Guild Wars 2

This is a work in progress. Additions, corrections, and suggestions are appreciated. Please feel free to share this guide using tinyurl.com/wvwbasics

I find myself answering many of the same questions for new players in WvW, so I hope this offers some useful info. I encourage discussion of different strategies, but let’s keep it civil. Attack the logic, not the person.

Geography-Where am I?

There are four types of Control Points. Prices given for upgrades refer to the cost in coin/karma/supply. I find it will be easier to refer to points by type and location since the names vary. For example, need help SE Camp.

Sentry-Single Veteran Guard
WvW Points-0

To Cap: kill the enemy Veteran Guard and stand in the Control Circle
until the Cap is complete.

Upgrades-None

Camps-Provide Supply to your team.
WvW Points-5

To Cap: Kill all Guards and stand in the Control Circle until the Cap
is complete.

Additions
Tier 1-Hire Caravan Guard-Hires a guard to escort the caravans from this camp-5s/0/100
Tier 2-Hire Additional Guards-Hires guards to patrol the area around the camp-10s/0/150

Upgrades
Tier 1-Increase Supply-Supply deliveries from caravans are doubled-10s/0/100
Tier 2-Strengthen Guards-Raises the level of the guards at the camp-20s/250/150

Towers-Defensive Structure
WvW Points-10

To Cap: Destroy a Gate or Wall. Kill Keep Lord and stand in the Control Circle until the Cap
is complete.

*Personnel

Additions
Tier 1-Hire Outfitter-Hires an Oufitter that can sell adventuring supplies-2.5s/0/75
Tier 2-Hire Siegemaster-Hires a Siegemaster that sells siege weapon blueprints-5s/0/150
Tier 3-Hire Patrol-Hires a Guard patrol for the tower-15s/0/300

Upgrades
Tier 1-Hire a Second Worker-Another worker will help complete structural upgrades faster-5s/0/100
Tier 2-Hire Additional Guards-Hires more Guards by the Gates, and on the Walls-15s/0/200
Tier 3-Raise Guard Level-Increases the level of the Guards at the Tower-25s/0/400

*Structural

Additions
Tier 1-Build a Pot of Oil-Adds a Pot of Boiling Oil over the door-5s/0/100
Tier 2-Build Cannon-Adds a Cannon to the Walls of the Tower-10s/0/200
Tier 3-Build Mortar-Builds a Mortar on the Walls-15s/0/400

Upgrades
Tier 1-Reinforce Walls-Reinforces Tower Walls-10s/0/200
Tier 2-Reinforce Doors-Reinforces the Tower Doors to make them stronger-15s/0/400
Tier 3-Fortify Tower-Fortifies the Tower All to make them nearly impossible to breach-37.5s/0/800

Keeps-Defensive Structure
WvW Points-25

To Cap: Destroy outer/inner Gates or Walls. Kill Keep Lord and stand in the Control Circle until the Cap
is complete.

*Personnel

Additions
Tier 1-Hire Merchants-Hires merchants that sell adventuring supplies and equipment-7.5s/0/300
Tier 2-Hire Services-Hires a Banker and Repair Agent-15s/0/600
Tier 3-Hire Patrol-Hires guard patrols for the Keep-45s/0/900

Upgrades
Tier 1-Hire a Second Worker-Another worker will help complete structural upgrades faster-15s/0/300
Tier 2-Hire Additonal Guards-Hires more Guards by the Gates, and on the Walls-45s/0/600
Tier 3-Raise Guard Level-Increases the level of the Guards at the Tower-75s/0/1200

*Structural

Additions
Tier 1-Build Cannons-Adds a Cannon to the Walls of the Keep-30s/0/400
Tier 2-Build Mortar-Builds a Mortar on the Walls-45s/0/800
Tier 3-Build Waypoint-Adds a Waypoint to the keep that can be used if the keep is not under attack-75s/500/1600

Upgrades
Tier 1-Reinforce Walls-Reinfroce the walls of the keep and repairs the doors-37.5s/0/500
Tier 2-Reinforce Doors-Reinforce and repairs the doors of the Keep 75s/0/100
Tier 3-Fortify Keep-Fortifies the Walls of the Keep and repairs the doors-1.5g/0/2000

Control Point Map

Supply-Always in demand.

Only Camps produce Supply, so they should be your first choice for picking it up to save the Supply in Tower and Keeps for repairs and upgrades.

Each Camp sends supply to specific keeps. For example, the NE Tower on any Borderlands map only receives Supply from the North Camp.

Supply carried by Players can only be used to build Siege or repair Doors and Walls. You cannot deposit Supply in Towers or Keeps. They only get it from Supply caravans.

The base delivery caravan delivers 35 supply per trip for Towers, 70 for Keeps. The upgraded caravan drops off 70/140, so this is an incredible boost and pretty much necessary for quick upgrades on defensive structures.

Supply Route Map

Siege-Have a cow!

You can purchase Siege blueprints from Siege Merchants. There is one at the entry to each Borderland, as well as any purchased as an upgrade at controlled Towers, or Keeps. (Sometimes purchased siege merchants are bugged)

Blueprints are a one-time use item. When you use it, your skill bar will contain two skills. Pressing 1 will give you an AOE target to place the siege weapon. Pressing 2 will cancel the build and return the blueprint to your inventory. If you press your weapon swap button, you can drop the blueprint for another player to pick up.

Placement of siege can be tricky. You have to consider minimum range, maximum range, and vulnerability to enemy attacks.

As a rule, you should always place defensive arrow carts along the inner edge of the wall/structure to make it more difficult for your foe to aoe them down. The wall level stairway landings often offer additional safe distance from the outer wall.

The opposite is true for ballista in most cases. They must be built at the outer edge of the wall/structure in order to fire effectively. This obviously makes them susceptible to attack, so look for creative areas to place them. An example is the NE Tower, or Cliff on some maps. A couple of ballista placed on the upper plateau aimed at the gate can be devastating to anyone attempting to attack the gate. A treb placed safely in the courtyard can counter most enemy siege attempts, making this one of the easier towers to defend on your home map.

Prices listed are for cost in coin/Badges

Flame Ram
Range: 360
6/6 40 Supply

Arrow Cart
Range: 2500
6/6 30 Supply

Ballista
Range: 3000
10/10 30 Supply

Catapult
Range: 4000
12/12 50 Supply

Trebuchet
Range: 10,000
24/24 100 Supply

Alpha Siege Golem
1g/100 100 Supply

You can upgrade your siege into more powerful versions using the Mystic Forge.

The basic recipe for siege upgrades is 2 siege blueprints, Elder Logs, Mithril Ore, and a Siege Master’s Guide, which you can purchase from Miyani in Lion’s Arch.

Siege will despawn in 30mins if not used. Always tag your siege to refresh the timer.

Strategy-Do you want to play a game?

Once you take a tower or keep, make sure you drop some siege, establish a supply line, and get some upgrades started if you want to hold it. Keeps without these defenses can be retaken quickly and easily. An upgraded structure with well placed siege can be defended with fewer players, allowing you to field more of your team for offense.

(Orbs are currently disabled)Orbs-I have the Power!

There are 3 Orbs of Power, one in each Borderland Map. There is no Orb in Eternal Battleground.

Each Orb your server controls provides +5% health, and +50 to each stat to your entire server, in all WvW maps.

Orbs can only be place on an Altar. At the beginning of a new match, Orbs will be located on the Altar north of the home team’s Citadel. There are also Altars at the East Keep, West Keep, and Garrison.

If you do not control an Altar, the Orb will reset to the North Camp Altar in 15 minutes.

Weather-Zap!

Controlling the weather node on the center island in the lake requires pearls that you can collect from the lake bed.

15 pearls to flip the weather node.

Quaggans-Hey, whose side are you on?

There are 3 NPC camps that will either harass, or defend some of your objectives. Killing Krait gradually makes the NPCs friendly to your team.

Commanders-Follow me!

A Commander Compendium will set you back 100g. This book allows you to form squads of up to 30 players with your own dedicated chat channel.

When active, other players on your team will see a blue icon on the map, and can join your squad by right clicking your icon.

A nice guid. You should perhaps consider putting out some captions to make easier to read. Also Orbs have been removed by now.

Anyone know by chance how upgrading blueprints affects the siege’s stats? How much more health/damage/etc. does the siege engine get?

zargnath.9524:

A nice guid. You should perhaps consider putting out some captions to make easier to read. Also Orbs have been removed by now.

Thanks for the feedback. Still working on the formatting.