Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure if many can relate but the aggro mechanics are greatly unfavorable for ele’s. and contribute to our low survivability. It seems no matter what armor set I use (full zerk/pvt mix/assassinmix/valkmix/etc) it doesn’t take any heat off me. I do the usual traits (30/30/0/0/10, 0/30/10/20/10, 30/20/10/10/0 and various adjustments to each) and each trait setup still pulls the same aggro. I mention that because I read that toughness and the like was partly why mobs/bosses would aggro.

When it comes to initiating fights I’m usually the one not pulling and I try to keep my distance at first before the usual stacking occurs. Even still the mobs/bosses always gravitate towards my ele. Out of all the classes I play, which for simplicity’s sake are all full zerk, only my ele gets this much heat, second to my ranger for some reason. I know it shouldn’t matter in groups where blinds/dodges/blocks/etc are there but in cases where they aren’t or when it wears off on bosses or for AOE’s its just a pain getting targeted constantly. A good example is the golem in COE. Its stationary and has that laser attack/shock/firewall/whirl. I try my best to get behind it to avoid the attacks but it’s easily noticeable that the golem is tracking only me when it’s constantly rotating to face me when I try to get behind it.

Does anyone have a solution to this aggro and what might really cause it?

A lot of mobs have different aggro mechanics. For example:

Mossman: Will aggro on whoever first enters the room and hits him, then will change to whoever is doing more damage with a keen interest in those who do big numbers. LH eles and backstab thieves are his favorites.

Archdiviner: Aggros on whoever has the highest toughness, though if that target goes out of ~300 range then he may switch.

COE Golem: Aggros on those who do ranged attacks, or if no party member is using ranged attacks, the party member who attacked first. Let Spire or your air elemental get aggro to take some heat off you, and do not attack first. In the likely case that you get aggro when you do a scepter-based might stacking combo mid-fight, stand inside its hitbox. This will protect you from its death laser. If your party has reflects up, this will prevent the flamewall from spawning at your feet, otherwise you’ll have to dance around. If it’s going to spin, move out of its hitbox to stand behind it at max melee range, then head back in once it’s done.

Lupi: Aggros on whoever he sees first in P1. Will aggro on highest toughness in P2 and will swap from his P2 target to low base HP and medium armor classes in P3, though it may take him a bit of time to swap. He also is very unpredictable, though. He also doesn’t like getting hit with big numbers, so thieves and LH eles can easily pull aggro.

Ginva: Will stick to someone if they have significantly higher armor, but if not he will swap targets. Might be related to who’s doing more damage to him as well as proximity.

I know one rule of thumb I heard a while back is that simple aggro is based on a character’s HP: Armor ratio. This is why guards are known to be good at drawing aggro in some circumstances. But we all know that this aggro mechanic doesn’t hold in a lot of circumstances.

I agree and I’ve learned to do most of what you advised in each of those encounters. I do however have to say that even following those guidelines that sometimes it just seems pure prejudice. For example:

Mossman: I’ve had times where he literally followed only my ele around the whole area while my team was chasing him. It was nice however since I was bait for others to use that time to res.

COE Golem: I’ve learned to stay in melee and use my elementals to take some aggro which does work but then again if/when they die and still in melee the golem has extreme prejudice for my ele.

COF Slavedriver/Effigy/Baelfire/Trashmobs before P2 Crystal: Those encounters aren’t hard but the important part is that they all still flock towards my ele. Baelfire in P2 for some reason still goes after my ele upon entering the room even when I let someone else aggro him first. The mobs in the Assassin room chase after my ele noticeably more than any other class i’ve used.

I appreciate your advice and insight but it still seems ridiculous that the aggro in this game targets such a fragile class as the ele way too much taking into account the current builds we use to be effective in dungeons, our hp/armor we have, and the skill level it takes to play the ele effectively while trying to survive.

ReesesPBC.4603:

it still seems ridiculous that the aggro in this game targets such a fragile class as the ele way too much

maybe that’s the point. put pressure on the squishies, and something might break. isn’t that a valid A.I. tactic?

I remember a dev stating that Eles are aggroed more often any other class. It was programmed that day.

thomasgjkgwdn.4760:

ReesesPBC.4603:

it still seems ridiculous that the aggro in this game targets such a fragile class as the ele way too much

maybe that’s the point. put pressure on the squishies, and something might break. isn’t that a valid A.I. tactic?

The discussion was why it targets ele’s in particular. Any other class can be just as squishy or close to it stat/build wise but why is there prejudice towards the ele? (from my experience in dungeons)

Mochann.5298:

I remember a dev stating that Eles are aggroed more often any other class. It was programmed that day.

If that’s the case they are pidgeon-holing ele’s by design to spec more into survival and play more cautious than other classes.

Can’t really contribute regarding PVE but I notice this time and again in WvW – mobs will aggro me while running past and completely ignore the 3k+ armoured guards and warriors running next to me.

No skills used to pull aggro, actively avoiding proximity pulls on my part yet they home in on me like … insert your favourite phrase here.

ReesesPBC.4603:

Mochann.5298:

I remember a dev stating that Eles are aggroed more often any other class. It was programmed that day.

If that’s the case they are pidgeon-holing ele’s by design to spec more into survival and play more cautious than other classes.

That’s certainly not true, as the meta builds for staff and scepter involve literally zero active defenses and no vigor. People can survive in Arah, CoE, etc. even with the aggro.

I really haven’t had that problem keeping agro off me really. Using both Zerk and Knights, I just learn to hang back, support which is what my job is, unless I use FGS. But then I dodge which I think is the best advice I can give. CC and using spells to slow them down or stun them helps me in fights.