Guild Wars 2

WvW seems like the place where most players new to PvP begin. If we don’t already have a thread or guide going, I’d encourage people to post their tips here. It seems like there are some core essentials to being successful in WvW that are quite different from sPvP and Tournament play. When I say successful in WvW I personally mean: reaching objectives (getting there alive) and being useful when you arrive. Both lofty goals considering how disorganized most groups are, but these are the two goals I strive for in WvW.

If you have thoughts, questions, tips, or builds please post them here.

From Destroyer:
Three basic things you can do in the options menu:
1) Turn on fast cast [Fast Cast Ground Targeting] for less button mashing and faster grenade throwing.
2) Turn on auto loot to save yourself many headaches.
3) Turn off the camera autocorrect so you can run away and toss grenades at same time.

I could’t agree more, Destroyer! I’ll be cutting and pasting your tips into my original post. It’ll be a slow process as I’m very busy, but I’ll get to it I promise. Thanks for all of your tips and comments.

From Kimbald:
Flame Jet (Flamethrower #1) goes through doors, so be sure to burn those pesky people operating that Ram at your gate.

Speedy Kits allows for permanent swiftness to help ease all of the running you have to do.

Gear Shield into Static Shield (or vice versa) gives you 5 seconds of blocking—great for getting past a zerg or reaching that door or portal.

Box of Nails (Tool Kit #2) triggers off of Refined Kits giving you a cripple you can cast while moving.

From Casia:
Every aoe goes through doors. Not just Flamethrower #1.

Frost Grenades 240 range is vital for hitting seige/trebs, etc at on walls, “out of range” of other aoe.

Runes of the centaur are incredibly op for escorting yaks. (These add swiftness to allies and swiftness duration is increased).

Elixir builds in general are very good at escorting yaks. protection, swiftness, retaliation, regeneration. Elixir U’s walls in general are very strong in WvW. They do not work on catapult/trebs though. Elixir R’s thrown res is vital. Elixir U’s quickness=faster build (of siege, I assume), faster grab supply, faster stomp.

Deployable Turrets does not work essentially killing any turret build in WvW.

Vs. Supply camp lords: Vulnerability increases damage they take dramatically. (grenades)
Bleeds also work slightly, and confuse works greatly. (sounds like conditions in general are good, but focus on Vulnerability and Confuse).

Stacking 3 turrets in a combo field and blowing them up, stacks many combos.
Yaks. lightning field+3 turrets=area swiftness. (Not sure what the total duration on this is—can you comment further?)

First and most obvious one for engineers in WvW:

flamethrower #1 goes through doors.
If they have a ram on the other side, you can burn it with that.

Another obvious one: perma swiftness from kits is golden. The ammount of running makes that one of the trait other professions hate you for.

I’ll post others perhaps, maybe more distinct, but just kicking of a nice topic idea

My favourite Tool Kit ones, the most underestimated engineer kit in WvW:

Tool kit #2 box of nails (or the free one from kit refinement) gets any npc of your back while running.
Not a single one ever follows you past the cripple.

Tool kit #4 the block, gets you past groups of players, especially if you can go to shield block next.
5 seconds of total blocking gets you past a zerg and into the door you try to reach.

Tool Kit #5 the magnet pull can be used while moving.
Not only is it superb for catching runaways, it also fools those on a wall if you move while casting.
People don’t expect a pull from a moving character.

I’ve found some success being less selfish with my supply crate. Instead of saving it for my oh-kitten button, I’ll also use it when my guildies are in a bad spot, and saving them saves me. That 2 second aoe stun is nice for anyone surrounded by enemies.

One of the cool things about engineers is we can create our own aoe combos all by ourselves. We can provide an aoe might or an aoe stealth quite easily with the bomb kit and we have access to multiple blast finishers.

and I totally agree with Kimbald. I have chosen not to use it in my final wvw build, however tool kit is pretty awesome out there. If you have any stacks of vulnerability on a target and/or you have a power/crit build, that throw wrench is an awesome toolbelt skill too.

Plus, there’s something deeply satisfying about beating someone to death with a wrench.

Make a wiki page?

Here are some of my ideas.

If you want your engineer to survive longer in WvWvW, you should consider what are the most common ways you die from. Somewhere along those lines of thoughts should be how to deal with CC’s, thief surprise backstab (critical damage) bursts, inability to escape, and lastly condition damage. There are a lot of different ways to deal with these, but one of the best utility skill we have is Elixir S. The defensive traits that proc off being CC’ed or receiving a crit are also very good at helping you to stay alive.

Out of all our elites, supply crate is the best one if small battles happened. If all you do is follow the zerg, mortar is actually not bad in sieges.

I like the medkit. You can spam some healing skill proc from superior rune slot 6 bonus using a medkit. The only time medkit sucks is when you’re immobilized and you can’t get out of it.

R elixir – gonna ress ya, or anyone else & gives ya 2x more dodge rolls – that can save your life

Bomb kit + healing trait – when you are on TS & have 3x nukers ready & only need to immobilize, or slow down enemy zerg – that´s your way .. each bomb heals ya & with confusion – they´ll go all quicker down, while trying to “stay & finish ya” – while your buddys nuke them .. also place Smoke Bomb while finishing – the downed player can´t stop ya

I prefer to use the “Blindness chain” .. pistol, grenade, bomb .. if you use them properly – you can avoid most of the enemy dmg.
EDIT: Having a 5min duel with a Guardian can be prove of it.

Three basic things you can do in the options menu:

1) Turn on fast cast for less button mashing and faster grenading.
2) Turn on auto loot to save yourself many headaches.
3) Turn off the camera autocorrect so you can run away and toss grenades at same time.

Medkit is great in WvWvW because you can heal/remove conditions/stimulate while running away.

Other cowardly skills: slick shoes (obvi), Elixir S (also use when curb stomping or reviving).

Slick Shoes can be used offensively to trip up a person or small group.

Seriously this thread is great, as ET is my home server I’ve found I’ve been messing around more and more in WvWvW (we have no one on the server lol).

I think Smoke Vent #5 on FT is underrated.
Not only is it useful for popping into stealth but you can use the skill while doing almost anything else.

You can use it while mining/gathering, stomping, rezzing, using another skill that has a long cast time (like the Asura Golem.) Its awesome to avoid getting interupted and to nullify a nuke.

The FT wont net you alot of kills by itself but its great for CC & annoyance.

Also when you use flame blast aim way up in the air (like when you toss a keg) and you can usually avoid it getting obstructed.

Elixir gun #2 —>#4 for a nice getaway.
Flame Jet to move people off of your gates (shoots thru walls)
Net Turret when you are running solo. Helps snag thiefs as soon as they pop out of stealth and works to allow you to run away.
Falling damage trait is nice, but you can learn where the short drops are.
Elixir S trait —> Inertial Converter trait with medkit.

CriSPeH.8512:

I think Smoke Vent #5 on FT is underrated.
Not only is it useful for popping into stealth but you can use the skill while doing almost anything else.

You can use it while mining/gathering, stomping, rezzing, using another skill that has a long cast time (like the Asura Golem.) Its awesome to avoid getting interupted and to nullify a nuke.

The FT wont net you alot of kills by itself but its great for CC & annoyance.

Also when you use flame blast aim way up in the air (like when you toss a keg) and you can usually avoid it getting obstructed.

To add to this: it can be used while stunned!
If a thief gets the jump on you, you can switch FT even if you don’t have it equipped and use #5 for the blind.
Not bullet proof, but still nice to know.

Am were confused that everyone seem to like Medkit, for me that feels so wrong, your allways running so if you drop medkit then you have to stop running after the player you chase or stop so the one that chase you catch up, even do am more and more anoyed with Elixir H missfire 50% off the time.

Think i will reskill and remove my 10point at Explosive and add it on Tools so i have 20 and can have both Static Discharge and Speedy Kits.

Shadow.3475:

Am were confused that everyone seem to like Medkit, for me that feels so wrong, your allways running so if you drop medkit then you have to stop running after the player you chase or stop so the one that chase you catch up, even do am more and more anoyed with Elixir H missfire 50% off the time.

Think i will reskill and remove my 10point at Explosive and add it on Tools so i have 20 and can have both Static Discharge and Speedy Kits.

Why do you have to stop? Medkits are dropped in front of you, so when you run you pick them up automatically.

Have to test again then, was sure they droped like the supplycrate everyware so you have to run in a circule to get all.

Also, the big heal of the Medkit is F1 tool belt, which requires no movement.

Kimbald.2697:

First and most obvious one for engineers in WvW:

flamethrower #1 goes through doors.
If they have a ram on the other side, you can burn it with that.

Another obvious one: perma swiftness from kits is golden. The ammount of running makes that one of the trait other professions hate you for.

I’ll post others perhaps, maybe more distinct, but just kicking of a nice topic idea

Now this never even occurred to me. Thanks for the tip.

Good thread.
Before I post my tips I just want to say that I always focus on condition/high survival builds and that I roam in WvW.
By roaming I mean that I hardly ever zerg, only when the situation calls for it.
Burst builds are the opposite of my playstyle, but I fully realize how powerful they are.
Other people are better off giving you tips for big group fights or surviving when running a burst build.

Here goes:

Grenade kit
Never, ever just spam your grenades. Every type of nade has it’s use.
This is probably obvious for most, yet I see so many people still doing just that.
Save your chill and flash grenades for when you really need them.
Also, you can throw grenades behind you while running, which is handy when being chased.
An example would be a well thrown chill grenade on 3 people chasing you.
This also works underwater.
The poison field you can create with nades can set up an area weakness if you use a blast finisher in it. Do not underestimate the weakness condition.
It will save you and your friends a lot of pain and very helpful in situations where you are outnumbered. This is also great for taking on supply camps solo.

Bomb kit
Again, don’t just mindlessly spam the bombs.
Save glue bomb and smoke bomb for when the situation calls for it.
Smoke bomb can create an area stealth effect with a blast finisher.

Here are some examples of what you can do with that:
- Your friend goes down? Drop a big ole bomb near him/her first and place a smoke bomb before the big ole bomb goes off. The big ole bomb will push away any people in the process of finishing him/her off and create a stealth field. This will give you a short amount of time to get him/her back on his/her feet.

- Being chased by 4 guys? We’ve all been there.
And suddenly they drop an immobilize on you. Uhoh.
This will only work if you have rocket boots equipped but quickly drop a big ole bomb, a smoke bomb and activate rocket boots once the smoke bomb is active.
Rocket boots has a blast finisher, meaning it will stealth you as you blast away from your smoke bomb. The stealth doesn’t last long, but it’s enough to get away from a small group chasing you.
They might think you have that stealth on immobilize trait and start swinging their swords near the location they immobilized you.
But then they’ll get hit by the big ole bomb and get confused.
Or they’ll think you alt-f4’d.

Tool kit
Most has been said here already.
Box of nails and gear shield are very nifty for WvW.
Pulling people out of their comfort zone (zergs) with the magnet can earn you sweet sweet kills.
When you are working with another engineer or necromancer you can even chain-pull.
Ergo, you pull somebody out of a zerg and your engi or necro friend even pulls them even further away from the mob. Then you just watch them crawl back up on their feet and struggling to get back to his precious zerg.
They won’t make it.
Also, virtually everyone will dodge right after you pulled them.
Keep that in mind if you want to cripple or immobilize him after you pulled with magnet.

Supply crate
As other people have pointed out, this thing has a stun effect.
Make full use of that. Also keep in mind that it has a blast finisher effect.

Underwater
Being chased on land by 4 guys and near water?
Jump in and activate net shot straight away. (doubletap the skill)
Those who we’re following you are bound to get trapped by it.
And you’ll swim away with a big smile.

Flame thrower
This baby is great for scaring people away from siege equipment or away from the gate that you are defending.
This won’t work in huge fights but let’s say you have 10 people attacking your tower.
Just rush out and start blazing. Most of them will scatter instantly.
Push the ones who don’t away with air blast.
As someone else pointed out, It won’t get you much kills.
But oh boy, do they run from flames.
Remember that air blast also can reflect projectiles. (really tricky, but useful)

Builds
This is really important for WvW.
There are good builds out there, but they are well known. (such as static discharge burst/bomb bunker)
Try to create something unique and balanced for WvW.
Drawing inspiration from other builds is okay, but you should make it your own and add in plenty of variables.
In short, be unpredictable on the battlefield.
And always include a stun breaker into your build. Always.
Unless you want to get murdered by 100b warriors, thieves and mesmers.

Well, this post got to big for my tastes.
Sorry for the wall of text.
I hope I brought something to the discussion you didn’t know already.
If you want tips vs certain specific classes, I can help you with that. Just ask.

Shadow.3475:

Have to test again then, was sure they droped like the supplycrate everyware so you have to run in a circule to get all.

I just tested this again and you are right – you can no longer run away and drop med kits to heal yourself. The #4 cond cleanse skill also no longer works, but the #5 stimulant one does.

I guess the old drop method was too good. :/

Some problem i have that i throw heal kits everywere but kitten it almost cheating how good Speedy Kits and Heal kit is, must have died 80% less yestarday, yestarday i ran in to the biggest enemy group and first used Personal Battering Ram and (F2 Personal Battering Ram) then switch to Flamethrower and went like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, F3 (Flamethrower) and when they started to aim me 6 run F1 run run 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – 6 run am out and then get up HP and back in do same again

And more you dont need Elixir B anymore so i cod add Handgranets or most ofen Elixir C at 9.

Binkley.8507:

Shadow.3475:

Have to test again then, was sure they droped like the supplycrate everyware so you have to run in a circule to get all.

I just tested this again and you are right – you can no longer run away and drop med kits to heal yourself. The #4 cond cleanse skill also no longer works, but the #5 stimulant one does.

I guess the old drop method was too good. :/

What are you talking about?
The medkit? You can just run and drop bandages right in front of your feet.

Binkley.8507:

Shadow.3475:

Have to test again then, was sure they droped like the supplycrate everyware so you have to run in a circule to get all.

I just tested this again and you are right – you can no longer run away and drop med kits to heal yourself. The #4 cond cleanse skill also no longer works, but the #5 stimulant one does.

I guess the old drop method was too good. :/

It still works as before.

Only 2 factors can make the kits not being used when dropped while running:

1. you already are full health. This is why #5 will always work since it’s not dependant on your condition

2. lagg causes you to run fater than the client can register the drpping.
Less likely, but a theoretical possibility.

Testing this as we speak: I take fall damage, run further, drop bandages… I eat them and they heal me.
Nothing changed from my testing.

I dont care if i miss some off the drops, usaly is beacse i sidestep alot, that you can press med kit buttom every 2sec so you allways run fast and not ones did F1 fail to heal like Elixir H do 50% off the time is so so so so unbelivebal good, and you dont need Elixir B so you can have Elixir C when you need it.

Kimbald.2697:

Binkley.8507:

Shadow.3475:

Have to test again then, was sure they droped like the supplycrate everyware so you have to run in a circule to get all.

I just tested this again and you are right – you can no longer run away and drop med kits to heal yourself. The #4 cond cleanse skill also no longer works, but the #5 stimulant one does.

I guess the old drop method was too good. :/

It still works as before.

Only 2 factors can make the kits not being used when dropped while running:

1. you already are full health. This is why #5 will always work since it’s not dependant on your condition

2. lagg causes you to run fater than the client can register the drpping.
Less likely, but a theoretical possibility.

Testing this as we speak: I take fall damage, run further, drop bandages… I eat them and they heal me.
Nothing changed from my testing.

Ok sounds like I am wrong, good to know. And yes I tested at full health oops. XD

Every aoe goes through doors. Not just ft1.

Frost grenaders 240 range is vital for hitting seige/trebs, etc at on walls, “out of range” of other aoe.

Runes of the centaur are incredibly op for escorting yaks.
Elixir builds in general are very good at escorting yaks. protection, swiftness, ret, regen. block/reflect walls.

Elixir U’s walls in general are very strong in wvw. Block and reflects. They do not work on catapult/trebs though.
Elixir R’s thrown res is vital.

Elixir U’s quickness. Faster build, faster grab supply, faster stomp.

Deployable turrets does not work. essentially killing any turret build in wvw.

Supply camp lords.
Vul increases damage they take dramatically. (grenades)
Bleeds also work slightly, and confuse works greatly.

Stacking 3 turrets in a combo field and blowing them up, stacks many combos.
Yaks. lightning field+3 turrets=aoe swiftness