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 Virtuoso

Virtuoso is a very strong spec that simultaneously offers 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 focus variant without the mainhand sword (so using a single mainhand dagger). You should also run the Empowered Illusions and Jagged Mind traits.

With these modifications, the rotation becomes very simple:

• Use your utilities, elite skill and dagger 2 and 3 off cooldown
• Use a Bladesong whenever you have five blades stocked, with the priority 1 > 2 > 3 > 4
• Use Sword 5 as the first skill when you weapon swap, then when you use it again weapon swap back to focus, use focus 5 whenever it is available and weapon swap back to sword as soon as you can

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

As you gain confidence, you can try to switch to the full greatsword build for a significant boost in damage. Note that the simple rotation is almost identical to that of the Condi build, making it easy to switch between the two.

Condi Daredevil

Condi Daredevil already has a very simple rotation, but it can be simplified even further if desired by changing the Sigil of 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.

You can provide support to your group simply by autoattacking on mace as this provides both Barrier and Alacrity on the final hit. Your mech also pulses the same effects 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 Firebrand

There are three flavors of Quickness Firebrand (Power, Condi or Healing) but all 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, and will outperform power on practically every encounter.

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 Holosmith

The Power Holosmith can be modified by replacing Grenade Kit with Photon Wall (or Throw Mine on large hitbox targets). This is the so-called “Kitless Holosmith”.

This removes the need for kit swapping but also takes away the Holosmith’s ability to deal ranged damage. Sword and Rifle Turret deal good consistent damage, and Engage Photon Forge offers a large amount of burst when required.

If running kitless, Photon Wall should be activated twice while at high heat or within Engage Photon Forge (ideally both). If using Throw Mine, the toolbelt skill Mine Field should be activated twice while in Engage Photon Forge. Throw Mine itself is not a DPS increase and so can be saved for the CC.

It is also possible to run Crystal Configuration: Storm instead of Crystal Configuration: Eclipse as this turns Photon Forge's autoattacks into explosions at the cost of generating more heat. If taking this route, the holosmith should let their heat drop 10 lower than usual before re-entering Photon Forge.

Condi Soulbeast

A simpler version of Condi Soulbeast is the Condi Shortbow build.

Relying totally on shortbow removes the need to melee the target and makes the rotation less strict as it does not require using Quick Draw on the correct skills.

The rotation here is functionally using skills off cooldown, and as the second weapon set is not used at all it can be used for utility weapons. Being fully ranged makes it easier to avoid AoEs, though it is heavily reliant on flanking the target to achieve the best DPS.

Condi Firebrand

Condi Firebrand boasts high sustained DPS as well as being very bursty for a condi class. In weaker groups, it can provide a small amount of group Quickness by taking Liberator's Vow instead of Unrelenting Criticism, and using Mantra of Solace every time it reaches maximum charges. The same skill can also share Aegis to mitigate certain mechanics.

The build can also bring a good deal of potential support through Tome of Resolve and Tome of Courage if time is taken to learn what each of the skills do.

If struggling with the rotation, the scepter portion may be omitted and only swapped to if ranged damage is required.

Power Dragonhunter

With extremely high burst damage and decent cleave, Power Dragonhunter is a very popular build at every skill level.

While many find the rotation to be simple, it can be difficult to recover from - the most important thing is keeping Spear of Justice and Procession of Blades synchronized. In addition to this, the reliance on Resolution to crit-cap and relatively low sustained DPS makes it less suited to groups with poor boon coverage and/or long phases.

Power Reaper

While Power Reaper has very low sustained DPS compared to any of the other options, it has the unique advantage that it becomes comparatively better the worse the group is: The class can self-buff a lot of Might and Quickness, and is less reliant on Fury than other power classes, making it ideal for groups with poor boon uptime.

Additionally, the class can bring a great amount of CC as well as Grasping Darkness - a long range pull that can be extremely useful. Both these allow Reaper to cover for other squad members that may be slacking.

Heal Scourge

Similar to Healing Tempest, Heal Scourge should be used as a secondary healer to a Druid.

While it has low healing and provides practically no buffs, it has the strongest access to barrier in the game. Barrier effectively prevents the targets from taking damage and can even allow the group to survive some attacks that would otherwise instantly down players. Scourge also has 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.

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.

Power Berserker

Power Berserker is a semi-support class that otherwise functions as a DPS. The power rotation is much easier to get to grips with than the condi version but is fully melee and requires flanking the target to deal the most damage.

As a support role, the player will need to maintain squad coverage of Banner of Discipline and Banner of Strength. This involves careful positioning of banners in encounters that involve movement, as well as ensuring that banners are picked up before they despawn naturally. The Berserker may also be expected to contribute a lot of CC when needed, so encounter familiarity is a big advantage.

In groups that already have a banner Berserker, the player can easily switch to DPS Berserker, which is a competent DPS class in its own right.