Ranger , Engineer or Revenant

Hi everyone,I'm returning after 2-3 years absence from this game.I've never actually got too far with any of my chars ( 20ish ) .I've never played HoT or PoF, but i took the opportunity to buy both expansions thanks to 50% discount .

Most of the times I'm going to play PvP but of course i'll be playing PvE also, lets say around 75-80% PvP and 25-20% PvE.

I know alot have changed with the introduction of 2 elite specializations in each class.So here i am asking you some advice about this 3 classes.

• What are cons and pros
• How well they perform either PvP or Pve
• How well this classes perform as a Support
• Do they struggle in a specific Game Mode , etc...

• Are any of those a "one-trick poney" (where they only have one build viable for each game mode).

  Whatever you feel is relevant.

Best Regards,

I can not speak for Revenant or Engineer, but I can speak for ranger so I’ll do so.

1) Most ranger builds are very good at roaming and contesting far point because rangers are very elusive and are kinda bruisers too. However the ranger class has 0 way to deal with an opponents boons, and has very limited access to support without specifically aiming to bring it. Which hurts their team fighting a little bit. Also, ranger as a whole has almost no stability, so they’re going to get rag dolled in team fights. Rampage as One helps with this, and if you’re a Soulbeast you’ve got Dolyak Stance, but that’s about it.

2) All 3 versions of ranger are very solid in every game mode, Druid has a stranglehold on the PvE meta until chrono finally dies, Soulbeast is currently one of the highest power and Condi DPS builds, and Core ranger is capable of pulling passable damage as well (not the best, but good enough to be able to do raids). PvP all 3 builds are still good, Soulbeast is currently one of the best meta builds, but Druid and even core ranger both are solid, granted core is the weakest of the 3 quite noticeably, but it’s at least playable and useable which is a plus.

3)if you are a Druid then your support is quite solid, and you can even go full support if you want to, but most people prefer to be a more bruisery side point bully version of Druid. Soulbeast provide some support through stance sharing, but it’s not really a focus of the build more of a side effect. And then core ranger provides pretty much 0 support unless you’re running a spirit, and at that point you should just be running a Druid build instead since they can actually get away with that if you know what you’re doing.

4&5) no, all 3 ranger flavors have multiple options in sPvP and PvE, maybe WvW too but I don’t really pay attention to that communities cries.

Main engineer here.

You'll be running Yolosmith regardless of what game mode you're in if you pick engineer. Scrapper's... eh. Core is underwhelming. Yolosmith is meta in everything though, and pretty good at it. There are combinations and tricks you'll need to learn to maximize it, but it's hard to be truly bad at Yolosmith.

Yolosmith can have plenty of variations in build design and still be just fine.

@Durzlla.6295 Thank you for taking time into giving an elaborated answer. Really appreciate it.One of the things i've noticed about Soulbeast in PvP is around 80% uses LB+GS while the remaining 20% uses LB + Sw/Wh or LB + Sw/axe .But in terms of Utility skills they basicly run the same skills. But maybe this is why they call META i think.

Regarding Druid, from what i've read on the forums they get outshined by Soulbeast even though they are Specializations for different purposes.Once again seems like 80% are running Soulbeast while the remaining 20%(maybe less) are playing Druid.And ppl dont favor Druid that much (at least from what i've read), is it due to the fact they are more a Support/bruiser kinda type ?On the other hand i've seen ppl hold their ground with Druid vs 2 or more.

Can i assume Druids are more a slow ramp class with plenty of survival ? Meaning they cant burst someone like DE, ME or SB but eventually ppl will die.

@Vagrant.7206Thank you for taking some of your time as well to answer my TLDR.From what i've read in the forums along with your answer, it kinda validates what i was thinking regarding that Engineer is basically Holosmith and thats it.Core and Scrapper really under perform , pushing you into the Holosmith spec...

Giving how versatile i thought engineer was due to Kits and whatnot i was hoping for more diversity.

When i've read about it, i really though scrapper was good only to find later on that it sucks big time compared to the other specs :(.

@bullseye.9573 said:@Vagrant.7206Thank you for taking some of your time as well to answer my TLDR.From what i've read in the forums along with your answer, it kinda validates what i was thinking regarding that Engineer is basically Holosmith and thats it.Core and Scrapper really under perform , pushing you into the Holosmith spec...

Giving how versatile i thought engineer was due to Kits and whatnot i was hoping for more diversity.

When i've read about it, i really though scrapper was good only to find later on that it sucks big time compared to the other specs :(.

Scrapper was good in the HoT days -- good bruiser overall. But with the scourge still being everpresent plus ranged menaces like deadeye and spike builds like mirage or holo... it simply doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. Its gyros die too quickly, and you really have to play like a god to do as well as holosmith can. I'd even argue holosmith can make a better bruiser than scrapper. Scrapper is ok for sidenoding or dueling, but it's not nearly as good as it once was.

And core in pvp is just... not fun. It's too antiquated, clearly designed for a meta that no longer exists.

revenant is the most overpowered class by far for a few months now and based on how many ppl are crying about rev being weak cause apparently it was weak 4 years ago, i seriously don't think anet will listen to proper feedback and do anything about it

the class is beyond outrageous right now but 75% of the ppl are living 1 year in the past and still begging for rev buffs when the amount of dmg it does is actually breaking the game

@incisorr.9502 said:revenant is the most overpowered class by far for a few months now and based on how many ppl are crying about rev being weak cause apparently it was weak 4 years ago, i seriously don't think anet will listen to proper feedback and do anything about it

the class is beyond outrageous right now but 75% of the ppl are living 1 year in the past and still begging for rev buffs when the amount of dmg it does is actually breaking the game

Someons got ganked lol.

Oh, that's so tough. They're all very good.

Ranger and engineer both have fairly viable dps and survival builds. There's the sic em sniper (soulbeast) and boonbeast (soulbeast) builds for ranger, and the standard holosmith and bunker scrapper builds for engineers. (I'm throwing scrapper in there just out of personal preference, since it's like my main, but there are a lot who would disagree about it's viability)

Revenant only really has the dps herald build, but it's still very good. I would say the overall easiest would be the boonbeast, and the most effective is probably holosmith, but they're all still pretty close.

I can't say much about pve though because I don't do much pve, but in my totally biased opinion, I'd choose engineer! :D

Holosmith, Soulbeast, and Herald are your go-to dueling professions with pretty godly single-target damage, especially the latter two.

Druid (ranger spec) is an alright support spec, somewhat overshadowed by Firebrand. Engineer doesn't really support these days.

@bullseye.9573 said:@Durzlla.6295 Thank you for taking time into giving an elaborated answer. Really appreciate it.One of the things i've noticed about Soulbeast in PvP is around 80% uses LB+GS while the remaining 20% uses LB + Sw/Wh or LB + Sw/axe .But in terms of Utility skills they basicly run the same skills. But maybe this is why they call META i think.

Regarding Druid, from what i've read on the forums they get outshined by Soulbeast even though they are Specializations for different purposes.Once again seems like 80% are running Soulbeast while the remaining 20%(maybe less) are playing Druid.And ppl dont favor Druid that much (at least from what i've read), is it due to the fact they are more a Support/bruiser kinda type ?On the other hand i've seen ppl hold their ground with Druid vs 2 or more.

Can i assume Druids are more a slow ramp class with plenty of survival ? Meaning they cant burst someone like DE, ME or SB but eventually ppl will die.

Soulbeast and core ranger also have a trapper build that lurks around through the dedicated trappers out there, it’s a solid build, it’s just not the most popular. I also know a few people run like Axe/axe and GS on SB and do well. But the most popular two builds (and probably also the easiest) are the LB/GS and the LB/Swh. And last I checked there’s two main variations for SB utilities, you can ether go stances, survival skills, or a mix of the two.

The main reason druid has lost favor is two fold, 1) the main Druid build has always been a bruisery side point fighter who would win fights by just slowly crushing the life out of the opponent. And 2) Druids self healing took a huge nerf a while back which made its side point bruiser style build less guaranteed.

The main thing with Druid is that its full support build is less widely popular than firebrand because a Druid is less effective on mid than firebrand because if you try and stand on point you’ll get rag dolled around due to a lack of stability and die faster. However, Druids have significantly greater mobility than firebrand and have access to stealth to clear the inevitable target you’ll get, so it still works, you just have to be more slippery and less juggernaught, and to abuse your mobility to go +1 fights instead of sitting on mid.

TLDR: you see way less Druids because they’re less of an immovable object support, and more of a slippery highly mobile support, and most rangers like playing the bruisery far point assulter role which Soulbeast is better at.

@Vagrant.7206 said:

@bullseye.9573 said:@Vagrant.7206Thank you for taking some of your time as well to answer my TLDR.From what i've read in the forums along with your answer, it kinda validates what i was thinking regarding that Engineer is basically Holosmith and thats it.Core and Scrapper really under perform , pushing you into the Holosmith spec...

Giving how versatile i thought engineer was due to Kits and whatnot i was hoping for more diversity.

When i've read about it, i really though scrapper was good only to find later on that it sucks big time compared to the other specs :(.

I am not a scrapper main by any means, but I was doing really well last season... or the season before... on a like bunker scrapper build my friend sent me. Didn’t seem to have issue with my gyros dying too quickly and had a ton of Condi conversion, so I actually enjoyed fighting scourges, i can see if I still have it on my engi alt when I get home if you want? It was doing well like mid-low plat.

@Durzlla.6295 said:

@Vagrant.7206 said:

@bullseye.9573 said:@Vagrant.7206Thank you for taking some of your time as well to answer my TLDR.From what i've read in the forums along with your answer, it kinda validates what i was thinking regarding that Engineer is basically Holosmith and thats it.Core and Scrapper really under perform , pushing you into the Holosmith spec...

Giving how versatile i thought engineer was due to Kits and whatnot i was hoping for more diversity.

When i've read about it, i really though scrapper was good only to find later on that it sucks big time compared to the other specs :(.

There are some build for scrapper that can do ok, but you still have to play at a level way above other players to do comparably well. Meanwhile, on my Yolosmith, I'm able to fill the same role as a scrapper, but have a much easier time doing it.

@Vagrant.7206 said:

@Durzlla.6295 said:

@Vagrant.7206 said:

@bullseye.9573 said:@Vagrant.7206Thank you for taking some of your time as well to answer my TLDR.From what i've read in the forums along with your answer, it kinda validates what i was thinking regarding that Engineer is basically Holosmith and thats it.Core and Scrapper really under perform , pushing you into the Holosmith spec...

Giving how versatile i thought engineer was due to Kits and whatnot i was hoping for more diversity.

When i've read about it, i really though scrapper was good only to find later on that it sucks big time compared to the other specs :(.

This! I don't main a holo, I have a holo Alt and with the exception of Deadeyes and Rangers (likely cuz i have no idea wtf I'm doing) I win fights that I typically wouldn't with ease.

Engineer: Holosmith is the go to, great AoE damage, AoE CC, fancy animations and alot of defensive stuff. Welcomed and strong/meta in PvP/Raids/Fracs and WvW Roaming. Holosmith is kinda a dumbed down version of the engineer and feels more like a fancy warrior than an engineer, its incredibly strong but lacks range and isnt welcome in WvW Raids due to being "egoistic" or something. (personally it works great in zergs but not needed in squads for the buffs/stab fluff)

Revenant: Good, not great in PvP/fracts (not as bad as some seem to think though). Great in WvW Zergs as power with hammer and as a condi dps in Raids. Except for raids you are pretty much locked into a powerbuild to be "viable". You are kind of forced to use staff/sword+sword as a power melee build, and staff/hammer as ranged powerdamage with pretty much the same traits all the time. Energysystem can be annoying at first, but it isnt harder than say.. holosmith heat meter.

Ranger: I feel like rangers got plenty of builds, but IMO they are kind of dull to play. A very simple kit with no twists and "tricks up the sleeves". Pet AI is terrible.But if you like longbows and greatswords (what is probably most commonly used) then its your profession. Few can remain strong with both melee and range, more often than not its X damage weapon / Y utility weapon. Rangers dps is kinda mediocre though in fracts/raids. Still good but nothing "special" and they lack AoE and stability.

Pretty detailed response incoming, so bear with me! Starting at the top!.> @"bullseye.9573" said:

• What are cons and pros
• How well they perform either PvP or Pve
• How well this classes perform as a Support
• Do they struggle in a specific Game Mode , etc...
• Are any of those a "one-trick poney" (where they only have one build viable for each game mode).

Engineer:Scrapper gets little love in PVP or PVE due to Holo doing most of its schtick but more effectively. The only real exceptions are for specialized builds like the hand-kiting build for Deimos in W4 of raids. Other than that it's outshined by Holosmith. On that note Holo is SO good in damage and sustain in any game mode, it's a solid pick for any circumstance when buily properly. Worth playing, jf a bit boring IMO. Core can doba little hit of both and I personally believe it fills a support role slightly better than thebother two specs, but it is always outclassed by other supports.

Ranger:Great in PVP and PVE, with all spec viable. Druiy is still arguably one of the best (if not THE best) support/healer in the game, while soulbeast is a power damage powerhouse. I've found core is good for tanking with an off-tank condition damage spec - I've cleared most wings with it and not bottom DPS'd. PVP excels at 1v1's or as a +1 to a side node fight. Bunker druid was nerfed thank god, but still viable there as well likely the most versatile of the classes on this list, even if it may not consistently top DPS in highend PVE.

Revenant:My personal favorite class. I love it to bits. Renegade has ridiculously easy condi rotation for Raids and fractals, and Shiro-Herald shines as a power damage source (assassin) in PVP. It has support potential, but this is greatly outshined by other supports (unless full commander's herald but eh...)... though an off-dps renegade can fill in boon gaps if your subsquad/team is lacking. That being said, rev is easily punished and requires good management of cooldowns, energy and positioning to be effective as a dps in PVE, but it's a niche pick in PVP regardless of how good you are. Helll of a lot of fun though, so there's that.

Hopefully these helped! Feel free to toss any questions my way if you have'em! And remember to have fun with whatever you choose to run with!

-wisty