Guild Wars 2

Before I begin, let me be clear I understand that I’m choosing the most difficult dungeon to run. I’ve run Ascalonian Catacombs 3 times and didn’t care much for it. Probably because I was terrible and no one wanted to help me out, although I understand their state of mind it was no less frustrating.

I’m an Engineer, bomber build, pretty much a glass cannon built for WvW which is what I spend most of my time doing. I roll with a rifle instead of a pistol, I just prefer the feel, and although I have absolutely nothing put in to vitality I can generally keep myself alive quite well.

I’ve been watching some videos so I know what to expect, but I’m still scarred from my AC runs and the sour attitude towards my noobishness.

So my questions would be:

What can I do before I enter to ensure I won’t weigh down the team too much?

Are there any particular abilities I should equip? Such as condition removals or stun-breakers?

Since I’m a regular in WvW, I follow orders often. It shouldn’t be hard to keep up with the team, but in the event that I lose my way/die and have to WP, should I leave or try to catch up with the group?

How many times will I have to run this dungeon to purchase the full medium set? I’ve wanted to get my hands on it for quite some time, it’s extremely nice and one of the main reasons I want to farm this dungeon.

And lastly, if I run it multiple times a day, what kind (if any) of penalties can I expect to my rewards? Will there be less gold, worse loot, less marks?

Sorry for the nub questions. I just don’t handle failure well and don’t want to have a recap of the last time I attempted dungeons…

Check out these videos and you’ll be more prepared then 99% of people new to arah.

Specifically look at the solo lupicus solo to learn that fight’s mechanics as it is common to all arah paths and the part that will give most newcomers the most grief.

anyway 1300~ tokens for an armor set IIRC. 70~ a run depending on how many BoWGs. so about 19 runs to finish a set.

Reward is:
20 tokens for doing a path
40 tokens for the first time you do a specific path each day
3 per BoWGs

so the reward is very much decreased when re-doing a path. But doing paths 1, 2 and 3 will get you about 200 tokens and you can add in p4 another 70 some.

I recommend starting with p3. Thats supposedly the easiest. Also let your group know youre new in the LFG thats really important if you want understanding people, will take you longer to get a group though. Good luck

Better get over your fear of failure if you’ll choose to PUG it. Sometimes there are smooth PUG runs but no matter how much you watch videos and read up on strategy, you can’t say the same for the 4 other people you’ll be running with.

How willing are you to change your build to accommodate the dungeon? A berserker grenade build with Vigor on kit swap will be where you want to be for most of Arah.

You will also benefit your team very well if you’re experienced in using bomb kit and blasts to give your team stealth to make the tougher trash runs.

My last piece of advice would be to do arah p2 and p3 because p1 and p4 with pugs is probably not time efficient. It would probably take you some extra days to get your armor, but your sanity has value too.

Yea, don’t do p4 if you aren’t familiar with Lupi. People expect everyone in the party to know his fight, since it’s usually the last path they need for their DM.

If you aren’t able to do AC properly, why are you going into Arah?! Master AC first, pug mechanics and all, them move in to Arah. If you’re getting kitten d in AC, Arah will be 100x worse.

You better practice a lot more in other dungeons. You’ll get hammered if you don’t.
I hope for your sanity you can find 1-4 players to help you out.

I’m not familiar w/ all the skills for engineer, but for arah, stability, swiftness, stunbreakers and a quick dodge reflex are a necessity. There’s a guy on here, Iaharl iifc, who taught me arah, maybe seek him out. He’s a good guy that rocks on arah. I can’t solo the paths completely yet, but after his teachings, I can always survive. Good luck!