Scatter
From Guild Wars Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Scattering refers to groups of enemy targets breaking aggro and/or moving out of an area of effect, usually to avoid further damage. It is common practise for AI targets to scatter when affected by large amounts of AoE damage and foes tend to cease all actions until they are in a safer location to use skills. This is also true for henchmen and heroes. Scattering can therefore be used to a player's advantage, but also work against the player's intentions.
While foes in normal mode do not scatter easily, foes in hard mode are more prone to do so. Heroes and henchmen have the same scatter rate in both modes.
AoE skills that cause scatter[edit]
- As a rule of thumb, all AoE skills that cause damage over time also cause scatter (such as Savannah Heat).
- AoE skills with a single packet of damage do not cause scatter.
AoE skills that do not cause scatter[edit]
- AoE skills that lack damage over time do not cause scatter, even if the effect could be reduced or avoided by scattering.
- Panic and Spiteful Spirit are prominent examples of this.
| Icon | Name | Description |  |  |  | Prof. | Attribute | Campaign | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Double Dragon | Elite Enchantment Spell. (8 seconds.) Enchants you and target ally. Adjacent foes take 5...25...30 fire damage each second. Skills that target a foe also inflict Burning (0...2...3 second[s]). | 10  |
1  |
20  |
 | Fire Magic | Factions | ||
 |
Glimmering Mark | Elite Hex Spell. (10 seconds.) Deals 5...21...25 damage each second to target and adjacent foes. Inflicts Blindness [sic] on foes using attack skills. Ends if you use a skill that targets this foe. | 10 |
1 |
15 |
| Air Magic | Prophecies | ||
 |
Wastrel's Demise | Hex Spell. (5 seconds.) Each second while hexed, target foe and all foes adjacent to that foe take 1...8...10 damage. Foes take +1...8...10 damage each second this hex is in effect. Ends early if target foe uses a skill. | 5 |
¼ |
3 |
 | Domination Magic | Nightfall |
Notes[edit]
- All targets in a group will scatter at the same time, cancelling their current action to do so.
- Targets will run from the epicenter of the skill that causes scatter, unless they would run into another skill that causes scatter in that direction.
- Consider an AoE snare to slow targets down while scattering to keep them from acting for longer, as well as forcing them to be affected by the AoE skill(s) that caused scatter for longer.
- In hard mode particularly, Churning Earth is a popular AoE skill that causes scatter. As all foes have a passive speed boost, they will immediately be knocked down.
- Whirling Defense is used by farmers to quickly kill monsters around the user. As it does not cause damage over time, it will not cause scatter, regardless of how often it is triggered.
- After skill updates it is a common sight to see new AoE skills fail to scatter foes.
Trivia[edit]
- The popular Monk skill Ray of Judgment failed to cause scatter in the past, allowing a few Monks to take down groups with ease.
- This was fixed in the June 18, 2009 game update.
