GW2. A complete guide on Free to Play builds for PvP. 2021.
Guild Wars 2 PvP requires no leveling or gear to have the same opportunity to win because everything is normalized. For that reason it is a very good place for free to play players to test out whether they like the game or the class they are playing. These builds will show some different playstyles and roles of each class using the core specializations. They may not be the most powerful or effective, but they will give a good idea of what each class thematic feels like for players to test out.
Credit to Vallun for the video.
Warrior Axe Duelist
The axe duelist warrior is a very simple build for getting into the fight and doing lots of damaging while being tanky. Get into range by using your greatsword 5 rush and gs 3. When you get into range swap to axe and use the axe 2 and 3 to pressure the target. After they have used some of their cooldowns you can use shield bash (4) or bulls charge and swap to greatsword for the F1 burst and the hundred blades (2) for a lot of damage.
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Warrior Rifle Roamer
The rifle roamer warrior is not a conventional warrior build. It is super squishy and has little to no sustain. You do, however, have a massive damage ranged attack from your F1 in rifle. Stay at range and wait for the right moment while you gain adrenaline then use the killshot and hope it lands.
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Guardian Burn DPS
The core burn guardian has massive damage in team fights with the permeating wrath trait. Don’t use your F1 if you are hitting lots of enemies because it will create more burns over time from the passive, but if your entire team is focusing one target you can use your F1 to finish the kill. Use the torch 4 in melee range for a lot of extra burning burst damage.
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Guardian Meditation Roamer
The meditation guardian is a fast and aggressive fighter with lots of sustained damage and healing which allows them to be in the middle of fights. They also share their boons to nearby allies making them great for team play. Start out using your focus 4 then port in with sword 2. Take out your greatsword and use the whirling wrath (2) for most of your damage. You need retaliation on you to deal more damage which you will get from the F1 F2 F3 virtues and your heal skill as well as standing in the greatsword 4 symbol.
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Guardian Symbol Duelist
The symbol guardian is very simple. Don’t use your F1 virtue so that you can build might stacks. Place your symbols the #2 skill on both weapons on the objective and stand in it for many bonuses.
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Guardian Shout Support
Support guardian gives a lot of stability to its allies through the shout and the F3 virtue of courage. You also can give them timely aegis which will block the next attack with the “retreat” shout, shield 4, F3, and mace 3. When broken the aegis will heal. You can also heal with staff 2/4, shield 5, dodging on top of your ally, and your F2. You need to be close to them to heal them, but when you aren’t healing them position yourself to the sides of fights to not take too much unnecessary damage.
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Necromancer Condition DPS
Necromancers are masters of attrition and this build further masters that with its great kiting ability while dealing damage over time with boon corrupts and conditions. Use the scepter 2 and 3 for damage while kiting with the staff marks. When you enter shroud get in close range to use the shroud 5 and then spam shroud 2 and 1 off cooldown. You can fear them with shroud 3 while they have torment for extra damage.
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Necromancer Signet Duelist
The signet duelist has lots of sustain through passive shroud generation. They want to be in shroud as often as possible spamming the 1 skill in shroud for reliable damage. When they do have to leave shroud they can use the dagger 2 and axe 2 for damage. Cast your heal signet before entering shroud because it recharges fast while in shroud.
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Ranger Longbow Roamer
The longbow ranger has lots of mobility, stun breaks, and condition cleansing on its survival skills to be able to stay at range to rapid fire its opponent, but much of its damage comes from the greatsword 2 skill which is a very low cooldown. Return back to range after using your greatsword skills, and keep going in and out like this to pressure the enemy while also being slippery.
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Ranger Valkyrie Duelist
The valkyrie duelist ranger gets the benefits of having a high health pool and high critical damage from the valkyrie amulet, but it has no precision. To make up for this the marksmanship trait remorseless gives opening strike every time you gain fury, and opening strike gives your next attack 100% crit chance Also intelligence sigils are useful for giving crits. So you want to use slow but hard hitting skills to make the most out of the limited criticals you have. Fury is gained from survival skills, pet swapping (F4), and CCing an enemy.
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Mesmer Shatter Roamer
The shatter mesmer uses stealth and mobility to find key targets and burst them with the mind wrack F1 with clones. It is not a sustainable build, so you must pick your fights wisely and leave if things don’t go your way fast. The main burst combo requires very good timing. You will cast sword 3 twice to immobilize your target then swap to greatsword and use gs 2 in melee range of your target for it to bounce more, then use decoy which will create a clone (two because stealth creates clones as well) and immediately use your mind wrack F1 to shatter all 3 clones for a big burst. Go back to sword and torch to bridge the gap between your bursts.
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Mesmer Interrupt Duelist
The core interrupt mesmer tries to take 1v1s and lock down the enemy while assaulting them with clones and being hard to catch. The pistol 4 phantasm can do a lot of bleeding damage over time and will reduce in recharge when successfully interrupting a foe, so timing your dazes from the mantra of distraction, the pistol 5, staff 5, and the F3 shatter is important to getting more resets.
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Engineer Grenades Duelist
The duelist grenade engineer uses the shrapnel grenades (2) in grenade kits for most of its damage. Since they are on a very short cool down you want to go in and out of the grenade kit often to use them, then use your pistol attacks and CC from shield and slick shoes to land your grenades again.
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Engineer Gadget Roamer
The gadgeteer engineer has many CC and burst combos and the mobility of the rocket boots to play opportunistically. The tool kit 5 is a pull which can pull them into your pry bar (tool kit 3) and then you can swap to your rifle and use the 3 in melee range for a good burst, then knock them back with your rifle 4, immobilize them with rifle 2 and throw your tool belt skill from your tool kit (throw wrench) which can hit twice on immobile enemies. There are lots of combos and kit swapping, but using certain skills with each other will give the best results.
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Elementalist Signet Duelist
The signet duelist elementalist wants to rotate through its attunements as fast as possible to get use of the many skills that elementalists have. A good rotation is Air attunement > Fire > Earth > Air/Water > Water/Air ? Fire and so on. You can fill in the gaps of your rotation with signet actives which retain their passives because of the written in stone trait. The fiery greatsword is also a high impact skill which you want to save for moments where you need big damage fast.
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Elementalist Fresh Air Roamer
The fresh air elementalist is a squishy ranged burst build that stacks many modifiers on top of each other in a short window to get its damage. Generally you go into fire or earth and use those skills and while doing so you will swap to air and use an arcane utility skill to gain the ferocity bonuses and make your skills do much more damage. You also gain superspeed when attuning to air which will help you to escape and keep a safe distance.
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Thief Double Dagger
The double daggers thief revolves around landing backstabs for damage. You can only backstab using your dagger 1 skill which becomes backstab when in stealth. You gain stealth by landing your dagger 5 on an enemy and then you can quickly follow up with the backstab, or you can use dagger 2 through your smokescreen for a finisher that will give stealth. You can also steal (F1) to the target while casting dagger 5 to get a big backstab burst that is hard to predict.
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Thief Pistol Condition
A very simple thief build, the condi pistol dagger uses ports to land their burst on targets that are already pressured. There is not much sustained damage for finishing targets who survive the burst, so finding the right target is important. Use the pistol/dagger 3 when in melee range to put out conditions and then use the 3 repeater skill until it becomes shadow strike again. Use steal (F1) with shadow strike to land your burst damage when the time is right. Also dagger 5 can grant stealth to use the sneak attack (1) for more bleeding damage.
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Thief Sword Dagger
The sword dagger thief is great at poking targets down with sword 2 which can port them in and port them back out, allowing them to enter fights safely. They can also rip many boons with steal (F1) and larcenous strike (S/D 3). Cloak and dagger (5) allows the sword sneak attack tactical strike to be used which can put a lot of vulnerability on the target. The basic combo is 2 > 5 > 1 > 3 > F1 > 3.
Build Template Chat Code:
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If you want to try out the meta builds once you have bought the game and have access toe lite specializations, check them out here: PvP Builds
To know more about Guild Wars 2 PvP check this guide:
Hi GuildJen, the Guardian Dualist doesn’t have an amulet in the gwskills link. Is it supposed to be Valkerie? Thanks!
Sorry Marauder, link fixed now