Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone :>

I’m trying to decide on a character to use to roam with my boyfriend’s thief… but I am having some indecision issues!

I’m trying to decide between a spirit ranger, a support-ish guardian and a thief.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated

Thanks,
Shy/Argencia

Shatter or PU Mesmer. A DPS specc guard can work well too

Another thief, probably a bunkery one. The more that thieves group up, the more dangerous they become from what Ive experience. All that stealth and backstabbing killing pugs everywhere! *shudders *

I haven’t really been enjoying my mesmer as much recently :/ I know their stealth PU build is good butttt.. just can’t get into it for some reason. Sowwy x.x

I have roamed 1k+h both on Guard and Thief…

I’d say thief is better for roaming, guard just doesn’t have dedicated escapes. Spirit ranger… I think not. Look Beastmaster or some bunker condi specs are quite nasty.
Speaking of bunkers – have you thought about bunker d/d ele, or s/w//lb shout settlers warrior? I run the latter nowadays and boy it is op in 1v1/small scale and can keep perma swiftness for the whole party too.
Basically it all goes down to – 2 thieves(preferably with different builds/weapons), or a “tank”/support and a “killer”.

My boyfriend plays a d/d valk thief and I would probably play a condi p/d kite them thief.. I did consider Ele briefly but it seems like they just get nearly one-shot by good thieves in the opener.. I don’t know maybe my skills are just not up to par :P Anyways, thank you for the suggestions! It’s nice to hear what works for people.

Imho, you have two good options. Another Thief, or a profession that can hold the enemies attention well. Such as a Necromancer. Necro’s don’t have any good methods of escaping combat, but if built right they can withstand a lot of punishment. And most people will try to kill the Necromancer before they kill the Thief. Which ever they choose though, it’s going to be the wrong one with that pair. Because if they try to kill you, the Thief will just keep tagging them when they’re focused on you until they’re dead. If they try to kill the Thief, you can just keep fearing them or dumping conditions on them until they’re dead.

So I’d say either go with another Thief, or go with a profession that can take a lot of punishment so your partner can go in for the kills.

Shyhalu.4891:

I haven’t really been enjoying my mesmer as much recently :/ I know their stealth PU build is good butttt.. just can’t get into it for some reason. Sowwy x.x

Go for a DPS guard. Sceptre/torch and Greatsword is a common weapon set that I see. Very strong too. Mix Knights and Zerker gear for a balanced build. Maybe a bit of Valkyrie too if your hp is too low. Very helpful for a thief as thieves don’t get much access to stability while a guard has quite a lot

Ele takes a while to learn and is very gear and trait dependent, but a good S/D ele can easily go toe to toe with most thief burst builds and kite away from some of the trollier tank condi builds. The major down side of ele vs warrior, mesmer, and thief is that the ele is not very good at escaping and resetting if he gets dog piled in a fight.

Whatever you choose, make sure that you can disrupt/damage your opponents enough to demand attention. 1 killer / 1 tank is great for pug stomping but against experienced roaming groups the tank will just be ignored while the glass gets burnt down. If you go tank, you have to either bring a lot of support or be able to do something that makes it fatal to ignore you.

If you want something tankier than ele but like pushing a lot of buttons, have you considered condition engi with a mix of Rabid and Settler’s gear?

I’ve tried sceptre/dagger ele for roaming. Just doesn’t work well. Not enough reliable damage compared to dagger/dagger. Sceptre flame skill 2 never hits and that’s one of your biggest sources of damage. The only reliable damage from sceptre as an ele is in air attunement

Thanks for the tips guys Still conflicted between a few classes, but I guess as long as you play well you can’t go wrong! Engi is pretty intimidating.. lots of buttons and lots to learn..

If you don’t like mesmer, I’d highly recommend engineer as next pick. The introductory builds are quite forgiving, strong 1v1 and 1vX, lots of powerful defensive and offensive capabilities. Also, there are a TON of instructional videos from experienced WvW engineers on YT. It is definitely a complicated class though.

Warriors pretty much play themselves at the moment.

I run a Sw/Sh+GS warrior and can run rings around multiple enemies without breaking a sweat. I do this to separate a target then start working on them… for you, this would mean you get all the aggro, can take it, and provide openings for your thief partner. If he starts ganking and takes aggro, you can wade in with your immobilizes and stuns and assist on whoever he’s fighting.

Classes I have used while roaming with a thief that work well are:

Mesmer. (careful your mass invis doesn’t screw his CnD)
Bunker D/D Ele.
DIRE Necro.
APOTH Engie.
Tankish Warrior with a hammer.

Those are from personal experience that I found work extremely well, you take all the heat if you can’t stealth aswell and if you can provide damage or CC for your killer friend in the mean time it works well.

Reverence.6915:

I’ve tried sceptre/dagger ele for roaming. Just doesn’t work well. Not enough reliable damage compared to dagger/dagger. Sceptre flame skill 2 never hits and that’s one of your biggest sources of damage. The only reliable damage from sceptre as an ele is in air attunement

Scepter almost requires you to take 30 in air for Fresh Air, whenever I play S/D without FA the set just feels really clunky. Dragons tooth is in fact tough to land but with thief basi venom landing a DT -> Ring of Fire -> Phoenix -> Fire grab combo is devastating and will start to stack a ton of might. A thief running around with 10-20 stacks of might is a force to behold. Anyways, if you like ele game play, go ahead and roll one and experiment with which weapon set fits your play style. It will definitely not be the most OP choice out there but it wont be a waste of time either.

Can eles actually become good bunkers that are fairly survivable? :o

Warrior with GS and S/WH. You can run away and leave your boyfriend to die.

Feaduin.7603:

Reverence.6915:

I’ve tried sceptre/dagger ele for roaming. Just doesn’t work well. Not enough reliable damage compared to dagger/dagger. Sceptre flame skill 2 never hits and that’s one of your biggest sources of damage. The only reliable damage from sceptre as an ele is in air attunement

Scepter almost requires you to take 30 in air for Fresh Air, whenever I play S/D without FA the set just feels really clunky. Dragons tooth is in fact tough to land but with thief basi venom landing a DT -> Ring of Fire -> Phoenix -> Fire grab combo is devastating and will start to stack a ton of might. A thief running around with 10-20 stacks of might is a force to behold. Anyways, if you like ele game play, go ahead and roll one and experiment with which weapon set fits your play style. It will definitely not be the most OP choice out there but it wont be a waste of time either.

Yeah exactly. It basically requires fresh air build to be viable, which takes a lot from either water or arcana lines. A hell of a trade off

Shyhalu.4891:

Can eles actually become good bunkers that are fairly survivable? :o

Certainly. A bunker ele relies on a lot of dodge rolls though, but you get easy access to vigor on crit