Guild Wars 2

Yes, this is a post about how obscenely strong Traps are in spvp.
No, I’m not asking for a nerf.

I’m asking you Guardian mains to help me in what I do when faced with one. Or multiple, as seems to be the case lately.

I play a shatter mesmer (glass cannon, I’m pretty old school) and I can honestly say no class in the game since I’ve returned has given me issues like DH has.

Now I had been gone for a good portion of a year, so when I first got back into spvp I chalked it up to not understanding the new classes. But I have one of every class leveled and I’ve worked with them all in spvp again to figure out how they all play.

And DH is one I still cannot beat. And I don’t feel like I learn anything from playing it myself because (for lack of better term) I just spam the traps and win points.

So help me out. Too many matches have ended in a loss that clearly was carried by one dude on a Dragon Hunter, and I am willing to learn what to do to stop him. And save for getting salty in map chat and logging out after a match (which I am guilty of because of this class) I don’t know what to do.

Thank you kindly, and I look forward to learning something new.

PS: I am asking strictly about the full trapper set up. The ‘meditrapper’ variant isn’t as obnoxious and typically actually puts themselves at risk which gives chances for counter-play.

What do you usually try to do when you face a full trapper?

WhiteRose.6934:

Yes, this is a post about how obscenely strong Traps are in spvp.
No, I’m not asking for a nerf.

I’m asking you Guardian mains to help me in what I do when faced with one. Or multiple, as seems to be the case lately.

I play a shatter mesmer (glass cannon, I’m pretty old school) and I can honestly say no class in the game since I’ve returned has given me issues like DH has.

Now I had been gone for a good portion of a year, so when I first got back into spvp I chalked it up to not understanding the new classes. But I have one of every class leveled and I’ve worked with them all in spvp again to figure out how they all play.

And DH is one I still cannot beat. And I don’t feel like I learn anything from playing it myself because (for lack of better term) I just spam the traps and win points.

So help me out. Too many matches have ended in a loss that clearly was carried by one dude on a Dragon Hunter, and I am willing to learn what to do to stop him. And save for getting salty in map chat and logging out after a match (which I am guilty of because of this class) I don’t know what to do.

Thank you kindly, and I look forward to learning something new.

PS: I am asking strictly about the full trapper set up. The ‘meditrapper’ variant isn’t as obnoxious and typically actually puts themselves at risk which gives chances for counter-play.

I would first suggest making a guardian/DH, then practicing comboes using traited longbow (Heavy Light), f1 pull, shield 5 and relevant traps. It’s the combinations of CCs + pull + traps that is probably getting you and if you get the hang of how those traps work, you’ll be better equipped to deal with them.

If you can strike the DH first and strike fast, you have a much better chance of exhausting their defensive cds before they exhaust yours. At that point, the fight is yours.

Now for actually fighting DH, I recommend the following: As a power mesmer, you have 1 stunbreak, a teleport, a block and an invuln in terms of solid defensive maneuvers. It’s best to match the appropriate defence to their offence.

• If you get pulled into a trap bomb: use your invuln.
• If you see an incoming trueshot, block with shield 4
• DH teleports to you and lays down traps: stunbreak/stealth, dodge out and move away until ToF trap subsides (about 5 seconds). You don’t wanna get pulled through this.
• DH lays down heal trap following a shatter: Sit at distance and use your auto + GS 3 + GS 5. Deny them that heal if they’re at very low health.
• DH has hit you with some nice ranged bursts, has CCed you and is coming in for melee now: Wait for them to use JI, then counter by using blink. GS5 them if they use another mobility skill.
• DH at low hp and is probably about to f2 leap away: interrupt them with your f3, follow up with a burst.
• DH is using Dragon’s Maw elite trap: Use your invuln and/or blink to escape it. Watch for their f3, then burst them HARD. No RF means they’re squishy as hell as soon as they use their block.

Do NOT: teleport through their ToF trap when caught inside, waste your invuln to just negate a trueshot (unless you’re at really low hp), sit around 1200 range or less from them if their ToF ring is up (they WILL pull you in), go on the offensive when their f3 shield is up; it’s best to use you defensive skills + blocks to negate the incoming burst.

If you’d like practice, I’d be happy to duel you in game! Best of luck fighting against DH!

Save distort for pulls
The best way for you to beat a guard is to gravity well him when he has no stunbreaks. Typically that means use diversion or something to proc his passive trap (36s cd) then wait for his shield of courage if he’s virtues (if he’s honor aka big symbols he has no other stunbreaks) and then use gravity well. kitten him up then and you win gz

edit: oh wow youre having problems with full trapper ok.
step1: wait for all his traps
step2: walk into them
step3: blink away (distort optional)
step4: use the above tip to proc his passive trap and then kittening destroy that bad

Hey guys, I just got back from work so I’m reading these comments and it’s really awesome stuff. I’ll try and reply to some of it to get some more conversation going, as I know that the forums is full of ’nerf x nerf y" and maybe we can help some others too.

Kuya.6495:

What do you usually try to do when you face a full trapper?

So as I mentioned I run glass cannon, I try and send in iZerker or Mblade clone to trigger the traps from a distance (assuming they already stacked some on the point) and follow up with getting to the point to either set up an iLeap shatter or a Diversion>Mind Wrack shatter. Usually (stars aligning) this is at least able to chunk off a good 50% of their health, but this is the part I find myself having to Blink out or just getting downed since they “spam” their traps that daze and down me (which I’m glass, so that’s fine I took the risk)

In the case I did manage to Blink out, I assume they have nothing else up to fend me off with since they’ve just blown all their utilities, but they’re usually back to full health and by the time I fight through the blocks and manage to line up some decent burst the traps are back to chase me away, or I die.

Arcaedus

You wrote a ton of awesome info and I thank you for it. Interesting you recommend not to blink out of the trap when caught, as that’s 100% my reaction. I’ll try to keep that in mind. I tend to use BF and my Invulns both offensively and defensively, I suppose in the case of fighting a DH it just forces you to make less obvious decisions, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I may take you up on that practice sometime!

ThatNAESLGuard

I actually enjoy your explanation on fighting a symbol guard, mainly because I tend to not face them as much in unranked (which I have stayed in since coming back to the game, can’t have me dragging down teammates you know?) but I have read a lot about how symbol guards are hard to break through and it’s nice to have a heads up on how to deal with it.

Thanks again guys. I know what it’s like to have a lot of hate in your direction (I main mesmer after all, that’s the story of my life) so as much as I get salty I really do want to learn and this will all be super helpful.

You are correct in sending clones to trigger traps but it might be in your benefit to wait until you’re sure he already used his traps. By that i mean if you notice that when you sent your clones that the dh didn’t bend over to place the traps but they triggered anyway , that means he has a second set of traps at the ready. Keep pressuring from range until he drops those traps to rid himself of your clones.

After that expect the dh to drop purification and use f3 and f2. You wana pay close attention to f2 so you can interrupt. Your mirror blade will go through f3. If the dh drops purification there is little you can do to avoid triggering it unless you chose to not spawn clones and just pressure from range. Another option is to knock the dh away from the point (where he most likely placed his heal trap after your initial burst) and there you can ileap and tear into him.

WhiteRose.6934:

Interesting you recommend not to blink out of the trap when caught, as that’s 100% my reaction. I’ll try to keep that in mind. I tend to use BF and my Invulns both offensively and defensively, I suppose in the case of fighting a DH it just forces you to make less obvious decisions, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I may take you up on that practice sometime!

I’d like to clarify this statement. The reason you don’t want to always blink out of traps is because of ToF (the ring of pointy blades). If you teleport across it (or try to walk across it while blocking) you will still take damage. You CAN however dodge across the ring or walk across it while invuln without suffering any damage. The main reason I say don’t use blink here though is because they can most easily pull you back in (if they haven’t used it yet) or JI to you and follow up with their burst. If you use an invuln to get out of a trap bomb, their burst has to wait, or they waste it. Either way it gives you a second or two to think and react accordingly!

As a mes, your best combo is to first bait out the stun break trait (Hunter’s Determination) by throwing a CC at it, then land a shield stun/immob combo on your sword/shield set into an immediate continuum split moa bomb.

watch what the DH is doing more than what you’re doing, obviously don’t burst into a focus 5 shield or F3 shield and waste all of your cooldowns, don’t shatter your clones when the DH has ToF up.

Alternatively you can wait for the next balance patch, in which traps are almost certain to get nerfed yet again… :p

I don’t PVP but I really appreciate threads like this. Ask for advice instead of beg for nerfs. And it sounds like the advice you’re getting is solid.

Arcaedus.7290:

I’d like to clarify this statement. The reason you don’t want to always blink out of traps is because of ToF (the ring of pointy blades). If you teleport across it (or try to walk across it while blocking) you will still take damage. You CAN however dodge across the ring or walk across it while invuln without suffering any damage. The main reason I say don’t use blink here though is because they can most easily pull you back in (if they haven’t used it yet) or JI to you and follow up with their burst. If you use an invuln to get out of a trap bomb, their burst has to wait, or they waste it. Either way it gives you a second or two to think and react accordingly!

I was actually completely unaware that blinking or trying to block across the ToF trap still caused you to take damage. I’m sure that accounts for a lot of my issues since typically I’ll see the trap animations going off and just blink out in a panic. Good to know!

WhiteRose.6934:

I was actually completely unaware that blinking or trying to block across the ToF trap still caused you to take damage. I’m sure that accounts for a lot of my issues since typically I’ll see the trap animations going off and just blink out in a panic. Good to know!

If it’s both Procession of Blades (the AOE blender) and Test of Faith, dodge roll out.

If it’s just PoB, walk/dodge/blink out. If you’re close to the edge you’ll only take a single tick from walking, if you’re right in the middle, dodge or blink.

If it’s Dragons Maw + PoB. Blink out. If you don’t have blink use a defensive. Shield 4, sword 2, distortion. If you don’t you’ll eat the full duration of PoB and probably die since you can’t exit the leftover ward without stability.

Ofc the best thing to do in all these instances is dodge when you get hit with the daze so you don’t get hit by the trap itself a quarter second later.

A good DH will never lose to a Mesmer much like how a Druid should never lose to DH. That said, Moa is the best chance you have of winning. Use it when he’s mid health then burst him down.

Saiyan.1704:

A good DH will never lose to a Mesmer much like how a Druid should never lose to DH. That said, Moa is the best chance you have of winning. Use it when he’s mid health then burst him down.

A DH loses 5-10% to mes Cuz of moa.