Guild Wars 2

Background and Introduction.
Our guild has a primary interest in PvE, but has a strong and stable base playing WvW as well. We are members of the EU Fissure of Woe (FoW) server – a server that has been consistently in the bottom EU tier (Tier 9) for a while now; it is perhaps an analogue of Ferguson’s Crossing (FC) from the NA servers. Like FC and others, FoW has a strong and loyal player base, and a number of very smart commanders (hat tip to you guys – you know who you are). We enjoy playing with our servermates since we always get a “hi”, “g’day” and party invites.

But like FC, FoW has a low population density and sometimes low activity rates in WvW, particularly if playing outside peak EU times. Being an Australian based guild, we have taken to guerrilla tactics in the absence of a large home-team zerg or when strong commanders aren’t there. I’d like to share with you some of when I/we’ve learnt during these times by way of an introductory posting on the subject, in the hope that others can benefit from it and provide further feedback and ideas (I’d especially love to hear from other low tier players in NA and EU about these ideas and any other ideas they’ve employed). As kinkywarrior says: a roaming group can contribute to the WvW effort.

A target rich environment and you.
When you are faced with a WvW map that is almost entirely in a colour other than your server’s, don’t lose hope immediately. Being seriously outnumbered means a target rich environment. And to the opposition, it means finding a needle in a haystack, unless they’re spread out over the entire map as player-sentries (I’ve never seen that before, but I have seen people camping out right outside our starting waypoint keep – that needs some thought about how to get around).

So what is a solo-ing or small group squad in Tier 9 to do in such a situation? Sentries, supply camps and NPC camps can be taken quite readily by small groups and should be the prime target, followed by towers. Keeps require more people, a reliable supply and are ultimately slower to capture, so best avoid tackling them unless you’re 100% certain the enemy is not going to come and defend (and that actually happens sometimes).

All sentries and indeed, unescorted caravans, should be solo-able to skilled players of all classes. Practice on sentries and caravans until you’re comfortable with taking them down with a minimum of fuss and in the fastest possible time. Indeed, the ability to take down targets quickly is one of the paramount ingredients for successful guerrillas we’ve found. But sentries don’t yield any points for the server. To get points and contribute to the server’s score, we’ve got to take on supply camps or better.

Constant movement and the escape plan.
Having mastered the art of taking down sentries quickly, the next thing we learnt is that we need to be mobile. Very mobile. Many of our guerrilla acts become noticed by the enemy and hence we need to move along quickly (an elementalist able to share a speed buff when attuning to air, or stealth from other classes, or portal escapes, or similar, is handy) if we don’t want to die to an enemy zerg squad. The only situation in which we haven’t ran immediately is when we feel we can mount a defence to (e.g.) a keep or tower that isn’t being attacked by a large enemy zerg, or we’re facing an analogue group or comparable or lesser number / skill. We have our small team looking out for enemies, even to the extent of lying down in scenery to help disguise our presence (we try not to do this near vistas, as we know that is a valid way of communicating that players are simply after map completion).

The escape plan consists of one of two things: either rapidly moving to a different area (preferably around bends, line-of-sight blocking scenery and circuitous routes, or taking a dive in to a lake); or jumping to the home way point. To achieve the latter, we suggest that one player puts (shift-click) the name of the escape way point in the party chat before tackling a target. Given a lack of chat during an assault, this can be used almost immediately afterward (or when required / not engaged) without scrolling upward. We constantly choose waypoints that are not on the map we’re currently on. This confuses the enemy in the event of being discovered too soon, and in the long term: they don’t know where we’re going to be next and might split their forces. The latter can help the server more generally for when there are large home-team numbers in play.

Target picking.
With practice, a supply camp or NPC camp can be solo-ed. But it takes a much shorter amount of time if there are 2 or 3 players present, and hence this lowers the likelihood of being detected. Hence, before setting out from an initial waypoint / Asura gate, have a team member select one, or a series of targets that you (and your small team) know about. Hit one target (and then the second and third in order) and then get out of there (presumably back to the waypoint of origin, or a waypoint on a different map, that you’ve placed in your chat for ease of clicking). To pick a target or target chain – look at the map. See where the big battles are occurring and simply go somewhere else. Don’t walk straight in to the enemy!

We usually do a chain of sentry, supply camp, supply camp (swapping the latter for an NPC camp on occasion to help reinforce the supply camp once its taken over… plus few enemies expect to see us at NPC sites), and the odd caravan along the way. If there’s more than 2 players, consider doing supply camp, sentry, tower, or make just a single tower the primary target for your run if there is a nearby supply camp already yours. We have taken down towers in short order with just 3 players (most recently with a Mesmer, Necromancer and Elementalist) and one or two rams before today. Sure – this requires a supply run (or two), but if the enemy hasn’t seen what you’re doing and is otherwise engaged elsewhere, you have a head start and can often get the job done before a response is mounted. Just don’t try two towers on the run that are close to each other – that’s a sure way of being caught. Plan the targets and stick to the plan and the escape route. Be sure that everyone in your team knows the plan before executing it and where to go afterwards. Try not to wing it! Communicate before heading out, not during the fight.

In the eventuality of a siege being laid by a large zerg of your own side, you should think about how to best coordinate your target picking: identify camps that will deny supply to the defenders. Or, aim to split the enemy force. Attacking a nearby supply camp or alternative keep is often enough for them to notice.

The goal all along is to do something that the enemy is not expecting, and cannot easily counter with a large mob of their own. And if they do, to get out as soon as practicable.

We also check the timer. We try to get things done (taking locations) so that we score just before the usual 15 mins reckoning is up. We then (if possible) use the next few moments (particularly in a tower or keep) to reinforce walls and doors with any supply left over, before vanishing once more.

Scouting and Recon.
Whilst out and about, we try to provide intelligence reports to the home team about what the enemy is doing. As a piece of advice, try to keep such messages short and to the point and start the sentence with “report only:”, “info only:” or similar. The last thing you want to do is split your own forces when they need to be together. You don’t want to accidentally communicate “get here now!”. And fundamentally, communication is essential to the WvW environment.

On occasion, we also run in to an analogue enemy group that is doing likewise. We try to ambush these guys (as below), or take them on in direct battle if we feel confident. As soon as we’ve been spotted by enemy scouts or guerrillas, we always way point out of there after choosing to engage or disengage. We don’t want to spend needless coin on repairs or find ourselves in the centre of an epic melee we didn’t want to be near.

Finally, when defeated by enemy squads, it is sometimes useful to delay respawning for a few moments to simply get a feel for numbers. Once respawned, make a small report (as above) for a battle or locational précis.

Aiding, ambushing and harassment.
If we don’t want to be an active part of a home-team zerg, we sometimes employ other tactics. In the event of a large battle we’re aware of, we take one of two approaches.

The first is in a situation that is not a “funnel” fight (where the two opposing teams are effectively at either end of a corridor of scenery). We attempt to draw and lure some enemy players away from the enemy zerg, thereby giving our home-team zerg an advantage. We do this by running down one of the enemy zerg’s edges, following a pincer-like approach.

Usually, a few of the zerg break off the main bunch to pursue us. We then tackle the few away from their allies and dispatch them. Alternatively, we lure them in to an ambush (if, say, there are 5 of us present in our guerrilla squad). This involves (typically) one of two ambush tactica. In the first instance, one or two of use (using ride the lightning or similar) race away from the chasing group and turn a corner (out of line of sight of the zerg we broke our enemies away from) and they suddenly face a ballista that has been (pre-)built by our other 3 (or so) members of our group. The chasing group is inevitably rapidly dispatched. The other way is to have one or two of our group leap in to a nearby body of water where our other squadmates are ready for them underwater – a situation of the inferior numbers suddenly turns in to superior numbers and we can usually handle the pursuers.

In the second situation which is a funnel battle, we avoid the funnel altogether. Instead, we try to find a vantage point near to the enemies route and build a ballista (or arrowcart). Using the ballista or arrowcart, we start to take shots at enemies that are in range, but near one edge of the enemy squad in the hopes that they will break off. The key here is to have only 1 of our team on the ballista – the others hide nearby, or go to sleep to create a lower profile. When an enemy breaks off to handle our harassing ballista, they suddenly find themselves facing a greater number of us than they expected and usually try to run away rapidly (have some kind of immobilize ready) or perish.

We only do the above once or twice before moving on to different targets.

Summary.
The right team can make a difference in a low population server WvW setting, even those who are usually casual PvE players. Guerrilla tactics are strong: they can help flip a map to the home colours, split enemy forces and confound them, and lay ambushes in the middle of large battles.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to hearing your own thoughts and feedback.

Very good tactic guide. Highly recommended reading for all WvWvW novices.

The tactics won’t work that reliably in a very busy tier e.g. euro tier #1 afternoon or prime time, There you are likely to have an enemy roaming team, zerg, or dual thief etc. sniping team coming to defend their supply camp after just 1 minute of the initial attack (yes, SFR intel is that good). But even there small roaming teams or even solo roamers can be efficient. You can solo all the NPC events (Hylek, Quaggans + Krait, Skritt, Centaurs), which also help your server. If you equipped the tower, you can defend it alone for quite some time.

I really hope FoW will do better in WvWvW. I was in that server eons ago.

This is great. I wish I could really try this out, as this was what I envisioned my ranger doing when I picked up WvW.

Thanks Deniara! I agree that tactics in Tier 1 at primetime have to be different and adapted. I too hope FoW improves – I think there are good things going on in FoW now, but the population density at offpeak times can be an issue still, …hence the tactica.

Lyndis – much appreciated! Not sure what tier you’re in, but these tactics are certainly viable in Tier 9.

One additional practice we do that I forgot to include above is to feign an attack on a tower or keep. By having only a few of us assault the external guards, we can create a crossed swords on the map and “draw” enemies to our location, away from (presumably) more important defence or offence work elsewhere. Getting away quickly depends on how many come, but once we see the first enemy player, we know we need to get out of there soon in case there’s actually large numbers headed our way.

Good guide! Some new idea I found: the shift-click “escape preparation”. Thanks jabberjabber!

Being from FoW I can totally identify with your tactics. Sometimes it’s just impossible to fend of the “huge” (speaking tier 9 size) zerg of the dominating team or the cheating Vabbi party so you go and do guerilla tactics. It’s true we don’t have many WvW players but the regulars are usually skilled players so I was often astonished what you can achieve with a random group of 5 regular players.

What I sometimes do is just lurk around the enemy’s spawn keep and kill single players on their way to join the zerg, so pretty much what you discribed doing. It feels more useful than standing around in a keep with no supps for sieges waiting for the gate to go down and get killed by the ravaging zerg.

So keep up the good work mate. I’ll think of you guys when I see us getting keeps and camps in Arborstone BL while we are losing all our keeps in the FoW BL

Oh and it’s good to have some Aussies on FoW

Oh well and siege weapons on your repop zone is guerilla warfare ?

Seriously guys stop pretending to have a decent fight… we are tired of your bullkitten/cheat/uses of bugs/…

This is no more a guerilla warfare, you’re just always escaping when you don’t have the possibility to do a 5v1. Some of FoW players are valuable opponnents they do not flee on a 1v1 situation, but the rest of your server is filled with cowards and bug users.

Shout out from FC, couldn’t agree more on guerilla tactics. Handful of us do that on our server. Albeit a little low on communication sometimes (usually have good communication between us in WvW). Several of us have learned to solo camps, if we have the time and not many enemies attempt a solo tower. Love guerrilla warfare, its fun, and it brings pride to know that you pulled off some of the enemy from EB or attacking another battleland. Gives the defenders a little more fighting chance (even if is only like 5 or so who pull off from the enemy zergs to reclaim their stuff)

So goodluck to all guerrillas, have fun with sabotauging the enemy war machine, and denying them points.

Before i go, i must say best part of being a guerrilla is eventually you can force a sizeable force to hunt you out. That and attempting to solo break into a keep, nothing like stirring up the hornet’s nest, or better getting the keep and have the enemy go ‘what the heck?’

Sandro.3694:

Oh well and siege weapons on your repop zone is guerilla warfare ?

Seriously guys stop pretending to have a decent fight… we are tired of your bullkitten/cheat/uses of bugs/…

This is no more a guerilla warfare, you’re just always escaping when you don’t have the possibility to do a 5v1. Some of FoW players are valuable opponnents they do not flee on a 1v1 situation, but the rest of your server is filled with cowards and bug users.

So you must be one of the players who get killed by our skilled players when stepping 20m out of the Zerg mass
Seriously though, the trebs in safe zone bother me as well. I don’t like it when our players do that. But I have yet to see anyone on our server cheat! I spend a lot of time in WvW and I’ve never seen anyone from FoW cheat. Maybe you mistook a Vabbi cheater for one of us

Sandro.3694:

This is no more a guerilla warfare, you’re just always escaping when you don’t have the possibility to do a 5v1. Some of FoW players are valuable opponnents they do not flee on a 1v1 situation, but the rest of your server is filled with cowards and bug users.

Pretty sure that running away as the enemy approaches is a defining part of guerilla warfare. The point of a guerilla is to cause maximum damage with as little direct confrontation as possible with the larger forces, it keeping to the shadows not marching in the open.

My guild and I do this sort of work a lot, and I find it very rewarding and much more to my play style. Being part of a zerg is fun and you can get some great loot, but small roaming groups gets some cooler stories than “50 of us just ran over that poor under 80, lolz”

However I will say that extended zerg v zerg fights are a ton of fun, and provide awesome stories too.

Royce Melborn.3276:

So you must be one of the players who get killed by our skilled players when stepping 20m out of the Zerg mass
Seriously though, the trebs in safe zone bother me as well. I don’t like it when our players do that. But I have yet to see anyone on our server cheat! I spend a lot of time in WvW and I’ve never seen anyone from FoW cheat. Maybe you mistook a Vabbi cheater for one of us

If i tell you that i’m a scout, how about that ? i’ve seen some of FoW players using bugs/cheats/siege abuse/etc.. i’m not joking about that and every single night you keep putting trebs on your invunerable pop side.

Like i previsouly said you indeed have some skilled players, it just take more time to kill
them

your guerilla pulling tactics are indeed interesting but we’ve saw through that 1week ago, actually it just get boring since you seem to have a quite decent population. We are not so many as you may think, just come at us and fight, this is a game not your life you keep repoping if you die -_-

@Timberwolf – thanks!

@Royce – looking forward to seeing you on WvW (but not sure if we’re in the same timezone or not – lol!)

@Sandro (post 1)-
I’ve personally seen exploitation of bugs (etc.) used by every server. I assume that it is done by a minority of players, but it simply just gets noticed all the time since its hard to miss if you’re on the opposing side and (moreover) gives genuine players of particular servers bad reputations. At the risk of offending you, I’d like to re-focus this thread about tactics: there’s plenty of other threads noting such exploits.
So let me turn to the mention of escaping – a great point! This is exactly what an outnumbered squad should probably be doing when using this tactica. I think Netherphoenix in response to you makes the point that this is a sound stratagem for guerrillas.

@Jarettellis -
Thanks for the shout out from FC mate – much appreciated. I completely agree with you — being able to “pull” a good fraction of an opposing side toward you just from a small number undertaking guerrilla tactics can often make or break a siege elsewhere. Greetings from your (spiritual?) cousins in Fissure of Woe.

@Netherphoenix-
Great points, and well received.

@Sandro (post 2)-
I agree that a fight in the open is exciting! I’ve been involved in many. The main problem (for me) is what to do when we truly are completely outnumbered (at certain times of day) and can hardly find enough players to form even a five person squad – hence this tactica grew out of that
I salute you, sir! Arborstone are excellent opponents. Best regards from the Fissure of Woe.