Guild Wars 2

Now I’ve only just started tanking on another game so I’m pretty new to the whole aggro business.

I’ve been playing this game on and off for a while now and I decided to roll a Theif the other day, I’ve just been farming champions on the human starter area.
I’ve noticed that I seem to pull aggro A LOT. I’ll pull aggro a fair bit when using duel pistols or bow, but when I switch to daggers I always find myself the target of an unhappy champion mob.

Is there any reason why I’m pulling aggro so much? How does aggro work on this game, is it the person dealing most damage or something?

Your attack speed.

From my observation, if you attack fast, you build up aggro fast regardless of how much damage you deal. That’s why using a slow weapon like the buggy Pistol or SB, your aggro is regulated.

Back before the Dark Ages, you can keep attacking with daggers and use Stealth to reset your aggro — but we are in the Dark Ages now when that is no longer the case.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Your attack speed.

From my observation, if you attack fast, you build up aggro fast regardless of how much damage you deal. That’s why using a slow weapon like the buggy Pistol or SB, your aggro is regulated.

Back before the Dark Ages, you can keep attacking with daggers and use Stealth to reset your aggro — but we are in the Dark Ages now when that is no longer the case.

Ah, the good old days. To make it worse, building for more durability makes you pull even more aggro ironically.

Doggie.3184:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Your attack speed.

From my observation, if you attack fast, you build up aggro fast regardless of how much damage you deal. That’s why using a slow weapon like the buggy Pistol or SB, your aggro is regulated.

Back before the Dark Ages, you can keep attacking with daggers and use Stealth to reset your aggro — but we are in the Dark Ages now when that is no longer the case.

Ah, the good old days. To make it worse, building for more durability makes you pull even more aggro ironically.

By saying that you are pulling aggro means that you are playing in a group. If you understand how aggro works, you can actually use it to your advantage. What I do in a group fight is dodge through a Warrior or a Guardian then go on stealth. In practice, and this happens all the time without fail so far, is that the mob attacks the closest target to it with high durability — which is either the Warrior or the Guardian.

That’s one thing to keep in mind, in a group, you will never have more durability than a Warrior or a Guardian so use that to your advantage.

When I tank with my Guardian, I’m always standing between the mob and our DPS so if they choose to aggro our DPS, they’ll find me first. In the same manner, I attack with my Thief just behind our tank so in case I pull aggro, I can just stealth and the tank will pick up the tab.