Guild Wars 2

Kill each burrow in under 9 seconds. Easy peasy. Let the lvl 80 guy in your group with 4 AC armor pieces call the targets (and attack just the targets)!

Now that that’s out of the way. . .

Today I was with a PUG of four lvl 40-45’s and myself lvl 80. First group didn’t listen… ever… at all… second group was good. Listened, understood, moved fast, respec’d (as much as poss “in-dungeon”), but it still wasn’t enough. Just couldn’t get out enough dmg. Having this dungeon as rec lvl 35 seems a bit ridiculous. Mind you four 80’s can do this no problem.

So I figured, what if went and spec’d out for max dmg? Would that make it a kitten-ton easier for pugging it? or do I just need to be the guy who puts a lvl req on party invites?

Here’s where you, the community, come in. I’m playing a lvl 80 Guardian. Ran greatsword/staff (didn’t touch the staff though) with a build focused more on healing and then tuned “in-dungeon” to do more damage.

I just developed the following build:
http://tinyurl.com/crks6am

1. Build suggestions?
2. Will this be viable for other paths? (I think so, just would swap out for retreat & tome of courage)
3. Has anyone completed this path, recently, with <lvl 45’s (pug or not)?
4. Do you think it’s worth it? cost of book, primarily. (I’m not changing my armor)

it looks like you’re trying to munchkin. Either be straight defense, or straight attack. You should try go middle of the road.

Maximillian Greil.1965:

it looks like you’re trying to munchkin. Either be straight defense, or straight attack. You should try go middle of the road.

That build was supposed to be straight offence specifically to make this particular part of this particular path of this specific dungeon easier. I think my DPS will be higher with high crit dmg and chance. As opposed to investing in power, even though that has better traits, specifically for the spirit sword.

Best I could do with guardian (and a build calculator). Guardian, it seems, just isn’t great at the whole DPS thing…

I’m also a little confused about you post, you tell me go straight defense, or offence, or try middle of the road. I’ve never seen this specific part of the dungeon successfully done without spiking down the burrows. Though the other paths I run “middle of the road” with generally great success, but this post isn’t about those other paths.

here’s a video showing (in my mind, at least) a perfect run of this part:
http://tinyurl.com/blqdh5w

I do it with 2 friends daily, we are all 80 but they change character to get some XP at the boss. 80 is not needed but sure you will do it faster with no problem, the big problem about AC is to do that with people ho dont know what they are doing, thats why i always do with at least one friend.

I usually run with at least 1 guildie (it’s hard to find guildies/familiar people in Borlis during the times I’m on). In this case I had he was lvl 42(?) warrior. He and I alone did most of the dmg. I guess I’m just wondering if this spec with 1 other “good damager” would be enough to carry along lower lvl non-DPS-spec’d pugs.

I guess it’d be easier for me to just put “If you’re on Borlis: Add me to your friends list; when I’m on msg me ‘AC 3’ and I’ll come along”

It’s not about very specific team builds, it’s about proper speccing.
Don’t go condition damage. Don’t have more than 1 necromancer (sorry, they simply are not suited for AC3 in bigger numbers). Don’t rely on crits. Go pure power. Have enough object-damage.

3 people in any combination of ele/war/engi can get it done with ease. Even low level.
Elementalists can spawn ice bows for everyone to use (including those pesky necros), whose 4th skill is absolutely godly against burrows. Other than that – grenades, 100b, ele fire staff + glyph of storms.

Most of my guild teams get all burrows destroyed and all monsters killed at 85~86% mark of the collectors, and we’re dancing around for a while.

I’ve seen many pugs fail because people are kiting adds away from the burrows. Don’t do that. Have one person (who ideally knows the spawn locations) targeted, have the rest of the party follow him/her, and have everyone stand/circle-strafe right on top of the burrow. That way, even your run-of-the-mill 3-target melee attack will provide meaningful aoe damage, and the hatchling adds basically cease to exist.

If you additionally can pop a timewarp or similar to kill the Breeders quickly, you shouldn’t have significant trouble even in a lowlvl party without Eles/Engis.

Unless people are running condi dmg builds, in which case you’re out of luck.

Here is what I do:
Have all 5 attack burrow -> move to next burrow. Thats about it. Gravelings tend to follow so they die in crossfire. Just move and move and move. Did it with a group that had two 40-50ish necro’s + 80 condition ranger (I am a warrior), and I forgot the other as it was just a random. If you got some warriors -> Frenzy -> Might/fury + (for me) Charr racial might/fury -> Elite signet -> DPS burrow like crazy. There isn’t much damage getting dealt to you if gravelings don’t have time to spawn after all.

The worst thing that can happen is to fall behind and let too many mounds pop – they have a set amount and then stop spawning. If you are low DPS and your having trouble keeping up it is PERFECTLY fine to allow one crystal to die. Don’t worry on it. Kill burrows till they don’t spawn. As long as one lives your find so if your playing catch up and only one is getting hurt don’t mind it and continue on burrows.

Then wait.

only thing you need to do ,to get around for the quickest runs are 2 ele’s , 2 guardians/warriors/dps’ers and 1 whatever that’s perfect for AC 3 (don’t get me wrong i do this dungeon every day with diff teams with total level loops etc..) but the best thing is just to have those ice bows standing by AND LET IT RAIN ! ^^ burrows will go down in 3 seconds so that’s why i say 2 ele’s are the best becauze of the cooldown the warriors , guardians , etc… can just focus on the other burrows while the rain is being replenished to fire of again ^^ so actualy super eazy ^path i’f you just know how even without ice bows it’s oke . BUT ice bows run them down sooooo quickly hahaha :p + have 2 teams 2left 2right 1middle (tanky)warrior ^^ that’s all for a perfect fit ^^

Well, I done it with a party who has a lvl 41 ele. And done it with a 80 party with no ele or engr.

Before doing AC3, try to get the same team to do AC1 (if you are doubting the team’s dmg compentency on burrows). Defending Hodgins is a good way to gauge if AC3 is gonna be smooth or otherwise.

Most of you seem to miss that I understand the strategy of how this path works.
Good tip on the Ice bows though!
@mosspit Usually I try to go 2, 1, 3.

EDIT: Just wanted to add. I’m not looking for a general/team strategy. I’m looking for a good way to spec my character (a human guardian) for this path. Though I do appreciate the comments anyway. Could be helpful to others

one typo kittens up what I meant. What I’m trying to say is DON’T be either straight defence or straight offence. Go a middle of the road character.

All you need is an ice bow

That’s what I figured you meant; that’s why I followed up with the fact I generally go middle-of-the-road, but this path calls for an offence specific strategy, middle of the road simply doesn’t work. Unlike path 1 & 2 where the middle works quite well.
I suppose if you went straight defense with 5 shield & sanctuary guardians you could, in theory, CC defend one of the collectors long enough. But that’d require a LOT more organization and not be a pug-able option.

are there others who find this actually the easiest path in AC? not sure why. i guess it’s a bit longer because it’s timed. but the events / things you have to do is super easy. : ))

@Quiznos – hmm at work right now, so can’t open your build link :///
i’m a Guardian as well and i run usually hammer/staff and sometimes GS/staff. in terms of build, i’m not specced for max dmg as a Guardian can and still get through the burrows relatively quickly. i run a 0/5/30/30/5 survivability focused build, and constantly buffing my allies. sustained high dmg though so it’s pretty good. altruistic healing is one of the bases, and then i go for high crit. so you see a lot of red numbers : )) and on crits, i give might to my allies so that helps a bit with dps as well.

i don’t like changing my build around too much and i’ve found this build gets me through AC easily and more than able to handle the harder dungeons or taking on various mobs in Orr while going solo, even in full MF gear. not sure if this is what you’re looking for. but i find in this game, it’s more beneficial to go “middle of the road” , as Maximillian mentioned. straight DPS might be faster for the burrow event, but if you accidentally get caught in the howling kings fallign rocks, it could be over in like.. not even half a second. dungeon i’ve always felt was more about survivability. and onto the next point.

though i think more importantly, you just play the way you best play your character and just communicate to the group. : )) true, sometimes you might pick up someone new, or low level.. ran with a lvl 45 as the last spot for our PUG and they mighta been slightly squishy, but they knew what they were doing so we still did more than fine. and level 80’s don’t automatically mean they’re experienced either. heck, i didn’t go into dungeons until i was lvl 80 for 2 weeks! key was i let people know it was my first time, and they were kind and patient enough to lead me through. and now i can help lead others. one thing we can do for the community i feel is keep helping others. i know we all want to rush to content.. but say, if we keep helping new players, and they keep passing that on… eventually, in an ideal world, we wouldn’t ever have to worry about pugs, because everyone would know what they were doing. so to speak. everyone wins in the end. : ))) again, in an ideal world.. but that shouldn’t stop us from helping others. so the off chance that you do PUG with someone again, they’ll know what to do! because you showed them the ropes last time.

akamon, I appreciate your post.

I’ve pugged since with success, sometimes after a few tries. It was really this one particular time it didn’t work; even after the group (the second one in my op) knew what was up and tweaked as best they could without buying a book knew the order the burrows popped in, etc. 4 failed attempts in a row maxing at 80% was the final straw. I was just thinking of maxing my dps trait wise to make things easier for future groups.
For rock face, and other stuff, I’d go back to my usual build: tome of courage, staff/GS, sanctuary, hallowed ground, and merciful justice & I’d still have my healing armor.

ah, i further see what you mean. so was your team pretty much focus firing on the burrows? than i guess it might have been a special case where everyone in your group just didn’t have the appropriate DPS? that event is a slight check. i’ve only run path 3 a handful of times and may look to run it more.. first time i remember we just burned the burrows down, both collectors more or less untouched and barely had any stragglers leftover. the most recent run i did, we still cleared it, but we lost one collector and had to fight a good 15-20 seconds to clear the rest of the mobs at the second collector.

again, i wish i could see the build you’re planning to run but if you were only changing some traits that you think would help, i don’t see why not. i guess Guardians don’t burst as much as some other classes are capable of, but we can have pretty high sustained dmg over time : )))

The build (not as nice to look at in text format):

10/30/30/0/0

sword/torch, prayer to dwayna, bane sig, sword of justice, save yourselfs!, hounds of balth

Trait Summary
Major
Spirit Weapon Mastery: Spirit weapon skills recharge 20% faster.
Healer’s Retribution: Gain 3 seconds of retaliation when using a heal skill.
Powerful Blades: Sword and spear damage is increased by 5%.
Right-Hand Strength: Critical-hit chance with one-handed weapons is increased by 15%.
Retributive Armor: 5% of toughness is given as a bonus to precision.
Strength in Numbers: Nearby allies gain +30 toughness.
Altruistic Healing: Applying a boon to allies heals you.
Minor
Zealot’s Speed: Create a Symbol of Wrath when your health drops below 25% (30-second cooldown).
Justice is Blind: When activating Virtue of Justice, nearby foes are blinded.
Renewed Justice: Virtue of Justice is renewed when you kill a foe.
Radiant Power: Deal more damage to foes inflicted with conditions.
Valorous Defense: Gain aegis when your health reaches 50%.
Courageous Return: Virtue of Courage is recharged when you rally.
Might of the Protector: Gain might when you block attacks.

Quiznos.4296:

Today I was with a PUG of four lvl 40-45’s and myself lvl 80. First group didn’t listen… ever… at all… second group was good. Listened, understood, moved fast, respec’d (as much as poss “in-dungeon”), but it still wasn’t enough. Just couldn’t get out enough dmg. Having this dungeon as rec lvl 35 seems a bit ridiculous. Mind you four 80’s can do this no problem.

It all depends on your team and your players, me and my guild have also run this with alts we were levelling no problem. But on the other hand I have done this with PuG 80’s who utterly failed.

People should learn that very little in this game is level based, it all comes down to knowing how to play, teamwork and of course your build and keeping your gears up-to-date. Being in AC as a level50 with level 25 armor just won’t do it.

Always 86% left and no more burrows or ads….

Quiznos.4296:

<snip> Mind you four 80’s can do this no problem.

<snip>

Not always the case, I’ve been in groups with all 80’s and still failed cos they don’t listen. If people don’t know the burrow order on path 1 they should follow whoever does know it, not run off and do their own thing/ attack gravelings.

Regardless of group level, ice bow destroys a burrow with just the number 4 skill. If there is only one ele then rotate between the ice bow users. If both people only use the 4 skill you can kill 4 burrows before they expire.

AC suffers more from being less forgiving to idiots than it does to being less forgiving to low levels.

If you have a pug, explain that melee has to stand at the whole of the burrow, basically the entrance to do any damage. And tell ranged people to use AOE and strafe or they won’t damage it. Also, get an ele with fire 5, fire greatsword ult, and/or ice bow. GG

so my condition necro should be hitting the burrows with about a 20% chance of hitting with any of his attacks instead on hiting the minions in a circle and fearing the breeders when they try to puke up babies. 5 wars is the perfect group for ac 3 but any group can do if everyone is coordinated and plays to their strengths.

On a side note, guardians can do broken amount of damage if they go full zerkers (be sorta squishy but with protection and aiges and heavy armor they still have survivability). They are probably the only profession that can build glass cannon, do glass cannon damage, and still be tough to kill. the greatsword spin and scepter 2 ability are great for those stationary targets. You should try them out

randomfightfan.4091:

5 wars is the perfect group for ac 3

2 Eles and 2 random people is the perfect group. Ever tried an ice bow on a burrow? 2 attacks and it’s down.

Tweek.3190:

Quiznos.4296:

Today I was with a PUG of four lvl 40-45’s and myself lvl 80. First group didn’t listen… ever… at all… second group was good. Listened, understood, moved fast, respec’d (as much as poss “in-dungeon”), but it still wasn’t enough. Just couldn’t get out enough dmg. Having this dungeon as rec lvl 35 seems a bit ridiculous. Mind you four 80’s can do this no problem.

It all depends on your team and your players, me and my guild have also run this with alts we were levelling no problem. But on the other hand I have done this with PuG 80’s who utterly failed.

People should learn that very little in this game is level based, it all comes down to knowing how to play, teamwork and of course your build and keeping your gears up-to-date. Being in AC as a level50 with level 25 armor just won’t do it.

Guess it wasn’t clear I meant a random group of four lvl 80’s who listen and get the concept of how the run works and adjust their utilities can do it without a problem. Interesting that people keep getting hung up on that, it’s as if they don’t read the whole post. The group I had that repec’d as much as poss without buying books was a necro, me @guardian, war, thief, and ranger. Just couldn’t get the DPS high enough

Also, tried a group with Icebow ele… SO BOSS.

every group i’ve done path 3 with so far, has luckily been with an ele or two. and once in the room, an icebow drops by default. ; ))) definitely makes things go a LOT faster.

supposedly they fixed hitting stationary objects, i.e. burrows in the latest build? or that it’s upcoming? as melee i’m always strafing though side to side, if not circle. i usually end up behind the burrow as well, so i can see better where the next one may pop, since i don’t have the locations memorized :ppp

You gotta measure your dps on the first burrow before spider queen. If you can kill it at 8sec or less, yon do the dps route. If not, you can try to def one node as best as you can.can.

Tweek.3190:

randomfightfan.4091:

5 wars is the perfect group for ac 3

2 Eles and 2 random people is the perfect group. Ever tried an ice bow on a burrow? 2 attacks and it’s down.

yes I have and you are right, I just forgot about that.

Tweek.3190:

randomfightfan.4091:

5 wars is the perfect group for ac 3

2 Eles and 2 random people is the perfect group. Ever tried an ice bow on a burrow? 2 attacks and it’s down.

Ever tried 100b now that it works on burrows? 2.5/3k damage on them every 6.5 seconds.
I was the war there so I’m not talking about rumors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jktf9AHdSoQ&list=UUCJB9e8gfLOK0ZKoGn-i1uA&index=1&feature=plcp

Quiznos.4296:

Let the lvl 80 guy in your group with 4 AC armor pieces call the targets (and attack just the targets)!

I lol’d

Scyte.2801:

Quiznos.4296:

Let the lvl 80 guy in your group with 4 AC armor pieces call the targets (and attack just the targets)!

I lol’d

Glad someone enjoyed that XD
Post started as a rage, but then turned into a “how dpssy can a guardian be?”
The answer seems to be “A guardian w/ icebow is the most dpssy” lol

drkn.3429:

It’s not about very specific team builds,

drkn.3429:

Don’t have more than 1 necromancer … 3 people in any combination of ele/war/engi

Well … do you realize the discrepancy?

drkn.3429:

… (including those pesky necros),…

Oh, a little necro-hater!?!

My gaurdian is all damage build because most people who pug dungeons either have bad gear, a bad build, don’t know how to dodge, don’t listen to people who know the dungeon and do low dps so I just go for the fastest damage I can put out and pray it’s enough lol.

drkn.3429:

It’s not about very specific team builds, it’s about proper speccing.
Don’t go condition damage. Don’t have more than 1 necromancer (sorry, they simply are not suited for AC3 in bigger numbers). Don’t rely on crits. Go pure power. Have enough object-damage.

3 people in any combination of ele/war/engi can get it done with ease. Even low level.
Elementalists can spawn ice bows for everyone to use (including those pesky necros), whose 4th skill is absolutely godly against burrows. Other than that – grenades, 100b, ele fire staff + glyph of storms.

Most of my guild teams get all burrows destroyed and all monsters killed at 85~86% mark of the collectors, and we’re dancing around for a while.

You’re wrong. I’ve done AC3 with three necros, a guardian, and a thief. We finished the burrows off at about 90% left, giving us enough time to partake in the requisite dancing afterwards. Necros dropping wells and alternating lich elites kill burrows pretty kitten fast. See, the strange rut people get into about classes is that they forget it’s less to do with what type of character people play and more about the player behind it. I’ll take a team full of necros that ‘get it’ over a team full of eles/engi/wars that don’t.

Drew.1865:

My gaurdian is all damage build because most people who pug dungeons either have bad gear, a bad build, don’t know how to dodge, don’t listen to people who know the dungeon and do low dps so I just go for the fastest damage I can put out and pray it’s enough lol.

This is exactly my goal!
What’s your build and/or what do you think of mine?

Also, drkn, ever heard of wells/lich? they’re boss at AC3.

Rule’o the thumb:
If you’re in doubt or you’re having a rough time, bring an Elementalist with an Ice Bow and use the Ice-Rain AoE.

This pretty much instant-kills the burrows! Now everyone can be just as effective as the other! Just pick up the bow

If you have even just one elementalists than you should be able to do both path 1 and 3.

The elementalist needs to be 2h staff and have frost bow along with armor of earth on their utility belt.

Have EVERYONE hug the burrows each time! So you go together, burrow to burrow, and stand on top of it. AOE = kills burrow and mobs at the same time. You will never have trouble again.

Trust me, I just did this today and we killed all the burrows by 85%. So we sat there and danced the remaining 15%.

Ele’s with Icebow. I get it! Enough have said it.
What about guardian?!?

better luck in the guardian forum?