Guide:Simple Raid Builds

Overview

When starting with raids, it can be helpful to have a build with a somewhat simple rotation that can allow you to focus on mechanics as you learn. The following builds are chosen such that they fit the following requirements:

• Strong autoattacks (if DPS), allowing the player to contribute to an encounter while still unfamiliar with the class.
• Easy rotation, allowing the player to improve quickly with the class.
• Highly effective in the hands of a skilled player, so that it remains a strong choice long-term.
• Minimal responsibility for mechanics.
• Viable on the majority of encounters.

Highly Recommended

Power Soulbeast

With extremely high burst, Power Soulbeast is a strong build with a very simple rotation.

The bulk of its DPS come from the combo of Whirling Defense and "Sic 'Em!". So you do a lot of damage just by camping Sword/Axe and keeping these two skills "synced" while otherwise casting everything else off cooldown (except Signet of the Wild).

Some players may find this build harder to play than others as it is fully melee, as well as being rooted during the cast of Whirling Defense. The build also lacks the survivability that other classes do, and if you mistarget "Sic 'Em!" you lose a huge amount of damage.

Power Mechanist

The strength of Mechanist lies, fittingly, in the mech. As the mech functions independently of the player and is unaffected by most mechanics, it is capable of providing constant damage regardless of what the player does, especially if the F-skills are set to autocast. With a fixed amount of damage guaranteed, the player can focus more on handling mechanics and paying attention to the encounter.

Additionally, the rotation is very simple and almost entirely ranged, which makes positioning easier.

If you are struggling with the kit mechanic, Grenade Kit can be swapped out for Throw Mine, which means the rotation basically boils down to pressing all DPS skills off cooldown.

The damage potential is very low in comparison to other builds, but is unparalleled at maintaining its damage, allowing it to be competitive.

Condi Daredevil

Condi Daredevil already has a very simple rotation, but it can be simplified even further if desired by changing the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Doom to a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bursting, which removes the need to weapon swap. Although this build requires being in melee constantly, you are surprisingly survivable as you spend the majority of your rotation evading.

If you find positioning the trap to be awkward, you can also swap it out for Skale Venom. Be aware that your venoms gain maximum damage from being applied to allies, so ensure you are on the stack when you use them.

Daredevil has an advantage over other thief specs due to the power of its stolen skills. These skills provide a powerful effect that is usually very helpful for the encounter you get them so learning which skill you will get is very useful.

Condi Virtuoso

Much like the power build, Condi Virtuoso deals impressive damage while remaining simple. There are two variants of condi Virtuoso: the higher-damage Duelling build, and the even simpler Chaos variant.

A new player could start with the Chaos build, then switch to the Duelling version as they gain confidence. The Duelling build has an almost identical rotation to the simple power build presented above, so the class provides a smooth learning curve that can provide you with both a capable condi and power build.

Much like the power build, Condi virtuoso is fully ranged, and Jagged Mind provides an abundance of blades that offer great utility. For condi, Jagged Mind is especially useful as it provides significant healing, which makes the build even better while learning!

Heal Mechanist

The vast majority of heal builds in Guild Wars 2 are expected to also function as boon supports, and this is no different for Heal Mechanist. Heal Mechanist has a distinct advantage over the other builds in this role, in that a significant amount of its support happens automatically as long as the Mech is on the group. This makes it a perfect class for beginners.

On mace, you can provide a lot of support to your group simply by using the second skill as this provides Barrier, Alacrity, Regeneration and Vigor all in one skill. On shortbow, skills 2-4 offer barrier, Might, healing, condi cleanse and Protection.

Your mech also pulses Barrier and Alacrity around it on a regular interval. By setting the F3 and/or F2 on autocast, you can provide full boon support to your group without any input whatsoever - though be aware that if the Mech is not on the group these abilities will be wasted, so you need to keep track of it.

If you need extra healing, you can jump into Med Kit and spam all the abilities until people are back to full health.

Quickness Herald

Power Quickness Herald provides a huge amount of Quickness over a large area simply by activating one or two skills each time you legend swap, though the focus on legend swapping rather than weapon swapping may be initially confusing.

For as long as you maintain an upkeep skill of 6 or more energy, Herald will pulse Quickness around it every second. The size and frequency of its boon application covers for a lot of mistakes, and it has a huge range of tools at its disposal, rewarding mastery.

Herald is not only one of the few builds that can cover the full range of standard offensive and defensive boons, but whenever it is in Legendary Dragon Stance, its Facet of Nature provides +20% boon duration (or a 3 second boon extension if consumed) to its group, boosting the output of the Alacrity support.

There is also a Healing build that operates on the same principles, but naturally would have to take on the responsibility of keeping its group alive.

Also Recommended

In addition to the builds above, there were some that didn't meet all of the outlined requirements but can be strong options nonetheless.

Power Virtuoso

Virtuoso is a very strong spec that simultaneously offers among the highest DPS potential of mesmer whilst also removing many of the most-difficult elements of the class. There are several ways to play this, but the simplest is to run the Jagged Mind trait.

Thanks to Infinite Forge, you generate a huge number of blades, so you can hold on to F3 and F4 if you need CC or an emergency invulnerability. This build is also fully ranged, which makes is very forgiving with your positioning.

Power Scrapper

The Power Scrapper can be modified by replacing Grenade Kit with Rifle Turret.

This removes the need for kit swapping but also takes away the Scrapper’s ability to deal ranged damage.

If running kitless, place your Rifle Turret at the start of the phase and use Surprise Shot off cooldown. You could also Detonate Rifle Turret towards the end of the phase for more damage. Throw Mine deals good damage but can be saved for CC if necessary.

Thanks to Impact Savant, this build generates a large amount of Barrier on itself, which makes it very survivable.

Condi Weaver

Condi Weaver boasts high sustained DPS as well as being very bursty for a condi class. Although the full rotation is one of the hardest builds in the game, it can be simplified greatly while still doing great damage.

Use a sceptre, and change your elite skill to Glyph of Elementals and summon it while in Fire Attunement. Then follow the rotation:

• Attune in the following loop: Fire/Earth ⇒ Earth/Fire ⇒ Fire/Fire ⇒ Fire/Fire then repeat
  • This means your attunement presses are Fire ⇒ Fire ⇒ Earth and repeat
• Use all utilities and your elite skill off cooldown. One cast Glyph of Lesser Elementals in fire attunement
• Use all weapon skills except Earth 5

If you have downtime between/before encounters, keep casting Glyph of Lesser Elementals and you can end up with quite a large number of them for a significant damage boost!

Though the rotation is quite fast paced, it is fully ranged and can generate a surprising amount of incidental Might which can help groups where the boon supports are struggling.

Scourge

Scourge occupies an interesting space between DPS and healer. The full DPS build takes a while to build up damage, but makes up with it with a fully ranged, mostly unstructured rotation and some incidental support. The Heal Build is a very potent support, though it is a bit more awkard to apply Alacrity than other healing builds due to the small size of its AoEs.

Where Scourge really gets interesting is its ability to mix and match elements between the two in a way that most other classes cannot. The key to this is the Blood Magic traitline, which gives Scourge access to Transfusion, which will teleport downed players to your location and begin reviving them. This enables Scourge to save a group from situations that would otherwise be a wipe. You can also run heal Scourge traits on the DPS build to provide a surprising amount of support while also doing respectable damage.

The focus on damage prevention rather than healing means that Scourge is best when the player is already familiar with the mechanics of an encounter, and care must be taken with Transfusion to ensure that downed players are not teleported to unsafe locations.

Quickness Firebrand

There are two flavors of Quickness Firebrand (Condi or Healing) but both provide quickness in the same way.

Mantra of Solace with the Liberator's Vow trait and Mantra of Potence are both instant-activation mantras that apply quickness in a small area around the Firebrand and a cone in front of them. The charge system on Mantra of Potence also makes it much more forgiving if the player is prone to miss skills coming off cooldown, as it can be cast twice in quick succession to “catch up”. Note that this does not work for Mantra of Solace as the quickness is applied via the trait, and has an internal cooldown.

Which flavor of Quickness Firebrand works best will depend on the squad. The support version is the safest option, but Condi is the most generally useful if the squad does not require extra healing.

Beginner Builds

The recommended builds above are far from the only options, and many build have viable simpler rotations. The pages below all have guidance for maximising their effectiveness with minimal input, or are already very simple.

Power DPS

4.7

Alacrity Support Healer

5

Power DPS

5

Power DPS

5

Condi DPS

4.8

Condi DPS

4.8

Condi DPS

4.8

Alacrity Support Power DPS

4.5

Power DPS

4.5

Alacrity Support Condi DPS

4

Condi Fire DPS

3

Condi Chaos DPS

4

Simplified Builds

In addition to our beginner builds, there are yet more that can be somewhat simplified. These require more effort than those above, but should still be easy to get to grips with.

Power DPS

4.7

Power DPS

5

Boon Support Healer

5

Power DPS

4.8

Quickness Support Power DPS

5

Alacrity Support Healer

5

Power DPS

4.8

Alacrity Support Condi DPS

5

Alacrity Support Condi DPS

4.5

Power DPS

5

Condi DPS

5

Power DPS

4.4

Condi DPS

4

Quickness Support Healer

5

Condi DPS

4.5

Alacrity Support Power DPS

4

Condi DPS

4

Celestial Alacrity Hybrid DPS

5

Condi DPS

4.3

Alacrity Support Healer

5

Quickness Support Healer

4.7

Condi DPS

4.5