Guild Wars 2

Sometimes when attempting to use Riposte to block (Sword #5), the skill fails to activate despite the game giving indication that it has registered your button press. I am not able to reliably reproduce this bug.

It happened to me on stream today. Here’s a video of the bug: http://www.twitch.tv/zuistreams/c/5466626

This bug is quite annoying, and common enough that most people that I know who play Warrior (in Arah) also sometimes experience it. If anyone knows how to reliably reproduce this bug, please post both so ANET might be able to pin down the bug easier to fix it, and so that if there’s way of reliably avoiding it, people who suffer from the bug can presumably avoid it in the unfortunately likely event this bug is never fixed.

It seems very unlikely that this problem is due to latency or similar, as Warrior Sword #5 is the only skill this has ever occurred with for me, and also for everyone else I have talked to.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Those are all new Renown Hearts added with the patch. They didn’t exist before, so that’s why they haven’t been completed.

Cattle prodding wasn’t a Renown Heart, but a Dynamic Event.

AFAIK they’re all pre-release hearts that were removed at some stage in development, actually. There used to be twice the number of hearts we have now.

This isn’t even new content. It’s recycled old content, that wasn’t deemed fit for release.

Yes, it’s all consumables. Yet every single one on that list save for the Experimental Rifle can be used in instanced content. You not knowing this suggests to me that you’re not actually part of what I’d consider to be the Dungeon & Fractal community, since nearly all of what I listed are very widely known consumables.

20 shards for a single use device that’s identical to WW portals would be better than the current device. Although, obviously, the value would still be very low because it’d simply be equivalent to watchwork portal devices, which have abysmally low value and hence why no one ever uses them under any circumstances.

Wait, I was supposed to refuse your alternative suggestion since I, as a Mesmer main, clearly just want a “pocket permanent Mesmer portal for cheap”, even though Mesmer is a lot more than just portals, can put out vastly more portals than my suggested WM Portal Device, and the cost of either my or your suggested devices are quite expensive in terms of gold equivalence, and even more expensive when looking at time to gold equivalence (where you could just farm Ectovine, and make vastly more WW portals than you could get WM portals for the same time spent… and of course there’d be no weekly cap on how many WW portals you could make, whereas WM portals would cap out at 5 under your suggestion).

I don’t plan to respond to your future posts, Rednik, unless you can come up with some actual solid reasoning or argumentation. As-is, you’re saying the same stuff repeatedly without backing it up, while mostly ignoring the issues others have pointed out with your claims.

Saying they were a success would, IMO, be an understatement of how good they are. Wing 1 is absolutely amazing; it’s well-designed and well-tuned raid encounters paired with GW2’s fantastic combat system. It’s very tough (but appropriately tough), and very rewarding. That feeling you get when you progress further in the raid is pretty great.

Just my .02, for whatever it may be worth.

Arah Path 4 (Continued)

Air Towers

Role: Projectile Defense/DPS (Orrian Turrets), DPS (3rd tower)

Weapons: GS + Sw/F (Skipping), Scepter/Torch (3rd Tower)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground (Giant Fear)

Grenth/Ghasem

Trash Groups

Role: Blind, Projectile Defense (Elementalist, Grubs), Stability (Devastator), Condition Clear (Chill), DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Hallowed Ground, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

4x Elite Risen Trash Group

Role: Bait Chaos Storm, Stability, Blinds, Projectile Defense, CC, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground or Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Grenth Activation and Event

Role: DPS, Blinds (autoattacks), Aegis (autoattacks), Projectile Defense (all autoattacks are projectiles)

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection for second phase (if not center pulling Judge’s Intervention), Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Way to Simin/Dwayna

Role: Swiftness (Retreat at start of skip), Aegis (vs. falling rocks)

Weapons: GS + Sw/F

Recommended Skills & Traits: Retreat

Simin/Dwayna

Role: Stability (vs. ending Dead Eye Stare on players who will not be Petrified when it ends, or ending Petrified), Projectile Defense, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Way to Bloodstone Shard
Skipping

Provide Swiftness, Stability (vs. Orrian Weapons), and Condition Clears (vs. Orrian Weapons and Orrian Spiders)

Elite Risen @ Altar

Role: Blinds & Aegis to mitigate damage, Stability (Chaos Storm, Mage Lift), Projectile Defense (Elementalist, Hunter), CC/Pull, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground or Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Other: You can lure them one by one and fight them by LoSing around a bush/tree, or you can take a riskier but faster approach and run into the center and binding blades them all together (preferably stealth, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Pull, Bane Signet Illusionist, or at least the later 3 by ground targeting the consecrations while running in and using Indomitable Courage to give yourself stability while doing this)

Bloodstone Shard

Role: Stability (Dead Eye Stare / Petrified ending), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground or Retreat (depending on expected fight length), Hallowed Ground, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Lindbur.2537:

Would someone like to direct this bunch to Arah?

Already did. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/So-TIRED-of-being-a-rag-doll/first#post4526605

It wasn’t clear to me from a 6-month old dead, necromancer-resurrected thread for a post written near the end of the third page which contained wording that suggested a deviation of context from the OP, no.

…I suppose I must be beyond help, as you suspected. I’ll just leave this discussion at that. I don’t think it’s going anywhere productive at this point.

Windsagio.1340:

Grok Krog.9581:

All we need really is to have a party leader system. Leader can’t be kicked, and majority vote is needed to kick.

No, because then we’re back where we were before. We had a leader system, and they took it out because of the problems.

We had an owner-with-no-power-except-kicking-destroys-instance system with everything else left up to plurality vote. That’s not a party leader system; a party leader system is something altogether different.

Thanks for pointing that out! I’ll update the links in the guide shortly, but for now there’s:

Possible Spoiler: New world bosses. Thought 1111ing Teq was fun? We’ve got new world bosses with mildly challenging mechanics that nearly every open world map will eventually be able to complete with some basic organization even 5 minutes before the event starts. Don’t worry, you’ll still get rewards even if you die near immediately and sit there dead for the rest of the fight.

Possible Spoiler: Extremely linear instanced raid type content that any random party of N members can eventually complete for the same rewards as organized groups get. Some sort of time gate on rewards so that organized groups can’t get more just due to ability to repeat more in the same amount of time. Ideally N should be very large so that the contribution of any individual skill is minimized, and the ‘difficulty’ is merely basic coordination. Lots of cutscenes that cannot be skipped, dialog that cannot be skipped, and extremely simple and boring puzzles that involve no combat or anything else that’s interesting once you’ve solved them the first time.

Prove me wrong, ANET. Please prove me wrong.

Actually, that was more or less sarcasm. I sincerely hope ANET doesn’t disappoint us like that, and instead has something amazing to announce.

Casmurro, that video… Wow… I just don’t know what to say.

Savia.8752:

1) Legendaries have no meaning except a shiny skin. Stat change is worthless, I have multiple legendaries and I never changed them for years. (Maybe once or twice.)

That’s the entire point of Legendary items. They’re supposed to be a shiny skin, and NOTHING else.

Savia.8752:

3) Players who crafted a legendary weapon/armor will finally feel the power of their weapons. Destruction of Legendaries will took the Open World Maps. Events will be more easy than past.

Legendary weapons are supposed to be identical to the top tier of gear, and no more powerful than that tier. That tier is currently Ascended.

Events are already extremely easy. Even the hardest things in the open world, such as Triple Trouble, have been very-low-manned.

Savia.8752:

4) There is no balance in open world PvE content. 5%-10% damage increase will change anything. Everything is dying so fast in Open World PvE at the moment. So, this change will not effect players.

So you’re simultaneously saying that events (i.e. content in the open world that involves killing things) will be easier in point 3, but there will be no effect on players. in point 4. Internally inconsistent much?

Savia.8752:

5) Players who can’t find a goal for crafting legendaries will finally have one. People will go for Raids more than usual Since this change will not affect other game modes, they can still be enjoy their casual life. As I said, a stat increase will not change anything in Open World.

But you also said the stat increase would make things easier in Open World…

As for people raiding more than usual because of having a goal for crafting Legendaries, I don’t understand. You said they wouldn’t have increased stats in raids, and raids are possibly one of the worst ways to play the game to be able to obtain a legendary weapon.

Savia.8752:

6) Farm bots still need a legendary to maximize their profit but in the world, nobody can give legendary weapons to bots. (Because they will be banned before reaching profit and owner’s of bots will lose more money.)

But you said the stat change wouldn’t impact anything! Make up your mind already.

If it wasn’t worth it for botters to use legendary weapons, they simply wouldn’t do so. As such, your idea here is tremendously ineffectual.

Savia.8752:

7) Open World Maps will regain their attention. Because killing stuff in maximum power will feel good.

Most people who don’t avidly play Open World don’t play it because it’s faceroll easy, and thus quite boring. Making it even more faceroll easy (…but didn’t you say it wouldn’t change anything?…) won’t help that.

People already play Open World a lot. Mostly to farm goodies. People would still be playing the exact same areas of open world, in the exact same way.

Before posting, next time, try to ensure that your reasoning is at least internally consistent. Yours isn’t, which makes your post even more facepalm than it otherwise would be.

Playing the game and completing the daily the day of the change meant you couldn’t get the first new daily chest that day. Actively playing put you 1 day behind in terms of login rewards.

dlonie.6547:

runeblade’s right. idc what aent says selling dungeons is just wrong i need arah number four for my master dungon achevement but onyl groups on lfg charge for runs

why not just run 4 fun insted of cheatin and esploiting for profit?

isnt this game suposed to NOT b p2w?

I cannot understand your mindset.

If you want to do Arah P4 on your own, start your own group on the LFG. It’s not difficult to do. Join one of the Saturday morning Arah tours advertised by Ivan on these forums. Also, not difficult. Join [Noob] as advertised on these fourms, and ask one of the mentors to help you out. Also, not difficult. There’s literally nothing stopping you except for your own lack of any action. Or, I’m sure you’ve made friends in other areas of the game, yes? I’m sure you can find enough people to do Arah with you.

There isn’t any “cheating” or “exploiting” going on here. Just people running a dungeon path, and selling it. ANET is fine with this, and people doing this doesn’t really impact your ability to play how you want. Go do the path on your own, should that be what you desire, no one is stopping you. People selling a dungeon path seems to be one of the very few skill gated sources of income in GW2; GW2 needs more stuff like this, not less. Not only this, but people did similar things in GW1. Sell missions? Check. Sell runs to various places on the map so people didn’t have to fight there, or even complete large chunks of the game to get there? Check.

There’s no “pay to win” involved in buying a dungeon path. Getting the Dungeon Master title is not “winning”. Having to contribute zero effort for your completion isn’t “winning” either. If anything, this is “play to win”, because the people selling these paths are playing the game skillfully and being appropriately rewarded for it; dungeon path selling seems to be one of the few areas of the game where demonstrating a good level of player skill is more rewarding than just mashing buttons or the semi-afk training of events/world bosses/eotm/whatever cool new zero skill braindead level of required intelligence afk level of effort new farm spot there might be.

Start around 00:58:30 http://www.twitch.tv/zuistreams/c/5466177

Should give you a decent idea of what to do. Three spark runners (IMO) are better than two, although it can be done very quickly with two as well. Fight the boss right where it spawns. Mesmers should save Time Warp until after the boss is respawned. Try to use stability to negate the need to throw tears during DPS phases (where EVERYONE should be DPSing), but have a designated tear thrower or two otherwise so that everyone is able to DPS for most of the phase.

I am entirely certain that a full team of players in non-damage gear with mostly non-damage traits and non-damage skills using suboptimal DPS weapons can still defeat this boss (and definitely in under an hour… I’d say 30 minutes TOPS, as a pretty big time overestimate). And everyone can pretty easily change their traits and skills to provide more damage; there’s no reason not to do so for this encounter. The only useful support (other than antiprojectile skills to make sure people keep their scholar bonus if they’re running scholar runes) for the whole thing is stability.

shion.2084:

So basically as a binge player, I could play a couple of hard days and get my monthly. Then go on my business trips and login a few times later on. This is actually worse for “casual players” like me, because you have to login daily, and they’ve essentially time gated montly rewards now?

It depends on exactly what the structure of the system is; perhaps they’ve considerably altered reward levels such that for the same amount of play, you’ll get the same or more amount of laurels (and mystic coins, etc.) through the new daily/monthly system.

However, since every kind of change like this they’ve ever done has only served to slow down progression, your assumption is probably right (in fact, any reasonable person ought to find my above suggestion pretty laughable based on ANET’s track record).

After all, if players have continuous pressure to log in more frequently and spend more time in the game, they’re more likely to buy gems (either because they’re playing more, or because they’re using the gems to help bypass the “improvements” that slow [I tried to use a word that starts with “re”, has a “t” in it, and ends with “ard” here… but the filter won’t allow it even… Filtering an appropriate use of the word, FTW.] progression…). It’s cynical to look at changes like this as being entirely motivated by the gem store, but so many past changes and various models the game uses for content are very transparently about maximizing gem store revenue (LS content model, the ‘improvement’ to the currency exchange before they fixed it, most new skins being Black Lion Chest / Claim Ticket gated, etc.).

So you posted to tell us the following, as I read your post (perhaps it’s just vague and poorly worded enough that it can be totally misinterpreted?):

1) You’re done with meta builds. “Hello guys, this is no topic just to state I’m done with meta builds”

2) You’re done with every single person who talks about meta builds. “I am done with every single person ever in this game writing down ‘meta zerk’”

3) Every single person who talks about meta builds has no idea how to play them, or what said builds even are. “every single person ever in this game… have no idea what it is, or how to play it themselves”

4) People shouldn’t play meta builds, because no one even knows what meta builds are. “Please don’t go with the crowd if you don’t even know what it means.”

5) You can get your information from the internet or other players, even though no one but you even knows what a meta build is, but type and hype is not a good source of information. “Get your info from internet and/or players but don’t just blindly type and hype.”

#1. A lot of people post that they’re done with the meta, or anti-meta. I don’t think anyone in these forums really cares at this point.

#2. A lot of people express similar anti-meta sentiment. Again, I don’t think anyone in these forums really cares at this point.

#3. I’m not even sure what to say to this. Regardless, it doesn’t seem like something the average Dungeons & Fractals forum viewer is going to care about reading.

#4. I’m not even sure what to say to this either. Regardless, it doesn’t seem like something the average Dungeons & Fractals forum viewer is going to care about reading.

#5. What seems like good advice in isolation, makes little sense with respect to the rest of your post.

The cooking station is after you kill Sabetha.

Watch for him holding the staff forward and glowing. The glowing is the big thing to watch out for, as the glowing for that is much different than that of Flamewall. With enough practice and some creative requisitioning of your camera etc. so you can better see him, you should be able to reliably spot it.

If there is no squire up, you can give your first Aegis the second you notice the animation. Give the second as soon as the first gets stripped. If the squire is up, you have to be a bit more careful, and when you time your aegises is going to depend on when the squire last attacked (happens about once every 2 seconds).

Alilinke.7690:

why don’t you just play as a team member and stealth the rest of your group? -_-

You’re assuming this is possible with a PUG.

They need to follow the thief. They need to not attack while in stealth. They need to not prematurely exit Shadow Refuge. They need to be close enough to smoke fields to get stealth each time they’re blasted (i.e. not run up late, or run away early) and/or help blast the field themselves.

This is well beyond the abilities of many PUGs.

In my two unranked games today (on Thief, then Warrior), I learned the following are apparently true (!?!?):

1. D/P Thief beats Mace/Shield+LB Wanderers Condi Warrior when fighting on point.

2. Mace/Shield+LB Wanderers Condi Warrior beats Staff Thief + Corruptionmancer + Trapper Guardian when fighting on point. In this same game, our Revenant announced that they were going to go for the enemy beast as soon as it spawned (but they seem to have gotten confused and went for our beast instead, as soon as it spawned).

The conclusion for #2, given #1, is that the Staff Thief should have been D/P, and the 3 side would easily win that 3vs1 instead of losing it. Right?

Either those must be true, or I’m getting matched against tremendously bad players, with teammates that are bad enough that the games are a difficult carry. RIP the dream of getting games where players on the opposing team are competent, and players on my team are also competent.

READ P[insert number here] [insert any other pertinent info, like “MELEE LUPI”] Answer on join: [Insert math problem]

I was advised by a friend that order of operations messes up people who are otherwise very bad at the game. It mostly works. Something like 5^2-2^2 ought to be sufficient. You’ve now excluded everyone who can’t or doesn’t read, or who doesn’t have a high school or better (or in some countries, middle school) education, or that they know how to use google/some similar tool to solve the problem for them. Even when these people turn out to be bad at the game, explaining that they’re bad and how to fix it is surprisingly effective. If you’re feeling especially selective, use something more advanced like Euler’s identity, or the definition of “e”, or some simple integration.

You need a friend in the group who will quickly second your kicks. Depending on how charitable you’re feeling (how desperate you are), you may need to repeat the question in chat, or prompt them to read the LFG, because actually reading stuff is very difficult or something.

Minor updates.

Volcanic – Added a great video by Card on when to Aegis the Champion Shaman’s Churning Earth attack.

Formatting – replaced “?”s with the proper “->”‘s. No idea why the forum allows the -> symbol if you combine a "-" and a “>”, but doesn’t allow it (but it shows up on the preview) when you paste it in directly.

The way to improve solo queue matchmaking is to have an actual solo queue.

Personally, I think that leagues should require a FULL team to play. It’d smooth out some issues with balance that occur due to uncoordinated teams. Most importantly, it’d help reduce the gigantic gap between those at the top of the game (proleague / actual teams) and everyone else. This is something that simply NEEDS to happen if they’re legitimately trying to push the game into a more competitive direction, or at least a competitive direction that’s actually a healthy one for the game. Having this kind of system allows players to engage in learning, much more so than what we currently have.

Then have an ACTUAL solo queue outside of league play, with a bit better rewards than Unranked. Maybe even with a solo queue ladder.

Two portals is better at that part of Cliffside.

You can use the portal trick to kill the arm seals very quickly. You can modify it to be a bit slower (but not requiring any kind of good group coordination) if you have a clueless PUG group.

You can then blink straight to the room containing the second Archdiviner, providing a portal to there for your team. If you’re in a PUG, probably best to meander a bit and stack behind the normal brazier before you drop the exit.

maha.7902:

I really would prefer to have toughness and vitality play a role in our active defenses though, and to have healing scale up a bit more. I feel it would add avenues of growth for further encounter design in the game’s future, and promote the likes of Soldier and Nomad gear from ‘safety net’ and ‘useless’ respectively (in popular perception) to ‘path of mastery’.

And just why exactly should gear stats that let you afk eat hits be the optimal gear for anything?

Is soaking hits more skillful or more interesting or something? Like idk, I feel if you go full glass you should be rewarded accordingly, which this game does, or like what every MMO does where you run the very bare minimum of tanks and healers necessary. A really basic example is that the first dungeon in ArcheAge is something you can clear with three DPS but sure, you can use a tank + 2 DPS or whatever. But if you can handle it, 3 DPS is cool.

Everybody knows standing there and tanking hits because you’re afk, too lazy to use active defense, or clueless as to the mechanics is far more skillful play than having to know the mechanics and use active defense while attentively playing. Since tanking hits in this manner is vastly more skillful than the alternatives, it should definitely be more rewarding.

I feel this video clearly demonstrates why non-damage gear is more skillful than anything else out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNMltxyvAvo

I mean really, look at that. It’s sped up (and a bit dated), but since the fight took about 35 minutes real time, there’s a LOT of possible room for mishap. For example, he could have fallen asleep, or the “1” key on the keyboard could have ceased to function from all that repeated pressing, requiring some fast reaction to clicking the “1” skill instead before complete disaster.

#Nomads4Lyfe

Allaraina.8614:

Wait… I feel dumb…. people you have blocked can join your lfg?

That…. doesn’t seem right. I feel like if someone is blocked they shouldn’t be able to join an lfg you are currently in. Isn’t that… part of the point?

This is why you only block gold sellers. You ‘block’ lovely people like the ones OP speaks of by adding them to “friends”, and making a nice user note about them, so you can see if they join your party or not.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Does bug effect esports and/or gem store sales:

if yes -> fix

if no-> throw away bug report

There you go.

You have it wrong. It’s possible to spawn “stuck” inside the spawn points on some maps in sPvP. It happened to me once right after the game was released, and again a few months ago. I’m sure I reported it both times.

Fumble dodges are still in the game. Bugs with fundamental class functions are still in the game (most notably, see Mesmer. Also see any and all teleport skills in the entire game.).

Obviously, they might have tried (or be trying) to fix these bugs, but are having issues for whatever reason. We don’t know. There is no communication on this front. All we do know is (many) bugs relating to crashes get fixed, bugs related to the gem store get fixed, and bugs related to the living story get fixed. All other bugs seem to be very rarely fixed, and mostly just completely ignored as if ANET doesn’t care. Given the lack of communication, and the lack of bug fixes that relate to fundamental issues with actual game play along with rapid bug fixes to things that might affect their revenue from the gem store, it’s certainly a plausible explanation that ANET simply does not care.

Oh no, I took the bait!

Mace is already absurdly good.

How on earth do you think that it’s “kinda lack luster”? Especially compared to Sword, which got nerfed into the ground (removal of Powerful Blades as a trait) at the same time Mace got a buff from Symbolic Avenger?

I saw a stream where people were doing duo Arah Path 2. They killed all the trash mobs up to Operative Belka, the first boss. Then they got her to 80% before wiping (i.e. down 20%).

Clearly since Arah Path 2 is designed for 5 players, it’s garbage content that’s not even remotely hard. It’s not challenging. The bosses have barely any mechanics at all. It’s just forcing you to run certain stuff to face roll it.

Or maybe that’s a terrible conclusion to draw. Who can tell, other than those with basic knowledge and average reasoning skills?

As a full Assassin’s Mesmer, if your group provides zero might and no banners, AND you don’t reflect anything, you have 1.2% less DPS than a full Berserker’s Mesmer. If you actually reflect attacks from foes with high power and/or your group can provide banners and stack might, you will surpass a Berserker’s Mesmer in terms of DPS (yeah, Assassin’s can be better than Berserker’s on Mesmer even if you don’t reflect anything).

This is a case of PUGs being clueless about what’s actually good.

ANET added three hearts. Two in plains of ashford, and one in caledon forest.

I’m guessing these are just hearts that existed prior to release of the game, and were removed for release. If these are actually new hearts that never existed at any development stage, I’d ask why ANET couldn’t have spent the effort on developing these new hearts in much more productive ways…

Introduction

About This Guide

This guide assumes that you, as a Guardian, are capable of making your own decisions regarding what traits to bring most of the time. If you’re unfamiliar with what meta trait setups for Guardian are, I suggest you check out Obal’s guide (http://dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/12501056-dnt-guardian-build-12715).

This guide also assumes that you are capable of making your own decisions about what roles you most need to fill as a Guardian within a given group, as well as that you’re capable of figuring out what utilities you can safely burn at various fights.

Furthermore, one thing the guide doesn’t always mention is that if you can be buffing allies with Swiftness (Staff #3), you should do that, and if you can help blast (Hammer #2) smoke fields and fire fields, you should quickly swap to hammer to do that. Consider this part of your role throughout every dungeon.

I am not telling you that you have to play in any specific way. Play how you want. If you don’t want maximum efficiency, but still want more efficiency, learn what you want from this guide and ignore the rest for all I care.

How To Use The Guide

There are a bunch of ways you could use this guide. I think one of the more effective ways would be to have it up on a second monitor, or print it, and quickly refer to it the first few times you’re running through a dungeon. This will help you create “good habits” regarding your actions and utilities, instead of possibly forgetting something and getting in the habit of doing something that’s suboptimal.

Another suggestion is that you carefully read the guide, and try and figure out what certain things are suggested. You might want to consult www.gw2dungeons.net if you’re having trouble figuring it out. If you still can’t figure it out, feel free to ask me.

Credits

Author: Zui

Proofreading and Suggestions: Ravi, modal_sole, Nonoxyl, Ted, Thaddeus

For those interested, an analysis (involving actual math instead of just feels) of tanky guardians versus berserker’s guardians in fractal trios: http://dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/23980393-analysis-tanky-guardian-worth-in-trios/post/last#last

Ascalon Catacombs Path 1

Spider Queen

Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear (especially Immobilize before Queen venom sprays, and Weakness), Aegis (Queen autoattacks to prevent weakness), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Spike Corridor Gravelings

Role: Blind (Graveling Leap), Aegis (Stalker burrow surfacing attack), Stability (Howler scram), Condition Clear, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet or Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Lieutenant Kholer
Role: Projectile Defense, Blinds (Trash), Aegis (to reduce damage if team is struggling), Stability (vs. Scorpion Wire/Pull), Condition Clear, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Hodgins Burrows Event

Role: Stability, Condition Clear (Weakness), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Purging Flames, Bane Signet, Indomitable Courage (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Second Scepter Piece Collection
Role: Pick up scepter pieces if no one else is going to do it.

Weapons: GS + Sw/F

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B)

Tunnel Skip
Role: Swiftness, Stability (vs. leaps, burrow surfacing attack), Aegis (vs. incidental attacks), Condition Clear

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus

Howling King

Role: Condition Clear (Confusion, Weakness), Stability (if adds spawn), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Purging Flames, Retreat, Feel My Wrath

Aquatic Ruins (Krait)

Not currently included in the guide. This may change if the path becomes semi-common to repeatedly PUG.

Ascalon Catacombs Path 2

Spider Queen

Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear (especially Immobilize before Queen venom sprays, and Weakness), Aegis (Queen autoattacks to prevent weakness), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Spike Corridor Gravelings
Role: Blind (Graveling Leap), Aegis (Stalker burrow surfacing attack), Stability (Howler scram), Condition Clear, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet or Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Lieutenant Kholer

Role: Projectile Defense, Blinds (Trash), Aegis (to reduce damage if team is struggling), Stability (vs. Scorpion Wire/Pull), Condition Clear, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Graveling Trap Event

Option #1: Middle Trap Method

Role: CC, DPS & Quickness (Breeder), Condition Clear (Weakness), Stability

Weapons: Hammer + Staff

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Purging Flames, Stand Your Ground, Feel My Wrath. Zeal/Radiance/Honor.

Option #2: Let Detha (mostly) Solo

Role: Condition Clear (Weakness), Pull Breeder (Torch #4 throw), Interrupt (Summon Hatchlings), DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/T

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Ghost Trap Event

Note: Before entering the chamber for this event, you can drop a Ring of Warding with your Hammer to CC the Oozes

Role: Stability (Detha), Condition Clear, Pull Mobs Together, Projectile Defense, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Ghost Eater

Role: Projectile Defense, DPS, Condition Clear, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Ascalon Catacombs Path 3

Spider Queen

Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear (especially Immobilize before Queen venom sprays, and Weakness), Aegis (Queen autoattacks to prevent weakness), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Spike Corridor Gravelings

Role: Blind (Graveling Leap), Aegis (Stalker burrow surfacing attack), Stability (Howler scram), Condition Clear, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet or Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Lieutenant Kholer

Role: Projectile Defense, Blinds (Trash), Aegis (to reduce damage if team is struggling), Stability (vs. Scorpion Wire/Pull), Condition Clear, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Essence Collection / Tomb of Lovers Burrow Event + Four Burrows Event

Role: DPS, Quickness, Stability (Four Burrows Event)

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Bane Signet, Retreat, Purging Flames or Stand Your Ground, Feel My Wrath

Colossus Rumblus

Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, Condition Clear (Weakness), Aegis (first hit of autoattack chain if stability, second hit of no stability), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground or Stand Your Ground (if expecting very short fight), Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Feel My Wrath

Caudecus Manor Path 1

Gunpowder Morgan
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, Aegis (Kick is used every ~8s), DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground (Hallowed Ground for long fights), Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet (Shield of the Avenger for long fights), Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Bloody Victoria

Role: Stability (Stun), Aegis (Backstab), Condition Removal (Bleed), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground (Hallowed Ground for long fights), Purging Flames, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Frost

Role: Projectile Defense, Try to Get Boss Aggro, Condition Clear (Chill)

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Purging Flames, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath (only if expecting a very fast fight)

Caudecus Manor Path 2

Taylor (First Room)

Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear (Immobilize), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Shield of the Avenger, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Riflemen (Second Room)
Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear (Burning), DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Shield of the Avenger, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Marius + Top of Stair Enemies

Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Bridgette + Trash

Role: DPS, Quickness, Projectile Defense (vs. Trash), Stability (vs. Trash), Aegis (Bridgette’s first attack if planning to CC)

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Turmaine

Role: Condition Clear (Chill, Weakness), Aegis (Marks), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Signet of Resolve, Bane Signet, Retreat, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Mad Martha (Kill after Turmaine)

Role: Projectile Defense, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Shield of the Avenger, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Feel My Wrath

Caudecus Manor Path 3

Sure Shot Seamus

Role: Projectile Defense (Trash, Boss with Pistol), Stability (Boss with Shotgun), Aegis (Boss with Shotgun), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Hallowed Ground, Feel My Wrath

Rocket Turrets

Role: Projectile Defense, Aegis

Weapons: NA

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Retreat, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Wahlen

Role: Projectile Defense, Pull adds (if fighting on boss), Condition Clear, Stability, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Hallowed Ground, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Feel My Wrath

Bandit Riflemen

Role: Projectile Defense, Aegis or Blind (Killshot, if reflects down), DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath

Vallog

Role: Projectile Defense, Aegis (Earth Spikes), Stability/Stunbreak (Earth Spikes), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Feel My Wrath, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B)

Twilight Arbor Forward

Note for entire path: You should be using a Staff to clear Volatile Blossoms, as necessary, during skip sections of the dungeon.

Chamber of Envy (Nightmare Vine Room)

Role: Clear Blossoms, Condition Clear, Aegis (Spit), Blind (Spit), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: Staff (Swap to GS after Blossoms clear) + M/T

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath or Renewed Focus (if expecting a very long champion fight)

Peatrot Gallery (Nightmare Court Archer Room)

Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall, of Reflection, Retreat, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Other: Do not target the archers, as this will cause them to use Evasive Trap. If you stand inside their hitbox, they do not use their Poison Volley or Binding Shot. You should go left and use Wall of Reflection at the two archers who can be cleaved if you stand between them.

Lake Of Fear (2 Champion Farm)

Role: Aegis (Spit, Leap), Condition Clear (Weakness), DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Other: The first champion of the three (Nightmare Warden w/ Hammer) is never farmed, as it is one of the most brokenly OP mobs in the game (near-zero CD on hard-hitting attacks, including Earthshaker, and boon corruption). Do not aggro.

Elite Guard (Fire Shield / Bubble Room)

Role: Aegis (entry into shields), DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath

Other: You can target these archers, as they do not have Evasive Trap. Standing inside their hitbox will prevent usage of all attacks.

Leurent + Trash

Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, Aegis (Leap, Earthshaker), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Retreat, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Other: If you are fighting on top of the boss, after the line of dialog beginning with “Pity” is said, you should use Hallowed Ground and then Wall of Reflection. After which, prepare to pull the elites to Leurent before he activates.

Nightmare Tree

Note: This Nightmare Tree has a different set of attacks than the TA: Up Nightmare Tree.

Role: Blind or Aegis (Oakheart Thump), Stability, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Retreat, Bane Signet (Stand Your Ground if fight is expected to be long), Feel My Wrath.

“It’s meant as a means to hold agony resistance for Fractals and it just happens to be a little bit more powerful”

Incorrect.

Exotics could hold AR. They made the choice for a new more powerful tier of gear for other reasons.

Ascended exists to appease the crowd who really likes spending time to get gear and who doesn’t like spending that time unless they can be “better” than other players. It also exists for some in-game economic reasons (it helps to take gold out of the economy… but there are lots of ways of accomplishing this, obviously).

Twilight Arbor Up

Note for entire path: You should be using a Staff to clear Volatile Blossoms, as necessary, during skip sections of the dungeon.

Chamber of Envy (Nightmare Vine Room)

Role: Clear Blossoms, Condition Clear, Aegis (Spit), Blind (Spit), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: Staff (Swap to GS after Blossoms clear) + M/T

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath or Renewed Focus (if expecting a very long champion fight)

Trash in Orbweaver Gallery (Malrona’s Room)

Option #1: LoSing Clearing The Room

Role: Projectile Defense, Stability (Stonetouch), CC, Condition Clear, DPS

Weapons: GS + Hammer (interchange Hammer with Staff as needed). With a higher DPS team or one with a lot of blinds, you can just go GS + M/(T or F).

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Purging Flames, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath.

Option #2: Stealth to Back of Room & Kill One Group

Role: Projectile Defense, Stability (Stonetouch), CC, Condition Clear, DPS

Weapons: GS (can use Staff #5 and swap to GS) + M/F

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Purging Flames, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Malrona

Role: Do not clear Poison, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Fyonna

Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Bane Signet or Retreat or Shield of the Avenger (if expecting a long fight), Feel My Wrath

Other: Do not drop Wall of Reflection until the boss has Defiance. If your team is not planning to Deep Freeze this boss at the start of the fight, you may want to CC the boss at the start so you can quickly drop Wall of Reflection.

Nightmare Warden + Nightmare Court Knight

Role: Stability, Aegis (Leap), Blind, Condition Clear (Weakness), DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Retreat, Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath

Nightmare Tree

Note: This Nightmare Tree has a different set of attacks than the TA: Forward Nightmare Tree.

Role: Aegis or Blind (Slam), Reflects (vs. Mortar Turrets), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Bane Signet (Shield of the Avenger if fight is expected to be long), Feel My Wrath

Twilight Arbor Atherblade

Not currently included in the guide. This may change if the path becomes semi-common to repeatedly PUG.

Sorrow’s Embrace Path 1

Impasse Mark IV

Role: Stability (Pull, Uppercut), Aegis (Uppercut), Projectile Defense, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet (Hallowed Ground if expecting a slow fight), Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Nokk

Role: Stability (Gravity Distortion), Aegis (Gravity Distortion), Projectile Defense, Condition Removal (Confusion), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/T

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath

Prototype Golems

Role: Pull (Either Binding Blades together, or lure to stack spot), Stability, Projectile Defense, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground or Hallowed Ground, Purging Flames, Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Tazza

Option #1: Tazza (Pulled away from Kaeyi)

Role: Aegis (autoattacks), Stability, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Stand Your Ground, Retreat, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Option #2: Tazza + Kaeyi (DIFFICULT)

Role: Aegis (autoattacks), Stability, Projectile Defense, Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Stand Your Ground or Shield of The Avenger, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Sorrow’s Embrace Path 2

Not currently included in the guide. This may change if the path becomes semi-common to repeatedly PUG.

Sorrow’s Embrace Path 3

General Volkov

Role: Projectile Defense, Stability (glowing Claw Smash), Aegis (glowing Claw Smash, Claw Slash with anyone at 10+ of bleeding) Condition Cleanse (Bleed), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground, Purging Flames, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Other: If stacking at the traditional spot, you may want to bring a Hammer instead of M/F. You can CC (via Ring of Warding) the mobs that come after the boss dies this way.

General Molradovich

Role: Projectile Defense, Aegis, Stability (Pull), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath

Dredge Carrier

Option #1: Melee

Role: Projectile Defense, Reposition Mobs (Binding Blades under overhang), DPS

Weapons: GS + Sc/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Bane Signet or Sanctuary, Feel My Wrath

Other: There is no reason not to melee the cart with a Guardian in the party.

Option #2: Ranged

Role: Projectile Defense, DPS

Weapons: Sc/T

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Retreat, Feel My Wrath

Champions

Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, DPS, Quickness

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Shield of the Avenger, Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

General Zadorojny

Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Hallowed Ground, Shield of the Avenger, Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Destroyer of the Worlds

Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, Aegis, Condition Clear (Optional), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Shield of the Avenger or Hallowed Ground, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C — helpful but not obligatory), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath

Citadel of Flame Path 1

Turrets + Fantatics

Role: Projectile Defense, Pull (group Fanatics w/ Binding Blades), Condition Clear (Burning), DPS

Weapons: GS + M/T

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath (don’t use)

Note: You want to use Feel My Wrath on the Slave Driver, not here. It is more valuable on the Slave Driver, and additionally, completing this event faster than about 9 seconds will cause the entire path to bug out.

Slave Driver

Role: Aegis (Leap), Projectile Defense (vs. Effigy if long fight), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames (Shield of the Avenger if long fight), Feel My Wrath

Effigy

Role: Stability (Crystal attack), Projectile Defense (Shockwave), Aegis (Flame Burst), Quickness, DPS

Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)

Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Feel My Wrath