Endgame PvE Survival

How do people feel about endgame content and their ability to survive on their profession? Looking at a number of builds most people seem to suggest doing high damage and I am wondering how do people just not die instantly for doing all of that?

In Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire I felt like no matter what Mesmer build I took I would die against pretty much all game content unless I stacked up on Inspiration/Chaos specs to pretty much be able to spam distractions, aegis, healing, reflection, projection, and low cooldown healing skill ever 12 seconds. Along with having to try stripping every condition thrown against me. With that set-up I pretty much never die it still feels like I am on the verge of death a lot of times trying not to die.

At least it feels like 2 dodges and a healing skill on a 20 second cooldown and some full berserker gear for other classes does not cut it at all for trying to survive fighting against Elite level enemies and higher or fighting like 4-5 veteran enemies at the same time. While its doable against solo enemies it feels like its impossible to ever have a fight that does not involve you being attacked by a minimum of 3+ enemies due to the enemy density. In those situations it feels like most classes would just die unless they threw all their survival stuff in. Particularly for confusing meta event content like Dragon's Stand where you can barely see where enemies are or where their grounded AoE stuff is placed and you find yourself standing on the Axeman's AoE or the Snipers AoE (F' the snipers by the way).

I can not speak for Mesmers, but I have found a great majority of survivability comes from unique profession mechanics.

I always build with Berserker's/Viper's in mind, as I find it's much easier to manage builds based around the same stat selection. As such, my survivability comes from trait and skill selection.

For example, if I find myself dying too often on my Ranger, I can switch from Soulbeast to Wilderness Survival and run Survival skills and a tank pet. Much hardier than a full glass MM/BM/SB build camping beastmode. ;)

For me Mesmer just kills everything. I have a character that was a mule that does not have full Amour and mobs just die in all maps.On the other hand I cannot for the life of me play theif or ele with a huge amount of skill though I am 100% positive that others can and do play them with ease.

I'm going with the theme: Kill things before they kill you. I'm playing all my chars on pure dps gear. If defense is needed i choose a more defensive trait setup beside of the meta way to play. Using active defense on my guard and mesmer/chrono keeps me alive long enough to kill before getting killed. Chrono with sword/sword/shield and inspiration, duel, chrono is pretty much a cakewalk. So much defense and avoid skills while dropping wells are pretty nice. And if i'm in trouble i just blink my way out.Meditation Guard is also pretty easy and bulky. Meta DH wrecks everything in his way but you need to know your enemy. On maps like DS or big meta events i always use a ranged weapon as second set. Sometimes i have a hard time to dodge accurate with the tons of visual noise on the screen.Overall i think the difficulty is fairly easy the most time. If you know you aktive defense (and cc) and the attack pattern/skills of the mobs nothing is really hard, sometimes anoying but not hard. But i wish there would be an option to reduce all the shiny effects from other palyers in big time fights.

Edit: Also the right food can help to stay alive.

I run full Marauder on all my characters (exotic armors and weapons with ascended trinkets). Defensive traits and utility skills are also definitely helpful for long fights, since higher HP alone isn’t enough for extended fights. You should also check web sites for good build ideas. With proper set up, you should have no trouble pulling multiple Veteran enemies in PoF and HoT.

For specific enemies, it’s just trial and error learning their moves. Once you’re familiar, you’ll know when to use mele weapons and timely use your defensive options, or just use ranged weapons for some situations.

As for not being able to see enemy attacks due to visual clutter, there's not much you can do. Just use ranged attacks to be safer or just spam your skills and hope you don't get killed. Not engaging gameplay, I know, but since Anet refuses to fix this, there's not much we can do but put up with it.

The only profession that I have any trouble surviving with is Elementalist. Everything else is fine, even in full glass cannon gear. Our professions were designed to be competently durable, even at base stats..

There's a couple of tricks to it. The primary way that glass builds survive is by killing the enemy first. It's a lot easier to fight off enemies when you take the initiative. Stun them, blind them, drop a bomb on them, any method work. The dead deal no DPS, so make them dead ASAP. The second way to survive is proper spacing. You can avoid a lot of damage by not standing where it is. Most enemies have one gimmick, and learning to avoid those gimmicks really boosts your survival time.

Occasionally you'll be ganked by upscaled enemies, but that'll happen no matter what build you run.

@"Veluna.7316" said:How do people feel about endgame content and their ability to survive on their profession? Looking at a number of builds most people seem to suggest doing high damage and I am wondering how do people just not die instantly for doing all of that?

I think there is no simple and short answer to this. First thing of course is to know your enemy. Many enemies have certain attacks that are more lethal than others, and you want to know how they look like to be able to avoid them one way or another: you may evade them (either by regular evade or using skills with evade frames), you may block them (applying aegis or using block skill), you may cut some of the damage by casting protection and so on, and so on. One efficient way is simply interrupt enemies casting those high damage attacks with fear, pull, push, stun or similar. So, next thing after knowing your enemy is to know where your protective abilities come: which skills have evade frames, where are your blocks and interrupts and so on.

Very offensive open world PvE builds need knowledge to use them. Before that, seek for builds that provide more sustain, they are generally more forgiving ones. But even in that case, don't forget to have enough offenses, otherwise you are just a punch bag to mobs, and they can try to kill you so many times that they finally catch you when your skills are on cooldown. One thing that generally helps when running alone in open world is to have enough AoE DPS in your build: with build specialized to single target damage you are in danger to be overwhelmed with adds.

Heals do not come from heal skill alone. Several builds have other ways to gain sustain, for example, thieves can trait to be healed when making critical hits, necros can be traited to be healed from their condition damage / leech heals from their attacks, rangers can be traited to be healed when gaining protection and warriors can be traited to gain healing when gaining might.

Then, last thing is that different classes have different abilities to make higher sustain PvE builds. Reaper/Scourge necro builds can be extremely tanky even with highly offensive gears. Druid-ranger builds can also be very forgiving. Guards and warriors also have high sustain builds, but they may need some practising to use.

There are two main sources I use to tailor my open world PvE builds: (1) open world builds listed by metabattle, (2) roaming builds from the same site. Pick the ones that say that they have sustain, or tailor them to have more sustain.

Open World builds: https://metabattle.com/wiki/Open_WorldWvW roaming builds: https://metabattle.com/wiki/WvW (scroll down to small scale section)

I usually prefer tailoring WvW roaming builds to OW-PvE side, because then I can use same gears. If you run group content like fractals and/or raids, you probably want to look builds that are tailored from that side. One additional source for high sustain builds is to look sPvP bunker builds.

At least it feels like 2 dodges and a healing skill on a 20 second cooldown and some full berserker gear for other classes does not cut it at all for trying to survive fighting against Elite level enemies and higher or fighting like 4-5 veteran enemies at the same time. While its doable against solo enemies it feels like its impossible to ever have a fight that does not involve you being attacked by a minimum of 3+ enemies due to the enemy density. In those situations it feels like most classes would just die unless they threw all their survival stuff in. Particularly for confusing meta event content like Dragon's Stand where you can barely see where enemies are or where their grounded AoE stuff is placed and you find yourself standing on the Axeman's AoE or the Snipers AoE (F' the snipers by the way).

Having several HoT elites and veterans around will be hard anyways :)

Truth be told, I've never believed in building up a tanky character. The faster something is killed, the less mechanics everyone has to do. Fatuigue is a real thing, even on a Video Game, and fights in this game are short and bursty by design.

As for survivability? Sure, sometimes you can get unlucky and fail with a glass-cannon, but you eventually get used to it. The game already gives ample baseline HP and Toughness for everything short of tanking a raid boss.

I'm doing fine on characters that stealth often (my deadeye), deal a lot of damage (My holo and warrior), or have a large amount of heal/sustain (my firebrand and necro). I have more trouble on classes that I dont master well, like Mesmer and Elementalist. I kind of expect that of the game though. It's endgame, so survival Should be difficult, it even helps by providing a good benchmark to my ability controlling those classes. When I can survive the latter maps on my own with them, and naviguate it easily, I have a solid grasp on my class's build. I dont run Meta for the most part, I do specialize my characters though.

If it helps, I make relatively decent headways as a Shatter condi chrono, with half baked gear. If I spend more gold on the gear, I'd probably manage it well. Most often it's a matter of knowing your chosen skills well enough and positioning yourself to be effective. On my mesmer build, my advantage is that I can pump clones quickly with a scepter, and shatter 3 of them easily, and each shatter gives me Quickness and Alacrity, making the scepter spawn more clones faster, and alacrity lowers my shatters cooldowns just as quickly, so I can constantly pour a ton of shatters on enemies. That's a load of damage dealt in physical, confusion and torment, adding to that a torch for burning, and signets to boost my condi damage, and it generally makes short work of elites and makes a solid opposition to champions with shatter 3.

As a side note, Something not many mentionned, but while damage output is very important, what most people forget is the all important matter of having a reliable CC skills. No matter what your build is geared toward, I highly encourage you to have atleast 1 of those, and to Simply use it at the most opportune time. It helps manage groups of tough enemies while you're alone, by letting you focus fire an enemy or two before you're actually threatened, or it can bridge your heal cooldown and help sustain yourself. CC is more important in Solo open PVE than damage is, in my opinion.

@"Veluna.7316" said:How do people feel about endgame content and their ability to survive on their profession? Looking at a number of builds most people seem to suggest doing high damage and I am wondering how do people just not die instantly for doing all of that?

In Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire I felt like no matter what Mesmer build I took I would die against pretty much all game content unless I stacked up on Inspiration/Chaos specs to pretty much be able to spam distractions, aegis, healing, reflection, projection, and low cooldown healing skill ever 12 seconds. Along with having to try stripping every condition thrown against me. With that set-up I pretty much never die it still feels like I am on the verge of death a lot of times trying not to die.

At least it feels like 2 dodges and a healing skill on a 20 second cooldown and some full berserker gear for other classes does not cut it at all for trying to survive fighting against Elite level enemies and higher or fighting like 4-5 veteran enemies at the same time. While its doable against solo enemies it feels like its impossible to ever have a fight that does not involve you being attacked by a minimum of 3+ enemies due to the enemy density. In those situations it feels like most classes would just die unless they threw all their survival stuff in. Particularly for confusing meta event content like Dragon's Stand where you can barely see where enemies are or where their grounded AoE stuff is placed and you find yourself standing on the Axeman's AoE or the Snipers AoE (F' the snipers by the way).

There's a balance you're missing. Many enemies are designed to be a threat, but have a weakness that may be exploited. Often this is where high damage output can be easier to play than tanky builds.

For example, consider the hydras in PoF. They have a good bit of health (somewhere in the range of 75-100k, I believe) and virtually every attack they have is a CC that forces the player to move. With a tanky build it can take awhile to chew through that much health, and it only gets worse because you're constantly forced to move out of meteorites, charge attacks, etc. However, a high damage build doesn't have to deal with this because they can take down the hydra's health bar by 33% in just a few seconds, before the hydra has a chance to start charging around and dropping meteorites. This removes one of the heads and stuns the hydra, which of course allows the high damage build to keep on damaging the target without all that dancing around, dealing another 33% damage, removing another head, and causing another stun...until the hydra is dead without having put up a fight at all.

Think on some of the other enemies that give players trouble. Smokescales? Pocker Raptors? Mordrem Snipers? They all have pitifully low health and can be taken out before they have a chance to deal much (if any!) damage, provided you are using a build that has what most experienced players recommend: high damage and CC.

I haven't played GW2 in awhile, but last I played it was with Mirage. You don't need tanky stats or healing trait lines to survive with this class. In fact, because it's so heavy on evasion you're MUCH better off focusing on damage output. By the time you run out of teleports, reflects, and evades your enemies are already dead! Here's a sample video I recorded earlier this year. It's my Mirage in all out damage stats (full Viper) taking on the Zintl Inquisitor hero challenge in Tangled Depths, which features a champion, a veteran, and a large group of normal units.

You can do this encounter with a tanky build (there's a video up on my channel of my tempest healer doing it), but the respawn on the adds is quite fast so if you take longer than about 2 minutes you're going to have to fight them all over again, which is obviously more dangerous than just taking them down once and focusing the boss. In fact, you will spend more time re-killing adds than fighting the boss! This is just another example of why high damage builds are recommended.

Having said that, I understand that it's tough starting out and not all specs are easy to figure out. Especially if you don't know what to expect from the enemies, there's a lot of trial and error involved in learning how to handle these enemies as making mistakes will quickly get you dead in the expansions! For that reason (and because I have a girlfriend who is about the most MMO-challenged player in the world), I developed a build that almost CAN'T fail. It's designed to be extremely simple to play, forgiving of mistakes (yes, you can literally stand in the fire and not die!), and inexpensive to gear. You might give it a try if you play mesmer, have PoF, and find yourself struggling. Here's a video where I go out of my way to play about as ineffectively as I can to showcase just how easy this build is to play!

Build link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQFAWnsICNohFMDWoBMMjlZjysC2tWyf+3//vMAutkB-jByCwAQUCG4CAYw83LdANV+B4BAIc/Bfq/AA-e

NOTE: Nothing is set in stone here. Want to use axe/torch, too? Go for it! Trailblazer gear for better damage? Hey, it's expensive but it will work even better with this setup! Prefer a different heal or signets? Do eet! Again, I only created this build for my girlfriend because she was about to throw her keyboard out the window. Now she loves the game because she doesn't die anymore and can enjoy all the pretty scenery without spending all her time running for her life!

For me, it comes down to knowing my actual build. It doesn't matter if it's a glass cannon build or a goof-around ubertank-boonbot build, regardless of the class I'm playing. It's important to know what traits do what and how they synergize with certain weapons, skills, stat combinations, boons, etc. I also tend to put focus on just one set of stats rather than trying to mix stats (i.e. play a full Berserker's/Viper's/Magi's/Nomad's/Marauder's build versus having full Berserker's armor, Viper's weapons, and Magi's trinkets, for example). That way I know I'm good at doing one thing well rather than trying to do everything and in the process not being any good at any of it.

@Veluna.7316 said:How do people feel about endgame content and their ability to survive on their profession? Looking at a number of builds most people seem to suggest doing high damage and I am wondering how do people just not die instantly for doing all of that?

It's ok although repetitive and a little dull at times if you don't have a specific goal in mind.. I really can't stand farming the same events over and over and over without an achievement or collection to work on.As for builds.. yea the meta is more or less dumbed down to DPS and glass stats which often does lead to just masses of downed and dead people all the time which is always funny to me.Personally I strongly dislike the meta attitude in the game and thus I do not use Meta Builds nor give a crap about other peoples criticisms if my damage is lower than what they expect of me, I play how I want to with builds I like and I will continue to do so.

In Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire I felt like no matter what Mesmer build I took I would die against pretty much all game content unless I stacked up on Inspiration/Chaos specs to pretty much be able to spam distractions, aegis, healing, reflection, projection, and low cooldown healing skill ever 12 seconds. Along with having to try stripping every condition thrown against me. With that set-up I pretty much never die it still feels like I am on the verge of death a lot of times trying not to die.

Survivability is key in HoT.. the expansion was designed with the DPS melee meta in mind which is why many of the enemies there can annihilate most glass builds.You don't necessarily need to avoid glass stats but utilize survival tactics such as summonable distractons (minions, pets, spirits, clones) to take aggro and keep a range weapon handy to give you kiting ability.That alone significantly improves survival.. one of the easiest characters I ran through HoT with was a Glass LB Ranger with spirits.. that's core Ranger not elite spec'd.

At least it feels like 2 dodges and a healing skill on a 20 second cooldown and some full berserker gear for other classes does not cut it at all for trying to survive fighting against Elite level enemies and higher or fighting like 4-5 veteran enemies at the same time. While its doable against solo enemies it feels like its impossible to ever have a fight that does not involve you being attacked by a minimum of 3+ enemies due to the enemy density. In those situations it feels like most classes would just die unless they threw all their survival stuff in. Particularly for confusing meta event content like Dragon's Stand where you can barely see where enemies are or where their grounded AoE stuff is placed and you find yourself standing on the Axeman's AoE or the Snipers AoE (F' the snipers by the way).

Yep.. that's exactly why I hate running glass melee characters in any content in this game.. far too squishy for my tastes.Hell half those healing skills can only heal damage that will be ripped away in seconds anyway so what's the point.If i'm going to go in melee then im taking some kind of survivability option with me.. be that a ranged backup, blocks/counters, evades, tankier stats, stuns/interups or a NPC ally who can take my aggro.. it varies depending on the class and skills available etc.

Rule #1. Kill it before it kills you.

Rule #2. The dead deal no damage.

1. Start with full offensive gear and traits. That means Berserker for power and Viper for condi builds. Personally, extra toughness and vitality are useless, so don't bother with them in your gear and traits. Then gradually step #2 below as needed.

2. Choose specs, traits, and utilities that offer both offense and defense, so you don't sacrifice too much offense.

3. Have an escape plan. Whether that's swapping to ranged weapon, or utility that teleport or mass CC.

4. AOE damage and CC.

5. Observe your enemies. Watch their tells, save your dodges and CC for the right moments.

6. Kill ranged mobs first, and use skills that reflect or block projectiles.

For example. As Mesmer, pick Dueling + Illusions specs for maximum offense with built-in defense. Consider:

Duelist line:Critical Infusion: your critical hits now turn into extra dodges.Duelist Discipline: more chances to interrupt foes using pistol 5.Blinding Dissipation: blind up to 5 foes around you every time you shatter.Deceptive Evasion: create clone when you dodge.

Illusions line:Shatter Storm and Master of Misdirection: extra chances to shatter. with Blinding Dissipation above means more chances to blind.Master of Fragmentation: Diversion now dazes 5 foes. Distortion now reflect projectiles.

You still get all the offensive bonuses from these specs, along with defensive traits that synergize with your offensive strategy. This justifies not picking the other full defensive specs. The latter are traps: full defense prolongs battles, but you really want to finish fights as quickly as possible.

Now, I find shorter fights this is doable. 1v1 or Veteran and lower enemies, but on enemies of Elite or higher or simply spread out enemies with ranged attacks that will not be affected by all the CC you are being attacked from multiple sides and enemies. Particularly on say champion, legendary, and some elite enemies your fights are not going to be over super fast. In this prolonged setting is really where the glass cannon approach feels bad.

@"Veluna.7316" said:Now, I find shorter fights this is doable. 1v1 or Veteran and lower enemies, but on enemies of Elite or higher or simply spread out enemies with ranged attacks that will not be affected by all the CC you are being attacked from multiple sides and enemies. Particularly on say champion, legendary, and some elite enemies your fights are not going to be over super fast. In this prolonged setting is really where the glass cannon approach feels bad.

Again, that depends on the build and strategy, as well as the design of the encounter itself. Like I said with the Zintl Inquisitor video, you can do that fight with a tanky build but the slower you go the more time you'll spend fighting respawned adds and not damaging the boss. And each time you're forced to clear those adds you're at significantly greater risk than when you're fighting the boss alone. A tanky build is better able to survive that scenario, but if you can take down the adds quickly and survive the boss 1 on 1 in damage gear, it's really a lot quicker and easier to do it that way.

Then again, with some builds (Mirage, again!) you can sort of have your cake and eat it, too! Condi builds have a bit of an edge in that there is less synergy between condi/expertise and precision and, depending upon the build, you might lose very little damage dropping power completely. That being the case, a set like Trailblazer can make for absolutely incredible open world builds as it gives you nearly the survivability of Dire stats with nearly the damage output of Viper!

Mirage probably loses less than 20% of its damage by dropping power/precision as it's nearly all condi-based. And in solo play, you gain some damage back by being able to soak hits from enemies and stay in the pocket dealing damage. Here's a good example. Legendary Starcaller solo kill at about 9.4k DPS for a 6:30 kill time using Trailblazer stats. This represents the best of both worlds for solo play, really. Insane survivability paired with excellent sustained damage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnELDNohFMDWoBMMjlZjysC2tWqMAutkxf+7//H-jByHQBxT9HadKAooSQgsPAAeCAhTfQzWYIgK/IFwii2A-e

It's called walking out of the enemies attack range or skill and it is the most useful defensive ability even above dodging.

The train of thought and sequence when fighting an enemy should always be:

1.) can I walk out of harms way? If Yes: greatIf No:2.) will a skill get me out of harms way? If Yes: greatIf No:3.) will a dodge get me out of harms way? If Yes: greatIf No:4.) do I have an offensive skill I can use to prevent harm? If Yes: greatIf No:5.) do I have a defensive skill I can use to prevent harm? If Yes: greatIf No:6.) how long until my dodge, offensive skills, defensive skills and abilities reset?

Many people just spam their dodge and defensive skills the moment they see an enemy and are then astonished when they are left with their pants down 10 seconds into an engagement (even worse are the people who use their cc skills like knock-backs or stuns right at the start of a fight). If that is you, you are doing it wrong. Practice and start over.

@Cyninja.2954 said:It's called walking out of the enemies attack range or skill and it is the most useful defensive ability even above dodging.

The train of thought and sequence when fighting an enemy should always be:

1.) can I walk out of harms way? If Yes: greatIf No:2.) will a skill get me out of harms way? If Yes: greatIf No:3.) will a dodge get me out of harms way? If Yes: greatIf No:4.) do I have an offensive skill I can use to prevent harm? If Yes: greatIf No:5.) do I have a defensive skill I can use to prevent harm? If Yes: greatIf No:6.) how long until my dodge, offensive skills, defensive skills and abilities reset?

Many people just spam their dodge and defensive skills the moment they see an enemy and are then astonished when they are left with their pants down 10 seconds into an engagement (even worse are the people who use their cc skills like knock-backs or stuns right at the start of a fight). If that is you, you are doing it wrong. Practice and start over.

Good advice. Movement, positioning, timing, anticipation. This is how practice makes perfect.

It's one of the things that I think works really well about the GW2 combat system. When I first start playing a class, I usually struggle quite a bit. Even if you know what the enemies can do, they still aren't very forgiving of mistakes. And mistakes are about all you make when first learning what your class can do! But you can go from getting killed left and right to dominating everything in sight with practice and some build tweaking.

Each build style and class needs time to learn. Learn the attack patterns of enemies and their combat abilities. Learn how to evade or otherwise negate their attacks when running a 'glass' build. Don't be afraid to experiment with your stats and buildcraft either. Some class skills or traits may cover your inherent weaknesses. And running 'glass' builds isn't for everyone, so there is no shame it in if you can't make it work.

My biggest enemy in big PVE fights, as well as WvW crowds, has nothing to do with my character. It has to do with all the visual clutter of everything happening at the same time. There are way too many fights that seem designed to beat you not with any mechanics in particular, but just sheer sensory overload with armies of adds, unavoidable barrages of AOE, and so forth. Which isn't helped by the fact that this game has probably the worst technical optimization of any "successful" MMO. So good luck with your frame rates, lag, stutter et al.

That said, I found that adding some extra durability to my characters, such as using Marauder armor instead of Berserker, has made a big difference in the survivability and enjoyment of my characters. In fact, my ranger main walks around open world PVE in what effectively is a WvW roamer build. Having the extra durability to buffer the damage helps a lot when my screen is a mess of colored circles and effects, and I'm lost just trying to see where my character is in the middle of it all, much less figure out what's going on.

a well placed cc will save you most of the time while generally also giving increased dps, if your SC copied raid meta build doesn't have an insta deployable cc then swap one in for open world (example i use spike trap instead of the snake trap on condi slb). understanding when to set off CCs (ie knowing your enemies tells) combined with proper positioning and one shouldn't have much trouble with encounters.

Now, I find shorter fights this is doable. 1v1 or Veteran and lower enemies, but on enemies of Elite or higher or simply spread out enemies with ranged attacks that will not be affected by all the CC you are being attacked from multiple sides and enemies. Particularly on say champion, legendary, and some elite enemies your fights are not going to be over super fast. In this prolonged setting is really where the glass cannon approach feels bad.

I guess you are playing Mesmer as you mention it at your first post. If you are facing enemys wich seems to be pretty hard let's take a look into your toolkit and weapon options. There is a lot of trash? Use a focus as offand and pull em together. Are projectiles from range attackers a problem? Use an reflect skill or trait the focus reflect in inspiration. Its also important to know wich mob you need to kill first. As Mesmser you have a lot of options to en/disengage an opponents.If nothing seems to work take a look wich mob or mechanik is killing you. In story or longer soloing HoT hero point mobs fights sometimes it is better to save some skills as oh shit button or to negate/avoid mechnics. Also stuff like portals can become handy in longer fights. If this also is not working for you i would carry a few soldier trinkets with me. 3 piece of them will increase your defense and you can easily switch them out after tough soloing action.

I can also recommend Aliams Mirage build. I played the most time power Chrono but some of the HoT HP i never beat solo with it. After trying his build i use it to solo even bountys and the shroom HP in Rata Novus.

In HoT and PoF you need to run more condi cleanse. That's the only difference I noticed. As max DPS really isn't critical, you can trait into self-sustain traits that give passive healing, etc.

Some mobs are just downright kitten to fight, no matter the build. None of my characters have an easy time fighting vet smokescales or blade dancers. I find LS PoF mobs the worst, which is why I spend so little time in that content methinks.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:In HoT and PoF you need to run more condi cleanse. That's the only difference I noticed. As max DPS really isn't critical, you can trait into self-sustain traits that give passive healing, etc.

Some mobs are just downright kitten to fight, no matter the build. None of my characters have an easy time fighting vet smokescales or blade dancers. I find LS PoF mobs the worst, which is why I spend so little time in that content methinks.

Veteran smokescales can also be a bit buggy though. They evade while well outside of the smoke field.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:In HoT and PoF you need to run more condi cleanse. That's the only difference I noticed. As max DPS really isn't critical, you can trait into self-sustain traits that give passive healing, etc.

Some mobs are just downright kitten to fight, no matter the build. None of my characters have an easy time fighting vet smokescales or blade dancers. I find LS PoF mobs the worst, which is why I spend so little time in that content methinks.

Smokescales aren't killing you with anything but that teleport murder attack. The rest is just...erm...smoke and mirrors. So don't panic. Anticipate the attack and be ready with a CC the moment they teleport on top of you. Be ready to follow that up with as much damage as possible, because once they break out of the CC they're going to use that smoke invuln field. Rinse and repeat. If you run out of CC, make sure you aren't burning up all of your evades and other defensive skills unnecessarily. Save them for the teleport murder and you'll be fine.

Blade-dancers? Another one-trick pony. The only big threat they have is a long melee-range stun + follow-up attack. If you're the cautious sort, just take them down from range. But if you prefer to get up close and personal, just make sure you either dodge that stun or at least be ready with something to avoid the follow-up attack. If you can handle that, then these guys don't really have much else to threaten you with.

Basically, since every class has dodges and a decent heal skill as well as means of extra damage mitigation(blocks, evades, invuls etc.) and ways to incapacitate enemies(CC, blinds, weakness), most content isn't hard enough to necessitate investing in defensive stats. It's easier to kill fast, than to grind down. It comes down to knowing your skills and learning the telegraphs of enemy attacks. Also, you'll learn which attacks to take and which to evade. The games action and movement based combat system makes it so, that you can "get around" most of the damage if you just know what to do when and where to stand.

HoT offers intentionally(yes, pls stop asking for a nerf, not the OP but the community in general ;)) harder open world content, where knowing enemy telegraphs becomes vital, as things start to one-shot you. Better evade that huge swing, better AoE damage those pocket raptors, better reflect that poison arrow. The HoT maps are supposed to offer the experience of "fighting behind enemy lines", so I can totally get behind why it is harder open world content, i.e. more dangerous/penalizing.

For PoF ANet went for exploration as the center of the experience rather than confrontation, there's still scary stuff in the desert and you still need to know the timing on skills and animations or when to simply skip a mob or find some allies to take it down(#MMorpg), but it's more manageable than HoT I think.