Good classes + builds for PVE?

Hey,i played GW2 at the time of its release and think now to start a new character. So i wanted to know what are some good classes for PVE? (I'm not really interested in PVP/Endgame content)I have a light preference for melee characters that are somewhat tanky.Back then i liked to play Greatsword Warrior, but i've read that he seems to be quite inferior to double axe warrior currently, is this only true for Endgame or for normal PVE as well?

Anyway, i would appretiate any suggestions for Classes & Builds + some short reasoning why it is good for PVE, thanks!

Hmmmm a lot of people ask this. I would suggest a site on builds. However. Best depends on the way you want to approach the game. If your by yourself. Honestly ranger is probably best. Even though you can't kill as many monsters and take the game as fast as a warrior or guardian. The pet is the best reason. It's a tank. And you can rotate two of them in and out if your pet is dying fast. It's so well that I could've killed mordremoth by myself with ranger except there's still a bug in the game that he freezes but that's a diff story. If you wanna get through pve easy. It's ranger. As far as build there are many. If your alone try condi build. If with people and u wanna do raids later, try druid to support your friend's. So when your always together doing dungeons or fractals etc. They always get support. But condi is pretty good with ranger can't go wrong.

Ranger is a good choice as blam said. Though I would recommend necro before ranger. For open world pve, a necro can do just about anything, solo anything, etc. I would recommend going zerk + scholar runes, and running a power build (unless you want to do high level end-game content, then condi would be a bit better).

I switch to this when i want to solo champs like the bandit bounties HoT champs, etc:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBHhF6khGolGsrGwbTg9GsMNYSDgCQAYqldBqAxhwT4KE-jFSBABeqCyCHCAKV/4hTAgZKBxTfzV7PK/A4JAEAABw5Nv5Nv5NPtZ2MbezbmUACq1C-w

I also use the above in fractals if i'm soloing them, or if the group has a hard time removing condis or is dying alot.

But usually, i run this for everyday pve stuff, which i can solo most anything with, aside fom a few anti-melee bosses:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBHhF6kZTolGsxGwbTgeTsULYUjh5Q1CKBEAmBxdxx4ZE-jFSBABmpEEgnAwDnAA803c1+jyvFOEAeqCClqfEAABw5Nv5Nv5NPtZ2MbezbmUACq1C-w

I swap out GS for staff when in a group at times. If you want more healing, you can swap Spite out for Blood and take 3-3-3 in blood. It does some decent healing, especially when using shroud 4. Though blood really shines with the first minion build.

In the second build, you can flash shroud and/or use horn 5 for swiftness. Or you can play it lazy and swap Spite sig for locust, but there shouldnt be a need with access to to those 2 skills for speed. Max you damage (and get leech) by using your shroud spin finisher inside your well and nightfall on gs. If you swap out GS and use staff, you can spin in your marks, giving frost aura (good defense), chill bolts, etc.

So many things you can do with necro to keep in interesting. the above is just a guildeline, i constantly swap traits/utilities out depending on my mode and what i am doing/fighting..

Forgot to mention, i will play with 1-2 others most of the time, not entirely alone.

Engi imo , need more firepower go for It , some healing sure , Ranged,melee (scrapper) u have tons of tricks under your belt (pun intended), plus granades and flamethrower are always fun, fireee!!!. New pof spec is tons of fun.

Every class is viable, survivable and good for PvE, in the end it all comes down to your play style and what you enjoy.

Personally right now I'm really enjoying Viper Reaper, it's a really well rounded build for balanced condi and physical damage (never been a fan of berserker on a class so clearly themed around conditions), and with shroud on top it's incredibly difficult to die in any form of PvE. I also find necro/reaper to be an incredibly fun class to play overall and am really looking forward to next Friday when I can experiment with Scourge, too.

@Sersch.5261 said:Forgot to mention, i will play with 1-2 others most of the time, not entirely alone.

Since you will have a buddy with you. Use a class to accommodate with your buddy. If he/she is a tank, be support. If he/she is support, be a tank.

@Sersch.5261 said:Forgot to mention, i will play with 1-2 others most of the time, not entirely alone.

If you play with friends, I recommend Ele/Mesmer. Ele is strong if you have a tank with you. Mesmer is fun because you can portal friends and stuffs. Also, Mesmer is hard to solo content, so when you have friend, take advantage of that xD

If we are talking open world PvE, I would throw in another vote for Ranger.

Rugged Growth, Nature's Vengeance, Stone Spirit and Smokescale all add up to soloing any champion without even changing your pet. Your Smokescale will have 100% protection uptime with rapid healing.

Only one I have to swap pets on is Avatar of Balthazar in AB, where I just use a Blue Moa to keep Rugged Growth going (on the player character) until Smokescale is ready to go again. If I'm being real though, the moa is there because it was my starting pet. lol

The downside to Ranger is that it doesnt put out the DPS numbers that the other good soloing classes bring, but it is the safest.

One man's opinion, for what it's worth.

@Lome.8239: Could you post your full build, please? Sounds interesting.

I personally main a mesmer as a solo person and i've found it to be super fun and rewarding to play. You can definitely expand and have mesmers be very viable support. add to that chronomancer and you're pretty much golden for a party.

The key to surviving is praying that your clones/phantasms will distract the enemy from you. Sometimes it won't work, but sometimes it will, and it's very worth killing off a foe with a shatter. It has a high skill floor, which means it's not the easiest class to play as from the get go, but in a party of 2 or three, whoever plays mesmer should be fine.

There's no telling what you'll like best and any class can be great for open world PvE play. But since you asked...

My current favorite is an elementalist wielding dual daggers, running water/air/tempest with full zealot (power/precision/healing) gear. The healing is very strong for solo survival or if you'd like to support allies. In fact, I find I don't even need to use active heals but can rely on passive healing, heals over time, and instant heals from applying auras. Yet the damage is still good since it has as much power and precision as a berserker setup and I'm running fresh air tempest. I find it's a nice mix of damage and survivability. And if I do need more tankiness, swapping out air for earth lets me handle almost anything

Here are a couple of videos of the build in action (and plenty more on my youtube channel if you'd like to see more!):

Water/Air/Tempest Full zealot vs. Champion Arrowhead:

Water/Earth/Tempest Full zealot vs. Zintl Inquisitor:

You should check out the guide I made that teaches build making, combat mechanics and class tips here:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/806/gw2-combat-system-build-101-guide