Guild Wars 2

Learning how to fight certain classes takes a while to learn and I’ve been PVPing for a while but I’m still finding out new things about certain classes and how to deal with them (I just found out rangers can stealth sometimes too the other day when I hit him with a stun). So, I thought it’d be nice if we all combined our knowledge on how to deal with certain classes.

I’m going to start with my own class, the Staff Ele, since I know the most about it.

How to deal with Staff Eles:
-Don’t stand in the AoE (so many people willingly sit in my AoE, especially eruption which takes a long time to finally erupt and when it does, it stacks a lot of bleed and usually doing a decent amount of damage too).
-Strafe around and move a lot. It makes it reallly hard to land AoE (I always lose to very mobile players)
-Attack with conditions after the ele moves out of water attunement so the ele has a harder time removing them as water attunement is where eles get all their healing/condition removal done.
-When a staff Ele is downed, don’t try to melee. Go for the stomp and force the mist form to escape and then stomp again. The 2nd stomp will always land as mist form is on a 20s CD.
-A lot of people don’t seem to realize this, but Static Field (that ring of eletricity that forms) only stuns you if you run through it. If you stay in the middle, you won’t get stunned

Watch the greatsword warrior. When he jumps up and spins in the air, dodge.

BackStab/Heart seek thieves…..Save all your dodge rolls and stun breakers for them. And no other class.
Only a fool engages a ranger in the open ^^ Line of sight is your friend.
As soon as you see an engineer drop BIG OLD BOMB barrel or a ELE cast the AOE bleed thing, count to 3…then dodge roll and you miss the effect.
(This is one i see a LOT!) DO NOT ENGAGE WARRIORS when they are using their last stand ability, simple run away to the next point/enemy and let them die in 10seconds time (they cant cap points in this state anyway).
Mesmers Illusions never run backwards/sideways or dodge
As soon as you see a Necro drop his AOE wells on floor you might as well stand back and don’t bother to Melee them.
Never bother stomping a thief, just attack them while they are down…you will save time.
The very second you down a warrior start to stomp them….if you are late he will have enough time to hammer stun and use his last stand ability.
If you are ranged and see a Thief using his elite dagger storm…please don’t attack them, your attacks will get reflected

Ooh, I didn’t know about that Mesmer Illusions movement thing. That’s pretty useful. Thanks, Caino.

Bunker guard. 1v1. No chance`?

in my view…not really. Even an average player using bunker guardian wont be beaten.

That’s why they need to be nerfed to the ground just like bunker eles were.

Actually…a buff stripping necro would stand a chance i think……

Caino.7130:

Actually…a buff stripping necro would stand a chance i think……

And we have a winner!
Strip a bunkers boons = dead bunker.

Tips:
If you see a Mesmer strafe, dodge, run backwards, or use different skills that’s the real Mesmer. If the Memser has a signet, that is also the real one.
When a Memser uses his downed ability, the second one to pop up is the real one. The real Memser also has a big red skull over his bar.
Mesmers cannot use their downed abilities without a target ( stealth stomp them).
Instant movement abilities can be used to teleport midstomp to stomp a thief. For example:Steal, Blink, ShadowStep, etc.
Blinds prevent most downed ability from working, even the Guardian and Ranger ones.
That’s all for now. I might post again later.

Caino.7130:

Actually…a buff stripping necro would stand a chance i think……

I save my Corrupt Boon, can be deadly against them as well as any class that gets masses of boons in seconds, if they are in a group, follow that up with Epidemic

One of the recent challenges I’ve had to face lately are necros. They seem to be on the rise lately and they’re presenting a challenge. I’ve been beaten by both, condition and minion mancers. Mainly probably because of Death Shroud and their super high HP for a caster. So hard to kill.

SecondtoNone.7549:

One of the recent challenges I’ve had to face lately are necros. They seem to be on the rise lately and they’re presenting a challenge. I’ve been beaten by both, condition and minion mancers. Mainly probably because of Death Shroud and their super high HP for a caster. So hard to kill.

I run a Toughness/Condition build and LOVE coming up against Bunkers, Engis are fun as well. I wait and wait then as soon as i see the Boon spam i hit Epidemic and just wail on them :P

So only 1 specific build of 1 class may kill a bunker guard? What frakked up balance is that?

Aether McLoud.1975:

So only 1 specific build of 1 class may kill a bunker guard? What frakked up balance is that?

This…
…Is
…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANET

Kick to face

Lol, Yeah the game does have serious issues, i dont quite understand why ele Bunker was nerfed so much but Guardian wasnt?

Aether McLoud.1975:

So only 1 specific build of 1 class may kill a bunker guard? What frakked up balance is that?

Condition Thief can take out Bunker Guardians as well. Caltrops tends to be murder for them.

I believe there’s also a solid anti-bunker mesmer build that works well.

Any boon-removal or condition build should be able to handle a bunker guard.

SecondtoNone.7549:

One of the recent challenges I’ve had to face lately are necros. They seem to be on the rise lately and they’re presenting a challenge. I’ve been beaten by both, condition and minion mancers. Mainly probably because of Death Shroud and their super high HP for a caster. So hard to kill.

The meta is starting to materialize now that class bugs are getting ironed out.

In general bunker builds rely on three things:

Toughness
Healing
Boons

So conditions counter toughness by ignoring it. Poison counters healing, but you need low cooldowns because it will be cleansed repeatedly. And boon stealing/corrupting counters boons like regen, protection, and stability.

So necros are obviously the best here since they turn boons into conditions, but rangers thieves, and engineers can also deliver a fair amount of condition damage with easy access to poison.

The last option, if you are also running a bunker is to knock the opposing bunker off the point and neutralize it. Snares and immobilizes help, and this works better on some points than others.

Shatter mesmers can also kill bunkers if they time out their shatters correctly (there is a trait talent that removes enemy boons on shatter).

Other things to notice:
be careful about trying to burst a necro while in their death shroud. They could be specced into retaliation and you could kill yourself if not carefull.

necros alien doo doo looking summon is squishy and should be killed early if given the chance. (same could be said about ranger pets)

if it is a shatter mesmer, beware of the clones. if they randomly start trucking it at you, evade, you are about to get shattered. stay close to mesmers with greatswords and kill every clone and phantasm as soon as it comes out. if the mesmer does an animation of lifting their sword to the sky they are either healing or summoning the blade spinning phantasm.

never get stuck, stunned or sit still against a warrior. Quickness + hundred blades… nuff said

if a thief goes invisible, dont just stand there doing nothing. put an aoe on around yourself, auto attack the air, do whatever your class lets you. cant tell you how many i have downed this way

sorry if all those were elementary but its late and my brain hurts. good luck out there and keep playing. PvP is down right now, but it isn’t out

candlecan.9827:

Shatter mesmers can also kill bunkers if they time out their shatters correctly (there is a trait talent that removes enemy boons on shatter).

Other things to notice:
be careful about trying to burst a necro while in their death shroud. They could be specced into retaliation and you could kill yourself if not carefull.

necros alien doo doo looking summon is squishy and should be killed early if given the chance. (same could be said about ranger pets)

if it is a shatter mesmer, beware of the clones. if they randomly start trucking it at you, evade, you are about to get shattered. stay close to mesmers with greatswords and kill every clone and phantasm as soon as it comes out. if the mesmer does an animation of lifting their sword to the sky they are either healing or summoning the blade spinning phantasm.

never get stuck, stunned or sit still against a warrior. Quickness + hundred blades… nuff said

if a thief goes invisible, dont just stand there doing nothing. put an aoe on around yourself, auto attack the air, do whatever your class lets you. cant tell you how many i have downed this way

sorry if all those were elementary but its late and my brain hurts. good luck out there and keep playing. PvP is down right now, but it isn’t out

Nah, this is really useful. Necros can spec into retaliation and they have crazy hp + death shroud? What? And people aren’t playing necros? How do you counter their death shroud? They have that nice drain ability that does like 3-4k too in shroud.

And I agree about the thief stealth thing. If you see it stealth, drop an AoE around where they the thief just used stealth and an AoE around you. I will commonly drop a thief if timed right.

A further clarification on the “hitting thief in stealth” point:

With the exception of a traited out Steal (which shadowsteps to a foe and probably is on cool down if you’re mid-combat with a thief), stealth skills don’t move the thief. While many will change the direction they’re headed right after going into stealth, they don’t move from the spot they entered stealth except by running. So when you start dropping AoEs because a thief stealthed, you should start in and around the spot where they went invisible.

I’m fairly certain this is true for all stealth skills (except for the mentioned traited steal) and not just thief.

Syeria.4812:

A further clarification on the “hitting thief in stealth” point:

With the exception of a traited out Steal (which shadowsteps to a foe and probably is on cool down if you’re mid-combat with a thief), stealth skills don’t move the thief. While many will change the direction they’re headed right after going into stealth, they don’t move from the spot they entered stealth except by running. So when you start dropping AoEs because a thief stealthed, you should start in and around the spot where they went invisible.

I’m fairly certain this is true for all stealth skills (except for the mentioned traited steal) and not just thief.

I believe Engis and Rangers both have at trait that causes stealth when they are stunned but I also believe they stand in place.

Eles have a trait that turns on shocking aura when they get stunned.

SecondtoNone.7549:

Eles have a trait that turns on shocking aura when they get stunned.

It’s an air grandmaster trait, though, so don’t expect to see it very often.

VS Mesmer: Turn off mob names in options, Turn on enemy player names. When engaging the mesmer, if he forces target drop and you have auto target on you will auto target his clone. Deselect target (double click ground) and look around, the clones (being mobs) will not have names, an the real mesmer will.

D.D bunker eles: Most dd eles are immune to conditions (mine currently is not). Each regen applied they get will remove a condition and each cantrip they use gives them regen. A class that can convert conditions or strip boons will be effective here (necro). A class that stacks conditions my have some trouble (ranger). If your heart is set on conditions then try to mask the one you want with one thats more nastie. E.G. If you want to stack bleeding and have access to chill, stack your bleeds, then chill to cover and the chill will be removed first. If you want to stack chill, start with chill then bleed.

Eles strength comes from constant regen, high uptime on protection and the water heals. When you see the water bubble effect, if you foe is low on life he will get a free heal just from the switch. This is when you want to try and use your ccs, or use your chill/poison (covered as mention previous and before he can get off any of his heals) as chill/poison will decrease his heal potential by a great deal. If your ccs are on cd at this point you now have 9 seconds to kill him before he can heal gain. If you see him trying his healing skill you must interrupt it but many use the signet for passive heal and only use it in absolutely necessary times.

Glass cannons: glass canon ele, just /lol
Glass cannon warrior, dodge his bulls charge, or use an immediate stun break after being hit or you will be in a world of hurt. Pure glass cannon gs warriors that are bad or trying stuff out will rush you whenever they can to get their kill. More experiences ones will wait till you are occupied or attack when you are unaware (facing away from them). Watch out for the dreaded hammer gs combo, as the hammer has many good skills to set you up for HB combo. Hammer has a draw back though and that is that the attacks are easy to predict and then dodge / move out of the way due to the slowness of the weapon.

Glass cannon thieves: Always move, pay good attention to your health, if you see it move and no enemies are around its probably a thief, now is the time to use your stun break. You don’t want to not use your stun break unless your are certain that you have not been turned to stone. If you make that mistake you will be sorry. Once you have stunbreaked (or sure your not stone) use an about face key (don’t hold right click or you wont turn) or quickly turn your self away from the thief and start attacking (auto attacks are good to get some damage in before they appear).

Stealth: the stealth mechanic claims many lives, remember you can freely attack your foe while he is invisible. Stunned a ranger and it disappeared? He is still there, still stunned, auto attack him or use your other skills if you are confident (try not to use projectiles, melee is a much safer option).
Thief disappeared?, if he is good he has assessed the situation and probably fled. If he is bad he will still be around, usually within churning earth range and for some reason will be hit by it. Again smash your auto attacks on his last know positions and move sporadically to save your but from a back stab.

Heart seeker, thief using heart seeker spam? immobilise > chill > cripple. Any of those effects will hold him back, cripple and freeze will remove the length of his auto latch skill and immobilise will make it useless allowing you to use your escape moves.

This is a good thread!

candlecan.9827:

Other things to notice:
be careful about trying to burst a necro while in their death shroud. They could be specced into retaliation and you could kill yourself if not carefull.

necros alien doo doo looking summon is squishy and should be killed early if given the chance. (same could be said about ranger pets)

Shhhhhh. please go back to your previous progrm, Necros are so totally underpowered it’s those HS, HB thta are OP… << >>

All that I can really add is if a Necro is particularly focussing just you and your getting a few conditions then stay away from your team mates, Epidemic Incoming

Oh andd if you see that shodow Refuge pop up then aoe the hell out of it as they usually stay inside for a few seconds

Jewel.1457:

candlecan.9827:

Other things to notice:
be careful about trying to burst a necro while in their death shroud. They could be specced into retaliation and you could kill yourself if not carefull.

necros alien doo doo looking summon is squishy and should be killed early if given the chance. (same could be said about ranger pets)

Shhhhhh. please go back to your previous progrm, Necros are so totally underpowered it’s those HS, HB thta are OP… << >>

All that I can really add is if a Necro is particularly focussing just you and your getting a few conditions then stay away from your team mates, Epidemic Incoming

Oh andd if you see that shodow Refuge pop up then aoe the hell out of it as they usually stay inside for a few seconds

Huh, looked up what epidemic is. Why don’t necros use that skill that spams like 10 conditions on someone, followed by epidemic? Seems pretty amazing if people just burned through their condition removal.

When fighting mesmers, be pro-active and fight on your terms, not theirs. Zoning is fairly strong against a profession with no solid access to swiftness. Both shatter and staff punish a poorly timed melee press.

Thieves are trumped mostly by intuition and awareness. In the case of bleed stackers, don’t stand in caltrops, wait for the leaping death blossom spam to end before using any serious attacks.

When stealth breaks it makes a noise, and has a slight shadowy animation at the feet of the person leaving stealth, look out for these signs when fighting either profession.

Lots of good info in this thread. Please sticky!

TGSlasher.1458:

VS Mesmer: Turn off mob names in options, Turn on enemy player names. When engaging the mesmer, if he forces target drop and you have auto target on you will auto target his clone. Deselect target (double click ground) and look around, the clones (being mobs) will not have names, an the real mesmer will.

I’m not gonna lie, I have never thought of this and it’s a brilliant tip. Thanks for sharing!

nldixon.8514:

TGSlasher.1458:

VS Mesmer: Turn off mob names in options, Turn on enemy player names. When engaging the mesmer, if he forces target drop and you have auto target on you will auto target his clone. Deselect target (double click ground) and look around, the clones (being mobs) will not have names, an the real mesmer will.

I’m not gonna lie, I have never thought of this and it’s a brilliant tip. Thanks for sharing!

This tip has suddenly changed everything fighting Mesmers, and almost deserves it’s own topic. I think I will make it!

How to beat frenzy hammer crit/tough warriors- conditions

My god i hate chill. Frenzy is also a stun breaker so dont get baited. Theres a 1 second delay for both the knockdown and leap for the hammer whennon frenzied. Usually decent kiting with 2 well timed hard cc’s works too. And dont use roots b/c mobile strikes trait cleanses roots.