Guild Wars 2

Most topics I read were created before the april feature pack, so I would like to read updated information on this subject.

Currently, what are the best professions ( and their respective builds ) for roaming?
I am giving far more weight to solo roaming here.

For WvW?

Thieves without a question. High mobility, easy ways to disengage from a fight and high burst.

But to be fair you can build all professions for roaming (even necros). But you will have the easiest time as thief or maybe warrior.

Yeah I agree,

Being a good roamer is less about being great 1v1 (or 1vX) and more about being able to pick your fights and disengage at will.

And Thieves excel at that. If a Thief uses a long-duration stealth very few people will try pursuing that and even if they do it’s mostly futile.

I wouldn’t say Thieves are the best 1v1 class, but they do fare quite well if you know how to play.

PU Mesmers do well in roaming too but god kills a kitten for every Mesmer that rolls PU. It’s an awfully cheesy, low-risk build to play and I detest anyone that does.

Thieves. You can never die and go on like a 100+ kill streak. Mesmers are also decent but they have a bit harder time running away

best profession for roaming equals best profession for running away

Thieves, Warriors, Elementalists IMO are the best roamers.

Rangers would be up there if they killed people faster without sacrificing a lot of survivability. Guardians, Mesmers and Engis can also be very good but obviously don’t have as much escapability, although you can make it work for sure.

Necros it can be difficult because it is hard to disengage with them, but if you use the flesh wurm they can do it.

As a thief, I like to imagine the best roamers are the people who can beat me, in a fair fight. And then i realize thief is best roamer.

Being a full time roamer i gave up on stealthing and running away. Because the person who runs away from a fight is the loser. So WITHOUT good ol SR the people who give me the most problems are… other thieves using SR.

I’d like to cast my vote for Shadow Refuge as the greatest roamer, because he has single handily lost me more fights then any other profession or skill in the game

Engineer is the only class that can 1vX due to kiting and AoE damage. So for fighting its engineer but for roaming in general thief or warrior.

ryan.6217:

I’d like to cast my vote for Shadow Refuge as the greatest roamer, because he has single handily lost me more fights then any other profession or skill in the game

I just call it “time out” since that’s essentially what it is. Make too many mistakes? Didn’t see those other people entering the fights? Get blindsided by a zerg? Just call a time out and you’ll be back in the fight in no time, or you can just leave the fight if you want. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thief or a thief build that didn’t use that skill.

Dee Jay.2460:

PU Mesmers do well in roaming too but god kills a kitten for every Mesmer that rolls PU. It’s an awfully cheesy, low-risk build to play and I detest anyone that does.

So because something works and is easy for new players to get into PvP and have fun, you dislike it and call it cheesy? Seriously dude, don’t be such a elitist. Hell, if you take that stance, I assume you also say “Anyone who plays a Thief in WvW and PvP is cheesy”.

Raiff.6742:

I assume you also say “Anyone who plays a Thief in WvW and PvP is cheesy”.

thats exactly how its is.

PvP is about the most efficient path. “Cheesy” is a term used by scrubs. If you like to self handicap and risk a negative outcome needlessly, by all means complicate your choices.

The smart PvP player knows what his skills and limits are, and adjusts accordingly instead of being that noob player who picked up a particular engineer build because it has high skill cap but he can’t perform in it.

Zenith.7301:

PvP is about the most efficient path. “Cheesy” is a term used by scrubs. If you like to self handicap and risk a negative outcome needlessly, by all means complicate your choices.

The smart PvP player knows what his skills and limits are, and adjusts accordingly instead of being that noob player who picked up a particular engineer build because it has high skill cap but he can’t perform in it.

Winning tournaments or otherwise playing competitively, often for money, is about making the best use of the array of tools provided for you to succeed. You choose the weapons that both have a chance against the competition, as well as fit your personal ability/style/etc.

Except for some, it’s about the experience and not the outcome. Maybe that “noob” player who picked the high skill cap engi build enjoys having a level of play to reach for. Are you going to criticize him for pushing himself past his bounds in an attempt to improve because he isn’t conforming to his pre-set skills and limits?

The best players are acknowledging the meta, but exploring outside of it to see what others might be missing. They aim to understand every aspect of the game, including their preferred class, and are constantly looking to find better ways to perform.

In my opinion, the meta is a trap that sticks players into a stagnant mode of play that they end up blaming on the game instead of themselves. It represents the path of least resistance, but that’s all.

A smart PvPer recognizes the meta and gives it the appropriate amount of respect in that they can play it when the time is right, but they also know how to beat it. While everyone else is mired in the meta, the smart PvPer is always looking for ways to stay out in front of it, which, for those lagging behind and riding the paths of least resistance, typically ends up developing the new meta.

But I digress. You have to define “best” when you talk about classes for roaming. What do you want to accomplish?

1. Do you want to harass the enemy, pick off stragglers pretty easily, and have an easy means of escape from 1vX scenarios that are more likely to pop up?

2. Do you want to be able to duel other roamers to impede their progress without as much risk to yourself dying?

3. Do you want to scout and have the opportunity to stick near enemy zergs without getting caught?

4. Do you want to serve basically no purpose, but be able to sustain among a group of enemies by yourself and still not die while they try to find/kill you?

5. Do you want to be able to solo camps and cap them before the enemy can get there in time to stop you?

I know Thieves are good at 1 – 4, but I had the (mis)fortune of watching a Condi Thief kill guards in a camp, and it did not look efficient in the slightest. Much of the answer boils down to how much emphasis you put on a single, small-scale fight/duel out in the open world. More often than not, who wins means nothing more than the egos behind it try to place on it.

My vote for best goes with “the profession you have the most fun roaming with”. For me, that’s Power Necro.

Typical condition PU Mesmers are about effective as a GS+S/WH Warrior. They’re only called “cheesy” because they’re awful in terms of utility in combat of any kind, do no significant damage, and are just designed for getting away/surviving for nothing. You can however troll large numbers of players with either of these.

For groups, I would say Necromancers are actually the strongest class to have if others can help them disengage somehow with stealths/veils/FGS/etc. Same goes with Guardian.

For solo roaming, I would say Engineer or Thief because they’re great in 1vX and can disengage better than most/all others while still doing good damage.

BM Condition Ranger – It will flip camps, mesmers, thieves, warriors, engineers, necromancers and pretty much anything else in it’s path in no time at all.

a t s e.9614:

Engineer is the only class that can 1vX due to kiting and AoE damage. So for fighting its engineer but for roaming in general thief or warrior.

Well, that is simply wrong. Several classes can 1 Vs X. It is more about skill than the class you are. Ele can do it and i have done many times. Though you have to know what fights you can win rather than just going in guns blazing.

Thanks for the answers so far. It seems there is agreement over most people that thief is the best profession for roaming overall, considering all aspects of roaming.

What builds for Thief would be the best?
No need to be very detailed if you don’t want to.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

a t s e.9614:

Engineer is the only class that can 1vX due to kiting and AoE damage. So for fighting its engineer but for roaming in general thief or warrior.

Well, that is simply wrong. Several classes can 1 Vs X. It is more about skill than the class you are. Ele can do it and i have done many times. Though you have to know what fights you can win rather than just going in guns blazing.

You shouldn’t be winning 1v3s unless the oppenents are very very bad. An engineer can 1vx because of his zone control. If you can bring players in a tight spot , drop supply crate and tons of AoE.

The only other build that could 1vx is a P/D condi thief because of insane sustain from shadow arts and perma stealth with CnD.

I’m talking about players with meta builds and equal skill. Sure you might be able to 1v3 bearbows or riffle warriors but that doesn’t count .

The only reason they are the “best” isn’t because they are insanely strong but because when it goes wrong and they know they can’t win they can just stealth and run away. They can be countered quite easily by people that know how to play against them and in that sort of situation a thief is VERY likely just to run away than actually fight to the death.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Much of the answer boils down to how much emphasis you put on a single, small-scale fight/duel out in the open world. More often than not, who wins means nothing more than the egos behind it try to place on it.

My vote for best goes with “the profession you have the most fun roaming with”. For me, that’s Power Necro.

Whatever a player does in WvW, unless he is a commander, will be insignificant by itself either way. So, it all comes to down to the fun factor that you get from doing whatever you do, and to a lot of people that involves killing other players by themselves.

Why do you have the most fun roaming with the power necro?
What does it bring to the table? I am interested in knowing.

Chaos.2531:

Thanks for the answers so far. It seems there is agreement over most people that thief is the best profession for roaming overall, considering all aspects of roaming.

What builds for Thief would be the best?
No need to be very detailed if you don’t want to.

Most popular WvW roaming Thief builds to my knowledge are 10/30/30/0/0, 0/30/30/10/0 and 10/0/30/0/30. Basically 30 Shadow Arts for outnumbered sustain and either 30 Critical Strikes for damage or 30 Trickery for utility/lesser damage. The x/30/30/x/x builds are typically between Mug in Deadly Arts and Fleet Shadow in Acrobatics.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

The only reason they are the “best” isn’t because they are insanely strong but because when it goes wrong and they know they can’t win they can just stealth and run away. They can be countered quite easily by people that know how to play against them and in that sort of situation a thief is VERY likely just to run away than actually fight to the death.

What professions/builds are able to ‘counter’ ( by that I mean that given players with equal skills and equipment quality, one will nearly always come out winning ) roaming thieves ? How prevalent are they ?

Chaos.2531:

What professions/builds are able to ‘counter’ ( by that I mean that given players with equal skills and equipment quality, one will nearly always come out winning ) roaming thieves ? How prevalent are they ?

Most condition builds can eat them for breakfast. Depending on the Thief build my Ele has ways to handle them. If they are condi they are mostly a walk in the park thanks to them normally being pure condi and not hybrid. Combine that with my Burning, Bleeding, Poison, Confusion, knockbacks, Chills, Cripples and other skills.

The hardest Thief build i have encountered is the Sword/Dagger evade spamming builds. Even then with my high toughness, Vit, Healing Power it wont be a quick easy kill for them, if they even manage it.

Back stab can be countered quite easily just going into Water and then using Dagger 5 will normally have me back up in seconds and ready to go on the offensive.

As for other classes, i would think any Condition build would be able to beat an equally skilled thief if they know what to expect and can predict what the Thief will do next. If you are a new player then it will be much harder.

i play thief, mesmer, engi, warrior.
and i only roam with thief in wvw.
thief is the best roamer by far, stealth is just broken and cheesy as eff in wvw roaming, specially with shadow rejuv trait, oh and 3 second stealth CD. then engi, because you know, them skills, totally beast in eotm roaming, insta cast knockback of death. then comes mesmer and warrior.

wvw roaming thief players calling pu mesmers cheese, lolwut?

op, the last thing wvw needs is another permastealth/cheese/afraid thief running around. they are effective but its only contributing to another illness in wvw.

also, terror necros are very effective roamers.

The best roaming class is the class you’re best at playing. For me its ranger. I cant get into the theif playstyle and while I love my mesmer I am far too inexperienced to take on some opponents I would on my ranger.

It also somewhat depends what you want to do when roaming. People like me just look for fights as the primary objective, and cap/defend things as I feel like it. Other people like to go dolly hunting, which probably thieves and warriors do best. Other roamers like to defend caps, or scout, or all of the above.

Basicly where I am going with this is, they all have their stengths and weaknesses. Stealth thieves and GS warriors are the easiest to survive on, but are also not the best dualing builds, so while they can escape and survive they cant nessesarily achieve as much as another class / build.

Chaos.2531:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Much of the answer boils down to how much emphasis you put on a single, small-scale fight/duel out in the open world. More often than not, who wins means nothing more than the egos behind it try to place on it.

My vote for best goes with “the profession you have the most fun roaming with”. For me, that’s Power Necro.

Whatever a player does in WvW, unless he is a commander, will be insignificant by itself either way. So, it all comes to down to the fun factor that you get from doing whatever you do, and to a lot of people that involves killing other players by themselves.

Why do you have the most fun roaming with the power necro?
What does it bring to the table? I am interested in knowing.

I don’t actually subscribe to the fact that a single player is insignificant. Hunting yaks and flipping caps can actually be strategically important, and sentries/yaks consist of a nontrivial portion of a world’s points. Also, scouting enemy movements early enough can save objectives that might otherwise have been lost. It isn’t flashy tower/keep capping, but it’s very useful.

Anyway, most of the fun I get from Power Necro I think involves the playstyle. Against many classes, the outcome is on a razor’s edge, and one misstep can lead to me losing. I think the precarious nature makes me a better player and forces me to improve in order to be successful in fights. I feel I have all of the tools necessary to win fights, and I personally think that, if I play correctly, I can still beat any of the meta builds. I’ve beaten many condi Thieves, I’ve beaten PU Mesmers, I’ve kept my share of Nike Warriors from running, etc. In order to win these fights, though, I just can’t screw up. Even once, and I can lose. I like that. I also like that I’m in a fight to the death. Running isn’t an option, so I don’t even consider it. I think more about winning than escape.

I also like the fact that all but one (Doom) of my abilities are telegraphed quite well. It feels like it’s the way the game is meant to be played, where you can react to what your opponent is doing. Because of this, I feel I need to be thinking a few steps ahead to maximize my effectiveness, which is a fun thought exercise for me. I feel as though my time and effort is very much rewarded.

Plus, I don’t think people expect a Power Necro to give them much issue in large part, and I think that gives me an advantage. I find I can kill most people in a 1v1 fairly handily, with only the most stringent meta builds/some backstab Thieves giving me the most issues. I’ve even won multiple 1v2s, and although you have to be up against a certain comp in order for it to work, it can still be done. If you’re thinking “They must have been bad to lose 2v1 to a Necro”, you’re probably right, but you’re also fooling yourself if you think 1vX is ever won against highly skilled opponents. It isn’t.

So that’s the short version. I could go on, but this is already longer than I think it needs to be. I just feel Power Necro to be extremely rewarding to play, and I can also kill unupgraded camps in about 30 or so seconds if I do it correctly.

Cogbyrn.7283:

I don’t actually subscribe to the fact that a single player is insignificant.

You don’t, but I do.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Hunting yaks and flipping caps can actually be strategically important, and sentries/yaks consist of a nontrivial portion of a world’s points. Also, scouting enemy movements early enough can save objectives that might otherwise have been lost. It isn’t flashy tower/keep capping, but it’s very useful.

All of which is a mere drop in the ocean.
WvWvW goes on for an enormous period of time.
It is the agglomerate of individual actions that becomes significant.
The truth is: You might as well not even have stepped your foots on those grounds, and your home world would have won/lost either way ( unless we are talking about zombies who play WvW for 24 hours a day… ).

Cogbyrn.7283:

Anyway, most of the fun I get from Power Necro I think involves the playstyle. Against many classes, the outcome is on a razor’s edge, and one misstep can lead to me losing. I think the precarious nature makes me a better player and forces me to improve in order to be successful in fights. I feel I have all of the tools necessary to win fights, and I personally think that, if I play correctly, I can still beat any of the meta builds. I’ve beaten many condi Thieves, I’ve beaten PU Mesmers, I’ve kept my share of Nike Warriors from running, etc. In order to win these fights, though, I just can’t screw up. Even once, and I can lose. I like that. I also like that I’m in a fight to the death. Running isn’t an option, so I don’t even consider it. I think more about winning than escape.

I also like the fact that all but one (Doom) of my abilities are telegraphed quite well. It feels like it’s the way the game is meant to be played, where you can react to what your opponent is doing. Because of this, I feel I need to be thinking a few steps ahead to maximize my effectiveness, which is a fun thought exercise for me. I feel as though my time and effort is very much rewarded.

Plus, I don’t think people expect a Power Necro to give them much issue in large part, and I think that gives me an advantage. I find I can kill most people in a 1v1 fairly handily, with only the most stringent meta builds/some backstab Thieves giving me the most issues. I’ve even won multiple 1v2s, and although you have to be up against a certain comp in order for it to work, it can still be done. If you’re thinking “They must have been bad to lose 2v1 to a Necro”, you’re probably right, but you’re also fooling yourself if you think 1vX is ever won against highly skilled opponents. It isn’t.

So that’s the short version. I could go on, but this is already longer than I think it needs to be. I just feel Power Necro to be extremely rewarding to play, and I can also kill unupgraded camps in about 30 or so seconds if I do it correctly.

Thank you for explaining your reasons. This was very insightful.

RlyOsim.2497:

wvw roaming thief players calling pu mesmers cheese, lolwut?

op, the last thing wvw needs is another permastealth/cheese/afraid thief running around. they are effective but its only contributing to another illness in wvw.

also, terror necros are very effective roamers.

Is it fair to ask people to don’t use what they consider to be effective though?

Why do you consider terror necros to be very effective roamers?

Chaos.2531:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Hunting yaks and flipping caps can actually be strategically important, and sentries/yaks consist of a nontrivial portion of a world’s points. Also, scouting enemy movements early enough can save objectives that might otherwise have been lost. It isn’t flashy tower/keep capping, but it’s very useful.

All of which is a mere drop in the ocean.
WvWvW goes on for an enormous period of time.
It is the agglomerate of individual actions that becomes significant.
The truth is: You might as well not even have stepped your foots on those grounds, and your home world would have won/lost either way ( unless we are talking about zombies who play WvW for 24 hours a day… ).

A commander on FA once mentioned that yaks and sentries make up about 1/3rd of the total points for the world during a given week. I have no clue where he gets those stats, so I can’t verify, but if that’s true then all those drops in the ocean add up.

I do see your point in that a single person could not WvW for the entire week and basically nothing would be different if that person isn’t a prominent commander. I just think that everyone’s contribution is so small that discounting the roaming contribution because it doesn’t involve capping keeps/smc is unfair.

But I’m not sure most roamers even look at the PPT, so we can just agree to disagree and I won’t argue the point further. I just personally take solo-camping into account with regard to roaming effectiveness.

Chaos.2531:

RlyOsim.2497:

wvw roaming thief players calling pu mesmers cheese, lolwut?

op, the last thing wvw needs is another permastealth/cheese/afraid thief running around. they are effective but its only contributing to another illness in wvw.

also, terror necros are very effective roamers.

Is it fair to ask people to don’t use what they consider to be effective though?

Why do you consider terror necros to be very effective roamers?

And further, if you are running a Terrormancer, don’t you want a Thief to be in Fear for as long as possible?

#puns #iknowthatisn’twhatyoumeant #ithoughtfearchainingwascheesytoo

EDIT – Bad formatting, was in a hurry

PPT!? What is this!? I play most classes so my humble un-biased opinion on roaming the only thing I have enjoyed from day 1 of GW2.

1-Shadow Arts Thief – Either condition or power with D/p or P/d – Unlimited disengage potential and IMO the most fun/annoying build. Depends which side of the coin you’re on.

2- GS Warrior – Unlimited disengage potential with Sw/Wh but you wont do any real damage. Better of taking Axe/Sh or M/Sh skullcracker or Hammer or Longbow as the other set. My favorite aspect of War is the build diversity. You put 30 in Defense get some Cleansing Ire and you’re good to go. Put the rest where you like. 3k Armor and 2+k power/condition damage is an absolute force with all the passive sustain.

3- PU Mesmer – The only reason it is not higher is because even a Necro can run away from you. …Maybe not but the damage of the pure condition ones is laughable. I jump around on my warr when facing them then proceed to fly away on my GS and dance. The hydbrid ones are really fun to fight but not difficult to disengage from as well. These mesmers have high stealth uptime with a torch and the right utilities so using some terrain makes great escapes easy.

4- Condi/Tank Rangers – Sorry all berserker bearbow rangers you did not make the list. But these BM variants double melee are mobile and fun to fight/play. Sword gives some decent escapability plus the massive tankiness perma regen will allow you to create some breathing room and distance if things get ugly.

5- Engineer – Probably tied with rangers as far as mobility goes and can easily be interchangable as far as rankings go. I guess I simply like ranger more. Very strong condition skills AOE supply crate creating area denial and some decent mobility with perma swift and rocketboots.

6- Ele – Can easily be 3/4/5th in ranking if not for the fact that I completely suck with them. I have dueled and fought roaming many great eles. The mobility has not been the same since the old days of RtL when I played ELE. But the sustain and damage is very respectable. I think ELE and ENGI roaming capabilities come down to skill most of the time.

Guard/Necro – Too slow

I love both classes to zerg/command. I can destroy 99% of players on my necro given they do not disengage. Which won’t ever happen unless its a planned duel. If you roam with guard/necro I respect you but it must be quite annoying to see every class run from you when you manage to almost kill them.

Narkodx.1472:

I love both classes to zerg/command. I can destroy 99% of players on my necro given they do not disengage. Which won’t ever happen unless its a planned duel. If you roam with guard/necro I respect you but it must be quite annoying to see every class run from you when you manage to almost kill them.

Actually, unless it’s a Thief who just completed a Shadow Refuge, basically no class can get away from me on my Necro. The only exception is a Warrior who saves or uses Zerk Stance after its cooldown is back up to run away. In that case though, I know he won’t re-engage anytime soon, so I just go do something else content with my victory.

I’ve seen many people complain about their Necro not being able to keep people in a fight, and I really don’t know why with all of the chills, cripples, boon removal, and long-range fear capabilities.

Raiff.6742:

Dee Jay.2460:

PU Mesmers do well in roaming too but god kills a kitten for every Mesmer that rolls PU. It’s an awfully cheesy, low-risk build to play and I detest anyone that does.

So because something works and is easy for new players to get into PvP and have fun, you dislike it and call it cheesy? Seriously dude, don’t be such a elitist. Hell, if you take that stance, I assume you also say Anyone who plays a Thief in WvW and PvP with pistol/dagger and perma stealth is cheesy*

fixed it for you homie. i’m the worst thief on the planet and i wreck face with that setup. you literally can just press 5 and 1 in that order forever and win. not to mention now that pistol 2 now immobilizes, p/d is that much easier to play. oh and the insane amount of torment thief has access to now.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Narkodx.1472:

I love both classes to zerg/command. I can destroy 99% of players on my necro given they do not disengage. Which won’t ever happen unless its a planned duel. If you roam with guard/necro I respect you but it must be quite annoying to see every class run from you when you manage to almost kill them.

Actually, unless it’s a Thief who just completed a Shadow Refuge, basically no class can get away from me on my Necro. The only exception is a Warrior who saves or uses Zerk Stance after its cooldown is back up to run away. In that case though, I know he won’t re-engage anytime soon, so I just go do something else content with my victory.

I’ve seen many people complain about their Necro not being able to keep people in a fight, and I really don’t know why with all of the chills, cripples, boon removal, and long-range fear capabilities.

Thievies and mobility warriors are impossible to catch for a necro unless they are stupid (luckily enough most thieves i encounter realize to late that they should run). A good ele can always run away from a necro no matter how good you use your cripple/chills/fears etc. Mesmer with stealth have also good chance to run way though is is alot more difficult. The rest has indeed a difficult time running away from a necro.

But i agree roaming as a power necro is quite fun. Especially since spectralwalk jumping still works. It is always funny to see them following me down the cliff just to die…

Muchacho.2390:

Actually, unless it’s a Thief who just completed a Shadow Refuge, basically no class can get away from me on my Necro. The only exception is a Warrior who saves or uses Zerk Stance after its cooldown is back up to run away. In that case though, I know he won’t re-engage anytime soon, so I just go do something else content with my victory.

I’ve seen many people complain about their Necro not being able to keep people in a fight, and I really don’t know why with all of the chills, cripples, boon removal, and long-range fear capabilities.

I have never had an issue escaping a Necromancer, Though to be fair don’t really need to when they are nothing but a corpse. I can’t remember the last time i had to run from a Necromancer, been even longer since i was caught by one.

So it’s anecdotal evidence vs. anecdotal evidence, which is fine, but I’m telling you that a large number of people I’ve fought have had a very difficult time getting away. Including Sw+Wh/GS Warriors. If you simply dispute that fact by calling those Warriors bad, then I can counter by saying the Necros you’ve fought have been bad. But that isn’t a very fun discussion.

Spinal Shivers with Spiteful Talisman, a proc of Chill of Death (more Spinal Shivers), Unholy Feast crippling (all three of those have been boon removal abilities as well), Doom while they are mid-mobility skill, Dark Path to catch up and chill more (which isn’t boon removal for me, but could be), Well of Darkness traited to tick chill, Dark Pact immob, Tainted Shackles immob, and if I happen to have it, Corrupt Boon.

So like I said, it takes target breaking/invisibility, or condi immunity/immense condi removal to get away from me in a fight. If it takes a really good Ele (I haven’t seen one run from me in months), or a Thief (who can catch them exactly?), or a Warrior specced to run away (not even threatened by these guys anyway), and that is it, then Necro is, actually, really good at locking most people into a fight.

My main argument wasn’t that no one can get away from me, it’s that Narkodx’s claim that any class can escape at any time is entirely untrue based on my personal experience.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Spinal Shivers with Spiteful Talisman, a proc of Chill of Death (more Spinal Shivers), Unholy Feast crippling (all three of those have been boon removal abilities as well), Doom while they are mid-mobility skill, Dark Path to catch up and chill more (which isn’t boon removal for me, but could be), Well of Darkness traited to tick chill, Dark Pact immob, Tainted Shackles immob, and if I happen to have it, Corrupt Boon.

One well timed teleport and you can forget about most of your skills.

pierwola.9602:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Spinal Shivers with Spiteful Talisman, a proc of Chill of Death (more Spinal Shivers), Unholy Feast crippling (all three of those have been boon removal abilities as well), Doom while they are mid-mobility skill, Dark Path to catch up and chill more (which isn’t boon removal for me, but could be), Well of Darkness traited to tick chill, Dark Pact immob, Tainted Shackles immob, and if I happen to have it, Corrupt Boon.

One well timed teleport and you can forget about most of your skills.

I’m really not here to enter into Paper Wars 2 where we go back and forth with “Well they’d just do X” and I say “Well I’d just do Y”. I’m telling you all of the tools I have to keep people in a fight, and I’m saying that in my experience they work quite well.

People focus too much on the 1 situation they can’t accommodate and not the 20 that they can. There are a few builds that can escape given all the right timings, and there are a whole load of them that have the worst time ever trying to disengage.

Don’t have to be PU Mesmer to escape. Just place a Portal in time and you can escape from any situation. (As long as it doesn’t take you too long) I regularly place a portal, dive into an enemy zerg and after a few seconds use the “take root”/Portal combo to escape before they burst me down.

If you do that, you might want to place your portal in the water (any depth) since portals become almost invisible that way and you won’t get any Asura zerker thiefs waiting on the other side.

Anything that can escape zergs fast.
Other builds may crush them in duels but its not worth the risk.
The best one is Theif because they can vanish in the stickiest situations.
Engineer have plenty of stealth as well and when built for it more deadly.
The fastest is Warrior gs & s/w but running is all they can do properly.

thieves were, although condi is only viable for roaming right now

Cogbyrn.7283:

I’m really not here to enter into Paper Wars 2 where we go back and forth with “Well they’d just do X” and I say “Well I’d just do Y”. I’m telling you all of the tools I have to keep people in a fight, and I’m saying that in my experience they work quite well.

People focus too much on the 1 situation they can’t accommodate and not the 20 that they can. There are a few builds that can escape given all the right timings, and there are a whole load of them that have the worst time ever trying to disengage.

Yes only a few builds can escape a necro, if he builds for movment control, but normally warriors/thieves/eles/mesmers run those builds if they roam…

And those who dont, only want to catch up to thier zerg, ohh well those are normally easy kills…

Chaos.2531:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Much of the answer boils down to how much emphasis you put on a single, small-scale fight/duel out in the open world. More often than not, who wins means nothing more than the egos behind it try to place on it.

My vote for best goes with “the profession you have the most fun roaming with”. For me, that’s Power Necro.

Whatever a player does in WvW, unless he is a commander, will be insignificant by itself either way. So, it all comes to down to the fun factor that you get from doing whatever you do, and to a lot of people that involves killing other players by themselves.

Why do you have the most fun roaming with the power necro?
What does it bring to the table? I am interested in knowing.

PPT is insignificant, WvW is all about the fights anyway.

But assuming you’re referring to PPT, that’s not true. Roamers just flipping camps can do more than a full zerg unless everyone is in K-train mode. Sometimes when things are really dead you can flip all 6 camps on a borderland which is actually worth more than soloing a keep (which can also be done solo, given enough time…). I did all 6 camps several times in seasons vs BG — supposedly the most populated server. I don’t even care about PPT, it’s just that’s what I’ll do when looking for people to fight.

If there are zergs on the map, roamers will usually be scouting them as well. Not sure how you could consider that insignificant.

Anyway, the best roamers are GS warriors and thieves. Worst I think are necros and guardians.

Play thief if you want – easy way, boring as hell (was maining it but permastealth/blindspam cowardway got me away). For those who say sword/dagger permaevade – yes it is nice (tried it), hard to deal with it, but totally sucks in 1 vs x situations. Worst roamers – those with bad mobility, best with good ^^. Stealth just helps. Some say play class you want – sure, but you’ll die, alot (guardian, necro). After mobility you should consider what to do as roamer (solo). Kill players – thieves, mesmers, warriors, eles, engis, maybe ranger (haven’t seen any good – as a roamer). Take camps – eles, engies, warriors, rest classes do it in ages. Personally i run dd ele as the most fun to play class imo, with high skillcap, and in your face playstyle.

Zephyrus.9680:

PPT is insignificant, WvW is all about the fights anyway.

But assuming you’re referring to PPT, that’s not true. Roamers just flipping camps can do more than a full zerg unless everyone is in K-train mode. Sometimes when things are really dead you can flip all 6 camps on a borderland which is actually worth more than soloing a keep (which can also be done solo, given enough time…). I did all 6 camps several times in seasons vs BG — supposedly the most populated server. I don’t even care about PPT, it’s just that’s what I’ll do when looking for people to fight.

If there are zergs on the map, roamers will usually be scouting them as well. Not sure how you could consider that insignificant.

Anyway, the best roamers are GS warriors and thieves. Worst I think are necros and guardians.

It is insignificant when it comes down to individual players. Even if you were to flip all 6 camps by yourself, what would that mean in such a large scale battle? A minimal difference in the total score. ( Unless for some weird reason they were left unchecked for a considerable period of time. )

Chaos.2531:

What professions/builds are able to ‘counter’ ( by that I mean that given players with equal skills and equipment quality, one will nearly always come out winning ) roaming thieves ? How prevalent are they ?

Engi. Sometimes i think that devs made thiefs then realized they are OP and made engis just to counter thiefs.

Chaos.2531:

Zephyrus.9680:

PPT is insignificant, WvW is all about the fights anyway.

But assuming you’re referring to PPT, that’s not true. Roamers just flipping camps can do more than a full zerg unless everyone is in K-train mode. Sometimes when things are really dead you can flip all 6 camps on a borderland which is actually worth more than soloing a keep (which can also be done solo, given enough time…). I did all 6 camps several times in seasons vs BG — supposedly the most populated server. I don’t even care about PPT, it’s just that’s what I’ll do when looking for people to fight.

If there are zergs on the map, roamers will usually be scouting them as well. Not sure how you could consider that insignificant.

Anyway, the best roamers are GS warriors and thieves. Worst I think are necros and guardians.

It is insignificant when it comes down to individual players. Even if you were to flip all 6 camps by yourself, what would that mean in such a large scale battle? A minimal difference in the total score. ( Unless for some weird reason they were left unchecked for a considerable period of time. )

If a roamer kills and stomps 1 person and caps one camp every 15 minutes they earn 8 points for their server.

A zerg of say 35 people would need to capture 11 keeps in that time to gains the same number of points per person as that roamer did.

Now clearly its not a scalable model because if you have more than 3-4 decent roamers on a map you’re going to run out of camps pretty quickly, but the fact remains that decent roamers have the single largest effect on their servers score when looking at it on an individual basis.