Guild Battle Strategies and Rules
There are several basic rules that you need to follow unless directed otherwise by the guild leader or an officer. Most of these are pretty much common sense, but its hard to maintain your focus in the middle of a battle.
1) Always stay together. A monk cannot heal outside his aggro Circle – if you can’t see everyone within YOUR circle, you are too far away from the group. Chasing the enemy is great – but there’s a point where you must let them go.
2) Always attack the called target by pressing "T". Regardless of the number of enemy monks, a called target will die if everyone attacks it. Targets may be critical for many reasons.
3) Always go where the red "ping" on the map directs you to go. It often takes too long to type a command and takes even longer to notice and read that command. As such, the guild leader and officers will ping the map when they want you to be in a specific place. Unless you are directed to do otherwise, go directly to wherever the ping is.
4) If you realize YOU are the target, run away or maintain focus on your own health. Monks are great healers; however, if you are the target of the enemy team you cannot rely on only the monks' abilities to keep you alive. Help them out, or get out of the situation.
5) Monks do not resurrect in most cases. A monk’s purpose is to keep others alive. He/She cannot cast healing spells when trying to resurrect a party member (which usually takes about 3 seconds). Another monk secondary or someone with a rez signet should attempt to resurrect the party member.
6) Always listen for direction. Always try to pay attention to typed directions indicating retreat, regroup or other vital information – and follow it immediately. Do your best to echo the message so that others follow as well.
7) Keep the chat screen clear. If too many people are trying to talk at the same time, it becomes hard to read specific commands for the team. If you have something to say, whisper to the guild leader or an officer and they will issue a command accordingly or relay it to the rest of team.
Strategies for Home Guild-Hall Battles
- Tower control and morale boost are important. Even if the team does not control the tower, they can still gain morale boosts by killing the npc’s from the opposing team’s base. Kill 5 NPC’s and you have max morale boost – the difference is that when people die they do not get a nice boost automatically. But the flag is located near resurrection point so it can be run from there.
- Attacking the Guild Lord. Most often, directly attacking the opposing Guild Lord without killing the surrounding NPC’s has been very bad for the team. The combined strength of the NPC’s and a newly resurrected team is disastrous. Unless there is more than one minute of time remaining before resurrect, it is not prudent to attack the Guild Lord without clearing the room.
- Defense and Deaths. When the team begins to lose ground (usually around the flag stand), there is a time to regroup and tuck our tail to avoid further DP problems. This also provides the advantage of giving them a false sense of accomplishment.
- Bridge Work. Many people have noticed teams running up onto the bridge to attack – usually rangers and elementalists try to kill from range. If you choose to charge the hill ALWAYS call a target first. Also, attacking uphill is disadvantaged in Guild Wars – more attacks hit the head and arms/hands than normal (where locations are less protected) instead of the body and legs.
- Pinch-point locations. There are several locations on the map that are great for pinching the opponent and regenerating after defeating them. Foremost is the flag stand – the slow-down effect of the tar pit allows rangers and elementalists to pick off incoming targets. Another is the entrance to the opposing home base (2 exits) – most teams will not split up and the opening is relatively small allowing warriors to block runners; this also gives monks a place to hide from rangers. Staying at, or outside, the entrance is important to keep away attacks from surviving NPC archers. The third point is OUTSIDE the entrance to their Guild Lord. Wait here for resurrect, decimate the team and then work on the NPC’s. This is a good location to regroup if an enemy team resurrects during Guild Lord assault.
- Dash for the flag stand. Traditionally, my monk has carried the flag to the stand. I have been rethinking this objective to have a warrior with Sprint get a head start on the objective. This COULD allow the rest of the team to circumvent the tar pit and go straight for the enemy lord if the opposing team attacks the flag-carrying warrior. Traditionally, it is important to place your flag right after the opposing team places theirs – this guarantees a bonus for our team.
- Order of Operations. Generally, the order of targets should be: Mesmer, Monk, Necromancer, Warrior, Ranger. Keep in mind that secondary classes are included! A R/Me is much more of a threat than a monk (usually) because he can shut-down monks and then poison the group.
- TARGETS! If you notice that no target is listed, call a target. Use your best judgment or simply pick whatever you are already attacking. Any target is better than no target. ALSO, if a monk calls a target, it means there is a problem and he/she needs help – switch as soon as possible.
