In Guild Wars 2, the class-like role you choose is called a profession. It shapes your combat skills, traits, equipment access, and profession-specific mechanic. There are eight professions in the free-to-play roster; Revenant is listed separately as requiring the Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire expansions. Choose the combat style and fantasy that appeal to you, then experiment as you level—ArenaNet says the first 20 levels are designed to help you learn the controls and discover your playstyle.
What does a profession do?
You choose a profession during character creation, alongside your character’s race and appearance. It determines which weapons and skills your character can use, the traits available as you progress, and a distinctive mechanic that differentiates the profession in combat. Background choices made during creation shape your initial story path; ArenaNet’s new-player guide encourages players to choose what interests them rather than worry about a wrong choice.
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Professions share a basic combat framework, but their weapon skills and profession skills make that framework play differently. The skill bar is arranged as follows:
- Slots 1–5: weapon skills.
- Slot 6: healing skill. Every profession has a way to heal damage.
- Slots 7–9: utility skills.
- Slot 0: elite skill.
- F1–F4: profession skills, with the exact skills depending on the profession.
You can avoid attacks by moving out of their range or dodging; dodges consume endurance. This shared foundation means you do not need to understand every profession mechanic before making a first character.
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- Discover the island of Castora – You’ll explore a remote island flowing with magic as you investigate suspicious Inquest activity.
- Tyria United elite specializations – Nine new elite specializations bring a new theme and playstyle to each profession with an updated profession mechanic and new utility skills.
- A year of adventure and rewards – Over the year of content, you’ll explore 4 brand-new maps, fight in new raid encounters and challenge modes, earn legendary rewards, unlock a new homestead map, and more.
- Comes with 1 Level 80 Booster & shared inventory slot – If you can’t wait to see the expansion content, this Booster will put you at max level so you can start your journey in Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity right away!
Which professions can you choose?
ArenaNet’s professions page describes eight distinct professions in the free roster and lists Revenant separately as expansion-exclusive. The free-to-play page also says free play includes eight professions. The new-player guide links to pages for nine, including Revenant, so the pages differ in how they present the total. Practically, eight are included in the free roster, while Revenant is gated behind Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire according to the professions page.
| Profession | Officially described combat theme | A preference prompt |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian | Uses virtues to protect allies and smite enemies; its description emphasizes tactical play and empowering allies. | Does protecting or empowering allies sound appealing alongside direct attacks? |
| Necromancer | Uses minions, ritual, blood magic, and life force for offense or survival. | Would you enjoy a dark-magic theme and the possibility of minions? |
| Ranger | Combines nature skills, traps, spirits, and pets; the official description emphasizes adaptability and survival. | Do pets and a nature-focused identity appeal to you? |
| Elementalist | Channels fire, air, earth, and water. The official description emphasizes versatility and high damage alongside lower physical toughness. | Are you interested in switching among elemental themes? |
| Warrior | Masters weapons, with speed, strength, toughness, heavy armor, and adrenaline-driven offense. | Would you like a weapon-centered fighter with an aggressive theme? |
| Thief | Uses stealth, surprise, mobility, and stolen items as weapons. | Does striking quickly, moving around, or using stealth sound fun? |
| Engineer | Uses explosives, elixirs, gadgets, inventions, and mechanical tools for support or offense. | Would you enjoy a technical, gadget-focused theme? |
| Mesmer | Uses illusions, clones, and phantasms as tools of deception and combat. | Does a deceptive style built around illusions appeal to you? |
| Revenant | Channels powers associated with the Mists and legendary figures. The professions page marks it as exclusive to Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire. | Are you interested in a legendary-figure theme and willing to meet the expansion access requirement? |
The prompts are ways to think about flavor, not rankings. ArenaNet’s descriptions establish each profession’s theme, but do not establish which is easiest, strongest, or best for a particular game mode. They also do not provide comparative measurements for difficulty or performance, so choose by the concept and combat pattern you want to explore rather than treating this table as a tier list.
Rank #2
- Easy to Redeem—Simply log in to your Guild Wars 2 account, open the in-game Gem Store, and enter the unique code.
- Safe & Secure—No need to enter credit card info in the game; just use the prepaid code.
- Spend Gems Your Way—Use gems to buy outfits, boosters, mounts skins, storage upgrades, and more.
- Redeemable on Standard (Client) Accounts—Not compatible with Steam or Epic Games Store-based Guild Wars 2 accounts.
How should a new player pick a profession?
- Start with the fantasy. Pick the idea you find most appealing—elemental magic, a pet companion, illusions, gadgets, stealth, or another theme.
- Consider the kind of combat you want to explore. Ask whether you are more drawn to close-range fighting, ranged attacks, allies and support, pets or minions, or managing a distinctive mechanic. These are preference questions, not guarantees of a profession’s role or power.
- Try the profession while leveling. Use the early levels to learn its weapon skills and profession mechanic; ArenaNet says the first 20 levels help players learn controls and find their playstyle.
- Adjust as you learn. New weapons, skills, traits, and later build options give you more ways to shape a character. You do not need to settle on an endgame build at character creation.
Race and background choices are also made during character creation, but background decisions affect the initial story path rather than determining which profession’s combat identity you select. ArenaNet’s guide says there are no wrong choices and advises choosing what sounds interesting.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What are elite specializations?
Elite specializations are optional level-80 build choices that alter a profession, rather than additional professions selected at character creation. According to Guild Wars 2 Support’s “Using Elite Specializations” article, unlocking one requires ownership of the expansion in which it was introduced, a level-80 character of the corresponding profession, and 250 hero points to complete the unlock. It provides access to a weapon and weapon skills, new skill types and passive traits, and changes how the profession plays.
Rank #3
- Guild Wars 2 Base Game
- Includes Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons Standard
- Includes Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire & Heart of Thorns Standard
- Also receive 5 Living World seasons to continue with your journey between the expansions
A build can equip only one elite specialization at a time, in the third (bottom) build slot. You can therefore explore a specialization without having to treat it as a new character class, but it is an expansion-gated progression option rather than an early leveling requirement.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Easy to Redeem—Simply log in to your Guild Wars 2 account, open the in-game Gem Store, and enter the unique code.
- Safe & Secure—No need to enter credit card info in the game; just use the prepaid code.
- Spend Gems Your Way—Use gems to buy outfits, boosters, mounts skins, storage upgrades, and more.
- Redeemable on Standard (Client) Accounts—Not compatible with Steam or Epic Games Store-based Guild Wars 2 accounts.
Rank #4
- Guild Wars 2 provides a massive, online persistent world.
- Free online play. No monthly fee.
- Players have the freedom to play together even if their friends are at a much higher (or lower) level.
- Players will be able to engage in organized, balanced PvP (similar to GvG in the original Guild Wars) without needing to first level up characters, find equipment, or unlock skills.
- You will be able to advance your character to the maximum level without ever joining a group if you so desire.
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