Guild Wars 2

If you can’t be bothered to read about my situation in great detail, I’ll write a little TL;DR version at the bottom of this post somewhere.

I hit level 80 a few weeks ago and I figured that a good way to get some money and better gear would be to try and look at doing some dungeons. Since I play quite casually I never really bothered to run any dungeons during my levelling process as I usually just ran around exploring, completing hearts, doing my story and such at my leisure. However, I feel that not running dungeons was a bad mistake because it never gave me the chance to adjust to the new mindset that there are no dedicated tanks/healers (I played a lot of WoW in the past).

Basically, dungeons in Guild Wars 2 stump me. I don’t know how you’re supposed to play in a dungeon. It feels like I’m just going to die a lot because the monsters just hit too kitten hard, there’s only so many attacks that I can avoid, there’s only so much I can do to help whoever is getting beaten down and sometimes I just don’t really know what’s going on. I’m AWFUL at figuring out boss fights for myself, but if I can read a quick guide somewhere on what the main mechanics of a fight are, I can usually get by.

I’m too scared to try another dungeon after trying out fractals recently. I got the uncategorised fractal with the ‘Old Tom’ golem and our group just wiped a whole bunch of times. We managed to get him down to a tiny fraction of health once after we realised that there is a fan in the room which clears the poison clouds, but we still couldn’t figure out the best way to deal with the spinning poison darts of death thing. We tried healing/dodging through the damage, standing behind walls, on top of boxes and at the very edges of the room to live through the poison darts, but then someone would just be spontaneously 1-shot with a lightning bolt of doom.

TL;DR – what’s the best way to find out about encounters beforehand? The wiki doesn’t seem entirely helpful sometimes, particularly for the Old Tom encounter that I described above. Also, what should be my general mindset when fighting in a dungeon? I’ve tried switching out my 7-0 buttons with abilities that would purely benefit my group. I just get really confused because it all seems so hectic.

I never run a dungeon yet, I wanted to try one myself I hope they aren’t all where you need to study a guide to get through it.

kelman.9451:

I never run a dungeon yet, I wanted to try one myself I hope they aren’t all where you need to study a guide to get through it.

Well I’ve only done a few and I had a friend with me who told me what to look out for, but I managed to get by in some fights

There is a bit of a learning curve, plus at first your gear may make you more vulnerable to getting downed. I’ve had the benefit of only running them with friends and having Mumble up, so guides as such haven’t been needed. We’ve either figured them out on the fly or beaten our heads against the walls until we got through or had someone that already knew how they worked to give us hints.

Some global dungeon skills will just get better with practice, as well. Spotting and avoiding traps, dodging at the right times, learning what the mob abilities will do to you, etc.

Right now there is a furor going on over the announcement that dungeons are changing so you can’t waypoint rez mid-fight and run back in to help the others. Since many fights do involve nearly unavoidable deaths, the predictions are that dungeons will become untenable and unfun. ANet has said they will also be nerfing the encounters, so we’ll see. Me, I’ve been happy with the run-back-in ability because it’s meant being active through the whole run rather than having to lie there and watch others fight. (While constantly twitching the camera thanks to the death spin, here’s hoping they disable that spin now that we may have to deal with it for minutes at a time).

I was writing a reply and my puter ate most of what I typed(shortcuts seem to refresh my page or whatever But yes dungeons can be a love it or hate it. Like any learning process when you know it, it becomes easy because you see and know whats happening. Like with Old Tom, I did that one 3 times I think. For that you need to use what you have for skills. Like shields, reflect, and condition removal. Then condition them down as you fight.

As others said, gear help with upgrades. Maybe some food to help. The other Story mode and Expl mode of dungeons are fun for me and also frustrating till you get figure out the best way to advance. For example I rmember when so many say AC Expl mode was soo hard, but I did it with freinds the other day and did all 3 paths in about 1-2 hours with breaks. Also had the best Kohler fights in there.
It is also looking to see what the bosses do and what you can do to counter that. Say for example can you reflect things back? do you need to have condition removal(skills and traits) Do say the elemental weapons the Ele drops help? do you need to stay away,not wasting dodges and dodging in the best way. One fight I think, dodging forward was best for me as the red circles were all to the sides. I am not on much but if you want to add me and then maybe you can join when I do some with freinds you are more then welcome to. When you do a dungeon and it goes well it truly can be a fun time.

Just send me a pm here or in game to let me know its you

Thanks for the replies

I think my gear is actually kinda sucky, still got some bits that are level 46-50 which is pretty horrific, I just haven’t come across any replacements yet unfortunately. I’ll just have to get some guild mates to take me on some runs with them or something, I’ll figure it out eventually I guess.

Thanks again for all the tips, I’ll write them down so I don’t forget what to look for in a fight

Always handy to have some toughness, con removals and stun breakers.

Toughness just allows for a bit more room. Once you know your way around you can glass cannon.

Con removals if you suspect an enemy to put cons on you this is sensible.
Stun breakers, useful especially for AC Scavs.

Stick at it. First few will be rough but keep going. Find some cool people and stick with it.

After a while you can run all dungeons with no armour.
It’s funny when you never go down and the leets whining at you go down and QQ.

If you try it, it really makes you learn all the skills to survive. Having proper gear is good for a bit of an easier time. Fractals wear armour.

SumthinRS.6780:

I think my gear is actually kinda sucky, still got some bits that are level 46-50 which is pretty horrific, I just haven’t come across any replacements yet unfortunately.

That is seriously awful. Buy lvl 80 blues off the TP.

you probably have a couple gold from just leveling, use them to buy a full set of rares, or run cof 1 (or some other afk-clear dungeon) once a day for 3 days to get it for free via tokens.

The big stepping stone from wow and gw2 endgame is that in gw2 preventing/avoiding damage is alor more important. You see an enemy chasing a squishy party member? cripple, chill, KD, immobilize it. You get all the aggro? kite trying to keep the mobs close so your team members can do the same for you, possibly in a AoE.

Also, in general pve you can face tank everything as long as you dont over aggro, in dungeon bosses can one shot if you dont know the mechanic or dont see the attack animation/red circle. But when you DO know how the encounters work, many of them become trivial.

Also, you probably will want to take a closer look at your traits, i have seen far too many lv80 just putting points at random with no defined idea at what kind of build they’re trying to make

OP.

GW2 dungeons are made hard simply by the fact that monsters/bosses have loads of HP and High attack. The actual tactics are trival in most cases. I remember doing my 1st few and ended up totaly overthinking the situation when the thing to do ended up being VERY simple.
Most bosses u just burn down or kite. Some, like the one u mention, have 1 simple mechanic to use.like the fan. Overall the mechanics and tactics involved are nothing compared to more conventional MMO’s like the one u mentioned.

IMO this is a downside to GW2, but thats just my opinion plenty of peopel disagree which is fine. I put up wiht it though and still play GW2 for the time being untill somthing better comes along.

My best advice is to decide early on whether a MMO is going to be for u for the long term of just a stop gap ..i knew coming to GW2 that is was goign to be a stop gap, as imo its to simplified for my tastes.
Once you know that u can ether go into it relaxed and just take thigns as they come, or research each dungeon/encounter beofre u reach them so u know in advance how to tackle it.
Remember the only thing ur aiming for at the end of a GW2 dungeon is the tokens, which u then use to purchase lvl 80 exotics. Those exotics wont have any better stats than those u can buy or find elsewhere but they do have unique skins. GW2 armor and weapon farming is all about skins at end game..even legendarys.. becouse the stat amounts dont change.

Most importantly, ask the people you run dungeons with for advice.
Most likely you will have someone who already did that particular dungeon path – they can give you an overview over what to expect, or will remember to warn you of particulars once you told them you’re new. If they kitten around because you’re new, look for another group, as you probably don’t want to do the dungeon with those people anyway
If you don’t know where to go/which path to take, wait for your party members to go before you – I do that all the time because I don’t do most dungeons often enough to have the paths memorized.

If you are unsure about what a particular boss will do, stay ranged – and don’t let it drive you into a corner where your camera will give you funny angles and ruin your dodges…

Most dungeons are a little more forgiving than fractals I think. But then, I only did Fractals once because I didn’t much like the random element…

Well specifically for Old Tom battle, a method we figured out was everyone stands in a line behind my warrior, putting myself between him and my team (including the person at the fan.) Everyone invested in their AoE healing to help keep me alive during the poison spinning attack, worked like a charm

If you’re on a NA server, I’ll be glad to help you in dungeons. Just give me a shout in game and we’ll go if I’m free. They definitely can be pretty rough the first time through if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’ll be happy to explain all the fights as we go depending on which one we’ve picked too. I’d also suggest working on normal dungeons before starting Fractals. Those take more serious teamwork and knowing how your class works, especially at the higher levels.

Running a fractal as your first dungeon was a mistake.

Wi

Google guildwars2 wiki . All the info you need

I’ve been doing dungeons far before guides were made for them. Experiencing the dungeon through trial and error with a group of friends is a nice way to get used to dungeons. Take time to analyze mob/boss cues and abilities, so later you can determine what traits and skills will be better suited for the fights. Eventually, you get used to memorizing your skills by picture and traits by number, so when you know a certain fight is coming up, you can switch your setup in seconds. This includes switching weapons if a certain set has an advantage over your current set.

If you haven’t yet, try to look for youtube videos on specific dungeon paths. There’s quite a few helpful ones out there with commentary explaining the paths.

Here’s a list of a few tips I follow in dungeons:

• learn the dungeon layout and the encounters first
• when familiar with the dungeon, start figuring out what skills/weapons/traits give you an advantage in a certain scenario (i.e. use anti projectiles against tom because those poison shots are projectiles; if your guardian isn’t using shield of the avenger in that fight, then he/she isn’t being very helpful in protecting the team)
• it is faster to rally off of an enemy kill when fighting regular mobs, so, if possible, call a low HP target for a downed player to hit and finish it off
• assuming the above is not possible, do try to keep your allies up as much as possible by reviving at moments when you’re not under too much pressure. If you have boss aggro, lure the boss away if possible, and ask one of your other teammates to revive the downed person.
• once you understand the capabilities of the mobs in the current dungeon, make sure the team focuses on important targets; call the targets
• if one of the other professions in your team can do something better, don’t equip a similar skill (assuming they’re actually using that skill); avoid redundancy (i.e. guardian’s anti-projectiles far outshine an elementalist’s anti projectiles)
• if you haven’t already, bind your skill keys to something that you can easily press without fumbling your fingers on the keyboard or clicking on the screen; you can react much faster if your full attention is on the boss/mob
• always strive to find more efficient ways to kill a boss or clear the dungeon, using your skills/weapons/traits (without exploiting, of course); it can make your dungeon experience more fun and less tedious, and it helps you develop your skills for more difficult challenges
• for gear, equip exotics that cater to your current playstyle, so you don’t distract yourself from learning the dungeons; if you find it hard to time your dodges and survive, don’t go glass cannon yet until you learn how to

SumthinRS.6780:

I think my gear is actually kinda sucky, still got some bits that are level 46-50 which is pretty horrific, I just haven’t come across any replacements yet unfortunately. I’ll just have to get some guild mates to take me on some runs with them or something, I’ll figure it out eventually I guess.

Whoa. That’s a major problem, haha. I would suggest that before you do more forays into dungeons, buy a full set of level 80 rare gear and masterwork accessories. It won’t set you back much in terms of gold (shouldn’t be more than 2-3g in total), but will give you a much better fighting chance in all dungeons. Then start upgrading to exotics, weapons first.

The best way, and I think I saw a few people mention this already, is just to run with people who know what they’re doing and are willing to walk you through it and teach you properly, rather than just say “stand here, when he does X you do Y” and not explain the encounters at all. If you’re on NA servers i’d be glad to take you through the dungeons, I know of a few that are excellent for breaking in people new to dungeons. And get your gear updated before anything else. That’s the #1 thing holding you back right now.

This is the reason GW2 is going to fail. Its top end players took the time to figure out how dungeons worked, cleared them, and moved on because they dont reward anything other than skins (yay)

Then the rest of the game gets stumped on something that is borderline self explanatory… Ur on fire? maybe touch something that takes it off. Monster is charging about to do something cool? Dodge.

The game is already easy, I mean incredibly easy, and if they continue to dumb down whats out there now, the people that play the most currently, are gonna move on.

ATTHWSM.7840:

This is the reason GW2 is going to fail. Its top end players took the time to figure out how dungeons worked, cleared them, and moved on because they dont reward anything other than skins (yay)

Then the rest of the game gets stumped on something that is borderline self explanatory… Ur on fire? maybe touch something that takes it off. Monster is charging about to do something cool? Dodge.

The game is already easy, I mean incredibly easy, and if they continue to dumb down whats out there now, the people that play the most currently, are gonna move on.

What the hell does that have to do with a single thing the OP asked? You’re just trolling :-P

Yeah, I can’t help much because I think that the dungeons are kind of crappy right now and I don’t do them. But I do want to add something. ANet has said that one of their big priorities is going back through and “fixing” the dungeons and making the boss encounters “more varied”.

Also, upgrade your gear you cheapo!

Learn the encounters. That’s the most important one.

For example, AC path 1 has a burrows “boss” where you have to kill 6 burrows. You need to know the order by heart, otherwise you wipe every time. You also need to know how to kill these as fast as possible.

First time you do this one, it takes you several wipes. Once you have it on farm, you never wipe, not even without gear nor traits. Most bosses are like that. Ask for tactics in your group.

Dungeons in GW2 need skill, which is not necessary in games with trinities.

Things I’ve found useful in dungeons:
1. Play with warriors, they soak up damage and tank the big enemies.
2. Kite if you’re a squishy class like thief, ele or necro.
3. Sort out your utility skills/skills so you get a nice amount of escape mechanisms and AOE.
4. AOE is god. (The warrior’s ultimate banner, elementalists, poison clouds stuff like that).
5. Learning to control crowds is key, although you’ll normally be only up against like 2 or 3 guys, they will hit hard and managing them by using AOE instead of single target makes the fights 100 X easier.
6. Res anyone that is down. (Top one really even though it is 6).

since when were necros squishy :p

emikochan.8504:

since when were necros squishy :p

I was thinking the same thing, it’s usually left up to me to rez the warrior and everyone else lol. I think I do more rezzing per minutes of gameplay than I do fighting xD

SolarNova.1052:

Remember the only thing ur aiming for at the end of a GW2 dungeon is the tokens, which u then use to purchase lvl 80 exotics. Those exotics wont have any better stats than those u can buy or find elsewhere but they do have unique skins. GW2 armor and weapon farming is all about skins at end game..even legendarys.. becouse the stat amounts dont change.

Just as a note, there are some stat combinations like Power/Vitality/Toughness which are not available from crafted armors, just dungeon armors.

SolarNova.1052:

Remember the only thing ur aiming for at the end of a GW2 dungeon is the tokens, which u then use to purchase lvl 80 exotics. Those exotics wont have any better stats than those u can buy or find elsewhere but they do have unique skins. GW2 armor and weapon farming is all about skins at end game..even legendarys.. becouse the stat amounts dont change.

You can farm for coin in some dungeons too. I have no real use for the tokens, but the speed clears generate income for whatever it is I feel like buying.

I did the same while leveling, no dungeons. I’m still afraid to do a dungeon to this day because of the way I would be treated. I’m not sure how to play in a group/dungeon setting I suppose.

Good Luck!

To those people afraid to do the dungeons: I can honestly say that there are people out there willing to teach you and be patient with you, you just need to ask and be specific about what you want. Let them know you’re looking to learn the dungeon, not jump into an experienced team and do speed clears or whatever. You’d be surprised how many people out there are willing to help. I myself will teach what I know, time willing of course. Idk what server you’re on, but if you’re in a NA server I can party with you. Jumping in and “getting your feet wet” isn’t as bad as it seems. You’re missing out on one of the best parts of the game imo.