Guild Wars 2

I’m usually running around with a small group, but recently I’ve started to roam more frequently, however, the problem is I’m really not that great in 1v1ing.
I can drop guards/solo camps fairly easy and fast.

So the question is – How does one get better/more skilled in 1vs1ing?

Mess around in Spvp. In wvw you can get an advantage with gear, bloodlust and allies. Spvp everything is equal, so fight against some of your friends/guildies to get better with your class. Also, some builds that are good for solo camps suck for dueling.

I tried spvp dueling servers/whatever they’re called, it seemed s much more easy to kill players than in WvW, however the stats did seem to be quite off from WvW/PvE.

I think what helped me most is to learn all builds and skills classes can use. Like that you know what your enemy might come up with and which attack animations cry for a stun or dodge.
Another thing that i see lots of new players do is to throw their weapon skills or utilities on cooldown without reason. Like using stuns on auto attacks.

For the fact that you had easier times killing in spvp. In wvw some people tend to run with maxed food buffs + stacks. While others don’t even have full exotic armors. You ll have to take this in account too

sPvP will not help you with roaming. sPvP is fairly well balanced, WvW is no where near balanced.

You have to understand that cc/support skills in sPvP are balanced around players being able to deal/absorb a certain amount of damage. That amount of damage is significantly higher in WvW due to stat foods, orb buffs, mastery lines and ascended gear. However, the cc/support skills do not get stronger. That’s why traditionally strong sPvP classes like engy and ranger go underplayed in WvW. They contribute very little to zerg play and their inferior to their pure damage/absorption counterparts in roaming.

Note: You will find good rangers and engineers in WvW but that’s because they’re good players.

For as harsh as it sounds, warrior, thief, necro or don’t bother roaming. Those 3 classes are at the top and if you play anything else you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Beyond that, all you need is experience. Keep fighting and adjusting your tactics, eventually you will become a good player and you’ll be able to hang with the best of them.

I picked a class I was particularly bad at countering and then sought them out, typically thieves, until I learned how not to faceplant to them.

I’ve also asked for duels in current match threads which has worked, because the onus there tends to be learning and growing in your class, at least it was for me. Don’t give up if you die over and over in duels. Sometimes it’s the best way to learn as you try new things each round,

Good luck! Roaming and 1v2 or even 1v3s are a lot of fun.

I started playing some sPvP thinking it would help with 1v1. Ironically enough, sPvP seemed more zerg-y most of the time than WvW.

…
For as harsh as it sounds, warrior, thief, necro or don’t bother roaming. Those 3 classes are at the top and if you play anything else you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.
…

I’m with you on Thief and Necro, but Warrior?

You get better by doing it. There’s no secret. Run around and die until you stop dying.

Find some youtube videos or live streamers that play the class that you play and solo roam. You can pick up a lot of good tips on solo roaming on our live stream.

Start by roaming with friends. Otherwise get on with engagements.

^ Case in point, Riot love a good roaming gank squad.

Practice, practice, practice. But I would have to agree with practising in spvp, yes the stats are different but the core mechanics are the same and you will have the benefit off trying out loads off builds, pvp’ing non stop and the ability to spectate, i would argue that the last reason is the best if you only plan on playing one class, cos at least that way you will know how their big hits and combos play out. Also stick to rooms that only have 2/4 people, chances are that are dualing. whatever class you do pick i’m sure you will become a fine roamer in time.

Another great resource for learning about roaming:

http://www.gw2opp.com/category/videos/

Don’t listen to any of these bullkitten. Roaming is all about using cheese build. D/p thief/shatter mesmer/staff condi mesmer/grenade engi/stun warriors. And make sure to have a way to disengage incase you are losing. That’s all to roaming, bunch of dudes using kitten build and then chest thumping saying they are good. Jokes.

Buzzcrave.6197:

Don’t listen to any of these bullkitten. Roaming is all about using cheese build. D/p thief/shatter mesmer/staff condi mesmer/grenade engi/stun warriors. And make sure to have a way to disengage incase you are losing. That’s all to roaming, bunch of dudes using kitten build and then chest thumping saying they are good. Jokes.

Haha, my preferred method is to have a full group on mumble and call it solo roaming.

Duel… ask around on your server about dueling guilds. Then you will quickly be thrown in with some pretty spectacular builds that will push your skills. Dueling builds aren’t exactly like roaming builds but they are far closer than sPvP builds. A few nights of that will likely have you laying smack down on most other roamers.

I put my sack into a wheelbarrow and jump into situations where there is pretty much no chance of winning until fighting 1 or 2 becomes easy.

I wasn’t very good. I’ve gotten…. fairly decent, because I’ve been using only one Weapon set since I was level 60 so I more or less play my build like second nature. As with all things, if you get discouraged, you will not get better. In my 5 months of playing this game I’ve fought against good players, terrible players, and God like players, players who hit like trucks, and players who are tougher than a boon spamming guardian. To get better, you have to fight EVERYONE. You cannot run from any class no matter how much you hate them. Like Mesmers. I hate fighting mesmers, but I will come back to fight every time. If I ever somehow end up fighting People Like Yishis, Second To God, Chris Dawnheart, Bandito…. Try your best. And fight that’s the only way you will get better is to, I repeat, fight EVERYONE.

Buzzcrave.6197:

Don’t listen to any of these bullkitten. Roaming is all about using cheese build. D/p thief/shatter mesmer/staff condi mesmer/grenade engi/stun warriors. And make sure to have a way to disengage incase you are losing. That’s all to roaming, bunch of dudes using kitten build and then chest thumping saying they are good. Jokes.

Hahaha…. yeah this sums up the majority of roamers you will find.

I think there are a few steps to consider when roaming.
I think that the most important think when roaming is NOT to die, even if that means going full PVT (or Dire stats if you’re a condi focused class). You must learn to use every skill at your disposal which improves your chances at surviving every time you are in a bad situation. Like a blink: you cannot wait 1 second after you get stunned to teleport away, you must use it IMMEDIATELY.
Start by staying alive, don’e even bother about killing. Once you’ve gotten better at staying alive, THEN you should start considering “how” to kill people.
At this time, you will find out that you are dying too much because you are over extending. Once you realize this, go back with staying alive.
With practice, you will learn everything. I’ve spent around 200hours on my thief before understanding almost any situation I’m in, what fights to pick, when to get defensive, when to be aggressive, when to stomp, when to chase.
After this, it all comes to your skill in 1v1ing. For that, you should know every possible build out there for ANY class and how to counter them with YOUR build,

My first advice is: learn how to survive. Just try engaging fights for the sole purpose of staying alive – don’t even bother about killing, just autoattack to make people follow you.

dreztina.4820:

You get better by doing it. There’s no secret. Run around and die until you stop dying.

Basically this

Edit:

Also, tpvp. Don’t even bother with hotjoin unless it’s a dueling server, you won’t learn kitten.

K U T M.4539:

dreztina.4820:

You get better by doing it. There’s no secret. Run around and die until you stop dying.

Basically this

Edit:

Also, tpvp. Don’t even bother with hotjoin unless it’s a dueling server, you won’t learn kitten.

I agree. Watching videos etc. can help but then you need to learn how to apply that knowledge in your own way in any given situation. That takes experience.

Once you have a basic handle on things, keep pushing yourself. Eventually you’ll find yourself doing 1v2,1v3’s etc and will know when to pull out.

Don’t get down about dying. I have died many times trying to find my limit in a build… and will die many more. The way I look at it is like this… if I rotflstomped some one, I learned nothing. If it’s close, I’ll learn quite a bit win or lose. If I got rotflstomped then I need to do some serous work or I goofed and didn’t see that 10 man group around the corner. Heck, learning how to escape from those 1v10 situations takes practice as well and can be a lot of fun… but don’t expect to be able to do it every time (lol).