Guild Wars 2

I am saving gold for a commander icon and i was wondering should a commander be tankyish by default? I will be getting the icon for my DD ele,

Yes

No need commander to be tanky, but in that case you should never be in attack. But safe in back.

I beg to disagree, it’s your job to “command” (aka look at the map and take decisions where people should go and what should they do, not charge first in the enemies). So you can play whatever class/build you want.

Preferably tanky so that you don’t go down first in a clash

Depends on what kind of people you will be leading. Organized teams will most likely be fine if you are moving in weird patterns (D/D ele, mesmer, thief) but “zerglings” need someone to lead them straight into battle and are more likely to scatter once the commander falls.

Well, a commander zig-zagging across the battlefield would confuse pugs way too much
Also, what’s the point in picking a mobile build, when you have to walk with the zerg anyway?
If you wanna make an ele commander, at least grab something like S/F. Swirling Winds is too good to pass up in an organized zerg anyway.

If you’re commanding, you don’t need to be tanky.

If you’re wearing a commander tag, you need to be tanky.

Its important to know the difference and when each is appropriate.

You be whatever you want, sweetie.

Pugs require a very tanky commander to be effective. Otherwise its a random ranged rabble zerg that’s going to get crushed by smaller forces. Guilds can get away with pretty much anything, but even there a tanky commander is good IMO. In terms of classes, its down to personal preference. All of them can make tanky builds.

They should at least have a reasonable level of survivability. I don’t believe they have to be tanky. They shouldn’t really be getting into positions where they have to take alot of damage. Ive seen it before where commanders build this way and they get into the back or middle of a fight and it really messes things up. Stay on the fringe commanders! Zergs can get wiped just because the commander is getting towards the back of the enemy zerg and getting their lines mixed up.

Depends on how he is commanding and who.

Who do people on your server will follow?
The guardian that set a reflection wall and bubbles and scream “With me! NOW CHARGE” or
The thief that tell everyone to charge while he stays in the back stealthed checking for enemy moves and support?

Hule.8794:

No need commander to be tanky, but in that case you should never be in attack. But safe in back.

I don’t think the commander should be safe in the back.

Maybe if he was a real commander with rts view making the strategy.

But in Guild Wars 2 he is only someone leading a few people that run after him. That is the design of the game. That is how the game intended it. He should be at the front fighting and be able stay alive even if he takes a bit more damage. And of course the others should protect him.

And who cares about strategy. Lol. As long as there is a bit action and some fights and people dying it is fun. Strategy is not important since winning and losing is not that important. Does not matter how much keeps you are holding and how much points you are gaining cause there is no real reward other than the “Power of the Mists”.

Depends on how big a zerg you plan to lead. IF you are planing on leading a big 30-40+ zerg against other zergs then i would say you to be as tanky as you can get. It is often the commander that initiates the push so you are going to be right up in the action as you try and slice through the other zerg. Hell i would say 90% of the time you are going to the first ones hitting the wall of pain since you are the one bringing the anvil to the hammer.

Also depends on how many pugs you have. A guild group can still function if there commander goes down and even then it can still be a breaker against another equally skilled and sized group but it will almost always break your pugs witch any good commander knows your pugs are also very important.

When I first got my tag, people told me it was important for me to survive a long time. However, after running in some major epic fights in the past week since I have gotten my tag, I find this to be not as important as people have indicated. I think communication with your forces is far more important than anything else you do. If your zerg knows your plan and understands what the goals are they will make sure those goals are done. Maybe, Ive just been lucky I don’t know but I have been very impressed with my “pugs”. They don’t get a lot of love over all, but the ones that have come along with me for the rides have been awesome as long as I communicate with them. ~Amber Vine CD

I have had my tag from basically the start of the game (1 week after head start paid by the guild so don’t think I consider myself entitled) I have it on a warrior and over the many months of playing I’ve tried all different builds. From super glass to support to tank. I find that as a commander you become more effective when you can rally the support of your militia. The problem is that the militia will not just read chat and follow directions that easily. For many they want a point of reference and that’s exactly what the commander offers. So, for the most effective use of the blue dorrito I find a build with survivability and support works best. It allows you to charge in and lead those not reading chat or not in VOIP to be a viable asset on the field. Of course it’s just my opinion and whatever you choose I wish you the best of luck.

It is not necessary to be tanky if you are good at dodging and have the right build. If you are going to be a commander, pretty much anything except max glass cannon works, if you are a good player you can command as a glass cannon too though imo.

That being said, being tanky helps, especially in zergvszerg battles where you can’t really tell when to dodge anyway.

ionic.2106:

I am saving gold for a commander icon and i was wondering should a commander be tankyish by default? I will be getting the icon for my DD ele,

Depends on what type of commander you’re, or want to be. If you want to defend, then no, Ele is more than fine for defending, however if you want to play offensive in the front lines, then it’s highly recommended to be tanky (Warrior or Guardian), specially when leading a push.

Only helps since in random leads you are at the front lines as everyone not on teamspeak will be following your rear.

I would say it depends if you leading your guild or militia. Remember that the enemy will be looking for you, they will be mass targeting you as soon as they find the commander buff.

I found you can yell push as much as you want, the militia just wont run into a zerg even if you’ve calculated the odds and deemed a successful outcome. I run a bunker warrior and lead by example.

I think mesmers are good commanders because they don’t have to rely on others for portals etc

Not sure about d/d ele, if I was doing it id run staff for the fields, then switch out when you need swirling winds

Yeah, sometimes you find yourself yelling push so much that folks could probably mistake you for a midwife.

I tend to run a tanky (although not extremely tanky) Guardian. Generally the indications of success are 1) whether I can make it to the back of the enemy group whilst still swinging (probably only 1 time out of 20 or 30, this might be a no) and 2) whether I calculated how willing the militia were to follow suit and just roll over everything in their path, despite how daunting it looked (ah… not always, but they’re usually very good). It isn’t particularly good for morale to be seen going down, but honestly, in some circumstances it is necessary and isn’t something you should really fear.

Ghedoriah.4290:

Yeah, sometimes you find yourself yelling push so much that folks could probably mistake you for a midwife.

I tend to run a tanky (although not extremely tanky) Guardian. Generally the indications of success are 1) whether I can make it to the back of the enemy group whilst still swinging (probably only 1 time out of 20 or 30, this might be a no) and 2) whether I calculated how willing the militia were to follow suit and just roll over everything in their path, despite how daunting it looked (ah… not always, but they’re usually very good). It isn’t particularly good for morale to be seen going down, but honestly, in some circumstances it is necessary and isn’t something you should really fear.

That first sentence made my day so far lol. Thanks

I’m split on this one… However, the answer I’m leaning towards is a bit of both a yes and a no. Yes, you need to be a little tanky, mostly so that your allies don’t scatter when you die. So that means no GC thieves. That being said, as long as you have, at the very least, average survivability, you should be fine. Just don’t die.

I think a tanky commander helps a lot. Good servers tend to try and assassinate the commanders of their enemy zergs because it hurts morale and distracts the leader quite a bit.

a commander that does not lead on the front line of a zerg fight is not a commander

if you only use your tag to rally pugs to bring supply to build siege or repair, you can use w/e, but if you intend to lead a fight, leading from the back and “look at the situation” while hoping the pugs will follow map chat/voip and charge in blindly while you won’t, you’ll lose fights 11 times out of 10.

so, you don’t need to be “tanky”, but you do need to be able to survive a push into an enemy zerg, rerally behind their lines, in a zerg fight, your blue symbol is the best visual display pugs have to see where they need to drop AoE, stack boons, rally and heal etc. If you can survive as a GC thief while zerg busting, that’s fine, but generally speaking, its better to be more towards to tankier side of things.

As an elementalist the answer to that question is yes. Unless you have the ability to have others tag up and control the map from a scout location, you will need to have a high degree of toughness.

Loss of the symbol in a battle is difficult to recover from. An Elementalist tends to have lower life and armor abilities than Heavy Armor users. You have plenty of abilities to help you along, but in the end Power, Toughness, Vitality, and some Healing will be your bread and butter.

I have led quite a bit across multiple servers and I exclusively play an elementalist. I am very bias to a defensive build for an Elementalist that commands/pins up. But with the reduced cost of gear from badges you can try it out for yourself.

Roo Stercogburn.9671:

If you’re commanding, you don’t need to be tanky.

If you’re wearing a commander tag, you need to be tanky.

Its important to know the difference and when each is appropriate.

Exactly.

If youre running a pug zerg, hitting targets with rams, and if you face any resistance you just hope you win… Then it really doesnt matter what class you are. But if you are running an organized zerg, using voice com, using combo fields, capable of 2 to 1 odds in open field, then I would say you need to be tanky.

When I command, I am the tip of the spear, always the furthest into the opposing zerg. That way I can tell people exactly where they need to be, on my tag. If the person with the tag isn’t elbows deep into the opposing zerg, it is hard to get others to push. I am usually the first one in, last one out.