Guild Wars 2

I just want to create this thread to give everyone a place to discuss and share some strats, tips, etc. The format is simple, post a question, answer, or general tip for securing a win for your team. I’ll start by sharing a couple of my own.

Focus focus focus!

To many times I’ve been pugging, and point fights turn into sheer chaos. A thief will tunnel vision an elementalist, your ranger will be hitting some mesmer, and your ele is zipping off the point because he forgot to target someone before casting RtL. Even when pugging, try to throw a target on someone and get your teammates to focus the target. Imobo, cripple them do what you can to lock them down. (Prioritizing is important too, but lets take it one step at a time) You will be amazed at the difference this can make.

Get out of that tunnel!

No, seriously, get out. Your teammates around you didn’t suddenly decide they needed to lay down for a bit, they’re downed, save them! Don’t let yourself tunnel vision the guy in front of you, pay attention to your teammates, or that necro throwing marks down from the topside of keep. We know your awesome, and you could easily roflstomp any of these guys 1v1. However, people will praise a clutch revive much more often than cheering you on while you pwn that bunker, before they click return to waypoint.

Leave those creeps alone!

Well, not entirely. Maybe Svanir rolled you up a few times when you just started playing. But that doesnt mean you have to exact your revenge everytime the announcer tells you your rival has returned. Or, maybe your backs hurting from all that carrying the team, and you need a break beating up that npc. But, make sure the coast is clear,(don’t want to lose those 25 points) and don’t waste your time with it when your team has a 3v4 going on at keep, and needs you to come clean up for them. (They need your mlg talent up there!)

Edit: phone autocorrect fail.

If your pugging your rolling the dice. Sometimes you get great pugs, othertimes people who can barely move.
So first tip, dont pug if you dont have too.

I wish i had a consistant team. I pug most of the time

For new players in sPvP:

Counter the zerg. If you are rolled over by 4-5 players at once on a node, run STRAIGHT back to that node as fast as possible. Almost every time, any team that zergs like that is going to leave that node unattended and bum rush the next node and at most, leave 1, in which case, you’ll get some good 1v1 experience.

Call out everything you do! Whether it be typing or talking with a VOIP. It is crucial that everyone knows what they’re doing and who’s doing what. For instance, I usually run a bomb kit on my engineer when I’m holding nodes. I can use Big Ol’ Bomb to knock people away, but it also knocks away downed players as well. This is disasterous to my team if one of my teammates is trying to down them. Also whenever you need help or are going to try to cap a node, call it out. Working alone never solves anything! That’s the main issue with pugs right now. You dont need VOIP to tell everyone what to do, just say “1h” for instance if one is incoming henge. Little things like that can tell people that you need help or whatever and can get everyone on your team to get more organized.

Great advice so far. Keep it comin everyone.

1 - Keep your left mouse button pressed to turn the camera (while you are still moving with the directionals). That way you can scout your back, without having to stop to look

2 - If you don’t have a gaming mouse, don’t worry! Configure your hotkeys into a confortable position to your fingers. It’s important to leave a crucial skill, like a stun breaker, in a easy access key, like Left Shift for example. I suggest this configuration:

6 – R
7 – T
8 – Left Shift
9(elite) – Middle mouse button, if you have it.

3 - Save at least one dodge/stun breaker for a crucial situation. Just beacuse that mesmer stunned you, doesn’t mean his shatter will hit you in time, before the stun goes off. So, don’t waste it unless you have no other choice!

Send bunker szepter dagger ele to far point and neutralize it with tornado or keep it uncapped.
Over 2k toughness, kittenet amounts of selfheal and immune to conditions due to countless removals while he is super fast at roaming and enemies can nearly never leave their closepoint.

This is the newest trend in paid tournaments.

Okay here we go, typing this on phone so sry typos.
Warriors-99% fo bulls rush hundres blades frenY. ALWAYS
Bring at least one stunbreak or ability that can save u when u get spiked.
Seriously save ur stun break until you see him pop bulls rush.
Warriors 3rd downstate brings them back alive for short time so finish them fast.
U can dodge warriors kd in down state by watching them hold their arm back right when they throw.

Mesmers- 99% are glass cannon shatter. The first thing u should do when u see mesmer is to call out the target. This allows u to track them through clones until they stealth. Every mesmer will have at least one stunbreak. When u see mesmers clones running towards u it means hes going to shatter- so te ur dodge.
Also against mesmers using great sword(purple beam) they summon a swordsmen who spins at u n does lots of dmg. WATCh for it to spawn n dodge its whirl n kill it and u will make ghe greatsword useless. U can also watch him throw swords at u and dodge those as well

Eles- 99% of dps eles will start fight off with ride the lightning them the fire burst forward. If there is ONE skill to avoid, avoid that one. Whem u see ele come in, have finger on dodge m dodge right as they start charging forward. Also interupr or dodge them when ghey start aoe channling. When u see ele with earth rocks around them, dont bother to cc or spike them, wait for it to wear off- it activates around 50% hp.

Thiefs- they either backstab pistolwhip or dagger pistol condition. When u see thief put ip basilisk vemom it means hes going to spike so pre emptievly block or get stun break ready. Against dag pistol comdition thieves? DO NOT stand in caltrops. They are little spikes on the ground and last longer than a second(14). Get away. It will put 9 stacks of blees on u easily. To win, when they come out of stealth with rapid pistol fire- dodge dodge. Save ur condition removal until u get a high stack of bleeds on u. They also heal in stealth so try to keep them out as much as u can. They NEED to hit u with one of their dagger attacks to keep up the stealth so dodge their dagger attaxk n stay out of caltrops n u win.

Necros- Biggest hint here. When necro puts wells on ground u can see radius. Dodge ocer these wells n u dodge all the dmg and condition. So important! Time ur dodges well. U can also dodge fhe necros fear down state by watching him raise his hamd at u.

Engineers- when u see supply crate drop, stunbreak n gtfo out of there.

Rangers- when their pet runs at u initially, time ur dodge when their pet attacks for first time, u will save big chunk of hp. When u see rangers pop quickness, hide for the duration n then attack. They have many many dodges so be patient.

Guardians- against dps greatsword. Dodge their spinny flying swird and u negate half their dmg. Dode the hammer and you dodhe the other 50% dmg. Srsly…
Against tanks, blow ur spikes when u dont see protection or stability on them. If they have it- wait. U can dodge their down state pushback as well- dodge when u see their hand go in the air. When they have hammer. They will do a big sideways swing which launches u and is followed by immobilize attack. Watch for the big sideways swing n dodge if. 24 secs without knockback. Guardians live because of their boons and big single heal. Strip boons and interupt his heal and u win. Interrupting his heal is SupER important.

This all comes down to dodging key attacks. U do this u will crush everyone below lvl 30
Sry for all typos >.<

1. Call/take targets
2. Never fight anywhere that doesn’t help your team control points

If pugs figure this out, premades will have to start playing with both hands.

Oh, and…

3. Memorize downed skills/common rez skills for every profession. There aren’t that many to remember, actually. Don’t stomp the wrong mesmer, it just looks bad. That thief didn’t go anywhere when he stealthed…

I’ve never actually seen a hot join game group act as a team… but that is OK… it’s still great fun playing PvP bouts. I go for the fighting, not to prove that there is no ‘i’ in team.

Here’s one tip I saw a ranger do yesterday. There were 2 of us and one of him (unfair) and I let him have a 1v1 a couple of times but would not let my team mate die from downed… I would res him up and he would thank me – he did’t want to die either. The ranger was good so this was frustrating for him.

The ranger then switched from fighting to just neutralizing the points. He didn’t claim the points.. just stayed mobile and neutralized, which maximised his points by the end of the bout in an otherwise tough to accumulate points situation.

- best hint ever: don’t think you are the best player around. learn to play, learn to counter, learn to lose. forum is not the right place to QQ. ask suggestions in the relative profession section of the forum. when you win you did a good job, when you lose u were outplayed. deal with it

1) Don’t rage … ever. If you turn out to be a bit human-like and rage occasionally, then be sure to at least aim it at the right person (oh yeah … I wish I wasn’t in the latter category, but the first category is long gone for me). If even that fails, be VERY sure to apologize to the right person.
2) Don’t forget to acknowledge other ppls skills (not talking about sucking up to them). Being friendly might lead to them being friendly as well and even tell what they are doing … especially if you ask politely. It is not always ppl want to hear about what your build and strats are … let them ask for it instead.
3) Don’t forget to learn from both your defeats and victories. Losing is not a shame … not learning from it, is.
4) Be generous when you win.
5) Never be afraid of testing things, and take time to analyze the results.

Hint: play what you’re comfortable with, you don’t have to go any copy other “wiki” builds just because they work for someone else. This game is simple, almost anything works, just play around a bit with traits and skills until you find what suits you the most.