norn&sylvari class advice

[Lynx.9058]

I'll preface by saying I mostly do solo open world content, I rarely do fractals/raids and I generally actively avoid pvp.

 

So I currently have 6 characters:

Charr male engineer/scrapper

Charr female ranger/soulbeast

Asura female elementalist/weaver

Asura female engineer/mechanist (in waiting)

Human male necromancer/reaper

Human female guardian/firebrand

 

With the discount they had yesterday on slot unlocks I picked up two for a norn and sylvari since I have neither yet.   Problem is, I don't know what to make them.  I don't yet have a warrior, revenant, mesmer, or thief, so I'd prefer to be one of those so I don't have more double classes, but at the same time the reason I don't have those is because they don't particularly appeal to me.

 

Mesmer has always been a hard class for me to get into.  It doesn't seem to be an analogue for any other mmo class I've played, the clones/ illusions/phantasms are confusing and I'm not particularly fond of the color scheme.  Virtuoso looked pretty good during beta but I didn't test it much and now I'm hearing a lot of negative stuff about it in the mesmer forum.

 

Warrior just seems boring to me, but that's been the case in almost every rpg I've played.  Never been really interested in the big dumb brute that just swings the biggest weapon he can find, and generally warrior type classes aren't great at soloing pve content due to lack of self sustain, though I don't know if that's the case here.

 

I do like some of what thief brings to the table, though I'm not too sure about the new spec and daredevil/sharpshooter never seemed particularly interesting to me, at least not for these two race themes.  Seems like sharpshooter would better fit Asura, Charr, or humans due to the technology use, rather than nature oriented sylvari or norn.

 

And then there's revenant.  Legendary centaur seems like it would mesh up well with sylvari, and being protectors of the mists/spirits seems on point for norn, but other than that the class just doesn't feel very interesting to me.

 

Any advice?

[Loboling.5293]

I'd say that Norn would make a good Revenant, and Sylvari a good thief. The norn has a connection to ancient spirits and talks with nature spirits already. The sylvari have great camouflage, so they can sneak around better. I think Char makes the best warrior, but Asura is funny if you're into that concept of a tiny thing knocking heads around.  

[Infusion.7149]

I would make a sylvari mesmer. I'm a bit biased about this though as I have had one since prelaunch.

Mesmer is actually an easy solo class, the second one would be revenant. If you play axe mirage or staff mirage you basically can dodge with no damage loss and deal with difficult bosses with ease. Due to the way confusion works, it absolutely shreds anything without a breakbar. Inspiration chrono is used for tanking in raids due to blocks and distortion, that's how robust it is and sword does high amounts of power-based autoattack damage to deal with structures in core tyria. If you have to deal with achievements that require avoiding attacks or have a timer, this is the way to go. The one place it suffers is many (10+) trash mobs due to the way clones work and Virtuoso will address this with the blade mechanic as well as dagger's bladecall which hits 5 targets. Most if not all complaints about virtuoso are in terms of competitive play due to blades being projectile. As the streamer Mukluk says, "the reason I don't play a mesmer is because it feels like cheating" 😃

If you're solo you more or less will not use centaur stance whatsoever on revenant since it does no damage. Instead the two main archetypes are power swords (with high sustain from Battle scars) with Shiro/Kalla , Shiro/Glint, or Shiro/Jalis and condi which can make use of tormenting runes and Mallyx/Kalla. Anything that does nonlethal damage can be handled by renegade with ease and cleave is more than fine if you use Icerazor's Ire and Citadel Bombardment. Anything with breakbars more or less will not have one if you play renegade due to staff CC and Darkrazor's Daring. Cleave of trash mobs will further improve with Vindicator which cleaves 5 with greatsword but Vindicator isn't slated to be more powerful for soloing bosses for example.

Thief would only be considered an easy solo class if you plan on using Invigorating Precision really as it relies on evades. It might become easier with specter but then if you're solo/openworld power is generally better except for boss fights. Bosses can be dispatched with condi deadeye or rifle deadeye. However if you mainly want to map complete core tyria for example thief is one of the best classes for that due to mobility and no skill cooldowns on weapon skills.

I'd advise against warrior for solo play as it is relatively monotonous due to only having F1 burst it is linear in gameplay and there isn't an effective ranged option to deal with "phase shifted" bosses. If you get a boss that can one shot you there's not much you can do other than endure pain or block with shield or mace while doing no damage.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Infusion.7149

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Warrior can't solo PvE content? News to me, I solo'd the whole story on mine, even DRM CMs. Warrior can get very high sustain in PvE if you're want it.

 

Norn, I'd say go heavy. Berserker would be a good fit, rev is a good choice as well.

Sylvari would be good as a ranger, but anything would work.

[mungozen.2379]

11 hours ago, Lynx.9058 said:

I don't yet have a warrior, revenant, mesmer, or thief, so I'd prefer to be one of those so I don't have more double classes, but at the same time the reason I don't have those is because they don't particularly appeal to me.

Warrior - Any race can work from RP or Aesthetic.  Norn is an easy fit with what you are working with.  Personally I found Warrior boring as well (although I have completed the full story through Champions on one).  I doubt I will play warrior again however.

Revenant - Charr as a nod to Rytlock, Norn or Human would be my suggestion.  Asura and Sylvari don't strike me as connected to the mist as the others.  Another profession I have tried many times to enjoy, but, couldn't.

Mesmer - Sylvari, Human or Norn come to mind first.  This is probably the best profession in the game if you ignore the complaints in the Mesmer forums.  Okay so they have been nerfed like, every year, and had radical changes but, they really are OP compared to everything else.  Yes they have a high skill ceiling, but, if you can manage a Weaver you can handle a Mesmer.

Thief - Sylvari, Human, Asura come to mind though any race could do.  I just don't see a Norn being stealthy, and yes, Charr = Cat = basically Ninja, but, these Charr are the least elegant of cats ever and they do like to smash things a lot.  Thief is a fine profession, not one I enjoy a lot but, only because there are others I prefer.

Another thing you might want to consider down the road is how many Characters you will want to make.  Will you go for all 9 Professions?  Will you have a mix of each weight class (Light, Medium, Heavy) in each Race?

If you can see into your future you may have a lot of combo's waiting for you to try out, something you may have overlooked.

[Lynx.9058]

Well for the norn I ended up going thief.  I got an interesting pirate motif going with a female norn using the new oriental faces, and after playing around in the pvp lobby I really like deadeye with dual pistols or pistol/sword/dagger.  Kind of have a head cannon going that she's only half norn, grew up among pirates, and is returning home to discover her origins.

 

Sylvari I'm still undecided on.  I may well go with mesmer but something about the class just doesn't jive well with me, I'm hoping virtuoso will be an improvement.  I like the theme of revenant but the playstyle just feels clunky and unrefined to me and I hate how limited the customization is with preset utilities for each legend.  Warrior is still feeling like a no go tbh.

[Infusion.7149]

Well if you need some inspiration (no mesmer puns intended)...

Cairn, a raid boss solo

98CM challenge mode fractal, solo

Arah P2, solo

 

[Buran.3796]

   Classes which fits well Norns are Warrior, Ranger, Necro and Revenant. Norns are individualistic and tied to earth, so the nature themes on the Rangers go well with them, and Revenants due the links with the spiritual world. Necro is a good choice for a Norn corrupted by Jormag, in terms of lore. Warrior fits well, but do even better with Charr due they have firearms and war machines.

   Classes which go well with Silvari are Ranger, Revenant and maybe Necro. Warrior and Thief fits them well in personality but as with the Norns, using fire arms is a thing which seems closer to a Charr, Humar or Asura.

   Given your choices, I would go Revenant with a Silvari: is the newest class, with the newest race, can invoke Ventari (creator of the Silvari) and the promotional art of Revs includes tons of Silvaris. For the Norn, Warrior seems ok.

   Both races are the least evolved in terms of technology and are more nomadic in terms of culture, so I wouldn't pick for them things as Engineer, Elementalist or Guardian, that's for sure (but I made that mistake, which I regret).

[Lynx.9058]

Thanks for the input guys.  I ended up going with a pirate-themed norn thief and a sylvari mesmer.

https://imgur.com/a/AogHixB

Edited December 28, 2021 by Lynx.9058

[draxynnic.3719]

15 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

 

   Both races are the least evolved in terms of technology and are more nomadic in terms of culture, so I wouldn't pick for them things as Engineer, Elementalist or Guardian, that's for sure (but I made that mistake, which I regret).

It's a little redundant where the OP is concerned, but elementalist, guardian, and mesmer are absolutely suitable for sylvari. Sylvari may be relatively young as a race, but have a high number of spellcasters, with one of the generic warden types being earth elementalists. If I recall correctly, there are also quite a few mesmer and even guardian NPCs.

 

The professions that seem to be rare among sylvari are warrior (there's a discussion in Brisban Wildlands which implies it's an unusual choice, and sylvari military personnel tend to be rangers or thieves - although warriors seem to be more common in the Nightmare Court), engineer (Scarlet is an exception while most sylvari prefer magic and/or botany to machinery) and necromancer (Trahearne and Killeen are both said to be exceptions and, again, they're more common in the Nightmare Court). Guardians aren't really common anywhere, but with multiple guardian NPCs, sylvari are probably the race that has adopted guardian the most behind humans.

[ASP.8093]

Female Sylvari animations are great for a thief or mesmer. There's a particular lightness in your step that can be interpreted either as friendly-playful or "i'm going to kill you" playful that really works well with high mobility / trickster type classes imo.