tiewan.1086 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Hello,I am quite new to Guild Wars, my first character. Recently reached 80, started exploring Crystal Desert, gaining mastery points etc.There are some areas with NPCs called Reef Drakes (e.g. Imed's Grotto), which I have extreme difficulty with. All other NPCs, I can normally handle 3-4 in packs, any Veterans, sometimes couple of Veterans. But these one, I die 2 out of 3 attempts on just one drake.It seems like brute force does not work at all with these guys. What's your tactics for a Warrior on this creatures? Which skills do you use?Thanks,Denis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReaverKane.7598 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Reef Drakes were actually first introduced with Southsun cove, which is core Tyria, so It's not really a Crystal Desert thing.Basically they have a ton of confusion, which means if you cast skills you hurt. So basically, dodge their confusion procs (it's the "breath" attack), also avoid their tail swipes.As a warrior you can either choose to burst it quickly with Whirling Axe, Hundred blades or other similar high damage skills. Or you can simply killed them from range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blocki.4931 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 It's mostly about learning their attack patterns and then best avoiding it, making use of blocks or dodges from Greatsword 3 for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliamRationem.5172 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 If I recall correctly, their breath attack is directional and locks them in place once they commit. So just circle around them continuously and you will be able to walk out of the way. Watch for the animation indicating a tail swipe and be sure to dodge it. If fighting multiples, throw in some interrupts. They shouldn't take long to kill, so buying a little time should make a difference. If for some reason you get into trouble, retreat to range as they have no ranged attacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khisanth.2948 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 @"ReaverKane.7598" said:Reef Drakes were actually first introduced with Southsun cove, which is core Tyria, so It's not really a Crystal Desert thing.Basically they have a ton of confusion, which means if you cast skills you hurt. So basically, dodge their confusion procs (it's the "breath" attack), also avoid their tail swipes.As a warrior you can either choose to burst it quickly with Whirling Axe, Hundred blades or other similar high damage skills. Or you can simply killed them from range.Their confusion is a misdirection much like the torment on Mordrem Tormentors. It doesn't do all that much. Only 112 damage per stack when activating a skill.Pretty obvious what their most damaging skill is. :)As you can see Retreat can hit up to 10 times(actually might be more but I can't survive that long, the evade in the second image is me getting out to avoid dying) and does somewhere from 2500 to 2700 per hit so that is up to 27,000 damage total. It can also crit but the crit rate is low.That was against normal ones and not veterans.@tiewan.1086 said:Hello,I am quite new to Guild Wars, my first character. Recently reached 80, started exploring Crystal Desert, gaining mastery points etc.There are some areas with NPCs called Reef Drakes (e.g. Imed's Grotto), which I have extreme difficulty with. All other NPCs, I can normally handle 3-4 in packs, any Veterans, sometimes couple of Veterans. But these one, I die 2 out of 3 attempts on just one drake.It seems like brute force does not work at all with these guys. What's your tactics for a Warrior on this creatures? Which skills do you use?Thanks,DenisBrute force should work fine if you are fighting one. They only have around 15k HP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiewan.1086 Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 Thanks for all the comments.@Khisanth.2948 So how do you avoid the retreat? Is it directional or can it be dodged?Denis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perilisk.1874 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 I hate those guys in Ember Bay, ridiculous to melee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodle Ant.1605 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 @tiewan.1086 said:So how do you avoid the retreat? Is it directional or can it be dodged?Retreat on the reef drake is an instant cast skill that makes the drake ‘retreat’ backwards whilst leaving a number of smallish-yet-still quite-big damaging fields behind. Because it is instant cast, there is no real way to actively mitigate the damage, besides not being within melee range at all when it decides to use this skill.There been cases where I have had to fight 2 vet drakes at once (ember bay sloth escort), once they simultaneously timed their retreat which resulted in practically an instadown since it both crit for ~7k (base dmg was already at ~4k). There’s also been scenarios where I’ve noticed I’m fighting too many drakes at once, but then another one comes from somewhere with the pull skill while the rest proceeded to ‘retreat’... I practically skipped downstate.This skill however is only one of many broken skills and mechanics that gw2 ‘trash mobs’ have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khisanth.2948 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 @tiewan.1086 said:Thanks for all the comments.@Khisanth.2948 So how do you avoid the retreat? Is it directional or can it be dodged?DenisIt is a point blank AoE with 130 radius(this is the same range as melee skills) it leaves behind an ordinary looking red circle. So the simplest solution is to stay out of melee range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Headbutt (berserker) for a stun. You can also use Bull's Charge for a knockdown. That gives you a couple of seconds to burst it down. My normal power Berserker opening for pretty much everything:HeadbuttArc Divider100 BladesWhirlwind AttackBladetrailBull's Charge if you need to CC it again, otherwise RushRepeat as needed, only interrupt your 100 blades attack to avoid an attack that will down-state you on low health. Arc Divider takes precedence over pretty much everything else when you are at melee range.I don't play Spell breaker or core warrior, so I'm less familiar with them, however, opening with a Bull's Charge will still give you time to burst it down. You also have CC's on shield 4, mace 3, and a ranged CC on mace 5 if you're running it off-hand. Mace 2 and shield 5 are blocks, so use those as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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