Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone,

I made a similar post to this in the Players Helping Players Forum, but I figured this would be a better place to put it, as all of you guys probably know more about WvW.

So… here’s my question:

If I plan on gearing up, doing Arah, Fractals, and a bunch of WvW Roaming with my Thief Friend, would you say I would be better off playing a Thief, Mesmer, Necro or Guardian?

I know it’s not a very limited selection lol but I’ve tried all four of the classes, and they all seem to offer what I really want: To be able to master them and just really main them.

Thanks loads for all help given,
The Baws.

if you are prepared for the bumpiest ride in your life, and a mountain of challenges ahead. Roll a ranger.

Don’t go “well rangers are bowmasters”. Sure we are, but we ain’t. Yeah i know it sounds a bit philosophical, but in all honesty, while rangers are good with a bow, it should not be their main weapon in roaming.

As for builds, you got plenty to choose from. BM Bunker, Condition burst, trapper, DPS burst or glass cannon. And yes, rangers are one of the few professions that are able to use glass cannon for roaming without certain death each time. Not saying it’s easy mode, it sure ain’t. However the damage you can do will surprise even the most battle hardened veteran.

Based on your subject though, I assume you put more weight in WvW? Thief is definitely the king of roaming in WvW.

Any of the listed professions can be good for the activities you listed though. Should just pick one that you enjoy.

Problem with picking thief is you will be nothing special. To be considered an excellent thief by your peers you have to be extremely good and play it tons to learn all the intricacies. Necro right now is FotM and I wouldn’t recommend them.

Good rangers in WvW are few and far between, but for doing Arah and Fractals they are generally considered inferior.

Personally I would go for the guardian.

guardian is a solid “safe play”.

Roaming wise, you will not have it easy. Not against mobility classes such as thief, ele and ranger.

Mesmer/Theif is a good combo when roaming since they both have access to stealth and if the Mesmer can take some hits, it a good class to decoy players for a thief to set up kills.

Necro/Thief is a lot of fun. I roam on my Necro but the biggest problem is the lack of escapes you will have. Your going to rely on the thieves shadow refuge, run away early, or your in till the fight is over. Though I think with a terror build would mesh well with a thief.

Guardian, I don’t know, I very rarely die to a solo guardian so imo they aren’t good for roaming. That said I may have just not found a Guardian in a roaming build so I can’t say for sure.

Woah!

Loads of replies, thanks loads.

I think I’ve figured it out – I’m going to level a Guardian mainly for PvE and Zerging etc., but will also gear my thief for Roaming I was just thinking about me and my friend jumping out of Stealth on some poor glass cannon elementalist xD

Thanks.

Oh and another thing, what are Engineers like for what I said above for Guardian (PvE and Zerging)?

I never really considered one that much to be honest but after seeing the Grenade 1500 Range thing on a glass cannon engineer hitting for like 3k they seem pretty awesome…

The Baws.5164:

Woah!

Loads of replies, thanks loads.

I think I’ve figured it out – I’m going to level a Guardian mainly for PvE and Zerging etc., but will also gear my thief for Roaming I was just thinking about me and my friend jumping out of Stealth on some poor glass cannon elementalist xD

Thanks.

That sounds like a very good choice, if you are going for most effective classes at their respective roles. Guardians are the king of zerg v zerg, with all the boons and controls.

Thieves are great b/c of stealth, but it can get boring if it isn’t your playstyle. Mesmers use stealth much more surgically, rather than just spamming it, and have lots of great plays with their clones,shatters, and utilities.

Also, don’t discount ranger, as said before, speed is of utmost importance (mesmers are ok b/c they have stealth to make up for a lack of some speed), and rangers with GS have one of the best abilities. Very fun class to play if it is your style.

Also, don’t expect to find any glass canon eles in WvW. Anyone who plays ele to knows it just won’t work. They will still be squishy to a dirty thief double-team though.

The Baws.5164:

Oh and another thing, what are Engineers like for what I said above for Guardian (PvE and Zerging)?

I never really considered one that much to be honest but after seeing the Grenade 1500 Range thing on a glass cannon engineer hitting for like 3k they seem pretty awesome…

Engineer is my second favorite class, behind eles, because you can play it so variably. The kits and utilities have great self-combo potential. Rocket boots + speedy kits (trait) give you perma-swiftness and a 1200 range leap (with swiftness) every 20s, which is crucial for getting away. You can do very good burst-damage by using static-discharge and rifle. You can get lots of control using rifle + flamethrower. You can play a very skillful zoning game with bombs. You can nuke a bit from towers with grenades, or just go high on condition damage with grenades + pistol. The shield has some awesome block and stun utilities. Engies have one of the best elites (supply drop is devastating in small engagements). Med-kit has some great healing/support potential, while healing turret has some awesome uses if you want skirmish in front of a keep.

With engie, you have to be very smart about positioning and placement of your skills. There is always room to grow, and they make a great complement to thieves roaming. Also, you can get stealth using bomb kit (4th bomb is a smoke bomb, which you can blast a lot of times or just rocket boots out of if you need to get out of dodge).

Don’t let them scare you off rangers are amazing I play thief also , yaking on my ranger is way better as a thief you can either kill them or run away as a ranger if you don’t make any mistakes you will kill them.

Two thieves in WvW are really OP. The problem is that 2 thieves in PvE (e.g. fractals) probably not so much.

If your friend is a thief then I suggest Guardian. I roam solo with my Guardian quite a bit but I am usually capping camps/sentries/quaggans or going to places that are contested. I can easily handle a camp if I do things properly but it is a cakewalk if a thief is with you. As a Guardian you will pull all the aggro due to your higher armor class while the thief can just get behind the group and backstab to his heart’s delight.

Enter a camp and if righteous indignation is off get close enough to draw aggro, use binding blade, symbol of wrath, pull; drop a wall of reflection for those op scouts and then whirling wrath. Your thief friend meanwhile gets in behind and finishes them all off. If you work well as a team that camp is yours in a minute!

I have a guardian and a mesmer and I definitely prefer roaming on my guardian even though the mesmer is seen as the “dueling class”. Guardian brings more survivability and group support. And I can pump out some pretty good damage.

Don’t listen to the guardians . play either thief or mesmer. Cross stealth is the KEY to take on larger groups of players and get away . As for camps and guards any class can solo camps and guards you don’t need to roll a tank for that.

I’m going to gear my Thief up for WvW Roaming that’s a definite, but what are Elementalists like for WvW and Arah/Fractals?

I currently have one at level 40 but she is an absolute pain in the kitten to level…

d/p thief

stealth spam is op, use it while it lasts

ryokoalways.3450:

Based on your subject though, I assume you put more weight in WvW? Thief is definitely the king of running away in WvW.

fixed

i love my ranger for roaming, i have an 80 thief but i still prefer ranger. Great mobility with GS, sword/axe or whatever offhand i feel like using

The Baws.5164:

Woah!

Loads of replies, thanks loads.

I think I’ve figured it out – I’m going to level a Guardian mainly for PvE and Zerging etc., but will also gear my thief for Roaming I was just thinking about me and my friend jumping out of Stealth on some poor glass cannon elementalist xD

Thanks.

Heh careful. Played well, between shocking aura and their own damage, D/D Elementalist is one of the few full glass specs that has a chance of just stopping your engages and killing you.

For pure WvW, a second thief since you can both share stealth. If mixing in dungeons, pick a bunker guardian. They can soak up damage and buff DPS to a ridiculous level. I find in WvW when I stealth our bunker guardian gets focused which takes the pressure off me.

As an alternative, the speed warrior could be a decent choice. Also if you have excellent combat awareness the D/D ele bunker hybrids can be a force. They can soak up enough damage, juice up the DPS and hit hard enough to be respected. Their problem is stability… if they get caught flat they die but their auras and fields make them potent when paired with a class that has such excellent leap/blast finishers.