Help Picking A Main Profession

[Nine.7210]

(Removed / Redacted)

Edited July 14, 2022 by Nine.7210

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

Ranger and Revenant fit the bill.
Both of them got bit of that assassin playstyle you like while also having access to good support skillset.

Ranger's weapons are generally fast, responsive and fluid, he also has access to some stealth and traps, making ambush playstyle a very real option. On supportive side of things he has a dedicated healer spec (druid), some good (but not amazing) boonshare and most of all his pet, which can be ordered to do few useful things. Such as

1. taking portion of damage you two would receive onto itself for a short while.

2. Taunting enemies near it.

3. Generally tanking.

4. Or dragging your downed, bleeding wifey through dirt to your feet and ressing her while you focus on what's important - dealing damage. Your wife will be soon up and about after few seconds of vigorous licking from a smelly, rabid, unvaccinated beast 🙂

Revenant has top tier support options and more ways to heal than decency permits (Ventari, Glint, Kalla, and soon Viktor). His boon support is top notch as is his tankyness if he needs it. The assassin dream is realized with shiro and power herald playstyle - fast, intrepid but no stealth. Rev does not deal in that.

There is however no pet  (nor a companion of any kind). At best you yell at your wife to "Sic'em" and hope she'll start running faster and do more damage with her teeth and claws..
Ranger's support is weaker than revenant, but there is the key aspect of having a pet that can do wholly different things than yourself without affecting your build and stats...

In high end game pve content Rev is meta , Ranger is not...for now.
We've yet to see what new ranger elite will bring, cause revenant's doesn't look like a meta-shaking design.

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by ZeftheWicked.3076

[Panda.1967]

You actually can test elites out at any level… though it’s not the most effective method of testing, it does still work and gives you a rough idea of the specs capabilities and how it plays…

Simply open the SPvP menu and head to the mists lobby. While there you can test out elite specializations in the training grounds on the surrounding islands. There are stationary target dummies as well as training NPCs of each class that you can test things out on.

[Nine.7210]

Thanks so much for the replies you two. I'll definitely check out these two classes and load into the mists lobby to see how they feel. I was just watching the reveal stream with the Vindicator and was pretty excited about the "hybrid" role which is something I've heard mentioned quite a bit with Revs in general and their elites. 

[Touchme.1097]

I would definitely advice you to pick Ranger as it can Heal as Druid, which is always in high demand in PvE, and it can also be played as assassin.

It pairs well with Engineer as it provides spotter, might and spirits. Bear Ranger can also solo bounties and Hero Challenge champions.

[Buran.3796]

  I agree with Zef; Rangers are very good roamers with access to stealth and great mobility tools which can perform very well as sneaky killers in both strike and condition builds, and the Druid spec opens the door to a very good support role.

   In the future, Thieves could maybe get a support spec and Guardians will get a more "killler" build from the Willbender spec, but is hard to judge to how much extent would those fit both roles.

   In terms of testing classes at early levels, PvP arenas are the perfect field: no requirements, normalized stats...  But be aware that stats, runes, consumables and sigil combinations are way more powerful in PvE/WvW than in PvP, so the experience will vary.