Guild Wars 2

So all my friends and I are trying to figure out what class should build what for just running around the WvW maps killing anyone we can. I play a condition damage engi and we have a Mesmer, Guardian, and Thief. I have some idea of what an effective build combination would consist of but I was just wondering what everyone else had to offer.

Thanks

Get a guardian in group.

Go with the flavor and roam with four thieves.

You need a bunker Ele and the guardian for the basics. Add anything else from that and you will be fine.

The most dangerous 5-man grps are ones that assist. GW2 doesnt have a great assist button but atleast its there.

Remember a 2 man can take out a 4 man and yes i have seen the video of 3 vs 25. It is possible.

Hmmm, I don’t think I’ve heard of a Bunker Ele…

For small group you want at least 1 Healing Guardian and the rest as more DPS builds, as long as you know how to play together.

Bunker Ele is not a good idea for a small man group, most of the time they are just ignored.

No bunker builds, you’ll take to long to kill when outnumbered to the point where the enemy will be growing faster then you finish them and when you fight another 5 small group you won’t do enough to splash damage to out damage the healing Guardian.

A lot of good advice here. I would second going with two guardians, maybe one can be a little more dps and use the GS pull, while the other support. Both should have group stability.

You could always go with a full group of mesmers.

Nah, on second thought, that would be incredibly lame.

Boulderbolg.3460:

A lot of good advice here. I would second going with two guardians, maybe one can be a little more dps and use the GS pull, while the other support. Both should have group stability.

Yeah, two guardians to have more uptime on stability. The difficulty level increases dramatically when we don’t have stability (particularly, for me, as a necro). Things are much easier with guardians. They are a must have for any group.

aathomas.4638:

For small group you want at least 1 Healing Guardian and the rest as more DPS builds, as long as you know how to play together.

Bunker Ele is not a good idea for a small man group, most of the time they are just ignored.

No bunker builds, you’ll take to long to kill when outnumbered to the point where the enemy will be growing faster then you finish them and when you fight another 5 small group you won’t do enough to splash damage to out damage the healing Guardian.

I agree. I can understand running bunker builds for newer to the group setup and 5 man style players, BUT once you have graduated past knowing how each other play, and how to assist and stomp….then your advice is right on, no bunkers. The support guard is the bunker….build your group around that.

5 bunker guardians is optimal roaming group

Junkpile.7439:

5 bunker guardians is optimal roaming group

Lol, yes, by all means, let’s bring back the “Immortals” squads to WvW!

EDIT: In case anyone is pressed for time, that’s a video of 5 Guardians holding a single point against what appears to be JQ’s entire server for over half an hour…

Otokomae.9356:

Junkpile.7439:

5 bunker guardians is optimal roaming group

Lol, yes, by all means, let’s bring back the “Immortals” squads to WvW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81I9BMQhRU

EDIT: In case anyone is pressed for time, that’s a video of 5 Guardians holding a single point against what appears to be JQ’s entire server for over half an hour…

LMFAO! I like how they just stand there like a boss!

As the people above said, build around your support guardian. The rest of the builds should be balanced builds leaning towards DPS (in my opinion at least). Generally bringing along water fields and lots of blast finishers also helps.

[KoM]’s ideal group looks something like this:

2 Guardians (1 support/1 more DPS oriented)
2 Engineers (Nades+Toolkit, no HGH)
1 Mesmer (GS/Sword+Focus, shatter spec) or D/D ele

Obviously the classes aren’t set in stone, but when we have our “A” team running around it looks something like this.

Speaking from experience, do not try running a Necro heavy group in WvW.

Poxheart.2845:

Speaking from experience, do not try running a Necro heavy group in WvW.

Lol, yea you dont need more than one necro. But putting your best player on necro isnt a bad idea, they can kitten man.

Try to get high uptime on group stability two guardians and a ele or two eles and a guardian is going to be very strong.

The other two classes really dont matter but I would recommend 1 person with decent AoE damage engineer should cover that, having someone that can control boons like a mes is a good idea, necro is a great idea but you must protect the necro and peel for them/give stability not sure its worth the effort another eng would probably work better.

aathomas.4638:

Bunker Ele is not a good idea for a small man group, most of the time they are just ignored.

You dont really want to avoid an ele. But 5 v 1 , no ele will live. 1v1, 90% win chance for ele, 2 v1 50%, 3v1, 20% , 4v1 10% win chance. Also most professional eles are built with atleast decent dps. Add food and stacks with fury , and it gets ugly for you.

My guild is always small scale roaming in t2 US. We NEVER have a guardian. Mostly DPS warriors and we do fine lol. Its all about skill, if you guys blow, then roll guardians lol. Ele’s are just an annoyance, they always have been, just thieves with 0 stealth lol.

When roaming and you run into another roaming squad, and they’re nubs with a guardian, depending on what the other classes are, you either kill the guard first or last. Like if they opposing group has a couple thieves, it’s easier to kill the guard first. Then the thieves get to play cat n mouse and eventually run away lol.

The other day we wiped a 15-20 man group with 10. because of our warrior set up lol. So they were by briar on the bridge from the ruins, and me and another guy were on the opposite side, while the rest of our group went around the ruins to flank. When they were in position, I ran head first into them and took all the focus, while our death from above warrior jumped down and knocked em all down, then we proceeded with 4 hundred blades and 4 whirlwind attacks lol.

SO, no you don;t need a guardian. it definitely helps. but in my opinion, guardians are just people who make too many mistakes to play warrior. guardians are a much for forgiving class lol.

Remix.2086:

My guild is always small scale roaming in t2 US. We NEVER have a guardian. Mostly DPS warriors and we do fine lol. Its all about skill, if you guys blow, then roll guardians lol. Ele’s are just an annoyance, they always have been, just thieves with 0 stealth lol.

When roaming and you run into another roaming squad, and they’re nubs with a guardian, depending on what the other classes are, you either kill the guard first or last. Like if they opposing group has a couple thieves, it’s easier to kill the guard first. Then the thieves get to play cat n mouse and eventually run away lol.

The other day we wiped a 15-20 man group with 10. because of our warrior set up lol. So they were by briar on the bridge from the ruins, and me and another guy were on the opposite side, while the rest of our group went around the ruins to flank. When they were in position, I ran head first into them and took all the focus, while our death from above warrior jumped down and knocked em all down, then we proceeded with 4 hundred blades and 4 whirlwind attacks lol.

SO, no you don;t need a guardian. it definitely helps. but in my opinion, guardians are just people who make too many mistakes to play warrior. guardians are a much for forgiving class lol.

If you are content to fight 10v15, then yea go the kitten comp you describe. If you like 5v20-30 then you might want to try something else.

For a five man built to fight small zergs I recommend 2 support and 3 dps/utility, what that mix is depends on the people you have and what they like to play and how you as a group work together. What is important is synergy and consistency over time. Play the same classes, tweak and adjust as you find things that work and do not work, and most any combination is going to work, imo. Most important is your play caller and initiator. A good play caller that understands battle momentum, movement and a quick thinker is more impacting then your class makeup.

I like a guardian and ele on support, think they work well together and provide a lot to the group. A pure DPS warrior is my preference along with a mesmer, last spot is flexible, though I prefer another warrior personally, but any good strong multi-target DPS will work. This is a rough guide though, we switch things up depending on what we are up against. Facing large zergs (40+) we might run more ele’s for huge aoe damage. A necro is awesome in a lot of situations. Just depends on the night.

In the end build with what you have and have fun, anything is better then watching TV while you zerg.

Otokomae.9356:

Junkpile.7439:

5 bunker guardians is optimal roaming group

Lol, yes, by all means, let’s bring back the “Immortals” squads to WvW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81I9BMQhRU

EDIT: In case anyone is pressed for time, that’s a video of 5 Guardians holding a single point against what appears to be JQ’s entire server for over half an hour…

nice, i was wondering when someone would do something like that.

also like throwing down continuous sanctuary at tower entrances would be cool.

or if they bring stability then could spam sanctuary everywhere in the tower floor and see bodies fly

Zackie.8923:

Otokomae.9356:

Junkpile.7439:

5 bunker guardians is optimal roaming group

Lol, yes, by all means, let’s bring back the “Immortals” squads to WvW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81I9BMQhRU

EDIT: In case anyone is pressed for time, that’s a video of 5 Guardians holding a single point against what appears to be JQ’s entire server for over half an hour…

nice, i was wondering when someone would do something like that.

This was part of the standard strategy for Sea of Sorrows when they were moving up from Tier 4 to Tier 1 last year, and part of how SoS managed to hold on Rank 1 in Tier 1 for two straight months. What you see in the video is a pretty maxed out “Immortal Squad” for that time, but the ideal build has had to be reworked since the nerf on Omnomberry Pies/Ghosts. The group you’re seeing in the video was able to get insane healing back when there was no cooldown on the Life-Steal from Omnomberry Ghosts.

There was a lot of QQ about this group back then… lol

Poxheart.2845:

Speaking from experience, do not try running a Necro heavy group in WvW.

I see a lot of warnings about Necro groups in WvW in this thread and in several others. You guys clearly haven’t run into one of those “Epidemic Squads” that were popular for zerg-busting a few months ago (back when “zerg” usually meant 30 people, not the 60-80 you usually see now.) Anyway, I don’t have the group build in front of me, but if anyone wants to roam with a havoc-causing Necro group, the basic theory behind it is to put together a group that can throw out every (or nearly every) condition in the game, preferably with as close to +100% Condition Duration as possible. Then have this group drop every condition they have on a single target (choose one that can survive for more than 3 seconds) and have one Necro hit the “Epidemic” button, spreading that series of conditions to EVERY ENEMY WITHIN A 1200 RADIUS!

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Epidemic

<ins>Disclaimer:</ins> I will say that I haven’t seen these groups much lately, and I’ve been told that Epidemic has been nerfed into the ground recently, making it blockable, dodgeable, etc. Wiki still lists it as unblockable, but someone who runs an Epidemic build will know better than I. I know that the “Epidemic Button” used to leave every enemy within range completely helpless, with no choice but to run away the second they recognized the animation or stand there and melt.

Otokomae.9356:

Poxheart.2845:

Speaking from experience, do not try running a Necro heavy group in WvW.

I see a lot of warnings about Necro groups in WvW in this thread and in several others. You guys clearly haven’t run into one of those “Epidemic Squads” that were popular for zerg-busting a few months ago (back when “zerg” usually meant 30 people, not the 60-80 you usually see now.) Anyway, I don’t have the group build in front of me, but if anyone wants to roam with a havoc-causing Necro group, the basic theory behind it is to put together a group that can throw out every (or nearly every) condition in the game, preferably with as close to +100% Condition Duration as possible. Then have this group drop every condition they have on a single target (choose one that can survive for more than 3 seconds) and have one Necro hit the “Epidemic” button, spreading that series of conditions to EVERY ENEMY WITHIN A 1200 RADIUS!

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Epidemic

<ins>Disclaimer:</ins> I will say that I haven’t seen these groups much lately, and I’ve been told that Epidemic has been nerfed into the ground recently, making it blockable, dodgeable, etc. Wiki still lists it as unblockable, but someone who runs an Epidemic build will know better than I. I know that the “Epidemic Button” used to leave every enemy within range completely helpless, with no choice but to run away the second they recognized the animation or stand there and melt.

We ran a group like this a month or two ago. Ran 2 necros, 2 mesmers and an ele, all condition spec. Was a lot of fun, until the nerf of Epidemic. It made getting off a “good spread” difficult. Also, when more of the guild came out (more direct damage oriented people) the target we were focusing conditions on to spread, died too quick and kinda kitten the concept. The nerf to confusion hurt a little… I miss spreading 10k confusions (but it was a bit OP). With the nerf to Epidemic and Confusion, we abandoned this setup, and moved on to a more Direct dmg group. Im sure this setup is still good. Epidemic was made unblockable again, but now required LOS.

Small scale roaming in my opinion comes down to individual skill level and running good all-around builds that have no obvious weaknesses, as in full glass, no cond removal, no stun breaks and so on. If we are talking about 5 or less that is.

Usually I run with a combo of necro, mesmer, thief, all direct dmg instead of condis, an odd group but we can manage. Just yesterday won a 2vs9 at a supply camp. No upleveled enemies either, although it wasn’t exactly an organized guild group we were fighting.

When the players are good, any class should work good. Of course whether the team is fully optimal or not can be argued, but most of all you need to get the coordination between the team working.

We did some group vs group actions yesterday and i think we did fairly well with our group:

2 guardians
2 d/d eles
1 mesmer

After a ~5 min fight i still had about 30s of Protection on me

Mesmer timewarp is important in GvG to get a quick first stomp.

Iavra.8510:

We did some group vs group actions yesterday and i think we did fairly well with our group:

2 guardians
2 d/d eles
1 mesmer

After a ~5 min fight i still had about 30s of Protection on me

Mesmer timewarp is important in GvG to get a quick first stomp.

Without opposing a good necro, you SHOULD win with that setup. Two of the hardest classes to kill in the game. Tanky/bunkery group right there. Thus your five minute long fight. Not a ton of dps, but no one can kill you. Good for Zergs, not so glorified for 5v5.

In my opinion , the best setup is :
2 d/d Eles
2 Mesmer 1 Condition 1 Shatter
1 Guardian

^ We had that setup against Psy yesterday, who fielded 3 guardians, 1 engi, 1 d/d ele ^^

Bad fighting spot though as we fought near a cliff and with all those knockbacks flying around it basically came down to which team had fewer people falling down ^^

Its the easiest

the best is of course
3 engis
1 mesmer
1 Guardian

the small mans portal-bombsquad!

Oo 3 engis are pain in the kitten .

@Niim, we fight all sizes of grps. it can be 2v5, 2v10, 5v20 it doesnt matter. With the zerg sizes of DB/TC its hard not to fight against those kinds of numbers on a daily bases.

Hadan.2841:

@Niim, we fight all sizes of grps. it can be 2v5, 2v10, 5v20 it doesnt matter. With the zerg sizes of DB/TC its hard not to fight against those kinds of numbers on a daily bases.

Post some movies so we can see how only the “baddy” groups rely on guardians.

Lol, did i say ur bad cause u have guardians? Plus why would i post a video to prove something to a nobody? If you want to see us come to our tier and you can see what we do lol.

I recall [REQ] running 2 guardians, 2 mesmers and 1 ele and they hit like a truck. Tanky classes might not be needed in 5v5, but imho they help a lot in fighting against larger groups.

Go with two guardians of a supportish type. Instant win. That class is so OP that having both of them is ridiculous. The downed system further helps bad players so with two guardians having instant knockbacks when rezzing it’s even better.
1 guardian isn’t enough against smart organized groups as they will boon rip him and focus him down fast.

Support:
Between the two guardians there are:
6 blocks/mini retaliations, 2 Hots/condition removal, 4 burns
For each guardian: Blocking while healing, lol..
Area denial so no one can get away: circle of warding..two of them
3 seconds of immunity each on their elite
Melees just can’t touch them coz of the retal,dmg from guardian +regen/protection/stability
for their group aside from the rezzing:
HoTs, Burns, Aegises etc
Or settle for a support ele.

You can sub in a support ele for the boons and heals (superior to guardians in heals if specced/geared right). You have to have a good ele who is geared in cleric to do that, though. Better off getting a guardian that doesn’t require a lot of skill to play so easier to find that kinda player base.

All the successful 5mans I see take the easy mode which is two guardians. Hey..if a class carries you..why not roll it twice.

Debuffs:
1 necro for boon ripping off guardian/ele/bunker engy targets in order to focus them down hard. Necro will have a hard time disengaging, though, so you gotta babysit them when the zerg runs towards you. They will also be the 1st to be focused since they have few get out of jail cards.

Utility:
1 thief for stealth abuse:rez/stomp and group stealth.

CC:
War.

DPS:
Shatter mesmer or good dps wars if you can find one. Both are effective when hitting distracted/CCed targets.
Two shatter mesmers on top of the two guardians. 4 OP players ftw. Multiple phantasms, clones etc with two shatters happening at the same time? Good luck pinning one with two guardians buffing them, CCing and circle warding you.

The pvp balance in this game is a joke so you either abuse it or play another game. It’s even sadder that people who get carried by their class think it’s skill.

Honestly if you have two guardians you can do whatever setup you want as they will carry the group easily. Between the two OP guardians, there are just way too many heals/blocks etc.

For a 5 man group I like to follow this

2X bunker
1X CC heavy class
2X DPS

For the bunkers I would have a retal guard + d/d ele
In terms of CC, engi would probably be the most suitable. These guys also have tons of DPS so it’s pretty deadly
DPS classes should consist of thieves/mesmers/warriors. Whichever one you prefer. Warriors deal the most damage, but in turn are generally targetted first. Thieves can deal pretty decent damage and can stay on the sidelines enough for the group to focus their attention on the bunker classes.

I wouldn’t run 5X of any particular class though, simply based on personal experiences, a diverse group is much better(although 5X churning earth would be hilarious to see)