Guild Wars 2

HI i got me a lvl 43 mesmer and am moveing from GS to meta build play , now in open world i don’t have an issue blocking, but in world bosses and dungeons i do due to fact with everyone else dropping fields, effects, stacking ect , i have time seeing the animation and i keep going too soon or too late . anyone else have this issue?

Only with burning or guardian burning (because giant blue and red flames make it really hard for me to see animations).

Also some attacks are unblockable…

… or hit multiple times, like the moss man axe attack after he ports

in the end you can only try to teach your eyes on the movement of enemies, sometimes – yes – it will be hard to see what they are doing

It is also possible to time things. As an example; Alpha in Crucible of Eternity has an attack that you must dodge a short time after he launches it. I count a slow 1-2 then dodge.

Vicky and Wahlen in Cad’s Manor have almost exactly the same timing. When Wahlen throws, red aoe appears all over the floor. Count a slow 1-2, then dodge or block. When Vicky stealths, do the same. Turmaine’s wells are similar you can stand in them for a count of 2, then move or dodge.

You’ll notice over time that the bosses tend to have behaviour that is similar in timing and pattern and you can block or dodge without needing to see a specific animation.

-edit- Your f4 shatter works wonders on those flurry (multiple ) and unblockable attacks.

Yeah, generally it’s a better bet to dodge or use blurred frenzy than to block. There’s just too many attacks that are either multihits or completely unblockable, and that’ll get you killed.

That being said, it sounds like your problem is stemming from visual effects and not the blocks themselves failing. The only thing I really can say for that is that you get better at it with time. There are quite a few really atrocious visual effects in terms of obscuring boss animations, and mesmers aren’t exactly free of blame in this aspect (though guardian blue flames will always remain the worst one). This has been a pretty common complaint for quite a long time, so you’re not alone in this at all. Just do your best and try to learn what the animations look like through all of the effects.

There are a few other bad animations like downed Ele Churning Earth or other abilities that scale up with size.

As for the Caud Manor comments, I would say as a Mesmer to just drop Wardens (if you sync them, you won’t get hurt) being careful if they’re traited since projectiles inside reflects can hit targets if they are spawned on the target without having to move. With Vicky, you could (and should) just be auto attacking while she stealths and the default knockback from auto attacks will actually prevent her Death Blossom from moving her (although it will still hit targets standing directly near her). You can get away with not getting hit by being at near max melee range… or just slot a condi-cleanse.