Guild Wars 2

I am not going to lie, I find the skips in Arah much harder than the boss fights themselves. I struggle with P3 running to wraithlord, P2 at the golem suit, P1 after the ooze (I haven’t tried P4 yet, but I have no doubt there will be something even more beastly in there). I usually run warrior through there, but even with warhorn, GS WW, signets of rage/dolyak/stamina and maybe “Shake it off” or Endure Pain I seem to end up going down almost half of the time on these skips. Now that we can retrait, does anyone have any suggestions for optimal skipping trait setups? Also, is it better to run with Healing Signet or Defiant Stance and its invulnerability?

I also use Ranger and Guardian as well, but I have an even harder time skipping with these guys.

you don’t need anything besides your weapon skills as warrior, all skips can be done without engaging combat. Sword/warhorn(hat trick shield/OHSword) Greatsword.

Warrior should be fine for skips. I typically have
- greatsword – skill 3 and skill 5 help if you turn off auto-targeting on attacks
- run speed increase when holding melee weapons
- some stun breaks, stability, cleanse, swiftness from balanced stance, shake it off, etc

You can get dogged march and a reactive balanced stance from the toughness traits if you need them. If you’re really struggling then perhaps you’re not dodging/evading at the right time, maybe not relying enough on sound instead visuals. Perhaps you’re not selecting the right choice of stability/cleanse/stun break for your skips.

The ultimate skipping setup for warrior is:

Sword/Warhorn, Greatsword

Healing Signet/Bulls Charge/Endure Pain/optional (mostly Shake it Off or Balanced Stance if you really need stability)/Signet of Rage

Keep swiftness up at all times with warhorn 4/elite, but don’t forget you can use warhorn 4 to cleanse immobilize, cripple and chill. Stay out of combat at all times! Use your dodges to prevent getting hit and getting into combat. Use your movement skills (sword 2, gs 3 and 5, bulls charge) when off cd but if you think you are going to need them to avoid damage, do so (e.g. by rushing past a group of mobs you are gone before they are able to hit you with their attacks). You really don’t need to retrait for skips but it’s always a possibility.

Your specific cases:

p3: Just keep moving, spiders cant hit you if you are ooc and have swiftness. Only the champ spider can so make sure to dodge his 5 AoE’s (you can survive 1, maybe 2). After that there are just a few elite risen which you can easily run past, maybe save warhorn 4 for the illusionist/elementalist that might cripple you. The giants shouldn’t be a problem since you can get past without aggroing them.

p2: The spiders here have ridiculous range. Just remember that. As soon as you see one attack in your general direction, dodge. Use warhorn 4/shake it off/defiant stance here to counter cripple. There is a little slope at the left wall near the exit where you can jump up and you can skip the last bit of the tunnel, you also won’t have to run past the turret which will instakill you if there are spiders on it.

p1: The most dangerous thing here is cripple. Just rush past the first bunch of elite risen and maybe pop endure pain for the illusionist’s chaos storm. Then keep running, dont stop, if you get crippled use warhorn 4. The little oozes are dangerous because they hit frigging hard but you can get past them with any of your movement skills without getting hit pretty much. Also be careful of the drakes, their poison won’t hurt you much but it will keep you in combat for a looong time. Try to dodge away when you see them spraying.

Stooperdale.3560:

Warrior should be fine for skips. I typically have
- run speed increase when holding melee weapons

If you take signet mastery you can have perma swiftness, 33%>25%

Another skill you could find useful is berserkers stance because it stops you from being inflicted with conditions. The spiders after Belka in P2 won’t be able to cripple you and it can also be used on any skip that has a risen elementalist so you don’t get stuck with 40 seconds of chilled.

P4 doesn’t have any hard skips. Actually it doesn’t really have skips at all. Only a bit before melandru.
Be careful with greatsword #3 and sword #3 because they can get you in combat.
Not wanting to be a kitten but warrior is so easy to skip with. Have you tried mesmer/necro?

Mesmer really isn’t that hard, you just stick on PU and slot in stealth skills.

maha.7902:

Mesmer really isn’t that hard, you just stick on PU and slot in stealth skills.

Except torch most mesmer stealth skills have a long cooldown. Also the duration of each is unimpressive. And the biggest issue is the lack of swiftness. Assuming solo run with no help from the group. Even if you get decent stealth being so slow with only blink and 12s swiftness means it will either run out or you’re gonna be the last to get in on the action.

Executioner’s axe ^.^

or if you happen to be norn: try bear form/snow leopard form for ridiculous charges/stealth uptime. skill 5 for bear and skills 3,4,5 for snow leopard.

What is sad is that I know warrior to be the easiest to skip with (at least that I have played) and yet I die on skips all the time. I did P4 yesterday and most of the skips went fine, but on the skip after Dwayna I got downed multiple times by the freaking elite shark. On one run the shark literally came out of the water completely and floated above me to finish me off… perhaps I both suck and am cursed.

robertul.3679:

maha.7902:

Mesmer really isn’t that hard, you just stick on PU and slot in stealth skills.

Except torch most mesmer stealth skills have a long cooldown. Also the duration of each is unimpressive. And the biggest issue is the lack of swiftness. Assuming solo run with no help from the group. Even if you get decent stealth being so slow with only blink and 12s swiftness means it will either run out or you’re gonna be the last to get in on the action.

On the skip from belka to abom you can use mass invis, veil, blink and the prestige and they’ll all be off cooldown by the time you reach him. Mesmer honestly has an incredibly easy time skipping, PU just makes it easier.

I only use Veil, MI, Blink and Runes of Centaur, huehuehuehue… Ditch that torch!