Choosing your first profession
There is no wrong profession for getting started. Pick one whose controls feel comfortable.
Not sure which class to pick?
Try our quick personality test to see which classes naturally fit your style.
Take the TestBefore you choose
Nine professions on one screen can make the decision feel bigger than it is. It is easy to worry about wasting time, start reading tier lists, and end up choosing nothing.
The short answer: any profession can be a good starting choice.
There are two reasons.
The main story follows the same progression across professions. Your race and biography choices determine some early branches.
Second, you can create another character later. If your first profession does not suit you, try a different one.
One real restriction: a character’s profession cannot be changed after creation. To play another profession, make another character in an empty slot. If all slots are occupied, you will need to make room, for example by purchasing another slot.
What to prioritize
There are nine professions. Revenant requires HoT, PoF, or EoD. Builds and specializations let each profession focus on damage, healing, or support. Group content still assigns roles such as healer, boon support, and damage dealer.
1: Ease of control
At first, learning the game matters more than learning a complex rotation. A demanding profession can make that first learning stage more tiring.
Mechanic: Life Force and Death Shroud (a second health bar)
This guide recommends necromancer for a first character. It gathers life force from nearby deaths and uses it to enter Death Shroud, which acts as a second health bar. Despite wearing light armor, it is durable. Minions help in combat and make open-world PvE comfortable. The reaper elite specialization offers close-range scythe combat for a dark, magical warrior feel.
Mechanic: Pets (command an animal companion)
Fight alongside an animal companion. A pet can draw enemies’ attention and help you survive solo. Ranger offers both ranged bow combat and melee options such as greatsword.
Mechanic: Adrenaline and Burst (spend adrenaline on a powerful attack)
Warrior belongs to the highest base-health group and wears heavy armor. Its direct melee combat and large health pool make it a forgiving way to learn close-range fighting.
Mechanic: Virtues (three abilities with passive and active effects)
A paladin-like profession combining magic and weapons, offense and defense. It looks straightforward, but using virtues well takes practice.
Mechanic: Four attunements (fire, water, air, and earth)
Switch between four elements instead of swapping weapons in combat. Changing attunement changes weapon skills 1–5. There is more to manage at first, with strong options once you learn the system.
Mechanic: Tool belt and kits (switch between equipment kits)
Engineer cannot swap weapon sets in combat. Instead, kits such as grenades and a flamethrower provide additional sets of skills. Builds with several kits require more inputs, but offer varied tools for damage, healing, and control.
Mechanic: Illusions and Shatter (create and shatter clones)
An illusionist who creates copies to confuse enemies, then shatters them for damage or control. Choose mesmer if managing your clone count and shatter timing sounds appealing.
Mechanic: Initiative and Steal (spend initiative on weapon skills and gain a single-use combat skill from an enemy)
Weapon skills use initiative rather than normal cooldowns. Stealth and mobility let you ambush enemies or slip past them.
Mechanic: Energy and Legends (manage energy and channel legends)
Channel legendary figures from the Mists. In addition to cooldowns, you manage energy and switch between two legends.
Available if you own at least one of Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, or End of Dragons.
Revenant requires HoT, PoF, or EoD. On a free account, choose from the other eight professions.
2: Look and theme
If two choices seem equally comfortable, choose the character you want to spend time with. Guardian’s light, necromancer’s darkness, ranger’s nature theme, or warrior’s close combat are all good reasons to pick a profession.
3: Leave tier lists for later
Tier lists are more relevant to organized raids and difficult content. Every profession can handle the story and normal open-world play.
Make a choice
If you are still unsure, use this quick guide.
- I want melee combat → Guardian or warrior
- I like ranged combat and nature → Ranger
- I want a dark spellcaster → Necromancer
- I still cannot decide → Necromancer (this guide’s first-character recommendation)