Guild Wars 2

Greetings,

I used to love to roam in WvW on my warrior, mesmer, as well as core guardian pre-HoT. As of right now, i am struggling to find a decent and enjoyable roaming build for any of these classes. Also, I play power builds exclusively in WvW and always have, so condi is out of the question.

• Warrior power builds feel clunky to the point where I’m just not having fun, even though they’re still decent. The nerfs to GS and shield bash just killed it for me, even though the nerfs were justified.

• Mesmer power shatter feels relatively weak in terms of everything but that one burst tbh. That being said I do love to play chronophantasma in spvp, but want to avoid it in wvw if i can.

• I hate DH meditrapper passionately since the beginning of HoT, and refuse to play that braindead build.

Any suggestions for a power roaming build? I avoid thief and necro, other than that, I’d give any profession a shot.

I’m biased since I’ve Engi mained since launch. Scrapper is what I currently roam with.

Power HgH build. Fairly meta with some minor tweaks. Mobility is the big weakness, and coordinated small groups using the chain root will get you every time, but for the most part it’s strong. Nothing can beat you 1v1 and only a couple of builds that can work you to a draw.

Druid – effective and durable if built well, strong 1v1 weak 1vX strong team support with heals and peels, flexible between support and DPS without tweaking traits, only stats and weapon sets.

Daredevil – best solo class. Strong 1v1 strong 1vX weak team support, you can only blast stealth for allies or gank the enemy pressuring your allies. Options between D/P Dash Pulm or D/P Staff Acro Bound. Pretty much the perfect roamer, either abuse stealth or Dash to survive, if you know how to play the build your enemy has equiped, regardless of class, a Daredevil has winning odds since it can kite and abuse openings with strong consistent burst and sustained damage.

Herald – one of the worst solo classes. Boons they share go to waste. Very high damage that provides counterplay to high durability builds, choices between hammer and sword/shield. High evade and block uptime, low condition cleanses. 1v1 and 1vX advantage almost entirely revolves around if your enemy is condition damage or not if you both have equal skill. Strong team support in terms of hard CC, enough damage to deny 2 revivers, offensive boon sharing, strong revive trait, and unique traits like Assassin’s Presence and Versed in Stone. As a solo roamer, you’ll have a bad time if you’re new, but in a small roaming party the Herald shines.

I would second the Power Druid, using either Greatsword + Staff or Longbow + Staff, depending on what you want.

Druids are quite annoying to meet. They hit quite hard and can stay the distance and heal well. Or if you want “something more up close and personal” (shameless gamequote).

I always liked to be more in my opponents face when in WvW/Pvp. But its all a personal preference, thank God, wouldnt want everyone to play the same way.

I wish I could play engie, they are so much fun and effective in 1v1. But I couldnt kill a blind ant as one.

Hammer rev crush all !
Squish squish make bug juice !

Roll a DD. I know you didn’t want a thief, but it is by far the best power roaming class out there. Oh and you don’t need to run stealth if you don’t like that style of play.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I shall try druid. I see that scrapper is strong, but i don’t like the lack of mobility. I’ll probably roll one just for the heck of it though (thank god for all the free tomes from spvp).

As for thief, I have one and I know they’re strong. I just feel it isn’t the class for me.

Most fun I had roaming was with staff elemantalist freshair arcane tempest.
off-meta alot I know
timing air2 + arcane wave+ blast bursts unsuspecting people alot. Lyssa runes to have some coni cleanse.

with elemantal surge, you can spam blind/ immob people while you shoot at them

scepter focus works too in the same way to burst people but harder to get away with multiple opponenets.

Dubbiz.9734:

Greetings,

I used to love to roam in WvW on my warrior, mesmer, as well as core guardian pre-HoT. As of right now, i am struggling to find a decent and enjoyable roaming build for any of these classes. Also, I play power builds exclusively in WvW and always have, so condi is out of the question.

• Warrior power builds feel clunky to the point where I’m just not having fun, even though they’re still decent. The nerfs to GS and shield bash just killed it for me, even though the nerfs were justified.

• Mesmer power shatter feels relatively weak in terms of everything but that one burst tbh. That being said I do love to play chronophantasma in spvp, but want to avoid it in wvw if i can.

• I hate DH meditrapper passionately since the beginning of HoT, and refuse to play that braindead build.

Any suggestions for a power roaming build? I avoid thief and necro, other than that, I’d give any profession a shot.

Hey, My name Jozilla, a mesmer in Desolation.

I a roamer / 1v1 Player and i play Core Mesmer for a long time. I have tried playing chrono and its alright.. but Core mesmer is just better for me and it fits my playstyle.

Try it out mabye you will like it if you have any questions you can pm me in game. I am happy to help people that wanna play core mesmer.

Build : https://goo.gl/XtrwtS

I have played this build for at least 1 and half year now and i still have fun playing it.
Weakness of this build is Sustain builds and Team fighting (Gvg)

(you cant use this build for everything but it is a start)
feel free to change it around if you dont like it.

Hope i helped ya out

-Jozilla

Is this a for funz build? As in you dont mind dying if the build is fun to play? Or you want to roam around and be top tier ganker?

Balls out power shatter is quite fun for the lulz but you will die a lot, if you dont mind running back out it can have some pretty funny moments.

Im sure gunflame warrior would also fit this category.

But what Beep said, DD, load up acro, profit.

Tyaen.5148:

I’m biased since I’ve Engi mained since launch. Scrapper is what I currently roam with.

Power HgH build. Fairly meta with some minor tweaks. Mobility is the big weakness, and coordinated small groups using the chain root will get you every time, but for the most part it’s strong. Nothing can beat you 1v1 and only a couple of builds that can work you to a draw.

Nothing can beat power scrapper 1v1? You get torn a new one by condi reapers. The reapers don’t even need to be good really. I think that every major roaming spec that is run currently can play scrapper to at least a draw.

Helly.2597:

Tyaen.5148:

I’m biased since I’ve Engi mained since launch. Scrapper is what I currently roam with.

Power HgH build. Fairly meta with some minor tweaks. Mobility is the big weakness, and coordinated small groups using the chain root will get you every time, but for the most part it’s strong. Nothing can beat you 1v1 and only a couple of builds that can work you to a draw.

Nothing can beat power scrapper 1v1? You get torn a new one by condi reapers. The reapers don’t even need to be good really. I think that every major roaming spec that is run currently can play scrapper to at least a draw.

Only condi reapers really hurt scrapers because of all the corrupts, however even then there’s very little a reaper can do to prevent you getting away in stealth, that’s without mentioning purge gyro will keep you in the fight for a while. Scrapper is a great roamed capable of winning or drawing many fights against many builds but it truly shines when fights scale up and turn into small team fights.

apharma.3741:

Helly.2597:

Tyaen.5148:

I’m biased since I’ve Engi mained since launch. Scrapper is what I currently roam with.

Power HgH build. Fairly meta with some minor tweaks. Mobility is the big weakness, and coordinated small groups using the chain root will get you every time, but for the most part it’s strong. Nothing can beat you 1v1 and only a couple of builds that can work you to a draw.

Nothing can beat power scrapper 1v1? You get torn a new one by condi reapers. The reapers don’t even need to be good really. I think that every major roaming spec that is run currently can play scrapper to at least a draw.

Only condi reapers really hurt scrapers because of all the corrupts, however even then there’s very little a reaper can do to prevent you getting away in stealth, that’s without mentioning purge gyro will keep you in the fight for a while. Scrapper is a great roamed capable of winning or drawing many fights against many builds but it truly shines when fights scale up and turn into small team fights.

If an engineer stealth gyros I just Condi bomb on that and the scrapper usually will die unless they’re just full on running at that point.
I disagree completely with the scale up comment. Scrappers do not support as well as eles or guards, don’t damage as much as reapers or warriors, don’t harass and Chase as well as thieves and Mesmer’s. They’re a bit of everything and weak against the meta specs for roaming currently. They tail off extremely hard.

Helly.2597:

apharma.3741:

Helly.2597:

Tyaen.5148:

I’m biased since I’ve Engi mained since launch. Scrapper is what I currently roam with.

Power HgH build. Fairly meta with some minor tweaks. Mobility is the big weakness, and coordinated small groups using the chain root will get you every time, but for the most part it’s strong. Nothing can beat you 1v1 and only a couple of builds that can work you to a draw.

Nothing can beat power scrapper 1v1? You get torn a new one by condi reapers. The reapers don’t even need to be good really. I think that every major roaming spec that is run currently can play scrapper to at least a draw.

Only condi reapers really hurt scrapers because of all the corrupts, however even then there’s very little a reaper can do to prevent you getting away in stealth, that’s without mentioning purge gyro will keep you in the fight for a while. Scrapper is a great roamed capable of winning or drawing many fights against many builds but it truly shines when fights scale up and turn into small team fights.

If an engineer stealth gyros I just Condi bomb on that and the scrapper usually will die unless they’re just full on running at that point.
I disagree completely with the scale up comment. Scrappers do not support as well as eles or guards, don’t damage as much as reapers or warriors, don’t harass and Chase as well as thieves and Mesmer’s. They’re a bit of everything and weak against the meta specs for roaming currently. They tail off extremely hard.

Well tbh if the purge gyro has been used the scrapper should be on run or at least back off mode, part of knowing what fights to pick and not to pick.

I also fully disagree with your assumption about them not scaling up as well, they do a bit of everything but in marauder armour they’re still going to be pumping out pretty decent cleave and damage. They can get fast rez/stomps, stealth allies, cleanse them and heal them as well as reduce the damage they take while denying ranged pew pew for a while.

Sure they will never support (read heal) as well as an ele or a guard but they will do a lot more damage and provide other forms of support while not being mostly useless without other players around. Scrapper won’t do the same damage as reaper or warrior but it offers better support, stealth and see above. Scrapper will never chase as well as Mesmer or thief but then scrapper can stick in the thick of a fight much better and gives out much more support and help to allies if they need it.

That’s why I say it scales up to a small fight upto 10v10 well as it doesn’t suddenly become much harder to survive because of the AoE like mes/thief. It doesn’t rely on a team to do what it does like ele/guard support and doesn’t crumble under pressure like a reaper and less so warrior.

Im with Helly on this, a full TB/Dire Condi reaper will make you look foolish on a Scrapper in short order. As will most heavy condi application classes.

Sure you can probably tank 2-3 power classes for a while and maybe do some damage in the interim. But if this is 2-3 heavy condi application classes as opposed to power dmg classes you will down within 10 seconds. Probably in stealth after Self Regulating Defense has triggered locking you out of your skills.

When I played in a roaming squad we dropped the scrappers in favour of other classes for a reason.

Chorazin.4107:

Im with Helly on this, a full TB/Dire Condi reaper will make you look foolish on a Scrapper in short order. As will most heavy condi application classes.

Sure you can probably tank 2-3 power classes for a while and maybe do some damage in the interim. But if this is 2-3 heavy condi application classes as opposed to power dmg classes you will down within 10 seconds. Probably in stealth after Self Regulating Defense has triggered locking you out of your skills.

When I played in a roaming squad we dropped the scrappers in favour of other classes for a reason.

Name any other class that can fight 2-3 high condition players especially if they’re in TB? I think you can pretty much put it down to warrior (unless there’s corrupts), some mesmer builds with a lot of kiting and maybe kite-a-thon Druid. Best most classes can hope to do is CC and kill fast then back off for 30s while they get cool downs back or simply poke and leave.

I do agree a scrapper won’t beat them but if you’re even half the competent roamer you’d have us believe you wouldn’t engage multiple heavy condition players on your own. Even with support eles a full condition group, especially with corrupts is a pain to fight unless you have necro a pulling and transferring conditions all the time. As a power mesmer I tend to be wary of DH, thieves and I have to be very careful against a lot of builds atm because they either have much better sustain or can put out enough conditions that it will be a problem (read loss) if the fight lasts 30s.

Scepter/dagger fresh air vanilla ele most fun spec in game when you outnumber enemies and party members have lot’s of hard cc.

apharma.3741:

I do agree a scrapper won’t beat them but if you’re even half the competent roamer you’d have us believe you wouldn’t engage multiple heavy condition players on your own.

A lot of the time with Scrappers mobility you dont get to pick and choose the engagement, you can stealth gyro and hope you can make an escape. But if the group pursuing is thirsty they can chase you down. This is one of the reasons DD is such a strong choice for power roaming.

Im an average roamer, 300 ping from Australia which can rocket up to 1000 at any given moment. And i like to play off beat stuff, power block build, shattered strength build etc.

Ive just come back from a decent break and it seems nothing has changed, in like 5-6 months. In regards to WvW small scale/roaming balance, same classes/specs are dominant.

Actually Zerker has come down from godlike to just run of the mill solid.