What profession do you think has had the best/most consistent elite specs so far?

[gem.9038]

I haven't played ALL the elite specs. Only guardian's since that's my main profession. I was wondering what others considered to have the most consistent and best elite specs up till this point. I'm guessing Warrior? Or maybe Engineer? 

[Syvaris Laskaris.5247]

9 minutes ago, circuitnerd.5863 said:

I was wondering what others considered to have the most consistent and best elite specs up till this point. I'm guessing Warrior?

You've clearly never looked at the Warrior forum. 🤣

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

Interesting question 🙂 But what's the criteria to define the best? You mean the 3 as a whole and how they "complement" each other? Or the 3 separately? 

In any case, I play Ranger and I'm pretty happy with the 3 elite specs we have 🙂They each offer a new and interesting way of playing the profession while remaining true to its core theme; they all have some versatility to it which allows you to play the same elite spec in a slightly different way (e.g. Support Druid vs Condi Druid, Power Soulbeast vs Condi Soulbeast, Power Untamed vs Condi Untamed); and they all have very strong builds and a lot of potential - even if each elite spec only has 1 "meta" build for one specific game mode, I still think each and every one of them is strong enough to do well in any game mode, if one's not too worried about "meta". And they're all super fun to play (for me at least) 😄 

Edited April 15, 2022 by TheLadyOfTheRings.9148
forgot to add something

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

Not sure what you mean by "most consistent."  But, if we're judging on how good they are in a general sense, it is Guardian.  You're already playing the best profession. 

[Ashen.2907]

Necro. 

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

Thinking about other professions now, I agree that the Engineer has a pretty good set of elite specs, but this is just me and my personal taste.

I'll try to come up with some objective criteria so that I can compare all professions and their elites specs. I'll consider mainly:

(1) the concept and theme of the elite spec, if it's significantly different from the core profession (+1 point) or if it just feels like a core 2.0 version (0 points);

(2) its distinctiveness compared to that profession's elite specs, not just in terms of playstyle but also in terms of roles and whether it can add a different role to the table (+1 point) or not (0 points);

(3) if it's fun to play (+1 point) or not so much, and yes, this one is very subjective but I feel it's too important not to include in my "review";

 

I'll apply these to the professions I'm familiar with, which leaves Revenant, Necromancer, Elementalist, and Mesmer out. 

 

Warrior

Berserker: core 2.0 (0 points), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 2 points

Spellbreaker: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), a bit boring (0 points) -> 2 points

Bladesworn: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 3 points

My total for Warrior: 7 points

 

Guardian

Dragonhunter: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), boring (0 points) -> 2 points

Firebrand: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 3 points

Willbender: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), a bit boring (0 points) -> 2 points

My total for Guardian: 7 points

 

Engineer

Scrapper: core 2.0 (0 points), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 2 points

Holosmith: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 3 points

Mechanist: new concept (+1 point), not sure it adds a new role per se (0 point), fun (+1 point) -> 2 points

My total for Engineer: 7 points

 

Thief

Daredevil: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), boring (0 points) -> 2 points

Deadeye: new concept (+1 point), not sure here (0 points), fun (+1 point) -> 2 points

Specter: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 3 points

My total for Thief: 7 points

 

I'll do the same for Ranger and try my best to remain impartial 😛 

 

Ranger

Druid: new concept (+1 point), new role (+1 point), fun (+1 point) -> 3 points

Soulbeast: new concept (+1 point), not much of a new role? (0 points), fun (+1 point) -> 2 points

Untamed: new concept (+1 point), not much of a new role (0 points), fun (+1 point) -> 2 points

My total for Ranger: 7 points

 

Uau 😄 This wasn't that insightful after all, was it? All these professions have 7 points in total and I think it shows how I feel about them, in general they feel balanced in terms of elite specs. Curious to see what others have to say 🙂 

[Antycypator.9874]

Thief.

Every elite spec is like a new class, which gives you different way to have fun.
Core thief — generic backstabbing rogue.
Daredevil — melee ninja archetype, focused on acrobatics.
Deadeye — sniper, bounty hunter.
Specter — shadow mage, based on necro.
This is not a warrior, when regardless on spec, your playstyle is literally the same and the only difference between specs/core is a new weapon (not used of course), set of utility skills, and slight change to F skill (at least Bladesworn is something fresh).

[Nate.8146]

In terms of quality, I rarely see people complain about Guardian and it's fairly well balanced. There was a time when Dragon Hunter was ridiculed because it veered from the fantasy, but people seemed to warm up to it after awhile. Probably from the OP dmg their traps did.

 

In terms of fantasy, the Engineer has been consistent with its elite specs. Scrapper, Holosmith, and Mechanist actually fit the engineer theme very well. However, functionally engineers are still a kit based classed so these elite specs take a back seat to our core engineer kits. 9 years of using the same kits is pretty dull :)

 

In terms of coolness, Revenant. All of Revenant's legends are pretty awesome, both in lore and presentation.

 

If I would rate the worst for fun, I would probably give it to Ranger. Although Druid was quite interesting, I don't really feel any play style differences with Soulbeast, Untamed, and Core. They feel very samey and not particularly revitalizing compared to the uniqueness with other professions. Maybe tied with Warrior, but Warrior is kind of a cliche anyway.

[Math.5123]

I would say guardian and mesmer has been the most consistent as all specs see play. 

[Mortime.1359]

I'm pretty sure the answer to any of these threads is always necromancer.

[Scolix.4879]

Thief 

All three specs feel different and fun in their own way to play. 

My least favorite would be ranger i just can't get into playing a pet class i just hate the AI of the pet so much in any mmo ever. Same goes with mechanist when the AI works its tons of fun but sometimes the pet just goes on ape crap mode and starts attacking everything on site and i just hate the micromanaging the pet. 

Generally i dislike how every engineer build eventually falls into grenade/bomb kit and i wish developers would do something to other kits/skills so they would become more usefull.

 

[The Boz.2038]

7 hours ago, circuitnerd.5863 said:

I'm guessing Warrior? Or maybe Engineer? 

Of all the things you could have guessed... 

[Redfeather.6401]

Out of my characters, my revenant feels like I am maining them the most. I have not been disappointed in revenant's elite spec skills and usually use those skills so much I don't switch to core legends often.

[Dr Meta.3158]

I'm not exactly certain of what you're asking. If you're asking which class has consistently had a meta spec in each game mode. I would say Guardian, revenant (renegade was a late bloomer), engineer, ranger, thief, necromancer, elementalist, and mesmer. That leaves warrior out unfortunately mainly due to berserker.

[Tachenon.5270]

I'd have to go with Engineer, because it has the elites I've played/enjoyed the most -- Holosmith and Scrapper. Mechanist, though -- meh. I made a new character specifically to be a Mechanist but so far I'm just not feeling it. Ah, well. Two out of three ain't bad.

[ens.9854]

Yep engineer. Everything is good, it all plays well, fills a lot of metagame space. Bonus - also works in pvp and makes casual open world a breeze. Both condi specs and power for all but scrapper. Only downside is ultra-high level requires a lot of kit juggling.

 

Honorable mentions to necro/mesmer. Necro specs each have really strong presence (a great support, a great open world, a great... quickness bringer?) but often the gameplay boils down to the same monotony. Virtuoso has been very bad for mesmer. It is so easy to play and produce enormous DPS that the other specs lose some of their worth.

 

Warrior is low power and restrictive. Rev will always be 'subpar' damage-wise and bring the same general utility on every espec. Guardian is just firebrand + 2 "not firebrand" dps specs. Thief has great flavor for each espec but none of them produce a versatile build (and pvp/wvw is always a new style of disaster).  Ranger is a binary SLB damage or druid support choice. Only ele players can tell the difference between ele specs (I'm not an ele player).

 

 

[Fueki.4753]

In terms of most consistent and good, Necromancer is the unbeaten top of the bunch.

If it's only about most consistent, however, Warrior is the top. However, the most consistent part for Warrior is that Arenanet keeps making sure that the specializations (and Warrior itself) are bad with hardly anything special over the other professions.

Edited April 15, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[Bunny.9834]

Easy. Guardian. 

It has the most consistency in terms of roles, theme, versatility. 

Dragonhunter - DPS, range

Firebrand - King of support with boons. Has easy access to quickness and stability. 

Willbender - Has access to alacrity and DPS. 

 

[Buran.3796]

  Necro.

   Is not Thief due Daredevil totally eclipsed Deadeye outside roaming.

   Is not Guardian due DH had ups and downs, and is not clear if WB will be any better than a dps FB (before the dps nerfs).

   Is not Ranger due Untamed is less than stellar.

   Is not Ele due alll three specs seeems a lot the same, filling the "typical mele caster trope", lol.

   Mesmer had some consistent good specs, but nerfs ended making then to not always look great.

   Engineer is another solid choice for "best specs", but is not as "meta" as necro or eas easy to play in every game mode.

   Warrior is nopium.

   Revenant has two trash tier specs, and outside PvP and WvW roaming/zergs (at which Herald do well) you could just play Renegade in all game modes and forget about it has other specs (or core).

   So is Necro: all specs (and even core) are powerful and fill a role. Plenty of room to chose either go condi or power, ranged or mele, playing a single character or commanding an army of minions...

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Buran.3796

[Lily.1935]

16 hours ago, circuitnerd.5863 said:

I haven't played ALL the elite specs. Only guardian's since that's my main profession. I was wondering what others considered to have the most consistent and best elite specs up till this point. I'm guessing Warrior? Or maybe Engineer? 

Thats kinda a difficult question to answer. Are you asking "Which profession has had the most consistent quality elite specs across game modes over the lifespan of GW2" or are you asking "Which profession has the best elite specs currently"? Because those are two very different answers and one that's got a bit more nuance than you might think.

I can't speak for PvP or WvW but I can give an accurate assessment for elite specs for PvE over the past few years how well they've fit in the meta.

And I'd say that its a tie between Guardian and Mesmer. Dragonhunter has been a power DPS staple since its inception but hasn't been the MVP for a long time while firebrand has been overwhelmingly powerful in all forms of PvE. Dragonhunter has had its place and is never a bad pick, so I think that fits your criteria. Mesmer has had Chronomancer which has enjoyed one of the most controversial careers in GW2 history for its fantastic boon coverage and has filled all roles aside from healer in raids and fractals. Currently they're a decent pick but not as dominant as they once were. Where as Mirage was never bad it was always at least decent and now is a solid alacrity pick with staff for low skill low stress build if you want to run it.

As for the new elite specs, its much too early to tell. I wouldn't judge their performance now as a long term indication. Currently Virtuoso is the MVP of DPS and Mechanist is probably the best healer we've ever seen which I'm including Carry scourge in that, but these are things that might not last. So I think asking this question in a year's time might be better.

To further that point, Scourge for half its life was terrible as a DPS and only used for novice groups to carry them through content they otherwise wouldn't be able to do. Reaper for the first bit of its life was not a power DPS but a condi DPS and for a short time the absolute best condi DPS in the game until the Jagged horror nerf then they where only taken for epidemic and eventually completely replaced by scourge, even though scourge wasn't doing much better as a condi DPS. Then reaper go buffed on the physical side and is currently a good pick for novice players.

ALL of this might boil down to opinions. And in my opinion as long as the elite spec has a solid enough role it can fill without being kicked or scoffed at by pugs I think they're in a good spot even if they're not the speedrun king or best in slot.

[otto.5684]

PvP aside, guardian is the most consistent. However, if you like a class you will find a good build for it in PvE.

[Mik.3401]

I think engineer, every elite spec it has is good at something. Also necromancer mostly due to how strong it’s core traits are makes any new espec shine

[HonesltlyX.7164]

I have to say Guardian. They have the tools that make them relevant in nearly every aspect of the game from PvE solo to Raids, PvP, WvW, fractals, etc. and they are easy enough for anyone to pick up and play.
 

You can pick up a Guardian and have little trouble finding a group to play with in just about any game type.

Edited April 16, 2022 by HonesltlyX.7164

[felix.2386]

lol you definitely did not play a warrior if you think it's warrior.

warrior has the worst elite specs, every elite spec plays the same, feels like just the same class with one new skill.

no play style change, pve has been banner with axe since 2012

wvw has been only bubble,

pvp has been side noder since 2012.

 

while you look at guardian, DH is good aoe damage, good ranged spec with good pressure.

FB is good support, good slow tank spec, with good condition build, and good support build

and willbender, gives yet another brand new play style of high mobility assassin type..

 

warrior no assassin type, no support type, no good ranged spec, condition build beyond bad compared to power. all just gain energy and use burst skill...

guardian is definitely top, then goes maybe necro and rev after.

Edited April 16, 2022 by felix.2386

[Xelqypla.6817]

I believe they did the best with Thief and Necro.

 

Might not always be the Meta, but they have the greatest feeling of Espec diversity.