Returning Player quit 5+ years ago. Need advice on roaming build with low skill ceiling.

[The XII th.1672]

Hi. I haven't played for a long time and I want to get back into GW2. I like pvp and wvw. Any advice on a fun build for roaming wvw?

It doesn't need to be the best build or meta, just good is fine. I Just want something with the low skill ceiling that will allow me to familiarize myself with the game again and what it is like to fight other classes. Any advice?

[LetoII.3782]

You really tossed a stink bomb in there with the whole "low skill ceiling* xD

 

 

 

[Junkpile.7439]

Core mesmer. You burst and if enemy doesn't die you stealth and flee. Very low skill celing.

[RisenHowl.2419]

Celestial renegod, you can't lose

[Telgum.6071]

Low skill? Core condi necromancer is absurdly easy and strong.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Telgum.6071

[The XII th.1672]

Thank you for the replies.

[kamikharzeeh.8016]

get some condi tank build simply. don't need to know much for these.

overall, the issue is that roaming / smallscale players are extremly random. some play since launch frequently, others have no clue what they do. but u even find a ton of bored spvp people of platinum ranks there. or hunting packs of gankers, so like 5 thieves etc... so overall, u will find a huge ton of tryhards there.

 

i personally dislike smallscale and never fight in that position, unless not avoidable. currently, u find a ton of smallscale players, as Wvw became extremly casual over the years. just, maybe avoid maps with a queue.

idk how it was 5 years ago, but best u can do in outnumbered fights is to run.

thief warrior mesmer engi ranger have great runaway options... these are overall very commonly picked options. necro may be bulky as hell, u but not great in running away.

Edited August 15, 2021 by kamikharzeeh.8016

[spectrito.8513]

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Soulbeast_-_Sic_'Em_Sniper

Press 2 to win

[Gorem.8104]

Play what you enjoy, try classes out we all play a little differently. 

In pvp everyone is max level, so you can use that to test max level classes. 

 

Roaming builds usually require a high skill ceiling, as even "Pressing 2 to win" as SB kill you if you not paying attention to reflects. Its a learning experience but pressing 2 to win only really beats bad players or squishy classes that overextended. 

 

If you only ever want to roam and never want to be in a group, go Thief, lots of escape options to run away when needed and you wouldn't offer much to the group regardless 

[Sleepwalker.1398]

Core condi p/d thief....don't see anything more brain dead than this.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Sleepwalker.1398
p/d

[RisenHowl.2419]

 

[Baldrick.8967]

Low ceiling?  Pick a small race and then make them as small as possible!

[subversiontwo.7501]

When you say ceiling, I presume you mean floor? (ie., you're looking for something that is quick to get into and grow from or use while you are polishing the rust off to be effective until you feel more comfortable moving onto something more challenging to work on?). Or did you really mean ceiling so you are looking for one specific thing to try to perfect and stay highly competetive on in a moderate time frame? I mean, the latter would take a longer guide of an explanation for any and each example - and would require someone with some sort of recognition for playing that very thing weighing in.

 

Summed up, is your goal to beat most players you find in general roaming (and push kdr from 1.0) or are you looking to get into some sort of duelling scene or make some sort of name for yourself or w/e roaming? I'd consider the former a floor and my suggestions would be for that:

 

If you're looking at the responses here you can see a theme: Typical condition builds generally have the lowest floor in roaming. Popular condition roamers include Renegade (or Herald) builds, Mesmer (any flavour), Necro (primarily core or Scourge, but there are some Reaper variants too), Condi trappers (Rangers, Thieves) and Burn burst builds (Ele, Guard). Personally, I'd rate the first three above the rest (though Thief is a bit of a wild card, because Thief is always Thief, it's just still rare to see them on condi since they never really need to go there - unlike something like a Mesmer or Revenant that may need to keep such a build in pocket to adapt to certain situations).

 

The next step would be to look at hybrids. There has been alot of comments on Celestial since the buffs, but while Celestial certainly is competetive now (and arguable was so on certain builds already before the may 21 buffs), I think you should take all the superlatives about them with a grain of salt. Compared to a fully tanked condi build you certainly do give something up for the added power stats. I've always found a notable difference between, say, 2.8k AR and 3.3k. In general, I find them to have a good place now. Pretty much anything that works on Condi all works on high-medium tanked Hybrids (Renegade, Core Necro, Ranger builds, Guardian builds, Ele builds comes to mind) with a few notable exceptions. I find Mesmer to drop off rather quickly on hybrid, for example. They used to be very powerful on lower-tanked hybrids back in late vanilla but it feels like those builds way back then got washed out in a way that still persists.

 

Power builds with low floors? It has been a while since I've played it but Boon Beast should still be a relatively comfortable entry into a power-based roaming build. It used to be very fun to play. There are also some very stat-generous classes out there that make good introductions to power since they can slap on some traditional tank (AR) and still do respectable power damage simply thanks to having such an overabundance and scaling of stats or certain abilities with unusual base damage (Revenant, Warrior, Engineer comes to mind). You can also make copies of the Boon Beast build on classes like Engineer (Prot. Holo) and Revenant.

 

That's all that comes to mind, off the cuff.

 

Ed. Also, I'd check out Vallun's Youtube channel. I think he has stepped up his build guide quality over the past year or so and doesn't get enough recognition. You have plenty of build examples to look at there.

Edited August 16, 2021 by subversiontwo.7501

[The XII th.1672]

Wow, that was a long post. Thank you very much for taking the time to write this. This is the kind of answer I was looking for. Yes, my goal is to polish the rust off, until I am more confident to try something harder.

I found that even only getting OK at pvp in this game is very satisfying and that it honed my reaction and made me better at pvp in other mmos.