What Profession should I play?

Hi!

I've been playing this game for about a month now and I would like some help with choosing the perfect Profession for me to play. I am currently playing Theif (I've reached 80) and I was planning to give the Deadeye a try but I've noticed many people commenting about how it's one of the weakest in the game.

Here's what you need to know about me:

1. I have just purchased HoT and PoT expansions.
2. I still have no clue about PvE, WvW, Fractals... etc. (I don't even know what they mean)
3. I don't really have that much experience in MMOs but I know most of the basics.
4. I prefer ranged play-style.
5. I don't do pets or turrets.
6. I absolutely despise playing a supporting rule.
7. I prefer a Profession that I can "easily" learn without having to go through so many guides.
8. I prefer a Profession where the skills are straightforward.

Thanks in advance.

Don’t give up on your Deadeye. It is perfectly viable for the vast majority of content. Rifle was buffed in PvE (vs. AI enemies) a few patches ago. People who say it is the worst thing ever probably didn’t read the patch notes (it was kinda trash before the buff) and I think Pistol works on it, too.

Based on what you said, I would recommend keeping to thief, or switch to warrior or necromancer. The latter doesn't have to use minions, most builds don't use them. As for warrior, you have many long-ranged options, like longbow and rifle.

@Djahlat.9610 said:As for warrior, you have many long-ranged options, like longbow and rifle.

Actually just those two.

you could try double pistol with healing signet as thief its pretty easy to play and good enough for pve and fractalsWarrior with Rifle or maybe Dragonhunter with Bow or Scepter should be pretty straightforward tooYou can go into spvp lobby via the crossed swords symbol in upper left menu where its pretty easy to test around a little bit how you like the class and playstyle

It really doesn't get any more simplistic than dual pistol thief. Spam unload, dodge stuff. You're good. Your damage may not be good and you may have trouble handling groups of enemies without some sort of melee weapon backup, but it's easy to stay alive as a thief at range.

I think you should consider broadening your horizons, however. Weapon swapping is a thing in this game. As a result, all-ranged builds are not common. Melee range is also enforced in group content by the buffing system, which relies pretty much exclusively on short range area effects that center on the caster. Thus, in group play, if you want support and healing you stack at melee range. Standing at range will get you killed, then risk teammates who have to break from the group to revive you. You also miss out on all of the boons everyone else is getting, so your damage output will be poor.

Melee weapons tend to deal better damage, too. And some encounters push melee range pretty hard. For example, I just recorded this video of Mirage vs. the Forged Marauder bounty in Vabbi. The boss pulled scorcher and exploiter. Exploiter makes it so that you have to strike the boss at melee range to gain a short-term buff that allows you to hit him with your attacks. Thus standing at range is not an option. Scorcher adds fire circles to a boss that already drops fire circles...and now he drops them in the tiny area of melee range! Quite the challenge to avoid, but I will deal no damage from range. What choice do I have?

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Djahlat.9610 said:As for warrior, you have many long-ranged options, like longbow and rifle.

I've got the perfect solution for you. Go to Heart of Thorns, and run hero-point groups until you've fully unlocked the daredevil spec. Then set yourself up according to this build template:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Daredevil_-_Berserker_Staff

But make two important changes:

1) Under Critical Strikes, take "invigorating precision" instead of "no quarter."2) Instead of staff/shortbow, use staff/double-pistol.

Here are the benefits:

1) You already have a level 80 thief.2) This build will make him do monster damage.3) Every time you crit (which will be continuously), you'll heal for 15% of that value.4) Double pistol will give you a hefty ranged-damage option.5) You'll be welcome in groups.6) Your damage-rotation is braindead easy (literally 4 skills).7) No support responsibilities to speak of.

Based on all the things you listed, this build was made for you.

Edit: And you heard right... deadeye doesn't shine anywhere except WvW roaming (an open world PvP game-mode with a very steep learning curve).

@"Fallesafe.5932" said:I've got the perfect solution for you. Go to Heart of Thorns, and run hero-point groups until you've fully unlocked the daredevil spec. Then set yourself up according to this build template:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Daredevil_-_Berserker_Staff

But make two important changes:

1) Under Critical Strikes, take "invigorating precision" instead of "no quarter."2) Instead of staff/shortbow, use staff/double-pistol.

Here are the benefits:

1) You already have a level 80 thief.2) This build will make him do monster damage.3) Every time you crit (which will be continuously), you'll heal for 15% of that value.4) Double pistol will give you a hefty ranged-damage option.5) You'll be welcome in groups.6) Your damage-rotation is braindead easy (literally 4 skills).7) No support responsibilities to speak of.

Based on all the things you listed, this build was made for you.

Edit: And you heard right... deadeye doesn't shine anywhere except WvW roaming (an open world PvP game-mode with a very steep learning curve).

^ This sounds like good advice. I played staff and pistols daredevil for my first 80. It's strong and quick, but fairly simple to play.

Oh God yes I love Staff/pistols Daredevil. Staff for beating things that get in your face, dual pistols against a boss can deal HUGE damage with the right set of traits. I think I got it up to 120K per shot against one boss before I ran out of initiative to fuel attack 3 (unload?). And the staff is great for doing JPs, except Skipping Stones and Portmatt's Lab.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I was wondering if you guys have any other suggestions beside the Theif? More ranged-magic based with some AoE maybe.

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:Oh God yes I love Staff/pistols Daredevil. Staff for beating things that get in your face, dual pistols against a boss can deal HUGE damage with the right set of traits. I think I got it up to 120K per shot against one boss before I ran out of initiative to fuel attack 3 (unload?). And the staff is great for doing JPs, except Skipping Stones and Portmatt's Lab.

Thats not per shoot its the total of all the shoots you done over the duration.

@Linken.6345 said:

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:Oh God yes I love Staff/pistols Daredevil. Staff for beating things that get in your face, dual pistols against a boss can deal HUGE damage with the right set of traits. I think I got it up to 120K per shot against one boss before I ran out of initiative to fuel attack 3 (unload?). And the staff is great for doing JPs, except Skipping Stones and Portmatt's Lab.

Even across multiple activations of the skill?

yes otherwise anything would just melt

If you can look past the fact that they have a pet, the ranger is one of the easiest professions to learn and they have the most options in terms of ranged combat. They have Longbow, Shortbow and they use Axes as ranged weapon as well. If you decide to go with the Druid (which gives them more of a support role, but they can still deal a decent amount of damage) they get access to the Staff. Elementalist is another profession that's pretty easy to learn and is basically 75-99% ranged combat. The fact that they can switch between damage, support and control is another nice ability.

How is Ele easy to learn? The Elementalist is complex, especially the rotations. If I were the OP I would go with a Warrior. The condi-zerker pve spec with Longbow + sword/torch dishes out high dmg while being semi ranged and semi ranged is enforced on every class when it comes to bosses due to previously mentioned typical boss mechanics. The best you'll get is staying ranged at certain boss phases. But warrior is nice because you are a little more on the heavy side which helps. Straight forward class with plenty of mobility with sword and zerker is fun to play. Otherwise ranger is a good pick too.

@Valdoron.7821 said:How is Ele easy to learn? The Elementalist is complex, especially the rotations. If I were the OP I would go with a Warrior. The condi-zerker pve spec with Longbow + sword/torch dishes out high dmg while being semi ranged and semi ranged is enforced on every class when it comes to bosses due to previously mentioned typical boss mechanics. The best you'll get is staying ranged at certain boss phases. But warrior is nice because you are a little more on the heavy side which helps. Straight forward class with plenty of mobility with sword and zerker is fun to play. Otherwise ranger is a good pick too.

Condi-Zerker also has a complex rotation, involving (among other things) burning your heal skill for damage.

Condi Warrior is not that hard. Much easier then weaver or chrono.

Get adrenaline f2 f1 swap 2 f1 heal f1 and then spam skills until f1 is rdy. And once you f2 ends swap to swod and auto atack

Elementalist might be goid if you want damage mage. Its damage is great in any pve (in hot maps everything dies before it touches you ) but be prepare to spend more time on the ground then with others. I would adivice to ho with tempest for start and switch to weaver once you are experianced.Gl

@samnafea.5416 said:Thank you all for your suggestions.

I was wondering if you guys have any other suggestions beside the Theif? More ranged-magic based with some AoE maybe.

That would be Elementalist (Staff) or Revenant (Hammer).

@Sagramor.7395 said:

@samnafea.5416 said:Thank you all for your suggestions.

I was wondering if you guys have any other suggestions beside the Theif? More ranged-magic based with some AoE maybe.

Ele is more versatile and complex(but a lot of fun), while for open world, a hammer rev running sword/sword secondary set with glint/jalis legends is a killing machine. That being said, if you choose revenant, you need to be prepared to manage energy usage as well as cooldowns. Timing your legend and weapon swaps is essential.

both reaper and scourge are heaps fun and straightforward, like others mentioned above, you dont need to use minions

I've read all the comments and I've decided to go for the Elementalist. Its hard to learn that's for sure but its so much fun and I'm in love with the concept.

I've been using my Deadeye to unlock MPs, Mounts, Glider, ... etc and doing groups and events with my Elementalist which makes my game experience pretty much amazing and diverse. I'm still not sure if I'm gonna go for Weaver or Tempest but for now, I'll just enjoy my DE and Ele combo.

Thank you all for your feedback. I really appreciate it.

My suggestion would have been to stick with deadeye or maybe do a longbow soulbeast. Both have high ranged damage and are easy to pick up a learn. With soulbeast you can go into beast mode to buff yourself and not worry about your pet.

For deadeye (in pve) I usually like to play critical strikes, trickery, deadeye. Can’t recall the trait names off the top of my head, but there is a grandmaster trait in cricifcal strikes that heals you for a percentage of critical damage. That with healing signet makes staying alive really easy. Plus you do a lot of damage. For range you can equip either rifle or or dual pistols. Both are high single target damage. Rifle has better range, but pistols have better combat mobility and resource management. For the other weapon set I do sword pistol. That is good for high damage Melee AoE cleave and evade.

Soulbeast I play longbow and greatsword. Both are high power weapons and simple to use. Ranger longbow has the best range in the game, is fully mobile except for your number 5 power, and hits pretty hard. Greatsword is a nice mix of damage and utility. It has a high damage aoe on a short cooldown, a block, and gap closer/opened, and a stun.

I’d say these two would fit what you are looking for well.

First, thanks for those build suggestions for Daredevil/Thief! I'll try them out myself :)

@"samnafea.5416" said:

Here's what you need to know about me:

1. I have just purchased HoT and PoT expansions.
2. I still have no clue about PvE, WvW, Fractals... etc. (I don't even know what they mean)
3. I don't really have that much experience in MMOs but I know most of the basics....
4. I prefer a Profession that I can "easily" learn without having to go through so many guides.
5. I prefer a Profession where the skills are straightforward.

Based on these, I would suggest Druid/Ranger, but:

4. I prefer ranged play-style.
5. I don't do pets or turrets.
6. I absolutely despise playing a supporting rule.

As mentioned above, no class is entirely ranged (not even Ranger), but yes, true, some classes are "more melee" than others, and some classes are better "kiters" than others. When you go alone, you usually want some ranged tools no matter of the class, but at the same time you also want melee tools.

BUT: As your pet usually takes the mob(s), you have a privilege to stay ranged in open world PvE. I think this same holds true for "minion-mancers" (and mesmer clones). In groups, sorry, staying entirely ranged is usually not recommended for many reasons.

Anything but a Mesmer or a Necromancer. We don't need any more of those. >:(