Wondering what Profession and Elite to Main based on my preferences?

[Azura.9532]

Hey everyone, been loving the game since I started 3-4 months ago 🙂

I have tried a few classes up to 80 (never unlocked past the first 3-4 traits of any elites before), and think I have figured out what I want from this game!

I dont know if what I am looking for exists, but looking for input 😛 

 

I wont say what core classes I have tried, as I dont want to affect anyones feedback, but I will say I have enjoyed most of them so far.  Here is what I would ideally like:

 

1. A single Profession and Elite

2. A single set of equipment that has enough self sustain and damage to clear all OW content, while not useless in Group PvE

3. Not a lot of different buttons to press (I got small hands so my FKeys are out of the question, I have to remap them to others which eats up my keyboard space)

4. Not a lot of different buttons to remember (I like having all my skills available to me at once, if possible having only 1 weapon set would be ideal, but something like firebrand tombs sounds terrible)

5. Not 100% reliant on other players to succeed

 

Thanks if you decide to give me some advice 🙂

[Ashantara.8731]

Power Mechanist will  likely be your spec of choice:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mechanist_-_Power_Mechanist

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mechanist_-_Power_DPS

 

[Urud.4925]

I second the Mechanist (both power and condi): decent survivability (if you go slow; if they zerg you, you may die quite fast) and good damage. But you have F1~F3 (although not mandatory).

Power Berserker (warrior) only has F1/F2 and with double axe you can pretty much press the buttons randomly. It's also a decent profession. You can support a group with banners. Melee oriented.

Soulbeast has only F2 (not mandatory to use) and it has a lot of survivability. Good both to solo champions and it has some kind of group support (spirits/spotter). Ranged oriented if you don't want to swap weapon (although it can be a bit boring to play only with the bow).

Edited January 23, 2023 by Urud.4925

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

Alac specter or condi alac specter...even healac specter isnt difficult! Thief! One of us!

 

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

Ritualist gear Harbinger (necro e-spec from End of Dragons).

It's very chill to play because majority of your damage comes from shroud autos. you just press F1 and enemies get machine gunned to death with condies.

In group play on top of damage you'll be providing boons to allies. Quickness and fury being main ones, which you'll pulse when shrouded to nearby allies. If you want share more boons,  Harb has options for that.

Sustain - Harb is quite deceptive. He is the squishiest necromancer spec, but that does not mean he's glassy. The main pitfall here is that his shroud does not act as shield protecting your normal hp. But at the same time it does not prevent regular heals from reaching your hp unlike core and reaper shrouds would.

The main selling point here however is that he is a necro which greatly alignes with your needs. As majority of necro's power budget is in his traits and utility skills, you can walk around with one set of armor, trinkets and weapons (here it's pistol + warhorn) and still have totally different experiences depending on your trait and utility skill choices.

[Luthan.5236]

I have played mainly engineer - all the elite specs in the maps of the expansion they were associated to. Then the mesmer (not too experienced with that though). + all other professions at core maps with the core profession only.

Thief and elementalist are a lot of "keyboard acrobatics" though. In my opinion. Elementalist since it relies on switching between all the attunements. Thief- since you need to stealth/restealth often.

With the mechanist being added I can say: feels nice to have the mech as pet. (Other than that usually necro and ranger seemed easy to play cause of pets and/or the shrould healthbar from the necro.) Some ranged Chronomancer build felt - before EoD and the mechanist - easier than other engineer stuff I had played ... at least from the point of survivability and even trying to take on some champs in the HoT maps (that are considered harder regarding open world stuff).

Can not say a lot about the other professions. Open world stuff - except HoT hero points - most stuff is easy  on any profession I guess. Stuff for group PvE? Depends on what you play. Might only matter in high tier fractals, strikes and raids. I do not play those. And in open world group stuff and low tier fractals ... anything is okay - not much people expecting you to optimize builds there.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Luthan.5236

[synk.6907]

Agreed on the Mechanist suggestion -- in open world it feels pretty braindead easy and should still contribute well enough in instanced content.

 

I also find power-based Bladesworn to fit your request, as well.

2: Berserker's gear, and a rune like scholar's or even strength, and you'll be set (also works with other power builds if you swap to another specialization); warrior already has high vitality, and you can build in more sustain if you need. You only really need 1 weapon set, as in combat the active set will swap with your gunsaber.

3+4: You should use all buttons, but you don't have to, I guess; same buttons amount as warrior starts with in core; slight tweak to how F2 works. Even if you end up using skills haphazardly, Axe 3 and basically all of the gunsaber skills have ammo counts and will boost your damage as they are used if you are using "Fierce as Fire" (bladesworn talent).

5: You have great self-sustain and damage. You should have no trouble with anything OW and solo instancing, as well as group content. Can shift in a banner or two for some help to the group.

 

Potential example build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKgAcelJwuYtMVWJOeTtxUA-zxQYhoh7cHEWYEVAVJg6AA-e (adjust with different runes/assassin's gear if there's a want for more precision)

Your shout will keep damage up and can be used as a small heal in a pinch, gaining flow comes easily (and also feeds into might-based healing across the talents used), and you can go into dragon trigger pretty often to make use of an unblockable slash (any of the 1-3 skills in dragon trigger mode; 4 is used to block damage while you charge, 5 to reposition if your target(s) move).

Edited January 23, 2023 by synk.6907

[Buran.3796]

1) Double staff Mirage (celestial or traiblazer stats):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PijAYZlRwiYVsEmJWyP9PNA-zRRYVRFPZEMFSmpaHVQIBlwHCBNFK8TFkHNgYaDA-e

   A single weapon, you use the swap mostly to refill endurance; you have lost of interrupts, projectile blocks and i-frames, and you don't need to use the F skills (or even the heal skill) in most of OW content, even soloing some bounties. Works at range and your clones are a nice meat shield.

2) Rifle Mechanist (marauder):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PeQAQlxycZdsXWMOuLfxfA-zRJYiRRfZEYCURBo/AA-e

   Really simple to play, a single wepon (plus the flamethrower if the enemy reflects projectils) lots of cc and very good tools; a bit boring after the nerf of the AA animation, but still super chill to play.

3) Hybrid Vindicator (celestial):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmzAkeZlhQmsI6kJRpMIClBSqMBqkjyzasF-zxIY1ojvMyMB6oA8+AEue41AipNQFA-e

   A single weapon set (mace + axe), you use 3 weapon skills (+ aa) and 3 utilities, and you're immortal. Really easy to play, only disadvantage is a dps a bit lower and that you need to spam those 6 skills and evade oftenly, because you're constantly on mele range (doesn't matter because you can facetank).

   Of those, I would say the Mirage is the laziest one to play, but any work.

[shion.2084]

Scrapper for the win 🙂.  As long as your not set on condi, it is a great jack of all trades, and you can play builds that are gyro based to avoid too many sets of skills from kits.

[snowberry.4891]

2 Low Intensity builds I recommend

 

Power Rifle Mechanist - Most brain-dead spec imo. Super tanky pet. Ranged. Set the pet's F1-F3 to autocast so you'll never have to touch it. All signets on utility skill slots. All you need to do is press 1-5. Berserker prefix. You'll probably do more DPS than most players in pug instanced PvE.

Condi Staff/Staff Mirage - You're invulnerable like half the time. 95% of the time all you do is dodge followed by auto attack. Celestial or Trailblazer prefix ensure you'll never die. Possibly the best open world solo build in the games. Can Solo everything in open world. Useful in fractals and strikes because you'll give perma alacrity and 25 might.

 

If you want something less braindead but on the middle ground between all specs, you have...

Power Quickness Scrapper - Not low intensity since you got more buttons to press. It's a bruiser so it has a lot of sustain through innate barrier generation and good damage. Perma superspeed to zoom around everywhere in combat and perma quickness for group settings. Easy to play but not as easy as the previous two mentioned. Half Berserker and Half Diviner prefix.

Edited January 24, 2023 by snowberry.4891