Guild Wars 2

Before you read, note that this isn’t a rant thread and that rants and meaningless complains about the sword don’t belong here.

I really want to use a sword for my ranger. The animations look awesome (at least on my character), the damage feels good and it fits my intended build well.
The only problem is the auto-attacks that lock my movement. I have tried turning them off, but that attack chain still causes problems. I can’t interrupt the leap to dodge roll(or use my other dodging skills).

How do you deal with it? Do you just avoid attacking with that chain?

Thanks in advance.

I love the Sword autoattack, but the truth is the only way to deal with the leaping causing you to be unable to dodge is to pause your attacks and try to anticipate when you need to dodge. If you spam 1 with autoattack turned off, it is almost like have it on.

Use Sword #2, #3 and Quickening Zephyr

Turn off auto_target_ in settings if you like being able to leap away from stuff, this applies to greatsword Swoop as well. This setting is different from autoattack.

Chopps.5047:

Turn off auto_target_ in settings if you like being able to leap away from stuff, this applies to greatsword Swoop as well. This setting is different from autoattack.

Turning off auto-target and auto-attack are definitely your best options. Try to anticipate when the enemy is doing an attack or AoE, make sure you’re not spamming the Sword #1 chain too hard, and prepare to use 2 or 3.

Another great suggestion is carry around an offhand dagger for certain fights. I find the OH dagger is good for Alpha in CoE, and maybe Tazza in SE. The Sword 2 might take too long to go off if your 3 is on CD, and you really don’t want to waste your endurance, assuming you’re using that trait. It also doesn’t move you around nearly as much as the other two dodges do.

I deal with it by seldom using the sword (I don’t dungeon often so it’s not a big deal) despite it being the Ranger’s highest DPS weapon.

The mechanic is aggrivating, but easy to cope with if you do what Chopps mentions above. However, you must keep in mind that turning auto-attack off also means you’re likely going to see a DPS loss with the weapon in exchange for being able to use it effectively. Considering the weapon is already lower DPS than most other class options, it seems a pretty poor trade off.

It’s a very off-putting weapon for new players imo and really should be changed.

Unless I’m in a really strong position (in 1 v 1s) I will not auto attack. I will just hang back for the extra second until I can swap to my alt set. The root just provides with too much opening for a spike from my opponent.

Greatsword is good. Main hand axe isn’t so bad.

Stooperdale.3560:

Greatsword is good. Main hand axe isn’t so bad.

Mainhand axe is our lowest DPS weapon unless it hits the same target twice with the #1 bounce.

I’ll add one more comment on this. I do think the way the sword #1 attack works adds depth to the combat system. When fighting in WvW, you have to anticipate when to dodge, time your sword 1 attacks accordingly to be able to allow for a dodge. For PvP at least this is a fine trade off with the benefit the sword provides of sticking to your target, even if they dodge away.

For PVE, which I rarely do, I can see why this would be an unnecessary annoyance.

Bredin.5368:

For PVE, which I rarely do, I can see why this would be an unnecessary annoyance.

Not just unnecessary, but very dangerous and frequently fatal. WvW and PvP just doesn’t have the insane damage spikes that PvE dishes out.

WvW and PvP also benefit from the leap mechanic. It lowers the skill bar for players to stick on their targets. Other classes have to work hard to stick to a target, the sword’s auto attack does it for you. It does come at a price though. Unfortunately PvE pays the same price and gets none of the benefits.

Pro Tip: Never you auto attack – it will get you killed.

Just turn off auto attack and use your tab button to target or click on the target. That’s what I do.

in pvp the sword is an op weapon. its very good in any 1v1 situation. but if there are more than 1 enemy its pain in the@ss. you need to stop in the attack chain to move and loose damage or select a target and lock yourself or not selest anybody and fly away. the problem is this is our only melee one handed and we cant use it out of 1v1… make axe main as a cleave melee and i will be ok.

McWolfy.5924:

in pvp the sword is an op weapon. its very good in any 1v1 situation. but if there are more than 1 enemy its pain in the@ss. you need to stop in the attack chain to move and loose damage or select a target and lock yourself or not selest anybody and fly away. the problem is this is our only melee one handed and we cant use it out of 1v1… make axe main as a cleave melee and i will be ok.

Make axe bleed ( Or torment. We have lots of bleeds and I didn’t think too kitten that one ) on hit and bounce off the ranger and it’s a magical mainhand condi-melee weapon. Would make my Condi build so happy.

Axe damage is decent if you spec power, its about same as long bow auto (at close range) with zero bounces. Tested this lots last night. With a bounce its really good. I prefer it for zerg surfing though, when I know I’m getting that bounce. Also its always zerg lag that gets me killed with a sword due to lack of control combined with lag.

However I prefer sword for roaming. I deal with the auto-attack mainly by deselecting, or hitting #2 once only, since that puts you out of range for auto attack (hopefully), then deselect and carry on with whatever you had planned next. I wish they had a deselect hotkey. :\

My solution to this was use greatsword. The sword invuls grant actual invulnerable.at odd animations and are shorter than a real dodge. They are unreliable.

Another option is to leave auto-attack on (of off, based on your choice), but turn off melee assist in options instead. This will keep you from both ‘pushing’ the mob when stacking, well as allowing you to move more freely when auto attacking or spamming #1 skill, all while limiting the ‘snap to target’ feel that sword skills have. Works great in dungeons as it keeps you more mobile, IMO all while letting you keep the convenience of auto-attack for bows and axes, etc.

Give it a shot and see if it works for you.

Kilger.5490:

Axe damage is decent if you spec power, its about same as long bow auto (at close range) with zero bounces. Tested this lots last night. With a bounce its really good.

Against single targets, a good chunk of Axe’s damage comes from the #2 skill Splitblade. It takes just 0.75 sec to fire (vs 1.08 sec for the autoattack) and the 5 blades have a cumulative 0.5 damage coefficient – same as the autoattack. So if you’re in melee range, pressing #2 will give you higher direct damage DPS than just letting autoattack fire.

Then you factor in the bleed. Each blade gives a stack of bleed for 6 sec. If you can get all 5 blades to hit a single target, that’s 5*6 = 30 ticks of bleed. With zero condition damage, that’s 42.5*30 = 1275 bleed damage. With 1000 condition damage, that’s 92.5*30 = 2775 bleed damage. Compare to the roughly 700-800 damage you’ll get from the autoattack with a power build.

Against multiple targets is when it gets interesting. Assume a 2400 power, 50% crit rate, 100% crit damage build. Crit modifier is (1 + .5*1.5) = 1.75x base damage.

An exotic sword has 952.5 damage. Its damage to the primary target is 0.6, 0.6, 0.7 coefficeint with a 1.8 sec cycle time. So its DPS to the primary is:

(2400 * 952.5 * (.6+.6+.7) / 2400) * 1.75 / 1.8 = 1759.5 DPS

Only the first and third attacks cleave, so secondary targets are hit with:

(2400 * 952.5 * (.6+.7) / 2400) * 1.75 / 1.8 = 1203.8 DPS

So sword DPS is:

1 target = 1759.5 DPS
2 targets = 2963 DPS
3 targets = 4167 DPS

An exotic axe has 952.5 damage, and its autoattack has a 0.5 damage coefficient with a 1.08 sec cycle time. So its DPS per target is:

(2400 * 952.5 * .5 / 2400) * 1.75 / 1.08 = 772 DPS.
Against 2+ targets, that triples to 2315 DPS
Or 621 DPS less than sword against 2 targets

Even if you factor in the Splitblade, that’s an additional:

(2400 * 952.5 * .5 / 2400) * 1.75 / 6.75 = 123.5 DPS direct damage
(42.5 to 92.5 bleed) * (30 ticks) / 6.75 sec = 189 to 411 DPS bleed damage

So if you somehow manged to swing a berserker build with 1000 condition damage, axe autoattack + splitblade against 2 targets would just about equal sword’s DPS against two targets. If there are 3 targets, sword wins handily.

Axe’s strength is that its attack and bounces have a much larger range than sword’s cleave. So in many situations where sword is hitting just one target (1760 DPS) or you’re still running to the target, axe will be hitting three times (2315 DPS + bleed). And obviously if you’re running a condition build, sword’s damage is greatly reduced while axe can ride off its bleed damage. (On that note, its worth mentioning that Might increases both power and condition damage, so condition builds get a double bonus from Might.)