Fishing for ideas for a fifth Asura character

Right now, I have these four girls and guys (I like to imagine a backstory for each character, you can skip if you're not into RP)

I want to create an Asura, since that's the only race I'm "missing", but I have no idea what class to pick. I don't want any "duplicates", i.e. same class characters. I'm a bit of a lore/RP nerd and all of my characters "make sense" to me from that perspective. I find it hard to imagine an Asuran character that would make sense in that regard... I thought of creating an Asuran Ranger (a weird combination if I ever heard one), but I'm not sold on it.

Sylvari Necromancer, Scourge condi build, great fun, love her, my first character, one of my "mains", Durmand PrioryHuman Elementalist, Weaver power build, my other/current "main" (I bounce between her and my Necro), Durmand PrioryCharr Engineer, Holosmith power (still need a few skills to complete meta build), VigilNorn Warrior, core power/banner build, Order of Whispers

Any ideas are welcome :)

An Asura Ranger can work if you look at it more as a zoologist.

There is a pretty prominent asuran thief in the personal story.

@Fluffball.8307 said:There is a pretty prominent asuran thief in the personal story.

From what I remember of the Asura personal story Thief makes quite a bit of sense, especially given the remaining options.

IIRC there is a named asuran ranger with a pet raptor in the Pact as well. I know Anet has made it pretty clear all races can be everything, just trying to give some inspiration.

Mesmer could work as well, being intellectual superior to other, confuse them etc.In the biogaphy i would probaply choose Synergetics, Infinity Ball and Zinga and play him as a chronmancer. Order could be Durmand Priory or Order of Whisper.

I think all asura are mesmer secondaries, with their "technobabble". :p

@"Fluffball.8307" said:I think all asura are mesmer secondaries, with their "technobabble". :p

Excellent point ?

Thanks for the responses guys. Right now I'm leaning towards Ranger simply because it's a class I'm intrigued by and one of my friends plays a Ranger - it looks really fun and fairly straightforward. I always found mesmers confusing (ironically) since I'm not sure what they're supposed to be, but I always saw it as a versatile class because (despite?) of it. Ughh, why are there always two things to choose between in life?! :D

Thief makes sense I agree but I never got thiefs or thief-like classes (like OG D&D thiefs, rogues etc.), so I think that one's crossed off.

I know this is a matter of perspective and opinion, but which would be considered the more versatile class, Ranger or Mesmer? I play mostly fractals and open world, nothing too hardcore.

Rangers and mesmers are both pretty good at support and DPS. Either one would be welcomed.

An Asuran ranger is to me one of the most counter-intuitive matches you could make, which makes it kind of cool. From a RP point of view, I could see it only if he was some kind of outcast, more interested in getting back to nature than in Asuran tech.

@Biff.5312 said:An Asuran ranger is to me one of the most counter-intuitive matches you could make, which makes it kind of cool. From a RP point of view, I could see it only if he was some kind of outcast, more interested in getting back to nature than in Asuran tech.

Ranger's are not necessarily Luddites; it's a pet class first and foremost.

If it weren't for the fact that you can't have golems as pets, ranger would make the most sense for an asura because many of them are golemancers by profession. If you wanted to have a super roleplay-ey backstory, you could imagine a golemancer had a golem he was particularly close to 'die', and the asura found comfort in training an animal to do similar things. Another golem would remind him too painfully of his lost friend.

Rangers make excellent healers (with Druid spec) as well as having the ability to do very decent DPS. If you're more of a solo player rather than group content then Ranger is definitely an easier class, in my opinion. Mesmer is a harder class to play for solo content but has the ability to go DPS, support (with alacrity), or full tank in group content settings. Both have good options for PvP settings as well. Which one is most versatile really does depend on the sort of content you're looking to play with them.

I love to play asura golemancers. Works well with any class really, though my personal favourite is the mesmer. Give them a complete set of golemancer runes (the ones from the Crucible of Eternity), the racial golem elite skill, and a golem backpack and mini thrown in for good measure, and you've got your personal army with you in the shape of multiple asura (clones) and golems ;) . Be prepared to annoy people in dungeons and fractals though, as especially the inquest golem (the one summoned by the runes) does have a mind of its own :D .

Disclaimer: asura golemancer of any class is not recommended for any kind of "serious" gamer that prefers to min-max, but awesome fun for everybody else

@mythheart.7086 said:Rangers make excellent healers (with Druid spec) as well as having the ability to do very decent DPS. If you're more of a solo player rather than group content then Ranger is definitely an easier class, in my opinion.

I mostly play alone with some group content (mostly pugs or fractals with friends, wanna raid at some point with guild) thrown in, so that sounds perfect.

I tried a Ranger with the lvl 80 boost and I liked it a lot, I like having minions with Necro for open world and playing alone so I'm used to the idea, and pets are similar in that regard, so I felt right at home. What I always found overwhelming in classes like the Ranger is the sheer amount of skills available via the multitude of weapons you can wield, but that's why I prefer to level characters the old fashioned way (I didn't consume the boost), so I can actually learn how the class works by getting traits one by one, swapping them before I get the next set, etc.

@Biff.5312 said:An Asuran ranger is to me one of the most counter-intuitive matches you could make, which makes it kind of cool. From a RP point of view, I could see it only if he was some kind of outcast, more interested in getting back to nature than in Asuran tech.

@Fluffball.8307 said:If you wanted to have a super roleplay-ey backstory, you could imagine a golemancer had a golem he was particularly close to 'die', and the asura found comfort in training an animal to do similar things. Another golem would remind him too painfully of his lost friend.

What I came up with was actually among those lines. My Ranger is not the brightest of Asuras, so he's weary of everyone judging him on his ability to understand and operate tech and turned back to studying nature in a more direct, primal sense. The only reason the College of Synergetics let him stick around is because he provides very thought-provoking ideas about balance to his fellow students (like being intrinsically against killing dragons, but supporting the Pact anyway, hoping it might turn out well in the greater scheme of things), because he has very strong intuition that is rarely wrong - he had been telling the Council for years that there's an ancient creature lurking in the Heart of Maguuma, but no one took him seriously.

Thanks to everyone for the inspiration and ideas, now I actually have a character I'm comfortable with!