime and some movement tricks (Blink, reverse Phase Retreat).
S/F + staff Mesmer is marginally less mobile than D/D ele and a little more mobile than S/D ele. I play both and I can catch most ele runners on my mesmer.
Oh and I forgot engis with their new prenerf RTL like ability. I haven’t tested it to see how fast they are over distance though.
“We recognize that the changes to [ele] will essentially remove it from play. In the future,
we may consider whether or not there is an incarnation of [ele] that would be viable
but balanced. For now, we do not expect it to see serious use.” – ANet
Thief with the 50% movement speed in stealth trait and the 25% movement speed signet is the fastest I believe. I don’t think they can get permaswiftness, but there are 4 traits that can give swiftness, I only use “Thrill of the Crime”, which gives 10seconds quickness on steal. If your running a lot of stealth the 50% is better than you can get from 33% MS from swiftness anyways.
Since this latest patch, I’ve been playing around with thief, and it is very fast. If I were going to make a raw speed build like 0/0/20/20/30, it’d be able to:
Steal – 1500, dropping into stealth with 12 seconds of swiftness on a 21 second cd
Stealth – while in stealth run 50% faster – yup a bit faster than swiftness alone
Infiltrator signet – 900 teleport toward target
Dodge for swiftness (only 3 seconds per dodge, but taken with steal, that’s perma-swiftness).
Infiltrator Arrow – 900 teleport (since the build also has high initiative regen, this is pretty spammable, just needs ground targetting).
Withdraw + Roll for initiative – two moves to jump backwards, used together you gain some good distance.
Optimal use of all of these together would take some skill, but it is possible, and the result is amazing speed.
Eles are certainly good as well, but I have consistently been able to chase them down before this patch (after their ride the lightning nerf). With the new buff to steal, there is no contest.
I’m running centaur runes with Withdraw for perma-swiftness. Add in Heartseeker spam to go even faster (2 Heartseekers = 1 Infiltrator’s Arrow for both distance and initiative cost). Plus Shadowstep.
That’s not including if there are valid targets around, which there almost always are. At that point, add Infiltrator’s Signet and Steal to the list. And if you really want to get sneaky, Shadow Shot can also be used as a cheaper version of Infiltrator’s Arrow. The trick is to dodge roll right after the teleport but before the dagger attack happens. If the dagger hits, you’ll drop to combat speed.
You are confusing evasion with speed.
From point A to point B the warrior is just faster.
Thief is much better because the thief can actually evade enemies with stealth
I’m running centaur runes with Withdraw for perma-swiftness. Add in Heartseeker spam to go even faster (2 Heartseekers = 1 Infiltrator’s Arrow for both distance and initiative cost). Plus Shadowstep.
That’s not including if there are valid targets around, which there almost always are. At that point, add Infiltrator’s Signet and Steal to the list. And if you really want to get sneaky, Shadow Shot can also be used as a cheaper version of Infiltrator’s Arrow. The trick is to dodge roll right after the teleport but before the dagger attack happens. If the dagger hits, you’ll drop to combat speed.
You are confusing evasion with speed.
From point A to point B the warrior is just faster.
Thief is much better because the thief can actually evade enemies with stealth
I thought my post was pretty clear. Perma-swiftness + 4 different ways to teleport (Steal/Infiltrator’s Signet/Shadowstep and your spammable choice of Infiltrator’s Arrow or Shadow Shot) + a spammable leap.
I do believe warrior aswel, it is not that his leaps bring him to the greatest distance, it is that they have such a short cooldown and you can set up a continuos cycle giving you a sustained speed for like ever. On the long run he’ll win.
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guardian and mesmer are slowest potential. Necro has many skills that can increase speed Guardian as 1 and a single leap, mesmer has 1 and a blink skill.
Please get your priorities straight Anet.
Stat increase = gear grind.
Gear grind = no money from me ever again.
Guardian if he’s chasing someone is a lot faster. A teleport and a skill with 1 handed sword. 2 shouts that give swiftness as well. No Ele, Mesmer, or Necro has ever outrun me recently. Those 3 are at the bottom. Maybe all of them equally suck in the mobility department now, But guardian is definitely above them.
“What are those class you simply cannot catch or have difficultly catching.?”
Notice the running away part Nikkinella not the chasing down part. Guardian teleport has to target something. Sure you might be lucky enough to get a mob in WvW to use as a teleport but its not a sure thing.
So when running away… as a class. Guardian has 2 skills. A leap on greatsword or sword, and the staff speed buff that pulses so you might miss it. Sorry guardian is slow. along with mesmer. Necro can easily outrun in pure speed both of them if you slot the right skills
Please get your priorities straight Anet.
Stat increase = gear grind.
Gear grind = no money from me ever again.
guardian and mesmer are slowest potential. Necro has many skills that can increase speed Guardian as 1 and a single leap, mesmer has 1 and a blink skill.
necro doesnt get movement because he can chill/criple/fear his enemies to avoid their attacks or to stop them from running away
Necro can easily outrun in pure speed both of them if you slot the right skills
That’s an unfair comparison – Guardians can slot [Save Yourselves] and [Retreat] for lots of swiftness too (in addition to probably having a jump of some sort)
Edit: See the arrow in the post below me? Go up one more post ^ to see what she meant
Necro can easily outrun in pure speed both of them if you slot the right skills
That’s an unfair comparison – Guardians can slot [Save Yourselves] and [Retreat] for lots of swiftness too (in addition to probably having a jump of some sort)
Those 2 plus Leap of Faith from GS. But no, if we’re talking pure out of combat running, I cant outrun a Necro. I can keep up with an ele though cuz I can spam Leap of Faith more than they can RTL, and eles no longer can maintain perma swiftness but I still can with my shouts and a staff. When i’m chasing someone though and not just roaming I’ll swap out my staff with a 1 handed sword and focus. That teleport is awesome. Sucks that it needs a target though. The list of mobility changes depending on whether or not you’re in combat.
guardian and mesmer are slowest potential. Necro has many skills that can increase speed Guardian as 1 and a single leap, mesmer has 1 and a blink skill.
Lol at the delusional necro.
It’s a given that every class can get permanent swiftness, so then it’s about what other abilities can get you more distance. Warriors, thieves, guardians, and rangers all have 2+ leap / teleport abilities. Therefore if all trained for permanent swiftness, they are top tier. Eles are now towards the bottom, because RTL has a massive cool down. Mesmers have 2 teleports but one requires a target and the other has a longer cool down so they are slower. Which leaves an engineer that I don’t play, and necro who has no leaps and 1 worm sacrifice teleport that has the longest cool down of all the teleports… So yeah, sorry I love necro but they are by far the slowest profession. Oh also necro doesn’t have access to 15s heal so they can’t only rely on rune of centaur for permanent swiftness, so that’s another knock on them for speed.
Necro can easily outrun in pure speed both of them if you slot the right skills
That’s an unfair comparison – Guardians can slot [Save Yourselves] and [Retreat] for lots of swiftness too (in addition to probably having a jump of some sort)
Edit: See the arrow in the post below me? Go up one more post ^ to see what she meant
I am big enough to admit I was wrong. I completely forgot about those two skills. I concede the point.
Please get your priorities straight Anet.
Stat increase = gear grind.
Gear grind = no money from me ever again.
Eles are now towards the bottom, because RTL has a massive cool down.
So long as the ele has fire sword, they can be REALLY hard to catch. It basically gives two speedy abilities on very quick cool downs. That along with their other skills can cover a lot of ground in a very short time. I won’t call them the fastest but they can out run the bottom tier of speedsters.
Sarcasm For Hire [SFH]
“Youre lips are movin and youre complaining about something thats wingeing.”
I think engineer can go for permanent swiftness… at least I tried this in sPvP… with traits to give +30% boon duration and some swiftness runes(centaur). Using all the other stuff(elixir, med kit skill and trait for equipping kit → swiftness) you can get permanent swiftness.
Also at the moment we have some nice combo with super speed + rocket boots that works a bit like rtl(very fast jump you can use to get away). Also this cures cripple, chilled, immobilized.
Thief is fastest class, when it has that trait where you run faster while stealth, its bugged atm and is faster than the speed cap.
2nd fastest is ele, you can swap between staff for swiftness, get swiftness by going into lightning mode, switch to dagger and use rtl, switch to fire and use burning speed, use lightning flash, and rinse and repeat, also can use fiery dragon sword for even more speed. Or you just switch between staff and dagger and with speed bonus trait while in lightning just chill in lightning while doing rtl and swiftness from staff with lightning flash in there as well.
What’s with everyone thinking mesmer is so very very slow?
Rune of air + 20% focus reduction trait = permanent swiftness… then blink + good phase retreat use makes them pretty quick… they aren’t the fastest but they aren’t slugs if you don’t want them to be either.
As far as not changing builds goes I think Ele and Thief take the top spots rather easily; insanely hard to catch either of them. My guardian is decent when running, I use sword 2 on mobs a lot for that extra jump and also leap of faith; without switching I have 16s swiftness every 48 seconds
If we’re talking unopposed straight line running, nothing is going faster than a Warrior. Thief isn’t even remotely close. The thief’s advantage is his speed comes from common weapon set items whereas the Warrior needs sword+warhorn/greatsword with bull’s charge as mentioned above.
And again, in a straight line contest… Ranger is pretty much even with a thief since Swoop has a 12 second recast time now.
And you know how I know this? Because I actually have these 3 classes at 80 and know what I’m talking about.
Now if we’re talking maneuverability in combat, thief is clearly at the top of the pack (as intended mind you).
Thief is fastest class, when it has that trait where you run faster while stealth, its bugged atm and is faster than the speed cap.
2nd fastest is ele, you can swap between staff for swiftness, get swiftness by going into lightning mode, switch to dagger and use rtl, switch to fire and use burning speed, use lightning flash, and rinse and repeat, also can use fiery dragon sword for even more speed. Or you just switch between staff and dagger and with speed bonus trait while in lightning just chill in lightning while doing rtl and swiftness from staff with lightning flash in there as well.
ele is definitly not the 2nd fastest … warrior is so much faster (was even little bit faster before ele nerf if all 4 movement skills were equipped + reduced cooldowns)
now that ele is nerfed warrior can outrun ele so easy
what Atherakhia.4086 wrote pretty much sums it up
warrior is definitly the fastest class for straight running
If we’re talking unopposed straight line running, nothing is going faster than a Warrior. Thief isn’t even remotely close. The thief’s advantage is his speed comes from common weapon set items whereas the Warrior needs sword+warhorn/greatsword with bull’s charge as mentioned above.
And again, in a straight line contest… Ranger is pretty much even with a thief since Swoop has a 12 second recast time now.
And you know how I know this? Because I actually have these 3 classes at 80 and know what I’m talking about.
Now if we’re talking maneuverability in combat, thief is clearly at the top of the pack (as intended mind you).
I really can’t see how you guys think warrior is faster. it ain’t even close. seaweed + swiftness trait almost gives perma swiftness. or like that other fellow said 50% ms in stealth.
that leaves warriors bull rush and there 2 great sword skills. while thieve still has shortbow #5, and steal, also shadow step from signet and the normal shadow step.
Since im also rolling S/d in offhand i get yet another Shadow step via infiltrators strike
I really can’t see how you guys think warrior is faster. it ain’t even close. seaweed + swiftness trait almost gives perma swiftness. or like that other fellow said 50% ms in stealth.
that leaves warriors bull rush and there 2 great sword skills. while thieve still has shortbow #5, and steal, also shadow step from signet and the normal shadow step.
Since im also rolling S/d in offhand i get yet another Shadow step via infiltrators strike
if you are europe we can make a race
i guess that would solve all the problems^^
maybe i am wrong maybe you are wrong we can find out
Hah im Na sorry, but i have raced warriors before and won. Honestly warriors are pretty quick, but with the random mobs all over the map (that thieves can step too) makes them a bit slower. Alot of thieves wont chase warriors though, simply due to the fact that when you catch them you’ve blown through half your initiative and your utilities
fighting warriors with 1 spam never works
What’s with everyone thinking mesmer is so very very slow?
Rune of air
Runes have nothing to do with the class you are playing. Spamming your heal spell while out of combat may also kill you when a thief engages you out of stealth.
/edit: Also Phase Retreat (Staff #2) has kind of restricted use since you either need a target behind you or must be real quick turning around, phase retreat, turn around again without losing more space as you got.
I think engineer can go for permanent swiftness… at least I tried this in sPvP… with traits to give +30% boon duration and some swiftness runes(centaur). Using all the other stuff(elixir, med kit skill and trait for equipping kit ? swiftness) you can get permanent swiftness.
Or you could just trait “Speedy Kits” and use a kit every 5s without any need for boon duration or elixirs.
So, what’s the straight line course you’d like to test it by? I’ll happily post a sprint video.
I use the Lion’s Court/fountain end of the bridge leading to Fort Mariner(Starting at the end of where it turns wooden), and pretty much follow the road around to the moa racing gate.
Ele with 15 second RTL + lightning flash could make that run in 1:01
Warrior with S/H + GS + bull’s rush could make it in 0:58
Ele with 40 second RTL + lightning flash could make it in 1:16 (25% longer and had just passed the farshore WP when the old ele would be finished)
“We recognize that the changes to [ele] will essentially remove it from play. In the future,
we may consider whether or not there is an incarnation of [ele] that would be viable
but balanced. For now, we do not expect it to see serious use.” – ANet
Somebody needs to organize an actual race and settle this once and for all. Say two races – one on a road where combat slows won’t be a problem, and one where they will:
Race 1
Start: Southwestern Gendarran Fields (Travelers Dale Waypoint)
Finish: Southeastern Gendarran Fields (Almuten Waypoint)
- Must stay on the road the whole way, but this is the fastest, most direct route anyway
Race 2
Start: Southeastern Cursed Shore (Shipwreck Rock Waypoint)
Finish: Northeastern Cursed Shore (Pursuit Pass Waypoint)
- Can use any route, but the shortest, most direct is to hug the roads on the eastern side of the map, though there are several gaps with no roads where you have to run through mobs who will slow you if they get a hit.
Everyone who wants to prove which is the fastest can guest to the same server. Have a couple people at both Start and Finish timing it, start each racer 30s apart so their AoE Swiftness doesn’t buff nearby competitors.
Use any build, any gear, anything “legal” in game. Teleport/Map hacks disqualify, but anything else goes.
I’m running centaur runes with Withdraw for perma-swiftness. Add in Heartseeker spam to go even faster (2 Heartseekers = 1 Infiltrator’s Arrow for both distance and initiative cost). Plus Shadowstep.
That’s not including if there are valid targets around, which there almost always are. At that point, add Infiltrator’s Signet and Steal to the list. And if you really want to get sneaky, Shadow Shot can also be used as a cheaper version of Infiltrator’s Arrow. The trick is to dodge roll right after the teleport but before the dagger attack happens. If the dagger hits, you’ll drop to combat speed.
You are confusing evasion with speed.
From point A to point B the warrior is just faster.
Thief is much better because the thief can actually evade enemies with stealth
I thought my post was pretty clear. Perma-swiftness + 4 different ways to teleport (Steal/Infiltrator’s Signet/Shadowstep and your spammable choice of Infiltrator’s Arrow or Shadow Shot) + a spammable leap.
I also have a warrior, and it’s no contest.
You’re obviously not playing your warrior right. I regularly roam with a GS + Sword/WH warrior. Yes thieves can beat them in a sprint, but long distance, warriors will win.
Warriors have : Sword #2, GS #3 and #5, Can swap to shield for #4, Bulls rush, and perma swiftness.
Thieves have: Heartseeker or Inf arrow, withdrawl, roll for initiative, shadowstep, and perma swiftness.
The reason thieves will win in a sprint is because they can dump all their initiative and utilities at once to gain lots of distance, but past that the warrior will begin to catch up as They only have to wait on cooldowns and not initiative. While we are waiting for ini regen, they have 4 weapon abilities that are recharging all at once and thieves essentially have two (withdrawl +HS/IA) since all weapon skills share the same resource (initiative).
Thieves are still better at disengaging from a fight though.
Fastest classes are warrior, ranger, thief, ele. Of course this requires certain weapons sets, traits, etc. Warrior with GS, and sword/warhorn being fastest. Hardest to catch is a different story though, with thief and engineer topping that chart.
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4 Warriors, 3 Rangers, 3 Mesmers, 2 Engineers, 2 Guardians, and Necro, Thf, Ele
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@archon-
I totally agree about the sprint thing…I don’t play warrior, so I’ve got no personal experience to draw on.
I’m currently playing a condi-tank build that has very high mobility and initiative regen.
the thing is, I am limited by initiative, but I dont just have to wait for it. I get cooldowns too and they help a lot.
First I get 1 initiative every second
an extra 3 initiative every 10 seconds (trait and infil-signet)
5 initiative from steal every 21 seconds (and a short speed boost in stealth)
2 initiative from my heal every 30 seconds
So in a minute I’m getting 60 + 18 + 15 + 4 initiative = 97 initiative
so thats about 16 infiltrator arrows in a minute or 1 every 4 seconds (which ignores the 2.5 free ones you get at the beginning for starting with full initiative).
this is in addition to 3 × 1.5k steals in a minute (in a distance wvw run, you can probably expect at least two of them to be profitable distance wise, maybe giving you an extra 1k distance each.
This is all in addition to perma-swiftness and occasional bursts of speed in stealth.
I also left out infiltrator signet-because I counted its initiative regen instead, so we’re assuming no activations.
