Guild Wars 2

Last night I was running around WvW. I turned a corner and saw about 20 enemies running right toward me. I turned around, hit the R button and started running away as fast as I could.
I have Speedy Kits so I was keeping up full swiftness. I kept just barley ahead of what I believe was a Mesmer shooting a long sword at me.

I have two questions about this situation. One being could I started laying down bombs from Bomb Kit to slow their progress? Or is there a slight delay in running while you bend over to set the bomb? Any delay at all and they would have caught me.
Second question. I had Rocket Boots ready to go but I was hesitant to use them because of that very annoying stop that sometimes happens at the end of the blast off.

What did up happening is I saw a keep door I could run into. When I felt I was close enough to it I hit Rocket Boots hoping to just blast into the door and be safe. Instead I blasted forward a little bit then a jumped at a 90 degree angle to the right, and stopped. I got pounced on and destroyed one second later.
What is up with Rocket Boots? Why the pause at the end of jump or the occasional angled jump?
Any other ideas of escape when you are way outnumbered?

Laying down bombs would have put you in combat making you run slower.
In order to get around that brief pause on Rocket Boots you should swap in and out of a kit just as you’re about to land.
Also make sure there’s no wonky terrain because it loves to do that 90 degree/180 degree a lot.

Chiller Killer Czar.9014:

I have two questions about this situation. One being could I started laying down bombs from Bomb Kit to slow their progress? Or is there a slight delay in running while you bend over to set the bomb? Any delay at all and they would have caught me.

Don’t do this. It will put you in-combat which will slow down your movement. The people you don’t hit with your bombs then have an easy time catching up to you.

Chiller Killer Czar.9014:

Second question. I had Rocket Boots ready to go but I was hesitant to use them because of that very annoying stop that sometimes happens at the end of the blast off.

Yes, make use of Rocket Boots. It can sometimes bug out but in most cases it does not and it allows you to cover a large distance between you and the zerg.

Chiller Killer Czar.9014:

What is up with Rocket Boots? Why the pause at the end of jump or the occasional angled jump?

It’s a little bit buggy sometimes but try to use it when the area is clear of things like trees, rocks and hills. Then it doesn’t bug out often.

Chiller Killer Czar.9014:

Any other ideas of escape when you are way outnumbered?

While you are out of combat, you can slot Elixir S to give you stealth which allows you to escape safely (most of the time). You could even blast for Stealth in the Bomb Kit’s smoke bomb although be careful with that as they could catch up to you before you are able to stealth fully.

He should have dropped bombs. He was already in combat thanks to the mesmer so he could have dropped bombs to get more folks in combat and used glue bomb.

No real ways to outrun a zerg in the traditionnal manner. It comes down to slowing your opponents with the nails and eventual bombs but nowadays people know to not run right behind an Engineer. A very dangerous way to outrun people is the combination of the Elixir Gun’s backwards leap and your rifle’s Jump Shot, the former requires you to turn around but the distance is quite large in counterpart, the EG isn’t as good as the Rocket Boots but it provides more options on the side. The other problem is that… well, it requires a rifle. Everyone seems go love their pistol and shield.

Rocket boots are great, but like most leap abilities they suffer from the miraculous ability to be stopped altogether by a blade of grass or an uneven piece of terrain in their path. Rocket Boots are unique, however, in that I’ve never experienced the change of direction on a disrupted leap on any other prof like you get from Rocket Boots.

Actually my escape setup goes like this. if you’re a solo roamer, invest in cloaking device in inventions. That coupled with the minor trait that converts conditions 1 condition into a boon every 20 seconds means you get a free 5 seconds of invis if someone tries to immobilize you and you can keep moving. Elixir s on your bar gives you an invuln and another 5-6 seconds of stealth depending on your build. That coupled with rocket boots means you can get up to 10 seconds in stealth and get out of their field of view before appearing again. With bomb kit, train yourselve to swap to it and drop glue bomb on the run. It won’t do much to a profession with warps, but for warriors that try to chase you down and burst you, they will get slowed. Best thing to do against a mesmer that’s chasing you is learn how to run on a straightaway with your camera reversed. 2 benefits: 1) you can see mirror blade and dodge even on the run, 3) you can use crippling or frost grenades to toss back at them.

next, bind a drop bundle key. That way when you use rocket boots, you can cancel the animation right before the roll. rocket booting into a keep might get you killed since it bugs out mid air if the terrain has any obstacles, including keep walls and doors. With enough practice, you’ll be able to tell when your rocket leap will bug out.

I run both bomb kit and rocket boots. I use swiftness+rocket boots in that situation. There will be some with more leaps or lower cool downs on their leaps. That is when you drop bombs. Anyone suggesting you should not drop bombs, doesn’t know what they are talking about, in my opinion. I use that tactic all of the time. Drop glue bomb first. Wait 2 seconds, then drop BoB. They will either have to cleanse the immobilize and use stability, or they will be stuck or knocked back. If they run around the AoE radius of the bombs, they have to run more distance then you, and you gain ground. It is a win/win tactic.

A few times, I have had a 5 man group or what not, just go all out, and run through my bombs using the cleanse and stability. Attacking as they go. Drop smoke bomb and negate a few of the attacks. I have often run a great distance, just to turn and see 5 not so bright chasers with 20ish% health, from eating all of my bombs, on my tail, and killed them all. Dropping bombs as you run is a reasonable and effective tactic that very often works. Not always, but often. Not to mention, when they cannot kill you, it is very satisfying. Tool kit works well to with gear block and box of nails. I also use a shield so using those skills on the run to reflect their attacks back at them and block+stun them is also very effective and satisfying.

It all depends on your build. Some builds are more suited for escaping bad situations of this nature, then others.

For some reason, everyone tries to kill me when I’m on my engineer, so I’ve picked up a few things here and there from being splatted into the ground.

Swiftness isn’t good enough because a zerg has it too and you will be slowed down once in combat— and there’s always people in the back of the zerg not in combat. If those catch up to you, you will die instantly. BEWARE OF NECROS. They are like the bane of engineers and if they start fearing you, you are screwed. Fortunately, they’re also the least likely to catch up to you.

Elixir S is good if you have a headstart. If you are already being hit, then use it and then make a sharp turn, dodge and then use toss elixir S. If you aren’t in combat, run, toss elixir S, and keep elixir S ready as backup. . Rocket boots is also decent but it’s been buggy lately. The humorous part about most regular zergs is that they have a hard time adjusting to sudden movements such as turning (they really are trains) but they are really good at mowing down w/e is in front of them.

Elixir Gun Leap is possible but the acid bomb may put you in combat if they run over it so that can be troublesome. The toolbelt stunbreak is good at not being mowed down.

The minor trait transmute can help a lot; it will convert the first incoming condition into a boon so that may prevent you from being screwed too. You may also consider investing in tools to pick up leg mods because the classes most likely to catch up with you (thief, warrior, other engies) are going to be spamming immobilize/cripple on you if they get the chance. If you get far away enough, chances are you will only fight the people that caught up to you (although at a disadvantage). If they’re true zerglings, there’s a chance you can win.

Anyhow, also remember that every moment spent chasing you is a moment of them not touching your server’s stuff inappropriately, so even if you die, you may have helped your server out a bit if you manage to lead them on a chase.

Also, sometimes you may try jumping in the water. A lot of good skills do not work underwater, and they would also be forced to dps you to death (no stomps underwater). Nobody likes underwater fighting, so you’ll at least kitten them off especially if you do some crap like stealth before entering it.

Underwater also makes them lose stacks if they don’t have a sigil on their water weapon!

I remember making a joke about jumping in the water because the enemy zerg probably had crappy underwater weapons, and it was true! The damage to us started dropping like a brick leading me to wonder if some had level 1 water weapons.

Throw elxir s and run through them. Works against all zergs in any game mode.

Ameno.6813:

Throw elxir s and run through them. Works against all zergs in any game mode.

The problem you run into there, is if the zerg has a tail. If you are not through the tail, you can be in a lot of trouble. By all means, I am not saying it is a bad idea, I know, I have used it several times. I am simply pointing out the odd occasion it has got me into trouble, and to look out for it.

With rocket boots you can take advantage of the terrain as well. It’s rare that I run them (although I’m starting to do so more often) but as you’re running you can jump across things that the majority of the zerg just won’t be able to follow. Even if they can (may have to jump down, swim, move a bit, then climb back up) that may give you enough time to stealth somehow and run away or swiftness just might be enough to get out completely. Generally speaking you can’t outrun a zerg although if they are dumb then bombs and nails can significantly slow them down.