Your favorite class combinations

[Aladdar]

Alright, I'm interested in what your favorite class combinations are and why. When you go to create a new character what two classes are you most inclined to build, why do you enjoy playing that class, and what does that class do effectively.

This isn't a thread about the best class combinations as we can argue all day about that, but what your favorite is.

I'll start

Currently I'm quite enamored with the Ranger/Necro

I've always loved rangers, going back to my first fantasy fix of Tolkien and Strider to DnD and beyond, I've always loved the ranger concept. I just love the mysterious, high dexterity, ranged damage character. So naturally I fell into the ranger class here, throw in the beast mastery which could be great fun if they'd ever fix that line and I'll be in heaven.

When I began to search for my secondary class I had a hard time though. I considered staying as a primary ranger, but then I began to see some great diversity in that second class as we all have. I tried a lot of different ranger builds and eventually grew fond of this combination and here's why.

Rangers and Necros work great together. The ranger has a large amount of skills for not only currently doing sky high damage but also a ton of disrupting skills. When I add those disruption skills with the necro, I feel unstoppable.

I'll normally load up with expertise, markmanship, and curses

Then put read the wind on always, grab some crippling skills like pin down and concussion shot, a couple of damage skills such as punishing shot, a few escape skills like Troll and one of the defensive stances, always always always have rend enchantments and maybe shadow of fear. I love this character.

If I'm in a pvp match I'll normally drop troll for another power attack, but in arenas where I may have no monk I'll always drop it on there.

I love this character because he's so diverse, I can throw out some good damage, I can stop their team completely to allow the rest of my team to attack. It's great.

What's your favorite combos and how do you like to play them. Also feel free to post counters to these builds.

[Darc.Syde]

my top two would be

Me/N
Mo/Me

fallowing would be
Mo/N
W/E
W/N
W/mo
W/me
N/W
N/Mo

and that;s all.

[Aladdar]

What makes you like those combos?

[Crispie]

I've loved the War/Mo since the first character I made for the E3 event. The War/Mo is a great self sustaining build that can deal quite a bit of damage. Also the War/Mo looks the coolest and is probably best for ressing(can tank while casting res) save for the mesmer and its fast casting. :)

[Blackace]

I like the Ranger/Necro because its the ultimate utility combination. Very fun to play and usually ignored. Rangers do well with blood or curses so its kind of hard to mess up playing this combination.

Ele/Mes and monk/mes are my next two. Inspiration line for these 2 classes make a stable build thats not too hard to get used to and is fun to play.

[Fezz]

I would have to choose E/N.

I choose Elementalist b/c I love the versatility that they posses, in this game and most every other game I have played.
You have your choice of a multitude of different attack flavors(Elements, etc.), generally you don't have to be a nuisance to the team healer since you are in the back away from the action, and you have skills to help you keep your health up.
Lastly, this mainly applies to the GW Elementalist, you have lots of really cool looking attacks, all kinds of flashing and exploding things, just makes thing cooler.

I have always like Necros for one reason, the raising of hordes of undead minions, I just like having a swarm of mindless goons following me every where I go.
After playing with this character I have come to appreciate some of the other aspects of the Necromancer, mainly the curses.


But, I hope to have a new favorite, pending its success/challenge, I hope my plan for a Me/Mo tank takes the top for favorite combo.

[BBB]

I really like my Elem/War Tank build i think its pretty sweet :) Tho i cant give away what my build is cos i'll be using it to kick Ensigns ass in the 1vs1 Arena that ANet WILL put it. Cos if they dont they'll have to deal with me... and Saddam Hussein.

[Exception]

First char i made was a N/E. i wanted to be both, and the only reason i made it a necro primary was because i hated the way the elementalists look(i still do) and because of the better armor available to necros. however as time went on i found i was filling up my skill bar with elem skills, so i've decided to swallow my distaste. next beta weekend i'm going to make an E/R, so i can nuke, and do some decent damage with a bow in between, because weapons for casters are frustratingly weak. i also want to play a R/Me.

[Weezer_Blue]

I like the Ranger/ Elementalist combo. I liked Rangers from the start - even in October when they weren't very good. And the Elementalist secondary packs a nice punch that can also blind people and stuff.
I also like the Monk Ranger, although I haven't tryed one yet.

[Darc.Syde]

What makes you like those combos?
Me/N - my main is anticaster/debuffer - i could do lots of stuff with this guy ;) to lots of people :cool:

Mo/Me - i like this combo becuase its a healer with an endless pool of energy.

[Freyas]

My favorite combination is Mo/Me. I enjoy healing, as with most monk builds, I don't have much room for secondary skills on my bar, and can't really afford the energy to cast most of them, as I'd prefer to use that energy with my heals. I've found that a Mesmer secondary with some inspiration skills allows me to utilize my secondary profession as an aid to my healing abilities. My current favorite mesmer skills to bring are leech sigent and power drain, though it does take a while to get used to using interrupts on a monk. However, these skills can add a huge chunk of energy to my pool in under a second, allowing me to keep healing pretty much constantly without running into energy problems.

[Cain]

My favourite is W/N. I find that the Necro class has great skills to compliment a front line Warrior. Plus I'm usually the target caller on my team so being a Warrior helps.

[Terphin]

I have my favorite two choices which are

W/N
Because its front line and i think it has some complimentary skills as well, plus its a less often route than W/M all the time.

Mo/Me
Not much will be said about this due to it being in experimental testing when the beta is live again. But will be a nice character not conforming to the typical monk healing ways.

[Bobangry]

Personally I love my W/R. I've played him since the E34E event and have updated him/remade him throughout the betas and previews. I always try new characters but he's my old standby.

I go hammer for the warrior to knock people on their asses while doing good damage. I generally take 6-7 warrior skills but always leave room for a Pin Down. I prefer it to Hamstring because it is ranged. Over the course of nearly a year I've gotten quite efficient at switching between a ranged and close combat weapon, it's like second nature now.

I'm looking forward to trying a heavy yet still familiar variation on my build this next BWE. My hammer will be swinging in tombs and GvG most of the BWE so I hope to see you guys there!

[Rage321]

Sup, first post:

Warrior/Elementalist

Why? I just like the melee and I also like fire =D

[cpukilla]

I really like monk/warrior, but I'm having trouble making it good combat plus secondary healing. I really want shield of regeneration to be a bit better than it is now and I'll be set ;)

[Narcism]

Mesmer / Necromancer

Curses, Anti-Caster, DoT, Hexes

Mesmer / Monk

Anti-Caster, Hexes, Can be a backup healer as well as a fast Resurrect

Warrior / Monk

More or Less Self-Sufficient, quick sub-in if you need more damage, as well as the best farming character.

[Oracle]

El/Mo

It's clichéd and not particularly exotic but I like it anyway. In any MMORPG I play, I like to be a mage primary so Elementalist is my natural first choice; I also like the ability to rez and generally heal myself/allies, so El/Mo is a good choice for me.

Me/Mo is something I'd also like to try.

[Liquid]

Gotta be an El/Mo for me also...though I am also very happy with my Wa/Mo for his tanking abilities!

[Ti-Ben]

I like W/N, W/R and R/W.

Yes I love warriors. :)

W/N was my first char with over 30h. Liked the skills of the necro because they're so many combo you can do with them.

W/R because it's got 2 of my favorite classes, along with Strength.

R/W because he looks cool.

[Lamaros]

For some reason I just love the mesmer and, to a lesser extent, the warrior. I end up putting either one of them (or both!) in most characters I've tried, and most hypothetical builds I've toyed with.

On the flip side I can't really get in to the Necromancer. I used to feel a similar way about the Elementalist and the Ranger too, but I've been trying to get over that.

As my main character up to now has been a War/Mesmer, I think I might force myself to try E/R in the upcomming BWE, just to flesh out my knowledge of the various classes.

[-z|o-]

I love W/N. With curse line it is very effective vs multiple tanks. I dont get to play it much anymore though. My second favorite is Mo/Me with healing prayers mostly. Thats what ive been playing in GvG during last BWE.

[Kui]

Me/W for the moment. IW/Caster_Hunter

Why? Because it's been the only character that I've played for a chunk of more than 6 hours and whose concept I recieved an excellent briefing on by Chuck. I like disruption. Likely a primary disposition, but I've a propensity for getting someone knocked down and holding them down. Sure it's nice to finish them off... but that role isn't one I care about as much.

And we really need a demonic smiley option in these forums.

~Kui

[Elithor]

I'd have to say Me/Ran. If used well, Mesmers can be the most effective profession in the game. The opposing team's monks are the cause of this. You can have an effective damage dealing squad in your PVP team, but they won't do anything if the other team has a good healing squad. Here is where the Mesmers come in, they basically disable the monks spells and pin them down in which the damage dealers will rid of them fast. Im stating the obvious but oh well, you asked my opinion :p

[Reaper2k3]

I'm sticking to the Monk/Ranger, the power of the Monk's heals and smiting backed up by a Ranger pet and a Ranger skill or 2.

[Dragou Du Porzan]

I'll join those who sing the praises of the Mo/Me. I like to run it as a healer-primary who uses the inspiration line to bolster the energy reserves and remove unwanted hexes/enchantments. Basically along the lines of Freyas's build. I gave E/Mo a go for a bit with the idea that I could pump a bunch of points into Energy Storage and have a huge pool from which to cast my heals. In the end, though, I felt it was compromising my healing capabilities too much.

[Keramon]

Still trying to work it out ...

The problem is I am still undecided about so many builds
I think initially I will make
1. Warrior Type
2. Elemental Damage Caster (PBAOE)
3. Interrupt Based Caster
4. Healing Type

Now ... I just need to work out the combos ... so much that I enjoy and works well.

Me/El vs El/Me ... fast casting on an interrupt build vs more mana. Hard to say what works best, most of the interrupt spells are short duration ... so is El a better primary for more mana? Timing is critical however ... decisions .. decisions....

[Dragou Du Porzan]

Me/El vs El/Me ... fast casting on an interrupt build vs more mana. Hard to say what works best, most of the interrupt spells are short duration ... so is El a better primary for more mana? Timing is critical however ... decisions .. decisions....

I would lean towards Me/E if I were going for an interrupt build. Being able to get off that interrupt before your target gets off their spell is the key here, and fast casting aids that purpose. And while it's always nice to have the extra energy reserves of the primary elementalist, a lot of the mesmer skills (e.g. power drain) will replenish your energy pool (some at the expense of your target).

[Ensign]

Fast Casting does virtually nothing to interrupts. It knocks off a percentage of the casting time of each spell, but interrupts have casting times of 0.25 seconds. With a level 10 Fast Casting, that'll drop down to around 0.16 seconds - it doesn't even shave a tenth of a second off of your cast time.

Fast Casting is great for tossing the various hexes and drains around, but for interrupts? It doesn't matter. At all.

Peace,
-CxE

[Keramon]

Ensign, I was thinking the exact same thing when I finished my build. ... What is the purpose of Fast Casting with so many 1 second spells. I played this quite a bit in the last BPE and it worked very well. I just targetted the monks and mesmers and was usally able to kill 1-2 each fight within a very short period of time. I was playing in the Arena mostly though for testing purposes and many of the teams there are not the best competition.

Usual strategy was interrupt one healer and backfire another. Mana was rarely a problem due to power drain ... but again ... I was only in the arena most of the time ... so ... I can't say I have tested it properly, I would imagine in 8v8 I would run out very quickly.

[Reaper2k3]

I'll join those who sing the praises of the Mo/Me. I like to run it as a healer-primary who uses the inspiration line to bolster the energy reserves and remove unwanted hexes/enchantments. Basically along the lines of Freyas's build. I gave E/Mo a go for a bit with the idea that I could pump a bunch of points into Energy Storage and have a huge pool from which to cast my heals. In the end, though, I felt it was compromising my healing capabilities too much.
going inspiration to bolster your energy reserves? waste of attribute points and skill slots. unless they nerfed it recently essence bond is the most pirate like (read bad &$&) energy recharger

[Jason]

i love my ranger/monk. with savage, power, concussion, precision, and crippling skills i can do a bunch of dmg to any nuker. i hav escape and dodge when things get sticky. i like to add apply poison becuz my poison bow string adds extra poison duration plus my +energy bow grip keeps my energy up. i use my monk side mainly for healing but as i get to know the monk skills bettr i plan to add smiting to my rep.

[BlackArrow]

W/Mo for the tanking abilities and just general annoyance of the target.

E/Mo for the massive fire damage.

R/Mo for the trio of bow attacks I'll use (Precision Shot, Point Blank Shot, and Poison Arrow) as well as my pet wolf.

Me/W for Illusion spells.

[walder]

I'm a big fan of:

Mes/Ele because I like to interrupt and counter, and

R/Ele because they can do some nice damage

[Weezer_Blue]

lol.. wonder which of these will be the next to get hit with the nerf bat? i've heard people say that rangers are the next to get gimped but i'm not sure. :(

[Reaper2k3]

lol.. wonder which of these will be the next to get hit with the nerf bat? i've heard people say that rangers are the next to get gimped but i'm not sure. :(
the rangers have been so far getting buffed - apparently at the expense of the necromancers -_-. im betting the monks are up next, which just hurts everyone

[Uthar]

Monks can't keep up with the damage output of others, why would they get nerfed?

Anyway, another Monkmes here. I'm going to be starting a Rang/something, though. Maybe Rang/Mo.. (Still undecided)

[Jason]

lol.. wonder which of these will be the next to get hit with the nerf bat?i hope the Wars get whacked next. i hate bein chased by them :p the recently upgraded ranger skills r gonna make alot of ppl think diffrently about that char.

[Scuba]

going inspiration to bolster your energy reserves? waste of attribute points and skill slots. unless they nerfed it recently essence bond is the most pirate like (read bad &$&) energy recharger
For healing spammer Channeling is surprisingly good. You don't need that high Inspiration for it because it's cheap to cast and its duration is enough long with Inspiration around six. It really pays off when there are more enemies nearby. It can give more energy back than your spam heals cost if the conditions are right and it doesn't cost an energy pip for maintaining it.

My friend who used Channeling on his healer last BWE said he had never really problems with energy. He had usually around 20 energy for just using his spam heals. I'm going to test it out too in the next event.

So I wouldn't say Inspiration is a waste of attribute points and a skill slot. Many people are overlooking Channeling imo.

As for my favorite class combinations, I like Mesmer/Monk and Monk/Mesmer the most. There are many roles you can play with those and I like most of them.

[Weezer_Blue]

Anyone play a smiting monk? I have a friend in my guild that plays one but I haven't talked to him in a while. I was wondering if they were any good or if you're an idiot for not getting a warrior instead. I think the smiting monk is one of the coolest types of characters in guild wars because they can pack a punch despite the stereotypical idea of monks in GW, and they last a really long time if they handle themselves right. I think that if this line isn't already good it needs to be boosted.

[BlackArrow]

I haven't tried smiting yet, but I have considered it. The thing that pushed me away was the long recharge times and the lack of a spammable attack (like Flare, Water Trident, etc). Some of those spells are great though. With a little I'll probably make one (if I get enough char slots)

[Virgil]

I started playing the betas with an El/Mo. I'm pretty happy with it. Its a bread-and-butter mage that can heal. Exactly what I wanted to start off with. Powerful and can hold its own.

I have been desperate to try a Me/N. I have been searching over the skills and builds for a long time now, and from everywhere I look, there is nothing but positive feadback. I think it is more involved than my old E/Mo and is has more potential roles than the E/Mo.

I also was looking at making a Monk. Either a Mo/Me or a Mo/R. Whats everyone's opinion on the Mo/R?

[Ensign]

Smiting is a decent line - certainly better than Elementalist skills right now. You don't use it as a spam / nuke line, but as a damage buff line. Judge's Insight is great for melee support, Balthazar's Spirit is solid energy regen, Zealot's Fire buffs up healers - you even get Scourge Sacrifice to mess with enemy Monks.

It's basically a Wa/Mo line, giving you access to the damage buffs you want without giving up key utility like Restore Life.


There are reasons to take every secondary on a Monk - some better than others - but you can make the case depending on what direction you want to go. Why are you thinking Mo/R? What particular skills are you after?

Peace,
-CxE

[Weezer_Blue]

i'm addicted to rangers. hehe... i dunno... Mo/Me sounds a lot better. And I guess it would be Mo/W if I were to try smiting. Or Mo/Ne for certain combos of skills and raising meat shield minions. Not really sure.

[MoldyRiceFrenzy]

Ya id prob have to go with ranger/necro Then for some time later i think some type of Mesmer/??? would be cool, but right now i like the ranger necro because of all the variety of skills

[Whosa Skylore]

mines def w/mes, my guildmate bladen suggested this for me and i love it. i love it because, i can use my fav skill CP on them and run up and just whack them around, i can also steal energy for my spells and i have back fire for casters, or one of those annoying w/m.

[Davion]

Hmm... My favorite would have to be my R/Me. At conclusion of last beta he was only lvl 8... so I may spend some more time fleshing him out. tried a couple others..didn't suit me.

so here goes... Ranger/Mesmer w/ cat in tow.

as for skills.....hmmm ..naw (hehe) that's my little secret for now...but I will say so far he hasnt had any troubles taking things down....

as for another char?...my plan is to play role reversal on a friend's char... make a R/W (with sword/tact)...

yup... rangers figure heavily..especially with the second professions I can add on to tweak them. For some reason I've always prefered giving my target a preliminary nod in my direction before I decide to go about pasting them.

And, as I stated somewhere else before... when I finish fleshing the little guy out..I will post him for scrutiny. Just want to enjoy my pet project for the while before I make him public nuisance hehe :cool:

[Bladen Skull]

Well, over this BWE I enjoyed my War/Ele more than usual. Finally I found Water Trident and a few other spells. One on one with a War/Mo and I could take them down. The problem was when I was surronded. It wasn't nesicarilly the build I was running but more of the armor. I just love my ranged ability, knocking them down with Water Trident, then slowing them with Ice Spikes put a smug grin on my face. Basicly, my most favorite thing about this build: Hitting from a range and then going into melee mode.

[Lunarhound]

I like my warrior/ranger simply because I enjoy being a big, bad warrior with a pet. I haven't settled on any concrete builds for him yet, but I love playing him.

I also love my ranger/elementalist, for the massive ranged damage. Bow + pet + firestorm = lots and lots of pain and suffering.

[Mandy Memory]

el/me along wiht my friends (im all for instant kills)

[Bain Wulfgar]

W/N take the beating and use them to heal you

[Avatin]

I found Monk/Ranger an interesting mix. With the jack-of-all-trades ranger, i can access a wide range of skills to help my monk to survive, healing, hex, disrupting, pet, traps and damage dealing.

I really like to play Ranger/Necromancer. I have not played it that much at this time, but I like the disruptive and hex possibilities of that mix.

[March Hare]

I love W/N. With curse line it is very effective vs multiple tanks. I dont get to play it much anymore though. My second favorite is Mo/Me with healing prayers mostly. Thats what ive been playing in GvG during last BWE.

Don't you find this a bit heafty to keep up your casting levels? I've been playing a W/Me and been able to keep at a relatively decent reserve, I'm afraid for a strictly caster types would run out too fast.

Mind you, a lot of people here seem to be going double casters. Maybe it just me.

[Loviatar]

is there ANYBODY else that likes E/Mes?

[jaynan]

R/E. In solo PvE the pet holds them in one spot and you can take them out fast. In PvP you're there to support the Wa and keep their casters under constant pressure. I love it when the pets start annoying the monks. Might not get a kill that way, but it's a little like having an extra hand that can give you a moment plan and not just react.

Me/N because it's one of the fastest killing combo's I've found in team play. Call the victim and watch them go 'WTF just happened to me?' It happened to me enough that I had to try it out :D . I might switch it around to N/Me for the better armor, or try the E/Me and try it with the larger energy pool.

Don't care much for the tank builds, but enough people do that already. There's no shortage of warriors out there for team play. I will probably give a W/R a try and see if it's different enough from what I've played in other games, but not a likely long-term prospect.

I'll probably play a lot of different combinations over the weekend, just to try as much as possible and see what they've changed. With the character wipe coming soon there's no reason to focus on developing a single character as far as possible.