Guild Wars 2

In the events where there’s 981263123 people around, how do you do it?

I get exp because I hit them once, but I’m rarely getting any loot from them, probably because I didn’t deal enough damage.
My armor is Power oriented and I go around with 25~40% crit chance (w/out Fury), 40% crit damage so I don’t think I’m lacking damage compared to others.

You know these packs of 15~20 monsters and when I get one to loot I’m lucky.

As comparison, when I’m on my Guardian I Whirling Wrath and precast a Symbol of Wrath around (8/16sec CD) and I developed the habit of walking around spamming F so I can get all the loot.

Scepter is impossible because of it’s speed, I tried the Staff but the only reliable damage is from Lava Font, dealing 600ish a tick against level 84s, so I’d need 3~4 ticks to deal about the same damage as my Guardian (and hopefully be eligible for loot) which is about 2~3k each wave.
I tried using Daggers but the lack of heavy AoE was an issue, Ring of Fire doesn’t deal enough damage to tag, Fire auto-attack hits 1~3 enemies only, and for Burning Speed I need to time when the mobs will get out of invul everytime.
Churning Earth also has the timing issue, a bit earlier or later and I’ve lost the wave.
Air’s auto attack is one of my best options, but it’s area doesn’t seem too good and it’s damage lacking too.

So, any tips for tagging mobs for loot in these kind of events?

I have some pretty great luck tagging enemies in Orr and I use dual daggers. I always try to make sure I’m one of the first to rush into the pack of undead.

I start off with Burning Speed to bridge the gap and hopefully do some nice damage in the process. I then lay down my Ring of Fire, immediately cast Arcane Wave for some might, swap to earth and do Earthquake for yet more might. And because I’ve got 30 points into Arcane, I typically then dodge out of all the damage coming my way, which will trigger Churning Earth without the lengthy cast time. By then I’ve usually done enough damage to get some loot.

Besides those AoE options, Ride the Lightning hits enemies around it, as well as your target. Updraft also hits multiple foes. Once you’ve knocked them all over, swap to earth and dodge roll quickly for more AoE. You can then Earthquake to knock them all back down, swap to water and use Frozen Burst to chill them and keep them in the same general area.

Basically, we’ve got more AoE with D/D than you think. :] Mess around with some of it, you’ll find really creative ways of taking down mobs of stuff.

Get into a group and fight together. Works for all classes. Reduces the amount you alone must contribute to get a chance at loot.

Dagger Air->Spam AA without target i always get enough tags if a new grp shows up sometimes Fire->Burning Speed-> Fire ring-> Earthquake-> back to Air.
Full Berseker and Berserker Amulett Rings, etc. Dagger Air AA hits for 900-2900×2, yes and always get in a grp at least 2-3 People.

Biggest thing for tagging = Join a group.

When in a group, all the damage anyone in the group does counts towards doing enough damage to “tag” the mob so you get exp/drops from it. You do still have to damage the mob at least once in order to get credit though, but if your party does 5000 damage to some trash mob and then you clip it with the tail end of a fire Dagger #2 or something just before it dies, you’ll still get credit.

As far as simply touching lots of mobs, D/D has tons of easy ways to do that, so get in a group and you’re set.

Emmiere.1058:

I have some pretty great luck tagging enemies in Orr and I use dual daggers. I always try to make sure I’m one of the first to rush into the pack of undead.

I start off with Burning Speed to bridge the gap and hopefully do some nice damage in the process. I then lay down my Ring of Fire, immediately cast Arcane Wave for some might, swap to earth and do Earthquake for yet more might. And because I’ve got 30 points into Arcane, I typically then dodge out of all the damage coming my way, which will trigger Churning Earth without the lengthy cast time. By then I’ve usually done enough damage to get some loot.

Besides those AoE options, Ride the Lightning hits enemies around it, as well as your target. Updraft also hits multiple foes. Once you’ve knocked them all over, swap to earth and dodge roll quickly for more AoE. You can then Earthquake to knock them all back down, swap to water and use Frozen Burst to chill them and keep them in the same general area.

Basically, we’ve got more AoE with D/D than you think. :] Mess around with some of it, you’ll find really creative ways of taking down mobs of stuff.

Exactly this. It’s like I’m seeing myself playing. Still I haven’t been to Orr yet, I want to explore the whole of Tyria and leave the best for last, but generally that’s the guide line with D/D.

You could tag mobs with the Phoenix thingie (not sure about the name now) but this sometime can backfire. If you run zerker’s gear and time the phoenix to hit the wave of mobs as it is coming, then there are high chances you’ll be flat on your back (or worse) before you can even finish marvelling at the numbers.

It may be a bit silly, but I used a staff for this XD The main thing I used was Lava Font. I have it traited so fire skill recharge 20% quicker and deal 10% more damage so that helped. The trick is to cast it as soon as monsters become vulnerable. This is because the first tick of damage is right as you cast and it casts pretty quick. If your too slow, it will take a second to damage again, which can be too late. Fireball rarely reaches in time. Arcane Wave is another good choice if you’re not afraid to walk closer.
Daggers probably work better if played right, but I still haven’t got hang of them.

As mentioned before, a Team is the best way to make sure you get drops.

blasting staff talent

use various aoes.

Staff is actually pretty good for tagging actually o.O
The fire 2,3 and Ice 2 have worked well for me in Orr with the staff trait
That being said however staff does need armor stats to back it up, don’t go expecting for the staff to work well when you are using the same P/V/T gear that you use for D/D

It’s not the events where you can cast more than two spells that I’m having trouble tagging, it’s the ones where you have one or two and deal enough damage to be eligible for loot.

Melee classes’ attacks are AoE by hit box and deal decent damage, any skill with/without auto-attack most of the time gives me loot.
Like @BioMasterZap said, Fireball doesn’t even have time to hit (when you’re ranged) in some cases.

I changed some gear and went up to 60% crit damage and 60% crit chance with Fury, so it seems I just need one or two crits to deal 2~3k damage (the same as I do regularly with my Guardian) to be eligible for loot.
Arcane Wave is also excellent, I’ve started setting it up for these events!

It’s still not exactly like my Guardian (I haven’t played other melees) but I’m getting more to a decent value now (before there were waves that I couldn’t even hit the mobs or I’d just hit a single Fireball -_-), though I’m not sure if the amount of people decreased or I’m getting more used to it.

It seems I’m having luck with D/D and Fire is the best way to tag all of them (well timed Burning Speed and Ring of Fire or a single Fire Grab, Fire Breath never gets me any loot).

(I’m also considering guesting during prime time to a less populated server sometimes, saves me the trouble!)
Thanks for the tips!

I like using Staff but only when I’m lazy. If it’s really packed then you have to go D/D with Arcane Wave. Fiery GS is also very good, and sometimes the Frost Bow.

The main problem with the staff is the slow speed. If there are a lot of players farming it can be pretty hard to do enough fast damage to get tags. Although when I want to farm, which is rare, I use my Nade Engineer.

I run D/F to tag, and its exceptionally good at it.

Start in Fire Burning Spd- all mobs tagged in the vincinity
Cast fire wall on other mobs (optional but easier)
Roll into the Fire either from burning speed or fire wall switch to earth mid roll
trigger weak churning, Cast Magnetic Wave, and arcane wave tags all mobs in the
vincinity again.
Switch to Water- Use Comet, then 3 then 2 for more mobs tagger
Switch to Air- Auto attack pop defensive Cd’s if needed.

Repeat. I also run ice bow if the area is i fine my Cd’s not keeping up. Only about one or two event that this happens. but i like the bow anyway.

“I tried using Daggers but the lack of heavy AoE was an issue, Ring of Fire doesn’t deal enough damage to tag, Fire auto-attack hits 1~3 enemies only, and for Burning Speed I need to time when the mobs will get out of invul everytime.”
You are clearly not playing your DD right then. DD has exellent aoe, and cone attacks tag very well.

Get arcane wave, and don’t use F1. F2-5, E2 E4, W2 all great for tagging.

it doesn’t matter what you do if there are a lot of people doing the event. you’re never going to do enough damage solo to get loot.

group up, and your loot chance is based on the damage contribution of the whole group (as long as you tag the mob).