Guild Wars 2

I have a level 80 Ranger spec’d into LB and he wears all Berserkers, so he’s fairly squishy and I follow around the Zerg to Barrage the heck out of things, and chase down near-dead runners.

But I feel as if I want to be able to go out Solo roaming or be part of smaller strike forces that overturn camps and such, outside of the Zerg, yah know?

So I was wondering out of all the popular Roaming classes, which one seems to be the most user friendly, and will allow me to handle my own vs. others who prefer to do the same thing, currently leveling up a d/p thief, he’s fun, just wondering, lol…

Thanks!

Thief.

Also d/d ele I guess but nothing beats the escape power and 1v1 kill power (especially for clearing NPCs) like the thief.

I enjoy my engineer for roaming and with the right setup it’s really hard to stop me but I could hardly list it as a top tier class.

Thief, the Lord and Master of solo-roaming in WvW.

1) You’ll have the most elusive profession, the only way you die is if you screw up. Whole zergs cant even catch you.

2) You’ll have arguebly the best 1v1 profession you can imagine, and incase you arent winning? See point nr1, just run away! Nobody is going to stop you…

3) You can actually use Traps to extreme effectiveness, using your lengthy Stealths to place a trap right in the middle of a zerg to guarentee maximum effectiveness. So for just 10supply, you can drain 100 from a zerg. And then run away because point 1. Meaning you are an excellent zerg harasser.

4) Even at very low level you will take full benefit of being very hard to catch and kill, aswell as being a fantastic zerg harasser with Traps. So no need to feel kitten for 79 levels.

Dolyaks are pretty good roamers! I would roll one of those

Hurtappl.6405:

Dolyaks are pretty good roamers! I would roll one of those

and the odd part is: they are slow, easy to kill and do sod all damage.
All the things people look for in a roamer!

Play what you want. What are you out for? Supporting fellow roamers, yourself, respect, being irritating, running away, or being different. There’s tons of thieves memers and d/d elves. I personally prefer playing the not so common roaming classes.

Don’t roll a thief, imo boring gameplay and brings nothing to small group roams, go for an engi or mesmer. both are very good in small groups when played right.

Get some rabid gear for karma, and make a trap ranger. It works fine for roaming. I have around 1600 toughness, and 17.5k HP, and have no trouble soloing camps with canines. If you’re looking more for 1v1, 1vx regen ranger is good for that. It is beastmaster build, and most people run it with condi damage, using apothecary gear.

Pls not more StylerXXXThiefes. Beastmaster Ranger and Hammer/Shield-Warrior are pretty good for roaming. Soloing camps is pretty boring in my opinion since its just PvE.

I find Phantasm Mesmer to be pretty beastly at roaming. I usually kill or force resets on 75% of the thieves I fight. I have no trouble beating other classes. S/S and S/P with A mix of Valk/Berserker Gear. Tons of invisibility and 2 invul’s, as well as a stun/cripple and immobilize. Though, P/D Condition Thieves seem to hit me the hardest.

Play whatever you like, just make sure its a Norn for snow leopard form elite, unless youre a thief. Snow leopard is an instant get out of jail free card, just sayin, its worth it.

Ranger is cool though.

there are really only 2 options for solo roaming… Thief or Mesmer

I personally run a mesmer. You get ganked more than a thief because it is more difficult to run away with the build I use… but I personally find it more challenging and hence more fun.

If I roam I usually go either Thief, Ranger, Warrior or Ele. Alot of people don’t seem to realise how good a Warrior is at roaming with the right build. My personal favorite is Ranger.

Thief; don’t let all the jealous people who get killed by them tell you otherwise.

However a mesmer is a very good class for 1v1 or group situations, they move really really slow. Just something you might want to take in account.

Rangers are actually really good in 1v1, Id say try that out, otherwise try an engi. Thieves and eles are very common and more and more people find ways to counter them (or even build specificly for them).

Thief, no contest.

VaaCrow.3076:

Don’t roll a thief, imo boring gameplay and brings nothing to small group roams, go for an engi or mesmer. both are very good in small groups when played right.

True, they bring nothing to the group except the ability to kill the enemy fast and effectivly.

Wait what’s the point of a small roaming group again? Oh right – kill the enemy and run away.

Thief is without equal for this (especially on the running away part). 2 theives can easily kill groups of 5+ just by going in, downing one, falling back, separating them, repeat the kill. If the enemy is glass cannons, they drop like stones. If the enemy is bunkers, they take some time but in turn cant really threaten the thief that much. There is no “anti roaming thief” class except another roaming thief, because no matter how they build the roamer is built better for the encounter. When people say they kill a ton of thieves, they are either a better player or the thief wasnt well built. I play Mesmer and I kill plenty of thieves, but its easy to tell when you meet a good one – you die fast.

wanna be coward? play thief or ele
wanna be meat? play ranger, warior, guard and somemore
wanna gang 1v1 everyone, play mesmer or engi

Seriously? Is no one going to suggest the Medicat Engi build?

This build is, honestly, infuriating to play against.

Otokomae.9356:

Seriously? Is no one going to suggest the Medicat Engi build?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pfO5s9pi0c

This build is, honestly, infuriating to play against.

I hope you do understand that video is from last year and a lot of things have changed since that. E.g. Elixir S is nowadays more or less a prolonged death wish and self-regulating defenses as well. A lot of the dmg from the build comes from confusion which got a 50% nerf in 30th April patch. Also I don’t remember seeing so many upleveled enemies for a while. The enemies weren’t dodging and they had zero durability.

I do solo roaming as engineer. Mainly because it is fun, but it allows no mistakes. In other words there is no easy way out, since any decent enemy team will most likely hit you with half a dozen CC skills: couple of immobilizes, cripples, knockdowns and stuns in a row. Even 4 dodges in a row (elixir R) or double blocking (static + magnetic shield + toolkit gear shield) won’t fully save you from that, unless you get lucky.

The best way is to communicate with your main force and just try to run away and stay alive as long as possible and lure that chasing enemy team to meet your main group and gg.

Pick the fastest and most deceptive classes.

The primary point of roaming, to my understanding, is to get in, kill/flip and get out to the next objective fast. Have to be fast and evasive in case a zerg shows up to stop you.

In other words, Thief.

p/d thief. that is all.

Go thief. Then you too can use the uber thief skillz like this guy:-

Join the invincible ranks! Use the latest worm cuddling tactics today!

Play the Ranger =)

I’m BM/Bunker Archer and kick some butt solo WvW roaming. Tons of fun options both condi/power/melee/ranged.

Cheers!

Thief>roll your face at the keyboard>5k backstab>???>profit

Thieves can kill many classes before the player at their keyboard even knows they are under attack.

Then they can evade 5 or so players who respond, likely killing one or two of them.

Cant really compete with that

Roll a regen ranger. The RRR is a terror

Mystery Tonic – It’s the only way to roam

Go d/d ele. It’s the only class that can do everything with the same spec.

Any siege class, I recommend an Arrow Cart.

I still roam on my d/d ele. But I can’t catch warriors anymore. Even with signet of air.
You will want to carry pvt and crit gear based on how much pop the other team has in the area. 0/0/20/20/30 seems to be the best right now with geomancer’s freedom. Ele is the most out-last class there is for roaming.

I got a thief to 80, but I never got into it to the point where I enjoyed playing it.

It is possible to roam with guardian/warrior/ranger quite easily with high damage and regen. I see very bunkery guardians. Very bursty warriors and rangers.

I figure the thief will have the highest kill ratio if they know how to pick their targets, and use their escapes properly. I’ve seen some very boring thieves that will just run forever until someone is under 50% before jumping in. That’s not how you roam, unless trolling people with jabs is fun for you.

Ranger kiting is the best imo. And play near water and you can pretty much get to full health forever vs multiple enemies.

Mesmer is good if you stick around ruins to gank, because their mobility is crap to fully roam.

mesmer. best roaming class by far.

Just play thief like every other unskilled roamer who needs a forgiving, easy mode class to survive when they do dumb things.

Thief, D/D ele

BM ranger is pro as hell when it comes to roaming

I roam & I like playing engineer. Perma swiftness, I can solo supply camps & do good unless there’s 3+ vs me. Just stay away from the zergs.

Phoenixfudge.5290:

p/d thief. that is all.

this…

ultimate survivability.

VaaCrow.3076:

Don’t roll a thief, imo boring gameplay and brings nothing to small group roams, go for an engi or mesmer. both are very good in small groups when played right.

Seriously? You were the one that came to the thief forums crying for a nerf and saying that you had “over 1k hours of thief gameplay”, now you’re saying that it’s boring?

“Oh, I played a really boring profession for over 1k hours that does nothing for group roaming. Roll a different prof. Oh btw please nerf thief.”

Arganthium.5638:

VaaCrow.3076:

Don’t roll a thief, imo boring gameplay and brings nothing to small group roams, go for an engi or mesmer. both are very good in small groups when played right.

Seriously? You were the one that came to the thief forums crying for a nerf and saying that you had “over 1k hours of thief gameplay”, now you’re saying that it’s boring?

“Oh, I played a really boring profession for over 1k hours that does nothing for group roaming. Roll a different prof. Oh btw please nerf thief.”

In that very same thread you’re so expertly qouting me from i explicitly said i found the class unchallenging >>>>>>> BORING. how thick are you, lol.
In that thread I asked for a balance? I said the class is op? both valid opinions, given my experience with the class, I also said the class is unchallenging in my OPINION? Oh hurr durr quit being so kitten, lol. the 1k hours is more to do with my thief having a comm tag in wvw than it was to do with me “loving” the gameplay, it was fun for a time but i feel the class needs to be made more difficult to play, thats why i made the thread to see if anyone else shared that opinion > some did.

And instead of attacking my posts in someone elses thread maybe you should contribute > the OP asked what class to roll, he asked for opinions! I gave mine as did many others, but then again i wouldn’t expect trolls like yourself to understand that. go back to spamming heartseeker, forums are too above your capability to think.

REAL MEN ROAM WARRIOR OR NECRO

Roam as a warrior, there great for singling out targets and assisting in team fights. Message me if you like to drop nerds=D

Anything is fine really. I even saw a guardian solo roaming last night.

The issue is that when roaming you often run into significantly larger groups than you can handle and you need to get away quickly. So unless you are fast / mobile or have long duration of stealth then you are dead. So in my opinion, the profession doesn’t matter so much until you run into those large groups.

To deal with large groups, you either want a very fast profession like warriors (sword+greatsword), rangers (sword+greatsword), thieves, d/d eles (less fast now), maybe even a speedy kits engineer.

Or – you want a long duration stealth profession like thief or a mesmer.

Thief is best of both worlds mobile and stealthy. Zergs and commanders have largely learnt to ignore us to avoid frustration. Dagger/Pistol thief is probably the most stealthy weaponset because it provides on-demand stealth without any melee contact being required (and you can chain multiple heartseekers through the black powder if you are skilled enough and don’t have a laggy connection).

If you just want to roam and have fun, most classes can do it at a decent level. There are builds for every class that offer good 1v1 capability.

However, if you want to roam and be the very best at it, don’t bother with anything but a Thief. Not only are they (we, I guess, since I have a Thief too) good at fighting in small situations (e.g. 1v1), they have

-The best escape skills. Stealth and mobility are the only things that will let you escape zergs. Thieves are the clear winners here.
-Good chasing ability. All the shadowsteps and blinks mean nobody can get away from you.
-Ability to disengage whenever you want.
-Not particularly hard to play. Thieves aren’t very hard to play at a decent level. Still not confident? Use D/P. It’s the epitome of easy-mode.
-Shortbow is a decent weapon for roaming but is still good in sieges. D/D eles or shatter mesmers (for example) can’t do crap in a siege. Thieves can just swap to a shortbow.
-The best disengage. Yes, I said this three times. Not having to run back from your waypoint every time you die (edit: not die. I mean whenever you can’t win) is invaluable.

Why do you think there are so many roaming Thieves?

Sunflowers.1729:

If you just want to roam and have fun, most classes can do it at a decent level. There are builds for every class that offer good 1v1 capability.

Don’t go glassy, find a group of like-minded players, learn when to use your soft/hard CC’s and work on some team synergy.

We mainly run teams of 2-4 players and we do quite well as a roaming team in NA tier 1. You just have to make sure you get a good understanding with your partners, communication and timing is key.

Gully.7358:

Sunflowers.1729:

If you just want to roam and have fun, most classes can do it at a decent level. There are builds for every class that offer good 1v1 capability.

Don’t go glassy, find a group of like-minded players, learn when to use your soft/hard CC’s and work on some team synergy.

We mainly run teams of 2-4 players and we do quite well as a roaming team in NA tier 1. You just have to make sure you get a good understanding with your partners, communication and timing is key.

What you said is true. I’m not saying that a 5-Thief team is the best for roaming (although I would rather have a 5 Thief team than a 5-of-anything-else team) compared to a mixed group who can cover each others’ weaknesses, just that if you wanted to roam by yourself, Thieves are the best by far (OP, if you are reading this, by far x10).

Uh, thief or warrior. Thieves can disengage pretty easily. Warriors are fast enough that you shouldn’t be caught.

Sunflowers.1729:

What you said is true. I’m not saying that a 5-Thief team is the best for roaming (although I would rather have a 5 Thief team than a 5-of-anything-else team) compared to a mixed group who can cover each others’ weaknesses, just that if you wanted to roam by yourself, Thieves are the best by far (OP, if you are reading this, by far x10).

I just quoted you because I think those words were wise and true.

Also your class choice can change dramatically from the tier you are in. A lot of thieves for example will be forced to play dagger/pistol in tier 1 due to how zergie the maps are but I’m sure that if you play on a lower tier that you can get away with a lot of different weapon and build choices.

I still believe it doesn’t matter much on what class you want to play, it all depends on your own mindset and play style.

Thief or Mesmer.

Basically the classes that punish new/bad players the most… you’ll encounter a lot of these.

Just about any class when plaid well 1v1 will be a tough fight. 1v2 you’ll die against a pair of good players.

Saw some one post that mesmers are slow… if you find mesmer slow… you’re not doing it right. It’s one of the more mobile classes in the game, you just need to trait/gear into it a bit more than other classes (but there are other benefits that come along with that if you choose to do so).

Another way to do it is to get the most sturdy classes that you can (Guard/Hunter). But the downside of that is longer fights where more can come/they can leave the fight easier.

VaaCrow.3076:

Arganthium.5638:

VaaCrow.3076:

Don’t roll a thief, imo boring gameplay and brings nothing to small group roams, go for an engi or mesmer. both are very good in small groups when played right.

Seriously? You were the one that came to the thief forums crying for a nerf and saying that you had “over 1k hours of thief gameplay”, now you’re saying that it’s boring?

“Oh, I played a really boring profession for over 1k hours that does nothing for group roaming. Roll a different prof. Oh btw please nerf thief.”

In that very same thread you’re so expertly qouting me from i explicitly said i found the class unchallenging >>>>>>> BORING. how thick are you, lol.
In that thread I asked for a balance? I said the class is op? both valid opinions, given my experience with the class, I also said the class is unchallenging in my OPINION? Oh hurr durr quit being so kitten, lol. the 1k hours is more to do with my thief having a comm tag in wvw than it was to do with me “loving” the gameplay, it was fun for a time but i feel the class needs to be made more difficult to play, thats why i made the thread to see if anyone else shared that opinion > some did.

And instead of attacking my posts in someone elses thread maybe you should contribute > the OP asked what class to roll, he asked for opinions! I gave mine as did many others, but then again i wouldn’t expect trolls like yourself to understand that. go back to spamming heartseeker, forums are too above your capability to think.

Since when have “unchallenging” and “boring” been synonyms? Furthermore, why do you necessitate being rude about my “thickness” when you didn’t even establish the two as being the same as one another? And, of course, as I originally stated, why did you play +1k hours if it was boring? Also, I never did quote you in that thread, I left one response asking why stealth was OP (as that appeared to be the argument floating around) that not once was replied to, by you or anybody else.

Furthermore, my contribution is in showing others that your opinion is invalid because
1. It’s just that, an opinion, and has no factual basis outside of us having to trust your “expert” opinion, which- by the way- has clearly been influenced by some degree of bias, at the very least, apparent by your post in the thief forums.

2. It doesn’t actually explain why it’s boring, just that it’s unchallenging because it’s-what, OP? In spite of the fact that you never explained why it’s OP? You expect us to believe in you because you just say something is OP? Wow, you must be a god.

I’d rather not have the misinformation you are spewing spread out among newer players who are actually trying to enjoy the game. Furthermore, I expect your future responses to at least have some degree of politeness in them, as in your single response to my comment I count at least two or three possible infractions just waiting to happen.

Also, if you really think I’m an “HS-spamming troll” that has “no capability to think”, you’re sorely mistaken on a number of levels, and, furthermore, your claims have absolutely no evidence to back them and are rather ad hominem remarks designed to aggravate me and, ironically, contribute nothing to the conversation. So, here are some clips of my gameplay:

Guards vs Thieves SOAC Consolation Match

Rangers vs Thieves SOAC Revenge Tourney Match

Not once did I even use a MH dagger, in any of those matches.

Thief without question in WvW – easily the best 1on1 / roaming class and with the ceiling you’ll have , you’ll end up taking out just about any class without issues.

To the guys saying thieves not good in group: Shortbow #2 blasts on a fire field to produce 20+ might for your teammates standing still, aoe weakness on groups with poison fields (which is kittening HUGE), refuge (battle changing utility) , smoke fields (projectile blinds, leap finishers to get invis, etc).

Not useful in groups? Very useful in groups, learn how to play in groups. Simple as that.

If you’re going for tPvP / sPvP then Ranger / Engi / Mesmer / Guardian / Ele , Necro (just dont bring your necro into wvw, it’s pretty bad) it’s up to you – they’re all pretty op in tPvP/sPvP when played right.

I also like when thieves post a video of tpvp / spvp matches when rangers and guardians are extremely good in tpvp/spvp which by the way, they’re only good at holding points , they do kitten damage and are meant for longevity not dealing damage which is why thieves have a hard time dealing with that in pvp , because they have to continually contest the point or they’ll lose points, whereas in wvw a thief has no worry of keeping points or getting points, so he can simply leave the fight come back , hit you some more, leave, come back , hit you some more AND it’s more open in wvw allowing the thief breathing room for when he continually gets destroyed before going back into stealth over and over – nevermind the stat stacking that can be achieved to get a thief to close to 100% crit chance and >100% crit damage.

This pressure on the thief alone hinders him as he’s meant to be sustainable , defensive, not offensive in most situations – it’s a reason why half their utilities are defensive which plays into the role of them being able to equip themselves in full zerker gear and trinkets and still obtain the ‘bunker effect’ due to escapism/constantly leaving and coming back.

I don’t know if it’s op , but it’s just funny to see thieves defend their class with videos like that when the whole entire mentality of gameplay is different from WvW.