Is there a good way to train for Raiding in PvE?

[Game of Bones.8975]

I'm building up my inventory to craft the appropriate weapons/armor with sigils/runes.

What I can do while I'm gathering mats/gold is train in raiding builds so I'm comfortable with the character when I begin raiding.

Is there a place that is better than others to train? Or are the mechanics so different they don't translate easily.

[Shikaru.7618]

What helped me the most is honestly doing any and all pve content on my raid build. Fractals, open world farming, world bosses etc. The most important thing is to know your buttons. And I mean really know them so that you dont have to think when you're in a boss so you can focus on mechanics. This extends beyond rotations. Eg. If you need to cover a long distance at a moments notice to not fail mechanics, you need to instinctively hit f3 plus gs3 on dh to cover that distance in one fluid motion. If you have to spend more than 2 brain cells executing this, you're likely not familiar enough with the class. You can get this level of familiarity doing almost anything. The goal here is to be so familiar with your buttons and rotation that by the time you hit your first raid boss, you can hit your skills with your eyes closed so you can dedicate all of your attention on boss specific mechanics.

If you want the most raid like setting, fractal cms are probably the closest followed by t4s.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

A good place to start would be the training golem in the raid lobby. Practice your rotations there, over and over again, until you can do them from memory. Then, so long as you learn each of the boss's mechanics, you should be good to go on the DPS front.

[Westenev.5289]

The best place to learn raids is by doing raids, just like the best way to learn fractals is by playing fractals. The mechanics of raids don't really translate anywhere else, especially in open world where you're missing key buffs that make some build choices optimal.

Playing a raid/fractal build for general PvE does work though, if you're just trying to learn the buttons. You'd probably get better training by aiming for a Dps benchmark on the raid golem though.

[Game of Bones.8975]

Thanks for the input.I just don't want to be that player that holds everyone back or causes a wipe.

[mindcircus.1506]

1. Go to WvW.
2. Start a squad
3. Kick anyone who joins and does not have a rank of Silver Invader or higher.
4. Play poorly
5. Blame everyone else in the squad when you wipe by calling them "trash", "noobs" or "boosted monkeys"

Now you have learned to essential skills for PUG raiding in Guild Wars 2.

[maxwelgm.4315]

@"mindcircus.1506" said:

1. Go to WvW.
2. Start a squad
3. Kick anyone who joins and does not have a rank of Silver Invader or higher.
4. Play poorly
5. Blame everyone else in the squad when you wipe by calling them "trash", "noobs" or "boosted monkeys"

Now you have learned to essential skills for PUG raiding in Guild Wars 2.

Alternatively OP could

1. Go to WvW
2. Start a squad
3. Kick anyone who joins and does not play a Herald, Scrapper, Scourge or Firebrand
4. Play poorly but stack together
5. Don't blame anyone because you will basically steamroll most groups with your heavily unbalanced team composition

And now he will have learned the essential skills for HIGH level pug raiding in Guild Wars 2

[Gulbasaur.1865]

@Game of Bones.8975 said:I'm building up my inventory to craft the appropriate weapons/armor with sigils/runes.What I can do while I'm gathering mats/gold is train in raiding builds so I'm comfortable with the character when I begin raiding.

Go into fractals (and dungeons, particularly ones with insta-kill mechanics where you have to read the cues or you'll be downed) and start working up the tiers. Several of them have mechanics that are seen in raids, like the orbs in Nightmare. Mai Trin is a good one to master as you have to follow the mechanics or it's literally impossible. Likewise Cliffside. Swampland's final boss is like a shorter, weaker version of a raid boss as there is a lot going on with clear phases. Fractals are also quite lucrative if you do the dailies, which should help get to where you need to be. You'll get the odd bit of ascended equipment drop, too.

I think LS2 has a couple of raid-ish bosses as they often focus heavily on one or more mechanics that you have to take care of. The final-ish boss in LS2 is very raid-like as you have to be very aware of the whole field and can't just DPS it down. The Living World bosses generally are pretty good practice, as lots of them have finicky mechanics that you need to pay attention to. Trying not to give spoilers here, but ones like the final boss in the Lake Doric episode or the Facets of (Whatever) in LS2 are great solo training for raid mechanics, just expect longer, tougher fights and remember that you'll usually be in a squad of ten and need to know when to stack and when and where to split.

Raids are 80% knowing what to expect and what to do and 20% being good in combat. Treat every one like a puzzle boss with a known solution and you won't do too badly. Pay attention to cues - there aren't many surprises if you know what to look for. YouTube is probably the best resource for this.

[Asum.4960]

@Game of Bones.8975 said:Thanks for the input.I just don't want to be that player that holds everyone back or causes a wipe.

That mentality right there means you are already 50% there.Raids really aren't that hard, you just need the right mentality for it aka willingness to self-improve and having some motivation for it, some self-awareness and utilizing the resources available to improve and the rest is mostly just experience.

That's for one, as other's have said, getting familiar with whatever you are playing to a point where you are comfortable with it so you can focus on the Raids and it's mechanics down the road while performing your role, and otherwise just knowledge and understanding of the Raids itself, which you can headstart by watching or reading guides, but otherwise just have to get in there yourself to practice, possibly as part of a training run or ideally with a static training group you are comfortable in to screw some things up in the start.

Open world and such really provides no avenue to prepare for endgame content beyond getting familiar with your chosen build though, which you can do better on the training golem with the necessary buffs to actually practice a rotation.

[sokeenoppa.5384]

@"Game of Bones.8975" said:I'm building up my inventory to craft the appropriate weapons/armor with sigils/runes.

What I can do while I'm gathering mats/gold is train in raiding builds so I'm comfortable with the character when I begin raiding.

Is there a place that is better than others to train? Or are the mechanics so different they don't translate easily.

I can already tell that that you have a "raider mindset". If you wanna join for raids just private message me here. If you are EU player that is.

[Endaris.1452]

Fractals of the Mists are a good head start for organised teamplay even if the group size is only half. Most fractal bosses have good telegraphs on their relevant attacks and looking out for telegraphs and reacting to them accordingly is half the success in raids (if not more). Also getting used to playing around breakbars in an environment where the breakbars aren't scaled up to infinity.Most notably you will revisit an alternative version of Subject 6 from the Thaumanova fractal in a short event between the first and second boss in the sixth raid wing.The damage nullification effect of the Veteran Molten Protector that you encounter in the Molten Boss and the Molten Furnace fractal is also something you might see again in the last encounter of the sixth raid wing.

The Unbound Guardian at the end of the Blood Maw Meta in Bloodstone Fen shares a lot of telegraphs and a few mechanics with the first boss of the first raid wing. Although some mechanics work differently, the indicators for your positioning do carry over. It's not the real thing but nice to have a look at. It is one of the very few open world events that utilises the green circle telegraph as something that you want to stand in which is something that is reused frequently in raid encounters.

The third raid wing features a lot of White Mantle trash mobs that are a bit pimped in their stats so running around in Bloodstone Fen and checking out the attacks of the White Mantle around there so you know what you're in for. Especially the block+reflect of the clerics, the various knockdowns of the knights and the fear of the deathsayers are definitely something to look out for in 2 of the easy encounters of wing 3. The mobs in Bloodstone Fen are hitting relatively hard compared to other PvE non-veteran mobs so you might occasionally find yourself getting downed faster than you expect and that's exactly what can happen in these W3 encounters too.

The new strike mission can get you a feel for the pace of most raid bosses (rather slow, almost every attack avoidable, takes a while to take down, additional mechanics being added at lower %, good idea to stack up and in its hitbox) but it is a big deal easier than the easiest raid boss. It is a good place to go to after practicing your dps rotation at the golem as while being easy it still adds a bit of pressure that will help you dealing with your rotation and mechanics at the same time in actual raids.

In Jahai Bluffs there is a legendary bounty for Wyverns in the Maguuma area of the map. The two end bosses of this bounty, Wyvern Matriarch and Patriarch have the same appearance and attacks as the bosses that reappear in the last encounter of the sixth raid wing (and they need to be dealt with in there in a somewhat chaotic fashion) so you might want to check them out and learn how to dodge their attacks as they can easily instadown you in the actual raid as well if you don't pay attention.

In the Domain of Vabbi there is a legendary bounty called Triq Griz Grolak. You fight a very similar mob in the last encounter of the sixth raid wing. In the raid encounter it does not use the charge attack and the meteor shots it uses can be cancelled prematurely by breaking the breakbar that comes up. It also uses a more scripted attack pattern in the raid but it's still nice to be familiar with its attacks in general so you have a rough idea how to avoid its attacks when things don't go as smooth.

There are various areas in which you can fight Veteran Giant Hunters and Veteran Giant Brawlers, most notably the top left area of Elon Riverlands. These are also mobs you will encounter in a boosted version (dealing twice their usual damage) and it is absolutely priceless if you are able to identify their key abilities to dodge or block the control effects they will throw at you with proper timing and applying blind and other effects that will keep you safe from their attacks afterwards. They are absolutely capable of wrecking a run 66% into the boss so practicing a bit with them in open world is absolutely a good thing to do.

These are about all things you can do as a preparation for raids. None of this is required at all but if you want to get a confidence boost before attempting certain bosses/wings for the first time, go ahead and do these.

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

With a guild. PUGs are the worst part of this game.

[Aaron Forestman.4758]

Plenty of people recommending fractals here, and that's definitely the closest you can get to raids with similar builds and mechanics. I'd also recommend some PvP though. Branching out to different game modes will make you a more rounded player and better able to respond to situations on the fly, something that really separates great raiders from okay ones.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

Look at the rotation and give it a go on golem. Then join some training discord and you are good to go