Need Advice

So I know with GW2 that any class can provide any roles in a given situation. There is no "healer class" and there is no "dps class" and there is no "tank class" in GW2. I also understand that certain classes perform better for different roles than other classes do (last I played the game on a regular basis Mesmer was the go-to tank for everything while ranger was the go-to for healers). I've looked on Snow Crows and on MetaBattle for help but all it lists are builds without giving suggestions or advice on what the class is better at doing. Essentially I'm looking to level my Revenant up now and although I've been told that while leveling you should do mace/axe with hammer for weapons & go full power while leveling up, there's been no advice on what would be helpful once I hit 80 and start running harder stuff than world quests & solo stuff. So I turn to you guys here for help. Is there anywhere I can go to find out what each class excels at (healer/mdps/rdps/tank) and which of the builds (power/condi/etc) are best for those things? While I'm asking here predominately for the revenant, I have other classes I'd like to level up and read up about too.

As you have stated there are no set in stone DPS, healer, tank classes per say. Most classes have weapon sets and trait lines that focus in one area or another. In the case of the Revenant, sword main hand and off-hand, hammer, and staff are power weapons, while mace, axe, and short-bow are more condition focused. Shield is purely a support weapon, while staff also provides a healing as well.

As for your specializations;

• Corruption focuses on conditions and pairs well with the Mallyx (Demon) legend.
• Devastation is your raw power DPS line and pairs with Shiro (Assassin).
• Retribution focuses on survivability through retaliation, protection, and stability, and pairs with Jalis (Dwarf).
• Salvation is your healing line and is linked to Ventari (Centaur).
• Herald is party boon support and goes with Glint (Dragon).
• Renegade is a bit of a mix of support, condition damage and improves your short-bow abilities etc. and goes with Kalla (Renegade).
• Invocation is sort of the class feature line and revolves around fury and generating effects on legend switching, and helps with energy management.

The above is only a rough guide, there is nothing stopping you from using legends without investing in their associated trait lines or using weapon sets that break these associations either.

On top of this you can then get into gear stat selection but that is another potentially very lengthy discussion in its own right.

What this really boils down to is choosing what role you want to do and using your class abilities to shape your build to support that role. Granted you may not be the meta or objectively the first/best choice for that role in any given encounter. But ultimately, playing the role well on an arguably sub-optimal class will perform better than (or at least as well as) a poorly played and equipped meta class - provided of course that you plan your build carefully and select appropriate equipment to go with it.

On a final note - use whatever you like when levelling, I would even encourage you to use unusual build or weapon combinations to try them out before you commit the time and resources to end-game gear later on. The only place where there is an argument for your role and build really mattering is raids, and even then the more experienced you and your group are, the less it matters, unless you're going for optimal speed-runs or the like.

I would suggest Youtube. There are plenty of tutorial videos that explain all of this better than what you'd get from the forums. You'll be able to find tips for playing most professions in their various roles.

@"Dace.8173" said:I would suggest Youtube. There are plenty of tutorial videos that explain all of this better than what you'd get from the forums. You'll be able to find tips for playing most professions in their various roles.

I know it probably wasn't intentional, but on the back of my rambling post it kinda sounds like my (I think modestly well informed) opinion is being discredited here :astonished:

I would however second this comment, there are some great places off of the forums to get any information you need on every class and how to play them well. A quick google for "Guild Wars 2 [insert class name] guide" will turn up multiple useful results.