I know, I know… In Guild Wars 2, there is no such thing as the best class. GW2 is thankfully one of those MMORPGs where skills prevail over raw power and every class can pretty much complete every content.
So let's focus on a more important question: what class should you play?
Well, let’s analyze them.
In GW2, there are nine distinct "classes," or "professions," which are further grouped into three main roles:
Soldiers wearing heavy armor:
- Warrior
- Guardian
- Revenant
Adventurers wearing medium armor:
- Thief
- Ranger
- Engineer
Scholars wearing light armor:
- Necromancer
- Elementalist
- Mesmer
Let's examine them closely.
Warrior
Let’s start with the Warriors, the towering weapon masters who rely on adrenaline build-up and their numerous banners to annihilate their enemies.
Sturdy, heavy-armored, well-equipped and aggressive are what defines a warrior.
Their Elite specializations furtherly increase their aggressiveness (Berserk), turn them into crowd controllers (Spellbreaker) or redefine their ranged gameplay (Bladesworn).
Jumping in the heat of the battle and storming your enemies till there is no one left standing, that’s the way of a true warrior.
If someone hits you hard, you’ll hit them back harder.
The Warrior excels in:
- being able to deal a lot of AoE damage and control;
- doing exceptional bursts of damage;
- taking damage like it’s nothing.
The Warrior is your profession if you:
- are new to the game and want a versatile profession;
- like heavy armor and sturdiness while still being aggressive and dealing a lot of burst damage;
- you like to experiment with a lot of weapons.
Guardian
The Guardian is the first and the last defense your enemies will have to face, and our second soldier class.
They gain strong passive benefits that can also be used on command for a stronger effect shared with their allies. Being able to boost all the party, the Guardians are beasts when it comes to powerful buffs and survivability, that’s the reason why many parties need them.
The Elite Specializations allow them the use of traps and increased mobility (Draognhunter); replace their virtues with Tomes, increasing exponentially the number of skills at their disposal (Firebrand); or ultimately increase their aggressiveness and solo potential (Willbender).
Raise your shield, burn your enemies, heal your allies and lead them to victory. This is what it takes to be a Guardian.
The Guardian excels in
- survivability: with tons of healing and protections it’s really hard to take them down;
- teamplay: she’s the perfect fit for every team, regardless of the content you’re about to face;
- empowerment: she’s able to buff themself and their party like hell.
The Guardian is your profession if you:
- like to be able to sustain yourself and your allies;
- lead the charge without fear of getting hit on your face;
- like the holy-knight stereotype;
- would like to invest some time into learning all their skills.
Revenant
Finally, as the last soldier profession, we have the mysterious Revenant.
The Revenants are fighters that wield the power of the Mists to bond themself to the spirits of Tyria’s old legends, and use their power to either destroy their foes or support their allies.
This is the only profession that is unlocked with the purchase of one of the three expansions (either one will be fine, but it will determine which Elite specialization you’ll be able to use).
The Elite specializations for the Revenants will turn them into sturdy and undefeatable defenders (Herald), mystic archers with a skill for every need (Renegade) or powerful greatsword wielders with a strong and earth-shattering jump attack (Vindicator).
Rush into the battlefield, use the mists to teleport yourself to your foes and summon Tyria’s old legends powers to defeat everything in your path.
The Revenant excels in:
- dealing damage: channeling your legend’s power lets you obliterate your enemies in no time;
- support: he has access to a good amount of skills for sustaining themself and his party;
- versatility: with outstanding mobility, he can travel fast from one enemy to another leaving only death behind.
The Revenant is your profession if you:
- like to put some time in to learn a difficult but highly rewarding profession;
- like to play as a heavy class without sacrificing mobility;
- have a thing for spectacular visual effects.
Thief
Now let’s dive into the adventurer classes. The first profession under this category is the Thief.
Thieves are ultra-fast and mobile, able to hide in the dark and steal objects from enemies that they can later use.
They use a system that allows them to use every skill without a cooldown, as long as they have initiative points.
Their Elite specializations can make them even more mobile and deadly (Daredevil), turn them into long-range snipers (Deadeye) or into support casters (Specter).
Shadowstep to your enemies, steal their weapons, cloak yourself in the dark and re-appear to hit them hard.
The Thief excels in:
- burst damage: he can spend all his initiative on a single skill to deal massive amounts of damage;
- mobility: with a lot of tools to teleport themself wherever he needs to, there is no profession able to match his mobility;
- survivability: with many ways to disappear from the enemies, he can easily flee when things get bad.
The Thief is your profession if you:
- like a high-risk high-reward strategy;
- want a fast-paced, highly mobile approach to the game;
- like the assassin stereotype.
Ranger
As nature’s protector, the Rangers can count on their pets to help them in battle.
Due to their use of pets, this profession is very welcoming for new players, yet still possesses deepness, and yes, they can also use greatswords.
Rangers can also increase their pet “collection”, by finding and taming them.
Their Elite specializations turn them into powerful group healers (Druid), increase their damage-dealing potential by merging with their pet (Soulbeast) or unleash the true power of their pets (Untamed).
Strike your foes from afar or smash them in close-quarter combats, call your favorite pet to aid you and join your forces to hunt down every enemy.
The Ranger excels in:
- collecting: find and tame your favorite pet and choose wisely which one to use in the right situation;
- solo play: well, are you really alone if your pet is with you?
- mobility: get in close quarters to cripple your enemies, just to jump back and strike them with your bow.
The Ranger is your profession if you:
- like pets;
- are a new player looking for an easy, yet very strong, profession;
- like to buff your friends and slow down your foes;
- want an all-around profession.
Engineer
Inventive, creative and expert in explosions, the Engineer is the last adventurer profession.
Engineers do not have access to many weapons like the other professions do, but they can count on a good amount of tools, utility skills and tool belt skills, alongside their turrets.
An engineer will always have the right tool/elixir/explosive for every situation.
Their Elite specializations will turn them into very resistant supports (Scrapper), outstanding burst-damage dealers (Holosmith) or glass cannons that can even support their party (Mechanist).
Place your friendly turrets, chug down your favorite elixir, take aim with your rifle and finish them off with a huge explosion.
The Engineer excels in:
- versatility: they have the right utility for every situation as true jacks-of-all-trades;
- support: with the right build they became incredibly valuable for a team;
- dealing damage: whether it be AoE or single target, with the right tool and utility they can deal a lot of damage quickly.
The Engineer is your profession if you:
- want an easy-to-learn hard-to-master experience;
- want to be a jack-of-all-trades;
- like to put some tactics in;
- like explosions.
Necromancer
Now let’s dive into the scholars: the first in this category is the Necromancer.
Necromancers can summon a horde of undead to fight by their side and, if things get worse, enter the death shroud mode, gaining new abilities and cheating death. They are beasts when it comes to damage over time and self-sustainability due to their ability to drain the life force of their enemies.
Their Elite specializations turn them into close-quarters fighters increasing their survivability (Reaper), allow them to support their party through shields while debuffing the enemies (Scourge) or become very strong buffers while still doing impressive damage (Harbinger).
Summon your personal undead army, leech your enemies’ life and unleash your true form while hunting them down.
The Necromancer excels in:
- survivability: leeching the life of the enemies and using their death shroud mode gives them an unmatched self-sustainability;
- AoE damage: their abilities often strike more enemies, making reapers fearful opponents in large-scale combats;
- crowd-control: their numerous abilities to debuff and impair their enemies are unmatched.
The Necromancer is your profession if you:
- like to deal massive amounts of damage over time;
- like to deal massive amounts of AoE damage;
- like the grim reaper stereotype;
- want to make your opponent’s life difficult;
- want to build your own army.
Elementalist
Now we have the Elementalist.
Elementalists can master, like the name suggests, the elements, giving them the ability to change the attunements between fire, water, earth and air.
Each one of their attunements will give them a different set of skills for their weapons, making them a deep profession that requires a lot of experimenting. As a mage stereotype, they prefer range combat, but like any other profession, melee combat is available too.
Their Elite specializations improve their team support orientation (Tempest), give them the ability to use two attunements at the same time (Weaver) or make them AoE and field combo monsters (Catalyst).
Whether it be by a fireball, lightning or earthquake, your enemies will have no chance of surviving.
The Elementalist excels in:
- AoE damage: elementalists have no rivals when comes to damaging an entire area;
- versatility: due to their attunements they have access to tons of skills, one for every situation;
- sustain: their water and earth attunements give access to a lot of healing and protective buffs.
The Elementalist is your profession if you:
- like the mage/wizard stereotype;
- want to be a support who can still deal abnormous amounts of damage;
- want a very deep profession that rewards you after some required studying.
Mesmer
And last but absolutely not least, the Mesmer.
Clones, illusions, detonations, invincibility, elusion, time control, shields, empowerment. Mesmers are all of this and much, much more.
Their primary ability is the creation of clones and illusions, both copies of themselves, that they can use to damage their enemies or support their party. Then they can detonate those to gain buffs or apply debuffs, all while eluding their enemies’ attacks.
Their Elite specializations give them the ability to manipulate time gaining tremendous support value (Chronomancer), turn them into masters of elusion and dueling (Mirage) or turn their clones into blades to greatly improve their burst damage and ranged playstyle (Virtuoso).
Send your clones to your enemies while striking from afar while eluding all the attacks, detonating them to gain boons and repeat. They’ll never know what struck them.
The Mesmer excels in:
- support: due to the buffs and debuffs they can apply, they can turn every fight in their party’s favor;
- mobility: a skilled mesmer is an untouchable one;
- chaos: creating lots of clones and illusions, they put the battlefield into chaos.
The Mesmer is your profession if you:
- want to play a trickster stereotype, able to change the tides of battle;
- like to evade, teleport, trick your opponents and disappear before they understand what happened;
- want to support yourself and your party with tons of buffs.
Conclusions
And here we are, with all nine professions explained. Now is your time to choose what is best for you.
I hope I helped you, even if a little, to understand all the professions in Guild Wars 2.
