Examining tactical quirks of each GvG battlefield

By Harold J. Chow
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 Guild Thief

On 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.

Trebuchets

Protective Spirit
Monk – Protection Prayers – Enchantment Spell
Energy: 10
Activation: 0.25
Duration: 5..23
Recharge: 5

Enchantment Spell. For 5..23 seconds, target ally cannot lose more than 10% max Health due to damage from a single attack or Spell.

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.

Frozen Isle

Gale
Elementalist – Air Magic – Spell
Energy: 10
Activation: 1
Duration: 3
Recharge: 5
Spell. Knock down target foe for 3 seconds. This Spell causes Exhaustion. (50% failure chance with Air Magic 4 or less.)

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

Avatar of Melandru [Elite]
dervish/Mysticism – Form
Energy: 25
Activation: 2
Duration: 15..75
Recharge: 10

Form. For 15..75 seconds, you have +200 Health, you are unaffected by Conditions, and your attacks deal earth damage. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.

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.

Tips for all Isles

In general, watch terrain and look for advantages. All maps have Archers, but you can usually find cover from their attacks. Also, conveniently narrow pathways form natural chokepoints are useful for body-blocking opposing flag runners or separating extended individuals from Monks. Positional awareness and other factors, such as the locations of the items characters interact with, can make the difference in close games. Be Mindful of the game clock, resurrection times, and distance from the resurrection shrine as you implement your team’s strategy. While Guild Battles still depend heavily on personnel and builds, advance knowledge of the terrain leads to informed tactical decisions and better preparation in response to your opponent’s next move.

Harold J. Chow is a freelance Guild Wars reporter. His in-game name is Guild Informant.

Building Pressure

To exert more pressure than enemy Monks can withstand, simply swinging your weapon is usually not enough. If you don’t diversify your sources of pressure, the enemy will easily counter it. The following are some popular components of pressure builds, with noteworthy skills for each component.

Energy Denial – Skills that drain Energy are very popular, especially when used with Mind Wrack.
“Fear Me!” “Fear Me!” Warrior – Tactics – Shout Adrenaline: 4 Activation: 0 Recharge: 0 Shout. All nearby foes lose 1..4 Energy.	“Fear Me!” is the pressure Warrior’s best friend. Paired with a strong source of adrenaline such as Steady Stance, this skill provides sustainable and hard-to-counter pressure.
Energy Surge Energy Surge [Elite] Mesmer – Domination Magic – Spell Energy: 10 Activation: 2 Recharge: 20 Spell. Target foe loses 3..8 Energy. For each point of Energy lost, that foe and all foes in the area take 10 damage.	Energy Surge combined with Energy Burn is the most common Mesmer pressure combination. It provides a fair bit of damage, which can be used in a spike, along with its Energy denial. Other noteworthy Mesmer skills for Energy denial are Feedback, Power Leak, and Signet of Weariness.
Debilitating Shot Ranger – Marksmanship – Attack Energy: 10 Activation: 0 Recharge: 10 Attack. If Debilitating Shot hits, your target loses 1..10 Energy.	Debilitating Shot is the pressure Ranger’s most potent weapon.

Hexes – Hexes can do a number of useful things, but require a bit of investment because the build must properly support them. Simply bringing a few random Hexes won’t get you anywhere; you must cover them with quick-recharging Hexes to make the important ones stick, choosing ones that complement the other parts of your build. Hexes also need time to work, so the rest of the build must account for that.
Reaper’s Mark [Elite] Necromancer – Soul Reaping – Hex Spell Energy: 5 Activation: 1 Duration: 30 Recharge: 10 Hex Spell. For 30 seconds, target foe suffers -1..6 Health degeneration. If that foe dies while Hexed with Reaper’s Mark, you gain 10..20 Energy.	Reaper’s Mark has become the Health degeneration Hex of choice since Nightfall‘s release.
Parasitic Bond Necromancer – Curses – Hex Spell Energy: 5 Activation: 1 Duration: 20 Recharge: 2 Hex Spell. For 20 seconds, target foe suffers -1 Health degeneration. The caster is healed for 30..120 when Parasitic Bond ends.	An excellent cover Hex, Parasitic Bond recharges quickly, costs only 5 Energy, and has a fast, one-second cast time. Use it to make sure more important Hexes don’t get removed prematurely.
Panic [Elite] Mesmer – Domination Magic – Hex Spell Energy: 25 Activation: 0.25 Duration: 10..25 Recharge: 10 Hex Spell. For 10..25 seconds, target foe and all nearby foes suffer -2 Energy degeneration and take 10..82 damage whenever they use a Signet.	Panic’s coming back in a big way this season. Long underestimated, it’s now being combined with “Fear Me!” and new skills like Ether Phantom, which forces Monks down to low Energy and keeps them low.
Scourge Healing Monk – Smiting Prayers – Hex Spell Energy: 10 Activation: 2 Duration: 30 Recharge: 5 Hex Spell. For 30 seconds, every time target foe is healed, the healer takes 15..80 holy damage.	Scourge Healing, while expensive, is excellent against Heal Party. This easy response to counter Health degeneration becomes less easy with Scourge Healing in play.
Diversion Mesmer – Domination Magic – Hex Spell Energy: 10 Activation: 3 Duration: 6 Recharge: 10 Hex Spell. For 6 seconds, the next time target foe uses a skill, that skill takes an additional 10..56 seconds to recharge.	Diversion is probably the single most popular Hex in the game, and for good reason. Time it right and you can render an enemy character nearly useless for the better part of a minute.

Conditions – Much like Hexes, these skills can do a lot of different things for you. However, Conditions are a lot easier to apply and remove than Hexes. Poison, Bleeding, and Disease are especially popular in pressure builds for their ability to provide easily-spread Health degeneration.
Barbed Arrows Ranger – Wilderness Survival – Preparation Energy: 10 Activation: 2 Duration: 18 Recharge: 12 Preparation. For 18 seconds, your arrows cause Bleeding for 3..15 second[s]. This Skill is easily interrupted.	When combined with Poison Arrow, this preparation provides the cheapest and most effective Health degeneration in the game, pound-for-pound.
Tainted Flesh [Elite] Necromancer – Death Magic – Enchantment Spell Energy: 5 Activation: 1 Duration: 20..44 Recharge: 0 Enchantment Spell. For 20..44 seconds, target ally is immune to disease, and anyone striking that ally in melee becomes Diseased for 3..15 second[s].	A long-standing mainstay of Condition-heavy pressure builds; Tainted Flesh is best used in combination with Rotting Flesh for when enemies keep their melee personnel well separated from their midline.

Minions – The ultimate backload, Necromancer minions don’t kick in until the battlefield begins to get littered with a few successful kills. But if you are confident you can produce the bodies to get started, the resulting undead minions will ensure even more fodder down the line.
Jagged Bones [Elite] Necromancer – Death Magic – Enchantment Spell Energy: 5 Activation: 1 Duration: 30 Recharge: 5 Enchantment Spell. For 30 seconds, whenever target undead servant dies, it is replaced by a level 0..15 jagged horror that causes Bleeding with each of its attacks.	Jagged Bones combined with Animate Bone Minions is the primary ingredient in one of the most powerful pressure builds in the current metagame. This skill provides both DPS through melee attacks and Health degeneration through Bleeding.

Knockdowns – Usually associated with spiking or movement control, knockdowns can add useful pressure by costing an enemy Monk valuable time at a critical moment. This tactic is best when employed by a character who can repeatedly knock enemies down over a long period of time.
Hammer Bash Warrior – Hammer Mastery – Attack Adrenaline: 6 Activation: 0 Duration: 2 Recharge: 0 Attack. Lose all adrenaline. If Hammer Bash hits, your target is knocked down.	When used along with Steady Stance or a similar adrenaline-booster, Hammer Bash becomes a valuable tool for both Monk shutdown and for disrupting enemy spikes.
Gale Elementalist – Air Magic – Spell Energy: 10 Activation: 1 Duration: 3 Recharge: 5 Spell. Knock down target foe for 3 seconds. This Spell causes Exhaustion. (50% failure chance with Air Magic 4 or less.)	Still the most popular knockdown skill in the game, Gale is incredibly versatile.

DPS – It was once popular to make what I like to call overload builds with all Conditions and/or Hexes and nearly no direct damage, but those days are long gone. The options for Monks to regain Energy and avoid damage these days ensure that most pressure builds have at least two direct damage dealers.
Avatar of Grenth [Elite] dervish/Mysticism – Form Energy: 10 Activation: 2 Duration: 15..75 Recharge: 10 Form. For 15..75 seconds, whenever you use an attack Skill, you also remove 1 Enchantment from your target, and your attacks deal cold damage. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.	Physical – Whether a Dervish with Avatar of Grenth or a Warrior with Dismember, bringing a melee character almost always adds a spike element to your pressure build as well. The exception that proves this rule is the powerful, hammer-based “Fear Me!”/Steady Stance Warrior, which deals practically all of its damage in the form of pressure.
Searing Flames [Elite] Elementalist – Fire Magic – Spell Energy: 15 Activation: 1 Recharge: 2 Spell. Target foe and all nearby foes are struck with Searing Flames. Foes already on fire when this Skill is cast are struck for 7..112 fire damage. Foes not already on fire begin Burning for 1..7 seconds.	Elementalist – The most popular and powerful pressure Elementalists use Searing Flames , but Water Magic has its place as well with its ability to provide both damage and cover Hexes.
Xinrae’s Weapon [Elite] Ritualist – Communing Magic – Weapon Spell Energy: 25 Activation: 0.25 Duration: 4..10 Recharge: 30 Weapon Spell. For 4..10 seconds, target ally has Xinrae’s Weapon. Whenever a foe casts a Spell on that ally, that Spell is disabled for an additional 5..15 second[s] for that foe and all party members of that foe.	Ritualist – During the recent test weekend, many teams brought Channeling/Communing Ritualists as a way to provide ground control, damage, and defense. Let’s hope this becomes a viable tactic again soon.

Other Shutdown
Signet of Humility Mesmer – Inspiration Magic – Signet Activation: 2 Recharge: 20 Signet. Target foe’s elite skill is disabled for 1..16 seconds.	Signet of Humility is a must-have skill for pressure builds that rely heavily on one type of damage. It can stop elite counters such as Divert Hexes, Restore Conditions, Blinding Surge, Light of Deliverance, and other pesky skills that save enemies from overload.

Playing Pressure

As you will notice, 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.

Going the Distance

For you Mixed Martial Arts fans out there, my friend Morello once described the difference between a spike build and a pressure build as the difference between a knockout win and a submission win. A knockout happens faster and depends a lot more on mojo and timing, whereas a choke takes planning and work to set up, lock in, and squeeze until your opponent has a choice between tapping out or going to sleep. In that sense, a pressure build win often feels more rewarding, because everything builds upon something you established earlier, as opposed to “just” capitalizing on your enemy’s mistakes.

Adam Sunstrom has been playing Guild Wars since February 2004 when he joined the Alpha test, and has been interested in the competitive aspects of the game from the beginning. In the early Beta Weekend Events, he led his team, The Fianna, with success.