Is it possible to see attack patterns in the game?

[cyhadam.3082]

In core Tyria, I wish that the common enemies we would run into would make their attacks a little more obvious. I don't know when to roll or use your abilities. Does anyone have any tips for this? I would greatly appreciate it thanks! Example of a good common enemy is the risen Abominations. They attack slowly so you see when to dodge and their special charge attack can be anticipated too.

[joneirikb.7506]

Honestly, some enemies are good at this, others not so much. I've usually used Ettins to learn this early on, but not every creature behaves this way.

This is one of the reasons I wish more (most) enemies used the actual attacks we as players have, so it would be easier and more intuitive for us to learn them and figure out how to counter them.

As it is, it comes down to just fighting an enemy a lot, and just get used to/learn it the hard way. There are some enemies I just basically dodge on a timer "They should do a heavy attack about ... now!" etc.

[Trise.2865]

If you need practice, go to Claypool in Queensdale and Train with the Militia there. Picking up the shield sets you in a tutorial-like mini game where you learn the visual and audio cues for major attacks and, more importantly, how to time your blocks for such attacks.

[GreyWolf.8670]

It seems like most mobs do have a telegraph. People die all the time to arrowheads rolling over them but if you watch them they hike their legs up on one side before they roll that way.

[AliamRationem.5172]

Usually, the more dangerous the attack the more telegraphed it will be. Take a look at this video.

You can see that the boss repeatedly uses an attack where it rears back and then smashes the ground in front of it. If it lands this attack it will deal heavy damage as well as knocking my character to the ground. The boss will then follow up by shooting a puddle of blue acid on top of me. This 2-strike combination will kill my character if it lands, so I'm very careful to avoid it either by dodging, blocking, or simply stepping out of the way.

At just past 1 minute in the video you'll see the boss use a different attack where it shakes like a dog, sending blue acid streaming all around it. The telegraph is less obvious, but I know from experience that he only uses this attack if a target gets very close to him. So whenever he closes range I'm watching for him to begin that attack. As you can see, a split second before the first hit lands I pop an arcane shield, which blocks the next 3 hits - just enough to negate this attack.

At about 1:25 in the video he uses this shake attack again, but my arcane shield is still on cooldown. The first attack hits, but I dodge backward avoiding the second hit and I'm out of range of the third strike. But now that I'm at fairly long range, the boss uses another attack: a charge. Again you can see this coming a mile away as the boss stands in place and turns slightly toward me while preparing to charge. At the last second I dodge and evade the attack.

So that covers the stomp, the shake, and the charge. The other attack this boss uses is a standard bite attack, which is much quicker. You'll see I don't bother to try and dodge this attack much as it happens rather quickly and is hard to anticipate. Instead I use my slight range advantage and circle the boss so I'm often just outside of his range when he uses the bite. This also cuts down on the number of times he uses that shake attack.

[cyhadam.3082]

Thanks for all the answers! Nice to have such a great community! Look forward to seeing you in-game.

[Ashgard.5132]

Enemies kinda move differently to certain attacks, since they are bound to animations (and well made ones at that). You can acctually telegraph some of the attacks, withouth even having the red line that shows where he's going to attack.

Some are harder to see, between keeping track of everything that it's happening and the spells effects masking some visual cues. But just be calm, and after facing enough monsters and paying attention you will notice it.

[MedievalThings.5417]

Some of the abilities have large telegraphs, so you can easily see it's time to move. Most fight though, since the "boss" is just a giant effects blur, due to other player effects that we can't turn off, you will never see the telegraph anyway.