Guild Wars: Best Secondary Profession Combinations

As a seasoned Guild Wars player with countless hours spent in Tyria, I must say that the elementalist and mesmer duo is a match made in heaven! The elementalist’s knack for managing spirit weapons and the mesmer’s energy management skills create a dynamic pair that can outshine even the most skilled ritualists.

Even though Guild Wars was initially released around the late 2000s, it remains unmatched or surpassed in its gameplay, world-building, and particularly build craft. A notable feature is that players can have not just one primary profession (or class), but also a secondary, supportive one.

As avid explorers of the gaming world unearth this overlooked treasure, they often grapple with a crucial decision: their secondary occupation. Now that the game has matured, several standout options have emerged for each of the ten professions, taking into account profession mechanics compatibility, current game trends (meta), and overall appeal to specific roles.

Campaign	Available Professions
Prophecies	Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Mesmer, Necromancer, Elementalist
Factions	Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Mesmer, Necromancer, Elementalist, Assassin, Ritualist
Nightfall	Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Mesmer, Necromancer, Elementalist, Dervish, Paragon

The Warrior

Best Synergies: The Assassin, Ranger, & Dervish

A warrior loaded with one or two caster profession spells can be effective, such as a warrior with an air weapon and Conjure Air spell or a warrior with an anti-element mesmer mantra. A ranger pet and healing utility would be useful, but warriors will struggle to make use of a bow in most situations.

Given its energy recharge rate is the slowest but offers the highest armor, it might be wiser for warriors to opt for a different melee profession, allowing them to make full use of their inherent durability. The elite skill Warrior’s Endurance from Prophecies, though, can help offset the high cost of weapon attacks in other melee professions.

The Ranger

Best Synergies: The Warrior, Assassin, Ritualist, Dervish

Although primarily known for combat using bows and arrows, the ranger possesses a multitude of abilities that ensure survival and superiority in both long-range and melee encounters. A natural match for the ranger is the warrior, while the dervish with their scythe also proves to be an effective partner.

As a devoted fan in Cantha’s realm, where Factions unfolds, I can attest to the harmonious collaboration between the ritualist’s spirit-binding skill and their Expertise attribute. This harmony significantly decreases the energy expenditure required to summon these spirits.

The Monk

Best Synergies: The Mesmer & Elementalist

Monks, being crucial for healing within the group, are often targets due to their significance. In such cases, Mesmer Mantas prove beneficial in diverting harmful spells before they touch their intended target. Furthermore, a Mesmer’s inspirational magic can aid in power conservation, as they can draw energy from adversaries to sustain their protective or healing abilities.

The Glyph of Lesser Energy, though not upgradable due to being a core skill for elementalists, assists the monk in managing their expensive abilities by lowering their costs by ten units. This is an alternative method compared to utilizing foes as energy reservoirs.

The Necromancer

Best Synergies: The Assassin, Monk, & Mesmer

In simpler terms, a mesmer’s energy control and a monk’s resurrection magic are beneficial to a necromancer. But it’s the assassin’s daggers that let the necromancer engage in close combat with Blood Magic. For players who have advanced in the Prophecies campaign, the skill called Soul Taker, especially during anniversaries, significantly boosts their damage.

The assassin’s pledge complements exceptionally well with the necromancer’s flourishing trait in death, Soul Reaping. This harmony is particularly notable when paired with Death Magic abilities, enabling them to wreak havoc on enemy and even allied corpses at their peak potential.

The Mesmer

Best Synergies: The Elementalist, Assassin, Ritualist & Necromancer

Because Fast Casting, a key characteristic of mesmers, is limited to mesmer spells, they can’t utilize this main ability with spells from other casters. In PVE situations, they won’t be able to quickly cast elementalist spells, but in tight spots, they have the advantage of using some direct damage spells while creating their illusions. Additionally, they may find the Glyph of Lesser Energy useful.

Mesmers possess the knack for replicating spells, which makes teaming up with professions like ritualists or monks particularly effective when it comes to skills related to resurrection. In gameplay, mesmers specialize in confusing and indirectly attacking their opponents, a strategy that aligns well with necromancers too. Lastly, the assassin’s Assassin’s Promise can offer energy management benefits for the mesmer who tends to consume a lot of it.

The Elementalist

Best Synergies: The Mesmer, Ritualist, & Dervish

With more energy at their disposal, elementalists work particularly well with jobs that require expensive skills. However, they struggle to withstand significant damage. For Nightfall owners, the dervish, whose Earth Prayers offer a degree of protection, could be an ideal fit.

The Elementalist character has a knack for handling Ritualist spirit weapons smoothly, perhaps even more effectively when maintaining them, and their ability to mirror skills aligns perfectly with the Mesmer’s, along with their expertise in managing energy.

The Ritualist

Best Synergies: The Necromancer, Mesmer, Assassin, Mesmer, & Dervish

Since the ritualist’s main trait, Spawning Power, generates stronger minions, it makes sense for their secondary profession to be necromancer. The Spawning Power enchantment, Boon of Creation, would aid in controlling the energy expenses when summoning a large number of undead minions.

In games like Nightfall, using daggers, spears, or scythes from the assassin, paragon, or dervish classes can be effective due to the exclusive Spirit’s Strength elite skill. The assassin’s shadow stepping ability, when combined with a ritualist’s held item, can lead to exciting “trap-laying” gameplay. Meanwhile, ritualists can greatly benefit from mesmers’ energy management and anti-hex abilities.

The Assassin

Best Synergies: The Ranger, Necromancer, Dervish, Paragon, & Warrior

An assassin’s versatility allows them to engage in combat either at close quarters or from a distance, with the added benefit of energy regeneration that enables them to effectively employ spells. This flexibility offers numerous strategic options. The assassin employs hexes and conditions to weaken their target, while necromancers and mesmers excel in spreading these debilitating effects.

According to the sniper-assassin character type, they can effectively wield a ranger’s bow, a dervish’s scythe, a warrior’s weapons, or a paragon’s spear. To get the most out of melee and archery builds, it is crucial to have skills from Nightfall and Eye of the North expansions for optimal effectiveness.

The Paragon

Best Synergies: The Warrior, Assassin, & Dervish

Since paragons serve as versatile mid-level combatants, boasting slightly advanced battle cries, they form a strong duo. Interestingly, equipping them with daggers or a wide-reaching scythe using the assassin or dervish is equally effective.

To wield assassin daggers, a player must possess the game expansion called Factions and progress their character well into the campaign. There’s a unique set of daggers, “Vengeance,” that can be claimed by the character during the annual event held in April. However, the abilities associated with these daggers will still be linked to the region of Cantha.

The Dervish

Best Synergies: The Warrior, Assassin, Monk, & Ritualist

The dervish fits harmoniously with both the warrior and the assassin, since their swift enchantments complement the warrior’s powerful weapons or the assassin’s nimble blades.

As a devoted fan, I can’t help but marvel at the exceptional harmony between the Dervish, with its anniversary elite skillset comprising Vow of Revolution and Unveil, and the healing professions, particularly the Ritualist and Monk. This duo manages to maintain a plentiful energy reserve while shielding themselves effectively using flash enchantments for self-defense.

2024-10-08 02:35