The content in this article originates from the official Guild Wars site (guildwars.com), the Guild Wars Wiki (guildwiki.org), other miscellaneous forum posts and articles on the net, and my personal experience. This guide is intended to be used by any player wishing to try out the GvG (guild vs guild) experience in Guild Wars - both beginners and experts alike.
Enjoy! :)
Tudy, Dudele Dulci [CGR] Leader
Romanian Alliance Leader
Ingame name: "T U D Y"
Orthias, Dudele Dulci [CGR] Officer
Ingame name: "O R T H I A S"
Guild combat is some of the best gameplay Guild Wars has to offer. Part of its appeal, in my opinion, is that it involves two teams on equal footing with the same objective: killing the Guild Lord. Even though Heroes Ascent offers a variety of different forms of combat, from capture the flag to king of the hill, I still find GvG to be a bit more "tactical". Typically, however, there are numerous outside variables that can affect a certain match. HA can be an exciting and fun place to compete, but in my opinion guild combat is where the most all-around talented groups will shine.
Back to summaryA few things should be pointed out about general rules for guild combat. First, if you are dead you will automatically be resurrected every time the game clock reaches an even-numbered minute. For example, resurrections (including the Guild Thief but no other NPCs) are done map-wide at 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 6 minutes, etc on the game clock. If your Death Penalty is at -60% (the lowest point you can get your DP at) you cannot be resurrected by the Resurrection Shrine and can only be resurrected by another party member. The only way to win in a guild battle is when one of the Guild Lords is killed or if a team completely quits the match. There is a flag stand in the center, which will accept the flag from either team. Once planted, a timer is started. Every 2 minutes the team controlling this flag stand will receive a Morale Boost of 10%, up to a maximum of 10% above base stats.
Each team starts inside their base. The Guild Lord resides at the back of the base, defended by a Bodyguard, which is a powerful Elementalist, and two Knights. The Guild Thief also starts here. Scattered around the base are various Archer NPCs with several others standing outside the main gate (on certain maps). Somewhere around there is the Resurrection Shrine and the team's flag. The base is usually completely enclosed, with two entrances/exits (although this might differ on some maps). The main exit is the quickest path to the center, while the "side" exits lead to a path around the outside of the map. Each gate has levers on each side that can open the gate (there are some maps without gates, too). Inside, levers can be used by anyone at any time. Outside, levers can only be used by the members from that base, or by the opposing team if they have their Guild Thief with them. The Guild Thief is an NPC that will follow you much like the Hero does in HA. The only way inside an enemy's keep is through use of the Guild Thief, rushing in when opened by the opposing team or an ally operating the lever from the inside.
Back to summary"Victory or Death!", unlike other shouts, affects everyone on the map. It is used by guild NPCs in guild matches when a match lasts longer than 20 minutes. At this time, the guild NPCs abandon the Guild Lord and move to the Flag Tower, using "Victory or Death!" whenever they are within shout range of any ally not currently under its effect. If the battle lasts 5 minutes longer (25 minutes total) the Guild Lords will also move towards the center and use this shout. This shout is designed to end the battle quickly while not biasing the match toward either team. When all the non-player characters have gathered at the flag stand to engage in one final battle, the effects of VoD make the AoE spells of the Bodyguards very lethal. Guilds should try to keep their Bodyguard alive as long as possible even if it doesn't look like they have much of an advantage. Maps with catapults also come into play here because it is possible to bombard an entire enemy NPC group as it charges to the front gate. Often teams will hold out until this point so they can simultaneously catapult multiple NPCs.
The overall number of NPCs is most important at VoD time in a Guild Battle. If a match has gone this far, then teams benefit greatly from having more NPCs than their opponent. An NPC numbers advantage means one side has a higher damage output at the flag stand, which translates into a much better chance of winning.
The 20-minutes "Victory or Death!" mark also signifies that you only have five minutes left until the Guild Lord makes his way to the flag stand. Guilds will have to beware of potential side ganks and surprise attacks on the lone Guild Lord. He is much more vulnerable without the Bodyguards. The Guild Lord's movements are dependent on your opponent's Lord too. If the opposing Lord gets stalled half way to the stand then your Lord comes to a halt some distance from the flag stand, and won't move until the other Lord starts moving. Once the Lords come under attack on their way to the flag stand, they'll stop and fight until the attackers are gone. This ensures that a final fight with all characters will take place in the very middle of the map. By this point you have no choice but to win or lose.
While the large focus of a Guild Battle is on the two teams fighting each other, the ultimate goal of a GvG match is to defeat the enemy Guild Lord. This can only be done by plowing not only through the enemy team, but also through the NPCs that guard the base. Only then will one team emerge victorious!
Back to summaryNon-player characters (NPCs) play a vital role in any Guild-versus-Guild combat. Teams use them to gain an offensive advantage over opponents, or use them defensively to make a stand and regroup after a setback. In an otherwise balanced fight, smart use of computer-controlled allies could give you that slight edge you need to overwhelm the opposition.
NPC layout depends on which guild hall you fight in. Some halls include a small group of Footmen and Archers that guard the front gate. Keep these alive to deter intruders sneaking around to flank you from a side path or from getting in your front gate while you fight elsewhere. Additional Archer NPCs like to stand guard on the upper walkways of guild halls and protect the entrances, though their exact location varies with different maps. Deep inside the guild hall a main group of Archers, Knights, and a Bodyguard surrounds the Guild Lord.
With the exception of the Guild Lord, these non-player characters have 480 Health and armor equivalent for their level and profession. Other elements of game play, such as Hexes and Enchantments, affect NPCs just the same as player characters. As befitting his status, the Guild Lord has extra Health and five pips of Health regeneration. Making him even harder to kill, he naturally resists Hexes and Conditions, which last half as long on him, and he even deals bonus damage to other NPCs.
The Guild Lord also has a special defensive property that diminishes over time. At the start of the match the Guild Lord can take no more than 50 damage per second. Once he takes 50 damage in a given second, any more damage in the same second is simply negated. By the 15 minute mark this has increased to no more than 250 damage per second.
Back to summaryGuild Lord (Warrior/Ranger) (all halls)
Description: The Guild Lord is your leader and your primary target. If the guild lord dies you lose. Conversely if you kill the enemy guild lord you Win. The Guild Lord is a W/R class.
Health: 2400
Skills: Cleave, Cyclone Axe, Power Shot, Warrior's Cunning
Bodyguard (Elementalist/Monk) (all halls)
Description: There is one of these and he is an E/Mo. Bodyguards cast Fire spells on you and heal the guild lord as needed. They are fairly weak but the guild lord can't be taken down until they are killed so keep an eye on them as well.
Health: 480
Skills: Glyph of Energy, Fire Attunement, Fireball, Firestorm, Incendiary Bonds, Maelstrom, Oath of Healing (only heals the Guild Lord)
Guild Thief (Assassin/Ranger) (some halls)
Description: In some halls there will be a guild thief who is used to open the gates into the enemy stronghold. She can be killed, she receives DP and is revived every 2 minutes (unless she's at 60 DP).
Health: 480
Skills: Claim Resource (for unlocking gates)
Archers (Ranger), Footmen (Warrior) and Knights (Warrior) (all halls)
Description: Archers, Footmen and Knights are the first line of defense for the guild lord and your guild base. They are fairly weak and easy to take down but you get faction for each one you kill. The Archers are pure rangers while Footmen and Knights are pure warriors. Archers have Pin Down, which can slow the enemy team advancing inside your base, and Troll Unguent, for self heal.
Health: 480
Archer Skills: Pin Down, Troll Unguent
Footman Skills: Sever Artery
Knight Skills: Sever Artery, Gash, Healing Signet, Power Attack
It has happened to many new guilds - they put some wins under their belt but then, suddenly, bump into strange maps and start taking losses. Not from a lack of skill, necessarily, but perhaps from a lack of knowledge about the unfamiliar terrain or assorted quirks of these maps. Talking to the Canthan Ambassador [Guild Halls] NPC in the Great Temple of Balthazar does help to get a basic orientation for each map, but many map features only become active during an actual Guild Battle.
To see active aspects of your own guild hall, you can simply set up a scrimmage with at least one other person. This will allow you to see all NPC locations, flag spawn points, gate levers, and any item spawn points. To get comfortable with other guild halls will just take time playing on those maps. However, below we will give you some points to consider and tricks you can use as you move into unfamiliar terrain.
The flag stand is probably the most important object on any GvG map. It exists in every guild battle and if your flag is in that stand you gain a morale boost every 2 minutes. The same goes for the enemy team. Most of the fighting you will be doing is around the flag stand and to defend the flag stand.
Also, every hall has some kind of environmental hazard (lava, quicksand, catapults, ice, etc). Watch out for these so that you are not caught in them.
Back to summary
Warrior's Isle
This map is for the long haul. The way the paths intersect makes a sneak attack hard to pull off. The central location of the flag stand makes it easy to capture, so if you know you'll be fighting here, bring some crippling or knockdown skills. Unless teams decide to split, fighting takes usually place in the open area around the flag stand, extending towards the first two groups of NPCs for either side.
Warrior's Isle, Hunter's Isle, and Wizard's Isle all feature a trebuchet on a hill above both bases, plus repair kits players can use to repair either trebuchet. Once repaired, loading and firing the trebuchet causes a usually fatal volley of elemental damage in a random area within the courtyard of the base the trebuchet overlooks. Trebuchets damage friend and foe alike, and can destroy a team's NPCs in one fell swoop when they march out at VoD. Repairing the trebuchet in front of the enemy base and keeping someone close by threatening to launch the barrage can also discourage the opposing flag runner from using the front gate. At VoD, some teams place a Warrior at the opponent's front gate to lure the NPCs into stoping and attacking long enough for a trebuchet blast to eliminate them. With a Protective Spirit, this Warrior can stand in the blast area without risking instant death. Skills such as Dark Escape and Shelter also help players survive a siege attack.
Teams typically have one person bring the nearest Repair Kit into their own base for safekeeping at the start of the game. Likewise, stealing and safeguarding the opponent's kit prevents a siege at VoD. Some teams body-block the path up to the trebuchet to prevent the enemy from repairing or firing it. Even if the enemy repairs the trebuchet, it takes them six seconds to load it and another seven seconds after firing for the siege attack to land, so preemptively firing the Trebuchet before the NPCs enter the courtyard could allow your NPCs enough time to escape.
Hunter's Isle
Since this map is nearly identical to Warrior's Isle (the main difference being the guild hall of the defending team), almost all advice given there applies here as well. The different guild hall makes splitting somewhat easier.
Wizard's Isle
Since this map is nearly identical to Warrior's Isle (the main difference being the guild hall of the defending team), almost all advice given there applies here as well. The different guild hall makes splitting somewhat easier.
Frozen Isle
Aptly so, icy ground covers the Frozen Isle. A player who stops on the ice moves 70% slower for five seconds. Since the effect always wears out naturally and nothing can remove it, knocking the opponent's flag runner down on the ice could secure a morale boost.
Nomad's Isle
Arriving first at the flag stand on Nomad's Isle forces the opposition to fight in quicksand, where they move 15% slower and lose one Energy whenever they attack or use a skill. When stuck fighting in the quicksand, consider using the teleporters on the map to sneak a split squad into the opponent's base.
Druid's Isle
Druid's Isle, a popular map for split builds, features a vine seed. Dropping the vine seed on the glowing green circle outside of a base creates a vine bridge into the back entrance. Dropping it anywhere else, however, causes vines to sprout up out of the ground and knock down adjacent enemies for three seconds, after which the vines revert back into a vine seed. Two people can body-block a vine bridge completely, buying time for a retreat or assault.
Isle of the Dead
A giant lake of tar surrounds the flag stand on the Isle of the Dead. Because tar slows movement by 30%, losing the battle over the flag stand makes it difficult for a team's flag runner to recapture the stand in time to prevent an enemy morale boost. Some popular tactics for this map include shifting the fight away from the tar to isolate the flag runners, or fighting beneath the bridges that span the tar and positioning casters on the bridges, where they can move around without the speed reduction. A player standing on the inner edge of one bridge can cast a spell on someone standing directly opposite on the inner edge of the other bridge.
Burning Isle
The lava on Burning Isle makes movement slow and hazardous by inducing Crippled and Burning Conditions. Avatar of Melandru Dervishes can speed up flag running on this map as well as attack enemies crossing the lava pits.
In addition, Lesser Flame Sentinels, hostile to both teams, guard the shorter, lava-filled route between the two bases. Although they die to Health degeneration around the 15:00 mark by themselves, teams wanting to split earlier can send a Ranger with Poison and a flat bow to eliminate the Sentinels without getting in range of their attacks. Protective Spirit helps defend against them as well.
Isle of Weeping Stone
When fighting on the Isle of Weeping Stone, watch out for spore clouds that appear sporadically at certain points on the battlefield. These herald the arrival of the stone spore effect on players standing in the clouds. This hazard combines Blurred Vision and Dazed into one unremovable package that lasts ten seconds. Many find the clouds difficult to notice at first, but those experienced with this map remember where the spores appear and position themselves so the enemy must stand in them or retreat.
Isle of Meditation
Isle of Meditation has two different flag stands to capture. The Tower Flag Stand on the lower path controls the morale boosts. The Obelisk Flag Stand on the upper path, when captured, causes the statues lining the lower path to shoot fireballs at the other team. While the damage seems negligible at first, it adds a lot of pressure over time, especially at VoD when the NPCs march out. Some teams position Rangers or casters at the top stand to prevent captures because they can still affect the action below. The path to the upper stand, however, hosts miasma, which causes temporary but un-removable Health degeneration that spreads like Disease.
Imperial Isle
Flags on the Imperial Isle spawn outside the bases in a narrow acid-trapped corridor. When a player stands in or moves through the acid, it deals 20 earth damage per second, which also ignores armor. Thus, some teams like to send someone out to slow the runner down in the acid and quickly finish that player off with the extra damage. Runners should prepare for this maneuver by getting to the flag quickly and staying out of casting range of any opponent trying to hunt them down in the acid trap. Monks can move in below and heal runners walking along the outer edge of the acid corridor.
Isle of Jade
Notorious for its unfriendliness toward split tactics, the Isle of Jade features a side path covered with spiked coral that slows movement and does damage to moving characters. However, this path provides quicker access to the flag stand and access to the side entrance of each base. Guilds with speed boosts can beat their opponents to the stand by taking this path, and position themselves to attack damaged opponents who also took the coral path.
Uncharted Isle
A wide open area separates the two bases on the Uncharted Isle. From this area, paths branch off from one side to the flag stand and, on the opposite side, lead to a narrow path connecting the back doors of each base. The rear path lies far enough away that a split team can elude Compass detection from the players out front. The path to the flag stand stretches teams out as well, increasing the need for effective communication.
Corrupted Isle
At the rear of the map a short distance connects the two bases. Split squads can capitalize on unprepared teams and quickly eliminate the NPCs stationed there and even deeper inside the base. Proper positioning on this path during infiltration allows players to avoid Pin Down attacks from Archers. In the front area, teams can capture the flag stand and force a Morale Boost by body-blocking the narrow route to the flag stand and preventing a recapture.
Isle of Wurms
A Health shrine with Alliance Battle-style capture methods dominates a southern path between the side gates of the two bases. The Guild Thief counts as a party member for the purpose of capturing this shrine. The additional 120 maximum Health bestowed to every member of the shrine's controlling team makes combat difficult for spike builds. At VoD, a few Archers stay inside the walled area of the flag stand while others form up on lower ground south of the stand. Thus, players can shield themselves from Archer attacks by taking cover below the walls.
Isle of Solitude
Despite an open central battlefield, Isle of Solitude gives split teams an advantage. One-way teleporters in each base provide quick access to the enemy's side gate, which lies out of Compass range of the flag stand area. If you infiltrate the enemy base, the teleporters offer a handy escape route should the enemy return to deal with you. Of course, this leaves the Guild Thief alone and vulnerable at the back gate. Constricted passageways behind each back door make body-blocking easy, so plan retreats carefully. The narrow path around and into the flag stand area favors those with good body-blocking techniques. The walls around the flag stand make it easy for flag runners to get trapped. To address this danger, runners should hug the walls so their Monks can heal them from the other side.
Back to summaryAvoid bringing henchmen into battle unless absolutely necessary. They are pretty decent when it comes to PvE, but in player combat they just don't have the capacity to function even close to the level required for success.
Don't charge through an enemy gate without support. Too many people try chasing someone down after they've run inside, while the gate closes behind them, thus separating them from the rest of their group. If you're going to charge a door, make sure most of your party is with you.
Don't wander around the inside of your keep if the other team is operating the catapult. This is just plain wrong. At the point of impact, the catapult does roughly 900 damage, with the numbers diminishing as distance from the center increases. It is quite easy to have your entire group decimated by a single catapult shot. It's best to regroup near the Resurrection Shrine or other area safe from catapult fire.
Don't kamikaze the flag stand trying to plant your flag if the enemy holds the center. All this will accomplish is you dying in a location where you will be difficult to resurrect and the other team will just replant their flag before your first morale boost.
Refrain from playing with the catapult unless the opportunity arises. If the other team is fighting you in the center, operation of the catapult is quite the waste of time. The catapult is indeed a fun toy and can be powerful against base campers and the like, but should only be used under certain conditions. Screwing around with it while your team is getting crushed in the center will make you unpopular in a hurry.
Always keep an eye on the radar. Some teams will try and go around the outer paths in an attempt to charge the Guild Lord without having to fight through you. Nothing is worse than having the upper hand and controlling the center, only to lose because no one paid attention to their radar or the condition of the Guild Lord.
If your team is suffering from high death penalties, charging the other team is typically unwise. The best chance you have for a comeback is to use the NPCs inside your base as additional fighters and work on defending your Guild Lord. If you successfully repel an attack by the opposing team, everyone will get a 16% morale boost from the 8 kills, and while the enemy waits to be resurrected, your team can plant its flag at the center and attempt to defend it for the Morale Boost. Being on the offensive is not necessarily the best strategy.
Back to summaryGuild Lord
Killing the guild lord is the usual way to win. To kill the guild lord you must enter the opposing team's base, kill the bodyguards (optional, but recommended), then kill the Guild Lord himself.
Death Penalty (DP)
The second way to win is to get every player on the opponent's team to have 60DP. in a GvG match once you hit 60DP you are "DP'd Out" meaning that although the team ressurects every 2 minutes you will no longer ressurect with them if you have 60DP. You can still be resurrected by another player. If every member on your team has 60DP you automatically lose.
Back to summaryNPCs attack when enemies come into range, so guilds should always pay attention to where they are fighting. If your team is in an offensive position at the flag stand (meaning you've pushed past the flag stand and are closer to the enemy base than your own), watch out for enemy Footmen and Archers inflicting damage on your team. And if you have to take a defensive position, make sure that you fall back enough so that your own NPCs engage the enemy. Many guilds try to kill the NPCs in front of the guild hall as soon as possible to reduce this extra damage.
NPCs can also be lured or kited out to make killing them easier. While fighting near the flag stand it is possible to pull out a Footman by closing on him until he attacks and then drawing him back towards the rest of your party. This type of kiting can be especially important if the enemy has turtled into their Guild Lord and you need to kill surrounding Archers, Knights, or the Bodyguard.
Back to summary"Turtling" refers to drawing back into the shelter of the Guild Lord area. Its name derives from the practice of waiting (slowly, like a turtle in a shell) in the safety of NPCs for a more opportune time to strike back at the enemy, often at Victory or Death (VoD). The Bodyguard adds a large amount of AoE damage and can heal the Guild Lord, so it should be a priority to kill. Sometimes a Bodyguard will move forward to cast spells on the enemy team. Guilds should be aware of situations like this.
The attacking team can take advantage of a Bodyguard breaking position; sometimes they will focus on killing players but often they will focus on NPCs. The defending team should watch the party window and heal the Bodyguard when it takes damage. And, if the situation allows, toss some healing to the Archers and Knights. If you have been driven back to your Guild Lord, it sometimes helps if Monks divide healing responsibility for the NPCs (for example, by the right and left side Archers or by Knights and Archers), especially if the opposing team applies a lot of Health degeneration to multiple targets.
When fighting a turtled team it pays to be aggressive, but balance this aggression and avoid needless deaths. Guilds want to maintain an NPC advantage in case the match goes to VoD. To do this they will not only put pressure on the turtled team by attacking players, but also try and kill off any NPCs they can. As the NPCs start to die the defending team gradually loses their damage advantage and can eventually be overcome. And by killing NPCs you can assure your advantage at VoD.
If your Guild is forced to turtle, then your healers should always keep an eye on the NPCs under attack, while the rest of the team can add pressure to the attackers that have come into range. Especially in close games, saving even one extra Archer can make the difference at VoD.
The recent match between iQ and EviL at this past GWFC shows this strategy at its best. iQ had turtled into their base near the Guild Lord and EviL was trying to get NPC kills. iQ managed to save every Archer and Bodyguard that they could and when the match when to VoD they overwhelmed EviL at the flag stand and won the match. If iQ had let their NPCs die, then EviL would have had a much better chance of defeating them at their Guild Lord before VoD.
Back to summaryKilling NPCs plays an important part in split tactics. In order to pass locked gates on maps with Guild Thieves, the player must have the Thief with them. Thus both teams should be aware of where this Thief is at all times. If you are defending against a split, killing the Thief first can often buy your guild some extra time without worrying about "ganking" (a term for charging in and quickly killing the Guild Lord before the enemy can respond) or splitting. If you are on the offensive in a split you should make sure the Thief stays out of harm's way when possible, and to always leave the Thief outside the base and not inside. If the Thief gets left inside, the defending team can just leave it alive in there and you will lose access to their base.
Archers are also worthy of note against splits due to the skill Pin Down. Because mobility is vital on splits, a well-timed Pin Down from an Archer can make the difference between a good defense and a bad defense.
Back to summaryOn maps that feature a Guild Thief, she follows whichever party member clicks on her and grants access to the opponent's base by operating the gate levers outside. However, the Guild Thief only resurrects at the team's resurrection shrine, so killing the enemy thief just after a base resurrect denies her expert lock-picking services for up to two minutes.
When retreating on these maps, look for the enemy Guild Thief. If you don't see her, consider leaving your gates closed, even if it means stranding an ally outside the base and taking a death. Keeping the opponent locked out provides the opportunity to regroup and plan the next move.
Likewise, if an opposing player mistakenly brings a thief into your base, try to kill that player out of range of the gate levers and the NPCs. With their Guild Thief alive and locked in your base, the other team cannot access your base until VoD unless you open the gate. Note that you can employ a similar tactic if your opponent brings its flag into your base on these maps.
Back to summaryObviously, your job is usually to be in the front lines, beating on low-armor targets. It is normal for Warriors to occasionally overstretch in order to perform a spike, but if you're facing a build with a strong spike, you must be mindful of this and not overstretch for more than a few seconds at a time. Of course, if you've already killed one or more of the enemy team's damage characters you can take more liberties when overstretching.
Another important tip for melee characters is to avoid chasing on autopilot. If all your movement is simply chasing by pressing spacebar, a smart target will quickly figure it out and make your life miserable by running you into blocks of his or her allies, and through Wards.
Back to summaryWhen every attacker on a team suddenly moves in one direction, it's obvious they're planning to kill whatever is in that direction. In order to mask your spikes, try to get in range of the target well before it's time to unleash, so the enemy Monks don't pick up on it as easily.
If you are using projectile-based damage for spiking, such as Lightning Orb or a bow, try to anticipate where your target might be able to quickly hide from your line of sight, and position yourself accordingly before the spike.
Back to summaryIf you are a spell-based interrupter, you need to operate at a range of around 3/4 of your maximum spell range. Because interrupts are so time-sensitive, you need that buffer for moments when your target backs up a few steps and then starts to cast. If your target decides to hide way back in the backline, forcing you to overextend, pick another target and keep an eye on your original target. Usually a caster realizes this position means only your frontline melee characters are in casting range, so he or she will often creep back into your interrupting range.
As a projectile based interrupter, whether you use arrows or spear, you may find yourself forced to play very near the front lines. Smart enemies will dodge arrows and hide behind cover when possible, forcing you to either temporarily switch targets, or position yourself very close to them in order to reduce the travel time of your projectiles.
Back to summaryA character with defensive Shouts, Chants, or Wards should pay close attention to where the Monks want to be. You should place yourself somewhere in the middle of the team, and then figure out where the Monks will benefit most from your position. For example, if you are using Ward Against Melee, try to cast it in a narrow space where the enemy Warriors can't simply run around the Ward.
Back to summaryMonks are the backbone of the team, and should keep well back most of the time, but stay alert and ready to move forward if one of your teammates overextends. The two most important things to keep in mind pertaining to position and movement are melee and projectiles. When targeted by a melee character, run back in order to coax him into overextending, so he can be easily spiked. Be careful when doing this, though, because if you run too far, your frontline could get outside your healing range and thus more easily killed. If you are in a place where it's impossible or undesirable to back up, such as in front of your gate on a catapult map, kite in circles for maximum effect. As a Monk/Assassin with Return on your Skill Bar, kite straight away from the ally you intend to cast Return on and then cast it when you reach maximum range.
When faced with projectile attacks, do the "arrow dance." This means to rapidly click on the ground near you in different directions, leading the enemy projectiles to miss you, as their accuracy is calculated by their target's direction and movement speed at the time the projectile is fired. Whenever possible, hide behind houses and hills that will block the line of sight for projectile attackers.
Back to summaryThe Assassin isn't a DPS (damage-per-second) character; it's a melee-range spike character. Your job is to move in, unleash your combo, and quickly get out of range again. Usually, you will be a split character without Monk support. It is important for an Assassin to consider enemy NPC aggro range. If an enemy player comes to stop you from killing an NPC, lure that player out of the NPC's range and fight in a one-on-one situation.
Back to summaryUsually, you'll also be the flag runner. It's important that you stay well out of range of enemy interrupters when casting your Heal Party or Light of Deliverance.
Back to summaryThe flag runner is probably one of the most important roles in a GvG match. Its purpose is to make sure that his team has the control of the flag stand at the center of the map at all times, doing this by constantly "running flags" from the base to the flag stand and capturing the middle, in order to prevent the enemy team from gaining morale boosts (and maybe getting morale boosts for his own team).
As a quick tip, if you have a bit of death penalty, it's often better to let a high-armor character, usually a Warrior, run the flag to the stand after you fetch it from the base. When you switch the flag, meet the Warrior back behind your Monk backline, so there aren't any enemies nearby who can return your flag as you drop it for the Warrior.
Back to summaryAs a character sent home to defend against a split, consider that split enemies are usually designed to fight in a 1v1 or 2v2 situation, while you usually are not. Also, remember that your job is to keep the NPCs alive; killing the enemy is only a bonus. If you aren't sure you can take on the split, stay inside the aggro range of your NPCs, forcing the enemy to fight outnumbered if they want to fight. If you can make the enemy retreat, try to kill his Guild Thief. This will prevent him from entering your base until it respawns. And, if possible, kill the Guild Thief right after a two minute resurrection point.
Back to summarySkills can target allies, other allies, and party members. If the skill reads target ally it means you can use it on yourself, any friendly player, NPC, or minion. Many healing spells fall under this category. Examples include Orison of Healing and Healing Breeze. Target other ally, however, means you can't use it on yourself. Word of Healing, Heal Other, and Mend Condition work on other allies only. If you try to cast them on yourself, you get an error message warning you about an invalid target. In contrast, party member means a skill only affects those players in the actual party list with you. Spells like Heal Party and shouts like "Incoming!" have no affect on pets or NPCs, even if their names show up in the window beneath the list of party members.
Game tip: Set up a key bind to control "target nearest ally." This helps you save NPCs when defending a base.
Back to summaryYes, even in Guild Wars you can accrue debt. Luckily, the debt doesn't last long and wears off naturally. But how do you go into debt? If you temporarily equip items that raise your maximum Energy and cast spells until you run out of Energy, then swap to items that don't raise your maximum Energy you actually end up with negative Energy (although it will look you just have zero Energy for a long time). To better explain, let's use an example. Say you have 35 Energy from your first weapon set, with +4 Energy regeneration. You swap to your second weapon set that gives you 72 Energy, but only +2 Energy regeneration. You frantically cast spells until you reach zero Energy. Then you swap back to the first weapon set to recover faster, thus reducing your maximum Energy to 35. But the game has tracked your spending and remembers that you owe 37 Energy. So for a while you see zero Energy, even though you are regenerating Energy and could be anywhere from -37 to -1. Once your natural Energy regeneration has fully paid back the debt, you begin accumulating a surplus again.
Game tip: A common game trick involves switching to a high Energy weapon set and casting an Energy management spell, then going back to the original weapon set. Note that Signets never cost any Energy, so you can still use these when recovering from an Energy deficit.
Back to summaryAll knockdowns last for two seconds, unless otherwise specified. Gale and Gust knock a character on the ground for two, respectively three seconds, while Backbreaker puts forth the longest knockdown in the game at four seconds. Warrior Stonefist Insignia takes any normal knockdown skill and increases the length from two to three seconds. Knockdown skills that already persist for three seconds receive no benefit from Stonefist Insignia. The common Shock/Axe Warrior build owes much of its effectiveness to that extra second of Stonefist knockdown on Shock and/or Bull's Strike. Another knockdown-related skill, Earthbind, offers an alternative to increasing knockdown duration. If you have both Stonefist Insignia and Earthbind, knockdown lengths still cap at three seconds.
Game tip: Remember that Stonefist Insignia works for ALL knockdown skills a Warrior uses, even skills from other professions.
Back to summaryYou can Shadow Step to any target within casting range as long as you have a clear path of normal travel available. If you stand behind a closed gate and attempt to Shadow Step to somebody on the other side, you come to an abrupt halt at the gate. Shadow Stepping also lets you travel up and down, if you could've walked there. If you cast a Shadow Step spell on a character standing above you on a bridge, you'll teleport to that character's location as long as no gate blocks your way.
Game tip: Lure enemy players away from their team with a fake overextension of your own, then use a Shadow Step skill such as Return or Recall to teleport and rejoin your team, giving your side a temporary numbers advantage.
Back to summarySpirits come in two forms: Nature Rituals and Binding Rituals. Both work the same way in terms of number allowed in play. Each Spirit has a range of effect. If you or somebody from your team puts up another Spirit of the same type within the range of effect, the first Spirit dies as the new one takes its place. When still in range of them, many Spirits will appear in your Effects Monitor (the same place you see Conditions or Hexes on your character). As long as you see a Spirit's effect active on your character, casting another Spirit of that same type will destroy the original. Enemy Spirits have no affect on allied Spirits in this regard. When a Spirit dies, it returns half the normal Soul Reaping bonus Energy to Necromancers.
Game tip: Begin casting a new Spirit if you see one under attack. By the time they kill it, you'll have a new one ready to go.
Back to summaryThe maximum range for a maintained Enchantment is sight range. You can use the Alt key to see if an ally you have cast a maintained Enchantment on has gone beyond your sight range. If your target no longer shows up when you press Alt, you've traveled beyond sight range. When you get to this point, the Enchantment ends on that ally. A gray name in the party window also signifies you've gone beyond range. Note that this range is the same as party-wide skills such as Heal Party.
Game tip: Aura of Displacement follows slightly different rules for a maintained Enchantment. While you never go out of range of the Enchantment itself because you maintain it on your own character, you can pass the range at which you actually return to your original location. If you travel too far and cancel the Enchantment, you Shadow Step back to a point near where you cast it. The actual point varies by how far you went beyond the effective range. If you went 20 feet beyond a normal maintained Enchantment range you will Shadow Step 20 feet ahead of your original location when you end the aura.
Back to summarySome spells have a long-distance effect. Take the wording on Heal Party, for example: "Spell. Heal entire party for X health."
When you cast this spell, any party members within range of your Alt key get healed. This range extends just slightly beyond the Compass. If any names show as gray instead of white, your long distance spells won't affect them and long distance spells they cast won't affect you. Other spells in this category include Light of Deliverance and Order of Pain.
Game tip: Think of yourself as a long-range Monk. Use Heal Party to support retreating allies or counter widespread Health degeneration. Just make sure the names appear in white, otherwise they won't get healed.
Back to summaryWhen a skill becomes disabled, it does not work for the specified period of time. A darkened skill with an expanding section of brightness indicates a disabled skill and the remaining time until it becomes available again. Signet of Humility disables an opponent's elite skill, which ignores that skill's natural recharge time. On the other hand, if a skill makes someone else's skill take longer to recharge, it adds the extra time on top of the normal recharge. Diversion, for example, typically adds 40 or more seconds of recharge time to an enemy skill.
Game tip: Don't use Signet of Humility immediately after someone casts an elite skill. Many elites already have long recharge times. Once the elite has activated, you essentially waste your disable ability if the target's elite skill already takes a while to recharge. Dervish Forms, for example, make poor choices for Signet of Humility if the Dervish has already gone into a Form.
Back to summaryInterrupted: Energy and Recharge Time
Using spells and skills helps you destroy your foes quicker, so it's frustrating when your attempts are thwarted by characters who can interrupt you. Understanding what exactly happens when you're interrupted can help you recover quicker and keep the situation from going from bad to worse.
First, you stop casting the spell or activating the skill you were trying to use. You also lose the Energy or adrenaline cost of that skill. The skill does not incur its recharge time, however, so you may attempt to recast a spell immediately after interruption. Keep in mind that you do have to wait for aftercast (the one-second delay after casting a spell in which you cannot cast another spell) to expire before recasting. The same effect applies if you get knocked down while casting; you still lose the Energy cost of the skill.
Line of Sight
You need a clear line of sight to hit with ranged weapons and certain skills. Many things can obstruct line of sight, including slopes and other terrain features. Attentive players attempt to hide behind buildings or walls when under attack from projectile-based weapons. Skills that affect melee and ranged attacks and their chance to hit, such as Blindness and blocking, do not hinder projectile spells. However, you can strafe and move side-to-side and attempt to dodge projectile spells. Here is a comprehensive list of projectile spells: Crippling Dagger, Dancing Daggers, Disrupting Dagger, Ebon Hawk, Fireball, Flare, Glowstone, Ice Spear, Lava Arrows, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Javelin, Lightning Orb, Phoenix, Shard Storm, Shock Arrow, Spear of Light, Stone Daggers, Stoning, Water Trident.
Game Tip: Check for line of sight with a wand attack (normal, non-skill-based attack) before wasting the Energy to cast a projectile spell, only to find your view obstructed. Watch for targets that are snared, knocked down, or don't have speed boosts, as these targets are less likely to dodge your spell.
Back to summaryNow, let's take a look at the stacking rules. Note that the effects listed below are not a complete list of stacking abilities in Guild Wars.
Stacking, Application, and Removal Order of Conditions, Enchantments, and Hexes
These three aspects of the game follow the same order of application and removal, summed up as "first-in, last-out." If you have a stack of Conditions on you and begin casting skills to remove those Conditions, the first one applied is the last one removed. On a standard Effects Monitor, Conditions appear from left to right, oldest on the left, newest on the right. Removal will target the one on the far right first.
For example, assume you get Crippled and then someone adds Poison on top of that. This shows up as Crippled on the left and Poison on the right. If you cast Mend Ailment, the Poison goes away but the Crippled remains. Enchantments and Hexes function the same way. If you have all three types of effects on you, they appear as Conditions on the left, then Hexes, then Enchantments on the right.
Game Tip: This process of "first-in, last-out" allows players to "cover" their important effects. Let's say you want to make a particular Hex "stick" (not get removed). Examples include highly effective shut-down Hexes such as Migraine and Spiteful Spirit. To make the Hex stick, cast it on your target first and then follow up with a series of cover Hexes (usually low-cost, fast-casting spells). This ensures that when the target attempts to remove your Hexes, the unimportant ones get removed first, leaving the shut-down Hex in place for as long as possible.
Renewing Duration of Conditions, Enchantments, and Hexes
If you cast the same Enchantment twice on a single character, that character doesn't receive twice the benefit. Instead, the duration of that Enchantment resets. Let's look at the old standby, Healing Breeze, as an example. Say it lasts ten seconds. You cast it on yourself. You wait six seconds, so it has four seconds left before it expires. Then, you cast it on yourself again. Instead of two Healing Breezes, you now have one that has reset itself back to ten seconds. So you get a small benefit from recasting Enchantments, but in terms of saving Energy, it's better to wait until just before the Enchantment ends or until it fully expires before recasting.
Game Tip: If a target has a particular Hex with a bunch of covers stacked on top and you recast that same Hex to reset its duration, it moves to the far right of the stack because the game treats it as a new Hex (the most recently applied). Now, you have to bury it again under some cover Hexes, otherwise your target can remove it easily. The same principle applies to covering Enchantments and Conditions. If you have Enchantment removal, watch your enemies and wait for them to cast an important Enchantment, then try to remove it before they can get their cover on top. Alternatively, if you have more than one form of Enchantment removal, you can simply strip the cover and then remove the one you really want to get rid of.
Attunement Stacking
Elemental Attunement stacks with all other Attunements: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. If you have both Elemental Attunement and Air Attunement up, you get 50% + 30% + 1 Energy of the base cost of each spell cast. So if you cast a 10 Energy spell like Windborne Speed, you get +5 Energy back from Elemental Attunement and +4 Energy back from Air Attunement (Air Attunement returns 30% +1 Energy), However, like most bonuses in Guild Wars, Elemental Attunement rounds down. So, on a 5-Energy-cost spell, it returns +2 Energy (rounded down from 2.5). Therefore, spells that cost 10 Energy are most efficient for Elemental Attunement.
Game Tip: Because game calculations are rounded down, Elemental Attunement and normal Attunements return the same amount for spells that cost 5 Energy: +2 Energy. If you plan to cast only spells that cost 5 Energy, consider using a normal Attunement instead of Elemental Attunement. You would get +2 Energy either way. You would gain +4 Energy if you used both, but you don't really need that much when casting spells that have an Energy cost of 5 because your natural Energy regeneration should keep you going.
Energy Regeneration/Degeneration
Both regeneration and degeneration cap at ten arrows (each arrow to the right represents +1 Energy regeneration, and each arrow to the left represents -1 Energy degeneration). For a typical caster with +4 arrows of Energy regeneration, certain buffs can enhance this rate. For example, Blood Is Power, a Necromancer elite Enchantment, often adds +5 or +6. If it adds +6, the resulting +10 Energy regeneration maximizes your rate, and any future buffs won't increase your Energy gain. So adding a +3 Blood Ritual on top won't do anything.
The only time adding more than ten arrows has a benefit is if some effects, such as Wither or Ether Phantom, lower your Energy regeneration. The game tracks how many total arrows you should have from all buffs and penalties on your character. To illustrate, imagine you have ten arrows, but the buffs add up to +13, while you also have penalties totaling -2. Even though you actually have +11 as a result, you still get only +10 because of the cap. However, if your penalties rise to -4, you would end up with only nine arrows.
Health Regeneration/Degeneration
Like Energy, Health caps out at ten arrows, in either direction. If you plan to attack opponents with Health degeneration, either through Hexes or Conditions, consider how much Health degeneration you want to inflict. Conjure Nightmare has a powerful -8 Health degeneration, so if you cover it with a -5 Conjure Phantasm, your result is -13. This means the target suffers actual degeneration of -10, so that extra -3 could go to waste. However, if the target attempts to counter with some Health regeneration, she would need at least +4 before seeing any real effect. Even then, the target would be at -9, an unhealthy amount that can quickly kill.
Attribute Boosts
Bonuses to your attributes, such as those you get from skills and weapons, can stack with each other. Consider Glyph of Elemental Power (which adds +2 to your Elemental attributes for the next 5 spells) in combination with a staff wrapping that has a 20% chance to grant +1 to Fire Magic. If you have Fire Magic maxed out at 16, every time you use the Glyph, you cast spells as if you had 18 Fire Magic. Toss in the staff wrapping, and one of those 5 spells should actually cast at 19, allowing you to produce surprisingly powerful damage.
A recent update also changed the game mechanics of Weakness, which is now a condition that reduces the damage of your attacks by 66% and all of your nonzero attributes by 1. This can have a great influence on attribute-level conditioned skills (e.g. Gale, which has a 50% chance to fail with 4 Air Magic or less).
Back to summaryNon-stacking effects refer to skill types that overwrite each other. A character can have only one of the following skill types active at a time: Elementalist Glyphs, Ranger Preparations, and Stances of any profession. Adding a new one simply replaces any previously applied.
Elementalist Glyphs
Elementalist Glyphs function one at a time. If you use a Glyph, then use another one, it overwrites the first one. So, for example, you can't use Glyph of Elemental Power and Glyph of Energy to cast a strong Meteor Shower without exhaustion.
Ranger Preparations
You're only allowed one Ranger Preparation at a time. Most Preparations usually last for a while, so consider equipping just one on your Skill Bar. For example, having Apply Poison and Barbed Arrows on the same Skill Bar doesn't make much sense, because you can't use them together. Additionally, there are other skill combinations that allow you to inflict Poison and Bleeding on a target with the same shot, like Poison Arrow with Barbed Arrows. For Preparations that don't last as long, such as Choking Gas, experiment with Practiced Stance to increase the duration, because you can stack a Stance with a Preparation.
Stances
No matter the profession, you can't have more than one Stance active. If you're in a Stance and you activate a different one, it cancels the first Stance. You can use this to your advantage, however. One of the most common examples of this is Frenzy. Frenzy offers a reliable source of increased attack speed, but it carries a double damage penalty. Consequently, many players bring along another Stance they can use to cancel Frenzy, thus removing the penalty when necessary. Popular choices include Rush, Sprint, and Dash, although other variations occur.
Back to summaryNormally, you don't have to worry about mathematical calculations and formulae behind the game when playing Guild Wars. But some effects stack with each other and give diminishing returns, and in such cases, it pays to have a general idea of how stacking works. We'll cover detailed mathematical calculations in this article to better explain the underlying mechanics of different game effects, but we'll make sure to include game tips and call out the important information.
In addition to stacking, certain effects have a "cap." A cap refers to an upper limit placed on the effect. The attack speed cap, for example, is fixed at 33%. Other effects have caps that single skills can override.
Attack Speed Cap
Attack speed is capped at 33% faster.
Example Stacks:
Dwarven Battle Stance (25%) + "I Will Avenge You!" (25%) = 33%
Aggressive Refrain (25%) + Frenzy (33%) = 33%
Game Tip: Nothing increases attack speed beyond 33%. Typically, one attack speed boost on a Skill Bar suffices for most builds. You can also increase attack speed by using attack skills like Protector's Strike or Mystic Sweep that cause your character to swing a weapon faster. Using these skills back-to-back enhances your overall attack speed and frees you to use a Stance for something other than attack speed, such as a movement speed boost.
Blocking and Chance to Miss
Blocking and "chance to miss" have no cap, and they stack with one another. The more skills you use to block attacks, however, the more you will see diminishing returns for the Energy investment. For example, if you already have a 50% chance to block and get another 50%, you have a total of a 75% chance to block, not the additive result of 100%. Here's how it works.
For every hit, if you have two chances to block, your opponent must get through both block chances in order to hit, so the chances are multiplied. Your opponent's total hit chance is:
(1 - first chance to block) x (1 - second chance to block) = y (opponent's total chance to hit)
Therefore:
1 - y = your total chance to block
Put another way: 1- (first block chance x second block chance) = total block chance
Sample calculations:
50% to block and 50% to block:
(1 - 0.5) x (1 - 0.5) = 0.25
1 - 0.25 = 0.75 or 75% total block chance
And for more than 2 effects:
(1 - first chance to block) x (1 - second chance to block) x (1- third chance to block) = y;
1 - y = total chance to block
So for someone standing in a Ward Against Melee (50%) using both Aegis (50%) and Shield of Deflection (75%) the calculation looks like this:
(1 - 0.5) x (1 - 0.5) x (1 - 0.75) = 0.0625
1 - .0625 = 0.9375 or 93.75% total chance
Game Tip: It is impossible to get to 100% block chance, but with enough elements in the equation you might as well have 100%. Even the 90% miss chance from Blindness completely shuts down melee and ranged attackers. If you bring too much blocking ability to a fight, you might neglect counters to other forms of damage. Blocking certainly plays a large role in surviving PvP, but as the calculations show, sometimes multiple sources of blocking don't really add enough payoff. Instead, strive for a balance between melee defense and other counters.
Casting Time IncreasesThe maximum time a spell's casting time can increase is 150%. All skills that Daze a target increase that target's casting time by 100% for the duration of the Dazed Condition.
Example stacks:
Dazed (100%) + Migraine (100%) = +150%
Arcane Conundrum (100%) + Frustration (50%) = +150%
Skills that increase casting time:
Air of Disenchantment (range of longer Enchantment casting)
Arcane Conundrum (100% longer)
Dazed (100% longer)
Enchanter's Conundrum (100% longer for Enchantments)
Frustration (50% longer)
Holy Veil (100% longer to Hexes targeting that ally)
Migraine (100% longer)
Nature's Renewal (100% longer to Enchantments and Hexes)
Stolen Speed (25% longer)
Skills that cause the Dazed Condition:
Awe
Beguiling Haze
Bestial Mauling
Broadhead Arrow
Concussion Shot
Golden Skull Strike
Headbutt (use with Plague Touch)
Quivering Blade (use with Plague Touch)
Skull Crack
Smoke Trap
Stunning Strike
Temple Strike
Game Tip: If you plan to inflict Dazed on a target with your build, you can add Arcane Conundrum to a single target and reach the 150% cap. Or, you can hit one person with Dazed, and another with Arcane Conundrum. This will give two enemies a +100% increase to their casting times, which is a more efficient use of your skills.
Duration Lengthening
Enchantments, Hexes, Conditions, Shouts, and Chants have no cap on how long they can last. Consequently, anything that extends these effects will stack.
Enchantment lengtheners:
Blessed Aura (Monk skill to lengthen Monk Enchantments)
Extend Enchantments (Dervish)
Weapon modifications
Note that the additional lengths of time are all based on the original duration. So if you use Blessed Aura at +25% with a staff wrapping of Enchanting +20% and cast a 10-second Balthazar's Aura, your total length comes out to 14.5 seconds. The calculation looks like this:
10 seconds original duration x 25% Blessed Aura = 2.5 extra seconds
10 seconds original duration x 20% Staff Wrapping = 2.0 extra seconds
10 + 2.5 + 2.0 = 14.5 total seconds
Condition lengtheners:
Extend Conditions (Mesmer)
Mystic Corruption (Dervish)
Hex lengtheners:
Chilling Winds (Elementalist Water skill to lengthen Water Hexes)
Mantra of Persistence (Mesmer Inspiration skill to lengthen Illusion Hexes)
Shout/Chant lengtheners:
Enduring Harmony (Paragon)
Vocal was Sogolon (Ritualist)
Game Tip: It doesn't always benefit you to extend the duration of certain game effects. For example, when you apply long-lasting Health degeneration Conditions, you can be fairly certain they will get removed before the duration ends. You might, therefore, gain more in the long run by choosing a weapon modifier such as vampiric that raises damage per second instead of one that increases the duration of a degeneration Condition. Other Conditions, such as Crippled, which don't last as long as Health degeneration Conditions, are more likely to expire naturally. Also, snares serve a crucial purpose in controlling enemy position, so increasing the Crippled duration on your enemy can improve your overall strategy.
Healing Penalty
The healing penalty cap is 40% reduction.
Example stacks:
Defile Flesh (33%) + Deep Wound (33%) = 40% cap
Defile Flesh (33%) + Malign Intervention (20%) = 40% cap
Exception:
Lingering Curse causes 50% reduction in healing.
Healing reduction skills:
Deep Wound (33%)
Defile Flesh (33%)
Lingering Curse (50%)
Malign Intervention (20%)
Mark of Death (33%)
Predatory Season (20%)
Game Tip: Note that life stealing does not count as "healing," so any healing reduction does not affect life stealing skills or vampiric weapons. Also, healing reduction penalty only impacts direct healing, not Health regeneration.
Maximum Health Stacks
Whenever maximum Health gets adjusted, it takes from and gives to the bottom of the Health bar. If you have a +200 Health buff active and only have 180 Health left showing on your Health Bar, when that +200 ends you drop to 1 Health (even though you have a deficit of -20 Health). It doesn't actually kill you unless you take damage. On an interesting note, if you get healed for less than your remaining Health deficit, you'll die. Be careful immediately after a Health boost, such as Endure Pain, expires. If you have 1 Health, inform your healers and hope that nobody accidentally kills you with a small heal. After a brief period of time, you'll recover the -20 Health deficit and start regenerating.
Sources of Maximum Health Increase:
Avatar of Melandru
Defy Pain
Demonic Flesh
Empowerment
Endure Pain
Fertile Season
Generous Was Tsungrai
Health Shrine
Signet of Stamina
Symbiosis
Vital Boon
Vital Weapon
Vital Blessing
Sources of Maximum Health Reduction:
Aura of the Lich
Death Penalty
Deep Wound
Game Tip: The effect of maximum Health adjustment makes Deep Wound incredibly powerful on spikes and makes removing it crucial for survival. In any team situation, informing teammates about a Deep Wound over voice chat or by Ctrl-clicking in game may just save your life.
Movement Speed Cap
Movement speed boost is capped at 33% faster.
Example stacks:
Shadow of Haste (15%) + "Charge!" (25%) = 33%
Storm Djinn's Haste (33%) + "Lead the Way!" (25%) = 33%
Skills that increase movement speed beyond 33%:
Burning Speed
Dash
Game Tip: The Assassin skill, Dash, may not seem like much with its mere 3-second speed boost. However, moving 50% faster practically guarantees you can reach a better position, which is especially important in time-sensitive operations like melee spikes. Factor in low recharge and no attribute requirement, and Dash makes an attractive choice for any build.
Movement Speed Reduction
The normal movement speed reduction cap is 50%. Note that holding a bundle item (such as a relic) slows you down and stacks with snares.
There are, however, several single skills that override the movement speed reduction cap:
Binding Chains (90%)
Dolyak Signet (75%)
Icy Shackles (up to 90%)
Iron Mist (90%)
Mind Freeze (90%)
Shadow Prison (66%)
Water Magic Hexes (many of them slow movement by 66%)
Game Tip: Adding the Crippled Condition on top of a Water Magic snare such as Ice Prison does not slow movement any further; it stays at a 66% reduction. However, using multiple snares ensures the target stays slowed longer because the other team must work harder to remove everything and restore movement to normal.
Skill Recharge
Skill recharge is capped at 50% faster.
Some skills, at high enough attribute levels, can reduce recharge time by more than 50%. These are:
Expert's Dexterity
Mantra of Inscriptions
Symbolic Celerity
Symbolic Posture
Ritual Lord
In addition, other abilities can cause a skill to recharge instantly.
Game Tip: When using one of the above skills to recharge skills 50% or more faster, you don't need to use a weapon with a chance to reduce recharge time. Instead, you can use it for something else, such as reducing recharge time for skills in a different attribute line.
Back to summaryAftercast
Aftercast refers to the time your character must wait after casting a spell before starting to cast another. The current lower limit is 3/4 of a second. For example, if you cast Stone Daggers with a 1 second cast time, your character pauses for 3/4 of a second after the cast completes before being able to cast Stone Daggers again. Point-blank area-of-effect (PBAOE) spells have either 1.25 or 1.75 second aftercasts. Shadow Step spells have 0 aftercast, to allow for a teleport and subsequent chain of attack skills.
Game Tip: Nothing reduces or increases aftercast. The Mesmer's Fast Casting primary attribute does not affect aftercast either. To maximize the efficiency of a spell caster, you can queue up a spell while casting another. You can also queue one up during the aftercast period. As soon as aftercast wears off, your character immediately begins to cast the queued up spell.
Armor: Hit Location and Damage Reduction
Armor provided by a shield, as well as the shield bonus, applies globally to incoming damage. Warrior absorption runes are global as well. Actual pieces of armor, however, work on a per-location basis. Thus, if you have a bonus to a particular damage type (cold, fire, slashing, and so on) on your chest piece, that bonus only activates if you get hit in the chest. Note that some spots are easier to hit than others. Here are the armor locations, from easiest to hit to hardest: chest, legs, hands, feet, and head.
Game Tip: When selecting armor for your PvP character, consider using any extra armor bonuses on the chest and legs because those areas get hit the most.
Armor Penetration
Armor penetration removes a percentage of your armor for that particular hit. For example, 25% armor penetration on a 60 AL (armor level) target would hit as if it had 45 AL instead.
Game Tip: Because armor penetration works off a percentage, the more armor the target has, the greater total efficiency you derive from armor penetration. With 20% penetration, you strike a 100 AL target as if it had 80 AL (-20 AL), compared to a 60 AL target, which you strike as if it had 48 AL (-12 AL). However, despite this increased efficiency, higher armor is still higher armor, and a hit against 80 AL does a lot less damage than a hit against 48 AL. In general, seek to strike the target with the lowest AL possible to do the most damage.
Attack Speed Reduction
Attack speed reduction from multiple sources is capped at a 50% reduction in speed. No single skills can slow attack speed beyond 50%.
Skills that reduce attack speed:
Faintheartedness (50%)
Meekness (50%)
Shadow of Fear (50%)
Soul Bind (30%)
Sample stack:
(Shadow of Fear -50%) + (Faintheartedness -50%) = 50% slower (cannot exceed 50% cap)
Increased attack speed (IAS) effects stacked with speed reductions have a simple additive outcome. The calculation is an easy one. Simply add or subtract the relevant speed modifiers to determine the total effect. Note that in order of operations, the freshest item in the stack is calculated first, so certain effects may vary.
(Shadow of Fear -50%) + (Reckless Haste +25%) = 25% slower
Game Tip: While you cannot use Necromancer Hexes to decrease an opponent's attack speed more than 50%, you can include redundant measures in your build. Faintheartedness has a lot of utility because it adds Health degeneration. Use this Hex on melee characters first, but if you don't see any melee targets, use it to pressure enemy healers. Including Faintheartedness on the same Skill Bar as Shadow of Fear gives you Health degeneration and widespread melee shut down along with an area cover Hex.
You can also consider using Meekness in a Hex-heavy build as a user-friendly cover Hex. Just remember that it comes with the price of higher Energy and a Health sacrifice. Even though Meekness and Shadow of Fear offer the same speed reduction and Hex duration, Meekness covers a larger area. Shadow of Fear works best on a Warrior train or tight cluster of enemies, but Meekness extends far beyond that, making it easier to position correctly than Shadow of Fear.
Critical Hits
The chance to score a critical hit is approximately 1% per weapon mastery attribute point (assuming equal character level of attacker and defender). Generally, the higher your weapon mastery, the more critical hits you land.
Skills that increase your chance of a critical hit:
"Go for the Eyes!"
Critical Eye
Critical Strikes (Assassin primary attribute)
Decapitate
Malicious Strike
Primal Rage
Siphon Strength
Way of the Assassin
Wild Blow
Skills that remove your critical hit ability:
Dulled Weapon
Stoneflesh Aura
Stone Sheath
Skills that give protection against critical hits:
Balanced Stance
Damage Reduction
Different damage reduction skills stack with each other, with no cap. With enough reduction, you can drop the amount of damage you take all the way to 0 per hit. Many skills give you extra armor, which stack with each other and with per-hit damage reduction.
Armor increasing skills:
"Shields Up!"
"Stand Your Ground!"
"Watch Yourself!"
Armor of Earth
Armor of Frost
Armor of Mist
Avatar of Balthazar
Bladeturn Refrain
Convert Hexes
Conviction
Defensive Stance
Defy Pain
Disciplined Stance
Dolyak Signet
Dryder's Defenses
Elemental Resistance (penalty against physical damage)
Feigned Neutrality
Fertile Season
Frigid Armor
Kinetic Armor
Mighty was Vorizun
Obsidian Flesh
Physical Resistance (penalty against elemental damage)
Resilient Weapon
Shield of Deflection
Shield of Regeneration
Tranquil was Tanasen
Ward Against Elements
Ward Against Harm
Damage reduction skills:
"Incoming!"
"They're on Fire!"
Armor of Sanctity
Armor of Unfeeling
Aura of the Lich
Dark Escape
Life Barrier
Life Bond
Mantra of Earth
Mantra of Flame
Mantra of Frost
Mantra of Lightning
Reverse Hex
Shield of Absorption
Shielding Hands
Stoneflesh Aura
Union
Game Tip: Damage reduction and extra armor does not protect you against life-stealing attacks or Health degeneration.
Dodging Arrows and Projectiles
To dodge arrows, spears, wand attacks, and projectile-based spells, simply strafe side to side or run back and forth. "Click to move" also works well. There is no randomizing effect with projectiles; if the projectile lands in a place you're not, then it misses.
Game Tip: To see some expert dodging in action, take a bow, spear, wand, or projectile-based spell such as Lightning Orb to the Isle of the Nameless. Seek out the Master of Healing (head to the right) and start attacking her. Watch as she effortlessly dodges most of your attacks. This will show you just how much damage you can save yourself merely by dodging incoming projectiles.
Exhaustion
When a spell causes Exhaustion, gray shading appears at the right side of your Energy Bar. Note that maximum Energy is always reduced by 10 for Exhaustion-causing spells, even if you cast a 5 Energy spell or a 25 Energy spell. The rate of recovery from Exhaustion is 1 maximum Energy every 3 seconds.
Only Elementalist spells cause Exhaustion, although a few skills can inflict it upon other characters.
Exhaustion-causing skills:
Exhausting Assault (Assassin)
Arcane Languor (Mesmer)
Equinox (Ranger Spirit that doubles Exhaustion)
Game Tip: Nothing removes Exhaustion, although the elite Elementalist skill Glyph of Energy prevents it.
Health Sacrifice
All Health sacrifice is an effect called "loss," which is not considered damage. You can sacrifice yourself to death. Loss and "life steal" are really the same thing (life steal just makes an enemy lose Health while you gain it), and both of these ignore armor and spells that reduce damage. For example, Shielding Hands would not reduce life stealing from Vampiric Gaze or vampiric weapons, nor would it reduce the amount of Health loss from a sacrifice.
Some builds utilize self-sacrifice to the point of character death. Mostly these are Necromancer minion master teams, although sometimes self-sacrifice is also used with Death Nova builds. A common self-sacrifice method uses Infuse Health. The self-sacrificer equips a weapon set with +60 Health and repeatedly uses Infuse Health to drop below 60 Health. Then, the same player swaps to a lower Health vampiric weapon set, which results in character death and a reusable supply of exploitable corpses for minions. Switching to a non-vampiric weapon set leaves the character at 1 Health.
Only one skill reduces Health sacrifice: Aura of the Lich. It reduces your maximum Health by half and damage from all sources by half, including Health sacrifice.
Height Advantage
Many players have long known that Rangers gain an advantage when attacking from higher ground, and a disadvantage when attacking from lower ground than the target. While the exact benefit varies on the level of height, suffice it to say that Rangers should habitually seek higher ground. Furthermore, Paragons, though they have a shorter range, also deal more damage when on higher ground. This effect often goes overlooked, but the extra damage adds up over time.
Game Tip: If playing on a Paragon spike team, try to lure the enemy into a hilly area or get them below a bridge before spiking, especially if your team has a hard time dropping targets. If playing against a Paragon spike, hide behind buildings or cliffs and look for high ground to deny the spikers any height advantage.
Back to summaryThe obvious first step is to look at the mistakes you are making and to correct them. Observer mode is the ideal tool for this. If possible, have a friend watch with you, because he may well notice bad habits you don't realize you've acquired.
Pay close attention to your movements. Are you overextending? If so, why? Are you getting the most out of the available cover and keeping an eye on line of sight? You should never stand idle. If you were idle because you didn't have a target, did you make your target caller aware of that?
Watch a game featuring a top-rated guild and focus on someone playing the same role you normally play. Look for things like positioning in relation to other parts of the team, body blocking, and canceling skills as a feint when targeted by an interrupter. If you watch closely enough, there's almost always something to learn.
If you feel like Observer mode is too much effort, try filling in for a team you haven't played with before. Ideally it should be as skilled a team as you can find, but you can learn things from playing with teams below your level as well. Even random pick-up groups from Heroes' Ascent can provide lessons, or at least make you thankful for the coordination of your regular team. Listen to their communication and study their movements. Take notes about things they do better than your own team.
Back to summaryAnother effective way of gaining a new perspective is to learn a profession you don't normally play. Better yet, change to a class that is in direct opposition to your primary profession. If you're a Monk, try learning Warrior. If your role is Warrior, try learning a defensive support class like Elementalist or Paragon. If you need help learning the nuts and bolts of that class, begin with a basic build in the Random Arenas, and familiarize yourself with how it works.
By playing a class in opposition to your own, you can look for the conditions you need to meet to achieve what your old class is designed to prevent. So, if you are a Monk learning to play Warrior, take note of how spikes affect you. Which Enchantments and Conditions are most difficult to spike through? What Monk mistakes can you capitalize on? What type of Monk is easiest to kill? Why? For example, a Monk with Zealous Benediction can resist pressure damage for a long time. Rather than pressuring such a Monk, try spiking it instead.
Once you know the answers to these questions, you can take advantage of the knowledge when you switch back to playing Monk. You'll have a feel for how often a Warrior can spike, what it looks like when he is about to start, and what it takes to disrupt him. Consider a Shadow Prison teleporting Warrior that Shadow Steps in for a spike. By playing a Warrior, you get a better sense of how long it takes to recharge skills and the amount of Energy and adrenaline needed to sustain the spike. These are all valuable pieces of information you can take with you.
Back to summaryAnother way of switching it up is to try another game type. Guild Wars offers many ways to play, and there are lessons to be learned from each experience. Hero Battles provide a good opportunity to practice build making and test out new character builds, even if the mechanics of a 4v4 fight are different from 8v8 combat. With the upcoming tournament support, HvH is likely to become very popular for strong competition as well.
If you're sick of paying attention to details and just want to reload, Random Arena is the best place to go. When that happens, I like to run a highly conceptual or goofy build. For example, you could play a Dervish/Assassin with Vow of Strength and Shadowy Burden. Even if it's not as effective as a Warrior, there's a lot of enjoyment to be gained from getting 200 damage critical hits, and then reading the chat afterwards. If that's not your cup of tea, try running a high-risk, high-reward build that's fun whether you win or lose the game, such as an Assassin with a powerful damage combo. Random Arena is a place for that type of fun. And, while it's not the hardcore competition of GvG, you can still learn tons about the game from playing RA.
Back to summaryIf all of that fails to re-invigorate you, there's always dodgeball. For those who don't know, dodgeball is the inspiration for the seasonal Dragon Arena, and can be reproduced any time you want. Just create a Mesmer/Elementalist with all superior runes, and no Health or armor bonuses. Max your Air Magic, and equip [[Lightning Orb]. Get a friend or three to do the same, and start a scrimmage. The orb kills you in one hit, so you must dodge it in order to stay alive.
Dodgeball skill template: AlFAyQ5AAAAAAAAAAA
Dodgeball equipment template: RmVYosJTLlNhCpsJNAlNxqosJA
Yet another good use for scrimmages is for specific training. For example, if your role is Assassin, have a teammate bring a common flag runner build and scrimmage against one another. This teaches you a lot about that specific match-up, and makes for a great opportunity to try new character builds.
Back to summaryIn addition to making direct play-style changes, you can always try to remedy other sources of frustration. Guild Wars gives you a lot of freedom to tweak and customize your experience. One thing that is often overlooked is user interface (UI) and control customization. For example, I mapped skill slots 7 and 8 to the Q and E keys, because they are much easier to reach, and blew up my compass so it's easier to see team movements in GvG.
These kinds of tweaks may seem like a no-brainer, but they can make a huge difference to your enjoyment of the game. So, play around with the UI often, and think about how you can improve your game by making it easier to control your character. For example, if you find that you often run a Ritualist with Generous Was Tsungrai, you might want to map an easily-reached key to the drop item command.
Back to summaryPositioning and movement of individual characters can mean the difference between breaking an enemy team and your own team falling apart. The overextension of one character can lead to an untimely demise, resulting in a temporary numbers imbalance and time wasted resurrecting the fallen character. In cases where two teams are otherwise equal, such a transient advantage often translates into a more permanent advantage, such as a morale boost. The following tips attempt to explain how to maximize individual and team positioning.
Ground as a resource - A failure to understand and execute this concept can lead to lost matches and a decline on the GvG ladder. When you control a lot of ground in a GvG match, you gain the ability to manipulate and constrict enemy movement. For example, if you start dying in the enemy base, make the enemy take the lengthiest route possible to chase you out; this grants your fallen party members time to resurrect at the shrine so that the enemy does not outnumber you once they reach your base.
If you control the flag stand and the time for a morale boost is approaching, push forward so you can delay, damage, and block their flag runner as long as possible. The longer you can hinder and delay the runner, the better your chance of gaining the morale boost. In fact, if you never stall the enemy runner, your own runner could fall behind in the flag running race, meaning less time supporting you at the flag stand with healing and other skills, and more time spent shuttling a flag back and forth. Many matches come to a pivotal point when one side's flag runner can afford to stay at the flag stand longer and force a numbers advantage.
Staying alive is your own responsibility - Lots of people play as if their Monks are limitless wells of healing. This is a mistake. The Monks are there to save you from spikes and to give you greater margins, but ultimately the responsibility to stay alive falls on your shoulders. If you constantly position yourself in a way that allows the enemy team to unload tons of damage on you, your Monks will eventually run out of Energy and your whole team will crumble. When targeted by serious damage or when the enemy team begins to collapse on you, you must fall back, away from the source of the damage and towards your nearest safe haven, which is usually your Monk backline. Keep moving until the enemy switches targets and until your Health is at a level where you can't be easily spiked. Observe enemy movement and try to figure out how you can do your job most effectively while at the same time preventing them from spiking you. For instance, as a caster, you can sometimes use your spells while hiding behind a wall or around a corner.
"Ctrl" key for scouting - Holding the "Ctrl" key will reveal enemies at a slightly farther range than those indicated by your compass. Any time you are actively scouting to see what the enemy is up to, or trying to sneak past unseen, holding this key is useful. If you are a split character trying to avoid detection as you go around the back way, use the "Ctrl" key as a buffer. When you see a name pop up, you can steer away from it before you appear on that enemy's compass.
Area Effects - When faced with AoE attacks like Searing Flames or Disease, it is important to spread out to minimize their effect. Don't spread farther than you need to, though, as time spent moving is time spent not attacking, and if you spread too much it's easy to overextend.
NPCs - They provide useful extra damage. If the enemy team seems overly eager to push on you, see if they'll fight where you have the advantage of NPCs helping out, even if you're at full strength. However, only do so when you won't be sacrificing a morale boost or similar important resource, and you're confident you can take the ground back should you need to capture the flag stand. Do everything you can to heal these NPCs when fighting near them. The longer they stay alive the more they can help you.
Back to summaryFlag block - When you're holding the flag stand and the enemy doesn't have much time to capture it before you gain a morale boost, first and foremost you should push forward and snare the runner as described earlier in the article. When the runner gets close to the flag stand, form a wall to block access. This can also be done when the enemy tries to repair the Trebuchet outside your base.
Trebuchet block - If you control the center when Victory or Death comes around, place two high-armor targets, usually Warriors or Paragons, next to each other in the opening the NPCs will use. Keep Protective Spirit on them both constantly, while you fire the Trebuchet. The enemy NPCs will stop in the courtyard to attack your blockers, and the Trebuchet will kill them all.
When it comes to movement, as with everything else, always strive to figure out the optimal way to reach your goal. It's hard to get good feedback on movement and position, so it's important to think about it actively. Bad positioning and movement are often the reason for unexplained failures like a split dying or failing to kill their target, or the team suddenly starting to take tons of damage. When this happens, try watching your game on Observer Mode afterwards, and then discuss effective positioning.
Back to summaryBecause the creative process is usually very disorganized, I won't try to explain it here. It can start with a flash of insight about a skill combo, an accidental discovery when changing an existing build, or something else entirely. Whatever the origin of your idea, the concepts in this article should be helpful when fleshing it out.
To better understand this article, the term "metagame" deserves some explanation. In general terms, the metagame spreads from the top of the GvG ladder downward, encompassing common trends of the game, the mental approach of the PvP culture, tactics currently being used, and the types of skills popular at the moment. When a competitive player uses the term, he or she usually means: "What is currently prevalent in most GvG matches." For example, right after the release of Nightfall, the metagame was Fire AoE damage combined with Rampage as One Ranger/Warrior thumpers. When faced with more options and new skills than they could handle, players will naturally find the most powerful damage-combination possible and use it before others can figure out how to counter it effectively.
Back to summaryAs I see it, there are three build-making approaches, and all of them require you to be familiar with the current metagame to some degree:
Throwing a couple of damage characters and some healing together just isn't enough; you must have a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish, beyond just killing the enemy team and Guild Lord. Once you know how you want to win, you can tailor your character builds and combinations to that purpose.
Three basic types of builds exist currently in Guild Wars GvG:
Following are a few provisions that have proven necessary in almost any successful and flexible build. If you choose not to bring one of these, make sure it's for a good reason.
Some of these will seem like tactical questions, and they are...to a degree. However, if you find that your team doesn't have a good answer to any of these questions, you should change your build before you give your enemy the chance to exploit that weakness.
Naturally, mistakes and misunderstandings happen, but you must assume that both your team and your enemies will play well when asking yourself these questions. If your answer to a specific tactic relies on the enemy being stupid, you will eventually run into a smart team that kills you with that tactic.
Back to summaryIf you test a build and it seems lacking, you must first decide whether the problem lies in the central idea of the build or in the specifics. If you try to run a build focusing on spiking with five damage-dealers at once in a metagame of split tactics, the problem is in the essence of the build. You are already pre-countered when you enter the arena, because you need all five players in one place to get kills. When this is the case, run another build.
If you find the problem lies in the specifics of the build, ask each player how they think it can be improved and what issues they had with their builds, before deciding what you want to change. The players' feedback will give you a good basis for your decision, and you may even find that a player was confused about his role, or that he accidentally brought the wrong skill.
I'll leave you with one final tip: Don't over-diversify. The game has hundreds of skills, and it's easy to think of a reason to bring all kinds of things. What you must ask yourself is whether it fits the purpose of your build. A common mistake is attempting to bring characters that are good in and of themselves, but that don't mesh with what you're trying to accomplish. For example, Water Magic snares have excellent utility, but if the build has no other Hexes at all, sometimes these snares go to waste in large battles. If the team build has a lot of Conditions, it may be better to bring something that causes Crippling instead. By the same token, if you have a lot of Hexes in your build but very little Conditions, you may opt for the Hex Blurred Vision or Shadow of Fear as your melee counter instead of a skill that causes Blindness. With Blindness as the only Condition, it is sometimes too easily removed.
Back to summaryThe idea behind this approach is to get your group's morale maxed at +10% while causing the enemy to incur death penalties. Your team should concentrate on gaining the center and planting their flag as soon as possible. Once this is accomplished the catapult should be employed, while the rest of the team concentrates on taking out the NPC's around the periphery of the enemy base while repelling every new attack. If successful, your team will eventually be able simply to overwhelm the enemy, due to their high Death Penalty, killing them off after their resurrection and then finishing off the Guild Lord.
If you find yourself the victim of this approach, the best counter is to attempt to cut your losses and defend your Guild Lord, in an attempt to gain morale boosts through kills and an eventual retake of the center and the flag stand. Once the opposing team is maxed at 10% Morale Boost, worrying about the center is a waste of time. They can hold it for the next hour and it won't give them any additional benefit. Make sure that you avoid areas that the catapult can reach; otherwise, it will destroy your party, causing your members to incur greater and greater Death Penalties. If your Death Penalty is too high to attempt a center retake, just concentrate on defending, since this is likely your best chance at winning.
Back to summaryThe Guild Lord is tough to kill, but if an entire group concentrates its damage on him he can be taken out rather quickly. The idea behind this strategy is to rush the Guild Lord without having to fight the opposing group. Because of the radar this tactic can be difficult to pull off, but with a well executed plan it can be done. One way this can be accomplished is by attempting the following:
Although difficult to execute, this method of attack can result in a swift victory for your team if done successfully.
Back to summaryIn Guild Battles, different teams take different paths to victory, but all ultimately lead to killing the Guild Lord. When two guilds meet on the battlefield, one side will have the advantage in an eight-on-eight situation whether due to talent, build, experience, or a number of other reasons. Successfully executing a split gives a team the power to create favorable mismatches, confuse opponents, and eliminate NPCs. Likewise, understanding an opponent's split strategy allows a team to generate its own advantages.
Identifying a Split
Almost every team features a split of some sort. The most common involves sending one person to run a flag from the base to the flag stand. While not everyone may identify the flag runner as a split, keep in mind that having one opponent all alone opens up opportunities. Sending the right personnel to eliminate that runner not only creates a temporary eight-on-seven situation, but also forces the other team to find someone else to run a flag and prevent the impending morale boost.
Of course, any number of people may attempt to split off and create similar mismatches. Against a spike team, dividing into smaller groups forces the spikers to choose whether to split and chase both groups (thus reducing their spike ability), or to stay together to chase down one group, thereby freeing the other split squad to kill NPCs.
Another common split strategy uses a one- or two-person "gank team" to eliminate NPCs at the enemy base while the rest of the team fights at the flag stand. This infiltration allows the team to create a numerical advantage for Victory or Death ("VoD") while giving the team the ability to protect its own base while still challenging control of the flag stand. Such a split may also include a designated flag runner separate from the gank team.
Towards the end of a match, some teams attempt to rush into the enemy base for an all-out assault on the Guild Lord. A common split to counter this situation sends all defensive characters (typically two Monks) back to keep the Guild Lord alive while the offense invades the opponent's base to take down the enemy Guild Lord. That opponent must then send back its Monks and expose its offense or risk a quick loss from unmitigated damage on its own Guild Lord.
Executing a Split
To execute effective splits, players must learn to communicate with each other. Each split squad needs information from the other squad(s) on matters such as enemy movement and team status. Many splits end badly because one split squad did not warn the other split squad that the enemy had moved to collapse on their position. Adam Sunstrom's article from November 20, 2006 provides a slew of helpful tips to improve team communication.
Players wishing to execute a split or defend against one should familiarize themselves with the various maps. Talking to the Guild Hall Ambassador at the Great Temple of Balthazar allows exploration of each Guild Hall map. Maps like the Burning Isle do not favor splits. Teams wishing to split should plan contingency strategies, such as sending a Ranger with Apply Poison to clear the back path on Burning Isle, because opponents who choose to play on such maps likely have an offense that can overwhelm enemy Monks in eight-on-eight situations. In addition, splits do not get far on certain maps without the help of the Guild Thief NPC, so guilds thinking of running a split build should determine which squad will travel with the Guild Thief, and how to keep her alive.
The timing of splits can vary depending on the team build as well. Splitting right away provides early gank opportunities while splitting later provides the chance to assess the enemy's strategy first and then split accordingly.
Countering a Split
Countering a split requires good preparation before combat. Knowing beforehand whether your team's build can split itself or whether it needs to stay together can save your team from trying to decide what to do in the middle of a battle. A team with a spike build that relies on most of its players to stay together needs to consider whether it can plow through the opponent's defensive squad or whether it needs to retreat to deal with a squad infiltrating its base. Spike teams usually send back a flag runner along with a Monk so as not to sacrifice too much damage. However, this type of split for a team with a typical two-Monk backline may leave the main group overly exposed if the opponent's offensive squad collapses back on the flag stand.
Instead of an active response, some teams fall back on their base entirely and employ a "turtle" strategy. By staying inside the base, the turtling team can protect its NPCs while enjoying the added firepower they provide, and avoid player deaths. This tactic forces split teams into facing the opponent eight-on-eight if they want to create a significant NPC advantage. However, split teams theoretically are at a disadvantage in eight-on-eight, so the turtling team can simply march out of its base with the NPCs at Victory or Death and regain the upper hand.
Teams built to split tend to swap personnel around until they create favorable match-ups against opposing split squads. Thus, knowing what each player on the team can and cannot handle becomes critical. For example, a Blinding Surge Elementalist can pressure a Warrior while cowing his ability to inflict damage, but an opposing Mesmer can put an end to that plan unless the Elementalist has proper support. Split teams must also devise ways to break an opposing turtle strategy. Despite the limitations of working inside the enemy base, a good split team can break a turtle by dividing the attention of the opponent's healers and coordinating spikes of their own. The split team can afford a death or two because the turtling team has conceded the flag stand, but must resurrect quickly and avoid unnecessary deaths and overexposure so the turtling team has no opportunity to break out.
"Victory or Death!"
If your team cannot handle the opponent in an eight-on-eight situation, how does that change at Victory or Death? Not only do players have 25% reduced Health and do 25% more damage, but also the NPCs gather together at the flag stand. A team that employed good split tactics can find itself at an advantage if the other team has lost a number of NPCs. The damage the NPCs do individually may not seem like much, but when they gather together and combine with the offensive might of your team, they can easily decimate the enemy.
Back to summaryAs opposed to a split, which is more like a commando/harassment approach, the spike build is more direct. It is based on focused and synchronized ranged or spell damage, dealt on a single target in a very small time interval (usually below a second or two). Spells are more often used, especially if they do not require a line of sight, but ranged skills and spells are included as well. Variants of spike builds include one or two melee characters, which also unleash their skill combos once the spike starts.
General Ideas
A spike build team usually has a primary and a secondary (backup) target caller. The caller's purpose is to find targets of opportunity, and concentrate the team's attacks on that target, by both calling the target, and then using a voice countdown on TS/Vent once the target has been announced. The rest of the team has to enter in proper range of the target, and then synchronize their skill combos in order for everyone to attack at the same time. In case the caller is dead or somehow unable to call, the secondary caller takes over.
The main idea behind a spike build is to "choose" one or two targets from the beginning, and then try to DP them out by successive spikes, until they reach 60 DP. Spikes are based on fast, constant pressure. Since good spike builds and fast spikes that manage to kill targets can cause panic and disarray among the enemy team, any failure in spiking effectively at small time intervals might turn out to be disastrous, since the build then remains vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Countering a spike
The most effective counter to any spike build usually consists in applying a "split" tactics, thus forcing the enemy team to split their team as well (and thus lose the massive damage they can inflict during the spike itself). Other than this, particular counters to different spike builds are obvious, depending on the nature of the spike, and the skills you have at your disposal.
Back to summaryA pressure build is one that focuses on winning by simply producing more damage than the enemy can survive in the long run. This is different from a spike build, which attempts to kill players before the enemy Monks can react, and split builds, which take the divide-and-conquer approach.
Note that a pressure build can deal its damage in spikes, but that it's not built to kill a target before Monks can react. Rather pressure builds spike hard enough or often enough that the Monks cannot keep up in terms of Energy or skill recharge over time.
A few means of applying pressure on the enemy team are:
Pressure builds are often very back-loaded. This means they seem ineffective at first, and are unlikely to score the first kill of the game. But when the pressure builds past the point of sustainability for enemy Monks, their whole team is likely to get rolled unless they escape quickly.
Generally, you should spend as much time as possible in your enemy's face, attacking them 8v8. Pressure builds work up momentum and build upon it, whereas spike builds go from 0 to 100 and back down to 0 in a couple of seconds, and then repeat the process.
Vs. Spike
Get up close and personal immediately. Try to go after the Monks right away and measure their Energy and endurance against your healer's reaction speed. Normally they will score a kill or two before you get your first one, but as long as you have Rez Sigs, it's not a problem. Once you get your first kill, you should either get a second and third right away, or push them away from the flag stand and secure your Morale boost. Beware of pushing too hard on spike teams that can hit from afar, such as when they're perched on the ledges in the Isle of Solitude.
A smart spike team usually resorts to split tactics or hit-and-runs once they realize you have the advantage in a straight-up fight.
Vs. Pressure
If you are confident, go Monk on Monk as if facing a spike build. When you do this, one of two things will happen: either you will eventually start killing them or you will eventually start to crumble. Due to the nature of pressure builds, the team that suffers the first death is likely to lose more than one player as the momentum builds. Therefore, you must identify problems before your Monks are drained. Are your Hexes sticking? If not, find the Monk with Divert Hexes and shut him down. Are your melee attackers constantly Blinded or Blocked? Find the Elementalist casting Blinding Surge or Ward Against Melee and shut him down.
When facing another pressure build, it is vitally important for the team to communicate with the caller and keep him up to date. Your Monks have to be especially aware of this, and must warn the caller when they begin to get low Energy - before they are forced to switch to their negative Energy regeneration weapon sets. If the caller finds your Monks are taking more pressure than the enemy Monks, focus your shutdown on the enemy's offense to buy yourself time and your Monks breathing room while you decide how to shut down the enemy's defense.
Vs. Split
This is the true test of a pressure build. Facing a strong split build can be extremely difficult, and requires a pressure build designed to handle it. Against weak teams, you can often simply send back one or two defensive characters, give up your outside archers, and survive while the main team pressures on through the enemy base. Against a strong team, however, you must collapse upon the enemy anytime you can do so without losing control of the flag stand.
The situation you're looking for is one where you've killed their split team and can push them into the back of their base before the next automatic resurrection. When that happens, you can pressure them from the moment they spawn and pin them in their base, or at least inflict a kill or two while their split team moves out. In that situation, send back only as many defensive characters as you absolutely must, and press the numbers advantage with your main team. Situations like these can come down to who can kill the other team's Guild Lord faster, which makes for exciting games and demands a lot of tactical experience from your leader.
Back to summaryThe player who does the calling has to have certain qualities to be effective. The caller has to be able to think on his feet and adapt to unexpected scenarios. He needs to be able to speak loudly and clearly so everyone can understand him; good callers are usually talkative and somewhat cocky. He must be decisive and confident, because if he constantly second-guesses himself mid-sentence, the team will lose all direction.
In addition, the caller must have intimate knowledge of the game and the build your team is running, and she must be able to analyze an enemy's build quickly so she can adapt the tactics accordingly. The caller must also be experienced enough to be able to foresee the enemy team's tactics, like blocking the door and shooting the Trebuchet when Victory or Death arrives.
Positional awareness is another key skill, because the caller needs to be able to identify enemy movements and take advantage when they overextend away from Monk healing range or when they split up. Last but not least, the caller should be someone who has been around the guild for a while and has built up some authority and trust from the members.
One thing the caller does not need to be, however, is the nominal leader of the guild. If the founder or leader of the guild is not the person best suited for calling, she has to be humble and realistic enough to delegate the job to the person who would be best at it for the benefit of the guild.
Back to summaryWhat follows are some tips that can help improve the performance of your caller. Hopefully there will be something useful here even for callers with a lot of top-level experience, because it's a difficult job and nobody ever gets it completely perfect.
ABC: Always Be Calling. Long silences leave room for confusion, and it's your job to make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do throughout the game. Call targets to attack as often as suits your build, and make sure your team's positioning is good. If you are facing a team with strong Area of Effect damage, remind your team to spread out. During lulls in gameplay, such as while waiting for the enemy to come out of their base at VoD, discuss how you will adapt to different possible scenarios the opponents might put you in after the lull.
If you're sure the main team is under control, ask players not visible on your compass how they are doing and make sure they know what's going on. Follow up on the status of your earlier order, whether it be pushing in the Repair Kit or killing NPCs in the enemy base.
When calling targets to kill with a spike build, try to count down in actual seconds. Players with longer cast time skills such as Lightning Orb need to time the start their cast for a certain second, and if you count too slow or too fast you will ruin the spike.
If you or some players on your spike team are experiencing lag in the voice program, use the in-game clock to count down spikes. For example: If the clock shows 14:30, say "I want a spike on target X at 14:40."
When you want a player of a certain profession to do something, say his name instead of his profession. For example, if your flag runner has Death Penalty and you want one of your two Warriors with high armor to push the flag to the flag stand, say "Bob, take the flag from the runner and go cap." If you say "I need a Warrior to take the flag and cap it," you risk wasting the team's time in the confusion of deciding which Warrior does it.
Stay focused on the game at hand. If you're in a lull and you start discussing a great movie you saw last night, chances are you won't adapt quickly enough if the enemy team pulls something unexpected.
Back to summaryHere are some further tips for effective communication everyone should observe, not just the caller.
Minimize noise. Subjects or discussions that are irrelevant to the game at hand take away focus from players and can clutter up the sound space when the caller needs to issue an order. If you are not the caller, keep your communication and commentary to the minimum necessary for your build. If you're a flag runner, update the team on flag status. If you're a Warrior, call for Blindness removal when necessary. The Warrior shouldn't talk about the flag runner's job unless it involves him.
Discuss problems, not players. If a player keeps repeating a mistake, discuss what needs to happen from now on rather than what that player should have done differently or that player's skilled level.
Save build discussions for after the game. If your Warriors are getting all of their attacks blocked or evaded, try to adapt by pressuring or interrupting whoever is casting the Aegis or Ward Against Melee. Do not say: "I told you this build needed more Enchantment removal, but you wouldn't listen." It isn't productive, and there will be plenty of time after the game to discuss it.
Keep it positive. No matter how badly it's going, don't give up hope on winning and, most of all, do not start to lay blame. If you allow the communication to degenerate into snide little digs or a shouting match, you not only risk losing that game, you risk losing the whole reason to play the game, which is the entertainment value.
Evaluate between games. Whether you win or lose, take some time between each game to think about what could be improved in terms of build, tactics, communication, and individual play. If you have a loss, let the caller be the moderator and ask each person what problems they ran into and what they think should happen. Show respect and let others finish before you reply.
Refrain from second-guessing the caller. Even if the orders seem like bad tactics, it's better if everyone follows orders and makes a bad move together than for a few players to go against the orders and render the entire team's effort ineffective. If the call was bad, discuss it after the game is over. There are obvious exceptions. If you think the caller is making a poor decision based on lack of information, provide the info, but still follow orders until they change.
Back to summaryFinally, here are some common mistakes to avoid if you want to be an effective caller.
Faltering under pressure. It seems obvious, but this is the single most common mistake I see callers make. When the momentum of the game starts to turn in the enemy team's favor, you must not let it dishearten you and you must not let it make you quiet or angry. Some callers are superb when everything is going well but fall apart when under pressure. Try to keep your focus on the options you still have, keep talking, and don't let the team get disorganized.
Unclear wording. Avoid ambiguous terms that can be confusing to players. For example, "fall back" can be interpreted as either "disengage and retreat" or "stop overextending." When you can't find accurate words, draw on the map where you want players to be.
Wrong character build. The caller needs to be playing a character that is fairly straightforward, that stays with the main team and that targets enemies. If you are forced to play a complicated build that has to target allies, split off from the group or use many interruption skills, it will take away from your ability to direct the team. Ideal characters for a caller are Warrior, Elementalist, or Paragon as they allow for a lot of positional thinking, and these professions typically fight near the front lines where you can see if an enemy gets low on Health or overextends.
Back to summaryWork in progress
Back to summaryWork in progress
Back to summary Partial content � Harold J. Chow, Christian Brellisford and Adam Sunstrom (State of the Game). Some content is also � 2006-2007 ArenaNet, Inc (PvP Primer). All rights reserved. The Guild Wars and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.