Guild Wars 2

I have a lvl 38 thief and he gets crushed completely in the lvl 30 dungeon, so I figured that I should switch to my tank set and I still get crushed. My friend told me that I shouldn’t be using my main weapons in the dungeon instead, I should use a bow in order to survive and do constant damage. I hate bows and I like using my main weapons in the dungeon, is there anything I can do to effectively use main weapons aka melee in the dungeon?

My ranger gets destroyed in dungeons, as well. Though it doesn’t help that both my laptop and my internet connection suck. My best nugget of advice is to dodge out every time you get hit. Anything over three hits, and you’re probably down. Also, crowd control. Use stuns, daze, anything like that your class gives you access to.

Signet of Malice and Dagger storm, then stack healing power on your armor and weps. Just remember your not a Warrior or Guardian, once you burn your initiative get out of the melee fight and range them until your initiative builders are off cool down then jump back in.

I am bleed spec for my thief and I go in and stack that, then I get out and swap to pistals. I duel wield pistals and the dps aint bad. I do hate I can’t stay in and use the daggers but owe well. I slip in with steal and dump my bleeds again and get out ASAP.

I have a lvl 80 warrior, who I thought was the best melee character in the world. Rocking the Greatsword, 8-9k hundred blades, I was ready for anything….Until my guild decided to run Sorrow’s embrace, and I died at least 2 times every fight and got downed several more. Now I have played MMO’s a lot, but you can only dodge attacks soo much Anywho, I know how you feel, So I made some changes.

Your friend is correct, ranged play is the safest alternative, However its not necessary. What I have done is switch to a condition based spec, My armor is focused on toughness/ condition damage, and crit, and my spec runs down the vitality tree (tactics). My main weapon is a sword/axe, and a longbow for support. My utilities are banners and shouts, giving a range of buffs, from stability, might, fury, condition removal, and vital/toughness

This allows me to take damage, and dish it out, using a hit-and-run kind if tactic. If you wish to stay in the for long haul, its going to be difficult. Mobs hit just to hard to not take some form of defensive stat. You need toughness or vitality if you wish to be melee. (That doesn’t mean you need to be a tank, the extra stats will allow you to soak up a few more hits until you can get to a safer location.)

Also, Do you raid with friends? Making sure everyone in your group doesn’t simply spec for damage, but has utility for others as well helps a lot. It makes Dungeons for melee much easier. Taking self-heals is paramount and Vigor is also a fantastic buff. Being Tactics, I love shouts. Not only do they buff my team, but they heal them as well. I often run warhorn as well, giving vigor when I can.

Some people may not like how difficult GW2 dungeons can be, however its redefining how we need to approach dungeon play. You can’t just have one person DPS, and another Heal, and another Tank. It must be spread across the playing field. Yes.. that means your thief may need to heal :P (assuming it can, haven’t played a high level thief)

Here is a quick list of things that may help, if you don’t wanna read all that.

As melee:
1) Constantly move / hit and run tactics
2) Try and get a vigor buff from someone
3) Defensive stats go a long way
4) Take one or two defensive utilities and at least two condition removal utilities (widely depends on the dungeon or boss at hand)
5) Heals, heals, heals. Every little bit counts. I don’t have a single point in healing power, but I still carry them. (also have a healing set, but I only use it in dire situations)
6) CC, good old crowd control. Most bosses in GW2 can be stunned, snared, immobilized and the like. Make use of it. You may not get to use the exact weapons you want, but unfortunately that’s how GW2 is structured.
7) Know your mobs! Lots of mobs act differently depending on how far you are from them. For example, those pesky wurms in twilight arbor wont hit you with their ranged attack (WHICH HURTS) if you are in melee (they will ground slam but its easy to dodge)

8) Have fun, the game is hard. But its very rewarding! Once you get the hang of it, and you don’t spend all your time with your face in the dirt like I did, the these dungeons are beautiful. Props to the artists! This game is gorgeous. Also, the encounters will be a lot more fun. :P

Hope that helps, If you have any more questions ask me. For those warriors out there, I’ll post my build if people ask me to. :p

Enjoy!
Bluebees

I used to get owned too but I chose traits that increase my ability to dodge and use the death blossom ability for daggers (which is an evasive move).
You can dodge 3 times in a row (creating caltrops every time you dodge as well and the bleed stacks) then death blossom 3 times then activate signet of agility to dodge another three times. If ever you can’t dodge or use death blossom go invis with healing or shadow refuge, during that time just summon elite adds or use the caltrops ability. This way you’re invis or evading attacks 90% of the time and you can keep up a stack of 20+ bleeding on the target if you time it right.
The main way you’ll die with this strat is from aoe and dot conditions, in which case I’d just switch to a range weapon for that particular fight.