Which professions go best thematically with which races?

[Rise.8259]

I would eventually like to experience the quest and zone content of all five races from the start. I would also like to eventually have one of each profession. So I was wondering what the best options for pairing them together would be.

My guesses:

Human:GuardianWarriorThiefEngineerMesmerMaybe elementalist

NornWarriorMaybe Guardian?Maybe Revenant? (although I don't know enough about this profession to know where it really fits).

AsuraEngineer (Although their equipment looks more human than Asuran, it doesn't seem like a good fit. But this is the only class that really uses inventions and gadgets)Elementalist?For some reason I think a necromancer might fit, but I don't know why because there's nothing techy or intellectual about it.

SlyvariRangerMaybe necromancer

ChaarWarriorProbably Revenant (although I don't know enough about this profession to know where it really fits).I wouldn't think engineer by looking at them, but some of the concept art seems to suggest this. The equipment and battle style seems more like chaar than asura for sure.Probably thief.Maybe Ranger

So you see my problem here. Everything seems to look good on a human, but I have trouble getting excited about playing some of the other races because I'm not sure what is a natural fit for them (aside from obvious things like Warrior Norn or Ranger Slyvari).

And as much as I like the style of humans, I dont want that to be the only content I experience.

I currently have a human engineer around level 60, human thief around level 25, and human guardian around level 10. I am hoping I didn't make a thematic mistake picking engineer on human instead of Chaar. But I would guess that Guardian and Thief go best on Human.

[Artyport.2084]

the thing about this game is with the wardrobe system you can really thematically make anything work.

for instance.Asura warrior- equip all tech weapons and some tech outfit and boom a little guy using a power suit and power weapons to beat the shit out of ankles

[Oglaf.1074]

Any class fits a Norn, really. One who sets out to build his Legend as the greatest Engineer ever is no less of a Norn than a Ranger or Warrior. Even Mesmer fits as Norns who worship Raven would be right at home with the trickster theme of the class.

[Josif.2015]

@Rise.8259 said:So you see my problem here. Everything seems to look good on a human, but I have trouble getting excited about playing some of the other races because I'm not sure what is a natural fit for them (aside from obvious things like Warrior Norn or Ranger Slyvari).

Humans go well with most, if not all professions. They are one of the most versatile races.Norns go well with ranger, warrior and guardian. Soldier professions fit Norns better because of their massive size. Eir is a ranger and Forgal is a warrior (R.I.P. Forgal).Sylvary go well with most professions, but mostly with scholar professions because of their sense of discovery like Sieran who's an elementalist (R.I.P. Sieran).Asura go well with necromancer, elementalist, thief and engineer. Zott is an engineer (R.I.P. Zott), Zrii is a thief, Zojja is an elementalist (lots of Z's, I know).Charr go well with engineer, warrior, guardian and ranger. Lore wise, charr invented the engineer profession, even Tybalt is an engineer (R.I.P. Tybalt).

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter which race you choose for your profession. Just play the race you enjoy the most, but since you're interested in having fitting races for each profession, hopefully my recommendations helped you.

[Genesis.8572]

@Rise.8259 said:I would eventually like to experience the quest and zone content of all five races from the start. I would also like to eventually have one of each profession. So I was wondering what the best options for pairing them together would be.

Humans are versatile, but I would say that Guardian and Mesmer are solid choices.

Charr: Charr Engineer is incredibly iconic. Charr invented the engineering profession and its aesthetics. Charr questing centers around the Black Citadel and Ascalon, which are controlled by the engineering-focused Iron Legion. Warrior is also a good fit, but playing the Iron Legion storyline as an engineer is one of the few points in the personal story where a profession gets to play to their profession's fantasy.

Asura: Most Asura prefer light armor professions over heavy armor professions. Maybe Elementalist.

Norn: Maybe Ranger if you want animal companions that represent various the Spirits of the Wild and wandering the wilds for your grand quest.

Sylvari: They are versatile like humans, but they are less averse to some taboos of the other races. Necromancer is a good fit in that respect, but if you want something more knightly for their Arthurian romance themes, then maybe Guardian or Warrior.

[Hot Boy.7138]

Scholar classes goes best with sylvari because sylvari are curious and noble.

[Urud.4925]

Play a sylvari thief, like Caithe. "What was that? Did you hear it?". "It must have been the wind through the leaves." "Ah, ok" SBAM!

[phs.6089]

Sylvary -mesmers are the best <3

Maybe I was the illusion all along!

[Valik Shin.9027]

Human - all

sylvari - ele, ranger

Charr- warrior, ranger, engineer

norn- warrior, guardian, ranger, ele, rev,

Asura- ele, engi, mesmer, thief, maybe necro

[Rognik.2579]

Honestly, the game was designed so that all classes work equally well with all classes. You think an asura ranger is contradictory? She's just doing field research on animal combat abilities. Norn engineer? He's building his legend - literally. Charr elementalist? Just using the tools that work best, taking it back from the Flame Legion. Yes, a couple work better than some thematically (a charr thief is great if Ash Legion), but nothing is truly out of place.

[Musaroxy.2874]

Sylvari are able to suit any of the professions, because of how wildly spread across the board they are in personality and purpose. Of course Humans are the same.Asura would easily suit all of them, though the heavier professions may seem out of place, there's the Peacemakers with their techno-heavy armor and shiny hammers.Norn are incredibly versatile as well, even if at a glance a profession doesn't seem fitting, there's probably something to support it, if you look closer.Charr have been covered pretty well by everyone else here, but I have to say, Necromancer is perfectly suited to Charr as well. A number of Ash Legion NPCs are Necromancers, and with all the ancient Human ruins around? Easy pickings for minion-making.While some professions seem more thematically suited to some races, there's always a reason for others to fit that race as well.

[Bunny.9834]

So I have 29 Chars. 13 are human and they all represent (more than once for some) all of the professions. I'm a little biased lol.

For the rest I have 4 for each races. Maybe these can give you an idea.

Charr:Revenant (Renegade) - Kalla and Blood Legion. Geared with bloodstone weapons/backpack.Thief (Deadeye) - Ash Legion. Sniper and stealth.Engineer (Scrapper) - Iron Legion. The lore of the scrapper came from the charr.Ranger (Soul Beast) - Tribute to the charr rangers in GW1 with their pet Devourers.

Norn:Warrior (Core) - giant norn wielding GS and Axe, classic barbarian. Also geared him with Valkyrie weapons. Bear.Guardian (Firebrand) - kind of the opposite of my warrior who is iced themed. This one is geared with Durmand weapons, goes well with the FB lore.Mesmer (Core) - Made this one to fit the "raven" theme. Geared her with Ara armor and black wing backpack.Ranger (Core) - Made this one to fit the "wolf" theme. Charmed some wolf.

Asura:Mesmer (Chronomancer) - I mean, the futuristic theme just goes well with it.Engineer (Holosmith) - Another Asuran inspired spec, holo asura with a light saber just looks cool.Warrior (Spellbreaker) - This was kinda rando, but I thought asura with the SB and daggers looks amazing.Elementalist (Weaver) - this one is inquest themed. Just made her look evil.

Sylvarri:Elementalist (Tempest) - Imo the best looking light armor in the game is the Twilight Arbor Female Light Armor and they fit the sylvarris perfectly. Paired with Tempest from HoT, they look pretty cool doing the over attuning animations.Necromancer (Reaper) - Nightmare court summoning minions, check. Also if you follow the story, Trahaerne is a necro ;)Guardian (Dragonhunter) - What's the first boss when you start Sylvarri campaign? oh that's right a dragon. The whole existence of the sylvarri is meant to fight the dragons. They're perfect for this class/spec.Ranger (Druid) - This is another obvious one for me. Druids? Elves? Nature? Plants? ---- Sylvarri.

[jportell.2197]

Asura because they are clearly the master race.

[Zola.6197]

Have you considered going against type? Sometimes you make the coolest characters that way, because your Charr is a sleek and elegant looking mesmer instead of a rough and tumble warrior like everyone else. Or your norn has rejected the old ways and has sought out new technologies, pushing them toward the Engineer profession. An asura with anger issues outweighing their genius? When they get angry, they destroy whatever is in their way - warrior.

There's no 'right' or 'wrong' combo for class + race. You can make anything work with a little imagination, and sometimes the odd combos are the most memorable.

I have a giant, burly Hun-inspired Norn mesmer that wears deep pink and purple and dresses in fashionably. Very antithetical to most of his kin! It's fun.

I have a male and female of each race, and doubled up on the mesmer class:

Human F Ranger (grew up on a farm, took to wandering through queensdale)Human M Warrior (nobleman trained in combat)Charr F Elementalist (father was a mage, aspired to be better than him)Charr M Necromancer (fascination with death, kinda psycho)Sylvari F Mesmer (dusk cycle, mischievous personality, likes to push the limits)Sylvari M Thief (night cycle, shy and reserved)Asura F Revenant ("the mists contain the next big discovery!")Asura Male Engineer (pretty stereotypical :P )Norn F Guardian (I wanted to make a Valkyrie lol)Norn M Mesmer (Raven acolyte, fancy boy, rejects conventional norn traditions)

[Plautze.6290]

Imho, any profession can work with any race.Sometimes, it is more fun going against the tide than being one of a dozen black, bone-themed Necros on screen.

[Aaron Ansari.1604]

I'm in the camp of 'any combination is valid', but if it's important to you that you pick the race that has the most of a given profession, I'd say probably...

Elementalist: Asura or sylvari.Warrior: Human, norn, or charr. All three have a ton.Guardian: Human, with charr a more distant second.Engineer: Charr or asura.Ranger: Sylvari or norn.Necromancer: Not particularly common with any race (except the hostile factions), but if pressed, I'd say sylvari or charr.Thief: Charr, human, or sylvari, although this is the one that's probably closest to even across all five races.Mesmer: Human or sylvari, with asura a somewhat close third.Revenant: As far as I know there're only two revenant NPCs who aren't Mists shenanigans, and they're both charr.

(I know that sylvari and charr are over-represented, but that's because they have a more diverse portrayal than the other races. Asura with a playable profession are rare in their society, and the human and norn NPCs are both draw from a very short list unless they're in one of the orders.)

[Tails.9372]

Asura: everything with access to either pistol or rifle but especially holosmith

[TotallyNotJazzie.1493]

My current roster of characters:

Charr Engineer: Male Scrapper (main)Charr Revenant: Female HeraldCharr Warrior: Male Spellbreaker

Norn Warrior: Male BeserkerNorn Ranger: Female DruidNorn Guardian: Female DH

Human Mesmer: Female ChronoHuman Thief: Male DaredevilHuman Necro: Female Reaper

Sylvari Ele: Female Weaver

Asura: N/A

I don’t have any Asura characters. I did have an Asura Holo Engie but alas it’s since been deleted. Fashion Wars 2 lets Asura players down A LOT imo.

[Michram.6853]

Guardian: Human, NornWarrior: Charr, Norn, HumanElementalist: Asura, SylvariNecromancer: HumanRanger: SylvariRevenant: Human, Charr and NornMesmer: HumanEngineer: Charr, AsuraThief: Human, Sylvari, Asura

Human and Charr really fit to Guardian- honor and sacrifice are rooted deep into those races.

Charr, Norn, Human are most suitable to Warrior- the most experienced races in battle.

Elementalists compose the magic of the elements, Sylvari do it naturally by contact with the nature, Asura with their technology to obtain and weave those elements together.

Necromancer to Human, because this is the only race that makes graves. ;D

Ranger to Sylvari- pets, nature etc

Revenant- fits to all of races but to those 3 especially.

Mesmer- maybe because the greatest mesmers are Human? ;)

Engineer- Asura and Charr- the most advanced Races in technology and inventions.

Thief- the skinny races are the best, how can you even imagine a norn thief?? 3 meters long, stomping like t-rex. XD same with the Charr- their long tail is not much helpful in sneaking up. ;D

So thats it.

[Oglaf.1074]

I have no issues imagining a Norn Thief. Just think of a big, thuggish bandit enforcer kinda guy. Not all Thieves have to be pigeonholed into the same “agile ninja dude” stereotype.

[ugrakarma.9416]

One of my points of friction with the general community of the game is that I have never liked the 'you can be anything' system and have always liked games of more forced (and coherent) schemes.

then my two cents:

HeavyGuardian: male: human. female: norm.Warrior: Charr, norm, human.Revenant: Charr. to heavy, "feral" magician. the combination of magic with brutish, raw force. and the Citadel Engine backpiece is the only one that fit with Mistwarden armor.

MediumEngineer: Asura. ... Charr (although personally I do not like it, but it's remarkable the amount of engineer Charr in the game).Ranger: Sylvari because of the "nature-friendly" vibe.Thiev: human. (Small and agile).

LightMesmer: Any race with "hot babes", Norm or Human. male mesmer: Sylvari.Necromancer: human, Sylvaris.Elementalist: human, male or female.

But honorable mention of hybrids, which because they are too strange, are even interesting (could be a separate topic).

best weird hybrids:Thief: Charr.Mesmer: Male Norm.Warrior: Asura. (beside this can cosplayer the jedi yoda vey well).Necromancer: Charr.

[PiMonte.8975]

I think these combinations work pretty well:

Asura: Engineer, Necromancer, Elementalist, Mesmer

Charr: Warrior, Ranger, Thief, Engineer (Elementalist if you imagine your charr as Olmakhan, but that wouldn't fit the personal story as it is)

Human: any profession, I guess

Norn: Warrior, Guardian, Revenant, Ranger, Necromancer, Elementalist, Mesmer.

Sylvari: Guardian, Ranger, Necromancer, Elementalist, Mesmer.

[Tails.9372]

@"Arden.7480" said:how can you even imagine a norn thief??Remember the Vikings? The whole "thief archetype" is actually a lot more diverse than how they are represented in game which is why I don't really get the heavy focus on stealth (I'm not talking about certain builds but in general). In this regard, thematically, both e-specs don't even make any sense. An old western outlaw or a viking themed e-spec would have been a lot more fitting.

[Rise.8259]

I assumed from the way the Chaar looked, moved, and fought, that they were more of a savage warrior type, maybe with dark magic. Having not been to their territory yet or done their stories.

They actually seem closer in engineering to dwarves than any of the other races.

Although I would still have a hard time choosing Chaar over Human as engineer just because I don't think Chaar actually look fitting or good as engineers.

[EpicName.4523]

Guardian: HumanWarrior: Norn/CharrRanger: Norn/SylvariElementalist: Asura/HumanMesmer: Human/AsuraNecro: HumanEngi: Asura/CharrRev: CharrThief: Human/Asura