Guild Wars 2

Hey Fellow PvPers!

The last 2v2 cup of the year is just a few hours away and would like some participants who are strong enough to fight for the 2000 gems prize moneh!
Take a time off your Random Arena queuing and enjoy a game with a teammate you can actually coordinate with properly.

SIGN UP:
https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-128-europe/

PRIZES:
1st Prize: 2000gemmers
2nd Prize: 800gemmers

FYi: I’m talking about the Rewards tracks that have their own specific tab, not the ones tied to pips.

As a quality of life update, I think reward tracks a few things to make them more streamlined:

- The ability to set which reward track starts after a previous one finishes
- A notification when a reward track ends
- And most importantly, the ability to set a reward track on automatic repeat.

Of course this stuff isn’t urgently needed but it’s just one of those things that would smooth out the reward tracks.

I don’t feel at any disadvantage playing with core necro. Heck it’s one of the reasons I’m in Platinum right now.

When leveraging the core professions, you just need to know where their strenghts are. And you can easily do it and even carry with them.

I was playing P/Sh Tri-kit condi Scrapper. The only problem I have with playing condi scrapper instead of condi necro or condi mesmers is that, I don’t necessarily create openings for my teammates when I play that build.

There are so many boon based classes running around that playing my Terrormancer necro just turns fights. And I can’t underestimate that value. And Mesmer either Moas, drops portal or uses Gravity Well x2

So if anet truly wants to give Engies something else to do, they will either give us a way to become unblockable for a few seconds OR give us a way to strip boons other than to use throw mine.

Blackdagger.9670:

I’ve said this earlier, now I feel I have to say it again. PvP designers must part their ways with this game. Seriously, I am not saying this because I am angry. This game requires fresh&new&quality improvement, and all we find is a backward movie of 1 year’s ago.
If I have to describe the newmatchmaking system, I think “feces” is the most harmless word I would pick.

Ranked matchmaking is full of utter “feces” now. This MMR and skill-rating based system, mixing things up with pve players who are in also ranked arena for the new rewards. The players like me who have been playing this game for long, are having the same issue. Since our total game count is big, matchmaking system calculates the TOTAL matches I have played so far since the day I started this game. If you are in the range of %50 to %60 win ratio, system immediatly thinks you are just another avarage joe and matches you with other pve plebs. It’s not my fault I spent the first two years of pvping in this game with %50 win ratio, and its so hard to make it increase since the total game count is too big. But matchmaking MMR system just sees the surface of it and makes you suffer by forcing you to play with total clueless guys. If you are insisting this game’s pvp always will be based of 5v5 conquest mode, then you haveto make sure you set the best matchmaking system that FITS and APPLIES to anyone. This game is already 4.5 years old and it just can’t be used as a guinea pig. We are sick and tired of it.

I have 9k game count and today in ranked arena, a necro in my team tried to rush to kill enemy lord that we already had killed 4 minutes earlier. Yes, he pinged like crazy and actually went there. Also, another game I get the guys who curses me in team chat cuz I am not killing early beasts in Forest map. Result? Ofcourse we lose like 500-100 in best sceneario. Seriously dear designers, thanks for this total “feces” pvp arrangement. You just made this game horrible.

I am not even gonna mention how a terrible idea adding Skyhammer to ranked arena, or making competitive ranked arena gives repeatable new rewards so that pve players can grind and grind without caring lose or win.

Your calculations of matchmaking rating stinks, your understanding of pvp is gross. It is time for Anet to take action and get the necessary but late alterations. I am truly sorry if my words are harsh but I believe somebody has to say it. We did not forget what a disgusting era season 1 is . You are, basically just resurrecting it once again.

But I also have a 50% win ratio and I worked my way to Platinum from Gold… soooo even if you’re forced to have a 50% win ratio you can still climb…. slowly

Fighting Mesmers:
It’s very difficult to fight mesmers as a Reaper but here are a few tips.

STEP 1: TURN OFF YOUR AUTO-ATTACK. Learn to start pressing your auto-attack yourself. This will make sure you’re not taking unnecessary damage from confusion.

- If they burst you, transfer conditions to their phantasms. It’s alot faster than transfering it to them.

- Be Patient but quick to act. They’ve got so many skills do go invulnerable so you have to really pay attention to your opportunities. There’s a frame before they go into Blurred Frenzy that you can use to your advantage and when they finish blurred frenzy, you have to wait an extra millisecond to hit them because the evade frame lasts a tiny bit longer than the animation.

- And when they decide to block, Fear them if you’re running Soul Marks in Soul Reaping, but if you’re running the meta build then Warhorn is better for getting through blocks.

- Land CC on them and expect them to use Distortion, if they don’t immediately distort, then punish them for that.

- If you go into deathshroud, make sure you have a couple of dodges handy or that you can get yourself away from line of sight because, they will probably immob you and moa you.

- Placing a fear mark on yourself when the Mesmer uses illusionary Leap. This will either make them leap into a feared clone or make them leap into a fear mark.

- Always dodge when their block is about to end. Their block (a pink bubble around the mesmer) lasts for 2seconds and creates a clone if they have perfect line of sight or if you don’t dodge or if they aren’t blinded. So, if you dodge right at the end of it, you will prevent the clone creation. This apparently reduces a lot of their dps.

- Always keep in mind what Signets are active on the mesmer. If the mesmer has 2 signets on their health bar, it means they haven’t used Moa yet and they haven’t used Signet of Illusions yet. Once they’ve used Signet of illusions AND their Continuum split, you can them easily condi bomb them.

- If you ever decide that you want to use Spectral Wall. it’s actually quite fun to use against a mesmer. If a mesmer approaches you with staff, just place the spectral wall in between you and the mesmers clones, the mesmers clones will continually bounce off the spectral wall, allowing you to condi bomb them. Just make sure to also watch what the mesmer is doing as well so that you can prevent all the other things I mentioned above. Condi bombing the clones, will obviously prevent a lot the effects that the mesmer wishes to execute.

I forced myself to play till I broke the cycle of pain. I’m out of Gold now. Time to fight to stay in Platinum.

Xca.9721:

1st world problems

DUde! This is srs bsns! The algorithm might need a looking at maybe.

I use Corrosive Poison Cloud. Works pretty well.

So here’s the conspiracy:

Why is it that every time I get close to going out of Gold, the algorithm pairs me with absolutely awesome people ?

And it’s not just today either, it’s happened EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Even when I manage to hit platinum I get paired up with some really good players. It’s nice to know that I might just get smacked down to gold again even if I just leveled up.

Oh snap, as I type this, it’s actually happening again. It’s crazy!!!!! It’s a conspiracy I tells ya! A conspiracy!!

Spartacus.3192:

Dirame.8521:

So what you’re saying is, we should do away with the placement matches because random queues aren’t an accurate representation of skill no matter how you slice it, and have people climb from bronze instead?

I can dig that.

It would still be a fair system. People who are bad will get stuck at some point and good players will win more often than not. Would actually make the climb to legend more like a fight.

Except they did that in Season 1 (or was it 2 also) and the rivers of tears from Ambers complaining they were matched against ESL players were biblical. Also Pro players complained it was boring having to stomp ambers just to get to their correct division.

So basically can’t win either way. Yeap, this system is good. Let’s leave it at that.

spartan.9421:

The only people who don’t realize that this new pvp system is incredibly flawed are the ones who haven’t been screwed over by this new system. (And, no, I’m not saying this because i am bad at the game, and no, i do not need to “git gud” the new system needs to “git gud”).

I’ve talked with players who don’t know left from right end up in gold or plat due to getting lucky on their first 10 rating matches, and i know people who end up in bottom tier bronze when they should be much higher due to getting unlucky in the first 10 rating matches. People need to quit saying the this new system is great just because they didn’t get screwed over by it. (Oh but I’m sure nobody is going to listen to me because I’m actually being honest about the system and pointing out that it’s flawed!)

Here’s the thing; if someone who PvPs on a daily bases and knows the ins and outs of every map, knows the rotations like the back of their hand, and is generally good at all things PvP, yet still gets stuck in bronze and unable to leave while NEW PLAYERS get instantly put into silver, something is definitely wrong.

And the fact that there are no team queues the whole system is less about skill and more about luck. Basically it boils down to if you get lucky enough to have teammates who aren’t completely incompetent and will actually communicate. Sure, gold tier and up might not be like that, but the other tiers are.

Good PvPers who genuinely want to improve and want to climb the ranks simply can’t unless they get lucky, and people don’t realize that! A good player can only carry so much when the odds are stacked so high against them.

Btw, Kat/OP you can not judge an entire season TWO days after it comes out, especially when you get lucky enough to skip bronze, silver, and half of gold.

So what you’re saying is, we should do away with the placement matches because random queues aren’t an accurate representation of skill no matter how you slice it, and have people climb from bronze instead?

I can dig that.

It would still be a fair system. People who are bad will get stuck at some point and good players will win more often than not. Would actually make the climb to legend more like a fight.

Meh I’m okay with being placed in high gold as long as my matches are fair. And so far, depending on the time of day I play (avoid prime time like the plague i tells ya!) it’s been pretty fair. And I’ve been enjoying my time, even though that one guy in my last match started cleaving when he clearly could’ve stomped and we would have won that 2v2!!!!!! #stillsalty

Anyway, I think win streaks should definitely play a part in the system. For instance it should multiply the speed in which your rating progresses. Something like x 0.5 more rating for every win after 2 wins.

As a Necro; Use Corrosive Poison cloud or just play this build when there’s more than 1 DH on the enemy team.

As a Warrior; Use Signet of Might. GG.

Madman.6912:

Dirame.8521:

Madman.6912:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Everyone got a rating reset, at least wait until you place.

That’s a great idea, so basically it is up to total luck during your placement games, whether rng will be on your side and not the other team’s to determine your placement.
The problem with soul destroying games is that they are … soul destroying… a few like that in a supposedly improved system will quickly make me not caring and just tag along not even trying… because.. you know, what’s the point? I actually wanted to have some games before the new horizon stream but I just finished the 2nd game and it wasnt any better… already in a bad mood….

No.1: You care too much about winning in a game that doesn’t affect your real life in any meaningful way

No.2: You are complaining about a system that is pretty much a dice roll which you knew it was before pressing the queue button.

My conclusion is, if you don’t like soloq and you find it frustrating, don’t play soloq.

Where did I mention winning or losing in that comment exactly? I have re-read it 5 times now and all I can see is complains about blowout games. I don’t mind losing 450-500, I DO mind losing 100-500, but than again I DO mind winning 500-100 as well, because it is not an enjoyable game

In that regard I feel your pain. It’s seems to be a situation where you just have to fight to get out of your loop.

I’ve been playing Condi Scrapper with the new amulet. The enemies I’m fighting currently don’t give me much trouble as long as I execute the appropriate tactics to defeat them. I can even beat the average mesmer believe it or not.

HAHAHA! Here we go again. It’s always everyone else’s fault that you’re losing, not because you or your random selection of teammates might have been bad…

Jockum.1385:

Dirame.8521:

Should this even be a discussion? A reward is a reward is a reward is a reward. If you can’t get it, you bloody well can’t get it.

There are different kinds of rewards ingame.
For example raid players would not be amused if you would get the same rewards for doing dailies. But “a reward is a reward is a reward”, right?
Handing out the wrong rewards can wreck reward structures. This, for example, happend with GW2 emotes. They are too easy to get resulting in no prestige. While GW1 emotes are very prestigious.

It makes sense to differentiate rewards. It’s a bad idea to hand out the same rewards for every activity. AP are targeted towards “play everything a bit” completionists. APs don’t target ESL-PVP players.

Anet could reward, for example, the top players with a permanent symbol (similar as the league symbol) at their nametag. Or with other useful stuff as skins, gems, gold, auras or emotes.

It’s a bad idea to mix up rewards. Top PVP Players also deserve exclusive rewards.
AP are a bad reward for a top pvp player who doesn’t care too much about AP (probably most/all of them). At the same time it causes trouble because it wrecks the motivation of completionists. And it will become even worse with each new season.

So: separate both systems. Find a better, more meaningful reward for top pvp players. And let the APs be achievable by everyone to cater to completionists – as in the past 4 years.

It is NOT a bad idea to hand out the same rewards for every activity. All I’m hearing from you is “We AP hoarders are like crony capitalists, we only care about things WE can achieve as long as WE can achieve them. If we can’t achieve it then NO ONE ELSE CAN! MUHAHAHAH!!”

There’s nothing wrong with not being able to get some 42 achievement points in PvP because you’re not a PvPer, there is ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY nothing wrong with that.

But then again, it matters not if PvPers get AP or if they don’t get AP. The titles and whatever other rewards are enough.

Madman.6912:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Everyone got a rating reset, at least wait until you place.

That’s a great idea, so basically it is up to total luck during your placement games, whether rng will be on your side and not the other team’s to determine your placement.
The problem with soul destroying games is that they are … soul destroying… a few like that in a supposedly improved system will quickly make me not caring and just tag along not even trying… because.. you know, what’s the point? I actually wanted to have some games before the new horizon stream but I just finished the 2nd game and it wasnt any better… already in a bad mood….

No.1: You care too much about winning in a game that doesn’t affect your real life in any meaningful way

No.2: You are complaining about a system that is pretty much a dice roll which you knew it was before pressing the queue button.

My conclusion is, if you don’t like soloq and you find it frustrating, don’t play soloq.

Evan Lesh.3295:

We are discussing this internally.

Hm….

Should this even be a discussion? A reward is a reward is a reward is a reward. If you can’t get it, you bloody well can’t get it. It’s like complaining that you can’t get the Liadri mini because the boss you have to fight is too hard so they should nerf the difficulty. The Liadri mini is a prestige item and the titles are on that same level. If you can’t play long enough to get it, suck it up, there’s always next season.

I mean come on! There are so many titles and ways to get Achievzies in this game, it shouldn’t matter how many points you get from acquiring some meaningless name and ON TOP OF THAT you’re trying to take away rewards from people who don’t normally get rewards.

I say leave it as is.

Evan Lesh.3295:

OlrunTheBlade.1486:

What the hell? This patch comes with bugs?

I’m guessing at least 2.

Roaches and bedbugs or Lice and mosquitoes?

I personally prefer lice and mosquitoes. They don’t multiply as fast.

Awaken brethren!

Tis’ a new season and a new season brings great tidings! Today we shall have a 2on2 battle where you can win gems whilst testing out your new builds. Don’t be a badly mixed ginger ale! Sign-up and maybe you’ll win some gemmers!

PRIZES (if we get 8 teams):
1st Place: 2000 gems
2nd Place: 800 gems

SIGN-UP:
https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-127-europe/

STREAMED AT: http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

This is my PvP Power Necro build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhOD7kjGoaTslGwzGgeTsgLYTZhmQVI+K2FDjQXtAQLA-TZBFQBP4BAAv9HAwVAYBHEgAWGAA

This build isn’t going to win ALL 1v1s BUT you have all the tools to do so. At the moment I’ve beaten quite a few mesmers (not necessarily amazing mesmers) as long as I can dodge or interrupt the Moas and I can go right through their blocks for their faces. You have an easy time against Trap DH as well as Revs if you can dodge their main burst attacks. But you’re weak against thieves because most of your attacks are slow but you can beat them with Axe deeps, Warriors if they have stability and Druids because they can out-sustain you.

You’ll have good sustain in 1v1s as long as you can land the Soul Spiral and Death’s Charge. If you don’t land Soul Spiral/Death’s charge your sustain is severely cut.

If a class has 2 particular skills that make them super effective, it’s only a matter of time before it gets nerfed. They didn’t nerf the auto-attack on staff or sword so… meh.

Rev won’t down people as fast anymore BUT, they will still be a force to be reckoned with because they are still really good at being there when needed whilst also being able to stay alive. As many people have said, they have some of the best parts of Warrior and Thief.

Junior.3928:

Awesome changes to necro, great job

Ha!

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Dirame.8521:

Increasing the effectiveness of Restorative Illusions seems like a mistake to me considering how Mesmers are quite effective as it stands. I do hope there’s more to the Engie changes, I’m looking forward to reading the tuesday patch notes.

It’s a nerf if they don’t take healing power.

I see. It seems I misunderstood what the percentage modifiers meant.

Increasing the effectiveness of Restorative Illusions seems like a mistake to me considering how Mesmers are quite effective as it stands. I do hope there’s more to the Engie changes, I’m looking forward to reading the tuesday patch notes.

Hello fellow people who like to pelvic thrust when they win!

It’s another Tuesday and you know what time it is! ESL 2v2uesday! the only place where teamwork truly counts. The cup starts in approx 3hrs so please click the sign up link below if you’re interested and let’s get this party STARTED!!!!!!!!

PRIZES:
1st Place: 2000 gems if we get 8 teams
2nd Place: 800 gems if we get 8 teams

SIGN UP: https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-126-europe/

TWITCH STREAM: http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

If you’re reading this at 7pm GMT then you’re definitely too late.

Just 4 hrs till the Cup starts!

GET YOUR SIGN UPS IN BRETHREN!!!

PS: If this post is 4hrs old then you’re probably too late.

WEEKLY CUP 125 IS TODAY! ARRGH! STARTS IN 4HRS!! ARGGH!! If you’re reading this at 7pm GMT Tuesday then you’re probably too late.

PvP is boring at the moment so why not sign up for some 2v2 Team up battles? Spice up your tuesday evening by grabbing your closest girlfriend or boy-friend or Sexually ambiguous friend and do battle, improve your skills and cry for mom when you get beaten.

SIGN UPS, RULES, PRIZES: https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-125-europe/

And if you can’t participate but just want to watch the games whilst listening to some of the best casting this side of the Meridian

• STREAMED/CASTED ON TWITCH:
  http://www.twitch.tv/ceimash

Sazdek.6830:

And sadly enough, nobody in the community has the knowledge/time/other excuse here to really put out a decent alternative to metabattle, so really it’s all we have. Forums are notoriously barren, especially in regards to discussing what works/what doesn’t. Subreddits are even more so less populated.

I suppose I really don’t get how the game can have this many players but so few theorycrafters and build makers. Is it a fault of anet for making very few possible viable builds for all the classes? Is it our fault for being lazy? Who the hell knows.

Even if someone was to put decent effort into a build, most won’t play it. Most would rather play what’s on metabattle because that’s what the champs play.

That’s not to say that there aren’t Engi’s out there who would gladly buck the trend but, right now I don’t think there’s any significant way to buck the trend.

Heyo Fellow PvPers!

The weekly 2v2 is in about 15minutes as I post this (because I forgot today was tuesday, DON’T BLAME ME I WAS HOLIDAY FOR THIS WEEKEND!) so sign up quick!! If You’ve got a friend, grab them and shake them wildly till they agree to join you in the 2v2 weekly.

SIGN UP HERE: https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-124-europe/rankings/

By 7pm sign ups will be closed.

You can catch the matches that are being played here on Twitch: twitch.tv/ceimash

Hey guys!

The ESL 2 on 2 EU Weekly is in a few hours! If you’re looking to beat the GW2 boredom, why not jump in for some 2 v 2 action!

SIGN UP HERE: https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-123-europe/

If you’re reading this after 7pm GMT, then you’re too late.

ToL wasn’t taken seriously by any of the top teams. It isn’t a good measure of what teams are going to be using in their comps.

kdaddy.5431:

Its pretty clear there is not a place for thief and warrior in the elite PvP scene which is probably 4-5 teams. You can also see that there is very little room for team comps.

There is plenty of room for team comps. There is plenty of room for experimentation. The difference between Pro teams and non-pro teams is practice and experience. They have experience fighting good Thieves and fighting good warriors and fighting good mesmers, so therefore if Thijsken holds a 2v1 it’s not only because his build is good, it’s also because he’s actually been in that situation many times and he knows how to handle it.
So if the other players are playing whatever build they are playing, they would have to know how to use that build EFFECTIVELY against Thijsken in order to be able to down him fast.

kdaddy.5431:

helseth was literally listing off the reasons players shouldnt be doing such and such. You were talking rotations, about how EU did it better but its still the same thing. Helseth was literally saying how you make the thief unviable in the current meta which once again forces the 5 vs 5 zergs with the 5 vs 5 zerg comp.

So let’s say blue team tries to force a 5v5, is red team obligated to take that 5v5 or can’t they just out-rotate the people trying to force the 5v5? Is there just 1 tactic in the game or are there not any counters?
Kdaddy, just watch how the good players rotate and you’ll understand that “zerging” is just one phase of the whole dynamic. There are too many factors at play in a game to say “Oh, this one tactic, boom, that’s the best.” If you do that, then you’re not going to be good at GW2.

Reaper Alim.4176:

AHAHAAHAHAHA. I know right! That’s what I’ve been telling people. I still remember the days in PvP where if your team zerged yall automatically lost. But ANet has made GW2 even more social and casual then took away most of the skill that used to be required to PvP. Now the casual zerglings win most of the matches. Then people still try to tell others that bold face lie that GW2 is competitive and skill based. LEL

Watching a match is very different from playing in a match, you can say “pff that’s easy” until you actually get in there and get your fists dirty.

It takes skill to get rotations right and even to get the zerg right. 1 false move and 4 people could wipe 5, 3 people could wipe 5, etc etc because the game IS about skill. If you’re prone to throwing your hands up every time you’re outnumbered, you’ll never be able to win in those outnumbered situations.

You can take a look at EU’s ability to out-rotate and counter each other as a plain example of this game requiring quick decisions and forethought.

Krysard.1364:

Nec is considered as a low skill floor class in a sPvP environment. In 1v1s the skill difference between other classes is reduced, even tho i would say nec is still easier to get good at than most classes. Mastering it is hard tho, but u can say the same from pretty much any other class, so… Theres always room for improvement, but its more given by the combat system than nec itself imo

Considering how many people complain about Necros being weak, it seems it’s just your know-how that’s making you feel that Necros are easy to pick-up.

As a person who started out playing Guardian and then going to engie and then Necro, I can tell you it does take a bit of getting used to, when it comes to managing two health bars and knowing how to move between them and knowing the appropriate moments to do so.

No matter what Anet does or what they add, there will simply be a spike in population for a short time and then a drop.
When a major tournament is introduced, there is always huge participation so in 2013/2014, ToL was fresh, ESL 5v5s were booming etc but as time goes on, players will get bored and not feel the need to participate in ANOTHER ToL with the same rewards.

If anet wants to make ToL successful, they need to do it every year and make the rewards unique to each year. This is so that even the people who win ToL 1 will want to play in ToL5 when they see the rewards. A bit like the Eve Online Tournaments where they give out special issue ships for that tournament alone.

But anyway, probably just talking to the wind again. Arenanet does what arenanet does.

Cecilia.5179:

I feel like we’ve returned to the pre hot necro that died fast and accomplished relatively little. I’d really like to see improvements soon.
Why was terrormancer never fixed? A few merges of redundant traits would have made it work again.

If you think Terrormancer is dead…. are you sure you’ve been playing Necro?

Today’s another ESL 2v2 Cup. If you’re interested in just sparring with some fun people, you should jump in.

If you’re reading this at or after 7pm GMT/6pm CET then you’re probably too late.

SIGN UP:
https://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/open/2on2-weekly-cup-121-europe/

Saiyan.1704:

If you think it’s a fun build then it doesn’t matter what our opinions are.

If you’re asking whether or not it’s good compared to meta power dh, it’s not, and that goes for all guardian burn builds. Other classes do it better and your soft counters in tpvp just increased from 3 to 5.

You can use almost any build and grind your way to Legendary.

It doesn’t matter that you got to Legendary but it matters how many matches it takes you to get to legendary.

And in reply to the topic. There have been tons of burn builds over the years and a lot of them are quite similar to yours. All you need to do is just google them to make sure you’re not re-posting.

I don’t know how to fight in WvW so this might be a bad idea but, I’ve had good success with Axe/Warhorn and Greatsword.

Spite/Blood Magic/Reaper

It might just be the people I’m fighting but, there’s something to be said about the procs on Spite being kinda OP.

Fighting NECROMANCERs:
This fight is literally, who has/uses their transfers first.
- Spam condis and make them use their condi transfers first. Dodge their condi transfers and GG.

Fighting RANGERs:
- Spam condis and CC on them till they decide to use Rampage as one.
- When they use Rampage as one, place the corruption well beneath their butts, and chain strip boons off of them like they were a clothing shop giving out free t-shirts of your favourite band. They will probably either be dead or close to dead when you do this perfectly.
- Other tips include, using Death’s Charge to block the projectiles from the Bristleback and making sure to dodge right after the Smokeskale does his blink strike just to avoid the annoying knockdown.

Fighting REVENANTs:
Their burst is crazy but now that they can’t spam stability like it’s going out of style, we might have a higher chance of winning.

STEP 1: Place a fear mark on yourself if they are far away from you (this is a staple of mine for any class that teleports). This will make sure that if they decide to use Phase Transversal, they eat a load of fear. Chain that into anything you’d like.

- If you don’t have a fear mark, try to time your dodge, if you don’t have a dodge, enter deathshroud and if you don’t have deathshroud, then you should probably start running. And that last part is not a joke, just leave and go somewhere else. If you don’t have any cooldowns (and this advice is for any and every fight you find yourself in), just leave the fight unless you really need to hold the point or if you know someone is coming to support.

- When they use Unrelenting Assault, dodge it once and save your second dodge for Precision Strike (Precision strike is a small spin attack that spits out 3 projectiles), if you don’t have the luxury of dodges, just wait for UA to finish and daze their Precision Strike with Warhorn, or place a fear mark on yourself as soon as it ends. You can also use Death’s Charge to block Precision Strike.
Sometimes they don’t use Precision Strike after Unrelenting, they sometimes use it randomly so look for that slight body twist animation so that you know when to dodge.

- Surge of the Mists is another painful attack so making sure to dodge that will also do you wonders. It’s not a very well telegraphed ability, you just have to hope that you can see it coming.

Fighting Thieves:
Very difficult, it’s a matter of crazy timing if you manage to beat a thief as a Reaper. You can beat them as a Core Necro but lower chance as a Reaper because all your major attacks are telegraphed.

- Stay in staff for as much as you can when fighting thieves. Staff is your best friend when fighting thieves because it will let you know when they are approaching you in stealth. Just put one useless mark on yourself (Mark of Blood), and wait for the thieves trip it, once they trip it, you know that you have to dodge.

- When you manage to place a good amount of condis on them, don’t keep attacking. Remember that Thieves remove condis every time they dodge so, just like with the mesmers, turn off your auto attack so that you don’t mistakenly cleanse that 10 stacks of torment you just managed to land on them. (I just stow my weapons when I land a good stack of condis on them).

- Also make sure to watch for their heal, it can easily be interrupted if they are using it whilst they are next to you.

- They can only spam 4 headshots in quick succession so after 4 headshots, you can go for that heal.

Fighting Warriors:
Fighting Warriors is actually a lot easier than people realize. The hardest warrior to fight is the Greatsword Warrior, this is due to, not just the evades but the GS burst skill in Berserker form. The GS burst skill has a large radius and a quick animation so, it’s really hard to dodge but there’s a slight telegraph.

- Always dodge right after the Warrior uses Whirlwind attack (this is the move where they spin with their sword toward you). This will allow you to, 90% of the time, also evade Arc Divider which is the Greatsword Berserker burst skill. Also dodge right after they use Rush on you, which is the skill that has them charging right at you with the Greatsword.

- You can either, run away when the warrior using Zerker stance (the skill that gives them resistance) and return when it runs out or you can place a corruption well under them and convert their stability repeatedly so that they can’t counter you.

- You can either, decide to eat the condi they throw at you so that you can throw it back at them whilst corrupting their resistance boon, or you can dodge the burst skills preventing yourself from taking the damage making them kinda useless at fighting you.

- When they block, like all the other classes before, you can hit through their block with Soul marks/Staff or Warhorn, that is, if they don’t have the passive that gives them stability on CC of course.

Fighting Elementalist:
- Pressure them so that they use most of their cleanses at the start

- Strip their boons, especially regeneration and protection

- Always interrupt their Water Overcharge (when they float in a bubble)

- Let them hit you with the immob and bleeds when they are doing their Earth Overcharge (this is the Floaty rock thing) so you can just transfer it back and condi bomb them.

- Keep in mind that they can go invulnerable for a few seconds with obsidian flesh so always get ready to stop spamming when they use that.

Fighting Engies:
Apart from the obvious stuff, here are few things you should know:
- Don’t let them hit you with Electro-Whirl (it’s actually their highest damage attack on hammer)

- Try to continuously corrupt the Engie’s boons (regeneration and swiftness). This will drop their sustain.

- Put condis on them but expect them to cleanse when they are near 50% health

- When they cleanse, you can then put more condi bomb pressure on them.

- They’ll enter Elixir S or stealth when they are feeling the pressure and if they stealth with stealth Gyro, just condi bomb the gyro, or use the gyro as a way to gain deathshroud with your staff Auto.

Fighting Guardians:
- Stay off point. NEVER get close.

- Place the fear mark on yourself so that WHEN they teleport to you, they instantly get feared (this fear mark will work better if you’re using Soul Marks in the Soul Reaping line because then your mark will go through blocks)

- Use your Reaper Shrouds Death’s Charge to block projectiles when you can’t dodge. You can Death’s charge away from the Dragonhunter if you don’t want to get close.

- Save your stability for when they teleport to you with a trap.

- Always be ready to dodge their pull (Spear of Justice). If they hit you with Spear of Justice, instantly enter Reaper Shroud and pop stability, if you don’t have stability, using death’s charge away from them will get you out of range of the pull.

- If they pop stability or convert all your conditions to boons, you can place a well of corruption under them to make them pay for their insolence

Fighting Mesmers:
It’s very difficult to fight mesmers as a Reaper but here are a few tips.

STEP 1: TURN OFF YOUR AUTO-ATTACK. Learn to start pressing your auto-attack yourself. This will make sure you’re not taking unnecessary damage from confusion.

- If they burst you, transfer conditions to their phantasms. It’s alot faster than transfering it to them.

- Be Patient but quick to act. They’ve got so many skills do go invulnerable so you have to really pay attention to your opportunities. There’s a frame before they go into Blurred Frenzy that you can use to your advantage and when they finish blurred frenzy, you have to wait an extra millisecond to hit them because the evade frame lasts a tiny bit longer than the animation.

- And when they decide to block, Fear them if you’re running Soul Marks in Soul Reaping, but if you’re running the meta build then Warhorn is better for getting through blocks.

- Land CC on them and expect them to use Distortion, if they don’t immediately distort, then punish them for that.

- If you go into deathshroud, make sure you have a couple of dodges handy or that you can get yourself away from line of sight because, they will probably immob you and moa you.

- Placing a fear mark on yourself when the Mesmer uses illusionary Leap. This will either make them leap into a feared clone or make them leap into a fear mark.

- Always dodge when their block is about to end. Their block (a pink bubble around the mesmer) lasts for 2seconds and creates a clone if they have perfect line of sight or if you don’t dodge or if they aren’t blinded. So, if you dodge right at the end of it, you will prevent the clone creation. This apparently reduces a lot of their dps.

- Always keep in mind what Signets are active on the mesmer. If the mesmer has 2 signets on their health bar, it means they haven’t used Moa yet and they haven’t used Signet of Illusions yet. Once they’ve used Signet of illusions AND their Continuum split, you can them easily condi bomb them.

You should try playing against the actual PvP players in the Anet dev team. Those guys are nothing to scuff at.

I’m busy trying to figure out how we might need to play differently to make bomb kit work. I’m sure someone out there has figured it out possibly…

SlaveIITheGame.3692:

But my necro is charr

As a PvE Necro using full Vipers, you can get up to 97% condition duration. Combine this with Chaarzooka, and I think you’ll can probably do fine, if not better than your Sylvari friend.

Chaarzooka applies 5 stacks of burning on the No.5 Skill and burning on the auto-attack.

fruitbat.8705:

I have played off and on since launch and now coming back I have a lot of time to play. The thing is I love pvp in mmos and this game kills me. I play a necro but looking to switch ( cause apperently i can play this class.). I jump in spvp and just get destroyed without being able to touch people at all. im using good build from metabattle and ones i know and i know my class. but icant kill anyone and i die instantly . What do i need to do to get better or understand this games pvp.

HOW I LEARNED TO PLAY NECRO

STEP 1: Watch other people play

STEP 2: Make a build that allows you to generate a ton of deathshroud.

STEP 3: Go into hot-join and always go to the outnumbered team, TEST YOUR MIGHT and see how long you last when outnumbered. The more you learn about how deal with multiple enemies, the better you’ll be at being a necro.

STEP 4: Repeat Step 3. You are now better than 85% of people that play Necro.

Manuhell.2759:

And how many of these other ones you mentioned require scrapper?

The fact that the trait works well with the core skills and Scrapper skills makes the trait even more useful. Why would you complain that you don’t need scrapper to use dazes? I thought everyone was complaining that the Elite specs were too powerful and should be toned down so that the core specs could be more useful?

Manuhell.2759:

And before this patch we had 11 ways to put dazes, then. More than half got removed in a single sweep.

What are you going to do with 11 dazes anyway? 5 dazes are fine. We’ve got a ton of CC outside of Dazes as it stands anyway so complaining about this is just silly.

The reality is and the reality remains that when I decide to use Impact Savant and Expert Examination, I can get the full benefit from it. With core skills AND with the Scrapper skills.

Listen, I’m the guy who complains about the explosives line being a waste of space so if a trait is truly useless, I would be the first to back you up. I’m more inclined to agree with the guildabd that the trait should be merged with Impact Savant. It would improve it’s usefulness.

For me, Axe buff makes me kinda more painful to deal with.