Guild Wars 2 redefines massively multiplayer online roleplaying games with visceral, action-oriented combat; a gorgeous, living world full of constantly evolving dynamic events; customizable personal storylines that are unique to each player; intense Player vs. Player combat between small teams or massive armies; and most importantly, a shared online world where players work together as allies instead of as rivals — all with no monthly subscription fee.

The dragon cycle that has sustained and blighted Tyria for ages is collapsing. Mortal hearts and choices will define this moment in history—and echo in the future forever.

Over two centuries ago, the Empire of the Dragon severed all bonds with central Tyria and Elona. Cantha has its own history of turmoil and triumph, reflected in ancient landmarks, enduring artistry, and modern life.

The third beta for Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons kicks off next Tuesday, October 26 and runs until Saturday October 30, giving players a first look at the final three new elite specializations coming to the expansion next February.

The untamed lets rangers become ferocious melee bruisers capable of tapping into the primal energies of their Unleash ability. The specter transforms thief into a shadow magic user that wields a scepter to weaken enemies at range. Finally, the mechanist gives the engineer a hulking mech ally that fights at their command.

Each new elite specialization provides a new twist on the core Guild Wars 2 professions, opening up new gameplay possibilities while exploring new avenues of player expression via new new skills and abilities. A detailed gameplay showcase of the beta will be broadcast on the Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel on Friday, October 22 at 12 PM PT. 

These three archetypes dig deep into Canthan history to evoke their unique powers:

Engineer—Mechanist:

The mechanist is a dynamic innovator, using their mechanical expertise and advanced Canthan technology to battle alongside a jade mech of their own creation. Choose your mech's traits and use it to crush your enemies—together, you're unstoppable.

Mech Commands are selected by the player's trait choices—in effect, the specialization traits you choose customize your mech's loadout for combat.

The mechanist can specialize in various combat roles.

They gain access to the mace as a new main-hand weapon, which can be used to apply barriers to allies, synergizing strongly with specific traits in the specialization. Signet utility skills allow them to give further bonuses to themselves and the mech. These signets can have a variety of impacts, such as commanding your mech to emit a large protective force field for allies to shelter inside, creating an electric field around it to confuse enemies, or commanding your mech to unleash its ultimate weapon, the Jade Buster Cannon.

Thief—Specter

By utilizing their Shadow Shroud, the specter harnesses the power of shadow magic to debilitate their enemies and preserve the health of their allies. By diving straight into the shadows, they've learned to control them.

With this new specialization, the thief sacrifices a portion of their initiative pool and gains a new resource called Shadow Force. Siphon replaces Steal, instead granting you the ability to inflict conditions on your foes while generating Shadow Force.

Wielding a scepter, the specter hurls bolts of tormenting shadow magic at enemies. The weapon set includes new dual attacks based on your available off-hand weapons, and it delivers potent ranged condition damage to enemies that cross its path.

Ranger—Untamed

The untamed and their pet juggle control of a raw, primal power to defeat their foes. Their pet weakens their prey before the untamed reclaims that vicious, raw power and delivers the final strike.

The untamed is a melee brawler with the ability to shift from an aggressive damage dealer to a defensive bruiser. This transition is enabled by their Unleash ability, which passes a powerful nature magic between the untamed and their pet. Pets in this unleashed state gain access to new abilities that disrupt and debilitate nearby enemies. Additionally, the untamed's bond with their pets grants them more direct control over the default abilities of each pet, ensuring that they'll always be ready to strike when the time is right.

The hammer wielded by the untamed is also affected by their Unleashed state, allowing for an adaptable playstyle depending on the situation.

For their utility skills, the untamed gains access to the cantrip skill type. These cantrips create various defensive and crowd-control effects, giving the untamed the tools they need to thrive in melee combat.

ArenaNet also showcased the first tour of the expansion’s new maps with a look at the lush, cherry blossom-blanketed environments of Shing Jea Island.

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons will have one final beta event featuring all nine professions and the first hands-on with the siege turtle, the game’s first co-op mount, taking place in November.

Finally, ArenaNet is partnering with DXRacer during the third End of Dragons beta to give away a Guild Wars 2 Racing Pro Gaming Chair. By creating a beta character and logging in each day of the beta, players can earn up to five entries into the random drawing for the chair and 4,000 gems, the game’s premium in-game currency. Two other runner-up winners will receive 4,000 Gems.

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons is available for pre-purchase starting today at the official website for $29.99, and includes a bundle of pre-purchase bonus items, including a Flame Serpent Weapon Chest, a Shing Jea Mosaic Cape, a special Prodigy of Shing Jea character Title, a shared inventory slot, and a level 80 character boost. The Deluxe Edition ($54.99) comes with the standard edition bundle, plus another batch of exclusive items: a Shing Jea Dragon Boat Skiff skin, a Canthan Raptor mount skin, an additional character slot, and an Identity Repair Kit. The End of Dragons Ultimate Edition ($79.99) includes the exclusive Standard and Deluxe Edition items, plus 4,000 Gems, Guild Wars 2’s premium in-game store currency.

Additionally, to commemorate the launch of End of Dragons, ArenaNet is making available a special edition premium statue of the Elder Dragon Aurene, the player character’s stalwart in-game companion. Sized at 8-by-10 inches, this translucent crystalline sculpt of Aurene in her regal Eye of the North pose will be available for pre-order from the Guild Wars 2 web site between July 27 and August 20 for $120 plus tax and shipping. She will also come with a digital redemption for a unique in-game character cape with her logo emblazoned upon it.

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons is scheduled for launch in February 2022.