Guild Wars 2

Hi. Does this sort of thing exist in this game – Supportive, clutch, reactive, moments of greatness? I’ve looked through all the elite skills and couldn’t find anything really like the above mentioned.

Thank you for your time!

I’ve never heard of those terms. Are they from another game?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I’ve never heard of those terms. Are they from another game?

I just made the terms up as I was going haha. But take wow for example, the resto shaman has abilities that would be considered reactive and kinda life saving…. maybe the skill ‘spirit link totem’ is a good example. you pop it when kittens the fan and it stabilizes the group and basically no one can die for several seconds.

so… like rebound?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/%22Rebound!%22

nottsgman.8206:

so… like rebound?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/%22Rebound!%22

Exactly. So yea, that’s the sort of skills I’m looking for. Is there anything else?

I’ve read through most skills on the gw2 wiki, but sometimes its hard to tell how a skill really works in game just from reading the skill text.

The Reaper elite shout “Chilled to the Bone!”

The Warrior shout “Fear me!”

The Dragonhunter’s virtue Shield of Courage

Are pretty good examples, too.

I’d say any revive type skill. When it comes to revive skills tho, you have to know what situation is best for them and then actually have it equippec at the time which most of the time doesn’t line up.

Been playing my ranger of late and was playing in Auric Basin, stumbled across the champ arrowhead being duoed and one of them went down. As i ran up to them, i swapped my elite to spirit of nature and start casting it as i approached the downed. The other guy was rushing to help the downed too. Right as i got the spirit down and tried to dodge the cone, me and the 2nd guy go down (1st guy died from the cone) but i used the spirit renewal skill of the nature spirit which revived me and the 2nd guy.

dace.8019:

The Reaper elite shout “Chilled to the Bone!”

The Warrior shout “Fear me!”

The Dragonhunter’s virtue Shield of Courage

Are pretty good examples, too.

Fair enough. Good examples.

The concept of aegis, in general, sounds very much up my alley. I just wonder how often it gets used reactively – when u see a fireball flying at u and u scream like a little girl and press aegis as fast as you can just before it hits you. that’s what I like.

Look through the Traits to find things that trigger under certain conditions. Heals when health drops to X%, or condition cleanses when you get X number of condis on you, or X happens when you are stunned, etc.

DeanBB.4268:

Look through the Traits to find things that trigger under certain conditions. Heals when health drops to X%, or condition cleanses when you get X number of condis on you, or X happens when you are stunned, etc.

These sound more like passive effects. If so that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for active skills that require quick reflexes and are support oriented. Thanks though!

Yea i guess that’s something i didn’t factor into my thinking – getting downed is prob fairly common. Preventing that from happening, the way I’m thinking, is prob not that important.

Guardian with aegis like you said or the scourge necro elite spec in the upcoming path of fire expansion would also fit your game style, pumping up barriers as hp buffers against spikes

The game doesn’t really want to rely on “clutch skills”, because you’d need something so powerful, Overwatch would be jealous. A few exist, but they only do so under very specific conditions… and nearly all of them are purposed with PvP in mind.

PvE, ironically, doesn’t lend well to these types of skills, because enemy attack patterns are too slow. You usually end up in a situation where a single hit is so big, you may as well just use your dodge roll….. or is multi-hit, which tears through single triggered defenses like they didn’t exist.

What proves to be more effective is normal skills being leveraged in clutch situations due to circumstances. Shield of Judgement, Mesmer distortion, most Blowback skills, Rejuvenating Tides, group stun breaks, and many more. They’re not explicitly designed to work in a clutch, and are just as effective in normal situations to either gain control, or regain control of a situation. What would make them “clutch” is using them at the right time to avoid a bad situation.

Compare to Rebound, which only “saves” you against one blow, only IF it would otherwise kill you, and restores HP to a set level. The only time it beats Aegis is if the attack is unblockable; and against condi, it could maybe buy you a half a second, where as a strong condi clear could avoid most of that damage in the first place.

So if you want clutch in PvP….. those happen all the time. Just make the other guy regret his choice of attack. But for PvE, the more projected attacks of bosses is much better mitigated through the multitude of general mechanics at your disposal. Or in a worst case scenario, rapid recovery of a screw up by bursting skills made for recovery.

starlinvf.1358:

The game doesn’t really want to rely on “clutch skills”, because you’d need something so powerful, Overwatch would be jealous. A few exist, but they only do so under very specific conditions… and nearly all of them are purposed with PvP in mind.

PvE, ironically, doesn’t lend well to these types of skills, because enemy attack patterns are too slow. You usually end up in a situation where a single hit is so big, you may as well just use your dodge roll….. or is multi-hit, which tears through single triggered defenses like they didn’t exist.

What proves to be more effective is normal skills being leveraged in clutch situations due to circumstances. Shield of Judgement, Mesmer distortion, most Blowback skills, Rejuvenating Tides, group stun breaks, and many more. They’re not explicitly designed to work in a clutch, and are just as effective in normal situations to either gain control, or regain control of a situation. What would make them “clutch” is using them at the right time to avoid a bad situation.

Compare to Rebound, which only “saves” you against one blow, only IF it would otherwise kill you, and restores HP to a set level. The only time it beats Aegis is if the attack is unblockable; and against condi, it could maybe buy you a half a second, where as a strong condi clear could avoid most of that damage in the first place.

So if you want clutch in PvP….. those happen all the time. Just make the other guy regret his choice of attack. But for PvE, the more projected attacks of bosses is much better mitigated through the multitude of general mechanics at your disposal. Or in a worst case scenario, rapid recovery of a screw up by bursting skills made for recovery.

Thanks for the well thought out and informative answer.