Guild Wars 2

Been playing sPvP for a little bit now, find it much more fun than the farm farm PvE, but that’s probably because the I play LoL, DotA2 and Starcraft II as my other main games. However, I’ve lost every single free tournament I’ve entered (both solo and with friends) out of about 15, and lose more than I win in the PvP browser. I do decent in points most games, but the fact that I consistently lose leads me to believe that I’m responsible.

So, any general tips that newbies to sPvP mightn’t know that could help me get a win? (I mainly play pistol/shield bomb/grenade engi or shortbow/sword warhorn ranger)

Become a leader. Be nice and respectful, but hand out guidance to those on your team. If you play ranked LoL you probably understand this concept. In solo-queue LoL, there is a mini psychological battle your team plays every game. Once people start arguing with each other, they tend to lose. Say something along the lines of “Hey team! Lets have one grab our point and the rest go to clocktower and hold it”. If your team communicates better, you have an immediate edge over the competition.

I don’t play ranger so I cannot give you any tips there, but as a thief I can tell you that the AoE damage some rangers put out has been trouble for my team in the past.

Good luck and win some PvP

-Control points, are the game. Capturing and defending them will net the team far more points towards victory over time than kills. It can often be better to capture an uncontested point, or simply defend a point, than to roam looking for kills.

-Some points offer large strategic value: ruins in Raid on the Capricorn allows a large amount of map control (thus letting your team move more freely) and controlling this point often wins this map.

-Points don’t cap faster with more people on them. The only time to multicap is when you’re expecting a clash with the opposing team over control of the point.

-Don’t get kill hungry, especially if defending a point. Players often give chances to lose points by mobbing people who strayed by. Don’t get caught up in battles that you don’t have to fight, especially if they are prolonged and far from the points, you’re liable to lose points while your team struggles to down players.

-Assist the defense of points your team has captured, use the map (M) to look at where your teammates are and where they are fighting.

-Its not over till its over, don’t assume your lead now is still going to be a lead in the next few minutes.

-Its important to know the strengths and weaknesses of your build and play with and around them for maximum effectiveness.

-Know what you bring to a team. If you defend points or fight better in team battles, then defend points and follow a teammate or two around, rather than roaming. If you’re a really good treb user, use the treb and defend it, ect.

enjoy your fight. i had a guy start a “you’re all noobs” whinge in the game the other day. but after a few cycles and being reminded it’s just a game, began to enjoy it even when he was losing. i always say you should accept that sometimes you’re going to lose not because your team is bad, but the other team is good.

it doesn’t hurt to accept that, too. how about “wow, those guys are good” rather than “wow, you guys are noobs”? i think that will always give you something to aim for.

for a team to work together, you have to work with your team, too. you can’t just get angry when they don’t do the work for you.

on a more helpful note, running and dodging.

always move.

i’m still having to tell myself that as a caster.

“move move move move!” is my mantra.

Don’t play tourneys (even just the free ones) until you have a pretty good idea what you’re doing. Anyways, sPvP is pretty basic. Here’s some tips:

1. STOMP ENEMIES AND RESURRECT ALLIES. I can’t overstate how important this is. If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them. If an ally is downed and you see an opportunity to get to them, rez them. Its simple and often quite easy, but I can’t tell you how many players I see fighting on top of a downed ally or running right past them in the heat of battle. Rezing and stomping wins games. You get NOTHING for downing and enemy and they get NOTHING for downing one of your allies. People seem to think that if they just ignore the downed mechanic that it’ll go away.

2. Learn how to dodge and swap weapons. This will feel like somewhat advanced play at first, since its something no one is really used to yet. But swapping weapons will give you five extra skills on separate cooldowns, and maybe a cool effect depending on the rune you have. Dodging can save your life depending on what you dodge. Not every skill has an obvious spell effect (although some do, like Bull’s Charge). Don’t be one of those players that blows both their dodges and gets caught with no endurance. Players look for back-to-back dodges and know that’s a sign to lock you down.

3. Backcap points. In hot join sPvP, there’s going to be a zerg running through mowing down everything in its path. It’ll move from point to point and completely abandon the previous one. There’s no point staying to defend against 8 players, you’ll just get steamrolled. Instead, try to sneak around and cap one of the points they’re not paying attention to. If you see 6 running to Mine, go out the back and try to steal Henge. I know it seems like good play to stay and defend, but unless you’re a Guard or Engi and you’re defending Clocktower, its gonna be futile when it becomes a 1v5

Honestly, there’s a lot of other crap, but here’s the most important thing. Its all about the score baby. You get a 20% bonus for winning, otherwise glory is dependent on your personal score. You get 5 for a player kill, and 15 if its on an allied point or enemy point. 10 for Neutralizing,Capturing, and rezing, and other points for various map objectives (e.g. 15 for killing the trebuchet). Farm up that score and it won’t matter whether you win or lose

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Because it takes forever. When you have four people beating on you its better to usually just let them die to AoE damage or bleeds or something. I stomp them in tournies, but in 8v8 its usually not even worth it.

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Because it takes forever. When you have four people beating on you its better to usually just let them die to AoE damage or bleeds or something. I stomp them in tournies, but in 8v8 its usually not even worth it.

So thieves are harder to stomp than other players? I’d imagine this is due to a skill/trait that I have not yet come across.

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Because it takes forever. When you have four people beating on you its better to usually just let them die to AoE damage or bleeds or something. I stomp them in tournies, but in 8v8 its usually not even worth it.

So thieves are harder to stomp than other players? I’d imagine this is due to a skill/trait that I have not yet come across.

It would be the fact that you can teleport 600 range away and stealth for two seconds. So three seconds for the first finisher, which is interrupted. Three to run over to you, another three for the second finisher, which is stealthed. That’s two seconds of stealth and three for the third finisher. So that’s 13 seconds of my time wasted trying to stomp one player in the middle of a melee. Yea, not worth it.

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

Nod.9613:

Xahz.8406:

If an enemy is downed and its not a Thief, stomp them.

Can you elaborate on this? I play a thief and am curious as to why one would not want to stomp a thief. I assume that by stomp you mean pressing F to finish an enemy once they are down?

Because it takes forever. When you have four people beating on you its better to usually just let them die to AoE damage or bleeds or something. I stomp them in tournies, but in 8v8 its usually not even worth it.

So thieves are harder to stomp than other players? I’d imagine this is due to a skill/trait that I have not yet come across.

It would be the fact that you can teleport 600 range away and stealth for two seconds. So three seconds for the first finisher, which is interrupted. Three to run over to you, another three for the second finisher, which is stealthed. That’s two seconds of stealth and three for the third finisher. So that’s 13 seconds of my time wasted trying to stomp one player in the middle of a melee. Yea, not worth it.

Thank you for the great explanation. Very much appreciated.

Thanks guys for your help, will give these a go soon!

Play with your skills, read it, combine them and see which works better with each other. Don’t be afraid in experimenting. The first thing is getting rid of your PvE set and skills, go wild, use the free sPvP sets and the unlocked skills. Combine them all.

Even with the weapons, use other weapons instead of the ones you are used to in PvE.