Guild Wars 2

Your top 3 roaming classes in your order(1st is best)?

Mine are: Mesmer,Thief, Engineer

Mine are Thief, Mesmer, Ele (the new Celestial build)

P/D Thief, P/P Thief, Shortbow Thief.

Mesmer, Engineer, Necro

Sometimes I roam on my zerg guardian just for the lulz…

Necro is just an unacceptable answer. Worst roaming class bar none.

Fluffball.8307:

Necro is just an unacceptable answer. Worst roaming class bar none.

It’s the best counter to the condition meta I’ve found since conditions for necro is merely ammunition.

But it’s a sitting duck to a LB ranger. They literally have no answer at all, assuming it’s not a guy who just hopped on to ranger after last patch; somewho who actually plays ranger. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to a necro 1v1, and that’s a ridiculous statement.

Necros also struggle mightily with movement speed.

Edit: Hmm, after some thought I would list necros quite high in small group roaming, but zero in solo roaming.

Fluffball.8307:

But it’s a sitting duck to a LB ranger. They literally have no answer at all, assuming it’s not a guy who just hopped on to ranger after last patch; somewho who actually plays ranger. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to a necro 1v1, and that’s a ridiculous statement.

Necros also struggle mightily with movement speed.

Edit: Hmm, after some thought I would list necros quite high in small group roaming, but zero in solo roaming.

I haven’t lost to a longbow ranger on my necro. Of course I main ranger so I know how to fight them. But against the majority of the longbow rangers running around all you have to do is get into 1200 range, hit them with conditions, and laugh as they panic because they didn’t bring any condi removal.

I’d say for me the top 3 are ranger, necro, and engi

Fluffball.8307:

But it’s a sitting duck to a LB ranger. They literally have no answer at all, assuming it’s not a guy who just hopped on to ranger after last patch; somewho who actually plays ranger. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to a necro 1v1, and that’s a ridiculous statement.

Necros also struggle mightily with movement speed.

Edit: Hmm, after some thought I would list necros quite high in small group roaming, but zero in solo roaming.

A lot of characters are a sitting duck to a Bearbow Ranger, if they catch you unaware. Even a thief has problems with that. If I see you first on either of my thief or Necro (or mesmer), it will be another story.

As for mobility? If you do it right with weapon swaps and utilities you can have 100% max speed all the time, and a lot of the time you’ll have Spectral effects too.

I still prefer my thief.

Jim Hunter.6821:

hit them with conditions, and laugh as they panic because they didn’t bring any condi removal.

Like I said, someone who actually plays ranger. :P

If anyone is on SoS or YB and thinks necro is a good roaming class, I’d love to be proven wrong. I don’t duel for egos, but if someone can show me how it’s possible to beat a LB ranger with a necro I’m down.

Not that I’m saying LB ranger is OP, we have all sorts of other horrific matchups and weaknesses.

I run Elementalist, Warrior and Thief for roaming.

Engi, theif, ele.
All three of these are almost tied in my opinion

Fluffball.8307:

Jim Hunter.6821:

hit them with conditions, and laugh as they panic because they didn’t bring any condi removal.

Like I said, someone who actually plays ranger. :P

If anyone is on SoS or YB and thinks necro is a good roaming class, I’d love to be proven wrong. I don’t duel for egos, but if someone can show me how it’s possible to beat a LB ranger with a necro I’m down.

Not that I’m saying LB ranger is OP, we have all sorts of other horrific matchups and weaknesses.

Even Rangers that aren’t running the ridiculous noob build aren’t guaranteed to win against a necro. SotF isn’t enough to keep up with necro condi’s on it’s own. If they are using Empathic bond or signet of renewal you just epidemic their pet. Once they blow their cleanses you just lay on some more condi’s and then lock them down with CC’s or plague form’s blind spam.

It really comes down to the area you are fighting. There are very few areas that you can’t LoS rangers with the terrain or all the kitten npc’s that are littered across the map.

I have not — in my entire 2+ years of playing almost daily — ever seen a necro with the foresight to epidemic a pet.

But not knowing much about necros, is epidemic even something you’d take on a roaming bar?

If you have epidemic you can solo kill 5 enemies easily. Spam some condis, use epidemic and then fear them around until they die.

epidemic is great when flipping camps so it’s on the bar pretty regularly.
I switch between that and corrupt boon, which also works really well against a ranger because it turns their stability into an extra fear.

Like I said, I main a ranger. I’ve never had a necro use epidemic on my pet but I’ve done it plenty of times because I know when their condi’s are being cleansed and when they are being transfered to their pet.

Fluffball.8307:

But it’s a sitting duck to a LB ranger. They literally have no answer at all, assuming it’s not a guy who just hopped on to ranger after last patch; somewho who actually plays ranger. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to a necro 1v1, and that’s a ridiculous statement.

Necros also struggle mightily with movement speed.

Edit: Hmm, after some thought I would list necros quite high in small group roaming, but zero in solo roaming.

I’ve been solo roaming on my Necro for over a year.. It’s plenty viable. There are some serious flaws no doubt, but it’s not the worst as you’ve stated. Be aware of your surroundings, know what paths to take to avoid being zerged/outnumbered and properly manage your time with fights.

On a regular basis, I will flip camps, kill yaks, solo towers, kill tower/keep siege by building ballistas, prevent straggler’s from getting back to their zergs… Necromancer is an amazing roaming profession if you’re not completely ignorant to your surroundings. Once you play it long enough you develop a spidey-sense for incoming danger anyway.

IMHO the worst roaming profession is Guardian, not Necromancer. Guardian’s only good roaming build is Medi-Guard. Besides that they are laughably easy to kill on any other profession. Slap some poison on them and they’re butter, not to mention their mobility isn’t much better than a Necro’s.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

IMHO the worst roaming profession is Guardian, not Necromancer.

Ya it’s pretty clearly between necro and guardian. You’re a ballsy player if you go solo roaming on them. I rank necro horrifically lower than guardian, but I’m not opposed to people saying guardian is the worst.

Ele, war, and guard. Call me crazy if you want, but I love wrecking people on a guard. The only downside is that you can only kill them, or watch them run away.

Any class that cannot escape is roaming fodder at least in T2. We aren’t talking about evenly matched duels. During NA prime necros, guardians and other slow moving classes will get swallowed up by roving groups and zergs on a regular basis. This is why classes that have stealth and move fast are near requirements for “best roaming” designations.

1) Thief
2) Mesmer
3) Engi

Straegen.2938:

Any class that cannot escape is roaming fodder at least in T2. We aren’t talking about evenly matched duels. During NA prime necros, guardians and other slow moving classes will get swallowed up by roving groups and zergs on a regular basis. This is why classes that have stealth and move fast are near requirements for “best roaming” designations.

While I do strongly agree that stealth and mobility make a huge difference, I cannot stress enough how much of a difference awareness makes as well. That’s not a game mechanic either, it’s just paying attention to your surroundings. Of course you can’t always do that because you may be distracted with something else, but knowing where you are and who might be near can make a world of difference. That’s why I can’t really say there is a “best” roaming profession nor can I comfortably list the top 3. There are definitely obvious ones like the Thief or the Mesmer but I think given the player knows what they’re doing (and I mean an average player who can pay attention) any profession can be great for roaming.

I’m slow and have no ways to disengage on my Necromancer, but because I’m always checking the map, evaluating whether I can capture something or not before defense arrives and constantly checking behind my back with my look behind keybind, I do just fine. If you can’t do those things, a Thief or a Mesmer are a better choice since they don’t require you to be as aware. 3rd place for the top 3 roaming professions could be up for debate depending on who’s talking.

And for the record I roam on a T1 EU server and also used to roam on a T1 NA server, both during prime time. There are zergs and small havoc squads everywhere but if you time your attacks right you’d be surprised what you can get away with soloing. I’ve sniped towers, many, many times.

condi thief
d/p thief
anything thief

perplexity #1
perplexity #2
aaaaaaaand…
perplexity #3!

For all of you shouting “Perplexity! Condi Spam!”… I run no condition builds for roaming, and yes I win more often than not. So whether condi is meta or not… depends entirely on you.

Sirendor.1394:

For all of you shouting “Perplexity! Condi Spam!”… I run no condition builds for roaming, and yes I win more often than not. So whether condi is meta or not… depends entirely on you.

And care to share what you roam with then? I’m sure it might be d/d elementalist or other class that can clear a lot of conditions really fast.

you’re totally out to lunch Fluffball

2 years of solo roaming with a necro and the one class I have zero worries about taking on one-on-one is rangers, everything else can be risky depending on player skill and build.. but rangers? free bag.

Mesmer is definitely my greatest bane and I usually avoid contact, everything else I can go toe-to-toe and hold my own.

Jeknar.6184:

Sirendor.1394:

For all of you shouting “Perplexity! Condi Spam!”… I run no condition builds for roaming, and yes I win more often than not. So whether condi is meta or not… depends entirely on you.

And care to share what you roam with then? I’m sure it might be d/d elementalist or other class that can clear a lot of conditions really fast.

I have experience roaming on 6 classes, though I have favourites of course. Atm I prefer running warrior, elementalist or thief for roaming, simply because of the huge mobility each of them features, and which you need as a roamer if you don’t want to end up as zerg food each time you peak your head out of a tower.

The builds I use, though, are not above average in terms of condi cleansing. The warrior uses condi cleanse on use of the burst skill and has a lot of active defenses that make it possible to sit out the condi spamming on the part of other players. Elementalist is fairly strong on condi cleansing of course, but I run it as zerk making it rather challenging to survive. The thief build varies from d/p to d/d to s/d, so again not really a build created on countering condis.

Anyways, my point here is that although some people will say you need to go condi to win, that only applies insofar as you suck at playing everything else.

Warrior – GS – Hammer
Necro – D/F – Staff
Ele – D/D

Not necessarily in that order. They just seem to be the most fun, for me, on the rare occasion I do decide to do a little solo roaming. I used to favor thief above all (it was my main for over a year), but I prefer to have the availability of team utility and orientation on a whim, and in my experiences thieves have shied away from that capability.

People that say Necro is a terrible roaming class must not have a lot of experience with the class and it’s versatility. Power, condi, hybrid, control, etc. Necro is really versatile and, to the contrary, an excellent roaming class. They have a +25% movement signet which can be used to get where is necessary and, god forbid, swapped out when it’s time to engage.

Yes people…you can swap out utilities before engaging. It must be an exploit!

GrandmaFunk.3052:

you’re totally out to lunch Fluffball

2 years of solo roaming with a necro and the one class I have zero worries about taking on one-on-one is rangers, everything else can be risky depending on player skill and build.. but rangers? free bag.

Mesmer is definitely my greatest bane and I usually avoid contact, everything else I can go toe-to-toe and hold my own.

I feel the same way about necros on my ranger; free bags. Both of us can’t be right!

Mesmers are a pain for every profession.

Fluffball.8307:

GrandmaFunk.3052:

you’re totally out to lunch Fluffball

2 years of solo roaming with a necro and the one class I have zero worries about taking on one-on-one is rangers, everything else can be risky depending on player skill and build.. but rangers? free bag.

Mesmer is definitely my greatest bane and I usually avoid contact, everything else I can go toe-to-toe and hold my own.

I feel the same way about necros on my ranger; free bags. Both of us can’t be right!

Mesmers are a pain for every profession.

Sure you can, there are a ton of terrible roamers and zerglings out there. Most of the people I run into are free bags in a 1v1.

I think people are severely underrating Medi Guard’s roaming capabilities. With Sword 2, GS 3, and Judge’s Intervention you have 2400 range burst mobility. The teleports are also instant cast and combined with a plethora of blocks at your disposal, you can jettison yourself out of sticky situations pretty well

Like with Necro, roaming on a Guardian just requires a bit more map awareness, with an emphasis on keeping track of ambient creatures/wildlife as escape teleport targets.

The other great benefit of roaming on a Guardian is that people constantly underestimate you, especially thieves and warriors, whom you counter pretty hard and run into a lot while roaming.

Sebastian Knight.4736:

I think people are severely underrating Medi Guard’s roaming capabilities. With Sword 2, GS 3, and Judge’s Intervention you have 2400 range burst mobility. The teleports are also instant cast and combined with a plethora of blocks at your disposal, you can jettison yourself out of sticky situations pretty well

Like with Necro, roaming on a Guardian just requires a bit more map awareness, with an emphasis on keeping track of ambient creatures/wildlife as escape teleport targets.

The other great benefit of roaming on a Guardian is that people constantly underestimate you, especially thieves and warriors, whom you counter pretty hard and run into a lot while roaming.

I agree with this aswell. One of my most succesful roaming builds on guardian was medi build with gs & hammer (don’t like sword that much) and runes of speed. If you’re a skilled player you can turn guardian into a killing machine.

It largely comes down to the fact that players view Guardian as a support build and think it should only be good at that, much like players used to think Necromancer was viewed to be viable only as a condition class.

To be blunt, Guardian and Necromancer have high DPS pools and sick burst damage that is severely underrated. Getting ambushed by either of these classes running roaming-style builds is devastating to the attackee.

I am gold rank (that does not make me automatically good but I am experienced) and at the moment I think only a good Thief can kill me in a 1vs1, but need to be really good and/or use a lot of stealth to seriously confuse me. So, Thief must be the number one roamer. The second place could be the Warrior, because can escape 99% of situations. Not sure about the third, but some Elementalists are impossible to kill, literally.

is solo Roaming and 1v1’s the same thing?

if not then
War, Ranger, Thief

if yes then
Mez, Thief, not sure on the third there are no other classes I have problems with dueling

Looks like from this thread every class has at least one specialized roaming build that works pretty well.

Also on necros there really aren’t any issues roaming. Mobility wise if it’s on the lower part of the map you can just port back to a spawn point. If you’re on the upper part of the map there are cliffs, and cliffs + spectral walk = get out of jail free every time.

Otherwise the only thing to fear on condi necro is a very skilled player who happens to be set up with an anti condi build and lemongrass food. That just means I bypass people running lemongrass though, and essentially never die.

You’re not as efficient at ppt, but hey play what you find fun.

S/F Fresh Air Elementalist, 0/6/0/4/4
S/P GS Shatter Mesmer 4/4/0/0/6
A/S GS Warrior 0/0/6/2/6

Eggyokeo.9705:

is solo Roaming and 1v1’s the same thing?

if not then
War, Ranger, Thief

if yes then
Mez, Thief, not sure on the third there are no other classes I have problems with dueling

Good question and I’m glad someone was smart enough to ask..

I think it depends what you consider “roaming.” Personally I consider roaming to be 1 – 3 people tops that don’t have specific objectives. When I roam, I do what seems most beneficial to my server. Preventing towers from further upgrading by harassing yaks or camps, tapping towers/keeps to keep enemies checking their territory, trying to yolo towers by building catas, trebs or rams, killing other roamers that are harassing our camps, yaks, etc.

Other people seem to consider roaming to be getting in to fights. I think depending on what you consider roaming to be, the “top 3 roaming professions” could vary greatly. Personally I consider it to be a waste of time to look for fights but I also play for PPT not for PvP, so that’s just my opinion. And in that respect, I choose to defend the Necromancer as being an effective roamer. It has low mobility, yes, but very few builds can dispatch of you quickly, which means you often have a better chance of winning than they.

So, although I had said earlier I can’t comfortably name the top 3 roaming professions, I think I’ll say;

For PPT (killing yaks, protecting camps, flipping camps, killing stragglers, sniping towers, etc.): Thief, Engineer, Necromancer

For PvP (killing stragglers, harassing spawns, looking for duels, lurking near tower/keep portals): Thief, Mesmer, Warrior

For a combination of the two: Thief, Mesmer, Engineer

Thief has high mobility, lots of stealth, high damage and are generally difficult to deal with. I think we can at least all agree they are the best roamers regardless of what you want to do. Every other profession depends on who’s playing it, how well they know their profession and how aware of their surroundings they are.

For those that roam on Condi Necro, what build? I have failed repeatedly to make a solid roaming build for my Necro.

Scryeless.1924:

For those that roam on Condi Necro, what build? I have failed repeatedly to make a solid roaming build for my Necro.

I like either 6/6/0/0/2 with signets or 0/6/2/0/6 with spectral skills… Both go with Scepter+Dagger/Staff.

Sirendor.1394:

Sebastian Knight.4736:

I think people are severely underrating Medi Guard’s roaming capabilities. With Sword 2, GS 3, and Judge’s Intervention you have 2400 range burst mobility. The teleports are also instant cast and combined with a plethora of blocks at your disposal, you can jettison yourself out of sticky situations pretty well

Like with Necro, roaming on a Guardian just requires a bit more map awareness, with an emphasis on keeping track of ambient creatures/wildlife as escape teleport targets.

The other great benefit of roaming on a Guardian is that people constantly underestimate you, especially thieves and warriors, whom you counter pretty hard and run into a lot while roaming.

I agree with this aswell. One of my most succesful roaming builds on guardian was medi build with gs & hammer (don’t like sword that much) and runes of speed. If you’re a skilled player you can turn guardian into a killing machine.

The problem with roaming medi guards is if the fall upon a bigger group they have no way of escaping unlike thief, ele, mesmer, warrior, and ranger (a real build, not the nub’s bearbow).

i’ve changed my mined

Good player the know there class well > Cheesy player > bad player

Scryeless.1924:

For those that roam on Condi Necro, what build? I have failed repeatedly to make a solid roaming build for my Necro.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fREQNArdWjc0Ubb5NG3wfbCchaqnA6BIAi2o/gJYEA-TFyCABAcCAO+JAg8hAQo9H8R9nEVCmlyP90HEAABgZOzhOzhOzCBsYNA-w

2 stunbreakers means CC is generally a lot less of a threat. Spectral Walk should be saved for combat and not used for mobility.

Don’t camp one weapon set. I tend to use Reaper’s Touch followed by Grasping Dead, a few auto’s, Feast Of Corruption, then switch to staff for Mark Of Blood, Chillblains and top it all off with some Dhuumfire, Tainted Shackles and Doom. It’s a lengthy combo but you’d be surprised how easy it is to chain all of it in a short period of time once you’ve practiced the rotation. Another good one I like to use on people who don’t see me is Dark Path -> Tainted Shackles -> Dhuumfire -> Doom -> Grasping Dead. The first four attacks in that combo can be cast quickly enough that it’s very easy to land the entire thing, follow it with Grasping Dead for a little extra DPS and you get some really nasty burst.

An overall slow-moving build but very high damage and lots of survivability. I may not be winning any foot races any time soon but anyone who gets within 1,200 range of me is susceptible to some really nasty damage followed by a lot of soft CC to prevent them from getting away. So although yes, if I’m caught off guard by a zerg I’m toast, you can easily fix that by always checking your surroundings and not drawing out fights any longer than they need to go.

Also, with all buffs my terror will regularly tick nearly 1.5k (;

Eggyokeo.9705:

i’ve changed my mined

Good player the know there class well > Cheesy player > bad player

I agree, but there are some exceptions, for example, the best Necromancer player in the world can’t escape a fight in open WvW, doesn’t matter how good is, they are too slow, as simple as that. It’s kill or be killed, unless another player helps.

Another example, if you are the worst Warrior player in the world but smart enough to have Soldier stats and a Greatsword, both easy and cheap to get, it’s very possible to escape most situations, even as uplevel.

Julie Yann.5379:

Sebastian Knight.4736:

I think people are severely underrating Medi Guard’s roaming capabilities. With Sword 2, GS 3, and Judge’s Intervention you have 2400 range burst mobility. The teleports are also instant cast and combined with a plethora of blocks at your disposal, you can jettison yourself out of sticky situations pretty well

Like with Necro, roaming on a Guardian just requires a bit more map awareness, with an emphasis on keeping track of ambient creatures/wildlife as escape teleport targets.[

The other great benefit of roaming on a Guardian is that people constantly underestimate you, especially thieves and warriors, whom you counter pretty hard and run into a lot while roaming.

Sirendor.1394:

I agree with this aswell. One of my most succesful roaming builds on guardian was medi build with gs & hammer (don’t like sword that much) and runes of speed. If you’re a skilled player you can turn guardian into a killing machine.

The problem with roaming medi guards is if the fall upon a bigger group they have no way of escaping unlike thief, ele, mesmer, warrior, and ranger (a real build, not the nub’s bearbow).

You missed the part where Medi-Guards have a 2400 range run-away capability with two weapon skills an a utility that were stated in the first paragraph of the post you quoted. Just thought I’d point that out. You can thank me later.

Sebastian Knight.4736:

I think people are severely underrating Medi Guard’s roaming capabilities. With Sword 2, GS 3, and Judge’s Intervention you have 2400 range burst mobility. The teleports are also instant cast and combined with a plethora of blocks at your disposal, you can jettison yourself out of sticky situations pretty well

Like with Necro, roaming on a Guardian just requires a bit more map awareness, with an emphasis on keeping track of ambient creatures/wildlife as escape teleport targets.

The other great benefit of roaming on a Guardian is that people constantly underestimate you, especially thieves and warriors, whom you counter pretty hard and run into a lot while roaming.

Agreed 15 chars

Styles.7469:

It largely comes down to the fact that players view Guardian as a support build and think it should only be good at that, much like players used to think Necromancer was viewed to be viable only as a condition class.

To be blunt, Guardian and Necromancer have high DPS pools and sick burst damage that is severely underrated. Getting ambushed by either of these classes running roaming-style builds is devastating to the attackee.

They aren’t underrated by good roamers. When I run into a good one, I know the fight ends in a draw or worse for them. I sometimes kill them, other times chase them to a door, kite them until the battle changes in my favor or skip out completely on the fight. Fighting a roaming guardian or necro is a free kill or a why bother. Both classes do excel and are very strong in skirmish fights though.

Roaming on one I know I am going to get parked every time a larger force shows up. Also, awareness doesn’t get a player out of Long Range steal, warrior sprints, etc.

Necro and guardian are just not designed for roaming. They can roam and beat lower skilled players, but their inherent strengths are located in other areas, and their inherent weaknesses are exactly what you don’t want for roaming.

I just can’t see how it’s possible for a necro to beat an equally skilled opponent. At the very best, he can force a stalemate and watch as the other profession simply wanders off at whatever speed he feels like, and the necro can’t catch up.

Fluffball.8307:

Necro and guardian are just not designed for roaming. They can roam and beat lower skilled players, but their inherent strengths are located in other areas, and their inherent weaknesses are exactly what you don’t want for roaming.

I just can’t see how it’s possible for a necro to beat an equally skilled opponent. At the very best, he can force a stalemate and watch as the other profession simply wanders off at whatever speed he feels like, and the necro can’t catch up.

I’ve seen plenty of “equally skilled” necros and guardians beating other roaming classes, because their inherent strengths placate to the inherent weaknesses of other classes, just like their weaknesses are subject to exploitation by the strengths of other classes. But then you’re just getting into the semantics. Proper build, equal skill, no diengaging, blah blah blah.

Straegen.2938:

Styles.7469:

It largely comes down to the fact that players view Guardian as a support build and think it should only be good at that, much like players used to think Necromancer was viewed to be viable only as a condition class.

To be blunt, Guardian and Necromancer have high DPS pools and sick burst damage that is severely underrated. Getting ambushed by either of these classes running roaming-style builds is devastating to the attackee.

They aren’t underrated by good roamers. When I run into a good one, I know the fight ends in a draw or worse for them. I sometimes kill them, other times chase them to a door, kite them until the battle changes in my favor or skip out completely on the fight. Fighting a roaming guardian or necro is a free kill or a why bother. Both classes do excel and are very strong in skirmish fights though.

Roaming on one I know I am going to get parked every time a larger force shows up. Also, awareness doesn’t get a player out of Long Range steal, warrior sprints, etc.

inb4 you’re the best there ever was, eh?