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Best Guild Wars 2 Professions, Ranked

Picking a profession has never been easy, until now.

Professions, classes or specs in RPG games are what make or break an account or character. You see, it is all about personality. Inevitably, it will impact the way you play a certain game. The best ones will offer you several ways to complete an objective. Even the biggest battle victories with a huge army of enemies in front of you can happen in several ways. This is the case of professions in Guild Wars 2, which are very varied and will be able to suit your personality, game style and a little bit of your in-game madness as well. Which will be the best one to pick or the best one for you? Here is our ranked list of the best Guild Wars 2 professions. Let’s get on with it, shall we?

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Best Guild Wars 2 Professions, Ranked

There are a total of nine professions in Guild Wars 2. Just like every other list, take all the information you are about to receive with a grain of salt. Probably you have an already set way to play RPG games that better suit some of the above professions, and that is completely fine. Just find the one that sounds like a match made in heaven for you. Otherwise, getting to know these professions before you begin your adventure will truly make a difference if you come in completely unbiased and with no previous experience. Here is our ranked list of the best Guild Wars 2 professions:

Guild Wars 2 Professions Ranked List

1) Engineer

The Engineer is pretty much an all-rounder that it is actually pretty good at all its specialties. Need to provide healing efforts? The Engineer will be able to help support your allies. Need to control the enemies lines? The Engineer will be able to manage crowd control like a master. Need to step up and do the job of a tank? The Engineer will take damage like a champ and will leave the way open for the enemy to be dealt with by the other members of the party. It is the best profession of Guild Wars 2 and rarely is this title ever discussed.

2) Elementalist

A great balance between healing capabilities and damage output, the Elementalist will always be a great profession in almost every situation, while soloing or being part of a group. Beware, though, since the Elementalist will be in their best shape whenever they focus on either damage dealing or in healing. Otherwise, the Elementalist won’t live up to the expectation of being number 2, and sometimes even being number 1 of the Guild Wars professions.

3) Guardian

The tank of all tanks, the Guardian has a decent mobility and DPS, however it does not excel well in combat. It is probably one of the favorite professions for most players, however they tend to be misused. Like said previously, they do not fare grate in battle, but they do in damage absorption and preventing other players from being hurt. Having support units in your party will make the Guardian pretty much invincible while doing their best to reduce the enemy’s damage output.

4) Mesmer

The support king of the bunch, Mesmer will be able to help its allies in all ways possible: reduce cooldowns, buffs for the whole party and even teleport its allies out of trouble. The only negative aspect is that there is a kind of steep learning curve for Mesmer, specially if dealing with solo play. Don’t expect to deal a lot of damage with the Mesmer though, it is not its specialty. It is more appropriate for dealing psychological chaos and randomness on the enemy lines. It is better used in a group.

5) Necromancer

Being a Necromancer has always been the fan favorite way to play an RPG. Commanding armies of the undead will be able to turn the tides in every battle, and the Necromancer will be able to defend himself alone without major trouble. Having said that, they do fall flat on PvP due to a lacking DPS in general. Besides, many players will feel a little bit overwhelmed by the grindy nature of the Necromancer, forcing players to be very specific and micromanage every single move or action that the Necromancer does. That is a big no-no to non-hardcore gamers.

6) Ranger

While being able to control animals may be a fantasy of yours, usually the Ranger suffer the same fate as other professions in this list: you cannot survive by your own. Ranged attacking will only work if you have other characters that can take the hit. Furthermore, the animals you control will perish to attacks with big AoE, and they are pretty much incapable of holding the enemy lines. The best way to improve the Ranger’s capabilities and utility is to focus on its specializations. The Druid specialization is essentially a great way to be useful in large scale battles and will provide a great way to bring the battle odds to your favor, specially in groups. The Soulbeast specialization is better used while soloing, thanks to their flash skills and abilities.

7) Revenant

Great support and great spread out attacks with a decent AoE, but what makes the Revenant very difficult to control is its excess of resource management. You need to excel in this in order to get the best out of the Revenant, otherwise you will barely scratch the enemy. Basically, you will always need someone that does the dirty job and distracts the enemy with a dance battle in order for the Revenant to prepare its spells and magic. Besides, Revenant players will only be able to pick either to support allies or deal damage to the enemies, since trying to do both will just limit the capabilities of the Revenant, just like the Elementalist.

8) Thief

A unit with awesome stealth abilities, as long as you are in a group. If left alone, the Thiev will struggle a lot to make any difference. Being undetected is where the Thief thrives, and being able to close in and then escape the battle instances is where the Thief truly shines. With that being said, that is the main reason that using the Thief solo will be a big headache for you. Just like the Ranger, being able to use the best out of the specializations is the way to go if you wish to make the Thief a little bit more, let’s say, competent. Being a Daredevil Thief, arguably the best specialization for the Thief, will grant you more dodging capabilities, while the Deadeye specialization will allow the Thief to shoot better from a longer range by using rifles. So long the stealth, am I right?

9) Warrior

while excelling at being tanks and are great for taking damage output position in your party, the warrior, while loved by ones, is really just a big no-no for most players. While it is relatively easy to control, it is the perfect example of trying to excel in all available areas, without standing out in any. The best way to use a Warrior is to distract the enemy and redirect all damage output it way, giving a chance for the rest of the party to deal some damage.

So, to sum up, if you definitely have to use a Warrior for whatever reason plausible, just put it in the front lines and hope for the best while providing a decent amount of support for them to not simply die doing the only job they are decent at. Its usefulness and damage output can be upgraded by picking either the Berserker or Spellblade specialization. Be sure to pick those up if you wish to justify this controversial pick. Anyway, I’m sorry Warrior for being harsh on you. Just go swing your sword someplace else, preferably far from me.

Related: Does Guild Wars 2 Have Controller Support? How to Connect Controller

Picking the Best Profession for You

So there you have it. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, take this list as a reference. Or even better, as a personality test for you to pick whichever profession you feel fits. Not even the Warrior profession is totally useless in certain situations. Therefore, don’t feel discouraged if the way you are used to playing RPGs is ranking low in the list. Just surround yourself with skilled players that will be able to compensate your profession’s weaknesses and further improve your strengths.

Not everyone can fulfil the same role. That means that each one of your party’s members should know honor that and stick to their assigned activity. It very well could be healing and bringing support. It can even be dealing incredibly high amounts of damage. The thing is, any profession, even the top ones, cannot survive without the other. Well, maybe the Engineer, but even they crave for human contact! That was a joke, guys. Anyway, hope you have fun picking and leveling up your character. Good luck!


Guild Wars 2 is available on Windows and macOS. Please check out Gamer Journalist on Facebook to join the discussion and keep up to date with our content. You might also like to check out or guides on Can You Reset Your Profession Specialization in World of Warcraft Dragonflight?, and What Is Roster and Roster Levels in Lost Ark? Lost Ark Roster Rewards Guide.

Author
Image of Alejandro Josan
Alejandro Josan
A musician with a heart of a gamer, Alejandro's life has always been accompanied by adventures on Nintendo platformers, countless hours of fantasy RPGs and several third-party FPSs. Currently, he is studying Game Design and Development, preparing for a long career in the video game industry.