Guild Wars 2

Hi folks – I guess I understand that a large part of combat defense is “avoidance”, but I don’t really grasp how that translates into mechanics. Is the only effective defense dodging (the “V” key)? Or does movement help, whether strafing or running around like an idiot? Or do traits and skills factor into it?

Thanks for the help. For context, I’m trying to do this as an engineer, and my most effective defense so far has been the aforementioned running around like an idiot while dropping bombs. Entertaining, but perhaps not effective

Running or jumping won’t stop you being hit by a blow providing you are within the range of the skill being used. On the other hand, dodging or using a blocking skill will.

Avoidance also includes using line-of-sight blocking ,which works against most skills (but not all) and it also includes being careful NOT to step into red circles. (Or under some circumstances, not leaving them)

Then again there’s good old running away. Get out of range and keep going.

You can strafe attacks.
A good example of this is with ranged projectiles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hd9c9WRTko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdevV3itRpY
Strafe in one direction then make a sudden break to the opposite direction to make it miss.

Alternatively with melee attacks, if there is a large windup attack, you can turn around (because you run faster going forward than pedaling backwards) and dash backwards a bit to avoid the attack.

Pressing “V” or clicking the dodge bar lets your character dodge backwards. You have for more options, though.

You can also dodge left, right and forward. This is done by double-tapping the movement key for that direction twice in quick succession, and you can also dodge backwards this way. (This function can be disabled in the options menu.)

moving can avoid damage but not all.

Many spells are projectiles, but they move fast, the most efficient way is to dodge them, bu by moving you can mostly not prevent from being hit, but you can prevent it to be a critical hit (you need to be full hit to hit critical, causing a glance will never be critical afaik). Als it is obvious that walking out of a red circle also helps a lot.

So if possible try to dodge, but if you know the enemy well and want to save your dodges for harder blows later on, or when you used your dodges, then simply moving away is a good but lesser alternative.

Dodge/blocks are the keys to avoidance, however something no one mentioned is that there is also the option of invul skills (if you have them) that let you take no damage from hits for a short duration. There are a few of these (such as warrior Endure Pain) which only mitigate 100% direct damage, meaning you’d still be susceptible to condi’s such as burn/bleed/poison, etc.

Regarding the strafing videos, I actually make use of that tactic whenever I’m forced to solo/duo anything and I need to avoid ranged projectiles (as I play a warrior, I don’t have the luxury of reflects). And Sobat beat me to this as well, with some bosses you can actually walk around them or run backwards to get clear of their attacks, provided they have choreographed animations with sufficient wind-up time. Risen undead abomination in Arah P2, Malrona (her venom spray attack, specifically) in TA Up, the Searing Effigy end-boss in CoF P1, and the ice golem near the start of CoE are all examples of this.

Also, if you an ‘all-thumbs’ person like me who has a tendency to hit the same movement keys in quick succession unintentionally (or with an another purpose in mind), you might want to forego the option of directional dodge via double-tap. I simply hit a directional key followed by V, this also serves the same purpose but admittedly is less convenient.

These are all really helpful suggestions, thank you very much.

Playing an engineer focused on bombs, I basically have to get into reasonably close proximity to targets – at least I think I do. I will do some reading on ways to increase endurance regeneration (for dodging) – that skill seems pretty important. Thanks again!