Which Class has the best row of Elite Specializations?

[Nyel.1843]

Title.

 

Each class has three elite specializations by now and most classes have gotten a range of new possible builds or playstyles. 

 

Now I would like to know from you which class has "won" this battle and which class got the short end of the stick - let it be because their elite specs are not very efficient, because their playstyles don't differ much etc.

 

 

[Kalthea.4326]

As far as I'm concerned, it's either Guardian, Necro or Engineer. All of their elite specs offer up entirely different playstyles, and bring something to the table in any if the gamemodes they play.

[Lily.1935]

16 minutes ago, Kalthea.4326 said:

As far as I'm concerned, it's either Guardian, Necro or Engineer. All of their elite specs offer up entirely different playstyles, and bring something to the table in any if the gamemodes they play.

I actually came to the same conclusion. Ultimately, my vote went to the class which is currently the most versatile of the 3. Engineer. It was close, but with guardian I felt dragonhunter and willbender are a bit too similar and their weapons aren't used as often as they should. So that broke it down to Necromancer and Engineer. Necromancer's Reaper is passable for damage and easy to use while holosmith and scrapper are both great damage specs. Scourge is directly comparable to Mechanist since they both fill similar roles but where Scourge lacks mechanist pulls way ahead and scourge imo, is just a more fun DPS spec. BUT holosmith is just as good a DPS as scourge if not better due to versatile nature of what type of damage it can do so its close. Harbinger is pretty close to scrapper in a lot of respects however I think scrapper is overall better off atm since it can cover more roles in a party and has unique utility the harbinger can't replicate.

Necromancer's weakest link for elite specs is Reaper. Which is still better, I feel than most other specs. While Engineer's weakest link is probably Holosmith, and that's not a weak link. Its like comparing gold to gold with Engineer.

[Vidit.7108]

I would put Guardian & Necro in the highest tier together, however I think that Guardian is probably on top. I might even put them with engineer in the same tier. There are a couple in a tier below that like Revenant and maybe even Mesmer, and then the rest share the lowest tier.

I think this would be better to ask after the June patch. I might say right now that Warrior is in the bottom-most tier or even with Ranger in a bottom-most tier but that could change with the banner-spirits rework. Also it's been pretty fluid in the past with huge nerfs that have gone on and major buffs (especially recently). Like just after PoF I wouldn't have considered Engineerin this question at all and stuck it way at the bottom below everyone else. 

[draxynnic.3719]

3 hours ago, Vidit.7108 said:

I would put Guardian & Necro in the highest tier together, however I think that Guardian is probably on top. I might even put them with engineer in the same tier. There are a couple in a tier below that like Revenant and maybe even Mesmer, and then the rest share the lowest tier.

I think this would be better to ask after the June patch. I might say right now that Warrior is in the bottom-most tier or even with Ranger in a bottom-most tier but that could change with the banner-spirits rework. Also it's been pretty fluid in the past with huge nerfs that have gone on and major buffs (especially recently). Like just after PoF I wouldn't have considered Engineerin this question at all and stuck it way at the bottom below everyone else. 

I'd say Ranger is definitely at least a tier higher elite specialisation-wise than Warrior. Druid is still wanted in PvE, and soulbeast does better in PvE DPS and is reasonably effective in PvP.  Warrior tends to be just a matter of picking the least bad elite specialisation after packing banners.

[Jski.6180]

Always Guardian for any "best" question.

[Buran.3796]

4 hours ago, Jski.6180 said:

Always Guardian for any "best" question.

   Guardian is light years away of being the best roaming class...   But overall I agree.

[Mesket.5728]

21 hours ago, Nyel.1843 said:

and most classes have gotten a range of new possible builds or playstyles. 

 

*Cry in warrior*

[Puck.3697]

21 hours ago, Kalthea.4326 said:

As far as I'm concerned, it's either Guardian, Necro or Engineer. All of their elite specs offer up entirely different playstyles, and bring something to the table in any if the gamemodes they play.

I'd only disagree. Because it's saying row. 

Reaper has been pretty bad in pve for quite a while and now terrible in spvp. 

Core remains really bad in pve content and is now quite bad in spvp content. 

I mean scourge is good, but alot less prominent since its nerfs coming into EoD. And while it has a plaguedoctor specc that does quite well as a healer. It lacks boons or any sort of role compression. Also it was perceived to be bad alot longer then good. It was only after they buffed condi and torment a ton in pve that scourge started to become Meta.. and only in pug meta to add. 

And engineer still has scrapper which hasn't managed to keep itself as a solid specc for long, and holo is now outclassed in alot of game modes realistically. 

Guardian is very possible. DH falling off alittle bit today. But prolly the closest to all 3 speccs still being simultaneously. 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Daddy.8125

[Fueki.4753]

Guardian and Necromancer objectively have the best specializations by far.

[anbujackson.9564]

Voted guardian. Only because they gutted inspi chrono though. Else it would be mesmer. Engineer would be on 3rd place, simply because scrapper is yet not good enough.

Who in the blue hell voted for warrior though lol. Its the least versatile by a huge margin.

[Dadnir.5038]

Warrior definitely got the short end of the stick.

[draxynnic.3719]

16 hours ago, Daddy.8125 said:

Reaper has been pretty bad in pve for quite a while and now terrible in spvp. 

Core remains really bad in pve content and is now quite bad in spvp content. 

Reaper is pretty much king in solo PvE, its just that it does so by self-supplying most of what you normally get from your supports, so that doesn't translate into being strong in squads and parties, and it's pretty hard to buff without making it even stronger in solo.

Core is also pretty strong in solo PvE because of its survivability, but self-sustain generally isn't important in instanced group PvE.

[Puck.3697]

45 minutes ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Reaper is pretty much king in solo PvE, its just that it does so by self-supplying most of what you normally get from your supports, so that doesn't translate into being strong in squads and parties, and it's pretty hard to buff without making it even stronger in solo.

Core is also pretty strong in solo PvE because of its survivability, but self-sustain generally isn't important in instanced group PvE.

Since its sustain nerfs, I'd argue staff mirage is better. 

And even say a scourge build would do it better tbh. 

[draxynnic.3719]

2 minutes ago, Daddy.8125 said:

Since its sustain nerfs, I'd argue staff mirage is better. 

And even say a scourge build would do it better tbh. 

Depends on what, precisely, you're doing. The general point is that reaper can do pretty close to raid DPS in solo situations thanks to self-quickness, self-might, and being able to inflict 25 vulnerability, and it can afford to sacrifice some precision in the process thanks to getting 50% crit chance out of Expose Defences. The catch is that because it can do all that, the main thing that allies can do to boost its DPS further is to give it alacrity, so it falls below builds that infest everything into pushing the numbers up because boons and vulnerability are all coming from the group.

To clarify, my intent wasn't to say that it's the absolute best in solo PvE, but it's certainly among the best.

[Puck.3697]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Depends on what, precisely, you're doing. The general point is that reaper can do pretty close to raid DPS in solo situations thanks to self-quickness, self-might, and being able to inflict 25 vulnerability, and it can afford to sacrifice some precision in the process thanks to getting 50% crit chance out of Expose Defences. The catch is that because it can do all that, the main thing that allies can do to boost its DPS further is to give it alacrity, so it falls below builds that infest everything into pushing the numbers up because boons and vulnerability are all coming from the group.

To clarify, my intent wasn't to say that it's the absolute best in solo PvE, but it's certainly among the best.

Dunno staff mirage / trailblazer weaver can both also do really high dps in solo situations. And I'd say both have higher sustain then reaper does now. 

On my necro I just play scourge or harbinger today reapers weird to play now it can lose its shroud so quickly. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Daddy.8125

[Dahkeus.8243]

Rev is pretty underrated here.  I mean, Vind didn't give a great impression for adding much at the start of the expansion, but it did at least open up a more team fight/support hybrid role for the class.  It also opened back up the support/healer in PvE after the Soulcleave nerfs.  It even has a decent condi WvW roaming build based on the chill it grants.

Overall though, the class has a lot of diversity because of its elite specs.  Herald is still a great assassin roamer in sPvP and until the 10 target boon nerf was a very underrated carry class for PvE.  Renegade really brought condi builds to life and opened up the alacrity role. 

Rev just has a ton of flexibility for power, condi, range, melee, boons, and healing across all game modes because of what its elite specs bring to the table.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Dahkeus.8243

[Gibson.4036]

Poor Ele 

[draxynnic.3719]

8 hours ago, Dahkeus.8243 said:

Rev is pretty underrated here.  I mean, Vind didn't give a great impression for adding much at the start of the expansion, but it did at least open up a more team fight/support hybrid role for the class.  It also opened back up the support/healer in PvE after the Soulcleave nerfs.  It even has a decent condi WvW roaming build based on the chill it grants.

Overall though, the class has a lot of diversity because of its elite specs.  Herald is still a great assassin roamer in sPvP and until the 10 target boon nerf was a very underrated carry class for PvE.  Renegade really brought condi builds to life and opened up the alacrity role. 

Rev just has a ton of flexibility for power, condi, range, melee, boons, and healing across all game modes because of what its elite specs bring to the table.

Might be because the poll is asking for the best overall. I'd probably put it in a middle tier - they're not bad, but they're not a contender for the top.

Thinking on it, I'd probably go, in descending order:

Guardian

Necromancer 

Engineer

Mesmer

Revenant

Thief

Ranger

Elementalist 

Warrior

 

Not 100% sure on the precise order, but I'm pretty confident that I wouldn't move anything by more than one space. Some of my critera are personal subjective priorities, some are based on usefulness, but one key element is having access to group quickness and alacrity - revenant is only behind necromancer out of the professions that don't have both.

[Antycypator.9874]

I will always say THIEF, because every elite spec works almost as a new class. Only Thief allows you to swap between 4 different playstyles. Thief -> Ninja style -> Sniper -> Shadow Mage.

I don't know why so many people voted for guardian — Dragonhunter is just core guardian with additional utility skills. Firebrand is just extented F1-F3 skills. Willbender is still locked with the same weapons as core guardian.

[Gibson.4036]

4 hours ago, Antycypator.9874 said:

I will always say THIEF, because every elite spec works almost as a new class. Only Thief allows you to swap between 4 different playstyles. Thief -> Ninja style -> Sniper -> Shadow Mage.

I don't know why so many people voted for guardian — Dragonhunter is just core guardian with additional utility skills. Firebrand is just extented F1-F3 skills. Willbender is still locked with the same weapons as core guardian.

Firebrand and Willbender feel very different to me than core Guardian.

Personally, I have found more playstyles on thief that I personally enjoy, but I don't think I've ever thought, "Ooh, good, we've got a deadeye or core thief on our team". Whereas I expect all four Guardian specs to be valuable contributors when they appear.

 

[oscuro.9720]

On 6/18/2022 at 9:22 AM, anbujackson.9564 said:

Voted guardian. Only because they gutted inspi chrono though. Else it would be mesmer. Engineer would be on 3rd place, simply because scrapper is yet not good enough.

Who in the blue hell voted for warrior though lol. Its the least versatile by a huge margin.

I voted for warrior because I didn’t want my main to get no votes. It’s seeming like it was a good thing to do, as I’m still the only person to vote for it. 

[otto.5684]

I think this applies if the elites are distinct enough from core and each other, have a clear role that they achieve and have been in a good place for good stretches of time (not as of today). This automatically disqualifies warrior and ele. 
 

Light classes, mesmer, chrono is the weak point. So much yoying in functionality and performance. It has issues in both dps and support roles. Necro is very strong contender, with all 3 elites playing somewhat different and offer varying damage and support options.

 

Medium classes, I think all 3 are in good place. Thief have 3 variants with distinct game play and relatively good viability. Engi elites are also very distinct and serve different roles. Ranger, I have not played the new elites. The previous 2 were pretty good.

Heavy classes, rev, while renegade has been a solid pick over the last 2 years, I have issues with its design. It also had major performance issue for a good chunk of PoF duration. Vindicator is pretty good. Herald is terrible. The only role it ever had is power dps in PvE. Contrary to public perception, guardian is pretty bad. FB, incredible design with tons of interesting and distinct tools. WB and DH are core with pressing virtue button doing something a bit different. Both the power and condi builds play identical to core and each other in PvE. DH is distinct in PvP. WB is core power guardian + power creep. 
 

It is between necro and engi. I will give it to necro, cuz IMO harbinger and reaper have a bit more edge than thr engi HoT and EoD elites.

[otto.5684]

On 6/18/2022 at 10:38 AM, Daddy.8125 said:

I'd only disagree. Because it's saying row. 

Reaper has been pretty bad in pve for quite a while and now terrible in spvp. 

Core remains really bad in pve content and is now quite bad in spvp content. 

I mean scourge is good, but alot less prominent since its nerfs coming into EoD. And while it has a plaguedoctor specc that does quite well as a healer. It lacks boons or any sort of role compression. Also it was perceived to be bad alot longer then good. It was only after they buffed condi and torment a ton in pve that scourge started to become Meta.. and only in pug meta to add. 

And engineer still has scrapper which hasn't managed to keep itself as a solid specc for long, and holo is now outclassed in alot of game modes realistically. 

Guardian is very possible. DH falling off alittle bit today. But prolly the closest to all 3 speccs still being simultaneously. 

Current performance is not how you measure this. I would measure it with ho much potentially different game play that can be obtained. Guardian elites and core, excluding FB, are near identical in PvE gameplay. Power build is literally identical, less 1 utility. Same for condi build between core and WB (no DH condi build). PvP, again, power core and WB play pretty close, with WB being core plus power creep. This is pretty weak design. Compare this with necro or engi where every elite is bordering on being an entirely different class. There is far more game play that can be had here. Where guardian, if you played core, you essentially played 2 of its 3 elites, less a utility skill.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Voted Engi. 

Scrapper, Holo and Mechanist offer a good veriaty of gameplay. 

Only needs something ranged next. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by DanAlcedo.3281