Hey all, my name is Caspian.
I’m a Mesmer on NA sPvP, about 4k sPvP games over the course of the last two years, quite a few amateur tournament matches, and a challenger cup appearance.
I’m by no means the most skilled or knowledgeable Mesmer on this forum, but I’ve recognized that there are no official ‘portal play guides’, so I thought I’d take my best stab at it.
So, if you see anything that’s missing or incorrect, throw it in the comments and I’ll update it accordingly.
This has not be screened for grammar mistakes, grammarists beware.
Reminder: this is a sPvP guide (conquest only), not WvW or PvE. If you’d like more information on WvW videos, check Osicat’s videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxpydARmmDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svvbTHeDcOE
This guide will consist of a few different categories:
1) What is portal and what should you consider before bringing it?
2) Uses of portal
3) Current sPvP maps
4) Final Thoughts
What is portal and what should you consider before bringing it?
Portal has been an integral part to Mesmer’s play style throughout sPvP. It’s possibilities are endless, but it comes at a cost.
Basics
- Portal has a 72s cool down, with a 60s timer to use it. You can find this timer on your skill bar after you place the initial entre.
- In sPvP, this doesn’t matter too much, but you can have a max of 20 uses with this portal.
- Once you connect a portal, it will remain open for 10 seconds. You have a hidden debuff placed on you once you go on it, which will prevent you from using the portal immediately again. So, in those 10 seconds, you can go through it about ~5 times if you’re spamming your interact keybind.
- Your enemies will know if you have a portal down somewhere on the map, due to a buff placed on you.
- The range of portal is 6,000. Which in a video game can be hard to measure. This will take some getting used to, but I will include maps of potential locations below.
- skcamow.3527: Always try and dodge, sword 2, F4, shield 4, or some other Mesmer CD when entering ports, this will protect you from what’s on the otherside
Considerations:
1) It has a long cool down
2) Potential to misplay it
3) Cost of bringing it over other skills.
4) Hard to effectively use without voice comms
1) It has a long cooldown
Portal has an interesting cool down mechanic. When you first lay down your portal entre, the skill is put on a hidden cool down. If you fail to lay a portal exit in 60 seconds, the cool down will be around ~12 seconds. Since it has a natural cool down of 72 seconds, it will be recharging in the background.
However, if you lay a port, you will have the full cool down of 72 seconds. This means that you only get to use port about ~8 times in any 10 minute PvP match (even less for shorter matches).
2) Potential to misplay it
Portal, while powerful, has plenty of opportunity for misplay which can put it on timer and make you look ridiculous (it happens everyone at one point or another, just ask my teammates).
- You can do a two foot portal, where you accidentally hit portal exit right next to portal entre.
- You can forget where you put your portal entre, causing you to be placed right in the middle of a team fight.
- You can go for a medic portal or lord rush, but have the 60s expire before you’re able to lay it down. Effectively leaving you stranded.
- You can set-up a lord push and place the portal, only to realize that it’s out of range.
The opportunities for misplay are as vast as the opportunities to effectively use it. So be careful.
3) Cost of bringing it over other skills
We all know that there are only three spots on the utility bar, for a Mesmer, each one is incredibly valuable. If you bring portal, you’re sacrificing a well, a signet, a mantra, or a manipulation skill. All of which could be used effectively in sPvP.
If you’re new to starting Mesmer, and don’t know how to use portal, don’t bring it because someone tells you to. Bring a skill that will help increase your survivability. Once you have that down, slowly integrate it into your skill bar.
4) Hard to effectively use without voice comms
If you’re using portal in solo que, it is going to be hard to get your teammates to actually follow the plays that you’re trying to do.
In TS or Discord, you can say, “take portal, take portal, take portal”, but in solo que you have to literally spell it out. So, try jumping on the portal, or pre-type it out prior to the match and have it copy/paste able when you’re in that situation.
As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities for the negatives to shine. Despite these cons, it is still widely considered the best and most used utility next to blink, so practice makes perfect in avoiding these errors!
Uses of Portal?
Portal has hundreds of uses, but I have narrowed it down to three broad categories. If you think I’m missing one of the usages, please tell me, I’ll add it in!:
1) Team plays
2) Solo plays
3) Misc.
1) Team plays
Outlined below are a few of many potential team plays with portal:
Medic ports:
If you recognize that your teammate(s) is low in a team fight, set the portal up on another node or safe space, drop it and allow him/her to go through it. While it has burned your CD, it is better than having him/her to go on timer.
Opportunistic match-ups:
Situation: Say your necromancer is fighting an engineer on a neutral point at home, while there is a 4v4 team fight happening at mid point. You want your necromancer in the team fight, not you.
Portal play: Set the portal at mid, move to home, open the portal and have your necromancer move through it. This allows you, as the condition Mesmer and better duelist, to keep the point neutral while your team fighter is in the correct spot at mid.
Situation: A 3v3 has developed on your home node, while a 2v2 is occurring at mid. Your 3v3 has a revenant, engineer, and necromancer. While your 2v2 has your ele and Mesmer. You need to place your ele in the larger home node to support your necromancer.
Portal play: Have your ele sustain the brief 1v2, while you set your portal mid, and move to home. At home, open up the portal, and go through it with you and your engineer. Then have your ele take it out to home. This will give your home node the proper sustain.
Open up stagnated fights:
Situation: Your team has been placed into a position where your fighting a 4v4 or 5v4 on your neutral home node, while they have a two cap across the map. If they have their bunkers on point, it may be hard to turn the fight.
Portal play: Set the portal on your home node, then move to mid. Open the portal at home, have your teammates move through it, and light up the enemy player that is sitting at mid. Then rotate a roamer to their home node.
Situation: Your at home node, where you have a 3v1, with one enemy currently being on timer, that means there is an outnumbered fight somewhere else on the map.
Portal play: Leave portal at home, allow the other two to clean up the fight. Move toward mid, then open the portal once the fight is done at home. This will allow another team member to quickly rotate into the mid fight.
Secondary mechanics:
Situation: The score is 351 to 364 on Legacy of Foefire. Your enemy team has a side point two cap, and you’re currently fighting a 4v4 on mid with a 1v1 on your enemies far point. Your team recognizes that you need lord to win the match.
Port Play: Set-up the portal at mid, break-off from the team fight, and move to the enemy gate. 1) Break down the gate, run further into the base and lay the port and have your teammates at mid run through it. 2) Open the portal at the gate and run in together.
2) Solo plays
Outlined below are a few examples of solo plays that you can make with portal.
Self-medic ports:
If you extended too far, got jumped by an out numbered fight, utilizing port can help you escape a losing fight. Since there is a delay from port placement to actually being able to use it, make sure to shield 4, sword 2, distortion shatter, while dropping it to protect yourself.
Watching your home or far node:
This is one of the most classic examples of solo portal plays. The logic is that you can rotate into a team fight, while being able to portal back to home if the enemy team tries to decap it. It was very prevalent in the last bunker meta, as well as this current meta with condition based mesmers being more ‘tanky’ than their shatter predecessors,
Situation: You cap your home node, while your team has a 2v3 fight on mid with a 2v1 fight on far.
Portal play: Place your portal on home, then move into your team fight at mid. Once your has killed the one player at far, be ready to take your portal back to home once he/she re spawns.
Decaps and forced holds:
Situation: Your team is not turning any fights, you need to set-up a play to rotate one of the enemy players out, so you can place someone on timer at mid.
Port play: Rotate out to the enemy’s far node, a roamer will typically be chasing you, once you get there (if the enemy is on you), place port and leave. Or, get the decap / full cap and leave.
This strategy will cause the enemy team’s player to sit and wait out the 60s portal timer. Or else, they will leave and allow you to get the quick back cap. Which will either cause a 5v4 (in your favor) on the rest of the map, or allow your team to get some movement off of a stalled fight.
Be wary about this, make sure that your team can withstand that +1 on the mid node if you decide to go for the back cap.
Stealth Portal Decap:
ResJudicator.7916
You’re pushing far point and the enemy rotates someone in to contest the point. Because you’re running power shatter, you now find yourself in an unfavorable 1v1. If you portal back to mid, chances are the enemy will stay until the portal closes to make sure you don’t double back through the portal to get a free decap. So what you can do is open the portal, wait until it’s about to close, then run on top of it and enter stealth. It will look like you entered the portal, and then the portal will close while you’re still in stealth, so the enemy will think it’s safe to rotate back towards mid fight. Easy decap.
3) Misc. portal plays
Below are a few examples of portal plays that have their place, but aren’t always used.
Portal stomp:
Portal stomps are a fun and interesting way to get the kill off, but blow a huge CD.
Here is Sensotix’s guide to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I2iLruBn2o
Here are a couple reasons to port stomp:
- Avoiding counter pressure, cc, or a down state ability
- You need to use the portal anyway to catch a roamer from decapping your point
- You just feel like it.
I don’t recommend portal stomping often unless you have a reason, since getting a 72s cd is not worth one stomp.
Revenant misplacement:
A revenant’s sword 3 will cause them to follow you through a port.
So, if you’ve rotated onto an enemy node, against a revenant, wait for him/her to pop his/her sword 3, use your port and place them away from you. This will allow you to get a decap.
This take’s decent timing, so be careful using it. Also, be careful using port when you’re low, you can bring in a rev by accident.
Pre-casting skills:
Skills like moa have a very noticeable skill animation and long cast time, making these skills very dodge able. If you have someone targeted on a node, you can take your portal away from port, pre-cast moa, and take it back.
Again, be careful of that hidden debuff that causes you to not be able to take a portal right away. If you’re not aware of it, it may cause you to blow a moa.
Current sPvP maps
Below are potential port locations (there are a countless number of options) for each map, the numbers are rough locations on where you can place them.
Excuse my horrible attempt at MS Paint, it’s really bad.
Legacy of the Foefire
1: Home node to mid node
2: Far node to mid node
3: Far node to lord push
4: Mid node to lord push
Forest of Niflhel
1: Home node to mid node
2: Mid node to far node
3: Elevated area for potential medic ports on mid
Battle of Kyhlo
1: Home node to mid node
2: Mid node to far node
3: Treb repair kit to treb
Temple of the Silent Storm
1: Home node to mid node
2: Mid node to far node
3: Home node to far node
4: Tranq to home node
5: Tranq to far node
Final Thoughts
I’ve only listed a few possibilities of what are endless plays with portal. Everyone makes mistakes with portal, and you will too. Always remember to communicate your portals and practice makes perfect.
- Caspian
(edited by Verock.8234)
