Guild Wars 2

I’m a little confused and I wonder if anyone could clear this up for me.

I was playing with the Revenant’s hammer 4 (a projectile block) and ventari 7 (a projectile destructing dome).

I discovered that a Mesmer’s greatsword autoattack (and perhaps other skills) are not blocked by the hammer 4 or ventari 7.

Is this by design? What are the requisites for something to be considered a “projectile” by the engine? A downed autoattack is blocked and it does not have the “projectile finisher” description in the tooltip – neither does the greatsword autoattack.

Thanks!

Upon further testing in Heart of the Mists the downed auto attacks of the Necromancer, Guardian, Elementalist and Mesmer are not blocked, the downed auto attacks of the thief, warrior, ranger and engineer are blocked.

There is no Revenant NPC to test.

They are ranged attacks… so this confirms my confusion. Why does my projectile blockers/destroyers block some and not others?

Mesmer GS aa is “special”. It is not a projectile.

Curunen.8729:

Mesmer GS aa is “special”. It is not a projectile.

Interesting, thanks for confirming this! I’ll have to look around the Wiki to see where this is documented. I’ve never realised.

It’s quite intriguing that the mirror blade is described as a projectile finisher in the tool tip but also isn’t blocked/destroyed by projectile block/destruction.

Mirror blade is also an unblockable attack so you need to evade it or otherwise avoid it.

Mesmer GS 1 and 2 are weird outliers compared to most ranged attacks in the game. But then Mesmer GS is a weird, unorthodox weapon.

If it’s just Mesmer’s GS that doesn’t follow the rules it’s a pretty cool design. No projectile finisher on AA but it can’t be blocked by projectile blockers.

If there are a number of attacks/weapons which can’t be blocked like this then it sort of ruins my idea for a PvP build using them

If the downed AAs are anything to go by then Necromancer, Elementalist and Guardian may also have special attacks on their weapons like this too…

Of all mesmer GS abilities only the (2) is a projectile, everything else is other stuff (the (1) is a beam hrhr).

The reason why you can’t block the (2) is because it is unblockable (because it causes a clone at the first target hit.. no hit would mean no clone)

I think I’m starting to understand now.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skill#Activation_type

The Mesmer’s autoattack is considered a “channelled” attack. I think I’m right in saying the projectile block only blocks “chain” type skills. Even if the chain is a continuous single skill like in the case of the autoattacks which were blocked.

The depth of the GW2 combat system is really something.

There are a lot of other ranged attacks that aren’t projectiles. Generally these are all channeled beams and other attacks that don’t have the actual air travel time, and simply hit their target as soon as they are finished casting. Examples would include elementalist fire and air scepter auto attacks, necro dagger 2 and scepter auto, druid solar beam, etc.

There are a few other skills that you would think are projectiles, but are still unblockable in general. Mesmer gs 2 is one example, others include shadow shot and magnetic grasp. The general reason for these being unblockable is if they were reflected, odd results would occur. Examples of the odd behavior would be: reflecting mesmer gs 2 would give you a clone, reflecting shadow shot would teleport the person with the reflect to the thief, etc.

Jim.9532:

I think I’m starting to understand now.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skill#Activation_type

The Mesmer’s autoattack is considered a “channelled” attack. I think I’m right in saying the projectile block only blocks “chain” type skills. Even if the chain is a continuous single skill like in the case of the autoattacks which were blocked.

The depth of the GW2 combat system is really something.

Ranger Longbow 2 is also channelled but it’s most definitely a projectile attack.

Don’t overthink it. Projectile is generally just “thing that flies through the air”. Mesmer GS1 is a beam.

If it looks like a “thing that flies through the air” yet cannot be reflected it will generally have an “Unblockable” tag like Mesmer GS 2.

Not all ranged attacks are projectiles. A projectile is specifically something that is thrown/shot through the air, e.g arrows, bullets, fireballs etc.

Mesmer’s greatsword auto is a beam, like Druid’s staff or Guardian’s downstate.

Necro’s scepter/axe autos or Mesmer/Ele’s downstate are direct ranged attacks, not projectiles.

Embolism and Knox – good call. You hit the nail on the head.

If you look up the definition of projectile in a dictionary, it’ll say that a projectile is an object that is propelled (or ‘projected’) through the air. Mesmer GS auto doesn’t count as this as it’s basically just a beam of light rather than something that is propelled.

There are also numerous unblockable projectiles, for example most poison-applying projectiles tend to be unblockable.

Projectiles are “missiles” that have a direction and speed attached to them (some track, others don’t). Mesmer GS has a “beam” come out of it that doesn’t travel and has no speed attached to it. What’s also interesting to note is that projectiles that are Ground Targetting skills do not react to reflects/projectile destruction.

Examples of projectiles of each skill activation type:
Chain Skill – Mesmer Scepter 1
Channeled Skill – Ranger Longbow 2
Sequence Skill – Guardian Staff 2

So, just think to yourself…
Is there an object? If yes, move to next question.
Is this object moving toward its target or the direction it was aimed at? If yes move to next question.
Is this skill ground targetting? If no, it is a projectile.

Not all projectiles can be reflect/destroyed. Some things that may appear to be projectiles are not.

And once you put all together, you understand that projectile reflections are very “niche”. You’re happy if you have it (because one of your weapon skills, a “free trait” etc…) but you would rarely spec for it intentionally. For example, as a mesmer, we have many great projectile reflections, but we very very rarely use any of them in PvP.

This has been extremely informative – I had the ideal of a Centaur/Dragon stance bunker Revenant. Using the hammer 4, staff 3 and ventari 7 to block projectiles forcing people to come on point where I would benefit from my sustain and condi cleanse…

It’s a cool idea but I’m realising it’s kind of… useless in reality

EDIT: Oh and thanks for the input everyone!