Support for Duo group

[bhaldor.9837]

Hi all,

 

chasing ideas on best support option for a duo level up.. My 10y old son is keen on having a go at the game. I was planning on starting a new character and level with him. Not escort him around with my lvl 80.

 

Any suggestions on best class to play along side him with? I will mostly be letting him doing the exploring/killing and i will stand back and help/buff.

He is playng a ranger.

I was going to choose guardian, but i find they suck at soloing champs/harder content. (if my sons character dies to a champ id like to be able to step in and kill it). Unless im playing it incorrectly?

 

anyhow. let me know your experiences with duo setups.

 

thanks

 

 

[Linken.6345]

I would say necro.

[Jukhy.2431]

Necromancer is indeed a great suggestion, able to "carry" easily. Revenant is very good in soloing hard content. Could also go with thief or engi, esp the new elite specs are good.

Edit for clarity: Necro does have the blood magic which is quite strong support tree. The elementalist is kinda hard to play but ofc that depends on the player. When thinking of only core specs then tbh thief is not strong support class, but revenant and engi are still quite good choices. Warrior also has some decent support (tactics tree + banners) but for me feels quite squishy at times.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Jukhy.2431

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Its going to be hard for you to do what you want with a sub-lv80, as you have no access to Elite Specialisations. Only a few Core classes can heal and buff others worth a grain of salt, mostly Elementalist (typically using a staff with aurashare and Air, Water and Earth traitlines), Guardian (usualy with a staff, mace+shield and Shouts) and Ranger.

 

Ele is a good, solid choice due to strong heals, good boon (buff) output, and summoned Elementals making soloing anything easy, but slow, as long as you account for the class having the weakest Toughness and Vitality in the game and take some defensive and healing gear to compensate.

 

Warrior can also heal quite effectively, but only provides offensive buffs (like Might and Fury). Revenant provides strong healing, but almost no boons without Herald.

 

Engineer is the sole class with a dedicated support kit (Medkit) in the entire game. Their kit-based nature means they can quickly switch back and forth between ZERO damage and MAX damage in a few seconds, so its good for supporting new players without ruining their fun.

 

Of all the Core classes, Ranger has the most available utility support skills without an Elite spec (Commands and Spirits as well as the Healing Spring Trap), so doubling up might be your best option. They also have the option of supportive pets, like the Fern Wolf, and they're pretty good at soloing.

 

I'm not sure why players are suggesting Necro, their ability to support others is mediocre without Scourge. Sure, you'd easily be able to solo Champion rank enemies and such, but you wouldn't be able to "stand back and help/buff" the rest of the time. At most you could give a few light heals and some Might.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Danikat.8537]

As other people have said core ranger is actually a good choice for a support build, and can also work well as a solo open-world profession. It's not that difficult either, mostly dropping a spirit or two at the start of the fight and using Healing Spring when needed. So if you think your son might be interested in doing something other than pure damage one option is for him to take on the conventional support role and you pick something more 'selfish' which doesn't share boons or healing with other characters much, but can stay alive and do a lot of damage solo, so you can keep going if he goes down.

In that case I'd say the best choice is any profession you know well and know you can stay alive playing. I know thief can do a huge amount of damage and be very hard to kill, but I'm terrible at playing one (even though my oldest character is a thief) so it'd be a terrible choice for me. I'd actually be better off with a mesmer, or ele, both of which are seen as very squishy.

Otherwise I second engineer as a good choice, especially because they can switch quickly between pure support, pure damage or a mix of both.

[Cyninja.2954]

Top picks:

Revenant is probably closest to a pure healer with Ventari tablet, plus the utility skills on other legends can come in useful.

As mentioned earlier, Engineer has medkit and can be played as turret placer and healer. Should work rather well for core classes.

Guardian is probably the first go-to pick as far as support, aegis, utility skills en mass, etc. Would also work well.

Elementalist, good boon and healing support thanks to the classes design with blasting and lots of fields. Might be fun to place combo fields down for your son to blast/combo out of. The summon weapons also make for fun interactions for both players. Only downside it's probably a bit trickier to master or carry on. Unless you go a elemental summon build, which works rather well in core Tyria.

Intermediate picks:

Warrior has some support, you could do a shout heal warrior to some extent.

Thief, not as much support, lots of stealth and blind fields. Blind pretty much negates almost all of core tyria enemies, except for dredge.

Would not recommend:

Necro lacks good support options and is rather "selfish" as core build, especially when leveling.

Ranger, not really sure I would consider this without druid. As core class it is similar to necro rather selfish even with healing spring and spirits.

Mesmer, not as core.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[Sahne.6950]

1 hour ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

Revenant is probably closest to a pure healer with Ventari tablet, plus the utility skills on other legends can come in useful.

THIS! Core rev with Ventari works wonders. especially since they reworked it you can dish out some nice HP and protection, and you have some impressive projectilehate uptimes. Also you can blind enemys every 3 seconds with blinding truths trait, this lone will improve the sustain of you two immensly.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Sahne.6950

[bhaldor.9837]

Thanks all for the suggestions, much appreciated.

 

I had never considered core rev with ventari. 

 

Its difficult using only core classes as support.

 

Once again thanks all for the input.

[Cuks.8241]

Keep in mind with rev you can take Legendary dwarf for second legend. Stability, dmg reduction and stun break for your son and also taunt.