User:Wrin/bestclass

Many people want a clear, clean answer to the question "Which class is the strongest?" - The unfortunate reality is that the real answer to this question is "all of them". This can leave some feeling unsatisfied and directionless, so let's dive into the actual "why" behind this answer.

The true answer is more nuanced than "all classes are good", but the statement is correct in practice. There are some **builds** (not classes) that have an edge over others in specific content but even this is highly dependent on variable factors. Nothing is set in stone here. To explain:

Effectiveness is measured at the Build level, not Class

When we look at everything on the **class** level, it is impossible to find a "bad" class or even a true clear winner across each of the nine classes. All of them have literally dozens of builds across their three elite specs and even some of the core versions of classes. We could try and take the average performance of these builds and measure it, but this is actually just going to give us a messy, skewed picture that is misleading at best and actively harmful at worst. On the **class** level, things are perfectly equal across all nine.

Guild Wars 2 is about mastering fundamentals first, builds later

This one is a lot more esoteric but the game runs on a series of really gritty basics, stuff that is heavily transferrable between each build or class. These include things like movement, positioning, timing, accuracy, and speed - There's a dozen other small things too. When you've mastered the fundamentals of the game, you can play *any* class or proper build to an extent that they become nearly indistinguishable from one another outside of their specific niches.

Guild Wars 2 has a very high skill ceiling

This game is pretty easy to just hop into and smash buttons, provided you're comfortable hitting your dodge key and moving out of danger occasionally. However, at the highest levels, the ceiling is much higher than MMOs like WoW or FFXIV. In part this is because of the raw speed our rotations hit - 120+APM - and also because there's rarely breaks in action. Your performance is really only limited by how fast you can go and how accurate you can be at those speeds. Because of this, when there is some slight edge to anything, you wind up never being able to even possibly notice it. You, me, and 99.9% of other players will never be able to really take proper advantage of the minuscule, slight advantages certain builds have over each other.

Build advantages are content-specific

This one should be self-explanatory if you've ever played any game at a very high level. The advantages that one build has over another are not present in all content. One build might be very strong compared to others in one specific fight but otherwise unremarkable. To give a very specific example here, Willbender in the 100 Challenge Mode fractal can take advantage of a specific buff to deal well beyond 100k DPS in that fight while other classes are doing 20-30k. This is an extreme example, for sure, but I think it gets the idea across.

The "best" option depends on how you measure success

To some people, success is simply completing content. To others, its maximizing clear times or hourly profit. This difference in measurements of success creates a situation in which more context is needed to answer which class or build is the "best". For example, if you're solo gold farming a route in Kourna, your goal is obviously to maximize gold gains, while if you're just trying to get an achievement done on your own that involves a Bounty, your goal is just to clear the content. These are wildly different goals with wildly different needs but both fall under "soloing". For the Kourna option, you'd want a build with obnoxiously high burst damage and mobility, while for the bounty solo you'd want something with high self healing, reasonable DPS, and lots of tools to get out of danger. A build that's *really* "good" (we'll talk about what good means here in a second) at soloing hard champions is going to be **really** bad outside of that content.

Skill is more important than build

This circles back to point 3 a little bit, but different builds will be more or less effective at different skill levels. In our bounty solo there's a couple of standout examples I can use. Celestial Herald is a braindead easy build to play for the bounty solo that **unskilled players** will probably say is "OP" or "better" than anything else, if they play it. In reality, there's way better options, like Cele Firebrand, Power Scrapper, or Power Vindicator, but these take more skill to play and will perform worse than Herald for a less skilled player.

Builds in GW2 are fluid, not static

Builds are not just one thing you set and forget in this game. Instead, you should be adjusting your build per-fight and per-content. For example, Condition Firebrand doesn't take the "Sanctuary" skill by default, but if your group is lacking CC then it's important that you take this in fractals so that you can break boss Defiance Bars and gain the very important Exposed debuff. You should always change your build to match your situation.

The Real Answer

The true answer to "What class is the best" is: The best class is one that has builds which you are interested in playing and which cover the roles and content that you want to do.

This may feel like an unsatisfying answer, but the above points illustrate why it is both true and necessary.

Finding Direction

If you're still looking for some direction in choosing a class, it's important to narrow down what you're actually looking for. You can ask yourself a few questions to find this answer:

For Brand New Players

If you are brand new to the game, you should decide on your starting class by **Theme** and **Archetype** only. Look at each class's themes and decide if they look cool to you. If so, play that. If you have multiple options and wind up with decision paralysis, simply flip a coin and try that one. Leveling alts is extremely fast in this game and you are heavily encouraged to try multiple classes rather than just permanently deciding on one. There are no true "permanent" decisions in this game - You cannot mess this up. Pick one and play.

For somewhat experienced players

What skill level do you play at?

It's important to not discount yourself, do not assume that you cannot learn something more complex than what you're used to, if that's something that's interesting to you. However, if you aren't interested in class mastery, it's worth noting that. Think about the skill level that you generally play at and keep it in mind when selecting a **build** (note that all classes have both simple and complex builds).

What Themes or Archetypes do you enjoy?

Think about the themes you enjoy in typical fantasy. Do you like dark magic? What about holy warriors? Do you enjoy fast-paced, movement-oriented gameplay or slower-paced "juggernaut" style archetypes? These types of questions are the best way to find a class you enjoy, as they often give you a "vibe" you can use to immediately select a class in Guild Wars 2.

What content do you want to play?

There's a big difference in what's effective in PVE vs PVP or WvW. This gets even more true as we dive into sub-modes like Raids, Small Group WvW, or Open World. Knowing what content you want to play - even if it's "All of it" - can help you decide on what **builds** you may want to focus on. (And note, there not just "one build for all modes" - that's a terrible idea.)

This will help you refine your search. For example, if I was using this method, I may say: "I'm looking for a good class to play. I like fast-paced, versatile gameplay and I usually enjoy more complex rotations. I like most themes but I generally enjoy paladins and mages, I really do not like any kind of necromancy. I mostly want to do all kinds of PVE and maybe some WvW"

This really gives people a good overview of specifically what you're looking for, and you can get more specific, nuanced answers. If I got the question above, I would suggest **Guardian**, **Elementalist**, and **Mesmer** to the person above, with a mention of **Revenant**.