Guild Wars 2 features 5 different playable races of the Tyrian species. Each race has its own unique storyline, physical appearance, racial skill and racial sympathy. This makes the game vastly different depending on the race you select during your character creation process in the beginning of the game. The official trailer for the races was released back in December of 2009 and showcased the different characters that would be available at the game’s launch. Below we’ve included the video for players to get a peek at what they can play as in GW2.
The races are Asura, Sylvari, Human, Norn and Charr. Each has its own background, playing style and massively different appearances. During the character creation step of GW2 you can customize each character quite extensively. Below we’ve listed each race with a short summary of their story, culture, history and gameplay details for players to scan over when choosing what to play. Each race has a female and male option.
GW2 Asura Race
Asura characters are intelligent and masters of magic. This race originally resided underground (for 1000s of years at that) until followers of the Great Destroyer invaded their home and made them come to the surface. That was 250 years ago. The Asura are very short, standing a mere 4 feet tall. They look a bit like a small alien, to be honest. They have a ton of options for customizations with skin markings, loads of hair styles and physique details that can be altered to nearly anything. Being a magic based character this race is more than likely well suited for a ranged DPS build.
GW2 Charr Race
The Charr are a rather big, cat-like characters. They are true warriors, trained in the combat arts and possess great strength. For that reason they will more than likely fit the role of either a DPS or Tank build for most players. These felines have a very fierce appearance and stand much taller than humans or most other races. The Charr also have no ties to religion and often despise the idea of there being an existence of gods of any sort.
GW2 Human Race
The Humans used to be the species that controlled nearly everything in the lands of Tyria. Since then, though, their race has begun to dwindle and their once large and powerful empires have been crushed or stripped from them. Despite all their troubles they still remain a noble and persistent people fighting to survive and earn back their former glory. These characters will more than likely play best as either DPS or Healer builds.
GW2 Norn Race
The Norn are a large, hunter race that originally occupied an ice land in Tyria. Unfortunately, they lost their icy home to the Ice Dragon. The Norn is able to choose a Spirit of the Wild which grants a player the ability to have the strength of a bear, speed of a wolf, have the intelligence of the snow leopard or the smarts of the raven. As the player further advances their character the Norn gains the ability to transform into an animal.
GW2 Sylvari Race
The Sylvari are a truly unique race within Guild Wars 2. They are not really man nor creature but rather plants. They are rather new inhabitants of Tyria. At first glance this race actually looks just like a human but taking a more detailed look you’ll see that they are actually made up of what appears to be roots and vines. These characters are also a magic based character. In GW2 they will more than likely play best as either a ranged DPS or healer build.
