Guild Wars 2

This post is in regard to WvWvW/Obsidian Sanctum

I run the standard d/d w/ Hoelbrak rune set in small groups — typically as the third member of a warrior (sometimes mesmer)+thief+elly trio. I have major issues staying alive through focus fire in a 3v3 fight.

Most my troubles are with power d/d thieves and the stun lock burst mesmers, but I think my question can extend to any focus fire. In a situation where I get focused, I find that I usually blow Armor Earth and Lightning Flash in an attempt to prevent cc and lock down, leaving me in a defensive attunement rotation as I attempt to kite around.

At this point, I feel that my only contribution to the fight is as a distraction. If I attempt to re-engage the pursuers, I am usually wrecked by the thief (a 6k+ backstab is huge).

For dueling/small group ellys, how do you deal with these classes and situations when you are focused? Any tips? Thanks!

So first off, ensure you have an optimal build. Especially in group combat, half-assing it just doesn’t work. For the 0 support trio you run with, you’ll need:

2500 armor (up to 2700)
20k hp
500 healing power
Signet of restoration, armor, mist, flash (not shield)

All the tips I’m about to give only really work with this solid baseline in mind.

Some general stuff:

As DD vs multiple opponents, you want to strip down your rotation to the bare minimum. You cannot compete with natural frontliners for very long. You mostly go ham in bursts of 6-8 seconds, racing through attunements, after which you lay low for about the same duration. Spamming lightning whip where possible, peeling for allies maybe. When burning speed comes back up you repeat.

Armor of earth is your 6 seconds of godmode. Be very conservative about using it. You don’t want it to be on cooldown with the fight still in its early stages. This is the biggest difference when comparing 1vX to XvX. The way you try to conserve armor of earth.

Mist form is there for whenever things don’t go your way. People often pop armor to feel ‘secure’, which is a mistake. Use mist early if you’re getting focused and zoom out of the danger zone with the increased movespeed. Make sure you learn the difference between when a situation calls for armor and when mist is the appropriate answer.

Don’t get caught up stacking might in the middle of cleave. Being alive and healthy to use more skills will beat out having more might to do fewer skills every time. It’s fine to stack it if you’re not under pressure though.

Vs thieves: shocking aura. Utterly shuts them down. Use wisely. Also earthquake can turn momentum 180 degrees. Treat the thief’s hp bar as his resource bar. As long as he’s healthy, you’re in trouble. Burning speed flash/earthquake flash,.. make his life miserable. Admittedly, this is mainly your thief’s responsibility.

Vs mesmers: again, mainly your thief’s responsibility. Mesmer gets shut down hard by having someone babysit him. Although they’re hard to kill and can be annoying to focus, their output is pretty much nullified by throwing some pebbles at them here and there, forcing them into defensive use of cooldowns.

TL;DR: Save armor of earth, mist early when pressured, hunt thieves to avoid getting hunted.

Edit: Camping fgs is a perfect way to survive for an extended period without cooldowns. Make sure to swap in and out of water efficiently to recover.

Thanks for the response. Lot’s of good analysis in your post I think.

Just want to provide this info:
Armor 2629
health is @ 14,960 with no stacks
healing power is 300
———
crit @ 30.8%/precision 1489
toughness 1709
attack 1940
ferocity 488

Build is on meta battle roamer, though I am not using celestial.

I think biggest thing I take away from your post is that I might not be smart enough with armor earth.

doesn’t matter how much armor or healing power you have if you don’t

I’m a huge fan of stringing people out. It’s a big ol world. It’s very easy to disconnect from people using a Cantrip like Mistform to get out of danger and Ride the Lightning to really string the enemy out or get them to stop focusing on you. This lets you re-engage on your terms.

Gokil did a great job covering the rest.

ionix.9054:

Thanks for the response. Lot’s of good analysis in your post I think.

Just want to provide this info:
Armor 2629
health is @ 14,960 with no stacks
healing power is 300
———
crit @ 30.8%/precision 1489
toughness 1709
attack 1940
ferocity 488

Build is on meta battle roamer, though I am not using celestial.

I think biggest thing I take away from your post is that I might not be smart enough with armor earth.

Vitality is pretty important in larger scale combat. The couple thousand extra hp will often be the difference between actually getting your skills out the door or having to completely break rotation and run.

If you take a 12k thief combo(sigils, mug, backstab, auto) when you only have 17.5k hp, you’ll be in panic range. Not so much with that solid 20k baseline.

As for healing power, I suppose it’s not THAT important. Would still recommend getting some celestial but you could do without.

Don’t forget to run -condi food with your hoelbrak set. Makes a huge difference in freedom of movement.

For team fights, you can change your build and get better in using your skills but if your buddies don’t know when to peel for you, you will still have hard time surviving.

pretty much everything was said.
as ele u can pretty much expect to get targeted first for whatever reason.
in ur combo u r getting targeted for being squishier than a warr with his immunes but still visible unlike thief/mes.

i also target eles with healing signet first as their ability to recover from bursts is pretty weak.

so with this knowledge and when u know u get targeted first try everything to avoid that from happening and dropping mistform early could be in some cases a great advice as most burst classes burn out pretty fast after their first one or two attempts. also remember that most ele specs are about sustainability. eles get better as longer the fight continues.

and esp against thiefs dont go down the “defensive rotation” road.. as in that moment the thief unpressured will do whatever he wants to with ur healthbar. ur best friend vs thiefs is negating however their steal combo and land ur few burst skills properly to push them into defense. after that with more followers on ur tail u can kite again but atleast without huge dmg spikes on u. also u can use ur several possibilities to soft or hard cc them to get soem distance and avoid their auto. also and i know how hard it is sometimes try to face them dont present ur back to them. helps a lot.

with thief mesmer on u ur biggest problem is anyway the mesmer (expecting power build here). ur mates must bring him down whatever the costs.

and its also just fine to be the part of ur grp that distracts. its good that u noticed ele do so but instead of being ashamed of it embrace it. u will still bring a lot to the table outside of that.