State of the Game— July 2, 2007

Dismantling Defenses
Breaking down the opponent

By Harold J. Chow

Special note: Each State of the Game article presents the opinions and insights of one game observer. These observations are personal in nature and do not reflect the opinions of ArenaNet. While ArenaNet does review each State of the Game article to assure that it offers content that is respectful of all players, we intend to allow our reporters the freedom to inject some personal opinion into descriptions of the current atmosphere of competitive play in Guild Wars, and to express views based on their experience and observation.

"Blind on One."

"Blurred on One!"
"Blurred on Two!"

"$#@%! BLOCKED!"

"Shields Up!"

"Shields Up!"
Warrior - Tactics - Shout
Energy: 10
Activation: 0
Duration: 5..11
Recharge: 30
Shout. For 5..11 seconds, you and all party members within earshot gain 24 armor against piercing damage and 50% chance to block incoming projectile attacks.

These complaints of physical attackers should ring familiar to many players. Any halfway serious PvP team brings at least some sort of defense, and many top guilds run multiple layers of defense. Guilds like Cry for Eternity [Cry], currently ranked second on the Guild Ladder, have even chained "Shields Up!" on their front-line Warriors in recent Automated Tournaments. Breaking down these defenses thus becomes critical to success.

Defenses exposed

Defense, defined in the broadest sense, consists of anything that prevents a team from losing. For team builds such as Heroes' Ascent's IWAY, which has recently fused with Zergway, defense comes from an unyielding offense. These teams spam the Energy-denying "Fear Me!" and use high-damage and disruptive attacks to prevent opponents from using key skills. Empty the blue bar, or empty the red bar—it doesn't matter as long as the opponent can't kill anyone. The high armor of every character allows the team to get by with healing support and defensive buffs from Paragons, who also contribute offensively.

In addition to Energy denial, disruption, and simply killing the opposition, other defensive measures include debuffs, shutdown, damage mitigation/prevention, healing, and removal. Of these, healing takes center stage because, on a spike, preventative measures only do so much if the victim never regains Health. Naturally, well-timed skills like Spirit Bond or Cry of Frustration can deaden a spike (depending on the spike), but replenishing the Health bars remains essential to the team's survival.

"Stand Your Ground!"

"Stand Your Ground!"
paragon/Command - Shout
Energy: 15
Activation: 0
Duration: 5..20
Recharge: 30
Shout. For 5..20 seconds, all party members within earshot receive +24 armor when not moving.

Sometimes, players talk about "active" versus "passive" defense. Skills like Blinding Surge, Mesmer interrupts, and certain Hexes fall in the active category because they require a decision about when and where to use them. The team may also use active defense skills in different ways depending on its offensive scheme or the game situation. For example, a skill like Gale can disrupt the enemy's offense or snare a target for an ally to crush. Skills like the Paragon shout "Stand Your Ground!" likewise fall into the passive category, as a de facto armor buffing skill for your party. While highly-skilled players can use passive skills to great effect, lesser skilled players can still get at least a moderate effect simply through activation.

Cracking the defense

Mirror of Disenchantment

Mirror of Disenchantment
Mesmer - Domination Magic - Spell
Energy: 15
Activation: 1
Recharge: 20
Spell. Remove one Enchantment from target foe. All of that foe's party members also lose that same Enchantment.

One approach to cracking the defense involves bringing enough removal to counter popular defensive measures. Spike teams often bring a skill like Rend Enchantments and time it so that any buffs on the target get removed before lethal damage lands. Pressure teams bring Mirror of Disenchantment, ripping Aegis off the opposing team as soon as it goes up. The character bringing this skill typically has an interrupt to stop the next caster in the Aegis chain from casting successfully. Assassins with Expose Defenses, however, simply bypass "Block" defenses.

Against active measures like Blinding Surge or Hexes, bringing midline removal options to clean attackers greatly improves the team's ability to score kills. Paragons with Expel Hexes and Elementalists with Draw Conditions and/or Convert Hexes certainly see their share of play. The Signet of Removal smiter, who maintains Strength of Honor on melee characters, contributes to nullifying the effects of Blind and anti-melee Hexes while boosting the team's offensive output.

Holy Veil

Holy Veil
Monk - No Attribute - Enchantment Spell
Energy: 5
Activation: 1
Duration: upkeep
Recharge: 12
Enchantment Spell. While you maintain this Enchantment, any Hex cast on target ally takes twice as long to cast. When Holy Veil ends, one Hex is removed from target ally.

Monks with Holy Veil should maintain it on melee characters before the gates open to begin the match. This way, teams with a Hex-based defense will take twice as long to cast Hexes on the Warriors and, if a troublesome Hex lands, canceling Holy Veil pulls it off immediately. Casting it before the match starts gives the skill time to recharge (particularly if, for whatever reason, one Monk has to maintain two of them) and allows time for regaining Energy. If the opponent has no Hexes, the player can simply cancel the Enchantment.

Catch the Infuser

Shame

Shame
Mesmer - Domination Magic - Hex Spell
Energy: 10
Activation: 2
Duration: 6
Recharge: 30
Hex Spell. For 6 seconds, the next time target foe casts a Spell that targets an ally, the Spell fails and you steal up to 5..14 Energy from that foe.

Typically, a Monk running Infuse Health provides the last line of defense against focused attacks. After all, the offense often removes protective Enchantments or otherwise finds ways to deliver unblocked damage during a spike. Mesmers make their living here; a well-timed Shame or Blackout prevents a Monk from casting in time to save the target. Likewise, casting Diversion before the spike can lock up Infuse and leave opponents vulnerable to subsequent spike attempts. Some Mesmers even surprise an unsuspecting Infuser with Backfire to get a kill. In this same vein, sticking a Hammer Warrior on the Infuser can serve as shutdown as well. The Hammer Warrior knocks-down the Infuser and prevents heals during a spike. For this reason, many Infuser builds have Balanced Stance or Shield Bash.

Alert teams take advantage of any bad habits. If a Monk constantly Infuses when he or she doesn't need to, the opposition may simply feint a spike on a target, and then quickly swap over to the Infuser and unload with the real attack. This becomes particularly effective if the spike has a "tell" (like a Hex that precedes the spike) and the team can mimic it on another target.

If the team still has trouble dealing with an enemy Infuser, it may draw back to the NPCs and let them engage. This tactic can cause the opposition to believe that the defense has started to break, luring them to play more aggressively than they should. It also allows the NPCs to spread damage, potentially masking the spike target. "Frenzied Warrior! 3-2-1…"

Empty the blue bars

Power Leak

Power Leak
Mesmer - Domination Magic - Spell
Energy: 10
Activation: 0.25
Recharge: 15
Spell. If target foe is casting a Spell or Chant, that Skill is interrupted and target foe loses 5..20 Energy.

As mentioned earlier, a team with no Energy can do little to counter offense. A Mesmer with Power Leak and Shame can keep a Monk hurting for Energy, even through Energy-hiding weapon swaps.

Pressuring a single "soft" target on the opposing team, however, can force opposing backlines to drain their Energy, thereby leaving the team exposed. Considering the importance of the flag stand, the flag runner makes a good target for this maneuver because of its susceptibility to body blocking. Positioning to prevent the enemy runner from getting to the stand and snaring it forces the opponent to spend Energy to keep the runner clean (and alive). If a team continually pressures the runner with damage, while removing any Enchantments—particularly Shield of Absorption, Protective Spirit, or Spirit Bond—from the runner, it will force the Monks to keep healing and/or reapplying the Enchantments. Eventually, the Monks will either have to call the runner back, thereby conceding a Morale Boost, or risk running out of resources needed to save teammates. Similarly, body blocking a retreating opponent can net an extra kill and, if timed right, leave the opposition down a player for two minutes.

Shut down the shutdown

Diversion

Diversion
Mesmer - Domination Magic - Hex Spell
Energy: 10
Activation: 3
Duration: 6
Recharge: 12
Hex Spell. For 6 seconds, the next time target foe uses a skill, that skill takes an additional 10..56 seconds to recharge.

A Mantra of Recovery Domination Mesmer can shut down opposing shutdown characters and pave the way for the offense. Timing Diversion to land right after an enemy's Blinding Surge recharges can often result in either locking up that pesky skill or preventing the enemy blindbot from casting for a few seconds. In addition, the Mesmer can attack the Elementalist's Energy by interrupting some longer-cast skills with Power Leak and removing the Elementalist's Attunement Enchantment. Players new to this role benefit by learning the cast times and recharges for key skills and counting the time between activations.

A Ranger can use interrupts like Distracting Shot to harass midline casters and prevent them from shutting down the offense. Recognition of which skills to interrupt determines whether the Ranger represents a minor annoyance or a bona fide shutdown threat.

Melee characters often carry interrupts as well. Disrupting Dagger on a Warrior or Dervish lets the player interrupt Aegis or some other defensive measure. Since Warriors engage the enemy from close range, the range limitation of this skill doesn't matter. Of course, Shock still serves many Warriors well, despite the Exhaustion.

Paving the cracks

Knowing what opposing guilds might do to tear through defenses allows a team to prepare countermeasures. If the enemy has physical attackers and a Domination Mesmer, a team can bet that its Blinding Surge Elementalist will not function for very long unless someone pressures that Mesmer. Likewise, an Infuse Health Monk should watch his or her positioning to avoid becoming the true target of a spike. Winning these defensive cat and mouse games provides opportunities for a team to dismantle the enemy defense while keeping its own from cracking.

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