Guild Wars 2

Keep in mind, once you have chosen your own “personal” skills in the utility tree, grab a few “party” skills. These will come in very handy when you start doing dungeons as nobody wants a Warrior who runs 5 Signets or a -Insert Class Here- that never drops a combo field/utilizes combos.

Sorry for hating on Warriors, it’s just that’s the class that I tend to see that has no party play skills and wants to jump in to do any and every dungeon.

found this very informative especially if I am new to guild wars 2, this should be introduced to new players coming into guild wars 2 from the normal MMORPGs out there.

you also have to keep in mind that the classes are self sufficient, the warrior class is more geared towards self reliance, rather than executing combos that is not to say the class cant execute combos. The warrior helps his party by being able to cure conditions with “shake it off” and if you are using a hammer by knocking foes down and stunning them. The warrior simply uses a different play style, they help the party by directly confronting the foe not pulling off combos.

Another important tip to remember is this: You have two weapon sets! Make use of them! Don’t go running around with GS only. Switching between weapon sets effectively adds another 5 damage/control/support abilities to your roster.

Great post!

Well done, thank you for the time you have taken out to revise what was already a very helpful post. Keep up the good work, i am sure i am not alone in finding this very helpful.

In terms of dungeons i see way too many ppl trying to ONLY dps,tank, or heal
and because of that we either have downed glass cannons or tanks not doing any dmg whatsoever and you can never have just a healing class, YOU HAVE TO BE A MASTER OF THOSE TRADES, im not talking rainbow build but you have to know how to tank(which doesn’t just include sitting their absorbing dmg, you have to dodge buff your allies and control the enemy) and any class can heal so having a build for only healing is not worth it in dungeons, for successful runs you need a mix or balance of the 3 classic mechanics… but to the MAIN point, this thread is just what new players or any other players that wants to expand their knowledge should read. i learned some tips even though im 80 and have done tons of dungeons and have played countless hours, i can see why i have failed in the past(refusing to use certain weps at first on guardian but now i use them all). And after reading about trait setup i want to make my own personal build and buy some armor/accessories to fill in the gaps, giving me what i need to survive while executing my playstyle, great thread

Well said Dream, i like the point bulletin style and yes traits should be more then a stats bonus, they can be a major factor and help a group if the build supports it, overall youve summed up the major basic factors of GW2 combat and i hope others learn from it.

Good guide. Your traits have to fit your playstyle, if they dont you will die alot. I found that out the hard way. Also if you tried to have a warrior that would be able to one shot someone with Hundred Blades, it won’t work if you can’t survive long enough to do the spell, or if you dont have a method of locking your target down. If they aren’ t immobilized or stunned they will simply walk out of Hundred Blades. Damage / Support / Control. I like it. Again good guide!

I agree with the trinity of damage/support/control. Being new to the gaming world I see how these three help very well in all sort so of situations especially group events, or dungeons. I also agree that the traits and skills make a whole difference in the game, I mean that is what gives this game its versitility. My main character is a guardian so i tend to play all three rols of a tank, healer, and Dps, but not all of my other chars do that, my elem tends to be more of a healer and Dps type role. I guess what im getting at is that the game has to be enjoyable. Altough it is a great idea to balance out your roles it is also a good idea to enjoy the game for what it can offer and what it offers is a range of diversity. Like OP said “Not only is it important to Balance up your Stats while building your own Traits for your Own Playstyle prefferences, but It’s also Important to make sure you have the right Balance of Control & Support Skills so you can do enough Damage without a high risks of death.” which is true, but idk if most people will actually listen, most will just play the game for fun. I for one play for fun but when the need comes to back up my guild or friends I step up and and present what I have learned without the needless dying.

That guide is so wishy washy as guides usually are. What if everyone really did as you said “fill the gaps” and got Condition Damage weapon, Power traits and survival stats armor? What a run-of-the-mill fighter would that be?

Better guide:
Defense isn’t interesting in this game
If you’re dying, you’re doing something wrong. Most likely this is the case of not using dodge roll properly or not understanding some dungeon boss attack pattern. You have to understand that no amount of defensive stats will cover up lousy playing. Defense isn’t interesting because there’s no benefit other than staying alive and that’s a binary thing. Attack stats on the other hand are providing their benefits each and every time you attack. Besides dodge roll and experience, defensive abilities are the biggest contributors to defense.

Find your damage type and stick to it
Every weapon skill is better at either Power-based attacks or Condition Damage based attacks. Power-based attacks synergize with Power, Critical Chance and Critical Damage. Condition Damage-based attacks synergize with Condition Damage and Condition duration. When itemizing for Condition Duration keep in mind that only full seconds are effective.

Zenith.6403:

That guide is so wishy washy as guides usually are. What if everyone really did as you said “fill the gaps” and got Condition Damage weapon, Power traits and survival stats armor? What a run-of-the-mill fighter would that be?

Better guide:
Defense isn’t interesting in this game
If you’re dying, you’re doing something wrong. Most likely this is the case of not using dodge roll properly or not understanding some dungeon boss attack pattern. You have to understand that no amount of defensive stats will cover up lousy playing. Defense isn’t interesting because there’s no benefit other than staying alive and that’s a binary thing. Attack stats on the other hand are providing their benefits each and every time you attack. Besides dodge roll and experience, defensive abilities are the biggest contributors to defense.

Find your damage type and stick to it
Every weapon skill is better at either Power-based attacks or Condition Damage based attacks. Power-based attacks synergize with Power, Critical Chance and Critical Damage. Condition Damage-based attacks synergize with Condition Damage and Condition duration. When itemizing for Condition Duration keep in mind that only full seconds are effective.

I don’t understand what you mean my “wishy washy”. You essentially just reinforced his point on movement and dodging. Though I find your view on condition and power to be interesting.
I think this guide makes a lot of sense, and is extremely helpful because of how different GW2 is from other MMOs. I wish I’d seen this guide a long time ago, because I had to figure out everything the hard way.

This was indeed really helpful. I was dying a lot and this guide helped me understand better how the combat works and how to stay in control of the fights.

Thanks so much for writing this! Keep up with the good work

PS: Sorry for my lousy English

fantastic post, this guide is very true and very helpful. this should be a sticky.

-Great combat guide. Compact and straight to the point.
-Draws attention to the simple yet effective things and explains the trinity: Damage/Control/Support and how a player needs to utilise all 3 (not just 1) to be a good player.
-I found the trait sectioned honed in to something important, that you pick the traits based on your play style and not on the bonuses; your armour can help plug the holes.
***Can’t wait for more guides, keep it up, I can imagine it to be very useful for new players and even act as a great refresher for the seasoned players.

Once again you improve an already amazing post. Your ideas about traits are inf act very interesting and even possibly revolutionary for some players. You are the master of the basics and even some advanced stuff. I would love to know some more advanced stuff later on. Keep being awesome buddy.

Extremely comprehensive guide from a very good SPvP and tactical minded player. and to fill out the very few voids in the guide you have up, namely the combo fields and finisher info, I’ll post what you missed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Combos, also called skill combinations, happen when skills interact with each other to create an additional effect. A skill must be a combo field or a combo finisher to be combined, which is an effect which is included in the skill description. For a combo to occur a combo field skill is used creating an area effect and then one or more combo finishers can interact with the field to create a combo. The largest number of combos are available through two characters of different professions working together but combos can also be created with two of the same profession or a single character.
The combo field or initiator is a skill that creates an area effect of a particular type. The type is a recognizable element or characteristic which determines the effect they cause on a finisher; for example, a Flamewall will allow some eligible finishers to inflict burning. The relevant skills will interact so long as the finisher passes through the combo field at any point; for example, a projectile finisher will combo with a field so long as it passes through the field on the way to the target.
The combo finisher is a skill which causes movement through or within the initiator’s field such as creating a projectile or spinning or jumping the player. An eligible initiator augments the finisher by adding damage or creating other effects. For example, using Cyclone Axe near a Flamewall throws fire projectiles in different directions. Finishers can only interact with one initiator at a time. The finisher will trigger on the most recent initiator; a blast finisher will give Might instead of Healing if a fire field overlaps an existing water field.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four types of finishers each apply their effects differently:

Leap Finishers apply their effect either to the target foe or to yourself.
Blast Finishers apply their effect to all foes or allies in the area where the blast occurred with radius 360.
Projectile Finishers apply their effect either to the target foe or to allies adjacent to the target.
Whirl Finishers cause multiple projectiles to be launched in random directions; each of these bolts functions like the corresponding Projectile Finisher.

The next post will denote the table of what the combo fields are capable of. Fields and finisher both are noted in the info box for the skills of any class, or utility skill.

Field Type: Dark
Classes who can apply: Thief, Necromancer
Blast Finisher: Area Blindness
Leap Finisher: Blindness
Projectile Finisher: Life Stealing Projectile
Whirl finisher: Life Leeching Bolts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Ethereal
Classes who can apply: Engineer, Thief, Mezmer, Necromancer
Blast Finisher: Area Chaos Armor (3sec Boon duration)
Leap Finisher: Chaos Armor (5sec Boon Duration)
Projectile Finisher: Confusion Projectile (5sec Condition Duration)
Whirl Finisher: Confusion Bolts (5sec Condition Duration)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Fire
Classes who can apply: Guardian, Warrior, Engineer, Ranger, Elementalist
Blast Finisher: Area Might (3 stacks, 20sec Boon Duration)
Leap Finisher: Fire Armor (5sec Boon Duration)
Projectile Finisher: Burning Projectile
Whirl Finisher: Burning Bolts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Ice
Classes who can apply: Engineer, Ranger, Elementalist
Blast Finisher: Area Frost Armor (3sec Boon Duration)
Leap Finisher: Frost Armor (5sec Boon Duration)
Projectile Finisher: Chilled Projectile
Whirl Finisher: Chilling Bolts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Light
Classes who can apply: Guardian, Engineer, Mezmer, Necromancer
Blast Finisher: Area Retaliation (3sec Boon Duration)
Leap Finisher: Retaliation (5sec Boon Duration)
Projectile Finisher: Remove Condition Projectile
Whirl Finisher: Cleansing Bolts (Condition Removal on friendlies)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Lightning
Classes who can apply: Elementalist
Blast Finisher: Area Swiftness (3sec Boon Duration)
Leap Finisher: Dazing Strike
Projectile Finisher: Vulnerability Projectile
Whirl Finisher: Brutal Bolts (Vulnerability Bolts)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Poison
Classes who can apply: Engineer, Ranger, Thief, Necromancer
Blast Finisher: Area Weakness
Leap Finisher: Weakness
Projectile Finisher: Poison Projectile
Whirl Finisher: Poison Bolts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Stealth
Classes who can apply: Engineer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist
Blast Finisher: Area Stealth
Leap Finisher: Stealth (3sec Boon Duration)
Projectile Finisher: Blindness Projectile
Whirl Finisher: Blinding Bolts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Field Type: Water
Classes who can apply: Engineer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist
Blast Finisher: Area Heal
Leap Finisher: Healing Strike
Projectile Finisher: Regeneration (2sec Boon Duration)
Whirl Finisher: Healing Bolts

I hope this all finishes what you didnt have in your guide, because i can find no other holes in this whole guide, bud! cheers n happy hunting!

The following is a short video on how to activate light combo fields on a guardian. I’m sorry for its low quality.

Great Info about skills. It definitely changed the way I view skills and use skills.

@ Truefaith

Very nice information regarding Combo Fields and Finishers!
^-^ Thanks so much for adding it in. You really filled in that gab perfectly well.

It seems everytime I go back to read this guide I see something I didn’t see the last time I read it. Most recently I discovered how true it is to fill in the gaps your traits don’t cover. Runes and amulets are perfect for that! Having the correct runes to fit your traits can mean the difference in you being downed or getting that kill. Yet again good guide!

@dreamy:
as promised here it is my opinion; i was thinking of a longer thread before, so i said i would have answered tomorrow evening.

I found it good for newbyes who are apporaching this game (or even this kind of game) for the first time. Many people could have in mind those well known roles and try to focus on them, making the game expeirence inefficient and not funny at all.

I completely quote what you said about customizing your character. Play the profession, find the playstyle you want and fix the leaks and enjoy the content.

Awesome Guide. Dreamy knows what hes talking about, hes a master at this. He took almost 2 hours out of his time to teach me how to balance Control/Support/Damage.. great guy and great instructions. I really appreciate all his help and the time he took to write this guide! Thanks!

For those like myself who come from other MMO’s, this guide is definitely a trove of truly useful information. Personally, GW2 mechanics gameplay would have taken me a lot longer to figure out on my own and it’s good that Dreamy took the time to clearly explain them in a fashion that makes it all seem simple.

Though there may be people who believe there should be more to add to this guide in accordance to their own experiences of GW2, such as previous posters for example. I believe they missed the point, in that this guide is merely designated to touch base on logically sound fundamentals, which are simple yet applicable and useful throughout a person’s entire GW2 experience.

Good job! Have some cake!

This guide would be great for new players…. now if only they read the forums. Guild Wars 2 is not like most MMO’s where it depends on a battle of stats, this game does require some skill. Players will be forced to learn this when they come across an enemy they cant beat head on.

Very well said indeed, its nice the effort you put into GW2 to help newcomers or even older ones get better. Need more like you out there that spots someone in need of help like you did me and offered your time.. Thanks

Thanks for the comments guys! ^-^ Im glad the guide is helping you all out in becoming better and more skillful in the game.

Keep up the good work! <3

Hmm, very informative and clear. It’s a good place to start playing the game . . . it’s not everything, it’s not “all you ever need to know”, but it’ll get you started. The comment about “defense can’t cover up lousy play” is correct, but having more defense will help you survive learning how to play tight.

Also, there’s no permanent choices for your build. So once you do get better at playing, feel free to eschew defensive statistics in favor of more offense-related ones. Just be aware you’ll likely fall into the “glass cannon” category if you drop your defense too far.

Anyway! Have a +1.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Hmm, very informative and clear. It’s a good place to start playing the game . . . it’s not everything, it’s not “all you ever need to know”, but it’ll get you started. The comment about “defense can’t cover up lousy play” is correct, but having more defense will help you survive learning how to play tight.

Also, there’s no permanent choices for your build. So once you do get better at playing, feel free to eschew defensive statistics in favor of more offense-related ones. Just be aware you’ll likely fall into the “glass cannon” category if you drop your defense too far.

Anyway! Have a +1.

You never wana choose “Traits Lines” based on those “Stat-Bonus” though.
Traits are good for building your character’s playstyle that fits your style of playing.

Then you want to gear up on: Armor/Amulets/Jewls/Runes Upgrades to Balance out your character on those Stats you are missing & enhancing your playstyle so you can deal lots of damage and have good survivability while executing your skills in Damage/Control/Support effectivly.

For example: If you’re using Traits Lines that DONT give you Vitality and Toughness , Then those are probably what you really need, so Gearing up for those is important.

However,

If you’re using Traits Lines that DONT give you Power & Condition duration, then you want to Gear up for those Stats instead.

Choosing Stats you need to balance up your playstyle is important.
The moment you are called a “Glass Cannon” in my opinion, I assume you are Gimped in a sense of Not having Damage Stats to help contribute Damage in a team.
And that is a problem.

Some Great news everyone!
=) I’m making a video on how all 8 classes apply Damage/Control/Support in GW2.

I’ll link the Youtube video with this guide when I’m finished!
Hopefully they help you see how each class plays out!

Stay Tuned!

Great guide, I really needed to understand how different this is from other mmos. I know you here about it, but I was under the concept of same roles with different names. Good Job and Thanks!

Thanks for the support guys!
I have just updated the Guide!

Check out the new Video link I uploaded regarding ALL 8 professions executing
Damage/Control/Support

Very informative and helpful guide to help new players get started. Even though I have three level 80s and more to come, I found this helpful for myself. Great guide!

Great information, thanks for the help

At abaddons request, Ill be making a simple video on how to activate combo fields, since some people learn better from watching than by reading.

Truefaith.2039:

At abaddons request, Ill be making a simple video on how to activate combo fields, since some people learn better from watching than by reading.

Thanks man! That would be awesome!
I’m going to work on other videos to enhance my Guide for visual learners.

So far I believe my current video helps give new players a good view on what to expect in combat when speaking of Damage/Control/Support but my next video will show some few detailed examples which would hopefully help out a lot of players.

Will most likely worn on it on the weekend though.

Truefaith.2039:

At abaddons request, Ill be making a simple video on how to activate combo fields, since some people learn better from watching than by reading.

How true….I would rather watch and listen than try to understand a wall of text… even if it were in a decent bullet setup.

there we go. got a simple video of how to initiate combo fields in my second post back on the list of combo fields/effects. only was able to do guardian with light fields, but its better than nothing, right? lol

Truefaith.2039:

there we go. got a simple video of how to initiate combo fields in my second post back on the list of combo fields/effects. only was able to do guardian with light fields, but its better than nothing, right? lol

You need to make a Space on the link so it shows the video box or else it’s just a normal link.

See my video and how it’s placed/

Mechanico.3194:

Great guide, I really needed to understand how different this is from other mmos. I know you here about it, but I was under the concept of same roles with different names. Good Job and Thanks!

This, a 100 times!

I bought this at release and just couldn’t shake that I didn’t need to choose a role of Control, Damage or Support, so I never really got started. This guide explained that a profession choice is more based on the play style you want to use to perform all three areas of combat! Awesome stuff! It’s like the light bulb finally turned on.

Looking forward to Truefaiths video on combos as well. Thanks you two and thanks for the comments from some vets to, essentially, give the guide a stamp of approval.

Man I feel dumb for not making the connection sooner

Sticky this please Anet!

this should be required reading for those coming from WoW. I’m sorry, but there are so many players out there with this “play a role” mindset that its easy to forget what this game is really about.

there, video is embedded now, ill try to make more, one for each combo field type if i can.. not as easy to do solo as it sounds though lol.

I notice that one particular useful term is missing from this guide:

Min-Maxing (otherwise known as the one thing you absolutely can not do in GW2)

Even on my guardian whom I have specced to be as much of a true tank as you can be in GW2, I still do a huge amount of healing and damage amplification and a good amount of PBAoE damage, condition removal, damage mitigation, and control. And all of that is without even swapping from Greatsword to Mace/Shield.

I am working on adding a new video that will show players examples on how to execute Damage/control/support while in combat.

It should be a good addition to this guide for visual learners.
My goal is to make this guide as user friendly to all sorts of people.

Thanks for the support and plz do subscribe on my YouTube channel!

roachsrealm.9284:

this should be required reading for those coming from WoW. I’m sorry, but there are so many players out there with this “play a role” mindset that its easy to forget what this game is really about.

I agree! People need to learn how this game’s combat system works.
There are no Tank/Healer/DPS roles.

Im making a New video showing how Damage/Control/Support functions and im planning to use Warrior & Engineer for examples. Be sure to check it out when I release it on Youtube and attach it to my New Addition to my (guide)

Let’s keep this Thread Bumped Up for New Players to learn.

This thread deserves to be added to the stickies.

Grackleflint.4956:

This thread deserves to be added to the stickies.

Yeah I agree!
Thanks for your feedback! =)

this is very helpful anybody who is having problems with fighting or doing decent damage should take a look at this

This is hands-down the best guide I have seen here on the board. Thanks to the advice here I have improved my combat skills ten fold! This thread needs to get stickied!