Guild Wars 2

Rifle or bow? Greatsword or what? I’m talking about breaking the shield as fast as possible…Does the bow auto attack count as 2 hits? Does 100b even hit? Does volley hits count as 1 or multiple?

I believe every hit counts regardless of the source of attack. The rifle’s triple fire for instance counts as 3, so the auto attack with the bow would count as two I would imagine.

However not being a GS user, I wouldn’t know if 100b hits.

bow. burst skill help break too and complite your autoatack in sametime, and this is also good aoe on worms

aslso bow have blast finisher.. use it on waterfields for area healing u mates and uself

Yea I prefer the bow for the aoe, and I like Greatsword for damage and whirlwind for extra dodge, but idk if gs hits because I see block/miss when I try to hb’s it..

HB hits it. I’ve killed it solo with GS and HB, the bubble that is, not the boss.

I use bow+GS. I usually aoe with the bow and then drop the area might, swap to GS and HB down the bubble and then finish off the adds. I just auto-attack with bow and run around.

Personal level 21, highest completed 28… 0 AR

Full melee is the best way.
Meleeing him forces him to spam the fly-and-stomp type of attacks so he wont spam as many arrows as usual (which is what kills your team).
It works like this:
1) Bladetrail, Rush, HB, WA out when he flies up and swap to LB.
2) Pin Down, Arcing while running in, swap to GS, HB/hit until he stomps, dodge back and re-engage immediately.
3) Use what’s off CD on your GS, when he’s about to stomp dodge away.
Repeat from point 1.

I find it a tad harder than soloing Lupi, because the arrow is a pain and barely dodgeable unlike Lupi’s green puke things.

For shaman I use the Rifle/GS. I find the rifle deals more DPS on the boss than the bow and the GS is awesome for dealing with the grubs and the bubble. This is probably the only fractal fight that I use the rifle for.

swinsk.6410:

HB hits it. I’ve killed it solo with GS and HB, the bubble that is, not the boss.

It was a level 1 fractal and you killed him when he was down at 20% or even less i bet :P
And i pity the groups you go with at 20+ without AR. But then again, ressing gives your group experience.

Either way, shaman isn’t very difficult until lvl 18. At that level and higher, the moment the wurms spawn and the boss puts up the shield, that’s when it can get tough. While you try to hit it 30 times, you’re basically forced (depending on your group) to lower your defenses. I’ve seen people in 20+ pug’s who couldn’t handle it. They either die, or dodge away and don’t hit the shield on shaman, letting it heal back up.

There’s no need to worry about the arrows. People should be dodge rolling those. Being at range makes dodging them trivial.

AOE for the adds is the most beneficial thing you can do aside from skills to clump them together (Mesmers and Guardians for this).

The best at lvl20+ is to have a Guardian to put up wall of reflection and shield of avenger right under the boss when the grubs pop. Kill as many grubs as you can as fast as you can then dodge, kite the rest. The grubs is what wipes parties cause the boss himself is actually quite easy.

Hard to see. The bow shoots 2X but with the rifle you can stack 7-9 bleeds before the shield comes up and each bleed takes away a hit on his shield

I’m in tier 5, 30’s is when it gets a little rough without a competent guard or mes or even a thief. I like to consider myself well above average at dodging and am always the one kiting on the far end so my teammates can rez each other. @Red Falcon, this pretty much exactly what I do, I love having whirlwind as an extra dodge. I also like to use orrian truffle & meat stew for the vigor or the endurance signet. @Grok Korg, great point did not think of that, I can tell the damage the rifle does and used to use it but the aoe on the bow helps my group a lot more, so I’ve switched to that. Guess I’ll stick with what I currently run for it, was just wondering if someone had something better. Now that I know the burst on the bow does the ticking damage I’ll be sure to drop that just before he shields. Thanks for the input peeps!

Just curious…what utilities are you guys running? I like endure pain & frenzy, for either, taking down the shield faster being right underneath the shaman taking no damage from the larva and it’s nice to Rez someone faster. Third utility is a toss up depending on the group I’m with..

Retsuko.2035:

It was a level 1 fractal and you killed him when he was down at 20% or even less i bet :P
And i pity the groups you go with at 20+ without AR. But then again, ressing gives your group experience.

Either way, shaman isn’t very difficult until lvl 18. At that level and higher, the moment the wurms spawn and the boss puts up the shield, that’s when it can get tough. While you try to hit it 30 times, you’re basically forced (depending on your group) to lower your defenses. I’ve seen people in 20+ pug’s who couldn’t handle it. They either die, or dodge away and don’t hit the shield on shaman, letting it heal back up.

I don’t die except vs. the maw because I know how to dodge all the agony attacks from the bosses. I play very well and therefor I do not die. I can’t dodge maw agony, so yes, I die on inc there, but as long as 1 person has some AR, it’s not a problem to res.

It was a level 28 fractal. You are right, the boss spawns adds at the same time it puts up shield. (Pretty sure even level 1 frac it does this)

Ignore the adds, and go for the boss/shield. I usually use GS#3 to get close and hit it because the adds have a small immobilize attack. Then position properly for the HB. Usually it’s dead(the shield) after the HB combo because I drop my bow adrenaline skill and aoe might on it right before I do the GS#3.

The adds, even on level 28, are easy to kill.

I honestly don’t understand why people say AR is so important. As long as you don’t suck at this game you will never get hit by agony except for Maw.

I’ve fought the tree and mossman on 20+ fractals and not got hit by agony while all these noobs with 20+AR are getting owned because all they do is stand still and auto-attack it.

It’s about how you play more than it is your agony resist, imo.

For my utilities I run Healing Surge/FGJ/SIO/(Endure Pain, Signet of Stamina, Banner of Discipline)/Signet of Rage

The ones in parentheses get switched out occassionally. Since that fight is pretty mobile I don’t use the banner and usually use Endure Pain since the flame pulse attack hurts a bit

swinsk.6410:

HB hits it. I’ve killed it solo with GS and HB, the bubble that is, not the boss.

I use bow+GS. I usually aoe with the bow and then drop the area might, swap to GS and HB down the bubble and then finish off the adds. I just auto-attack with bow and run around.

Personal level 21, highest completed 28… 0 AR

Feel bad for your party I bet they rezzed you alot.

Off topic, yet still of note:

Strafing like a crazy person on the spot (going left and right really fast) confuses the shaman’s aiming, making the arrow go to the right or left of you if you are not in melee range.

Back on topic:

Longbow + Axe/Axe

The whirl will rip a large amount of stacks off and maim a lot of worms too, while keeping you mobile so you don’t catch fire. Longbow both supplements this and deals comparable damage over time to the rifle.

EVERYONE uses a GS it would seem :/

Anet needs to do something to make the other weapons just as appealing, without nerfing GS ofc cause it’s not OP or anything, the other warrior weapons are just kind of behind the times :P

But anyway I use sword/axe + longbow, and even though I deal 80% of my damage in conditions the LB auto and axe#5 work VERY well on the bubble.

@kittenm, I would like to use axe/axe for the 5 skill but gs3 is just too awesome for an extra dodge as I usually have aggro and need to dodge a lot.

Ha it censored his name n-e-g-r-o-m

Grok Krog.9581:

Hard to see. The bow shoots 2X but with the rifle you can stack 7-9 bleeds before the shield comes up and each bleed takes away a hit on his shield

Bleeds ticks do not drop shield charges, otherwise the shield would drop almost instantly against any condition spec player.

To the OP, I have the most success with LB/GS. More to AE the lava wurms than the shaman. LB’s 3s immob is very useful against the shaman. Then LB burst+#3→#2, switch to GS and whirlwind through him. Then GS cripple him.

DPS against boss when there are no worms doesn’t matter as long as your group knows how to avoid arrows, or has enough AR to ignore them.

Mobile strikes ( 20 points in discipline) also helps a lot against the elementals if you mess up and get immobilized

I go with the rifle because I’m traited for it. With piercing shots you can hit multiple worms with one shot and its usually for big damage. At max range you can run and gun once the shield drops. I strafe back and forth to avoid arrow from the boss. When mates get downed I switch to duel axe and take out as many worms as possible so they can rally.

Melee the boss (axe or gs, whichever you prefer), with longbow for elementals.

(I have not tried because I do what others here do with Longbow F1, Arcing Arrow, Pin Down, Smoldering Arrow, double-plink auto attack while strafing around so I could be wrong)

In theory, it would be Sword, Flurry F1 (most attacks possible in seconds because each bleed ticks counts) and then followed by Whirling Axe (Axe Offhand) for another 15 attacks. The problem is the Agony/fire pulse/elemental immobilize/cook you in lava issue.

You should always be ranged because melee risks eating the boss’s huge attack. This is not a DPS fight. You want to control when the phases pop. Melee is pointless.

Longbow has the AoE to help with the adds and double hit for the shield.

Sword mobility is helpful in this fight and like I said you don’t need high DPS anyway.

Shield is good to help survival in general which can be a challenge here. Offhand axe can be a good option as well to AoE the adds.

Also, use the lifesteal food as a warrior in this fight. It helps a lot.

Actually, your weapon isn’t as important as the tactics your team uses. Everyone should stick to one side of the area while being relatively spread out to avoid getting owned by AoEs. Then when the adds spawn they will all converge towards that side and make it easier to AoE them. Burn the shield down, then kill the adds. Make sure everyone is alive and then DPS.

I now always use Longbow and Sword/Axe. And I throw in Fear me for the adds for this fight, although always careful not to fear the boss.

Khristophoros.7194:

You should always be ranged because melee risks eating the boss’s huge attack.
Melee is pointless.

Not even close.

If you have the skill to melee the chance to fail is 0% and there is no risk to eat the attack if you have hald decent reaction times. The animation is so obvious.
GS and A/A make the fight a joke as I explained in a post above, boss goes down very quick, adds die on spawn with GS3 and WA.

Maybe you’re just learning the ropes of fractals but when you get to 40+ most people will expect you to have the skills to do the above, it makes the fight last a few minutes compared to being a full ranged warrior.
Because a ranger is better than a non-melee warrior in that case so you’re being carried.

I go Axe/Shield with frenzy to nuke that shield down. As offhand I usually go with Sword/Warhorn but I tend to switch to Rifle b4 that boss. Simply because of the range and still keeping the damage up.