Need help in pvp 1vs1

[freyKEROLAIN.8640]

Hi all. It's been a few months playing on the vindicator (alliance and assassin). I like playing pvp 1vs1 so much, but I can't do it well, some classes even kill in a couple of seconds. Can you advise some builds, tactics, and which skills to use more often, and what is better not to touch, that would not waste energy, can even be a combo of skills

[Dahkeus.8243]

Vind will have some matchups in 1v1 that it just won't be able to win since much of its strength shines a bit more in team fights, but there are a few things that will make a big difference in 1v1s:

 - Always make your first priority to survive.  It's always better to stay alive than to potentially rush a kill.

 - This goes for all classes, but utilize the environment for line of sight and kiting.  This is most important when you are low on defensive cooldowns or when your opponent is trying to pressure through their offensive cooldowns. (Vallun has an exellent playlist of videos here for these: Playlist link here )

 - Make sure to cycle through both both legends within the alliance stance (i.e. using Alliance Tactics).  This is because you will gain the benefits of legend swaps from traits like Balance in Discord or other legend swap abilities. 

 - Use Phase Traversal defensively when you can.  If an enemy somewhere else has been targetted, this can often work great since you can use a port towards that other enemy to get distance from a fight if you need to reset or just heal up.

 

As for build, your typical power Retribution Greatsword Vind is generally ideal, although I strongly recommend the Imperial Impact dodge over Saint's Shield.  Examples of this build are here and here.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Dahkeus.8243

[Scoobaniec.9561]

Each case is different. Apart from what Dahkeus said you should play the classes you struggle the most (in fact you should try all classes) to understand them better and what they do. Takes lots of practice but this is best way to greatly improve. However i wouldnt bother with pvp in pve centered game anymore. 

Also i prefer to rush for kill (moba assassin/jungle mentality) but be smart about it. When their defensive skills are down its time to go all in and fk em up!

[Tulkas.2576]

I really like the metabattle Greatsword Shiro vindicator build, but with Shiro/Jalis and imperial impact. I go with greatsword and staff. Greatsword with sword/sword is fun and better in some situations but staff just gives you so much sustain.

For PvP I use berserker/divinity and energy/cleansing on both weapons. 
For WvW I use mostly berserker with a couple pieces of zealots and durability runes. Same sigils as PvP.

 

Against condi heavy classes you want to be swapping weapons on CD, swapping legends as much as possible and dodging as much as possible. This gives you a lot of passive cleansing and resolution as well as might and barrier. Because I don’t take alliance I don’t get that huge treesong condi cleanse so I really have to be careful to not let them start piling up. 
Save staff 4 and Soothing stone as your big emergency buttons. You get a fair amount of resolution passively as long as you’re dodging a lot which not only helps you handle condition damage but also increases your own damage. 
Both your blocks are very helpful at avoiding condi application too so use them often. 
 

Against power classes you want to prioritize your blocks. I still like to dodge a lot, but I often won’t swap weapons until I’ve used the block to stop something big. Then you’re able to swap immediately after to chain another block if needed. Greatsword 3 is great for leaping away from the enemy if you don’t have block or dodge available. You can avoid a ton of damage if you are on greatsword, use your block, leap away, swap to staff, dodge, staff block, staff evade, swap to Shiro, use reverse riposting shadows, dodge again, etc….

You can chain a lot of blocks and evades together and avoid huge burst combos. 
 

For your own burst, I like to start on Jalis. I use forced engagement, drop road on them, dodge with hammers on, swap legend as I land and cast eternity’s requiem with impossible odds on. Then either GS 2 or 3 and turn impossible odds off. 
Dodging gives you might and resolution which increases your damage, but also chills the target so I always did that before a burst. You don’t need to drop road, but it gives you a combo field for Eternity’s requiem and prevents them from CCing you. You may as well have hammers on because you’re swapping legends anyway. Swapping to Shiro gives you quickness which lets you get your eternity’s requiem off quicker and impossible odds just makes it do more real damage. 
That’s sort of my ideal burst, but it doesn’t always work out, so you want to try to prime your opponent so they can’t counteract it. It can also be a good way to force them to use some of their big defensive abilities so that you can do it again in 20 seconds. 
 

If there is specific specs giving you a hard time, one of the best things you can do is actually play that profession for a little while. I am guilty of not doing this enough, but for example I have most of my playtime as guardian, so I have no trouble with WBs or DHs when I play vindicator, but I’ve never spent much time on thief or Ele so I have a hard time with specter and all Ele specs.
 

what both people above me said is also good advice. Vindicator is a pretty solid spec all around and doesn’t have any major weaknesses to other professions so you stand a good chance of winning most 1v1. 
you could also go with tankier gear like avatar amulet or celestial stats as well as alliance&dwarf legend and you can become almost unkillable, but you will have a hard time killing anyone other than glass specs and you will still struggle against outnumbered situations.