Guild Wars 2

I’ve been reading thru the different forums trying to get opinions on the best ‘support’ type class. I currently have an 80 warrior that I leveled thru PvE almost exclusively. A RL buddy has really been into WvW and sPvP lately. I’ve tried several times, but it doesn’t seem to be “clicking” pvp-wise for me with the warrior.

I know GW2 doesn’t have the ‘trinity’ roles like other MMO’s, but I’m thinking Guardian might be the closest thing. (as far as providing off-heals and buffs to the group) I’m not looking for the “lone-wolf” style of playing, I want to help the group in any way I can. Does this sound like the right path? Or should I try to make some sort of a “support-esque” build for my warrior (if there even is one?)

Thanks for any info!

—rob

Yeah, staff + consecration + tomb of courage with traits and you would be good healing/support class. :P

Warrior has a more support spec with Shout Healer or Banner Warrior specs. Both these specs allow for warrior to spread healing and boons to your group with condi removal (shout w/ soldier runes). If you run either of these specs with weapon sets being ?/Horn and Hammer you will be a good support with decent dps for your group.

Overall though Guardian is a very good support class and in most ways outranks warrior within this aspect. However, if you don’t want to relevel to 80 try out a shout or banner warrior spec.

I run a support guardian and this is my impression.

Guardian’s about as good as it gets for boons, pretty good heals, and you can tank alright with fairly meh damage, with some CC. I think warrior is slightly better healing and more hit points (not sure how damage compares in a support build). Elementalist is better healing, great CC, but not a tank.

styx.7294:

I run a support guardian and this is my impression.

Guardian’s about as good as it gets for boons, pretty good heals, and you can tank alright with fairly meh damage, with some CC. I think warrior is slightly better healing and more hit points (not sure how damage compares in a support build). Elementalist is better healing, great CC, but not a tank.

Dont forget that a guardian with staff/hammer can keep people in a choke point at an objective (like a single staircase) to keep all those enemies nice and huddled on the stairs.

Extremely, extremely effective tactic even with just one guardian and a couple ACs.

Tuluum.9638:

styx.7294:

I run a support guardian and this is my impression.

Guardian’s about as good as it gets for boons, pretty good heals, and you can tank alright with fairly meh damage, with some CC. I think warrior is slightly better healing and more hit points (not sure how damage compares in a support build). Elementalist is better healing, great CC, but not a tank.

Dont forget that a guardian with staff/hammer can keep people in a choke point at an objective (like a single staircase) to keep all those enemies nice and huddled on the stairs.

Extremely, extremely effective tactic even with just one guardian and a couple ACs.

Agreed, it’s great though it can be countered with stability/teleports/portal/probably other things. I also wanted to mention that I think guardian is the only one who can give the party stability. Hallowed Ground and Hold Your Ground are both pretty solid utilities.

Warriors and guardians are both great for giving out boons to allies as they have both shouts and a second set of support abilities. What kind of boons do you want to give? You will give offensive boons as a warrior (might, fury) and defensive boons as a guardian (aegis, protection, regeneration, stability, retaliation).

In addition to shouts each class has its own sort of fixed area bonuses as well: Guardians have consecrations, which are more useful but have short durations and long cooldowns, warriors have banners which have weaker effects but can be moved around and have nearly 100% uptime.

Both classes can also provide healing and condition removal to allies.

Warriors can be very good support characters, but I still think guardians can do a better job with all their line/ring of warding, sanctuary and various bubbles that reflect projectiles.

If you’re looking for support, i’m going to suggest a Staff ele.

Water fields, spamming regen like an healbot, tons of CC and combos.

Might take a while to get used to, compared to War or Guardian is a bit harder to learn, but it does wonders with proper play/team/build.

Thanks for all the replies guys!

I never did try the banners with the warrior, I’ll definitely look into that, and try some different builds. That is one nice thing about GW2, being able to change builds without penalty!

In the mean time, it sounds like a guardian might be a good choice to casually level to get the best of both worlds. Thanks again all!

—rob

Dont underestimate the Ele! You got a lot of different builds which u can use to make the ele as a great healer and buffer

rob.1705:

I’ve been reading thru the different forums trying to get opinions on the best ‘support’ type class. I currently have an 80 warrior that I leveled thru PvE almost exclusively. A RL buddy has really been into WvW and sPvP lately. I’ve tried several times, but it doesn’t seem to be “clicking” pvp-wise for me with the warrior.

I know GW2 doesn’t have the ‘trinity’ roles like other MMO’s, but I’m thinking Guardian might be the closest thing. (as far as providing off-heals and buffs to the group) I’m not looking for the “lone-wolf” style of playing, I want to help the group in any way I can. Does this sound like the right path? Or should I try to make some sort of a “support-esque” build for my warrior (if there even is one?)

Thanks for any info!

—rob

Rob dude.
Awesome name btw.

I am your man.
+1,500 Hours on Guardian in WvW
That is what you want. I have an amazing build for it too.
PM me in ingame if you’re interested.