Consider this, it doesn't matter which profession you play solo, as long as you're using The Dreamer shortbow, because it helps ensure you stay playing solo because no one wants to hear those dang unicorns going off constantly.
thank you for sharing the tips, here is the help for searching the timeline: elementalis: 0:54 warrior: 2:29 ranger: 3:49 necromancer: 5:14 guardian: 6:34 thief: 7:58 engineer: 9:27 mesmer: 10:56 revenant: 12:16
Great vid for new players again. Thanks for making the effort of giving new players an easier start and therefore hopefully keeping them in the community. For the engi i would like to add the pistol dual wield engi. I was surprised how effective the core pistol condi engi actually is. it's a tinyy bit more complex then the power rifle version, but i think it is still worth mentioning it because of how well it works.
Dual pistol engineer is incredibly strong! But typically condition oriented gear is expensive and tough to get ahold of, so I opted for the straight up blasting of a power build!
A great rune choice for any class that has sustained healing is Rune of Sanctuary. It gives you Vitality, boon duration and barrier generation from the healing. Slap it on Warrior and Guardian. I think your Warrior build just needs 1 or 2 tweaks trait line wise to be even better. In Strength you would take peak performance for that 5% dmg increase and then in Tactics take Soldier's comfort and Empower allies. I would also swap the axe shield to Rifle. Rilfe puts out Vuln on targets which then the auto of the rifle will generate might. Also using just the signet of malice on the rifle you can upkeep 25 Vuln on your target while keeping 25 might on yourself. On Guardian I would use the elite signet. Core reve I think the Condi version is much more survivable.
I did consider sanctuary for a number of builds but I felt like there wasn't going to be enough damage. I opted out of the condi Rev because I thought it wouldn't be strong enough to be honest!
Im gonna use that warrior build to grind hero points for spellbreaker, thanks for the video :) amazing how you find time to upload so often man. Looking forward to your updated fractals vid, just started playing them and theyre awesome 👌
Music reminds me of anime recaps. But about the video, I love when content creators or people in general give new players builds that can help them get through the solo parts of the game. I appreciate your videos especially the ones of recent
Great vid. Just to contribute to comments, here are my suggested builds: Hammer gs warrior: defense-tactiks-strength traitline gives incredible self sustain, hammer gives a lot of cc, gs brings the dmg, you get stability and adrenaline everytime you cc Minionmancer, but with staff: same build as in the video, but bring the trait for marks and use staff instead axe/focus. Thanks to some balance changes not so long ago, staff marks decimate groups of enemies. The kit dealer engi: you can use the booster cele gear for this with firearms-explosives-tools. Utilities: med/bomb/grenade/flamethrower/mortar kit. Weapons: do you even need weapons with this many kits?... well you can use p/p if you really want to
I'd say that some of the best suggested core builds for engineer that I've seen have oriented around a condition set versus a power! Although hybrid damage may be better suited. Also with warrior I haven't seen too many people with hammer in open world (maybe I'm not paying attention) is it any better?
@@CaffeinatedDad I love the perma stability from defense traitline, but to be fair, I run spellbreaker usually. When I run hero points on my NA alt, like every 2nd player was a hammer spellbreaker.
I have played most classes so far and i must admit. The warrior core feels very very well balanced, stupid dmg and insane survivability. Cant really go wrong with any trait lines and very easy to learn with a nice high skillceiling. Besides ranger and guardian, i think warrior is an amazing pick for beginners. Addicted to the class currently!
Warrior is fantastically balanced! The dps, the healing the overall sturdiness! It's incredibly well done! Now if only some of that magic would rub off onto my poor elementalist... lol
need to try the ranger. I scrapped together something that made me through the story with axe+torch/longbow & traps - ended up very tanky: massive health pool, lots of fire/poison conditions. Some fights took me ages but I could keep up with the healing. Fun fact, I also mapped abilities on ZXC :)
haha, never played lol (or yes, I tried it back in the day, not for me). Just found that those three keys were way better than the default 67890 ANet used. The other thing of builds is that once you invest into one changing style takes quite a while to get used to...
Thanks for this vid, currently trying to farm hero points in crystal and it’s my first time in lvl 80 area and I’ve died like 6 times an hour . Everything hurts so bad despite dying the same speed
Hmmm, what quality gear do you have? If you have exotic gear it can be challenging but perhaps not dying all the time! Also thank you for the kind words!
@@CaffeinatedDad I have all exotic gear that I bought based off build recommendations, but I think the problem is theres so many enemies and im like legit scared as I am roaming lol. I have gotten better and switched the build up now and mostly doing ok its just slow for me I guess. Thanks for the reply. I am going to keep at it.
As someone who hasn’t gone through any of the expansions yet this is so helpful! I have quite a few areas and challenged to do before I can fully unlock an elite spec so this is nice to see possibilities to take.
been playing ranger for years. i think short bow/axe/war horn trapper with dire gear and weapons with cele trinkets rings and amulet and superior rune of the krait taking skirmishing/ wilderness survival/nature of magic out performs a long bow set up. much more crowd control and survivability
Decent builds and rundowns for most professions, except engineer... Turrets are really bad atm, only being useful in very niche cases. As a static summon, it's especially bad in open world stuff. Rifle turret is the only useful one because of the toolbelt skill. For a beginner solo core build I'd recommend focusing more on might generation. The first two firearms traits that generate might are great for solo. You'll proc lots of bleed pretty easily due to the first minor on firearms, rifle 2 and grenade 2. I'd then replace the turrets with elixir B and elixir U for all the boons which again are super useful for solo. They're also getting lower cooldown next patch which is nice. Swiftness is also very important, no swiftness means you can't kite/dodge stuff as well so champions will fuck you up. Streamlined kits in tools is very handy for this, way better than takedown rounds when solo. The rest of the build is great!
im a really noob in this game, and need one spesific job for my first (main/core) char for farming in PVE with no hard combination of combo, high survivability and dmg. i have slow finger, do you think guardian will be suitable for me? usually i play paladin in other game, tanking all the way with some easy button to press, having hard time in timing the dodge as well
The guardian is surprisingly squishy for being a heavy armor class. If you want the best low intensity I'd suggest either warrior ranger or necromancer as they tend to be lower intensity and higher results!
@@CaffeinatedDad are you sure? Aren't archer and magician usually glass cannon (atleast in other game). So can you explain more detail why you recommend those 3 job especially archer and necro. Thank you by the way
@@monstahanto457 ranger themself is not tanky but they have pet that is lots more tanky than one passive guardian -lol (drake pet is one of them), for necromancer as spankyjeffro5320 said they have dual healthbar and many vampiric skills
What is the difference between the Elementalist best solo build and the Elementalist one you posted as a levelling build? Becasue the builds are not the same, I'm easily confused :)
Brand new player, tried Ranger, thief and Elementalist so far. Elementalist is so far my fav. Got to buy the game because as F2P I only get two char slots and because the Elementalist is so far my fav, I only have one other slot to try the other classes.
For ele go with tempest, full celestial gear, runes of the pack and fire and arcane traits. Good dps and great sustain. You can switch fire to air or earth if you want. For mesmer go with mirage with 2 staffs, also condi and pretty much immortal. I can easily solo every bounty out there on this guy :)
Hey! I am currently working on a similar video, so I was interested in the approach you took on it. I've done quite a bit of research on this topic and I have a little bit of constructive criticism on the gearing and potential elite spec outlook of some of the builds you suggest. My points are coming from a PvE-perspective only, so they may not apply for people who focus on WvW only. 1. The gear you suggest is tailored to one niche aspect of the game (solo PvE) and the benefits from that gear can be obtained via more efficient means than using gear with toughness and particular runes. I could point out numerous examples, but taking the necromancer build as an example, you chose to run soldier armor that gives 393 toughness and divinity runes that together cost at least 5 gold if you buy them. Instead, it would make more sense to go for a cheap condition build and use curses, soul reaping and death magic with corrupter's fervor, which gives you easy 600(!) toughness and permanent protection. if someone wanted to take your suggested build into meta events in OW, they'd be at a disadvantage because they cannot change the gear they use easily without investing more gold and usually wont need the additional survivability from the gear. Traits and food on the other hand can be changed on the fly. 2. The builds do not consider the potential transitions into elite specializations that most players will likely look for. Again looking at the necromancer build, there is only one elite specialization one can go reasonably for with that in later-game pve: reaper. On the condition side, you can go for either scourge, harbinger or reaper all the same, and these builds are vastly more powerful and straightforward to execute in soloing harder content compared to power core necro or power reaper. 3. Sometimes, the choices made are strictly subpar versus other options in a pure mathematical sense. On the core mesmer, you choose to go for perplexity runes. The majority of damage on that build comes from torment and one perplexity rune literally costs 6 gold. So the rune does lower damage in most scenarios and costs a lot more gold than more powerful options. 4. (and this is probably the reason why I felt i had to write this) Advertising builds as "BEST" or "OPTIMAL" has become common practice in build guides, but it is deceptive advertising because the builds suggested here are not the BEST builds for anything related to PvE. I could go on for a while on specifics here, but i think the main points come across.
Hey big fan! So to answer in the fashion mentioned, these are essentially core builds that are accessible to all new players. My premise was because a great portion of players only have access to the core game so I built around that thought. This guide does not have any controlling factors for gold cost or the transfer to elite specialization as it is fixated just on a core builds. This is also meant to be oriented around new players who are going to make mistakes and errors as they play which the builds are meant to be forgiving for that. In the case of the mesmer, for example, yes perplexity runes are expensive but the damage reduction is excellent. Arguably I could have suggested divinity runes as well! And yes the term "best" or "optimal" are used frequently, and I am guilty of it. The term is best is used here for my thought of a best core build specifically for new inexperienced players who are more likely than not going to make mistakes as they play, in thoughts that is my use of "best" interpretation. I do appreciate your comment and your thoughts, however!
@@CaffeinatedDad Gotta say, your reply was more thoughtful than the original post warranted. I appreciate your video in particular as I have a number of friends who can only afford F2P right now, so expansions are out of the question. It seems the vast majority of other build videos out there require you to have purchased expansions, so they're not helpful at all. Also, leveling builds seem to fall off with how to gear for open world PVE at 80. So, this is the perfect balance to me and the friends of mine just starting out in GW2. Thanks!
My top 3 3. Viper condi mech insane damage and survivability 2. Trailblazer mirage basicly unkillable 1.berserg deadeye f1 f2 kills everything and sb auto + f1 f2 groups (18.7 patch can be nerf).
If you have Revenant, which comes with an expansion, you basically have an elite for every profession... although good guides... Main point shoud be that with some exceptions, if you want to survive, buy/craft gear with vitality and toughness, and pick some defence skills... you do zero damage if you are dead! Have fun...
Fair point but a new person would need to level to 80 and then jump into Hero Point Train to get the 220 HPs for an Elite. I run trains for fun and newer players get very frustrated very quickly trying to keep up.
Great vid. Not so sure about thief though. I always find it harder to stay alive as a condi if I don't take the critical strikes trait line. Still condi daredevil is amazing to play.
Condi daredevil is one that I took inspiration from for this build. My main thought was conditions tl deal damage and not be forced to stay in melee for a long time
That War build is so similar to the one I play, and I can never change it, honestly I have almost every character with an Elite Spec excepting for the Warrior, that Core build and building GreatSword/Axe+Shield is so damn good everytime I try other thing I honestly go back to it, except maybe on PvP where sometimes I pair the Greatsword with a GreatHammer or Bow depending the situation
Haven't touched gw2 in a few months, have they done anything with the mace or hammer for guardian or is the mace still a healing slapstick with the hammer only cc?
Thanx - I'm tempted to go try some core builds from this vid for a change of pace.... Knowing a little more about Rev, i would say sword/sword+staff Shiro/Jalis is by far the most workable solo over any alternatives.... Challenge for Dad: What is your best Ventari solo build (elite specs allowed)?
A ventari build can be a fun thing to theory craft around! I have default suggestions for general open world but not solo. I tend to like condi rev more than power (dont like shiros heal). I could see a short bow staff build working out ok using renegade demon/ventari (staff for utility/block/heal/cc). I would love to run mace/axe and staff demon/ventari core. If I am going power, I couldn't give up the greatsword so would go vindicator and the heal dodge using shiro/ventari or even dwarf/ventari (unfortunately would recommend leg alliance, its good for the aggressive play but you want more survive-ability in a solo build). Thinking invocation 2,2,1 / salvation 3, 2or3, 2 / vindicator 1, 3, 3. This way you cleanse and heal and give yourself strong vigor when you dodge (also barrier). Boons on centaur skills and on legend swap. Reduced damage on how many boons you have. Dont think you need battle scars from devastation trait line because your dodge is your heal. Maybe go with a mix of boon duration increasing gear with normal power stats. Dont need healing power from running salvation and the heal jump. Will run more tests but think this is solid. Camp greatsword for damage swap to staff if need utility/additional heals/cc.
Every time i try to play this game, I get absolutely trounced in personal story missions (the fire expansion) and it's demoralizing and bad. I always end up just going back to everquest because it's somehow more fun to solo in.
@@CaffeinatedDad I'm running a guardian with either full celestial or full marauder's using the open world greatsword power build and every combat is a struggle (I was level cap way back when before they started these expansions). Things start off OK but quickly turn into 'mash every cooldown as fast as i can and i'll still probably die'.
I'm currently trying elementalist both power catalyst from metabuild and the basic elementalist from your vid, and I quite like them both and was just wondering from in you're opinion, which of them is better or do you have a custom build for you're catalyst? also thanks to you're vid that I'm currently falling in love with the class atm.
Havent played for a few years, have they nerfed the condi shortbow rev? I'm sure that was an ez open world solo build and competitive at low tier fractals back in the day. Easy to use too
For the thief (I didn't fully watch this before commenting but I know it wont be here) The build I run is something I used to use in PVP/PVE and I was a god damn menace to society. Twin dagger running Hide in the Shadows, Blinding Powder, Haste, Infiltrator's Signet, and Dagger Storm with Dagger Pistol secondary weapon. If you come across more than 4 to 5 mobs you'll have a hard time but you'll be fine. If timed properly you can avoid the majority of attacks from mobs while dealing a consistent amount of damage. If you feel like you need a bit of range from my play style you can easily use twin pistol and be totally fine. If anyone is interested in why I don't use the Top Tier build's or wants to know what my Spec's are feel free to comment. I made this character back waaaay before the first expansion when the game came out and its proved to be a force even to this day.
There is something about understanding a profession to a degree that you can basically change things on the fly to make it work for you. It sounds like you have that mastery!
@@CaffeinatedDad I'll be honest it took me a while to get my muscle memory back. I luckily had a witness to the absurdity that is my thief once I was back up to scratch. The build does suffer against boss's when playing solo but other than that issue its still solid.
How come I don’t see any of the condition dmg in my floating txt? You have a little fire icon next to burning dmg abd the poison icon for poison dmg. How???
I know the vid is a year old. I have all expansions but i still prefer to play core on most of my classes in PvE just because i can. Especially the hammer/greatsword perma quickness i came up with clears everything with ease. Only mobs that tend to be annoying are perma blinders (sand lions, dust mites)
@@re_brandon Yep, condi is very fun. I've got a condi Chrono that I'm about to dust off. Looking forward to it. She was always very fast and furious with scepter and perplexity runes. Hope her build is still in good shape.
I'm a new player... I like the thief.... but I get BODIED everywhere I go. Squishy AF. This thief you provided... is it durable at all I don't wanna reroll because I keep dying.
As long as you have your timings down (when to stay at ranged, when to go in) it will work. You could go full ranged dps with dual pistols to avoid melee all together. Unfortunately thief is super squish!
I enjoyed this vid and have tried 4 different characters with it. I'm having the least amount of fun with the Guardian, honestly. I also have a Mesmer, a Necromancer, and a Ranger and I think they are way more fun. I'm just playing the Guardian wrong, I believe. I'm just not seeing the hype.
The guardian has alot of versatility in group compositions, not necessarily the strongest in solo settings. They have quite a bit of healing to be sure but they lack in toughness and stamina honestly!
@@CaffeinatedDad I actually tried it. With motar kit too. It's so good. I use tools for the aed utility, inventions for a second heal charge, alchemy for tanking hits, or sacrifice inventions for more damage by using explosions. Or double the damage by also changing alchemy for firearms for that sweet crit DPS. Kits I use are A.E.D. FOR MORE HEAL AND CLUTCH ROCKET BOOTS FOR MORE MOBILITY GRENADE KIT CUZ YEAH EITHER THE ELIXIR THAT SHRINKS YOU OR THE ELIXER THAT GIVES YOU MORE DPS AND FINALLY EITHER MORTAR KIT OR SUPPLY DROP. It's really good and I've been dominating in the pvp game mode. But I lose cuz my team doesn't know how to rotate TvT
new player here just started 3 days straight ago literally. as a thief my builds are sword/dagger while 2nd set is short bow. as i scroll on the comments section i felt proud of myself reading veteran players suggesting the same build. Try it bro it's fun.😊
Great Video keep it up, your Necro builds equipment are not the same as your video, vid specifies axe/focus w/ dagger/war but buid links hav a staff on both builds...
@@CaffeinatedDad sure tnx, btw, will they be Berserkers, Valkarie, or what specifically... (weapons) I am currently doing open world completion since POF till the end, story, maps completion, etc... but i will like to use the agressive build due to the minions instead of the open world varient you have... thank you...
As a thief main with over 10,000 hours on it: no, Dagger Dagger is not a good beginners build. It is pretty low dps, mobility, and defense. It is one of the hardest thief specs to play well and learning it will not help much later when you transition to a stronger build. It is fun to play flipping around and all but until you get Deadeye there isn't really a strong build for it. The best core build for thief is Sword Dagger because of greater DPS, having more CC breaks, and importantly infltratiors strike (2) and the shadow return mechanic. Critical Strike 1-2-1, Acrobatics 3-2-2, Trickery 3-1-2; utilites, Heal Signet of Malic, Signet of Agility, Shadow Refuge, Caltrops, Elite Thieves Guild. As you progress you can start playing with the Utilites. Caltrops while weak are but are a great heal when combined with Signet of Malic. Shadow Refuge allows you to get guarded chests without a fight. Signet of Agility is your main condi cleanse. Thieves Guild not only is fair damage but will distract or hold in place mobs. Not only that but swap up some utilities and you have a decent PvP build. Of course any core thief build that does not have Shortbow as the second set in the open world is just troll or a specialty build for something specific. The next best would be Dagger Pistol. After than I'd to either pistol dagger and become a stealth king or pistol pistol and just play ranged. Heck, I'd even put Sword Pistol ahead of Dagger Dagger.
I appreciate your comment! So my thought here is creating a solo core build that would focus strictly on survivability and a way to get involved into the class. I chose d/d because utilizing the skills are fairly straightforward, and i was concerned the infiltratiors strike and straightforward combat of sword would be challenging but arguably if I wanted pure safety and simplicity, then even P/P may have been a better suit. Most thief builds and Elite specializations get into melee and having being able to master the hardest melee combo for thief would make the rest of the specs a breeze!
@@CaffeinatedDad One of the fun things about Thief is all the hacks. I used to play a lot of dagger/dagger, this was back circa 2014 when dagger dagger was super strong for dueling. Just have one dagger main hand on the first set and one dagger off hand with the other set; not second weapon in either set. (one set main hand the other in the off hand slot) The game will automatically load both daggers in both sets making double daggers in both. This allows you put any sigil 'on weapon swap' and constantly have the buff. For example you can have perma 5 stacks of might with Superior Sigil of Battle. The buff is 12 second with a 9 second recharge rate. Or for dueling a good one was Sigil of Energy where you get half your endurance back on weapons swap. It also works with pistols which is a great farming build. The down side is no short bow and by and large it is wrong to not have short bow slotted as it really is the most OP weapon in the game. There are places like most raids and some fractals where you're better off going something like pistol pistol but in most cases outside that unless it is a specific build for a specific purpose for me shortbow is a must. Not so much for the DPS or conditions but the evade/mobility of 3 Disabling Shot in a fight is how you can solo a lot of harder bosses by just kiting them to death.
@@CaffeinatedDad The main reason I'd recommend S/D for beginner core builds is the shadow infiltrator's strike; enter combat with it and use shadow return if you need to. It is also the best core build for PvP. It also cleaves through shield's like the Guardians, which is one of the reasons it is the strongest core PvP build. But honestly, leveling in GW2 is the tutorial so new thieves should experiment with all the weapon sets. Thief isn't usually meta for a lot of the game so adaptability is key to getting into Raids and higher level fractals. As a thief so much of your build is situational. When they added the build tabs that was a god send. Not just weapons and utilities but actual builds, multiple for sPvP and WvW, several for solo'ing bosses or farming, several for instance content....
I wouldn't say D/D Thief as a best solo build unless you're comfortable on the ground throwing daggers. I personally run Hybrid P/P+S/D pitfall and 1k needles. The DA traits you picked is perfect for the P/P since Unload can inflict poison ad infinitum if you hit with all the bullets. Leeching Venom trait is not that good, take Cloak in Shadows instead since you'll be using blindness often and which gives you a better siphon return. Deadly Ambush is bad -- Sleight of Hand is a better choice - Poison deals more dmg than bleed, steal applies poison, so CDR for steal gives better dmg output plus the stun for break bar. You can't pass on 17s CD steal, that's a staple in all builds.
To be sure, the thief is a tricky one to get right. If I wanted a pure no problem open world build essentially I could run a p/p build and never really swap out. If you are going to get into the thief you have to get used to melee in some degree. My thought was, why not get new players accustom using the daggers?
@@CaffeinatedDad My personal choice for melee it S/D since it comes with shadowstep that gives you an escape, a dual-wield skill that steals boon, a stealth attack that can either stun or blind, and an access to stealth -- a versatile weapon set. D/D is too much focus on offensive and it's really only best in PvP (or raid, maybe) where time-to-kill is what wins the game. Heck, D/P is even better than both, but that's a high skill weapon set.
Yes, the idea behind this video was to give core players a more stable build without much variation from beginner to moderate really. Most builds only change with stats to offer more offense versus defense
I am a new player. I have noticed one thing... there are ALOT of players running around with a green golem... Which if I understand that correctly is an engineer spec... why are there so MANY green golems running around?
best core ranger solo build; [&DQQeHSEmID94AHgAvwC3ALsAuwCWAbgAwADtADQ7BRgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] full cele, balthazar rune; weps axe main hand wep set 1 ; torch offhand wep set 2; sigil major str + superior str (yes they do stack) swap wep and use skill 5, then all other skills, then every time after wep swap use skill 5 for best dps .. super easy to play, very good dps and can solo everything.
I've heard of some condi builds for the Ranger that work well, usually they avoid torch and go axe axe shortbow. Is the burning from torch worth it that much?
@@CaffeinatedDad yea I tested a way more complex celestial build, with axe torch / shortbow (I believe sb had quickness) but this makes for a much much harder rotation for barely, if any, more dps. So yes this works very well, but do bear in mind it is a solo build, so you can easily soly balthazar hp / chack hp / mushroom hp in td and all bounties though ofcourse not all bounties can be killed within the timer, then you need to be lord hizen and have a less solo more dps build ;-). And also yes, after the celestial buff, cele dps is better than condi (trailblazer) only on this build.. perhaps there are some condi builds out there but again I'm talking about solo all, so this has a very good dps output for solo. If you are going to play this build in group more you can exchange 1 of the str. sigils for something else with dmg because on this build you solo cap 25 might, which would be a waste in a group that is giving you might also
I truly do know, after over 2 decades playing mmos, that there will always be a "meta" to every race/class etc in every game. That being said I have NEVER followed any meta builds and I have always used builds I love to play and through experience I have dhampioned over many people playing "meta" builds. Thr majority of people can't think for themselves and use what other people they view as more capable, hard work. That being said, since I started playing GW2 I have always used a rifle warrior with a shield are offhand combo. Not sure why, I think it has something to do with the needing to roll and create distance between me and the enemy, it's what others would view as many problematic or annoying, I love it. Because after 80 levels of that training, going into pvp was a sinch lmao. I stopped playing in like 2016 but just picked it back up to stream a start to finish playthrough and man, going right back into a rifle warrior felt...well...it felt right lmao. I actually made the warrior, touched the rifle, got nostalgic then logged off. I'm gonna male an engineer and go rifle and pistol duel wield as I enjoy the bleeding lmao
@@CaffeinatedDad solo open world is NOT about maximizing dps, it's about balance between dps, sustain and utilities. You just can't dodge every possible attacks from lots of enemies during open world events, when with full dps build you also can't sustain them, so, several hits from champs/legs/whatever stronger than elites and you downed. Much efficient and comfortable to deal less damage every possible second while staying alive, than release one or two bursts and then return from a near waypoint. A lot of metas was failed due to constant dying dozens of players from every single boss aoe. Furthermore, who use core builds? Old players who use them just for fun? Well, they making their own fun builds. New players who still not leveled elite specs? But they definitely will not survive most of the game content with full dps builds. So, who are these builds made for? Recommending such builds to new players is a really bad idea. And just in case i'll clarify, that this about full bers/viper/other similar "aggressive variant" builds, not about celestials and other sustainable.
@@namelessyoukai Thank you so much for this comment. I nearly quit the game because I get destroyed with every single ot these "open world dps builds" in living world. I tried them all, they all feel squishy af. One core warrior build here on youtube is described as "unkillable". I literally got two hitted by some of the bosses with this build... I now made my own build with defense stats on gear, runes, food and the most defense talents possible. It's soooo much better than all the open world builds on UA-cam. Now my Warrior is really tanky and living world feels like easy mode.
@@Seb7an look for Lord Hizen's builds, this guy pays a lot of attention to survivability. The only problem is that he doesn't make core builds, so, you will need access to elite specs before.
As someone who's done minion master for years and knows what works and what doesn't, your build is absolutely laughable and tells me you don't play MM at all. Your mistake is making it power based instead of condition. Power does not transfer to your minions but condition does. With your build you only boost your damage and not the minions and makes me wonder why you even need them. If you prioritize condition you boost not just you but your minions as well and makes the death nova even more deadly. And if you work your build right you wouldn't even need to use death shroud.
Hey I appreciate your input! True condition MM works great and was a consideration for this video. I chose power over condition because I wanted the damage to mainly come from the necromancer not necessary the minions. The minions are essential a meat shield while you are dpsing. The build idea is to be a core solo build for new players and there are not many minion builds that see endgame content for the Necromancer or their elite specialization. Even if the build didn't require death shroud I was looking to get the new players acclimated into switching in and out of shroud as that's a core part of necro play at all levels
@@CaffeinatedDad that's the response I would expect from someone who's never played a necro. If you go condo based you can actually solo most end game content. Going strength actually makes your character weaker.
The correct answer is none because they are all out paced massively by elite specs so you have to buy the expansions and dlcs this is by design Arenanet is a scum company.
Just coming back to the game after everal years and am going to have to try that Elementalist build, after spending most of my time wrecking events, right up until a Champ shows up. I want some payback 🔥⛰💨🌊
Consider this, it doesn't matter which profession you play solo, as long as you're using The Dreamer shortbow, because it helps ensure you stay playing solo because no one wants to hear those dang unicorns going off constantly.
THIS IS THE BEST COMMENT OF THE VIDEO LOL
Yeah, and then even your wife won't want to play with you anymore. 😤
I'm a rare bread because I smile everytime I hear that unicorn
thank god there is a sound option now to mute the projectile sound of other players ;)
@@pr0jv Shhhh....Don't tell others about that.
thank you for sharing the tips, here is the help for searching the timeline:
elementalis: 0:54
warrior: 2:29
ranger: 3:49
necromancer: 5:14
guardian: 6:34
thief: 7:58
engineer: 9:27
mesmer: 10:56
revenant: 12:16
Great vid for new players again. Thanks for making the effort of giving new players an easier start and therefore hopefully keeping them in the community. For the engi i would like to add the pistol dual wield engi. I was surprised how effective the core pistol condi engi actually is. it's a tinyy bit more complex then the power rifle version, but i think it is still worth mentioning it because of how well it works.
Dual pistol engineer is incredibly strong! But typically condition oriented gear is expensive and tough to get ahold of, so I opted for the straight up blasting of a power build!
A great rune choice for any class that has sustained healing is Rune of Sanctuary. It gives you Vitality, boon duration and barrier generation from the healing. Slap it on Warrior and Guardian.
I think your Warrior build just needs 1 or 2 tweaks trait line wise to be even better.
In Strength you would take peak performance for that 5% dmg increase and then in Tactics take Soldier's comfort and Empower allies.
I would also swap the axe shield to Rifle. Rilfe puts out Vuln on targets which then the auto of the rifle will generate might. Also using just the signet of malice on the rifle you can upkeep 25 Vuln on your target while keeping 25 might on yourself.
On Guardian I would use the elite signet.
Core reve I think the Condi version is much more survivable.
I did consider sanctuary for a number of builds but I felt like there wasn't going to be enough damage. I opted out of the condi Rev because I thought it wouldn't be strong enough to be honest!
Im gonna use that warrior build to grind hero points for spellbreaker, thanks for the video :) amazing how you find time to upload so often man. Looking forward to your updated fractals vid, just started playing them and theyre awesome 👌
I appeciate the kind words! I have to play more fractals to talk about fractals! They are one of my least played endgame contents, that and wvw
Music reminds me of anime recaps. But about the video, I love when content creators or people in general give new players builds that can help them get through the solo parts of the game. I appreciate your videos especially the ones of recent
I feel like solo play is important for mmos especially gw2!
Great vid. Just to contribute to comments, here are my suggested builds:
Hammer gs warrior: defense-tactiks-strength traitline gives incredible self sustain, hammer gives a lot of cc, gs brings the dmg, you get stability and adrenaline everytime you cc
Minionmancer, but with staff: same build as in the video, but bring the trait for marks and use staff instead axe/focus. Thanks to some balance changes not so long ago, staff marks decimate groups of enemies.
The kit dealer engi: you can use the booster cele gear for this with firearms-explosives-tools. Utilities: med/bomb/grenade/flamethrower/mortar kit. Weapons: do you even need weapons with this many kits?... well you can use p/p if you really want to
I'd say that some of the best suggested core builds for engineer that I've seen have oriented around a condition set versus a power! Although hybrid damage may be better suited.
Also with warrior I haven't seen too many people with hammer in open world (maybe I'm not paying attention) is it any better?
@@CaffeinatedDad I love the perma stability from defense traitline, but to be fair, I run spellbreaker usually.
When I run hero points on my NA alt, like every 2nd player was a hammer spellbreaker.
I have played most classes so far and i must admit. The warrior core feels very very well balanced, stupid dmg and insane survivability. Cant really go wrong with any trait lines and very easy to learn with a nice high skillceiling. Besides ranger and guardian, i think warrior is an amazing pick for beginners. Addicted to the class currently!
Warrior is fantastically balanced! The dps, the healing the overall sturdiness! It's incredibly well done! Now if only some of that magic would rub off onto my poor elementalist... lol
I'll add berserker is tons of fun to play if you get the Heart of Thorns expansion
need to try the ranger. I scrapped together something that made me through the story with axe+torch/longbow & traps - ended up very tanky: massive health pool, lots of fire/poison conditions. Some fights took me ages but I could keep up with the healing.
Fun fact, I also mapped abilities on ZXC :)
Hahaha that's years of league of legends getting to me lol sometimes the best builds are the ones where you can whittle down enemies!
haha, never played lol (or yes, I tried it back in the day, not for me). Just found that those three keys were way better than the default 67890 ANet used.
The other thing of builds is that once you invest into one changing style takes quite a while to get used to...
Thanks for this vid, currently trying to farm hero points in crystal and it’s my first time in lvl 80 area and I’ve died like 6 times an hour . Everything hurts so bad despite dying the same speed
Hmmm, what quality gear do you have? If you have exotic gear it can be challenging but perhaps not dying all the time!
Also thank you for the kind words!
@@CaffeinatedDad I have all exotic gear that I bought based off build recommendations, but I think the problem is theres so many enemies and im like legit scared as I am roaming lol. I have gotten better and switched the build up now and mostly doing ok its just slow for me I guess. Thanks for the reply. I am going to keep at it.
Nice work. Do you have in plan to extend this to the Elite Specialization and cases where they are better than Core ?
Eventually yes!
Can you still do dungeons and end game content with core builds?
As someone who hasn’t gone through any of the expansions yet this is so helpful! I have quite a few areas and challenged to do before I can fully unlock an elite spec so this is nice to see possibilities to take.
Glad I could help! Of course these may change with future patches but right now they seem to be effective!
been playing ranger for years. i think short bow/axe/war horn trapper with dire gear and weapons with cele trinkets rings and amulet and superior rune of the krait taking skirmishing/ wilderness survival/nature of magic out performs a long bow set up. much more crowd control and survivability
I agree, the longbow while being fun doesn't provide the same amount of effectiveness as the short bow
downloading the game now, as a ff14 player this is definitely gonna take some time to get use to, but it honestly looks fun.
Great help for new players. Thanks a ton. Solid base/info drop
Decent builds and rundowns for most professions, except engineer...
Turrets are really bad atm, only being useful in very niche cases. As a static summon, it's especially bad in open world stuff. Rifle turret is the only useful one because of the toolbelt skill.
For a beginner solo core build I'd recommend focusing more on might generation. The first two firearms traits that generate might are great for solo. You'll proc lots of bleed pretty easily due to the first minor on firearms, rifle 2 and grenade 2. I'd then replace the turrets with elixir B and elixir U for all the boons which again are super useful for solo. They're also getting lower cooldown next patch which is nice.
Swiftness is also very important, no swiftness means you can't kite/dodge stuff as well so champions will fuck you up. Streamlined kits in tools is very handy for this, way better than takedown rounds when solo. The rest of the build is great!
im a really noob in this game, and need one spesific job for my first (main/core) char for farming in PVE with no hard combination of combo, high survivability and dmg. i have slow finger, do you think guardian will be suitable for me? usually i play paladin in other game, tanking all the way with some easy button to press, having hard time in timing the dodge as well
The guardian is surprisingly squishy for being a heavy armor class. If you want the best low intensity I'd suggest either warrior ranger or necromancer as they tend to be lower intensity and higher results!
@@CaffeinatedDad are you sure? Aren't archer and magician usually glass cannon (atleast in other game). So can you explain more detail why you recommend those 3 job especially archer and necro. Thank you by the way
@@CaffeinatedDad and also why is the dreamer shortbow is a must for playing solo (just read some comment)
@@monstahanto457 Warrior is tanky and has good self heals. Ranger has a pet that can tank for you. Necromancer has a second health bar it can use.
@@monstahanto457 ranger themself is not tanky but they have pet that is lots more tanky than one passive guardian -lol (drake pet is one of them), for necromancer as spankyjeffro5320 said they have dual healthbar and many vampiric skills
Grats on 10k bro! I know it was a milestone you were looking forward to.
Thank you! I greatly appreciate your support!
What is the difference between the Elementalist best solo build and the Elementalist one you posted as a levelling build? Becasue the builds are not the same, I'm easily confused :)
Thanks for video! Been a while since ive played GW2 and Ive gotten bored playing with elite specs constantly so this is useful info Thank you.
The core specs are so underrated! And thank you for the kind words!
Always appreciate your core class videos
Happy to help!
My open world necro is a power reaper minion-mancer, I call it the lazy reaper since its based off the strikes/raid build of power reaper.
Brand new player, tried Ranger, thief and Elementalist so far. Elementalist is so far my fav. Got to buy the game because as F2P I only get two char slots and because the Elementalist is so far my fav, I only have one other slot to try the other classes.
Elementakist is an excellent choice! If you can get over the initial hiccup of difficulty it's amazing! Also welcome in!
For ele go with tempest, full celestial gear, runes of the pack and fire and arcane traits. Good dps and great sustain. You can switch fire to air or earth if you want. For mesmer go with mirage with 2 staffs, also condi and pretty much immortal. I can easily solo every bounty out there on this guy :)
I've seen the double staff mirage and they rock EVERYTHING! Such a great elite spec!
Hey!
I am currently working on a similar video, so I was interested in the approach you took on it. I've done quite a bit of research on this topic and I have a little bit of constructive criticism on the gearing and potential elite spec outlook of some of the builds you suggest. My points are coming from a PvE-perspective only, so they may not apply for people who focus on WvW only.
1. The gear you suggest is tailored to one niche aspect of the game (solo PvE) and the benefits from that gear can be obtained via more efficient means than using gear with toughness and particular runes. I could point out numerous examples, but taking the necromancer build as an example, you chose to run soldier armor that gives 393 toughness and divinity runes that together cost at least 5 gold if you buy them. Instead, it would make more sense to go for a cheap condition build and use curses, soul reaping and death magic with corrupter's fervor, which gives you easy 600(!) toughness and permanent protection. if someone wanted to take your suggested build into meta events in OW, they'd be at a disadvantage because they cannot change the gear they use easily without investing more gold and usually wont need the additional survivability from the gear. Traits and food on the other hand can be changed on the fly.
2. The builds do not consider the potential transitions into elite specializations that most players will likely look for. Again looking at the necromancer build, there is only one elite specialization one can go reasonably for with that in later-game pve: reaper. On the condition side, you can go for either scourge, harbinger or reaper all the same, and these builds are vastly more powerful and straightforward to execute in soloing harder content compared to power core necro or power reaper.
3. Sometimes, the choices made are strictly subpar versus other options in a pure mathematical sense. On the core mesmer, you choose to go for perplexity runes. The majority of damage on that build comes from torment and one perplexity rune literally costs 6 gold. So the rune does lower damage in most scenarios and costs a lot more gold than more powerful options.
4. (and this is probably the reason why I felt i had to write this) Advertising builds as "BEST" or "OPTIMAL" has become common practice in build guides, but it is deceptive advertising because the builds suggested here are not the BEST builds for anything related to PvE.
I could go on for a while on specifics here, but i think the main points come across.
Hey big fan!
So to answer in the fashion mentioned, these are essentially core builds that are accessible to all new players. My premise was because a great portion of players only have access to the core game so I built around that thought. This guide does not have any controlling factors for gold cost or the transfer to elite specialization as it is fixated just on a core builds.
This is also meant to be oriented around new players who are going to make mistakes and errors as they play which the builds are meant to be forgiving for that. In the case of the mesmer, for example, yes perplexity runes are expensive but the damage reduction is excellent. Arguably I could have suggested divinity runes as well!
And yes the term "best" or "optimal" are used frequently, and I am guilty of it. The term is best is used here for my thought of a best core build specifically for new inexperienced players who are more likely than not going to make mistakes as they play, in thoughts that is my use of "best" interpretation.
I do appreciate your comment and your thoughts, however!
@@CaffeinatedDad Gotta say, your reply was more thoughtful than the original post warranted. I appreciate your video in particular as I have a number of friends who can only afford F2P right now, so expansions are out of the question. It seems the vast majority of other build videos out there require you to have purchased expansions, so they're not helpful at all. Also, leveling builds seem to fall off with how to gear for open world PVE at 80. So, this is the perfect balance to me and the friends of mine just starting out in GW2. Thanks!
My top 3
3. Viper condi mech insane damage and survivability
2. Trailblazer mirage basicly unkillable
1.berserg deadeye f1 f2 kills everything and sb auto + f1 f2 groups (18.7 patch can be nerf).
Those are all great choice tbh. I haven't tried trailblazers mirage however that sounds interesting
If you have Revenant, which comes with an expansion, you basically have an elite for every profession... although good guides... Main point shoud be that with some exceptions, if you want to survive, buy/craft gear with vitality and toughness, and pick some defence skills... you do zero damage if you are dead! Have fun...
Fair point but a new person would need to level to 80 and then jump into Hero Point Train to get the 220 HPs for an Elite. I run trains for fun and newer players get very frustrated very quickly trying to keep up.
This video could really use chapter breaks for each class. Otherwise, good info, for the ones I play that I managed to find by clicking around.
ZZZ I added a note to do that but I didn't get to it. Thank you for the reminser
Great vid. Not so sure about thief though. I always find it harder to stay alive as a condi if I don't take the critical strikes trait line. Still condi daredevil is amazing to play.
Condi daredevil is one that I took inspiration from for this build. My main thought was conditions tl deal damage and not be forced to stay in melee for a long time
That War build is so similar to the one I play, and I can never change it, honestly I have almost every character with an Elite Spec excepting for the Warrior, that Core build and building GreatSword/Axe+Shield is so damn good everytime I try other thing I honestly go back to it, except maybe on PvP where sometimes I pair the Greatsword with a GreatHammer or Bow depending the situation
It's such a strong base build! The core warrior is such a well balanced profession! Even in pvp!
Haven't touched gw2 in a few months, have they done anything with the mace or hammer for guardian or is the mace still a healing slapstick with the hammer only cc?
Thanx - I'm tempted to go try some core builds from this vid for a change of pace.... Knowing a little more about Rev, i would say sword/sword+staff Shiro/Jalis is by far the most workable solo over any alternatives.... Challenge for Dad: What is your best Ventari solo build (elite specs allowed)?
Hmmm I'd have to take a look. Rev is my least played profession let alone the elite specializations!
A ventari build can be a fun thing to theory craft around! I have default suggestions for general open world but not solo. I tend to like condi rev more than power (dont like shiros heal). I could see a short bow staff build working out ok using renegade demon/ventari (staff for utility/block/heal/cc). I would love to run mace/axe and staff demon/ventari core.
If I am going power, I couldn't give up the greatsword so would go vindicator and the heal dodge using shiro/ventari or even dwarf/ventari (unfortunately would recommend leg alliance, its good for the aggressive play but you want more survive-ability in a solo build). Thinking invocation 2,2,1 / salvation 3, 2or3, 2 / vindicator 1, 3, 3. This way you cleanse and heal and give yourself strong vigor when you dodge (also barrier). Boons on centaur skills and on legend swap. Reduced damage on how many boons you have. Dont think you need battle scars from devastation trait line because your dodge is your heal. Maybe go with a mix of boon duration increasing gear with normal power stats. Dont need healing power from running salvation and the heal jump. Will run more tests but think this is solid. Camp greatsword for damage swap to staff if need utility/additional heals/cc.
@@IcewolfBrett wow. thanx for taking the time to give all the details in chat. I might try the ren demon build (I'm still learning vindi)
Every time i try to play this game, I get absolutely trounced in personal story missions (the fire expansion) and it's demoralizing and bad. I always end up just going back to everquest because it's somehow more fun to solo in.
Hmm perhaps it's a gear question then? Mostly exotic gear is perfect to get you through most story missions
@@CaffeinatedDad I'm running a guardian with either full celestial or full marauder's using the open world greatsword power build and every combat is a struggle (I was level cap way back when before they started these expansions). Things start off OK but quickly turn into 'mash every cooldown as fast as i can and i'll still probably die'.
I'm currently trying elementalist both power catalyst from metabuild and the basic elementalist from your vid, and I quite like them both and was just wondering from in you're opinion, which of them is better or do you have a custom build for you're catalyst? also thanks to you're vid that I'm currently falling in love with the class atm.
Havent played for a few years, have they nerfed the condi shortbow rev? I'm sure that was an ez open world solo build and competitive at low tier fractals back in the day. Easy to use too
For the thief (I didn't fully watch this before commenting but I know it wont be here) The build I run is something I used to use in PVP/PVE and I was a god damn menace to society. Twin dagger running Hide in the Shadows, Blinding Powder, Haste, Infiltrator's Signet, and Dagger Storm with Dagger Pistol secondary weapon. If you come across more than 4 to 5 mobs you'll have a hard time but you'll be fine. If timed properly you can avoid the majority of attacks from mobs while dealing a consistent amount of damage. If you feel like you need a bit of range from my play style you can easily use twin pistol and be totally fine. If anyone is interested in why I don't use the Top Tier build's or wants to know what my Spec's are feel free to comment. I made this character back waaaay before the first expansion when the game came out and its proved to be a force even to this day.
There is something about understanding a profession to a degree that you can basically change things on the fly to make it work for you. It sounds like you have that mastery!
@@CaffeinatedDad I'll be honest it took me a while to get my muscle memory back. I luckily had a witness to the absurdity that is my thief once I was back up to scratch. The build does suffer against boss's when playing solo but other than that issue its still solid.
9:28 engineer (saving for later).
Liking for your view and comment.
How come I don’t see any of the condition dmg in my floating txt? You have a little fire icon next to burning dmg abd the poison icon for poison dmg. How???
You don't see the floating text for your conditions? I didn't even think that was an optional feature?
@@CaffeinatedDad no I don’t but I finally found a Reddit thread, there’s an option to simplify the combat text and I’ve had it on for 10 years LMAO
So Ranger... Dare we call it, Power Ranger? I'll see myself out.
I HATE IT.... but im writing that down lol
is this workable in HoT area ? i find HoT zones too hard to solo and at this day it is impossible to get groups for that zone
I know the vid is a year old. I have all expansions but i still prefer to play core on most of my classes in PvE just because i can. Especially the hammer/greatsword perma quickness i came up with clears everything with ease. Only mobs that tend to be annoying are perma blinders (sand lions, dust mites)
I would definitely recommend Power Mesmer instead. The greatsword is just so good.
It's a cheaper build too. The condi build is great, but if it's geared towards new players then those Perplexity runes are pretty costly.
@@re_brandon Yes. In addition to that - greatsword is the best tagging weapon during meta events.
@@re_brandon Yep, condi is very fun. I've got a condi Chrono that I'm about to dust off. Looking forward to it. She was always very fast and furious with scepter and perplexity runes. Hope her build is still in good shape.
@@gailbrookhart1777 Sounds fun! I always tend to lean into strike/boon support with Chrono. Maybe I'll take a look at Condi just to change it up!
Greatsword is strong, of course, but I was looking at the signets for being easy of use and they tend to lean more condition oriented.
excuse me why armor in ranger build using soldier not fullset berserker???
Does celestial guardian gear transition well into willbender? Love the guides keep it up
Oh for sure! Celestial is always a good option for aby guardian spec.
Thanks btw!
Your skills are set to different keys?
What skill are you using for z on your thief build?
Devoures venom because I specced into panic strike!
Ok thank you in trying to decide between elementtalist or thief first time play gw2.
@duelcombo2955 personally I love the elementalist but the thief can be fun!
I'm a new player... I like the thief.... but I get BODIED everywhere I go. Squishy AF. This thief you provided... is it durable at all I don't wanna reroll because I keep dying.
As long as you have your timings down (when to stay at ranged, when to go in) it will work. You could go full ranged dps with dual pistols to avoid melee all together. Unfortunately thief is super squish!
I enjoyed this vid and have tried 4 different characters with it. I'm having the least amount of fun with the Guardian, honestly. I also have a Mesmer, a Necromancer, and a Ranger and I think they are way more fun. I'm just playing the Guardian wrong, I believe. I'm just not seeing the hype.
The guardian has alot of versatility in group compositions, not necessarily the strongest in solo settings. They have quite a bit of healing to be sure but they lack in toughness and stamina honestly!
Do you have any core builds for engineer in pvp?
I've seen some run rifle with grenade kit, but that tends to be super aggressive and not usually new player friendly
@@CaffeinatedDad I actually tried it. With motar kit too. It's so good. I use tools for the aed utility, inventions for a second heal charge, alchemy for tanking hits, or sacrifice inventions for more damage by using explosions. Or double the damage by also changing alchemy for firearms for that sweet crit DPS.
Kits I use are A.E.D. FOR MORE HEAL AND CLUTCH
ROCKET BOOTS FOR MORE MOBILITY
GRENADE KIT CUZ YEAH
EITHER THE ELIXIR THAT SHRINKS YOU OR THE ELIXER THAT GIVES YOU MORE DPS
AND FINALLY EITHER MORTAR KIT OR SUPPLY DROP. It's really good and I've been dominating in the pvp game mode. But I lose cuz my team doesn't know how to rotate TvT
I made another pvp build that uses pistols flamethrower grenade kit and mortar kit. The perfect support - damage dealer build
Great Video,What stats should i put in first when im still new and lving
on thief
new player here just started 3 days straight ago literally. as a thief my builds are sword/dagger while 2nd set is short bow. as i scroll on the comments section i felt proud of myself reading veteran players suggesting the same build. Try it bro it's fun.😊
@@elijahmichaelson5339 great! im def gonna try it
Great Video keep it up, your Necro builds equipment are not the same as your video, vid specifies axe/focus w/ dagger/war but buid links hav a staff on both builds...
Hmm really? I'll have to look at this as I don't want to mislead
@@CaffeinatedDad sure tnx, btw, will they be Berserkers, Valkarie, or what specifically... (weapons) I am currently doing open world completion since POF till the end, story, maps completion, etc... but i will like to use the agressive build due to the minions instead of the open world varient you have... thank you...
I'm using a necromancer with staff lol I hope I don't need to respec later
Shouldn't need to! There is no respect cost! You can swap freely whenever you want to!
F2P accounts cannot get celestial stats, right?
And you give us the links, thank you sooo much.
Absolutely!
How can people play with camera shake...
I can't tell you how many times this topic has come up lol
Have you heard that all the Scrapper mains have issued a statement raising the disgust coefficient for arenanet developers from 0.5 to 1.0?
I have not!?!?! What has happened?!?!
@@CaffeinatedDad Just a joke CDG =) They nerfed the damage coefficient for scrapper function gyro (so op right?)
As a thief main with over 10,000 hours on it: no, Dagger Dagger is not a good beginners build. It is pretty low dps, mobility, and defense. It is one of the hardest thief specs to play well and learning it will not help much later when you transition to a stronger build. It is fun to play flipping around and all but until you get Deadeye there isn't really a strong build for it.
The best core build for thief is Sword Dagger because of greater DPS, having more CC breaks, and importantly infltratiors strike (2) and the shadow return mechanic. Critical Strike 1-2-1, Acrobatics 3-2-2, Trickery 3-1-2; utilites, Heal Signet of Malic, Signet of Agility, Shadow Refuge, Caltrops, Elite Thieves Guild. As you progress you can start playing with the Utilites. Caltrops while weak are but are a great heal when combined with Signet of Malic. Shadow Refuge allows you to get guarded chests without a fight. Signet of Agility is your main condi cleanse. Thieves Guild not only is fair damage but will distract or hold in place mobs. Not only that but swap up some utilities and you have a decent PvP build.
Of course any core thief build that does not have Shortbow as the second set in the open world is just troll or a specialty build for something specific.
The next best would be Dagger Pistol. After than I'd to either pistol dagger and become a stealth king or pistol pistol and just play ranged. Heck, I'd even put Sword Pistol ahead of Dagger Dagger.
I appreciate your comment! So my thought here is creating a solo core build that would focus strictly on survivability and a way to get involved into the class. I chose d/d because utilizing the skills are fairly straightforward, and i was concerned the infiltratiors strike and straightforward combat of sword would be challenging but arguably if I wanted pure safety and simplicity, then even P/P may have been a better suit. Most thief builds and Elite specializations get into melee and having being able to master the hardest melee combo for thief would make the rest of the specs a breeze!
@@CaffeinatedDad One of the fun things about Thief is all the hacks. I used to play a lot of dagger/dagger, this was back circa 2014 when dagger dagger was super strong for dueling. Just have one dagger main hand on the first set and one dagger off hand with the other set; not second weapon in either set. (one set main hand the other in the off hand slot) The game will automatically load both daggers in both sets making double daggers in both. This allows you put any sigil 'on weapon swap' and constantly have the buff.
For example you can have perma 5 stacks of might with Superior Sigil of Battle. The buff is 12 second with a 9 second recharge rate. Or for dueling a good one was Sigil of Energy where you get half your endurance back on weapons swap.
It also works with pistols which is a great farming build. The down side is no short bow and by and large it is wrong to not have short bow slotted as it really is the most OP weapon in the game. There are places like most raids and some fractals where you're better off going something like pistol pistol but in most cases outside that unless it is a specific build for a specific purpose for me shortbow is a must.
Not so much for the DPS or conditions but the evade/mobility of 3 Disabling Shot in a fight is how you can solo a lot of harder bosses by just kiting them to death.
@@CaffeinatedDad The main reason I'd recommend S/D for beginner core builds is the shadow infiltrator's strike; enter combat with it and use shadow return if you need to. It is also the best core build for PvP. It also cleaves through shield's like the Guardians, which is one of the reasons it is the strongest core PvP build.
But honestly, leveling in GW2 is the tutorial so new thieves should experiment with all the weapon sets. Thief isn't usually meta for a lot of the game so adaptability is key to getting into Raids and higher level fractals. As a thief so much of your build is situational. When they added the build tabs that was a god send. Not just weapons and utilities but actual builds, multiple for sPvP and WvW, several for solo'ing bosses or farming, several for instance content....
I wouldn't say D/D Thief as a best solo build unless you're comfortable on the ground throwing daggers. I personally run Hybrid P/P+S/D pitfall and 1k needles. The DA traits you picked is perfect for the P/P since Unload can inflict poison ad infinitum if you hit with all the bullets. Leeching Venom trait is not that good, take Cloak in Shadows instead since you'll be using blindness often and which gives you a better siphon return. Deadly Ambush is bad -- Sleight of Hand is a better choice - Poison deals more dmg than bleed, steal applies poison, so CDR for steal gives better dmg output plus the stun for break bar. You can't pass on 17s CD steal, that's a staple in all builds.
To be sure, the thief is a tricky one to get right. If I wanted a pure no problem open world build essentially I could run a p/p build and never really swap out. If you are going to get into the thief you have to get used to melee in some degree. My thought was, why not get new players accustom using the daggers?
@@CaffeinatedDad My personal choice for melee it S/D since it comes with shadowstep that gives you an escape, a dual-wield skill that steals boon, a stealth attack that can either stun or blind, and an access to stealth -- a versatile weapon set. D/D is too much focus on offensive and it's really only best in PvP (or raid, maybe) where time-to-kill is what wins the game. Heck, D/P is even better than both, but that's a high skill weapon set.
timestamps ?
I did not include time stamps :( I'll look into it
Your Ranger and your "Aggresive Ranger" Builds are the same.
Only difference is the Soldiers armor vs Full Zerk.
Yes, the idea behind this video was to give core players a more stable build without much variation from beginner to moderate really. Most builds only change with stats to offer more offense versus defense
i expect necro and warrior to be on top
Warrior has ungodly sustain like holy crap!
@@CaffeinatedDad yea warrior sustain god then necro with the double life couldn't get better than that
Elementalists are the hardest imho @_@
There is a certain level of difficulty that is true!
excellentttt !!!! one more video plz :D """""The Best SOLO Profession Builds In Guild Wars 2""" :D
Ahh you mean all the specializations?
great grea great ! all i have to say ....!
Thanks buddy!
I am a new player. I have noticed one thing... there are ALOT of players running around with a green golem... Which if I understand that correctly is an engineer spec... why are there so MANY green golems running around?
That is the engineer elite specialization "the mechanist" its very popular because it essentially simplifies the engineer with a powerful pet
Nice
:D
I will not accept this mesmer erasure
Did I not include the meamer?
best core ranger solo build; [&DQQeHSEmID94AHgAvwC3ALsAuwCWAbgAwADtADQ7BRgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] full cele, balthazar rune; weps axe main hand wep set 1 ; torch offhand wep set 2; sigil major str + superior str (yes they do stack) swap wep and use skill 5, then all other skills, then every time after wep swap use skill 5 for best dps .. super easy to play, very good dps and can solo everything.
I've heard of some condi builds for the Ranger that work well, usually they avoid torch and go axe axe shortbow. Is the burning from torch worth it that much?
@@CaffeinatedDad yea I tested a way more complex celestial build, with axe torch / shortbow (I believe sb had quickness) but this makes for a much much harder rotation for barely, if any, more dps. So yes this works very well, but do bear in mind it is a solo build, so you can easily soly balthazar hp / chack hp / mushroom hp in td and all bounties though ofcourse not all bounties can be killed within the timer, then you need to be lord hizen and have a less solo more dps build ;-). And also yes, after the celestial buff, cele dps is better than condi (trailblazer) only on this build.. perhaps there are some condi builds out there but again I'm talking about solo all, so this has a very good dps output for solo. If you are going to play this build in group more you can exchange 1 of the str. sigils for something else with dmg because on this build you solo cap 25 might, which would be a waste in a group that is giving you might also
I truly do know, after over 2 decades playing mmos, that there will always be a "meta" to every race/class etc in every game. That being said I have NEVER followed any meta builds and I have always used builds I love to play and through experience I have dhampioned over many people playing "meta" builds. Thr majority of people can't think for themselves and use what other people they view as more capable, hard work.
That being said, since I started playing GW2 I have always used a rifle warrior with a shield are offhand combo. Not sure why, I think it has something to do with the needing to roll and create distance between me and the enemy, it's what others would view as many problematic or annoying, I love it. Because after 80 levels of that training, going into pvp was a sinch lmao.
I stopped playing in like 2016 but just picked it back up to stream a start to finish playthrough and man, going right back into a rifle warrior felt...well...it felt right lmao. I actually made the warrior, touched the rifle, got nostalgic then logged off. I'm gonna male an engineer and go rifle and pistol duel wield as I enjoy the bleeding lmao
1.ranger long bow + pet
2. everything else 🤣🤣
necro > all
A dark brotherhood rises!
>almost full dps/full dps builds
>solo
looks like a true garbage...
Interesting, care to elaborate?
@@CaffeinatedDad solo open world is NOT about maximizing dps, it's about balance between dps, sustain and utilities. You just can't dodge every possible attacks from lots of enemies during open world events, when with full dps build you also can't sustain them, so, several hits from champs/legs/whatever stronger than elites and you downed. Much efficient and comfortable to deal less damage every possible second while staying alive, than release one or two bursts and then return from a near waypoint. A lot of metas was failed due to constant dying dozens of players from every single boss aoe.
Furthermore, who use core builds? Old players who use them just for fun? Well, they making their own fun builds. New players who still not leveled elite specs? But they definitely will not survive most of the game content with full dps builds. So, who are these builds made for? Recommending such builds to new players is a really bad idea.
And just in case i'll clarify, that this about full bers/viper/other similar "aggressive variant" builds, not about celestials and other sustainable.
@@namelessyoukai Thank you so much for this comment. I nearly quit the game because I get destroyed with every single ot these "open world dps builds" in living world. I tried them all, they all feel squishy af. One core warrior build here on youtube is described as "unkillable". I literally got two hitted by some of the bosses with this build...
I now made my own build with defense stats on gear, runes, food and the most defense talents possible. It's soooo much better than all the open world builds on UA-cam. Now my Warrior is really tanky and living world feels like easy mode.
@@Seb7an look for Lord Hizen's builds, this guy pays a lot of attention to survivability. The only problem is that he doesn't make core builds, so, you will need access to elite specs before.
As someone who's done minion master for years and knows what works and what doesn't, your build is absolutely laughable and tells me you don't play MM at all. Your mistake is making it power based instead of condition. Power does not transfer to your minions but condition does. With your build you only boost your damage and not the minions and makes me wonder why you even need them. If you prioritize condition you boost not just you but your minions as well and makes the death nova even more deadly. And if you work your build right you wouldn't even need to use death shroud.
Hey I appreciate your input! True condition MM works great and was a consideration for this video. I chose power over condition because I wanted the damage to mainly come from the necromancer not necessary the minions. The minions are essential a meat shield while you are dpsing.
The build idea is to be a core solo build for new players and there are not many minion builds that see endgame content for the Necromancer or their elite specialization. Even if the build didn't require death shroud I was looking to get the new players acclimated into switching in and out of shroud as that's a core part of necro play at all levels
@@CaffeinatedDad that's the response I would expect from someone who's never played a necro. If you go condo based you can actually solo most end game content. Going strength actually makes your character weaker.
@Dan Stevens oh hey! You're the world's best gw2 player?! Right...?
The correct answer is none because they are all out paced massively by elite specs so you have to buy the expansions and dlcs this is by design Arenanet is a scum company.
Just coming back to the game after everal years and am going to have to try that Elementalist build, after spending most of my time wrecking events, right up until a Champ shows up. I want some payback 🔥⛰💨🌊