Guild Wars Reforged beginner tips: 8 Things to remember as a new player

Guild Wars Reforged takes players back in time to the early 2000s, with some quality of life changes and updates to make it more accessible. If you’re new, or perhaps haven’t played much, we’re here with a few tips to make diving back in a little more reasonable. The developers didn’t change gameplay mechanics or anything like that, so if you really remember those sorts of things, you’ll be good to go.

If you had any of the original parts of Guild Wars Reforged (or perhaps picked up the Anniversary collection), you still have access to all of your characters, as well as all three parts of the classic MMO. There’s a lot to remember, but we’ve picked out a few things that will keep you safe and hopefully make this adventure more enjoyable.

Tips to keep in mind when starting Guild Wars Reforged

1) Aggro works in a different way in Guild Wars Reforged

If you aren't careful, you will wind up potentially pulling aggro (Image via ArenaNet)

In Guild Wars Reforged, aggro from enemies isn’t quite what you would expect it to be. Modern aggro tables are much easier to manage in games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV. In this game, most enemies follow pretty predictable patterns. They look to focus on the player who is:

The closest to them.
Has the lowest armor and health.

As a tank, you can body block enemies to prevent them from going to target and fight your lower armor casters and melee characters though. I know it sounds odd to be a tank with less health and armor than your allies, but that’s one way to keep aggro focused on you. That’s right, healers want more health than the tank, to be less likely to be targeted.

2) Always keep a Longbow on hand, no matter your profession

When you can make or buy a Longbow, do so (Image via ArenaNet)

I don’t care what profession you play in Guild Wars Reforged, keep a Longbow around. It doesn’t matter what profession you are, because everyone can use it. If you want to pull enemies from as far away as possible, keep one in your equipment sets, so you can swap to it, deal some damage, and lure in whatever target you want.

This is something I did back in my original playthrough, when I played a Warrior/Monk, and I still recommend it here in 2025. Get the enemy in nice and close, from a distance, and make sure your allies don’t get targeted, by keeping the above aggro tips in mind.

3) You have Heroes and Henchmen to help you as a solo player

You won’t always have to travel alone in Guild Wars Reforged, and that’s thanks to the Henchman and Heroes system. Heroes are customizable NPCs that resemble player characters in many aspects. You can recruit a wide variety of them with certain levels, in each region of the game, regardless of campaign. You will need to complete a quest to unlock each one though.

If you’re using a Hero, keep their bar nice and simple, though. Only put skills on their bar that work with what you want them to do (EG: Give melee characters CC abilities). Also, don’t put a resurrection spell on your heroes’ hotbar, because they will try to use it in battle.

Henchmen are more basic, but they’re also easier to get access to and use in a party. If you’re playing on a fresh character, or one that doesn’t have a lot of gold, it’s nice to have Henchmen instead of spending all that gold to get a Hero kitted out the way you want. You can find them around Tyria.

4) Don’t start as a Monk (Unless you have a readymade party)

While healing spells are great, in most cases, I don't recommend starting as a Monk (Image via ArenaNet)

Monks are fantastic healers, and there’s nothing wrong with playing one. I primarily played solo in the early days of Guild Wars Reforged, so having access to a few of its skills is nice. However, it’s not fun or enjoyable to solo Monk, unless you have friends you’re already playing with. They have incredibly low damage, especially in the early game, which is not fun when you're trying to level up.

If you’re in a guild, or have friends you actively play with, by all means, play a Monk as your base profession if you want! If you don’t meet those requirements, I recommend playing something else, and then blend in Monk later.

5) Don’t forget about Dual Classing, but don’t lock in immediately

There are lots of great ways to play Guild Wars Reforged (Image via ArenaNet)

Speaking of dual classing, you can do this pretty early on in Guild Wars Reforged, but don’t commit immediately to one pairing. Some professions synergize better together with others sure, but you may have some ideas in mind.

When you’re doing early game quests you will be able to do a variety of quests to pick a dual class, but when given the offer to commit, decline so you can instead try out the profession in question. This will help give you an idea of what works for you, and you can try them all out.

6) Do not skip the all-important Attribute quests in each campaign

Though this screenshot of "Forgotten Wisdom" is from pre-Reforged, it's the same quest (Image via ArenaNet/YouTube@Sentient Stone Gaming)

Each campaign in Guild Wars Reforged has a pair of quests that, when you complete them, add +15 Attribute Points to your character. These, combined with simply leveling up, will give you 200 Attribute Points, and you definitely want as many as possible to get your character exactly where you want it to be.

You do need to take the right quests in the right campaign, but it’s not as complex as it might sound. Below, we’ll give you the quest name per campaign, who gives you the quest, and which region you’ll find it in.

Prophecies

Forgotten Wisdom (Sariss Yasslith - Skyward Reach, Crystal Desert)
The Hero’s Challenge (Vanyi, Droknar’s Forge, Southern Shiverpeaks)

Factions

Lost Treasure (Raitahn Nem, Ran Musu Gardens, Shing Jea Island)
An Unwelcome Guest (Zunraa, Seifung Harbor, Shing Jea Island)

Nightfall

Rising in the Ranks: Master Sergeant (Runduk, Sunspear Great Hall, Istan)
Rising in the Ranks: First Spear (Runduk, Sunspear Great Hall, Istan)

7) Frequently stop to check on armor upgrades, regardless of profession

Sure, this shield isn't any good for me, but there are other merchants out there with better gear (Image via ArenaNet)

One of the most important things you can do with your time and money in Guild Wars Reforged is to upgrade your armor when you see better armor values come up. The reason is pretty simple: It reduces the incoming damage you take. Especially as a solo player, you want to have as little damage coming in as possible.

Armor pieces protect certain parts of your body, so having great armor in each slot keeps you as safe as possible. It’s not the only thing that goes into your defensive calculations, but it sure helps. Your armor, Insignia, Mysticism, Shield armor, and Inscriptions all factor in, alongside other bonuses. I feel like keeping up on your equipment is far more important than in other games.

8) Certain professions are locked unless you start in certain campaigns

A good example is Dervish, which is exclusive to the Nightfall campaign (Image via ArenaNet)

There are a total of ten professions in Guild Wars Reforged, but four of them are locked to specific campaigns, sort of. Assassin and Ritualist are locked unless you start in the Factions Campaign (Cantha), and Paragon and Dervish are locked unless you begin in the Nightfall Campaign (Elona).

However, it’s worth noting that you don’t have to play in those Guild Wars Reforged campaigns, if you want your character to dual-class into one of those newer professions. So if you want to play a Warrior/Dervish, you can start in any of the campaigns, and then when you unlock dual classing, can go pick up Dervish.

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Edited by Jason Parker