Guild Wars 2

Couldn’t find anything equivalent on the forums or the wiki, so apologies if this duplicates something else…I’ll avoid repeating info that’s in the wiki.

This is mainly just a list of the various options for avoiding damage in combat, intended for new players who might not be aware they exist. It won’t deal with options that reduce or heal damage. Main perspective is for PVE but it’s generic enough to apply to the other game modes.

The main reason why these are so useful is that their effectiveness doesn’t depend on attributes. A Block or Evade prevents damage whether you are level 1 or 80. About the only thing that can scale up with level is the duration of some of these effects. Learning to use these options means you can place less emphasis on defensive stats (Toughness, Vitality, Healing Power) while still surviving your adventures.

Each of the damage avoidance options is listed under a heading that is also a link to the relevant wiki page. Click on the headings to get more info and to identify which skills or traits provide those effects and also which professions or races they apply to. The wiki pages also provide guidance on timing these effects.

Hopefully I haven’t missed any damage avoidance effects from this list…

Blind
This is a condition that causes attacks to miss their target. While affected by Blind, an enemy’s next attack will Miss (and you’ll see that appear on screen when an attack misses you or if you miss an attack from being blinded yourself).

If an enemy uses an attack that hits several times, only the first attack will Miss. I’ve noticed that if a blinded enemy uses an AoE attack that only hits once, that attack will also Miss (but if it’s something that hits several times like a Lava Font, you probably don’t want to be standing there for too long after the first attack misses).

You’ll notice that most professions have easy access to Blinds. They’re also fairly easy to get the timing right since the effect usually lasts for a few seconds.

Block
Blocks are potentially more useful than Blinds since they can negate multiple attacks rather than just one attack at a time.

Most blocks provided by a melee weapon (except shields) include a counterattack if they block a melee attack, which also ends the block. Assuming the block doesn’t end, it will prevent all projectiles from continuing on for the duration of the block, making these very useful against archers.

If you like the idea of watching your enemies hurt themselves with their own missile attacks, Reflects are closely related to Blocks.

Just be aware that some attacks are Unblockable, which affects Reflect as well.

Dodge
Every profession can Dodge, so it’s worth trying to make best use of the dodge roll in combat. A Dodge counts as an Evade as far avoiding attacks goes (see the next heading).

This has been stated by others, but it’s worth restating: you should probably disable the option to dodge on double tap of a movement key, otherwise you might unintentionally dodge roll off a platform during a jumping puzzle or when trying to get to a vista.

By default, dodge is bound to the V key on the keyboard. You might find it easier to access by binding dodge to another key or even a mouse button. Make sure you can reach it easily since you’ll probably be using it a lot.

Evade
An Evade is basically a Dodge except that it usually occurs as part of an attack, so you can strike down your foes while avoiding their clumsy efforts to hit you.

One thing worth noting is that some skills provide longer or shorter evades compared to the duration of a dodge (3/4 s for a dodge). If you’re having trouble timing your evades, look for options that provide a longer evade (e.g. Thief wielding sword and pistol, and using Pistol Whip).

Related to Evade is Retreat.

Interrupt
This heading actually covers a wide range of effects, all of which are listed on the wiki page. The idea behind these is to mess with the enemy while they are in the middle of attacking (either just before the attack lands, or during a multi-attack channel).

Most of these count as Control effects, which is relevant because some enemies in PVE are immune to Control effects. The Stability boon will also protect against these effects.

Invulnerability
About as close to god mode as you can get in GW2. These effects don’t last very long and won’t prevent damage from existing conditions, but for a short time all direct damage is ignored and new conditions won’t stick.

Elementalists in particular have early access to this effect (Mist Form is available at level 5 and Obsidian Flesh is available to any Ele using a Focus if they’ve learnt the weapon skill).

Stealth
If you like sneaking around to stab your enemies in the back, this one’s for you. It’s worth noting the details about what actions break stealth (and prevent you from entering stealth again for a short time).

More reading:
Damage
Conditions
Boons
Combos

Move; Dodge; Don’t stand in the red circle.

Also one other thing which helps with dodge. Don’t queue up attacks. There are times I haven’t been able to dodge because the dodge key won’t get processed until the queued attacks are processed and by then, the AoE damage you are trying to dodge has already hit.

Yep, agree with all that…I just figured that blinds and blocks would be useful for beginners to use until they get used to the timing for dodges. I sometimes get lag which makes trying to time a dodge pretty hard, so having something like a block on a longer channel time has saved my bacon before.

Main reason I never got used to the ranger sword is exactly what you described, the 2nd and 3rd attacks in the chain seem to lock you in place (auto-attack can be disabled but still takes a bit of adjustment). Much rather use a GS with the ranger for the built-in evade.

Great job! I’ll definantly get new players to check this out! ^^
I love it when I see the community doing stuff like this!

Not standing in the red circle I think is a big one that all new players should be aware of.