Guild Wars 2

I play a phantasm build, and I feel very comfortable with one opponent in wvw. I can beat multiple opponents sometimes, but I feel like I’m probably not playing it optimally. And when I’m fighting with teammates, I’m not sure I’m doing the most important things to help them. So I’m looking for some tips around 1 v 2, 2 v 2, 4 v 4, etc

Specifically, I’m wondering things like:
- When you’re fighting multiple opponents and get one down, how do you decide when to go for the stomp versus just trying to take down the second guy (and maybe leaving one phantasm working on the downed opponent)?

- When your teammate goes down in a 2 v 2, how do you decide whether you should try to res versus kill and stomp the most damaged opponent (and presumably rally your teammate)?

- How do you choose your first target? (I do look at wvw rank. I suppose that’s mean, but I got put down quickly a lot when I started.)

- What are you trying to pay attention to the most in these fights?

- Any other general pointers?

Thx!

Take down the most dangerous or squishy target first.

Most dangerous to least:
Thief – with backstabs or pressure from sword dagger, they have a high damage output but low defense.
Mesmer – if they’re an experienced shatter mesmer, the fight may be over in a few seconds, if thy’re phantasm theyre going to be annoying, and condition has a dangerous torment block that will destroy you if you dont have condi removal. If you see a mesmer standing sill with a greatsword, easy target.
Warrior – decent burst with greatsword, but easy to dodge. Can be quite tanky and can still so high damage. Pin down on thr long bow does alot of bleeding damage (up to 16k) if you dont remove it.

Those 3 professions can spec for burst, defense and escapability/mobility in 1 build. I never realpy find others as dangerous as these.

A mesmer can almost certainly guarantee a stomp on any profession besides elemenatlist using either F4, blink and/or stealth. So if you have stealth available, you can stomp a warr, engi, ranger and necro. For guards you will need distortion(F4). Thiefs you will need blink and mesmers you just dummy a stomp and bait out their downed 2 ability . You can also use F4 to protect yourself from focus fire whilst stomping and other players interrupting as well as F3 to interrupt another player rezzing your downed target. So take advantage of your ability to stomp.
(Edit—>) You can also use your clones as a meat shield for warr and engi downed 2 abillity if you are stomping behind a clone, it will affect the clone and not you. As well, Rangers interrupt is AoE like guardians, although it is not a push back, but Shatter illusions before you stomp Ranger and go into stealth for the safest stomp against them.

For rezzing you can be a monster, Mass invisibility can let you rez your allie most of the way and F4 can protect you from focus fire. F3 can also be used to interrupt stomps. Shatters do not interrupt your own actions of stomping or rezzing, as well as blinks, mantra’s, ect(all instant cast abilities).

In the 2 above cases, focusing on downed players (allie/foe) mesmers excel in. If those abilities are on CD or you will need to use them defensively and know that stomping will be a death sentance then go for damage, either on downed target or if the other foe is low on health then dps him down, try leaving atleast one phant on downed foe to wear them down. For warrs you can let them vengance as long as you know you can avoid their burst, but rangers can self rez easily and will need to be taken down asap

My first target usually is trying to find the most glassy build, as they have the ability to put you down very quickly, but so do you. Gain a vantage point, possibly from stealth. throw a quick combo and they should be down, use points provided on stomping.

In fights, pay attention to which and how many illusions you have up, your partners status if you are not solo roaming, possibly high grounds to blink to, how many enemies you have (find the most threatening and avoid as much damage from the as possible) and possible incoming zergs or roamers.

1v2 you wanna try to target the bursty target as it will be more squishy
nevertheless always lookout for the one who put dmg on you and try to put them on defense like p/d thief, condition ranger etc and come back fast to your main target

2v2 play as wingman and try to control your area and divide 1 player from his team mate or push the other enemy back leaving your team mate for 1v1 shortly and come back to support
of course each fight you have to adapt and depend on your team mate roll

stomp and res – its mesmer and thief job (several times i forget to tell it myself). use daze/stun to prevent stomp and distortion to res

Take out the target that can’t be kited first.

First…

There are 2phase of fighting in GW2. Normal Phase and Downed Phase. There are some classes that hard to take down in Normal Phase but easy to wipe in Downed Phase and Vice Versa.

The definition of “Easy to wipe in Downed Phase” is that class can’t “Move” or “Dodge” enemy stomp aka Stability/ Invul can 100% Secure a stomp vs This Class. Some class like Thief/ Mes normally are easy to kill in Normal Phase but very hard to stomp in Downed Phase. Knowing this will make ur decision better for which 1 should i focus first.

eldenbri.1059:

- When you’re fighting multiple opponents and get one down, how do you decide when to go for the stomp versus just trying to take down the second guy (and maybe leaving one phantasm working on the downed opponent)?

If the one who downed doesn’t have Moveable Downed skills like WA/ Guardian/ Ranger/ Necro/ Engine i will use F4 or Decoy Stealth and secure a stomp, If the one who downed can move like EL/ Thief/ Mesmer either i keep DPS until they die/ prepare interrupt if the ally try to revive or wait they waste their Survival DOwned skills thou not really work well vs Thief coz they can chain 2skills to survive from Stomp (Blink #2+ Stealth #3 while Downed). For EL normally i wait for the Mist form Downed then secure a stomp.

eldenbri.1059:

- When your teammate goes down in a 2 v 2, how do you decide whether you should try to res versus kill and stomp the most damaged opponent (and presumably rally your teammate)?

For this part u need an agreement with ur teammate “When u are downed just do nothing. I will cast mass invis to protect u from Stomp” If ur ally downed and 1 enemy also downed Mesmer have better chance to stomp coz mass invis to rally ur Ally. U only have around 5s to protect ur Ally. Around 7s in total if u count the enemy Stomp casting time. Phantasm won’t break ur stealth and 2x Phantasm are scary if enemy HP is below 50%(assume both Phantasm are Hitter Type). If u can’t make ur enemy downed u can use mass invis for 5s then revive ur teammates. Flexible.

eldenbri.1059:

- How do you choose your first target? (I do look at wvw rank. I suppose that’s mean, but I got put down quickly a lot when I started.)

Well i choose the squishy first. How to know which 1 is squishy? Throw an AOE. After that i choose a class with very easy Downed Type. Thou there’s a class with Easy Normal Phase and Easy Downed Phase.

eldenbri.1059:

- What are you trying to pay attention to the most in these fights?

- Enemy Build type = Power or Condi?
- Enemy weapons
- Enemy rotation = BReak their rotation = Higher chance to win

In team play=
Memorizing all enemy class so my team will kill them 1by1 based their performance.

Thanks very much for all the help!

I’ve started trying to prioritize my initial targets better, and prioritize the first rez (especially if I have Mass Invis available) or the first stomp (especially if it’s a class without a great escape mechanism)

It certainly feels like I can just keep learning in this game

So there’s a lot of great info here but being new I don’t understand some of the lingo.. if someone’s willing to help me out with these…?

“dummy a stomp”?

“stoming behind a clone”?

“condition has a dangerous torment block”?

Someone said mesmers are hard to kill when downed but I haven’t found that I am all that hot when downed, am I missing something important?

Thanks.

I think dummy a stomp means run up to them and press F, but then cancel it and run over to stomp them after they use their down skill that is their escape.

I think sometimes you can get a clone to be very close to the downed body. If you stand with the clone between you and the opponent, sometimes that can block a downed defense.

Mesmers who play condition-focused builds often use the scepter. The #2 skill on scepter is a block that applies 5 stacks of torment. Torment scales well with condition damage, so it can do a lot of damage. Allisah is saying take out Mesmers when you have a choice of an early target because there are several Mesmer builds which can create a lot of damage in a small amount of time.

The #2 downed skill is nice on a Mesmer because you can always escape the first stomp if you can find a target. When I get downed, my first priority is to try to find a weak target. If there’s something close to being dead, I try to get several hits in on it as my first priority (I’m not sure if this is good or not). I try to hold off on the #2 skill until I know someone is stomping me. But I’m sure there’s a lot I’m missing. Most of the time when I’m downed, I get stomped.

Qaelyn.7612:

So there’s a lot of great info here but being new I don’t understand some of the lingo.. if someone’s willing to help me out with these…?

“dummy a stomp”?

“stoming behind a clone”?

Someone said mesmers are hard to kill when downed but I haven’t found that I am all that hot when downed, am I missing something important?

Thanks.

For the most part Eldenbri is correct.. When i said dummy a stomp, as explained above, you press f to start the stomp animation and cancel when you think the mesmer is going to use their downed #2 ability, it has a animation and cast time so just watch out for that. Quickly push f again after canceling and if the mesmer doesnt go out of range with their downed #2 then they will reappear from stealth before you finish your stomp and you will be able to stomp them almost as quickly as other classes.

Stomping behind a clone usually works best for projectile based downed #2 interrupt skills, such as warriors or engineers. If you stomp with a clone inbetween you and your downed foe, the projectile interrupt will hit your clone and not you.
You can also use traited Temperal curtain(focus #4) and untraited phantasmal warden(focus #5) against these two classes for stomping as well.

Mesmers are generally squishy, so hard to kill no.. There is not really anything you can do when you are just being DPS’d when in downed state.. but they can stop people from stomping them(especially if they know how to counter the stomper trying to counter mes downed #2 and this can give your allies enough time to rez you or it could give you enough time to down your foe.

Qaelyn.7612:

“condition has a dangerous torment block”?

This was Allisah explaining the dangerous-ness of targets. A condition mesmer will usually run sceptre/x with staff.. Sceptre #3 has a block that when hits applies 5 stacks of torment which can take a large portion HP(equivalent of more than eating a full blurred frenzy).