New player looking for spec with no animation lock

[Amrath.3704]

Hello everyone. I am a new player having a little bit of a hard time getting used to the gameplay of some classes and I would like to ask you for some advice/recommandations to find one, ideally melee, that I can enjoy.

My main struggle so far is the animation lock of skills and the ground targetting skills that often make my warrior and my rogue (both level 50) feel a little clunky. I especially have a hard time with the greatsword skills of the warrior since most make me feel that I'm losing control of my character during their animations. Same with the thief and its dagger/ bow skills, to a lesser extend. Gap closers or disengages of both classes also give me that feeling of losing control over my characters. I've noticed that using different weapons make things a little better but I still feel that these two core classes are a little too much locked in animations for me.

I am wondering if this is due to not being max level or of this considerably changes with elite specializations (I have no expansions at the moment), and I would like to ask you about these classes at 80, their elite specializations, or classes/specs. ldeally, I would like to play a melee class that doesn't have any animation Iock or ground targetting skills. I don't mind it if the class is not moving fast and has no mobility abilities but I would like to always be able to keep full control of my character while using skills from both bars.

Can you think of any classes/specs that would match that playstyle?

I realize that maybe the gameplay of GW2 is maybe just not for me but I geniously enjoy the rest of the game and before coming to that conclusion, I thought that I'd ask the community for help.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read this. Have a good one!

Edited April 19, 2023 by Amrath.3704

[Scalacious.4139]

A totally non-biased recommendation from me would be to play the warrior to level 80 and then switch to the elite Spellbreaker specialisation. Most Spellbreakers use a combination of daggers, axes and hammers. I personally play with a dagger in each hand. The gameplay is very fluid and you have a very nice combo of damage and sustain. The greatsword on the warrior feels very clunky because the strong skills restrict movement a lot. You can also try out double axe or hammer while levelling up to see whether you might enjoy the weapons more.

[DebraKadabra.5278]

I run dual axes on my Spellbreaker and it's lethally wonderful. Totally dig it.

I'll also admit that it took me a good while to get used to the Thief play style, and shortbow is one of my favorite weapons on my level 80 Daredevil (Heart of Thorns thief elite specialization). Like Scalacious recommended, try out different weapons on your thief as you level out. It's also okay to admit that it's not your type of play style.

YouTuber/Twitch streamer Ayin Maiden recommends Ranger as the easiest of the medium classes to master, and I agree with her. Nothing wrong with you rolling a thief though.

Best of luck to you regardless.

[Khisanth.2948]

Most skills do not have animation lock but if that is what you are trying to avoid then warrior is probably one of the worse choice unless you go with Berserker elite spec.

Greatsword 2

axe burst

sword 2

sword burst

dagger 2

dagger burst

rifle burst

dragon trigger

 

Not sure how shortbow on thief has any animation lock issue though. Except maybe 3 but that skill is used for evading and I am not sure what you would be trying to do in the middle of evading ...

[stormemperor.3745]

8 hours ago, Amrath.3704 said:

Hello everyone. I am a new player having a little bit of a hard time getting used to the gameplay of some classes and I would like to ask you for some advice/recommandations to find one, ideally melee, that I can enjoy.

My main struggle so far is the animation lock of skills and the ground targetting skills that often make my warrior and my rogue (both level 50) feel a little clunky. I especially have a hard time with the greatsword skills of the warrior since most make me feel that I'm losing control of my character during their animations. Same with the thief and its dagger/ bow skills, to a lesser extend. Gap closers or disengages of both classes also give me that feeling of losing control over my characters. I've noticed that using different weapons make things a little better but I still feel that these two core classes are a little too much locked in animations for me.

I am wondering if this is due to not being max level or of this considerably changes with elite specializations (I have no expansions at the moment), and I would like to ask you about these classes at 80, their elite specializations, or classes/specs. ldeally, I would like to play a melee class that doesn't have any animation Iock or ground targetting skills. I don't mind it if the class is not moving fast and has no mobility abilities but I would like to always be able to keep full control of my character while using skills from both bars.

Can you think of any classes/specs that would match that playstyle?

I realize that maybe the gameplay of GW2 is maybe just not for me but I geniously enjoy the rest of the game and before coming to that conclusion, I thought that I'd ask the community for help.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read this. Have a good one!

Core Necromancer doesn't have locks

Scourge doesn't have animation lock,

Reaper shroud 2(rush skill) locks, everything else free.

Harbinger shroud 3 rush and shroud 4 jump to area, I guess they do lock animation in place.

 

Mesmer sword 2 locks,

Mirage axe 2 rush, axe 3 jumps to boss, I guess you can consider them lock since you can't prevent or move.

Virtuoso safe

 

Ele has a lot of skills that lock, mainly dagger offhand. I can't list all.

 

Ranger longbow 5, axe 5, some rush skills, gs 3 5.

 

Engineer, not sure about core, hammer charge locks you for 3 attacks

 

Guardian, longbow skills, gs 3, 4,5. sword 2,3 and many more

 

Warrior, you mentioned already

 

Revenant sword 3 forced 5x evade teleport attack. hammer 3,  dunno about vindicator.

 

[Cuks.8241]

Its not only class, its also weapon choice. While Warrior is definitely not the most nimble and fluid class, GS is one of the worst weapons with animation locks. Try axe/axe instead. 

 

[Misterbrady.2167]

I had questions like the op.  The best advice I received was to use the pvp lobby.  It levels your character to max and unlocks all character options.  There are test dummies to experiment on, so you can get a feel for things.

 

On a personal note, I feel reaper (necromancer) is a very fluid spec due to using a lot of instant cast utility skills like shouts.  It is almost completely locked to melee to be effective though, and not everyone likes that.

[Urud.4925]

The greatsword on warrior is indeed a difficult weapon to master: the skill #2 in particular, that it's your stronger skill, roots you, so if a mob walks away, you simply waste a lot of damage. Nothing really changes at lv80, the skills are the same. Before changing class, I suggest you to try axe/axe, like Cuks said, which is a great improvement in mobility (none of them locks you in place).

As for the thief... it's my main, so I'm biased. I don't find it clunky (although I mostly play daredevil, with a staff). Some skills of the shortbow lock you in place, true, but it's a weapon meant to be used when you can hit multiple targets (good AoE damage) from afar (perfect during metas), not to be used in challenging fight 1 vs 1 (unless you need CC, and then swap to melee). Honestly here I don't have suggestions, apart from trying the Daredevil spec (but you can't without Heart of Thorns).

Misterbrady gave you also a good suggestion: create a new character, and once you are lv2, go to the PvP lobby. You can try the class at lv80 against dummies.

It really depends on the weapon in the end: the guardian has a fluid combat with the sword, but not with the greatsword; the elementalist is fluid with daggers but not with the staff. Core necro, ranger and mesmer are not more fluid than thieves imo, with any core weapon, so I wouldn't recommend them if you find the thief clunky.

[Khisanth.2948]

6 hours ago, Urud.4925 said:

Before changing class, I suggest you to try axe/axe, like Cuks said, which is a great improvement in mobility (none of them locks you in place).

Since OP also complains about dagger on thief which would mean Heartseeker that means OP is including all the leap skills as well. Axe burst on everything except Berserker would have the same issue.

However the majority of issues is avoided by simply knowing your enemy/content and sometimes your fellow player unfortunately. For example the issue with enemies walking out of Hundred Blades' range. That is usually not an issue if you are fighting a mob solo since there is only a handful that will try to move away from you but if there are other people around and they don't kite properly then that can be a problem. Although to me the worst thing about Hundred Blades is that it interferes with dodging. If you are in the middle of using Hundred Blades then your dodge key won't do anything. You have to cancel HB first but the other option is to dodge using your 3 skill. As for the 5 skill it can be cancelled with weapon swap, this is generally true for all the leap/gap closer skills as well. Bladesworn can be use Dragon Trigger for the same thing.

It mostly comes down to experience and observations. I have thrown myself into attacks from time to time with things like Heartseeker or Vault but that could have been avoided by paying more attention and knowing where the attack will hit. Especially attacks with a CC component. The other thing is to start your long attacks like HB after the enemy has done their attack.

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

Ground targeting can be a pain with the default setting of click once to activate the ground targeting overlay, click again to fire the skill.  This can be changed in the options panel, General Options, Combat/Movement section.  I normally run the "Fast with range indicator" option.  Press and hold the skill key to activate the target overlay, activate the skill when you release the button.  This is much faster and gives me the opportunity to correctly aim the skill in case my mouse is out of position.

While warrior does get rooted with GS 2 and has animation locks with GS 3 & 5, shield 5, and bulls charge, and I could go on, but you get the picture.  Those skills have purposes in addition to doing damage.  GS 3 is an evade, so basically a dodge without having to use up a dodge.  GS 5 is a gap closer that does a decent amount of damage.  Bulls Charge is a gap closer, a huge CC, and a 1.25 second evade.  Used right, these things can prevent you from getting hit at all in a fight.  Let me give you an example.  I use Axe/axe on a berserker warrior.  There is a daily repeatable Hero Challenge in Arborstone in EoD.  I start the fight with headbutt (Berserker elite skill), go into Berserk (F2), Decapitate (F1), Dual Strike (Axe 4), Bull's Charge, Chop (Axe 1), Cyclone Axe (Axe 2), and Decapitate (F1) is normally off cool down, so I hit that again, and the fight is over.  And I never got hit by the guy I'm fighting because I stunned him with the headbutt, then knocked him down again as he was coming out of the stun, and just did too much damage in between.

But you are right about Great Sword 2, getting rooted for that sucks.  But, for as much damage as it does, having that tradeoff makes sense from a balance standpoint.  Outside of elite spec skills, core GS 2 is the highest damage great sword skill for warrior.  Another thing, pay attention to your CC skills.  Core Tyria you can get through everything without needing them.  Step into any one of the Expansion maps, CC skills become mandatory.  Some of the mobs do not take any damage until you break their defiance bars, and CC skills are what breaks those defiance bars.

[Amrath.3704]

Thank you all for your detailed answers and sorry for the late reply.

I was experiencing with all the things you recommended, starting with the PVP lobby which was great to get a nice feeling of the other classes, even though I do not have access to elite specializations yet. Among the different classes I tried, I particularly liked the guardian with a sword or a mace in the main hand and a torch in the offhand, and since the firebrand had caught my eye during a spec introduction video, I decided to make one.

I also gave my warrior a little bit more time with axe/axe and it feels indeed much smoother than with a greatsword. The berserker and spellbreaker were actually my first two choices when I looked into elite specializations, and after reading your comments, I would like to give them a try once I have purchased the expansions.

The rogue however still didn't feel like my cup of tea even after trying it in the lobby, so I will probably not force it and just try to level warrior and guardian for now.

One other spec that really got my interest is the weaver but it looks like it is quite complicated for a new player, so I'll give it a try later after finishing with the guardian and the warrior.

Anyway, thank you everyone for your help. I now understand GW2 classes a little better and I've been enjoying their gameplay more.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Amrath.3704