Humanity was the prevalent race in Guild Wars until the Eye of the North expansion where many new races made their first appearance. The Asura are a highly intelligent race but are rather weak physically, thus utilizing automations known as Golems to do their fighting while they figure out the tactics and calculations. They have a very deep understanding of magic and it shows deep within their cities and their projects.

Escaping the Depths

The Asura lived under the depths of Tyria for thousands of years until the Great Destroyer came and launched a full out assault on the Central Transfer Chamber. This crippled the network and drove the Asura from their relative safety underground to the over world. They immediately began construction on a new city, Rata Sum, which was erected quickly and efficiently. From there a group of adventurers along with a native Asura named Vekk helped defend the city against the Destroyers and led an assault back to the Central Transfer Chamber where their home and gate system was liberated.

The Asura are an arrogant race but highly intelligent. As such they show disdain for the other “lesser” races but seek friendly terms. They remain neutral in all conflicts and guard their technology with great zeal. They are manipulative as well, seeing the other races as pawns in a greater game, but the other races acknowledge this behavior and a level of casual distrust remain between them and the rest of the world.

One interesting note is that the Asura don’t believe in the standard gods of Tyria. They believe in Eternal Achemy which is a belief that everything is part of a greater purpose or machine. This belief will most likely result in many storylines where the Asura forget ethics and morality because of their desire to control the “machine” that is life.

The Movement of the World

Humanity suffers many great losses as the years move, but the Asura only grow stronger. Rata Sum, a hastily cobbled together city, is turned into a massive capital displaying the Asura’s grasp on technology and magic. Their gate network is expanded across all of Tyria allowing quick and easy travel for themselves and any peaceful traveler.

Non-Human Playable Race

The Asura are one of the four non-human playable races in Guild Wars 2. Their home instance with be in the great city of Rata Sum which remains intact 250 years since the events of GW:EotN. New players will get to choose between one of three colleges:

  • Dynamics
  • Synergetics
  • Statics

In addition, newly created Asura will get to select what their first experiment was. These choices only affect a character’s personal story (LINK) and nothing more.

Not much else is known about the Asura. They are a secretive race that keeps to themselves and are a bit xenophobic. Players of GW:EotN can easily notice this working through the Asuran missions. However, it is likely that they will be playing a much greater role in Guild Wars 2 with their Asura Gate technology.

We know the city of Ebonhawke, the last stronghold of Ascalon, is supplied directly by an Asura Gate. So it would make sense that a big role within the game for them will be to maintain transport and supply routes as war is raged on all fronts. Not only that, but the advancement of technology places them at a strong position to be creators of a lot of new weapons and machinery to help make the lives of everyone easier.

So what do you think of the Asura? Do you think they’ll make an awesome race or do you wish that that the Dwarves never died? Come share your opinion on our community forums.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Guild Wars 2 Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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