Guild Wars 2: Best Masteries, Ranked

As a seasoned veteran of Tyria, I can say with utmost certainty that these mastery lines have transformed my gaming experience beyond measure. Each one offers unique advantages that cater to different playstyles, yet they all share a common thread – they make exploring and interacting with the world more engaging and exciting.

After the launch of “Guild Wars 2‘s” first expansion, “Heart of Thorns,” players have gained the ability to develop specialized skills through mastery lines. These skills enable them to explore new areas, improve their combat prowess, or engage with the game world in unique ways compared to before. Mastery lines have been rolled out across updates, both living world and expansions, and each mastery is linked to the recently introduced regions.

As a devoted player in Guild Wars 2, I’ve come to appreciate that at level 80, or the maximum level, Masteries become accessible. These aren’t your typical upgrades; they require “Mastery Points” that can be earned throughout the game world. Once unlocked, these masteries can be applied to any character, irrespective of their level. While masteries have been a fantastic addition to Guild Wars 2’s emphasis on horizontal progression over the traditional “gear treadmill,” many fans, including myself, agree that some masteries are more beneficial than others. These masteries are ranked based on their utility within the game, their execution, and their potential to significantly alter gameplay.

7 The Pact Commander Mastery

A Tremendous Quality Of Life Mastery Line

Total Mastery Point cost: 19
Available with: any expansion

Through years of experiencing different parts of the world and expansion packs, Core Tyria has been somewhat neglected. Yet, the Pact Commander mastery line stands out as an excellent addition, accessible to players who own at least one expansion. This mastery line’s culmination, Advanced Logistics, offers a significant convenience upgrade by enabling loot collection automatically, similar to a treasure magnet, rather than requiring players to manually pick up items from each defeated enemy.

As a player, I appreciate the perk that allows me to swiftly bring back my fellow adventurers from the brink of defeat, earning me bonus crafting experience in the process. Additionally, it boosts my speed within major cities and places a distinctive “Mentor” marker on the map, which is handy for organizing parties and aiding new heroes as they embark on their journey. It’s an excellent tool for making connections with fellow online explorers!

6 Fishing Mastery

A Relaxing And Financially Rewarding Downtime

Total Mastery Point cost: 20
Available with: “End of Dragons”

Even though the Fishing mastery line doesn’t completely change the activity for players who have “End of Dragons”, reaching the maximum level on this skill significantly enhances the value of fishing. This is due to five consecutive 20% increases in Fishing Power, with these bonuses doubling after consuming a meal.

Boosting Fishing Power to its maximum level will make fishing locations scattered throughout Tyria, Cantha, the Maguuma Jungle, and beyond more reachable and profitable for catching large fish. These catches can be sold or used to advance towards unique mounts and weapons.

5 The Ancient Magics Mastery

A Real Lifesaver In A Desperate Situation

Total Mastery Point cost: 24
Available with: “Heart Of Thorns” & “Living World Season 3”

Players who have both “Heart of Thorns” and “Living World Season 3” episodes unlocked gain access to The Ancient Magics line, which offers exciting abilities like Thermal Propulsion and Oakheart’s Reach, further enhancing the extensive traversal skills from “HoT.” Among these, Spectral Aid stands out as a versatile, enduring ability that can be utilized across Guild Wars 2.

When a player is knocked out, they gain an additional ability called Channeled Agony. This ability unleashes a potent attack covering a vast area, capable of defeating most enemies with three-quarters health left. The player is then revived upon the enemy’s demise. Additionally, this skill can knock down enemies, proving useful in preventing simultaneous attacks from multiple foes and reducing a boss’ invincibility bar too.

4 The Homesteading Mastery

For Those Who Just Want To Settle Down

Total Mastery Point cost: 10
Available with: “Janthir Wilds”

Just like the Fishing skill, player housing was a feature long sought after and would attract a specific segment of the Guild Wars 2 community. Similarly to fishing, its mastery line progressively boosts the player’s capacity to engage in it more effectively.

Mastering homesteading skills unlocks a variety of crafting options for creating an ideal home, quicker methods for collecting resources within your homestead, and not forgetting the added room to extend your player’s property, which any design enthusiast would highly value.

3 The Jade Bot Mastery

A Mastery Bursting With Tech Utility

Total Mastery Point cost: 15
Available with: “End of Dragons”

With the Jade Bot proficiency line, a player gains Cantha-exclusive powers for their bot character. Additionally, this line improves some of the player’s existing masteries and skills. For instance, it provides an uplift to gliding players when they require extra height, and offers a revival assistance for fallen players with a brief 10-minute recharge period.

“What makes this unlock line particularly thrilling is the ‘Jade Tech Waypoint,’ a feature that places a personal teleportation marker on the map. This functionality, allowing players to mark a spot within a map and return there as long as their character stays in that particular map, is incredibly useful, especially when navigating through the challenging jumping puzzles found in Guild Wars 2.

2 The Gliding Mastery

From Freefalling To Freeflying

Total Mastery Point cost: 31
Available with: “Heart Of Thorns”

In the game “Heart Of Thorn”, one of the standout features is gliding, and it’s not hard to understand why. By investing just one mastery point in gliding, players can dodge certain death from falling and gracefully descend, adding style to their gameplay. Moreover, the ability to fly enables players to access harder-to-reach locations within Tyria more effortlessly.

This line ability offers a variety of skills for gliding, such as speed adjustment, becoming invisible, and utilizing updrafts. Among them, the second-to-last skill to be unlocked, Advanced Gliding, stands out as particularly valuable because it eliminates the limitation on the ability’s duration.

1 The Skyscale Mount Mastery

An Almost Game-Breaking Advantage

Total Mastery Point cost: 12
Available with: “Path of Fire” & “Living World Season 4” or “Secrets of the Obscure”

In numerous aspects, the Skyscale mastery path stands as a culmination of all the other mount masteries introduced in “Path of Fire” and “Living World Season 4.” To even acquire the Skyscale, the player must first complete all the mastery lines for the other mounts (a rewarding task given how finely crafted Guild Wars 2‘s mounts have been).

Upon activation, the Skyscale’s initial and concluding mastery skills, “Air Rescue” and “Wall Jump,” render numerous other mounts and travel techniques (particularly from “HoT”) unnecessary due to their redundancy. While achieving full access to all its features demands considerable effort, preparation, and currency, it is unquestionably the most beneficial in the game of Guild Wars 2.

2024-10-07 02:34