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Q: About Tank/Healing role in GW2, did Elite specs put more focus into these?


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Hi,I started playing GW2 not long after release. Being used to Tank/Heal/DPS (WoW for example), I never dared to join a dungeon group thinking I'd cause non stop wipes.In every WoW (or other MMO) dungeon I loved to be a healer, and later being a tank in these same dungeons because I got used to what was coming (and know how to put less pressure on healer while I tanked).

Unfortunately for me GW2 is different when it comes to roles in dungeons. It makes me insecure. In WoW I was fully dedicated to heal, or keep aggro. Same for my gear, my skills, dedicated to my role.

Now HoT/PoF brought Elite specs to GW2. Does that mean there is more room to focus on a role?

And some other related questions:

  • Does it make me an idiot to show up in healer spec in a pug dungeon (no fractal yet)?
  • In case of playing dungeons: Is berserker gear still the safe way to play, even as healer? I'd prefer to focus on heal(/tank) specs but I have no idea how it works in GW2.
  • Which profession+(elite) spec combinations are considered decent heal/tank roles? I see a ranger can now get healing skills by being a druid. I'm very interested into anything healer.
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First of all, I am going to assume we only are speaking PvE here:

Several things have changed with HoT/PoF, part of it is certainly the appearance of more support oriented specs. Mainly in the shape of druid (ranger heal spec) and chrono (mesmer tank spec). But it is just as much the content that have changed. To understand the kind of change and what it mean, we need to start by taking a small look at what "define" the 5 different kinds of PvE content. Open world content, Dungeons, low lvl fractals, high lvl fractals and lastly raids.

Open world: Any thing have always worked here and still do. So builds work better in groups and some will take alot longer to kill stuff if running alone but ultimately, you can make anything work.

Dungeons: These are often about short bursty fights, where a boss will die fast, but at the same time will hit you really really hard. This mean that the best defence often is to hit first and hit hard = glass builds therefore generally work best here. Heal are less needed as you either dodge/blind/block (and dont get hit) or you die and therefore cant get healed. Mobs here do not agro on a tank, so tanking is also not an option. The best builds are therefore berserker with ACTIVE defences, blind and blocks/reflects are king in dungeons, and it is therefore not strange that guardian (reflect/block), mesmer (reflect/cc) and thief (blind) both was and still is the best "support" classes for this kind of content. Naturally all still going full glass so they also can do dmg.

Low lvl fractals: More or less the same as dungeons. with the small difference that mobs barely hurt, so you can go healer here np, and it will just make the run abit slower.

High lvl fractals: Here is really depends on how good you (and your team) are. Mobs still dont hurt that bad (not like back in the max lvl 50 fractal days, where normal mobs 2 hit you on lvl 50). But they do hurt more then in low lvl fracs, and they are also more tanky. So for 95% of the groups running T4 fracs, having a healer allow for mistakes to be made while still clearing pretty fast. A tank on the other hand is not really needed as mobs in fracs dont agro on thoughness (generally atlest).

Raids: This is the content where healers and tanks mainly come to their right, this is mainly due to 2 aspects, firstly that the fights are alot longer due to the boss having alot more hp so the option to simply burst the boss down do not exist. At the same time the damage from the bosses are generally minor, but still enough that a healer (or 2) is needed and can often negate small mistakes that the group will make. For the tank role, bosses in raids often (but not always) go for the players with the highest thoughness and this also help with redusing the damage that the rest of the group take.

The role as tank generally falling to the chrono is not becouse no other class CAN tank, but more due to the fact that chronos in their meta build NEED to have some thoughness and therefore often just "end up" with the tank role due to this. The main role of the chrono is however not as tank, but as buffer.

Small addition, other healers that druid also work, but most groups will bring 1 druid as they can both heal and bring alot of group buffs at the same time. If a group use 2 healers however, then healer nr. 2 can often (and with benefit) be another class like herald/revenent healer, tempest healer or firebrand healer.

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@Grampybone.3716 said:Hi,I started playing GW2 not long after release. Being used to Tank/Heal/DPS (WoW for example), I never dared to join a dungeon group thinking I'd cause non stop wipes.In every WoW (or other MMO) dungeon I loved to be a healer, and later being a tank in these same dungeons because I got used to what was coming (and know how to put less pressure on healer while I tanked).

Unfortunately for me GW2 is different when it comes to roles in dungeons. It makes me insecure. In WoW I was fully dedicated to heal, or keep aggro. Same for my gear, my skills, dedicated to my role.

Now HoT/PoF brought Elite specs to GW2. Does that mean there is more room to focus on a role?

And some other related questions:

  • Does it make me an idiot to show up in healer spec in a pug dungeon (no fractal yet)?nobody will care what spec you bring in dungeons, especs and the lack of updates to them just made them so much easier
  • In case of playing dungeons: Is berserker gear still the safe way to play, even as healer? I'd prefer to focus on heal(/tank) specs but I have no idea how it works in GW2.There is no tank in gw2, there are agro mechanics, but those only exist in raids. You can go healer if you want to, barely anyone will care, but you can't out heal a mob killing your group unless your group does alot of damage. Pug's damage is, on average, very low.
  • Which profession+(elite) spec combinations are considered decent heal/tank roles? I see a ranger can now get healing skills by being a druid. I'm very interested into anything healer.If you want to heal in dungeons:ele tempestranger druidmesmer chronoengirevenant heraldguardian firebrandnecro scourge for barriers/rez
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Thanks for your detailed explanation! I think I'll stick to world events instead of doing any instances. Raids are too chaotic for me (to join as a healer) and glass cannon builds were never my favourites. There's plenty world boss, legendary/champion events to do in the world, or bounties, I can focus on a (tank/)heal build there without hurting the group :)

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@Sigfodr.9576 said:Open world: Any thing have always worked here and still do. So builds work better in groups and some will take alot longer to kill stuff if running alone but ultimately, you can make anything work.

That is true but has it's limits. For example people who show up at Serpent's Ire without bringing any CC hurt more than they help. There are also various events with time limits.

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