Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

I’m playing a warrior and I’ve done a few Arah exp runs with pugs. I just want to learn from the more experienced players here on how I can improve my gameplay while fighting Lupicus.

Has anyone ran Arah exp without a guardian because so far in my experience the only one able to reliably take hits from Lupicus and survive for long periods are guardians.

So, how can I better contribute to my party in the fight?

Thank you.

Get a bow, train in obtaining reflexes like Bruce Lee.

Lupicus fight, 3 mesmers. Was the best laugh i had in ages. Poor thing didn’t know which one was the real thing.

You don’t need guardians, yes – guardians can survive through a lot without relying on dodge or too many other skills that grant immunity etc, but any composition can beat him. You just need a lot of ranged damage as it’s melee unfriendly.

The best warrior I’ve been with in the Lupicus fight basically spent the entire fight acting as a combat medic. Something/warhorn, running all over the place and rezzing anyone that was downed, using the war banner elite for emergencies/group rezzes.

Aside from that, Maximillian is mostly right. It comes down to reflexes and practice. Skills like the shield’s block skill or Endure Pain can really help you get out of tight spots, though. Shouts are good for the first phase, but after that their value diminishes since your group will be scattered. If you have something that gives you Vigour, preferably in a way that can be up as much as possible, the fight is made significantly easier.

Eventually you’ll get to the point where you’re so good at it, you’ll be soloing the guy while all your pubs are running back from the waypoint.

Had 2 guardians, war, necro and ele – only the necro died from time to time.
The next run, had 2 guardians (me and a different friend, not the one before), war, ele (the same duo) and a mesmer – got through with no deaths whatsoever.

Keep at range, stay mobile, use defensive utilities, use the elite banner for quick res, use defensive/supportive traits, run tanky build. Then just hone your personal reflexes and skills.

Go full berserker’s. The faster he dies, the less chances your team has to screw up.When it comes to taking hits, warriors already have it pretty kitten good with their default armor and vit.

Primary weapon should be a rifle. Secondary should be whatever/warhorn or greatsword with a superior sigil of energy. Endure pain and Signet of Stamina should be on your utility skill bar.

Green squiggly autoattack: stay at least a moderate distance away from the boss, then alternate between pressing q and e(or a and d if you are holding mouse 2.) If you are doing this, the projectile will miss without you having to waste endurance. If you aren’t sure if it will miss, be safe and use a dodge.

Red circle AoE: Start backing away. Wait for the sound the green squigglies make when they are close, then dodge. Simply trying to avoid the red circles will often end up in you getting hit by a stray projectile.

Phasewalk: Easy enough to avoid. If he’s focusing you with this move, stay near the wall and move around it in a circle. Controlling his position like this will make it 10 times easier for your teammates.

Green bubble: When he gets close in phase 3, watch his feet. If you see him raise his foot, dodge away from him.

On phase 1: Endure Pain, Frenzy, FGJ!, Greatsword, Axe/Shield.
- I stay on side or back
- if Lupicus turns to me I know it is going to attack me (dodge)
- if I fail to dodge infection I run back to group so that I can safely give birth to a grub
- when phase 2 starts I run away to get out of combat

On phase 2: Endure Pain, Signet of Stamina, FGJ!, Rifle (rifle trait), Axe/Shield.
- I just keep shooting at range
- I keep side-stepping all the time to easily avoid single bolts.
- I usually spend one dodge on big AoE attack (wait a bit and dodge to free spot) (or hit Endure Pain/Shield Block)
- when phase 3 starts I run away to get out of combat

On phase 3: Endure Pain, Signet of Stamina, FGJ!, Greatsword (gs traits), Axe/Shield.
- I just keep hitting on melee
- Also I dodge attacks (or use Endure Pain/Shield Block)

I have done Arah with 3 engineers and 2 mesmers (who are handycapped at this boss in p1).

See, you aren’t actually requiring a guardian. Anywhere. I have yet to see a dungeon where a guardian would have been more useful than any other profession. Really, guardians aren’t required, and in many cases I’d pick a mesmer or necromancer over one (if I cared for professions, that is: In reality, smart people just pick five people that sound intelligent, that works out fine. Nobody forms groups based on professions, because that’d be stupid)

At lupicus, you are not supposed to take hits. This is the main issue. You do not tank him. What you do is avoid him.

In phase 1, you do so by being at maximum range in a group. If you die in phase 1, your group is doing something horribly wrong, likely not killing the locusts. 1-2 people should focus on them.

Phase 2 should not be tanked. Again you avoid, by spreading. No player next to another. Just move out of the circles. If he moves at you, dodge or use a stunbreaker.

Phase 3 should not be tanked. Again, avoid. Run away from him if he goes for you, attack him from range (as far away as humanly possible) if he doesn’t. This means spreading out is, once again, beneficial.

I genuinely don’t see how this fight would be easier with a guardian. If people are able to dodge (which they should), a guardian brings nothing to the table that someone else couldn’t do equally as good.

And if people can’t dodge, it’ll be a deathfest anyway, guardian or not.

So yeah, focus on dodging, ways to help up downed allies, and ranged attacks. You’ll do fine then, just remember that the circles are an estimate, you can still be hit slightly outside of them as the attacks bounce.

Guardian has more blocks than others and running a tanky guardian lets you eat some hits and still survive with no problems. It’s also easier to res people with Signet of Mercy as a guardian, when you can’t dodge or the signet casting will interrupt, because you can afford getting hit once or twice and just heal it up full with 6.
But the same goes to everyone else – the more tanky you are, the less punished you will be when you do something wrong. If you don’t have godly reflexes, go tank all the way – you still get power in the major slot in power/toughness/vitality.

on my guardian I tank lupi on phase 2 and 3. i dont think any class can tank him the way i did lol, but that is purely out of boredom he should not be tanked if your new. I fought lupi for alot of times i got set armor of arah, gs, shield, scepter and sword.

As Elementalist, using Arcane Shield, Lightning Flash and Mist Form you can survive everything he throws at you if played well.

For a Mesmer, going staff with mirror, blink, illusion of life, and signet of inspiration works well. With staff CD reduction trait, manipulation range and CD reduction traits you can always keep Lupi at a distance and blink from his attacks. Illusion of Life is there to revive a down players so they can run out side and safely rally. Signet of Inspiration for that random aegis. Staff also has chaos armor for protection, and chaos storm for aegis/protection on yourself or an ally if they need that additional defense. Secondary weapon I go great sword for damage, but sword/sword or sceptor/sword gives you some good invulnerably/block options.

Be sure to ask people before bringing Illusion of Life to dungeons, or at least warn them – it may be easily confused with a proper hard res and backfire.