Guild Wars 2

Hi. I’ve not so long ago come back to the game, playing on and off since open beta. I’ve mostly spent my time playing SPvP, and while it’s the best PvP I’ve ever seen in an MMO I’ve started to notice some patterns. Namely, Necros and Mesmers — when played well — seem to be invincible.

I’ve mostly been playing warrior (marauder gsword / hammer or gsword / axe + shield), Guardian (greatsword burst) and Engineer (marauder elixir rifle). While the damage is nice, I couldn’t help but notice I’m having trouble on all 3 of my professions of choice with 3 others. Namely: Necro, Mesmer, Ranger.

Necro: They seem to be quite squishy at the start, however, once they get to about 50% they pop their endless green bar and start sh*tting damage / conditions while taking none themselves. Even things like rampage aren’t enough to get through it. What can one do to deal with that?

Mesmer: Outside of the class niche of ‘never gonna find the real one’, all they seem to have to do is kitten out enough clones to blow me up in a single burst window. If I get lucky I can get them to 10-5%, but then the big burst explosion comes and I just can’t seem to do anything to stop it =x

Ranger: These ones are hit and miss but the gist of it is that when one knows what they’re doing they seem to have similar problems: endless sustain, high ‘pewpewpew’ burst and too much mobility for my ‘in your face’ burst to do enough to kill them.

I need advice!

Necro: if you playing gsword/hammer or axe/shield you should not have problem against this class, warrior is the natural counter to necro. Just never walk on their aoe and they shouldnt be able to charge fast enough their “green bar”. Also, hammer CC chain should be a big problem for them to deal. Just dont try to finish them in a single burst, dont train them with autoattack, always dodge.

Mesmer: you are right, they are the natural counter of warrior, especialy with blind spam. Is not theyr burst that much a problem, since once you understood what to dodge you should be able to survive it very easily. Only way to kill them is in one single burst, wich isnt easy cuz they have so many evades/stealth/block/blind/distortion. Try to make him waste those defence tools and remember that even when stealthed, mesmer can take heavy damage from hammer autoattack/CC and GS wirlwind. So differently than with necro, you have to spam autoattack against mesmer, also only just to kill clones.
I can add that to kill a mesmer with warrior you need double his experience and skill, but it’s not impossible.

Ranger: how you really have problems with ranger pew pew?? I can understand against a tanky condi ranger, but a pew pew one??

People keep telling me warrior is a natural counter to necro, but I’ve not had much luck with either weapon combo unless I manage to catch necro off guard with something like bull charge + hundred blades. I’ll try playing it more careful though! Thanks!

About rangers: They just seem to run away and regenerate faster than I can keep up and hit them. Even if I manage to get an upper hand with something like fully reflecting their pewpew burst they just run away and reset. I guess that’s a kind of win but I find it really difficult to actually -kill- a ranger with how fast one can move regardless of build.

VS necro advices:

First watch him closely to verify if power necro or not.

If power:

-If they enter death shroud immediately change to hammer and start combo on them, you’ll negate most of death shroud damage (if they have traited stability, out kite them using great sword mobility)
-If they go lich form out kite them or if their health is low go for full dps mode
-Avoid wells at all cost
-Always keep berzerker stance available so you can refill your adrenaline fast after a F1, that way you max out your regen
-Remember in this fight you are not the aggressor, most likely you’ll need to kite him (necro is one of the few classes you can out kite easily)
-Keep Rampage for when he pops death shroud, proceed to CC him and then dps him while on ground

If condition necro:

-Keep an eye out for fear, if you see it swap weapon (even if you feel that weapon isn’t the best at the moment) that way you’ll remove fear fast
-If you get condi bombed don’t be afraid to use healing signet so you can have resistance
-Berzerker stance should be used to try and prevent as much condition damage as possible
-Key things here are keep close to him, cc as much as you can, and use great sword so he doesn’t kite you. If in trouble equip sigil of generosity so you can have a little edge.

Hope this helps

Vs ranger advice:

-Keep pressing with GS and keep rampage and hammer on reserve
-When ranger starts to disengage use F1 on hammer and if you hit CC combo him
-If ranger succeeds on dodging or evading your CC activate rampage and run him down

Hope this helps

Vs mesmers advice:

-If you see illusions running towards you dodge or use endure pain if out of dodges
-Learn mesmer movements that set him apart from clones (circular movements/strafing)
-Remember one of the sources of damage of the mesmer is the translucent phantasms, kill them ASAP that way you remove pressure from yourself
-When you identify a mesmer (through his movement) don’t turn towards him, change to hammer and F1 the zone where he’s moving into, if you hit proceed to CC chain him
-Remember GS helps you out kite mesmers, try to get out of combat and full regen if needed

Hope this helps

Against a necro you want to burst in when you get your chance and play it safe ( kite/los/stuns/stances/stand in his hitbox) when he’s in death shroud.

Powermancers you need to dodge and get out of wellls.

I main necro and mesmer. Whisper me if you like to duel, and we can work on things until you feel at least a bit more comfortable of the matchup.

In your case, it sounds like you don’t understand necro and Mesmer mechanics very well, which is fair. I’d suggest either playing a few games as them, or watching streamer vids on twitch from people like noscoc and helseth to better understand those classes.

Erindriel.2351:

Hi. I’ve not so long ago come back to the game, playing on and off since open beta. I’ve mostly spent my time playing SPvP, and while it’s the best PvP I’ve ever seen in an MMO I’ve started to notice some patterns. Namely, Necros and Mesmers — when played well — seem to be invincible.

Necro: They seem to be quite squishy at the start, however, once they get to about 50% they pop their endless green bar and start sh*tting damage / conditions while taking none themselves. Even things like rampage aren’t enough to get through it. What can one do to deal with that?

I need advice!

I’m a necromancer main, so I’ll try to give you advice on that.
-Try to dodge the skills that generate life force. This requires you to know which ones do, but they all have a few things in common. They all have long wind up animations, and they all are easy to see visually.

-if the necromancer turns a transparent green, only hit once or twice with a singular hard swing. They generate life force for being hit repeatedly in this state.

-rampage should destroy necromancers if you use it properly. They have no escape skills and cannot outrun you.

-if you’re running GS/hammer you should be able to disengage easily. Take advantage of that if you’re losing an engagement.

-don’the let the fight drag out. Try to burst down the necromancer. If you let him generate life force, that’s the equivalent of letting him heal and puts you more behind as time goes on.

Erindriel.2351:

Hi. I’ve not so long ago come back to the game, playing on and off since open beta. I’ve mostly spent my time playing SPvP, and while it’s the best PvP I’ve ever seen in an MMO I’ve started to notice some patterns. Namely, Necros and Mesmers — when played well — seem to be invincible.

I’ve mostly been playing warrior (marauder gsword / hammer or gsword / axe + shield), Guardian (greatsword burst) and Engineer (marauder elixir rifle). While the damage is nice, I couldn’t help but notice I’m having trouble on all 3 of my professions of choice with 3 others. Namely: Necro, Mesmer, Ranger.

Necro: They seem to be quite squishy at the start, however, once they get to about 50% they pop their endless green bar and start sh*tting damage / conditions while taking none themselves. Even things like rampage aren’t enough to get through it. What can one do to deal with that?

Mesmer: Outside of the class niche of ‘never gonna find the real one’, all they seem to have to do is kitten out enough clones to blow me up in a single burst window. If I get lucky I can get them to 10-5%, but then the big burst explosion comes and I just can’t seem to do anything to stop it =x

Ranger: These ones are hit and miss but the gist of it is that when one knows what they’re doing they seem to have similar problems: endless sustain, high ‘pewpewpew’ burst and too much mobility for my ‘in your face’ burst to do enough to kill them.

I need advice!

Add to the above situational and terrain awareness.

If fighting mesmer, you will do much better in closed spaces as even when stealthed they have limited or no place to go, you can often down mesmers via cleaves / aoe and they will be in downed state when they unstealth.

if in open spaces you can kite their phantasms / clones and mesmer itself until stealth expires using simple LOS and terrain such as low height obstacles that you can jump over, the phantasms / clones will have to run all the way around to you because they don’t jump. You can LOS behind columns, get behind a column, make a circle around it to wait around the mes stealth while kiting their phantasms / clones. You can often cleave and kill the clones / phantasms as they try to run to you before they shatter through the obstacles around which they are running.

If fighting necro it depends on their build. Lifedrain / condi / bunker necro will be very hard for you to beat, the AOEs can be sidestepped / avoided but these guys do indeed get a ton of healing and you are actually better going 1v1 instead of 1vX with the X on your side as their heals increase on “per target” basis. I play this on my necro.

Other necros will be easier, power necros you can just time your CCs and invulns + cleanses better and they should be a cakewalk.

Don’t get kited by necros, especially condi necros as they will keep applying condis on you and waste all your CDs then unload for the kill, again use terrain, jumps, LOS etc.

Rangers I do not know, I personally do not have any trouble with them unless they are tehre as a +1, but then again I have troubles with other +1s as well, so thats not class exclusive.

I have been playing GS/Axe-shield and GS/Hammer recently. With all of these classes I usually instantly go on offensive, apply pressure right away.
Ranger, I try to close the gap and GS#4 or Axe #3 and reflect bursts with shield.

Necro I have been charging in, popping berserker stance, burst like crazy after GS#4 and rampage #4, #2, #3, #1, #5 that usually bursts them down then into GS #2, just break fears. I have only had trouble so far with Necros when they get the jump on me.

I had a lot of trouble with a mesmer the other day and we talked a bit. Don’t let confusion stack, make sure to weapon swap condis off. I have had a few long 1v1s with mesmers where we will dance for awhile and then he will stealth and try to get the jump. Be super aggressive and close gaps again. GS #4 and Axe #3 are your friend for sure, when they stealth you can still attack them. Sometimes they will re-appear in a downed state already.

I am still in the lower leagues so, I am still learning as well but I have been pretty successful holding zones in 1v1s so far.

How does one kill necros and mesmers?

necro – You drain the green bar of the necro then you drain his health bar
mesmer – You land your skills on the non-clone to drain the health bar

You kill them by draining their healthbar

cakeonroof.7385:

How does one kill necros and mesmers?

necro – You drain the green bar of the necro then you drain his health bar
mesmer – You land your skills on the non-clone to drain the health bar

You kill them by draining their healthbar

Why are you so angry?

Xenlai.8694:

cakeonroof.7385:

How does one kill necros and mesmers?

necro – You drain the green bar of the necro then you drain his health bar
mesmer – You land your skills on the non-clone to drain the health bar

You kill them by draining their healthbar

Why are you so angry?

waaaat? how can i be angry when im grubbing on a juicy cheeseburger right now

Erindriel.2351:

Hi. I’ve not so long ago come back to the game, playing on and off since open beta. I’ve mostly spent my time playing SPvP, and while it’s the best PvP I’ve ever seen in an MMO I’ve started to notice some patterns. Namely, Necros and Mesmers — when played well — seem to be invincible.

I’ve mostly been playing warrior (marauder gsword / hammer or gsword / axe + shield), Guardian (greatsword burst) and Engineer (marauder elixir rifle). While the damage is nice, I couldn’t help but notice I’m having trouble on all 3 of my professions of choice with 3 others. Namely: Necro, Mesmer, Ranger.

Necro: They seem to be quite squishy at the start, however, once they get to about 50% they pop their endless green bar and start sh*tting damage / conditions while taking none themselves. Even things like rampage aren’t enough to get through it. What can one do to deal with that?

Mesmer: Outside of the class niche of ‘never gonna find the real one’, all they seem to have to do is kitten out enough clones to blow me up in a single burst window. If I get lucky I can get them to 10-5%, but then the big burst explosion comes and I just can’t seem to do anything to stop it =x

Ranger: These ones are hit and miss but the gist of it is that when one knows what they’re doing they seem to have similar problems: endless sustain, high ‘pewpewpew’ burst and too much mobility for my ‘in your face’ burst to do enough to kill them.

I need advice!

I wont feed you some bs like everyone else. If your using warrior against a mesmer in a 1 vs 1 situation and your facing a better mesmer you will lose. Blind/distortion/blink/ the amount of condi dmg and shatter dmg they do. You can switch and play shoutbow but they still should still win.

Ive ran into bunker necros i couldnt kill even though they did no dmg so that made sense to me. Also you should be able to kill cele signet necro 1 vs 1. I use rune of strength with zerker ammy and hammer/ GS. All you have to watch for is the blue symbol under there name since it gives them life force on dmg received. When you see it just dont attack them.

Everything about ranger is closing the distance and timing so just have to practice that one as long as the necro. Mesmer on the other hand atm are incredibly annoying in 1 vs 1 especially in solo que.

necro is possibly the worst class in the game, shouldn’t be hard to counter it

King Noob IV.3560:

necro is possibly the worst class in the game, shouldn’t be hard to counter it

In pve maybe in the zerk meta but in pvp and wvw necro are actually very very good.

Some solid advice, thanks to everyone who contributed! I’ve ran about a dozen more games after reading through, felt a lot more confident fighting necros. Haven’t met a good mesmer yet but had a lot more success dealing with those effin’ green bars!

+1 to Gw2 community! =3

necro damage can be losed and dodged , vs a good mesmer you are screwed 1 v 1 nothing you can do about it.

So GS + Hammer and you have trouble with Necromancer… Interrupt, interrupt, interrupt… No need to burst down the green bar, save your burst for when he pops out of shroud to use a utility, cc, or heal. Unless they are losing they aren’t likely to camp in shroud as they have no utility (I main necromancer)… whenever they leave shroud they are vulnerable for 7-10 seconds.

Mesmer… run away or use a different build. I don’t have a lot of trouble with Mesmer on my Warrior… but that is because I use a non-meta build meant for dealing with casters (other melee and heavy armor classes eat me alive… against your build in particular I hit like a wet noodle). Regardless you will want Berserker Stance so you don’t one shot yourself with 100b.

Make an ele and stop tryharding.

Good thing bout it is that you’re gonna win against mesmers and necros but also against thieves, guardians, engis and warriors

Go ez mode already so you won’t care anymore about who you gonna face in 1v1

Against mesmer use hammer / GS and try and lock down. Play offensively and always try to predict where I’m moving when we pop our stealth. We take damage even while we’re invisible.
Your much likelier to win if you burst me down as I’ll always win if it’s down to attrition.

play gs – mace/focus medi guardian…theres 50:50 chance to kill necro, 80:20 chance to kill mesmer.

you will lose to condi ranger tho, and maybe condi mesmer if hes good.