Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons Professions First Look

ArenaNet just gave Guild Wars 2 fans their first glimpse of what to expect in regards to profession changes when the next expansion, End of Dragons, arrives at the start of next year. End of Dragons will take us all back to the Asian-themed continent of Cantha and see what the dragon Kuunavang has been up to.

Players were given access to three of the nine new elite specialisations that change up how existing professions play in this first event and we’ll get access to the others in other events as we approach the end of the year. I gave all three a bit of a test drive so here are my initial thoughts on the Willbender, Harbinger and Virtuoso and how they change things up.

Willbender (Guardian)

The new trait line for the Guardian lets them wield an off-hand sword and provides a mobility focused moveset that allows for a much more agile attacking style. The off-hand sword itself gives access to swift strikes and a shadowstep manoeuvre allowing much more aggression than the guardian has typically been used to.

Their virtues are now also shifted from their usual forms into mobility attacks like dashes and a shadowstep that now apply a damage over time effect, the Willbender’s Flames. The heal skill, Reversal of Fortune, can negate any incoming attack, even one that would’ve been lethal and turn it into a heal.

Utility skills for the Willbender have also seen a mobility shift, with a focus on shadowstepping and dashing to enemies being the core of this new aggressive damage-dealing variant of the Guardian. The trait line itself has some interesting choices within it, from flat out improving the damage over time to making your shadowsteps provide a defensive bonus, there is definitely potential for some interesting builds here.

This shift in focus is interesting and it’s something we see in the other two specialisations we got to see.

Harbinger (Necromancer)

The Harbinger provides the Necromancer with access to the pistol and a new shroud mechanic, the perhaps unsurprisingly named Harbinger Shroud. This allows the Necromancer to sacrifice their health using a new mechanic called blight. In return they gain access to powerful attacks but leave themselves at risk as blight reduces their health pool.

The Harbinger traits allow you to gain an aura that can aid you and your allies or weaken foes as well as focus your blight into different forms of damage. With a variety of ways of tweaking how blight affects your damage, from increasing your damage over time attack’s strength or length to gaining critical chance.

The Harbinger’s other new mechanic is their elixirs which provide various boons but also apply blight. Almost all aspects of the Harbinger boil down to this blight risk and reward system. You are always at risk of death but can produce high damage output. This makes the Harbinger a lot more intense to play than the typically slower more methodical Necromancer style and is an interesting subversion of the profession.

Virtuoso (Mesmer)

The Virtuoso gains the ability to use daggers, forgoing her traditional illusory skills for psionic daggers. Your dagger attacks are used to build up a stock of psionic daggers that hover above your head which you then unleash to deal massive damage.

Of the three specialisations available to play with, this is arguably the simplest to understand but it’s no less fun to play. The Mesmer visuals are still gorgeous to behold and the Virtuoso doesn’t disappoint here.

The basic mechanic of building a collection of sharp mental daggers, then hurling them at an enemy is a lot of fun. The traits have a focus on making dodging and blocking attacks grant boons and generate more daggers making it an extremely fast paced specialisation to play.

All three specialisations are fascinating tweaks to the existing toolkits the professions have and I’m looking forward to seeing what the others are like in the coming months. Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons is taking players back to a fan favourite continent but they aren’t trading entirely on nostalgia based on how interesting these new specialisations are looking right now.