A profession that you can play a lot of different ways

[Pegtz.2395]

Hello,I'm kinda new but I've already tried a lot of profession in the PvP lobby.I like necro, warrior, and thief but I didn't tried a lot of build.

I'm looking for a profession that can be played different ways and feel different in therms of gameplay. For example a build with strong aoe, for wvw or PvP, power, condi, support, one target...

I'm taking any advice !

[Revolution.5409]

Necro with its specialization Scourge offers a strong aoe, is among the most used classes in wvw and pvp, the build is based on conditions and offers support through barriers

[FyzE.3472]

Guardians, Engineers and I would say Elementalists are very versatile. You have an answer for, pretty much, every situation. Elementalists and Guardians have fewer "viable" build in pvp though. Pretty sure mesmer can do it all and viable everywhere (I don't play one)

[Nath Forge Tempete.1645]

Among these 3 classes necro and warrior have more versatility.

Necro can go support with scourge in pve mostly or full condi dmg in pvp and wvw or even hybrid with some celestial stats. (with scourge as well)Or the power build with reaper in open world pve and pvp. (could work a bit in wvw but not that great nor usefull)

Warrior used to go condi berzerker before the last patch ... dunno now tbh. Power berzerker and spellbreaker is fine for openworldWVW it's more tanky version of spellbreaker but it's really usefull.

Thief is way harder and has less build "diversity"... different builds for the same role.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

I've found Guardians have the most versatility. You've got:

DPS GuardDPS DragonhunterBoon FirebrandHealing FirebrandCondi Firebrand

Those are just standard builds. There's more personal builds, too.

[Auburner.6945]

In terms of build versatility while still hanging onto meta, I would say Guardian is the best class at the moment, almost all of its options are meta in at least one mode.

In terms of "one build to rule them all" then the best bet is Warrior. You can have the same build and run as a banner warrior (buffer) in PvE (though you might need to have a 2nd condition damage build), and using the same gear with little tweaks you can run into WvW (only need to switch utility skills, and maybe trait lines), and in PvP, it doesn't matter as of the amulet system.

Necro is also good as it can dish out damage while still placing up some barriers for their allies as a Scourge, it also rules WvW with its duo Firebrand, whether a small or a large scale fight, and it's currently meta in PvP, being one of the best team fighters... also with Firebrand. In PvE, it falls a bit as a good amount of players lean towards SC website for comps, which are made for fast clears, so you might find a tough time finding a squad in raids/fractals, but it's a hard carry support... the hardest carry.

Engineers and Elementalists also have many builds (I can only speak of elementalist). On elementalist, each weapon set has many possible gear placements, trait lines, utilities and playstyles. This might sound ok in terms of changing the pace, but not always. The reason is how your inventory will suffer when playing as an elementalist (I am still working on legendary armor), I have over 7-8 different full gear sets/weapons, same for trinkets, each of them for a specific weapon when running a specific trait line, also the ability to theory craft builds on elementalist exists to a quite high level. The only problem for elementalist, even with such possibility for versatility, all of the builds are lacking and fall off of meta with respect to most/other classes. On elementalist, you can play as a DPS in PvE (but it's no longer big deeps, lower than most actually), or you can play as a healer/boon support. In PvP/WvW, the most known builds are bunker weaver in PvP/WvW, and backline DPS using staff on weaver... support midline in WvW is seeing the line but Scrapper is better as a secondary support. However, as I sid, the theory craft on elementalist is quite high... mainly in WvW as a roamer.

Mesmer is also a good option, but here's a thing... avoid playing support Chrono in PvE at all costs... like never... just don't. The class could be played as a support in PvE, after the nerfs and changes, it's mostly a boon bot that extends boons provided by other classes while still dishing out few but strong ones... it can also be played as a Power DPS (not so popular), or as a Condi DPS for condi bosses. In WvW, you can play one shot builds on either Chrono/Mirage, you can also play bunker Chrono, or Condi Mirage. In PvP, Chrono bunker, or Condi Mirage (though I haven't seen Condi Mirage as often as I used to before the nerfs.)

[InsaneQR.7412]

Well revenant.It is basically the jack of all traits.You can go glass, tank, boon support, healer, condition dmg and everything in between.For alla specs there are good to great builds to try out and some are even meta.Most of this applies to PvE though.

[otto.5684]

None lol. Warrior is only power using GS and off hand shield in every build. Necro scourge and reaper are different, but it is just 2 builds. Ironically here, thief has the most PvP flexibility, but it is still mostly power. But it is one playstyle in the end of the day.

And this goes down for all classes. For a new player my recommendation would be warrior.

[Shroud.2307]

Necromancer, Engineer and Revenant all have builds or elite specs available that greatly alter the way they're played.

I'll use Engineer as an example since it probably changes the most drastically between specializations:Core Engineer only has ranged weapons. Pistols and Rifle. It also has kits which when used, will replace your weapon skills. This is why Engineer can only equip one weapon at a time instead of two. Because with kits, it can essentially have up to 6 sets of "weapons."Now, if you become a Holosmith, you're granted access to Photon Forge. This is a temporary transformation that allows you to use both melee and ranged skills with significant effects. It also comes with the option to equip a sword, a melee weapon, and "Exceeds", which are light based attacks or defensive skills.

Other professions like Warrior for example, are roughly the same, or at least similar, between builds and elite specs. They may become more passive or aggressive depending on what's being played, but essentially it will still feel like the same profession.