Supporting a new player: class choice

Hey all.

I’ve convinced a friend of mine to start playing GW2 again (he played a little at launch, but not since). He’s going to be levelling a fresh character from scratch.

Now I have a few characters at 80, but even with the scaling they’ll stomp most things, so I want to try something - I want to create the supportiest (that’s a word right?) character from scratch as a) a help to my friend and b) something different - different play style, different gear, runes, etc.

What do you guys reckon I should choose? I know I will be limited until the first trait line, but I’m thinking longer term - maybe an Ele camping Water and Earth? Mesmer? Rev with Venturi unlocked first? I’ve never played Engi, does that have support builds?

Or am I mad?

Engi support isn't so great right now as far as I know. aren't druid and guard really good support classes?

@ratche.6204 said:Engi support isn't so great right now as far as I know. aren't druid and guard really good support classes?

If it was 80, then Druid would be good, yeah. But this is low level, I don’t think vanilla ranger has support builds? I guess I could go tank support Guard, but I already have a Guardian so i’d prefer something different if possible.

In that context the supportiest character would be one you can play well under most circumstances.

IMO a guardian is the best training wheel. Aegis, stability, healing, anti-projectile stuff, protection. The only thing missing from the toolkit is stealth for skipping a handful of things.

The better support while lvling is dealing high dps to support his poor playstile and knowledge of the game.I suggest you to go with a guardian ( spin to win + aegies and maybe enhanched virtue regen aoe + healing elite ).

I agree with the guardian suggestion. It's a great support class and fairly easy to pickup.

edit - Didn't see your reply that you already have a guardian. If your goal is to level-up alongside them, there isn't a big need to pick a true support class. At low levels, anything can work and it's more about learning the basic mechanics anyway. If you're looking for a tanky class that can provide ways to boost an ally, you might want to consider warrior with banners and shouts.

Like everyone else I would say Guardian is best support option from 1-80 ground up leveling, but since you stated you already have one, try something new and fun like an Ele support build like you were inquiring about being a possible solution in your original post. If your friend picks something that will be doing the dps heavy lifting Ele can be great support with heals/cc and still does great dps with fire attunement.

If you're just going to run through story and open world pve He probably won't need much support anyway. those stories are very doable solo, and with you and him together it should be pretty easy.

Ranger is a great way to start.it's both melee and ranged so don't get fooled by the name.You can also heal or do condi, or make a bunker hybrid version

Also, down skill 3 is always killin it, isn't it?Rangerlyfe B/

Thanks for the replies so far.

I appreciate that levelling isn’t a challenge and that my friend would be fine. He was my old raid leader in WoW, so he’s got the skills. I know that just rolling a DPS class/build would be effective, but I’ve done that a few times already so I fancied a change.

I’ve already got a guardian, but if I’m honest it never really clicked with me. At the moment a supportish banner/shout Warrior does sound tempting as I’ve not rolled a Warrior yet. Ele is also a promising thought as it has a decent toolkit for a variety of situations. I could also go silly with a Celestial build later on.

Further suggestions, of course, are still welcom!

I'd go Ranger. You've got a lot of support skills even without Druid, like Healing Spring, Warhorn 5 (which you can blast in fields like Water from Healing Spring or fire from your Torch for Extra Might), your Pets (Moas all have an AoE heal, Fern Hound does too, the Porcines all drop useful environmental weapons, Brown Bear has an AoE Condi clear), and provides Reflects with Axe off-hand, and many CC (Longbow 4, Axe offhand 4, Shortbow 5, without counting all the pets). Then you also have Spirits, like Frost and Sun which is going to boost your DPS (You, your pet's, and your friend's), the Shouts like "Guard!" which halves the damage you and your friend take and redirects it to your pet instead. And to Rez, we have a trait that makes us Rez the fastest, as well as "Search and Rescue!" which tp's your downed friend to you and your pet starts rezzing them, and you've got Spirit of Nature Renewal which is a constant heal over time and instantly revives all nearby allies (up to 5) within range.

So the options are not lacking in Ranger, and the extra pet in itself is always welcome to body block or tank

At lower level specifically Ele seems like a good bet. Mesmer can be amazing but may take a bit longer to get going, as it relies a lot more on some traits and skills. Maybe Revenant.. I haven't played much with that so it's hard for me to give any info on it.

@"Djahlat.9610" said:I'd go Ranger. You've got a lot of support skills even without Druid, like Healing Spring, Warhorn 5 (which you can blast in fields like Water from Healing Spring or fire from your Torch for Extra Might), your Pets (Moas all have an AoE heal, Fern Hound does too, the Porcines all drop useful environmental weapons, Brown Bear has an AoE Condi clear), and provides Reflects with Axe off-hand, and many CC (Longbow 4, Axe offhand 4, Shortbow 5, without counting all the pets). Then you also have Spirits, like Frost and Sun which is going to boost your DPS (You, your pet's, and your friend's), the Shouts like "Guard!" which halves the damage you and your friend take and redirects it to your pet instead. And to Rez, we have a trait that makes us Rez the fastest, as well as "Search and Rescue!" which tp's your downed friend to you and your pet starts rezzing them, and you've got Spirit of Nature Renewal which is a constant heal over time and instantly revives all nearby allies (up to 5) within range.

So the options are not lacking in Ranger, and the extra pet in itself is always welcome to body block or tank

Wow! You may have just sold me on the idea of creating a Ranger anyway, regardless of helping my friend ?