Guide: PvP teams

Guide: PvP teams

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Posted by: D best.3547

D best.3547

Introduction

This is a guide for players experienced with PvP who would like start being more competitive. I’ve been playing competitive PvP since launch and have been in the top 200 players in both NA and EU since the leader boards broke. I’ve also been bunker guardian for 3 PvP teams. On with the guide.

Team Composition

GW2 does not require a specific class by class team composition instead there are 3 categories of players on PvP teams. I have included what builds fit with which category

  1. Team Fight Oriented – These win you your team fights using AoE effects.
    -Bunker Guardians
    -Shout Bow Warriors
    -Staff Elementalist
    -Power Wells Necro
    -Grenades Engineer
  2. Roamers – these guys are made to help allies kill fast, they have increased mobility. They’re weakness is holding a point.
    -Dagger Pistol Thief
    -Shatter Mesmer
    -Power Ranger
  3. Duel Oriented – This guy is made to win a 1v1 or hold a 1v2 until he can get support from a roamer.
    -D/D elementalist
    -Engineer
    -Stance Warrior
    -Celestial and Minion Necromancer
    -All Condition Builds

As long as you have one of each type your team composition is doing well, however having 2 roamers is not always ideal as they usually do not deal well with prolonged fight pressure.

People and Their Psyche

Finding a team of 5 players with each role isn’t enough you must share a similar mindset. Some teams just want people to play with others aim to be the best. Some players want to play everyday others a couple times a week. All functional teams must should have shared views of how they want to play. What I suggest is playing as a team for a week and see if you are all having fun.

ok im done with the simple stuff

Rotations

Rotations are the life and blood of the GW2 matches and I can not stress their importance enough and I have yet to find a good guide on how they work so I am creating this one.

  • What are Rotations?
    Rotations are a players placement on the map and change constantly depending on the position of the enemy team. They happen with good communication and reaction to said information.
  • Why do we need Rotations?
    Rotations allow players to fulfill their roles to the highest potential. They are as important as player skill to win a PvP match.
  • How do I use Rotations?
    Think about where the enemy is and where there is an opportunity to score points while fulfilling your role.
    EXAMPLE: you’re a thief in a midfight 4v4, a fifth player comes into mid point from the enemy team, analyzing numbers you go as fast as possible to far and decap it

A rotation analysis for each part of the team composition will come later in the play style section.

Communication

This is the basis for rotations, the best way to know where you should be. When you accomplish something, state your accomplishment then ask for a report elsewhere. If someone asks for help while not downed far from you off point always go! It’s not worth causing the argument of if you had helped me we could have won. Successful communication is always happening in close games.

  • EXAMPLE While the thief decaps far he states “I have decap far need help mid?” and the Bunker replies “2 enemies low mid”. The thief decides once the point is decapped he will go to mid to create a kill

Play Style
Your Rotations must match your play style this section is an in dept look at rotations for every category of player mentioned above. Rotation decisions differ from one build to the next but this looks at a generic overview.

  1. Team Fight Oriented – These must always try to be fighting in 2v2 or more and on points. Points create a concentration of players that the AoE from these builds takes advantage of. Many people think Bunker’s should hold points, this is not true, a Bunker or Shout Bow is twice as useful if another player is present. However with lowered Mobility these guys are usually not so great at chasing down or quickly joining an ally.
  2. Roamers – These guys always look for open points to decap point neutralization is more powerful than capping as it happens twice as fast. Their next train of thought should be to aid the 1v1 players and create a quick kill, in any 1v1 fight there will be some survivability on cooldown after 30 seconds or so which is a great opportunity to score a quick kill. Finally these are the only types of players who should fight on cross roads and only to finish players.
  3. Duel Oriented – This is the hardest class on which to know what to do, your 1rst goal is to hold points, your second is to distract as many players as possible without dying. Fighting in a 1v2 may require assistance from your roamer so you may want to call that out but it is entirely based on your judgement. This guy has it down on where you want to be fighting

from SaveTheQueen.3265
*Fighting on a contested/uncaptured point in a 1v1 – Neutral (no advantage or disadvantage for your team)
*Fighting on a point captured by your team in a 1v1 – Advantage
*Fighting on a point captured by enemy team in a 1v1 – Disadvantage
*Fighting a 1v2 on your enemies captured point for a long period of time – Advantage (even if you don’t have the point, fighting a 1v2 for a long period of time is beneficial because it allows your team to fight 4v3 for the other two points)
*Fighting a 1v2 on your own captured point for a long period of time – Huge Advantage

Final Thoughts

Dying is still bad, in fact a rotations worst enemy is death as it gives the enemy 30 seconds to overpower you elsewhere. With the exception of team fight oriented builds, if you know you will die by staying in a fight and have the cool downs to make it out alive run elsewhere, by the time you make it to another encounter your cooldowns will have returned and you can help the team hold the next point. One death can create an avalanche of outnumbered fights and is how you make a turn around happen.

Sea of Sorrows
Champion Paragon

(edited by D best.3547)

Guide: PvP teams

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Posted by: Nier.8741

Nier.8741

He thinks Engi and Stance Warrior are good in duels, LOL.

You forgot that PU Mesmer is on top and Shatter Mesmer can duel better and easier than stance Warrior too.

Rotations aren’t THAT simple man. Not unless you’re a d/d ele.

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Posted by: Firebird.8324

Firebird.8324

Hey, I support what you are trying to do OP, but you may want to consult some players from top teams to make sure your information is accurate.

Over Powered Necro [dk] (Bird of Fire)
One spam to rule them all!
Mains Power Necro for team Radioactive[dk]

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Posted by: XPilo.5862

XPilo.5862

I am a d/f ele what is my rol? O.o

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Posted by: sinject.4607

sinject.4607

He thinks Engi and Stance Warrior are good in duels, LOL.

You forgot that PU Mesmer is on top and Shatter Mesmer can duel better and easier than stance Warrior too.

Rotations aren’t THAT simple man. Not unless you’re a d/d ele.

???
elixir engie is one of the best dueling specs in the game (boons/sustain for years + might stacking on par with cele necro/ele) and condi engie is just as good as burn guard if not better thanks to its condition variety. engie gets slightly harder to play and people don’t think it’s not a top tier threat anymore? just wait until elementalist/necro/mesmer get nerfed, engie will be top tier again. play against “Make Bombs Not Love” in a queue and you’ll see what I’m talking about. he’s one of the few people playing engie to its potential and it’s more frustrating than the older celestial build (he might use soldiers but I’m fairly sure he uses celestial).

also a well played stance GS/hammer warrior can catch so many things off guard and just trounce them in 1v1s. Even if they can’t, rampaging in a 1v1, while according to conventional wisdom is wasteful, usually equals an on-point victory which is invaluable itself. warrior is still weak like thief, but some buffs to it and nerfs to ele/necro/mesmer will see warrior to a higher place in the meta easily.

anyways nice post OP, I think after some input you’ll have a completely solid introduction to PvP.

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Posted by: D best.3547

D best.3547

He thinks Engi and Stance Warrior are good in duels, LOL.

You forgot that PU Mesmer is on top and Shatter Mesmer can duel better and easier than stance Warrior too.

Rotations aren’t THAT simple man. Not unless you’re a d/d ele.

What you’re discussing is balance and I do agree mesmer is in a very good place right now. A roamer can still 1v1 as well as a duel based class they simply cant hold a point well so they go from point to point and help win fights. I will add this to their description I guess.

As for engineers and Hammer/GS warriors good ones can hold their own in a 1v2 or 1v1 until help comes.

Sea of Sorrows
Champion Paragon

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Posted by: D best.3547

D best.3547

I am a d/f ele what is my rol? O.o

Duel Oriented, though you have good team fight potential similarly to D/D ele.

Sea of Sorrows
Champion Paragon

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Posted by: nearlight.3064

nearlight.3064

Nice guide man! It really helps to think about teams in terms of roles rather than how frail or tanky someone is.

I’d just like to add that many necro builds, including celestial, Cleric MM, and various other power builds are really strong duelers. They just tend to be less useful in teamfights and struggle with disengaging unless they kitten their 1v1 potential to take wurm. Power wells is a great teamfights build, but it’s survivability can be a bit low sometimes against more mobile burst specs, which is why it can be more of a liability than a help in teamfights in this meta.

Necromancer Main
Taking a break from GW2 to play various
Nintendo games..

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Posted by: D best.3547

D best.3547

Nice guide man! It really helps to think about teams in terms of roles rather than how frail or tanky someone is.

I’d just like to add that many necro builds, including celestial, Cleric MM, and various other power builds are really strong duelers. They just tend to be less useful in teamfights and struggle with disengaging unless they kitten their 1v1 potential to take wurm. Power wells is a great teamfights build, but it’s survivability can be a bit low sometimes against more mobile burst specs, which is why it can be more of a liability than a help in teamfights in this meta.

I like your assessment of necro and I will add the builds to the guide under 1v1. I am in agreement that well necro is out of meta, this is due to easy focus from burst mesmers and thieves. However it still can be effective with a Bunker guard focusing on supporting the necromancer, feel my wrath and lych also make some mean damage.

Sea of Sorrows
Champion Paragon

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Posted by: Princeton.2086

Princeton.2086

Hey, I support what you are trying to do OP, but you may want to consult some players from top teams to make sure your information is accurate.

Trier | Digital Professional Sports [DPS]

Revenant