Guild Wars 2

Alright, so, I have every profession at 80 and in full exotics. Several times over. And even a few ascended pieces. And I still haven’t found something I can play well enough. So, maybe I just haven’t learned of something yet. That’s where you guys come in.

I’m mainly interested in WvW, specifically solo/small group roaming. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard d/p thief and PU mesmer, but I’ve also heard that (1) there are plenty of solid counters, which means it’s too gimmicky for me (2) they’re mainly for capping and getting away.

Before I waste more time and money on trying different builds, I’d like to hear what all seems to work in WvW roaming. Thanks!

(I posted this in another forum initially but decided it probably fits here better)

As a rule of thumb to have a successful solo build you need to fit in:

Survivability
Damage
Movement

You are going to find every build has a ‘solid’ counter, that’s why there isn’t just one build that everyone uses to solo roam. I take a good think about what I struggle against and what I die to so that I can tweak my build to suit my playstyle.

All the professions have their limitations, but I would stick to a class you are familliar with. I tried to switch from a warrior to a torment mesmer after April patch and although it was fun, I struggled because I haven’t really spent much time on mesmer. I can see how in the right hands it would be a good build, but I died a lot and missed the movement that warrior brings.

Now that’s not to say some all professions solo roam on the same footing. The key is to play to your strengths and what you enjoy. If you love 1v1, then you can go for a profession and build that favours it but loses mobility (eg PU mesmer or condition necro) or survivability (thief). If running circles around zergs is your thing then go for a build with movement but has lower 1v1 capabilities (eg greatsword warrior / ranger). If you prefer the defensive route there are some great choices too (eg bunker engi / ele / guardian).

So yeah it sounds like a lame answer but work out how you want to play and then construct your build accordingly. Don’t rely on someones youtube greatest hits video before thinking that one build rules the roost because there are plenty of counters for every build / situation.

OP what server are you running on? The environment you are trying to make this work on can have a huge impact. The other thing that really made roaming a success for me on new builds was to have a pair of friends that were demonstrators. We would all go into a custom arena and they would cycle through their best killing combinations and sequences until I could easily recognize them and understand what was happening. What the combo effects they were working, what impact it had, why it was timed as it was. One would work kite and survival while the other would lay on the attack and then review the process. They would switch and then I would cycle in and use the build or skill sequence / combinations / methods until I was able to use them effectively to survive or kill. Once you have your concepts down go out into the wild and fight. When something is tearing you up repeatedly find a friend to use that class and method and repeat the drill and skill combo routine until you can recognize and defeat that tactic. This all works better if you have a spectator to critic your habits and give tips other then the person you are training with.

@Space: Right. I think my issue is finding a good balance between defense and offense, and also when I do find a good balance, it involved melee which seems next to useless against quicker opponents. I’m not looking for as much as a cure-all for every situation as much as I am trying to figure out what might work for me. As much as I don’t want to be as squishy as a mesmer or thief, it seems like I may have to try that.

@Phlogus: I’m running on Devona’s Rest, and judging from your sig, I’m guessing you know exactly how that is. I usually try 1v1 in arenas against my gf, who has recently been gunning down my builds with her necro (3/0/5/6/0 Soldier gear). I don’t have a spectator but I might be able to check with a guildie for that.

Just a reminder, I’m less trying to find a “perfect” build as much as one that may be better to my playstyle. My issues are:
-Balance between offense and defense
-Maintaining speed to get around the map (can’t find a balance between build and boosts)
-Melee range/ranged damage (it seems like I only deal damage in melee, but I can’t seem to stay in range. Likewise, ranged damage seems insignificant)

DanyxEleven.9162:

@Space: Right. I think my issue is finding a good balance between defense and offense, and also when I do find a good balance, it involved melee which seems next to useless against quicker opponents. I’m not looking for as much as a cure-all for every situation as much as I am trying to figure out what might work for me. As much as I don’t want to be as squishy as a mesmer or thief, it seems like I may have to try that.

@Phlogus: I’m running on Devona’s Rest, and judging from your sig, I’m guessing you know exactly how that is. I usually try 1v1 in arenas against my gf, who has recently been gunning down my builds with her necro (3/0/5/6/0 Soldier gear). I don’t have a spectator but I might be able to check with a guildie for that.

Just a reminder, I’m less trying to find a “perfect” build as much as one that may be better to my playstyle. My issues are:
-Balance between offense and defense
-Maintaining speed to get around the map (can’t find a balance between build and boosts)
-Melee range/ranged damage (it seems like I only deal damage in melee, but I can’t seem to stay in range. Likewise, ranged damage seems insignificant)

The game definitely needs more D/P thieves. Everyone rerolled to P/D.
90% of my roaming encounters are P/D condi thieves or PU mesmers.
D/P was a counter to P/D, now it’s not anymore. And PU mesmers should never lose to a D/P thief.
Draw your conclusions.

hihey.1075:

DanyxEleven.9162:

@Space: Right. I think my issue is finding a good balance between defense and offense, and also when I do find a good balance, it involved melee which seems next to useless against quicker opponents. I’m not looking for as much as a cure-all for every situation as much as I am trying to figure out what might work for me. As much as I don’t want to be as squishy as a mesmer or thief, it seems like I may have to try that.

@Phlogus: I’m running on Devona’s Rest, and judging from your sig, I’m guessing you know exactly how that is. I usually try 1v1 in arenas against my gf, who has recently been gunning down my builds with her necro (3/0/5/6/0 Soldier gear). I don’t have a spectator but I might be able to check with a guildie for that.

Just a reminder, I’m less trying to find a “perfect” build as much as one that may be better to my playstyle. My issues are:
-Balance between offense and defense
-Maintaining speed to get around the map (can’t find a balance between build and boosts)
-Melee range/ranged damage (it seems like I only deal damage in melee, but I can’t seem to stay in range. Likewise, ranged damage seems insignificant)

The game definitely needs more D/P thieves. Everyone rerolled to P/D.
90% of my roaming encounters are P/D condi thieves or PU mesmers.
D/P was a counter to P/D, now it’s not anymore. And PU mesmers should never lose to a D/P thief.
Draw your conclusions.

What sort of traits and stats would a D/P thief run? Not looking for a specific build, just where to start.

I solo roam with a mesmer… what I run is not the normal meta which makes it fun. I also avoid using boosts like food etc. adds more challenge.

For my build the key is in and out… attack heavy damage – pull away – switch weapons to range – switch back – jump in heavy damage – pull away.

My biggest problem by far is skill failure… I have a 25%-30% chance that a skill will fail.

My second problem is cool down time. There are times when I literally have nothing left on my skill bar to press because it is all on recharge and I am waiting before I can swap weapons – that tends to be the time where there is a 70% chance I am going to die – so I start hitting wildlife to increase my chance of a rally.

But the most frustrating thing is skill failure… drives me nuts when you pressing the same skill and nothing is happening or it goes straight into recharge without actually executing anything. Nothing worse than dieing to someone who has less skill than you because of bugs.

But I digressed… what I wanted to say was… just because you play a mesmer or thief does not mean you have to play the meta… you can play around with other builds and find something that is fun to play.

PU Mesmer is probably the strongest WvW dueler right now, but that doesn’t really make it a great roamer as it is pretty slow. Its weakness is condition like most small fight builds.

P/D condi thief is a very strong roaming class right now but not particularly popular due to the D/P cheese builds most thieves gravitate towards. It plays similar to a PU Mesmer but has more stealth. Its weakness is condition like most small fight builds.

Warrior is probably the king roamer/dueler/skirmisher right now. Wicked fast with high levels of sustained damage and is incredibly easy to play. Small group fight builds manage conditions pretty well and can handle most 2v1 situations. They do have BIG blind spots with condition evasion and condition bunker builds.

Guardians and Necros have some fantastic skirmish builds but due to limited escape capability they don’t really do as well roaming.

Straegen.2938:

PU Mesmer is probably the strongest WvW dueler right now, but that doesn’t really make it a great roamer as it is pretty slow. Its weakness is condition like most small fight builds.

P/D condi thief is a very strong roaming class right now but not particularly popular due to the D/P cheese builds most thieves gravitate towards. It plays similar to a PU Mesmer but has more stealth. Its weakness is condition like most small fight builds.

Warrior is probably the king roamer/dueler/skirmisher right now. Wicked fast with high levels of sustained damage and is incredibly easy to play. Small group fight builds manage conditions pretty well and can handle most 2v1 situations. They do have BIG blind spots with condition evasion and condition bunker builds.

Guardians and Necros have some fantastic skirmish builds but due to limited escape capability they don’t really do as well roaming.

P/D thief’s weakness are conditions? U joking right?
A P/D thief has 2 (pseudo) full cleanses: Hide in Shadows (cleanses every damaging condition + gives 4s of stealth in which the thief will cleanse 2 additional conditions) and Shadow Refuge (which provides 16 seconds of stealth, enough to cleanse every condition he suffers). Also add Shadowstep, for 3 instant condition clears+stunbreaker. Coupled with a lot of vitality thanks to Full Dire armor and a lot of Sustain thanks to Shadow Rejuvenation, a P/D thief is the ONLY condi class which can go toe-to-toe with a Condi Necro, because he can simply outsustain the necro.

The only weakness of P/D thieves is the lack of stunbreakers (only Shadowstep is a true Stunbreaker with a high cooldown; Blinding Powder is a pseudo stunbreaker), which they will use to get away and place a Shadow Refuge at 1200 range from you to completely reset the fight. P/D condi, with the new Bewildering Ambush trait, are the Kings of Cheese nowadays. They were kept in check by D/P thieves in the past, but with the Ferocity nerf D/P thieves simply don’t have enough damage output to kill a full dire P/D who barely knows how to dodge. The P/D will only need to land ONE CnD (either to the enemy or to any attackable object) to be guaranteed enough stealth uptime to have Shadow Refuge up whenever he needs it.

Anyway, to the OP: standard D/P is X 30 30 X 0. Gear can be a mix of Berserker/Valkyrie/Cavalier/Soldier. You have a lot of sustain but you will be vulnerable to Stuns and AoE attacks. Of course, if you keep your distance you will not die, ever. But you will not kill anyone (whereas with P/D you can easily kill people from range without having to worry much).
PU power mesmer only loses to P/D thieves and to skilled condi necros. Extremely good Eles can be a tough opponent too.
PU condi mesmer will lose to P/D and to condi necros easily.

hihey.1075:

P/D thief’s weakness are conditions? U joking right?
A P/D thief has 2 (pseudo) full cleanses: Hide in Shadows (cleanses every damaging condition + gives 4s of stealth in which the thief will cleanse 2 additional conditions) and Shadow Refuge (which provides 16 seconds of stealth, enough to cleanse every condition he suffers). Also add Shadowstep, for 3 instant condition clears+stunbreaker. Coupled with a lot of vitality thanks to Full Dire armor and a lot of Sustain thanks to Shadow Rejuvenation, a P/D thief is the ONLY condi class which can go toe-to-toe with a Condi Necro, because he can simply outsustain the necro.

HiS does not cure every damaging condition just three (the three easiest to reapply I might add). Also it is on a 30s timer, has a cast time and can be interrupted. It does not cleanse confusion, clear or torment hence TorFear builds being a big problem P/D builds. The other problem is that most of a thief’s effective clears puts them out of combat and removes pressure. The hut has its own problems such as fear… one fear while a thief is in a hut and game over against a decent player.

The thief’s evasive nature and range does not work on conditions. Add in a low health pool and that leaves a P/D more vulnerable to condi than direct damage which is my point. P/D thieves excel against direct damage builds but struggle with heavy condi application builds like most other small fight builds do. No class to my knowledge can out strip condi application in small scale fights.

Okay, ladies, I’m tryna figure out what class to play, not have a thief kittening contest. However, thief or mesmer consistently seem like the best options, despite me not really enjoying the idea of them. Maybe one of these builds will be fun. Here’s my new question: How do PU mesmers and/or P/D thieves fare against camps in solo play? Moreover, can you solo cap camps with these builds or is it a “kill hard or run away trying” thing?

If you don’t want thief or warrior, try this build. I run it nearly full time. It does very well and is easy to play:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJASRjMd0FajHmdwJaAmgCdnPBfwxEIAU+ETBA-TFCEwAQuAAtU/hrSQDPBgmK/arLAwhAI2+DBAQA4m38o38o3sMAMjB-w

Straegen.2938:

If you don’t want thief or warrior, try this build. I run it nearly full time. It does very well and is easy to play:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJASRjMd0FajHmdwJaAmgCdnPBfwxEIAU+ETBA-TFCEwAQuAAtU/hrSQDPBgmK/arLAwhAI2+DBAQA4m38o38o3sMAMjB-w

Full melee… Is it easy to stay within melee range with these weapons? Part of the reason I quit warrior was because I didn’t feel like I could hit with melee and the ranged wasn’t hitting hard enough. Also, how does it work on capping camps?

1. Focus on one professsion, one build.

2. Play it in PVP.

3. Profit.

Play what fits your playstyle best. The only way to figure that out is to experiment, sounds like you are doing that.

Solo for me, it’s a necro that has a synergistic balance with skills/build/gear that stand up in WvW and has been tested in Explorables and Fractals. I know, not a PvP spec. It works for me.

Group, I run an ele. Matter of fact, our swat team (4 of us) runs 2 Elem, 2 Necros. Again, my ele is balanced synergistically to take advantage of my specific playstyle, skills in combination with build/gear. I am not a zerker. I am not a bunker. Thiefs and warriors hate me because they cannot 1 or 2 shot me. Once the thief has blown his cooldowns, I can power them down. The 4 of us can take keeps as well as towers (plenty of fire power individually and as a group). We can lose to a very good set of PvP players. We aren’t PvP players, but we can stand up against a group of 12, 15 and sometimes 20 and come out ok. Again this class, works for me in Explorables/Fractals. And ok, I admit I am fully decked in ascended. That was not always the case, and the class/build still stands up because it designed for how I play / think.

So, I am sure this post will be dismissed as “noobish”. This is how I have played/speccd even back in DAoC days in RvR and doing with 4 people, what normally takes 20 in raiding. I play what works for me, tailored to me. Otherwise, I’m just not effective.

goldenwing.8473:

Play what fits your playstyle best. The only way to figure that out is to experiment, sounds like you are doing that.

Solo for me, it’s a necro that has a synergistic balance with skills/build/gear that stand up in WvW and has been tested in Explorables and Fractals. I know, not a PvP spec. It works for me.

Group, I run an ele. Matter of fact, our swat team (4 of us) runs 2 Elem, 2 Necros. Again, my ele is balanced synergistically to take advantage of my specific playstyle, skills in combination with build/gear. I am not a zerker. I am not a bunker. Thiefs and warriors hate me because they cannot 1 or 2 shot me. Once the thief has blown his cooldowns, I can power them down. The 4 of us can take keeps as well as towers (plenty of fire power individually and as a group). We can lose to a very good set of PvP players. We aren’t PvP players, but we can stand up against a group of 12, 15 and sometimes 20 and come out ok. Again this class, works for me in Explorables/Fractals. And ok, I admit I am fully decked in ascended. That was not always the case, and the class/build still stands up because it designed for how I play / think.

So, I am sure this post will be dismissed as “noobish”. This is how I have played/speccd even back in DAoC days in RvR and doing with 4 people, what normally takes 20 in raiding. I play what works for me, tailored to me. Otherwise, I’m just not as effective.

Yeah, like you said, that’s what I’m doing. Problem is, I’m just at my wit’s end for trying to make something work. I guess rather than asking for a class, I should probably ask for tips on what you’re doing; finding that balance that isn’t zerk or bunker. Something that deals damage, and deals it quickly, but not necessarily max damage. Just something that can outrun heals and not die at the first thing that hits it. Any suggestions?

It is possible that the class that you want, or could be very good at playing, is not in this game. I’ve had that happen before.

How do you like to play? Are you more comfortable with melee or range?

Two things: there will always be counters, no matter what class you play. And two, solo roaming you want to be able to vanish/run. The key is being able to get away. That’s why people are saying thief/Mesmer/warrior.

Small group is more forgiving.

And are you using PVT gear? Also, a one-size-fits-all set of gear may not be the correct choice for you. You may need to mix/match different gear sets to get the overall stats that work best with the build you’ve chosen, assuming it is not a cookie cutter spec.

Sent you a PM, hope it helps, if not, write back.

goldenwing.8473:

It is possible that the class that you want, or could be very good at playing, is not in this game. I’ve had that happen before.

How do you like to play? Are you more comfortable with melee or range?

Two things: there will always be counters, no matter what class you play. And two, solo roaming you want to be able to vanish/run. The key is being able to get away. That’s why people are saying thief/Mesmer/warrior.

Small group is more forgiving.

And are you using PVT gear? Also, a one-size-fits-all set of gear may not be the correct choice for you. You may need to mix/match different gear sets to get the overall stats that work best with the build you’ve chosen, assuming it is not a cookie cutter spec.

It’s true, I’m really missing Dervish from GW1. I thought Guardian would be nice since I mained Paladin in WoW, but I can’t seem to get it to work right. Even with lots of condi cleanse, I can’t seem to get rid of them fast enough. Right now on Guard I have a Soldier/Zerk/Knight hybrid with a 0/6/6/2/0 Meditation build (all Meditations heal me, one cleanses a condition, and another cleanses all conditions and turns them into boons). On it, I run Sword+Torch/Scepter+Focus. Sword and Torch do amazing damage, but I can’t stay within range to use anything but Torch 5. Scepter and Focus is more ranged defensive, and deal insignificant damage outside of Scepter 2, which is avoided by not even trying.

As far as my playstyle, I like something with melee and ranged options (but like I said, I can’t seem to land melee hits and ranged does subpar damage). I’d be entirely okay with either one, though, as long as those two issues were not an issue (while maintaining a bit of bulk). While I don’t typically mind attrition battles, I don’t have much time vs a player because I usually end up getting ganked by an enemy zerg (which I’d prefer to defeat them or force them to flee rather then just run away myself, escape builds are more than easy to make, but I really like taking camps and gunning down other roamers). Ranged with damage seems like a more viable option for vs player, but vs camp, you can’t beat melee’s cleave without major AoE.

As an added note, I would really, really like to not play Warrior or Thief, as well as anything that can’t get a 25% movement boost without ruining the build (Rune of Speed/the Traveler is fine as long as another rune is not absolutely necessary). On the flip side, I enjoy Guardian, Necro, Ranger, and Engineer the most, which are the classes I’ve tried so hard to make work. But of course, I can’t find a good balance of offense/defense on any except Guardian, and for that there’s the problem melee range.

DanyxEleven.9162:

goldenwing.8473:

It is possible that the class that you want, or could be very good at playing, is not in this game. I’ve had that happen before.

How do you like to play? Are you more comfortable with melee or range?

Two things: there will always be counters, no matter what class you play. And two, solo roaming you want to be able to vanish/run. The key is being able to get away. That’s why people are saying thief/Mesmer/warrior.

Small group is more forgiving.

And are you using PVT gear? Also, a one-size-fits-all set of gear may not be the correct choice for you. You may need to mix/match different gear sets to get the overall stats that work best with the build you’ve chosen, assuming it is not a cookie cutter spec.

It’s true, I’m really missing Dervish from GW1. I thought Guardian would be nice since I mained Paladin in WoW, but I can’t seem to get it to work right. Even with lots of condi cleanse, I can’t seem to get rid of them fast enough. Right now on Guard I have a Soldier/Zerk/Knight hybrid with a 0/6/6/2/0 Meditation build (all Meditations heal me, one cleanses a condition, and another cleanses all conditions and turns them into boons). On it, I run Sword+Torch/Scepter+Focus. Sword and Torch do amazing damage, but I can’t stay within range to use anything but Torch 5. Scepter and Focus is more ranged defensive, and deal insignificant damage outside of Scepter 2, which is avoided by not even trying.

As far as my playstyle, I like something with melee and ranged options (but like I said, I can’t seem to land melee hits and ranged does subpar damage). I’d be entirely okay with either one, though, as long as those two issues were not an issue (while maintaining a bit of bulk). While I don’t typically mind attrition battles, I don’t have much time vs a player because I usually end up getting ganked by an enemy zerg (which I’d prefer to defeat them or force them to flee rather then just run away myself, escape builds are more than easy to make, but I really like taking camps and gunning down other roamers). Ranged with damage seems like a more viable option for vs player, but vs camp, you can’t beat melee’s cleave without major AoE.

As an added note, I would really, really like to not play Warrior or Thief, as well as anything that can’t get a 25% movement boost without ruining the build (Rune of Speed/the Traveler is fine as long as another rune is not absolutely necessary). On the flip side, I enjoy Guardian, Necro, Ranger, and Engineer the most, which are the classes I’ve tried so hard to make work. But of course, I can’t find a good balance of offense/defense on any except Guardian, and for that there’s the problem melee range.

run condi engi. its super easy to play and wins against most players.

I play mesmer… before the April patch, I could take a camp in under 5 minutes… after the patch, I needed to make some changes to my weapon sigils and traits to keep my build viable and it now takes me about 7-8 minutes to solo a camp with my roaming build… but if I switch a couple of the optional skills with feedback and my elite to some sort of summon… I can take the camp in under 4 minutes. It all depends if I take everyone on at once, or if I pick them off one by one or two by two. But if I switch my skills it makes me vulnerable if anyone comes to contest the camp. The scouts are the only thing that causes a slight problem (in delay)… once the scouts are dead everything else is very quick and easy.

As for the mesmer being vulnerable to thieves… best way to kill a thief is magic bullet and the only vulnerability is making sure it hits without it being dodged and surviving the recharge time if it does miss – which is not that difficult for at least one more shot.

By far the most difficult class to fight is a warrior. It just takes so long to kill them and you often run out of skills to press because everything is on recharge.

Darek: Is condi engie fast enough to take down camps before every enemy is on swords alert? (to my knowledge, condi builds are generally attrition fights)

Nymph: do you run into issues with the enemy coming in often, with that timeframe?

I think you’re thinking about it too much.

There’s no OP build. There’s only OP players. You need to settle on a class/build and play the crap out of it. You will start to reap the rewards.

And like i said earlier, test out your builds in PVP. The constant pressure you’re under in PVP improves your play out of sight.

Royale.5863:

There’s no OP build. There’s only OP players. You need to settle on a class/build and play the crap out of it. You will start to reap the rewards.

Agreed! Problem is finding that “fits like a glove” – this one feels right – base class to start doing that with. I think that’s what he’s trying to find.

The other part of being a solo roamer is a pattern-recognition instinct for when to move in and an awareness of what is happening on the map so you can move out.

I think the most important thing is what you enjoy playing the most. There are builds for every single class that you can solo roam in. Thieves, mesmers, and warriors are the top classes for running around alone, but you already said you aren’t interested in those classes. I have every class at 80 and like them all for different reasons, but i think ele is still my favorite despite not being the best at anything. Ranger is pretty fun too. Have you tried a melee ranger? Don’t listen to the people who say ranger is terrible, it has its problems, it has alot of problems to be honest, but can be amazing with the right build in small fights. And please don’t judge all rangers by all the bearbow rangers you’ve seen running around who are basically walking lootbags. I’ve been playing my engi alot too lately. Rifle/FT power build is alot of fun, but pretty weak against conditions. And the ferocity nerf hurt it pretty badly. Hard to pull that off successfully running around alone, but so much fun.

Sorry if none of that is really helpful. You really need to just play what you enjoy most rather than just trying to find what class is best at what. Pick the class you like most, then find a build that will let you do what you want to do. You’ll have alot more fun that way rather than playing a class you don’t enjoy as much just because it’s more effective. Skill can make up for some class weaknesses. Focus on the one you like and work on improving what you find that class has the most problems with.

I know a lot of Thieves roam with D/P and P/D mainly, but I love using S/D or S/P.
Of course I struggle against some other classes more than others especially, but I would not change for the sake of countering certain builds which are strong while roaming especially 1 on 1.

I think apart from the usual classes, Engi should be a lot of fun and should have plenty of viable roaming builds.

Yeah, as goldenwing said, I’m still trying to find that one that feels right. I’ve decided to check out Condi Engie with a 3 kit build. Seems to be pretty cool so far, but I haven’t playtested it in PvP or WvW yet. Still trying to get the armor for it. But I like the idea so far; decent range, decent armor/health, and a combination for good condi and decent damage, plus lots of options so I don’t really ever have to wait for a cooldown (but maybe the fast pace of WvW might change that). But anyway, thanks guys!

Royale.5863:

There’s no OP build. There’s only OP players. You need to settle on a class/build and play the crap out of it. You will start to reap the rewards.

I guess I become OP when I switch from playing my power-based ranger to my condi p/d thief since I suddenly gain the ability to easily fight outnumbered, escape pretty much any situation and beat most any other build in a 1v1. Also, I’ve played my ranger quite a bit more than my thief, but maybe my personal skill just tends to change whenever I switch builds or classes.

I agree with Space. Roaming is all about finding the right balance between damage, mobility and survivability.
I roam 99.9% of the time and I play a PU power mesmer. In my experience the best roamers I see are either stealth heavy like thief and mesmers or super mobile like warriors and elementalists. You gotta have burst damage to kill people fast enough so that he doesn’t get help from his friends. Fast enough or have stealth to get away from the zerg that’s always around the corner. You also need to have a build that can stand up in a 1 v 1 vs other roamers.
In general the rule of thumb in any game for roaming is, do you feel comfortable taking on 2 players at once. This means that you are good enough to kill both if they are avg or low skilled players, also elusive enough to get away if they are both good players and you find yourself in a no win situation. If you can do that you are ready to roam.

i think the most forgiving spec out there, that is easy to play, easy to move around, got good survivability and a pretty strong camp capper would be BM bunker.

Just run spider + feline and you’ll have CC and DPS on your hands. Sword + Torch for some solid pbAOE to clear camps and either axe + dagger or shortbow offhand.

Sure BM can be countered, but usually, people do not expect you to run BM condi, they expect lame glass power builds, and ofc, that is what they think they are up against, until the pet hits them, even then, most of your enemies does not counter the build correctly, and spends a lot of time fighting the player rather then the real threat, the pet.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAsfVnEqQHL2KI+rAXLG4QoavC/6IwKAenFJ7VfyViWF-TlSAABaoEkCzfFu/QAnAgc0HAwhAY6jAASq/QyDAoKlfECYxaA-w

This build should work pretty well.
Reason i slotted Sic’em is because it is great for boosting your pet and ticking off thieves and mesmers. That reveal can cause some serious rage.

Actually, i expect every enemy to be lame condi bunker, not power glass

Iavra.8510:

Actually, i expect every enemy to be lame condi bunker, not power glass

And you are kitten right at doing so. The number of people that run +40% condi duration food is skyrocketing.

I don’t mind condition spammers; as long as they’re on their own, what I can’t put up with are groups of gankers. I mainly use my guardian, but I use my mesmer to stop myself being chased down by gank squads, but even that doesn’t always work.

Iavra.8510:

Actually, i expect every enemy to be lame condi bunker, not power glass

Thats cuz you are from a EU server. Rangers are more common in EU. In NA you find the total number of rangers on a whole server to be less then what you’d see in 2 hours on a EU server (pre megaserver comparison)

Silent Shino.7239:

I don’t mind condition spammers; as long as they’re on their own, what I can’t put up with are groups of gankers. I mainly use my guardian, but I use my mesmer to stop myself being chased down by gank squads, but even that doesn’t always work.

Thats why i love to play and hate to fight bm ranger. If your enemy has heavy cleansing, just send the cat at em and watch as it tears them a new one. Really nice build. Its reasonably evasive, tanky, does have significant burst from the pet (cats can hit up to 10k if the conditions are right) and also a strong condition pressure. Sure its not like trapper or condi-mancers that make you implode in seconds, but the conditions are strong enough to not be taken lightly

Prysin.8542:

Iavra.8510:

Actually, i expect every enemy to be lame condi bunker, not power glass

Thats cuz you are from a EU server. Rangers are more common in EU. In NA you find the total number of rangers on a whole server to be less then what you’d see in 2 hours on a EU server (pre megaserver comparison)

Being condi has nothing to do with being ranger. I’ve seen condi bunkers of every class except maybe guards (yes, even eles).

I play thief + mesmer with my brother for about a 1 year.

Thief + mesmer is excellent. You have so much stealth you can choose to abandon or stay. Simple as that.

To cap it off, get yourselves two llama finishers and your good to go ~

We also play thief + warrior. But when we get overwhelmed hes dead and I’m gone waiting to rez him. That’s what you have to deal with when you have no stealth in this zergfest of a game

Condi dmg is messed up, but annet probaly know this, they just given up on any sort of balance in this game and just change whats OP every now and then to make out their actually attempting balanceing

But dont worry people, Wildstar out shortly, Black gold in CBT and Arch Age CBT starting next month, untill then just blob up with everyone else