Curse

DuFFz0r · Nov 12, 2005, 11:04 PM // 23:04

Hi, i'm pretty new to PvP and i would like some tips and general hints as to which skills etc are more useful then others, and for which situations. I use R, and Mo primarily in PvP.

Thanks a lot.

Warskull · Nov 13, 2005, 10:02 AM // 10:02

It is really difficult to summarize PvP into a short paragraph. There are so many aspects of so many skills that you could go on forever about it. However probably the most important thing to learn in PvP is energy management. In PvE you get breaks between fights. In PvP you must manage your energy to function for 10 minutes straight quite often. If you exhaust your energy the enemy will simply take the opportunity to exploit your weakness.

A simple way to create a PvP character:
#1) Figure out primary role and possible secondary role. You shouldn't really branch out into more than two functions. For example a monk is a healer and party maintainer. So you make take a few healing spells, a hex removal, and a condition removal to fill your role. You will notice a lot of players try to fill too man roles. For example a warrior who heals/self-heals, attacks enemies, tries to condition/hex remove, and protects himself with stances. You will run into a ton of these in Competitive Arena and very few of them are even mildly effective. By branching so much they do poor damage, a poor job healing, and a poor job protecting themselves. Focus on a major role and a minor secondary role and excel in them.

#2) Figure out how you will remain functional in long battles. How will you avoid running out of energy and becoming dead weight? Skills like Offering of blood, drain enchantment, mantra of recall are good skills to consider along these lines for a monk.

#3) Figure out how you will function as a team. This is tricky in CA because your allies are unknown. However you can come up with a loose gameplan. If you are a warrior you can follow targets and attack the same targets as other warriors. If you are a monk you heal your allies and keep debilitating hexes and conditions off your alllies (blind on warriors, migraine on casters, ect.) You can go much deeper into this with a team arena or tombs group (assuming you get a decent team.)

Also if you do decide to go into tombs pick up ventrillo and teamspeak.

They are voice chat clients used by a majority of serious groups. If you get in a decent group I guarantee they will ask you if you have it and if you respond that you don't they will either kick you or tell you to go get it. Even if you don't have a mic just listening is helpful.

When you start out looking for groups ask them specifically what they want you to run. A lot of teams need a specific set of skills to make the team. I will not lie to you, tombs will be rather discouraging when you first try it. If you really learn how to play tombs and GvG though it is a very rewarding experience.

Good luck and happy fragging.

DuFFz0r · Nov 13, 2005, 10:43 AM // 10:43

Wow, thanks very much. Thats helped me understand PvP a lot better!

pindun · Nov 13, 2005, 01:08 PM // 13:08

Hi There,

Welcome to PvP!

Here are some tips:

1.) Keep a free slot in your character list for a dedicated PvP character that you can and will delete and remake at regular intervals. Don't try to PvP with the same character you PvE with.

2.) Spend some time in the competition arenas with your chosen classes first to get used to PvPing with them. GvG and Tombs are very different from this place, but at least get familiar with the feel of the char.

3.) Once you start playing Team Arena/Tombs/GvG people will ask you to bring a build that suits the team. If you dont have a large number of skills unlocked, keep a few thousand (l try to keep 5k) faction in reserve so you can unlock skills requested.

4.) Get to know the people you have good PvP experiences with. I think PvP is a lot more fun with people you have played with before. Firstly, its more fun playing with people you like. Secondly, after a while you will get to know how the group will react and get better at working with it.

5.) Read the forums and try out builds listed in them.

6.) Read the forums and get to know how to deal with the flavour of the month builds like ranger spike, IWAY, trapper groups etc.

Cheers,
wei

Entropius · Nov 13, 2005, 06:02 PM // 18:02

OK, here we go.

PvP characters are different sorts of beasts than PvE characters. The biggest difference is the need for energy recovery skills. In PvE you can stop and rest between batches of beasties, but in PvP combat is usually unrelenting. Enemies are also smarter, and generally have healing.

You will probably start out playing Competition Arenas. These teams are highly varied, and one encounters lots of players of questionable intellect in there. If you wind up losing often, don't take it personally -- there are four people on the team, and chances are it wasn't your fault. The current fad build is rangers who use interrupt bow attacks; these aren't too bad in 8v8 pvp but are overpowered in 4v4. Thus, if you play any spellcaster, you'll need some way of dealing with interrupts. The Mesmer stance Mantra of Resolve does this well, for instance.

In general, find a build that works for you and finetune it in Arenas. This way you'll build up enough faction to unlock things to get you started in PvP, and gradually you can branch out with other builds. The first things you'll want to unlock are runes: vigor runes and a superior of whatever stat you want boosted the highest. Then work on grabbing skills you need. Gradually you'll build up a repetoire of builds you can play.

You said you played Monk, which is a welcome class in Arenas. Here's some random advice about monking in arenas:

--A skill to remove conditions is essential. A 20-second bleed does 120 damage; a simple mend ailment will erase that.

--A way to deal with the current plague of interrupt spamming rangers is essential. The best options are Mantra of Resolve (on a Mesmer secondary) or the use of 1/4 second cast spells, like Reversal of Fortune.

--As the only healer on your team, you'll have to both protect and heal. A good way to do this is to play a "boon protector"; use a high skill level of Divine Favor, along with Divine Boon, to get 100+ heals from every protection spell you use. This also has the advantage that Reversal of Fortune -- fast enough to get past interrupts -- will now heal people. Reversal and Mend Ailment can thus serve double duty: they heal and they fix conditions/protect.

--You'll need some way to regain energy. The two most popular are the Mesmer skill Mantra of Recall and the Necromancer skill Offering of Blood. Offering is part of one of the template healers, so you don't have to unlock it: just choose that template and fiddle with the skills.

--Most people will attack you, as the monk, first. You need some form of self-defense: I like to use Shielding Hands to cover the worst of the focus-fire. Another good option is Balthazar's Spirit, to feed you energy when people hit you. Be warned that using this with Boon means you'll only have 2 pips of energy regeneration.

--Hex removal is nice too. The options are Inspired Hex, Remove Hex, Holy Veil, and Smite Hex; find one you like. (If you use Mantra of Recall, another option is Contemplation of Purity).

--You can't deal with everything. Sometimes you'll be attacked by enough \energy drain, damage, hexes, interrupts, knockdowns, whatever ... that no amount of monk skill in the world will save you. In that circumstance it's not your fault if you die or your team loses -- if the other team can devote enough time and energy to overwhelming you, the other three people on your side should have turned them into jelly.

Good luck! If you need any help, my in-game name is Galen Hardril (most often) -- feel free to PM me. We can do some team arenas or something.

Fantus · Nov 17, 2005, 01:10 PM // 13:10

If you are like me and are coming from the PvE side of the game, too:

I don't have a slot for a PvP only character left, too. It doesn't matter that much AS LONG as you have a broad variety of skills for that character. Most important, go cap ALL elite skills for your class! Buy or quest ALL regular skills for your primary class, too. That way you can adapt almost as quickly as a PvP only char if your group requires you to change your skillbar. Also, do ALL the desert quests so that you can change your secondary class if needed, too. Then, save some skill points and money to buy additional skills for secondary classes, if required. This way, the only situation you are ever going to be inferior to a PvP only char is when the build would require an elite from your secondary class you haven't yet capped. A PvP char still can buy elites with faction, you might have to do Hell's Precipice first (which might take slightly longer

). Other than that, there is no difference between a fully unlocked PvP char and a PvE char with all skills bought.

In Competition Arenas, you can run the build you're most comfortable with, though - as long as it makes sense. If you play a Monk in there, I recommend staying away from the healing line since 95% of all time the target will be YOU. Don't rely on your party mates to defend you, they won't. You can't outheal the combined onslaught of 4 enemies, at least not if they have the slightest clue about what they are doing. Get protection skills instead, they work better in Arenas. And yes, take some skills to manage your energy.

Waylayer Brixt · Nov 17, 2005, 10:23 PM // 22:23

Best way to get good at pvp: become knowledgable about it.
You can accomplish this through practice, and talking about it with others.
good luck-