Squad and party composition
In every squad, there can be up to 50 people. Boon distribution in this game is party based, therefore we aim to make 5 man parties as most of the skills are 5 man target capped. The most important backbone of the party is a support firebrand. It provides the party with most of the boons and is the best source of stability in the game.
Second most important class for the party is a support scrapper. It provides most healing in the game as well as most cleanses and most superspeed. Scrapper’s abilities can be hardly substituted by any other class, however one of the possible options is a support tempest and a heal vindicator. Both of these lack other aspects of scrapper, therefore are suboptimal. Now we have set our support classes, we can move onto the damage classes. Power heralds, power scourges, power guardians and dragonhunters or weavers are considered meta damage classes with weaver having an iteration in catalyst.
Generally, aim to have atleast 1 scourge per party for barrier, 1 herald for offensive boon uptime and extra utility and one other damage class. One big gvg professional tip is to make sure to provide dragonhunters with herald offensive support, as it enhances their damage output.
There are 2 more classes I haven’t mentioned yet, these are spellbreaker and a chronomancer. Chronomancer works as a CC bot and is a great utility class. Spellbreaker can be played in different ways, either as power or as support with support being highly recommended for any fights bigger than 25. Support spellbreaker works as an extra support for your party, it does some healing, some cleanses, some barrier and most importantly it strips and CCs. Both chrono and spellbreaker can be put into the third damage class slot in a party.
What if we dont have secondary support in a party?
Unfortunately firebrand doesn’t heal as much anymore, however when missing a scrapper or a tempest, the issue can be solved by putting utility classes into a lacking party. For example you can put 2 support spellbreakers into the lacking party with a chronomancer and one dps class, preferably a necromancer and it will work mostly fine.
General idea is to stack tanky classes together if you find yourself in a situation without a secondary support.
Fight phases
- The preparation phase
During the preparation phase, it is important that the group is stacked together to benefit from any boons and effects as much as possible. During this phase firebrands can apply , and . Might can be blasted trough firefields etc.
Generally this phase is here to maximize your chances to win a fight because of solid preparation – basically not going in dry. - The engage phase – first spike
During the engage, scrappers are usually required to use their to apply stability to the party. Mesmers are often asked for , heralds are asked for their rangespike skills alongside with damage guardians. Firebrands need to reapply aegis and block on the tag. Scourges usually don’t get to do much here as their skills don’t have enough range. Mesmers should always try to pull on the rangespike to fish for enemies without stability.
Generally the engage phase requires the group to stay as tight as possible to mitigate the highest possible amount of damage from any counterspike and also to not ever fall behind. - Spike
As in the engage phase, everything applies the same way here, however the groups are usually closer to each other, therefore there is smaller amount of time to do damage and not die. While in range it is important to deliver a spike as hard as possible to generate downstates and finish them.
During this „phase“, it is very likely to fall behind as the enemy will pressure your group as well. So keep in mind that your priority is staying as compact as possible while delivering as much damage as possible.
It is known that acting fast provides both personal and group position advantage. Spiking fast therefore gives you time to reposition, catch up or finish downstates you generate. (play fast xdxd). - Wells/wellbomb/wellspike
This is the hardest hitting bomb your group has. The necros are the kings here. Wells can generate many downstates, depending on the followup to them. It is insanely important to drop wells in a smaller area to create space control and burst people down. It is also very important to provide hard CC on the wells. Any stuns, knockdowns and floats work perfectly here and should never be missing. One thing that also should not be missing is additional damage on wells. Imagine wells as basically an enhanced spike at a closer range. Everybody else need to either CC or do damage in the wells area to generate as much pressure on the enemy and create as many downstates as possible. Sustain here is really important as providing enough cleanses and stability for your group makes them be able to move and superspeed only gets them in the place they need to be at to actually bomb properly.
- Selfspike/Selfbomb
Selfbomb can be used to stop the enemy from pushing you. Great tools are scourges and dragonhunters traps. However since the enemy is literally on your face during this „phase“, it is generally good to use more than less. Both damage and CC.
Sustain here is also really important. As the enemy is pushing onto you, there will be a great requirement of cleanses and stunbreaks so everybody can safely counterspike and survive. - Kite phase
During a fight, it is sometimes necessary to just run away from a danger area. We call that kiting. During the kite phase it is necessary to keep pressure on the enemy with mostly soft CC and pressure while regaining big cooldowns while sustaining as close to the tag as possible.
One important thing to say here is the about face option. It is an instant character turn while you are still able to watch the enemy. We use about face exactly for that. It gives you situational awareness and also saves time. Other important thing to say here is to always press W away from the enemy, never S or strafe button. W is the fastest and matches yours and enemies speed. Superspeed helps a lot. - General forward motion phase
If you have or have not succeeded to create an advantage trough your bombs or spikes, it is however still important to create pressure on the enemy as much as possible. Picking out stragglers from proximity of the tag, finishing downstates, dropping soft cc on the enemy and light damage skills to just create pressure.
Rules to follow during a fight
The number one rule is to stay as close to the tag as possible. The biggest advantage of a tight group is their positioning ability. It creates less pressure on supports and enables damage and utility classes to do what they are supposed to do.
Second rule would be to try to keep the tag and the enemy always visible on your screen so you have more situational awareness. If for example the enemy veils, it usually means they will be pushing towards you with intention to do damage. This means that you need to be careful with your position, ideally pressure locations where the enemy is going and using your dodge button while supports do differently only one thing and that is making sure everyone is able to move and able to survive.
Third rule would be dodging. Wasting dodges is a common issue alongside with not using them at all. Keep in mind that the enemy will have similar damage spikes, so technically you already know when and what to dodge. A lot of red circles usually means gtfo using your dodge. Going forward and being offensive also means to dodge instead of just pressing W and getting randomly stuck by rng corrupt or a line or even dying to a counterspike.
Fourth rule would be for everyone overall to not try to be a hero on their own. This is a group based gamemode and your chances of making a risky play and actually surviving are pretty small. Risky play means: ressing someone in narnia while leaving your group with nothing, trying to pull people out of enemy bombs while making yourself at risk and putting yourself out of position, being too far behind the tag rendering yourself either useless or dead.
Fifth rule would be to not overcommit. Overcommitment doesnt always mean only „going in front of the tag and getting stuck/dying“. It can also mean being on the wrong side of the field. Often while pushing to a side and dropping damage there makes people move on an offensive side – closer to the enemy, which kills them. One helpful thing for this is to keep the tag in the middle, between the enemy and yourself. That way youre very unlikely to get caught.
Sixth rule is very simple. Use heavy hitters on call and never on your own.Youre basically wasting effective damage and making it a pad damage, which has little to no value. Calls vary from a leader to leader, however the general ones are still the same. Rangespike, Wells Traps, Breaches, Gyros.
Seventh rule is to simply play fast. React fast to your leaders calls – movement, damage and sustain calls. In the end it is you who needs to press a button to not die.
Eight and last rule is to communicate. Noticing your commander of timers is extremely important and can often win a fight. Also it has a great mental value. Calling out class specific skills such as illusion or signet, bubbles, pulls, veils etc. helps coordinate the group, which is everything in this game.
Guide provided by The Flöck [tF].
June 2022.