Guild Wars 2

Hey all, I am fairly new to GW2 dungeons but really enjoy them and want to do them all.
So far I have done all CoF paths 1-3 and TA story, both of which I thought were fairly simple (except the fire corridor thing on CoF Path 3).

Does anyone have any advice on the best order to complete them? Should I do all the storys first and then explore or do them one by one. I know that AC is pretty hard so should I start with higher levelled ones first?

Any advice welcomed. Thanks.

It’s interesting to do the stories in order and not long one after each other because there’s an actual story to them, but you are in no way forced. The explorable versions? Whether level up through AC or if you’re level 80, do all paths as you wish to find out the ones you like the most.

i’d suggest you start them on the level for them.

30: AC
40: Caudecus
50: TA
60: Sorrows embrace
70: CoF
76: The snow one, i forgot the name, wave’s honour?
78: Crucible of Eternity
80: Arah

If you don’t exploit them, and you do it in the order (story, path 1, path 2, path 3) they should be progresively getting hard in that order.

I recommend leveling to level 80 first, and then doing the dungeons with more optimal gear. Then do them in order of difficulty.

• Start with Fractals. Seriously. Then do dungeons.

Easy to medium difficulty:

• CoF (Cathedral of Flames) is easiest, apart from path 3 which is hard.
• AC (Ascalon Catacombs) is of moderate difficulty (some people even consider it easy), except for path 3 which is harder, and is an annoying DPS check (Burrows, ugh!). Avoid Kholer and watch out for the Spider Queen if you are less experienced.
• CM (Caudecus Manor) is mostly of moderate difficulty, but with some unfair gimmicks. Sureshot Samus can be annoying to new players.
• HotW (Honor of the Waves) is pretty easy, but a bit of a drag.

Medium difficulty

• SE (Sorrow’s Embrace), Kudu is very annoying, as are his golems.
• CoE (Crucible of Eternity), Subject Alpha causes some problems for newb’s, and he’s on all paths. The rest if quite doable.
• TA (Twilight Arbor), ranks between moderate difficulty and hard. Especially the new Aetherblade path is annoying. The Death Blossoms are all over this dungeon, and are very unfriendly to new players (they used to be worse).

Hard difficulty

• Arah, some paths are harder than others. But you’ll face Lupicus on all paths, and he’s a newb killer.

TA and CoE are not hard, in the least. I recommend both of these, as all paths are easy to pug and very fun. The TA Aether is the only path that may be difficult to pug.

SE is definitely easy. Both story and all explore modes are completed well under 2 hours for all of them even if not familiar with the paths (watch youtube if nobody has run them).

notabot.3497:

SE is definitely easy. Both story and all explore modes are completed well under 2 hours for all of them even if not familiar with the paths (watch youtube if nobody has run them).

Yes only one that can kill pugs or non organized is p2 and even so, still straightforward and easy.

If you know the paths and the ways.. all the dungeons are pretty easy if the group is competent. Aside from Arah which i’ve never done.

I do AC path 1 and 3 and CM path 1 daily as I have them down fairly well and can lead a team through them both.

It’s best to study the dungeon paths though via Youtube or something so you know what to skip, where to stack, and what can make a dungeon easier.

I take my Elementalist through both AC paths as Ice Bow skill #4 is highly essential.
I then take my Thief through CM since the stealth is a great tool to use towards the end of the dungeon where you need to sneak by large groups of bandits.

TLDR and to answer the OP. Just study and learn the paths and they are all easily done.

Just to clarify, my list of easy to hard is regarding inexperienced players. Because yes, any dungeon becomes easy if you do it a lot. I’ve tried to present an objective evaluation of their difficulty for players that are NOT experienced at them. Dungeons that contain bosses with insta-kills and nasty gimmicks, are rated higher in difficulty than others. This includes for example the insta-kills that Kudu does in SE. Such opponents can cause a few wipes. I also consider Subject Alpha as a slightly harder opponent than most others, for a newb that is.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Just to clarify, my list of easy to hard is regarding inexperienced players. Because yes, any dungeon becomes easy if you do it a lot. I’ve tried to present an objective evaluation of their difficulty for players that are NOT experienced at them. Dungeons that contain bosses with insta-kills and nasty gimmicks, are rated higher in difficulty than others. This includes for example the insta-kills that Kudu does in SE. Such opponents can cause a few wipes. I also consider Subject Alpha as a slightly harder opponent than most others, for a newb that is.

Almost any dungeon boss has insta down gimmicks.

I’m saying, pug wise, TA and COE are not difficult. They can be done by iffy experienced folks. CM however, for me anyway, I’ve never found a good CM pug.

Difficulty is subjective. If you watch videos to prepare, no path should be too difficult except maybe arah. If you like story then i recommend doing the storymodes in order first. AC > CM > TA > SE > CoF > HotW > CoE > Arah. All storymodes are pretty easy and puggable. You may struggle to find a group for some of the less popular dungeons though.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

I’m saying, pug wise, TA and COE are not difficult. They can be done by iffy experienced folks. CM however, for me anyway, I’ve never found a good CM pug.

I’ve had both terrible and great experiences with pugs in CM. Some of the worst were with people in my friendslist, oddly enough. It has some very unfriendly gimmicks, like that giant trapped floor in the basement area, or the hordes of bandit saboteurs further on. A lot of random pugs so far have been smooth rides.

With TA, most of my worst experiences with that dungeon, were shortly after launch (before all the fixes), and recently with random teams trying to run through it. I also really dislike the new path.

CoE can be really easy, but for some reason there’s a lot of pugs that struggle with Subject Alpha, and with the part where you deactivate the console and have to hold back all those exploding golems.

I don’t get why people rate HotW always so low on their list. That dungeon is really easy. Much easier than say AC or CM. Its just dull, but that’s a different matter.

I will say that my least favorite part about HOTW is that two of the bosses involve underwater combat. Though once I was with a group that pulled the P3 boss over to some stairs and ranged him, which I would rather do than underwater combat.

On the plus side for HOTW, Kodan.

I do so little HOTW. It makes me seasick because my window is tilted with the boat.

Out of all story mode, I hate the SE one, and I hate Dredges, every single Dregdes. I think it’s more difficult than others.

Nobody likes Dredge, not even their own mamas.

MastaNeenja.1537:

Nobody likes Dredge, not even their own mamas.

Worst pve experience of all time: mapping dredgehaunt cliffs

Second worst: every time you get dredge in fractals

Third worst: that vista in the middle of the dregde cave in Dredgehaunt cliffs, lol!!!

Iris Ng.9845:

Third worst: that vista in the middle of the dregde cave in Dredgehaunt cliffs, lol!!!

Had to help my hubby map that awful place… He can’t jump, so I had to log in to his character and get a couple vistas…. But god it sucks. Sucks so many cats.

Fourth Worst: Cleric Guards in dungeons

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Fourth Worst: Cleric Guards in dungeons

0th worst: bow bears anywhere.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Fourth Worst: Cleric Guards in dungeons

0th worst: bow bears anywhere.

I prefer bearbows though. They are easier to spot, so I can kick on sight. Sometimes Cleric guards enter using a GS, and I can’t tell they are clerics until later in the dungeon. They are like HIV, where as bearbows are like Ebola. Both kill you, but one isn’t as detectable until its been inside longer.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Fourth Worst: Cleric Guards in dungeons

0th worst: bow bears anywhere.

I prefer bearbows though. They are easier to spot, so I can kick on sight. Sometimes Cleric guards enter using a GS, and I can’t tell their clerics until later in the dungeon. They are like HIV, where as bearbows are like Ebola. Both kill you, but one isn’t as detectable until its been inside longer.

I absolutely LOVED that forum filter by the way “cleric/until” = clerikittenil hehehe

Also, fair enough.

I had a bearbow groupmate on Mai Trin. He/she didn’t stay long though.

6th worst: pugging Arah (any explorable path) with first-timers.

7th worst: melee Lupi with ME! I’ll provide you the entertainment beyond Tribulation Mode.

8th worst: Arah before I had berserker gear.

This is interesting what this thread has derailed to.

Yesterday I bought an Arah path and ended up soloing Brie on my own because the seller was bad.

Didn’t get my money back either.

Lols.

Iris Ng.9845:

Out of all story mode, I hate the SE one, and I hate Dredges, every single Dregdes. I think it’s more difficult than others.

I dunno. Its one of the easier ones to solo/duo. I couldnt find a pug for it a few weeks back so i just started soloing it on guard to get it done. Got a friend to come help halfway through to speed it up a bit. There was one bit which was a real pain in the kitten . And that was defending the npc from waves of dredge and inquest while they destroy the gate. We didnt have quite enough dps to burn them down so we had to do some pretty frustrating stuff to get it complete after the npc died.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

This is interesting what this thread has derailed to.

Yesterday I bought an Arah path and ended up soloing Brie on my own because the seller was bad.

Didn’t get my money back either.

Lols.

Couldn’t solo Brie? I literally did that on my first try with barely any effort. Also, after some ****s merged my arah instance I went on lfg and saw you in an arah selling group for p2. I would have joined and said hi but it would have been random plus I would have forced you to re list the lfg since it was 4/5 :p

Lilith Ajit.6173:

This is interesting what this thread has derailed to.

Yesterday I bought an Arah path and ended up soloing Brie on my own because the seller was bad.

Didn’t get my money back either.

Lols.

If you enjoy buying P1. You should totally add me. Funny random story, when I was selling p3, some dude sent me 60 gold by accident lol. That guy is lucky he did that to me and not some scumbag.

To not derail too much!

I died the most learning CoE for whatever reason. It seemed like, when a stack failed there vs silver mobs, I’d insta drop on my 11k hp guard :O

I pugged with all first timers and the elite dredges surprised the group (except me) quite a great deal. So we almost wiped there. Then the group adapted pretty well to stacking and FGS rushing. We got it ok until Kudu and his golems. Everyone got scared and started to range the golems and we got wiped several times. Even worse, the bowbear in the group insisted to camp on his long bow for ‘DPS’ and ‘kite’, instead of reviving the down, even when he wasn’t on aggro. In the end, I two-manned the easy Forgemen while the others rested on the bridge, lol.

I still think it’s difficult without anti-projectile and an experienced guide.

mahariel.4981:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

This is interesting what this thread has derailed to.

Yesterday I bought an Arah path and ended up soloing Brie on my own because the seller was bad.

Didn’t get my money back either.

Lols.

Couldn’t solo Brie? I literally did that on my first try with barely any effort. Also, after some ****s merged my arah instance I went on lfg and saw you in an arah selling group for p2. I would have joined and said hi but it would have been random plus I would have forced you to re list the lfg since it was 4/5 :p

Man you should have. It took FOREVER to get people. The time I spent waiting for the invisible instance owner to make the run to Brie without dying was actually more than if I ran it myself. I was so freaking bored I almost paid for a friend to get the run, but a random elementalist joined that I had to instruct on how to run to us using FGS and mobility skills. Was just awful, would have loved to see you!

Okay,, thanks for all the advice. If I could follow up with a further question.

I have a L80 thief (high range DPS, little condition removal, a bit squishy) that is main for PvE, PvP and WvW roaming. I also have a L80 warrior (tanky, lots of condition removal, lower DPS) that I used for the TA story and found much more forgiving than the thief.

So my question is which of these are better for dungeons? Does it depend on the PUG? Should I play safe with the tanky warrior? Would some dungeons suit one and other dungeons the other.

I dont want to be a burden to my party but I also want to be able to hit the boss hard.

Again, thanks for the advice.

If you are totally new to dungeons and PVE in general I’d suggest using your warrior. get an alternate set of equipment to run dungeons with. Knights or Berserker, preferably zerker. You’d want zerker trinkets, and weapons with either knights or zerker armor.

You may have to retrait for dungeons too. If you are low on funds I’d go with your theif for more damage if you feel comfortable using thief. Warrior is more forgiving of mistakes which is why I suggested it over thief, since you are learning the ropes.

If you retrait your war I believe the best to run is 30/25/0/0/15

If you need a more in depth explanation just ask.

I would consider this (from an experienced runner) in comparison with the other paths of the dungeons :

Short
AC path 1, 3
CM path 1, 3
TA path UU, FF
SE path 1, 3
CoF path 1, 2
HotW path 1
CoE path 1, 2, 3

Medium
AC path 2
CM path 2
TA path AB
SE path 2
CoF path 3
HotW path 3
Arah path 3

Long
HotW path 2
Arah path 1, 2

Longest
Arah path 4

The short ones are what I (and most people) will run in their daily run. Medium paths are what people will do for additionnal tokens for a specific dungeon. Long paths are for more dedicated players who wants a bit more challenge and well, Arah path 4 is the longest.

When I first started, I didn’t try Arah but I tried CoE and found it “impossible”. After learning how to do it, it is now one of my favorite and easiest dungeon.

With a bit of practice, everyone can do it easily. I’d suggest you master all the paths I’ve put in the “Short” list above. Then, you can enlarge your knowledge with more and more paths.

Aetherblade is just as long as arah p1/p2. If all experienced it finishes around the same period and if all new, it also take up ridiculously times up to 3 hours.