User:Dmitri Fatkin/Soldiers Of Thunderstorm (historical)/PvP Game Discussion

  Soldiers of Thunderstorm [SoT]

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PvP Game Discussion (by Light Friend):

As the most successful PvP achievements of our guild are those associated with builds based on spike, I'll try to discuss the key moments of running those builds from the perspective of the caller here. Any spiking build, such as Ranger spike, is only a tool used by the team to quickly kill enemies - may be it's an easier tool than a balanced split build, yet, to win with any spike, the caller still needs to be an advanced tactician whose orders are based on the overall battlefield scenario. Thus, relying on high damage output of the build to simply shoot enemies after approaching the center is not really a thing which could advance your team higher than top 300.

First of all, the caller needs to learn how to read the builds used by the enemies so that his team could start striking down the targets in the right order. Initially, you'll have to kill those who are interrupting the spikes and preventing your Monks from supporting the team, this includes various blinders and hexers. After that, the next targets of choice are those dealing the highest damage, whereupon their death you should go after the hard ressers, and finally, the healers.

If the pressure on your team is too high so that it fails to take down melee characters and hexers, you might try to direct a few calls on the enemy Monks, though, this is rather a psychological aspect of battle, as any attacking group will hardly be able to proceed with the organized attacks of your base if their healers are penalized to the half of their basic health.

In addition to that, there's a process of interrupting the key skills the opposing team is using. Many things are depending on the quality of the spike itself, your team should be trained to the level where it can simultaneously strike down the called targets while performing their second profession duties such as the purging of multiple conditions with Pure Was Li Ming, the stripping of defensive enemy enchants, the clearing of all undesired hexes or the distribution of supportive Paragon shouts.

Plus, you must be aware of the environment specialties of all Guild Halls, and when facing the split teams, you should always keep an eye on the battle timer to estimate the number of enemies you can kill without missing the morale boost. Additionally, you must be able to take the advantage of speed boosts and change your party's location frequently so that in the end, it will be your opponent losing awareness due to these rapid changes.

And of course, the more you practice - the better!

  PvP Quick Tips:

• Make sure to use the Tab key every 15 seconds to check what each member of the enemy team is doing.
   
• Stay close enough to the party leader, yet don't make it so that you and the nearby party members could be easily harmed with AoE skills.
   
• Never stay under the effects of AoE spells. If you're the target of the enemy spike, fall back at once into the backline so that the Monks could heal you. If you see a mass hex thrown upon the whole party, try to avoid receiving it on all of the damage dealers - spread out.
   
• The target countdown of the caller should be the main priority for all attackers on your team. If you don't spike at the right time when the caller says so, every action you've been performing a few seconds ago becomes useless, so make sure you keep up with the timed damage dealt by the rest of the crew.
   
• Try to avoid knockdowns and interrupts: don't stay close to damage dealers who could interrupt your team's spike or force your Monks to go into overheal and lose an extra amount of mana. Most of the Mesmers also tend to use Blackout and Diversion against a predetermined target, so don't camp at the frontier line where they could easily get you.
   
• Make sure to provide additional information to your party leader, such as the approach of the enemy flag runner, the activation of threatening shutdown/AoE spells, the use of resurrection skills or the appearance of any hexes/conditions affecting your character.
   
• Never ever try to take down a target which has already been protected or infused, this is useless.
   
• When the caller says to fall back or come to a certain location on the map, just do it, don't think you could make something better instead.
   
• If you're the party leader, make sure to keep in mind which of the enemy characters have already been killed and for what number of times, as it helps to rain the spikes down the most vulnerable players.
   
• If the enemy has cast a denying hex on your character, try to estimate the time of its recharge to reduce the chances of being harmed by the second use of that spell.
   
• Be sure to split, catch, kite, provoke and interrupt your opponents. Without this, you aren't going to expand further than top 100.
   
• Don't hesitate to experiment with your own builds using the different Guild Halls - shift them as much as it's necessary and be sure to periodically check the Observer Mode in order to understand all the benefits or the shortcomings of the newly produced builds while competing on certain islands.