Guild Wars 2

Since we have another week left I figured I would pass on some observations from someone commanding runs and that I have picked up while someone else was commanding.

Squad up. Squad up. Put up a command tag if there is not one on your map and put up a LFG (people will join you fast). Oh, and did I mention to squad up?

Find out the current common knowledge. Last year Lich was a royal pain. This year: skip the viscount because it takes too long for the reward. You can better better loot with a large crowd running and spamming weapon skills at every passing mob so time is not your friend.

The more people near a door when it is triggered the higher it will scale so the better the reward. There always is someone that will trigger a door when they first get to it (with the party a few secs behind them) for some reason, maybe they think they will get extra credit?

You do not want to fight 2 bosses at once and you especially do not want to fight 3. If you ignored the advice about skipping the viscount do the other door (if it appears) first as someone will trigger it during the fight. Also The Labyrinthine Horror appears every 20 minutes so keep an eye on the clock.

When waiting for your party at a door kill the nearby mobs. Not only is it free loot but they get in the way during the fight.

There are a lot of spiders that rez near the nw corner of the map. They appreciate some AOE attacks when you are running by.

Any other suggestions for people?

If you do fight the Viscount either use reflect skills to protect yourself from his ranged attack or stand in the candy pools to get a special reflect skill. But watch the boon because if it builds up to 10 stacks it will knock you down, so get to 8 or so and then move out. (This used to be common knowledge but I guess since people aren’t fighting him as much it’s been forgotten.)

Avoid using skills that push, pull, launch or knockback especially when doing the doors that spawn groups of enemies. The one I think I’ve seen most often this year is mesmers using a greatsword (skill 5 is a push) but there are a variety of skills which will do it. And yes the level-up knockback is unavoidable but if we can avoid the others it’s a big help.

But I think top of my list would be simply to respect the rules the commander and the group have already established by the time you arrive. There are more than enough groups even at quiet times for everyone to find one to suit them (or start your own!) so if you arrive and you’re told they are going to fight the Viscount, or only the Commander is allowed to open doors or even something that seems pointless like they’ll only go clockwise around the map or only visit the centre every 2nd circuit you have 2 choices: accept it or find another map.

Don’t try to argue with everyone else on the map that they have to do it your way because you are here now and have decided they’re wrong.

Menadena.7482:

The more people near a door when it is triggered the higher it will scale so the better the reward. There always is someone that will trigger a door when they first get to it (with the party a few secs behind them) for some reason, maybe they think they will get extra credit?

I suspect in a lot of cases people are just running around spamming F, either when the prompt appears or just in general, and open the doors by accident.

But I’ve also spoken with people who misunderstood the daily achievement and thought you had to be the one to open the doors to get credit, so they were actually trying to get there ahead of the group and open it before anyone else arrived.

Menadena.7482:

You do not want to fight 2 bosses at once and you especially do not want to fight 3. If you ignored the advice about skipping the viscount do the other door (if it appears) first as someone will trigger it during the fight. Also The Labyrinthine Horror appears every 20 minutes so keep an eye on the clock.

I actually like fighting the Horror and the Viscount at the same time. In previous years it was virtually impossible, now it’s the only remotely challenging fight you’ll get in the Labyrinth.

Of course I won’t say anything and I’m certainly not going to try and get them up together, but when it does happen I’m excited. Then I spend 1/2 the fight rallying downed players.

I’ve not seen the Horror and the Lich at the same time as often, but apart from lots of downed people if their big AoEs hit at the same time I don’t think it’s really that bad this year.

I always see people skipping vets. Maybe this was relevant when loot diminished as you farmed, but right now, it really doesn’t seem worth skipping. It takes less time to kill the vet and get your reward than it does to just skip it and go looking for new doors…especially when you’re going round and round in circles skipping that same door…

Danikat.8537:

I suspect in a lot of cases people are just running around spamming F, either when the prompt appears or just in general, and open the doors by accident.

Yep, I clicked F to pick up loot near one of the doors and accidentally opened it.

^
Which is why autoloot is amazing. XD Well…….except for the Lich.

Ah good to know about the 10 stack limit. I always thought it was 8. Tho, still should bail the pool at 8.

Also, if the Labyrinth Horror/Steve shows up during King Corn’s/Viscount battle, then try to kite him away from the Viscount. Tbh I’ve never seen him show up during the Lich. Maybe just timing?

Side note: this is my first Halloween in gw2 and the first time I saw a giant skeleton with a chainsaw pop out of the wall and start running toward me I was…. O.O Very fun

Danikat.8537:

Menadena.7482:

You do not want to fight 2 bosses at once and you especially do not want to fight 3. If you ignored the advice about skipping the viscount do the other door (if it appears) first as someone will trigger it during the fight. Also The Labyrinthine Horror appears every 20 minutes so keep an eye on the clock.

I actually like fighting the Horror and the Viscount at the same time. In previous years it was virtually impossible, now it’s the only remotely challenging fight you’ll get in the Labyrinth.

Of course I won’t say anything and I’m certainly not going to try and get them up together, but when it does happen I’m excited. Then I spend 1/2 the fight rallying downed players.

I’ve not seen the Horror and the Lich at the same time as often, but apart from lots of downed people if their big AoEs hit at the same time I don’t think it’s really that bad this year.

Seconding this, viscount + horror is one heck of a knock-down drag-out fight. The loot you get doesn’t change but unlike the lich this year you actually feel like you’ve earned it.

Menadena.7482:

You do not want to fight 2 bosses at once and you especially do not want to fight 3.

Any other suggestions for people?

You do want to fight litch and horror together. Litch will 1 shot horror, which saves a lot of time not having to kill horror on your own. Two bosses in the time it takes to kill one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/5acsws/lich_v_horror/

Danikat.8537:

If you do fight the Viscount either use reflect skills to protect yourself from his ranged attack or stand in the candy pools to get a special reflect skill. But watch the boon because if it builds up to 10 stacks it will knock you down, so get to 8 or so and then move out. (This used to be common knowledge but I guess since people aren’t fighting him as much it’s been forgotten.).

Thanks, I have heard to stand in the goo for stability but nothing about the 10 stacks knocking you down.

If you are commanding a squad, and someone not in your squad opens a door before you get to it, don’t automatically assume they are trolling. They might be in a different squad, or just be playing on their own. Your squad does not have exclusive rights to the map.

DoctorDing.5890:

If you are commanding a squad, and someone not in your squad opens a door before you get to it, don’t automatically assume they are trolling. They might be in a different squad, or just be playing on their own. Your squad does not have exclusive rights to the map.

I am talking when a bunch of people are running to a door and the first person to get there triggers it. Or when a group is doing a viscount fight and someone opens the door next to it. Since it does not report who opened the door I usually can not say for certain it was someone in the squad if multiple people were near it but I do know it was someone running with the group.

I have seen deliberate trolling with other people opening doors when a group is not around. The details are unimportant but I was not talking about that.

Oh, and there is no reason to have more than one tag per lab map. I tagged up once last year and had missed there was already a tag on the map. Then rightly got dressed down for doing so because I was making the farm less efficient. If you think it is a status thing? After a week of lab runs pretty much any commander is more than happy to let someone else command.

My advice is have fun.