A Guide to Combat in Guild Wars

Attribute Effects

Following is a chart that gives you the effects of your attributes on your weapon damage:

Effect of Attributes on Weapon Damage

Attribute Level	Weapon Damage %
0	35.6%
1	38.6%
2	42.0%
3	45.9%
4	50.0%
5	54.5%
6	59.5%
7	64.8%
8	70.7%
9	77.1%
10	84.1%
11	91.7%
12	100%
13	104%
14	107%
15	111%
16	115%

As you can see, the damage for attribute level rises predictably till you hit level 12 (100%), and then the gains drop off dramatically. Going past 12 is really not very efficient unless you are going for maxed SKILL damage.

Item Requirements

Item requirements are there to prevent players from getting the full benefit of the item without investing a minimum amount into the assigned attribute type. If you do not meed the requirement of an item, then it's basic effectiveness is halved (rounded down) from the listed effect... A 16 armor shield, if it's requirement is not met, will give you only the benefit of an 8 defense shield, plus any bonus modifiers it may have on it. A max damage scythe, if it's requirement is not met, will only do 4 - 20 damage when used, plus any bonus modifiers it may have on it. The item requirement has no other effect concerning the damage of the weapon.

Armor Effects

Armor is always calculated from a base value of 60. Going 40 armor below this will double the amount of damage received, if the damage is modified by armor level, whereas going 40 armor above this will halve the damage received, if the damage is modified by armor level. For every 40 armor away from the base of 60, the damage is again doubled or halved, according to this theory. Therefore, a target with 140 armor takes only 25% damage from most attacks, a target with 220 armor takes only 6.25% damage from most attacks, and a target with -20 armor takes 400% damage from most attacks. This happens reguardless if the attack was melee based or spell based, as long as the attack does NOT ignore armor.

Armor Types

It has come to the understanding of those scholars of the game that different characters and monsters have different types of armor, with different strengths and weaknesses. Several such examples exist throughout GuildWars, in a few unexpected and also many totally expected ways. Any monster that is based on plants takes more damage from fire attacks, while undead take almost double damage from holy magic and fire attacks. Ice monsters take a lot more damage from fire attacks and are protected from cold magic, while fire monsters take more from cold attacks and are protected from fire magic. Earth elemental types also take extra damage from lightning weapons, and less from earth weapons. One of the unusual examples would have to be the floating eye type monsters (mesmer base class). They take extra damage from physical and EARTH damage weapons.

For an example, let us examine the lowly Fire Imps you see in Northern Kryta. They have quite a high resistance vs Fire Magic, but they also have a very low resistance vs Cold Magic. Using several max damage bows with different bow strings (for different elemental attacks) will quickly reveal it's different resistance ratings vs these types of attacks. Lightning and Earth damage weapons deal the same amount of damage, while physical damage sources do a bit more (as the imp has less resistance to physical attacks in general). Fire does less than normal, while Ice does more than normal.

For another example, let us examine the different character classes and their typical types of armors.

• Assassins have 70 base defense, which makes them about as easy to kill as an Elementalist. Most are not highly specced into defensive skills, you can consider them phys damage glass cannons, and quite easy to kill if they are using an improperly balanced build.

• Dervish have 60 base defense, and can opt for either the Windwalker (enchanted) or Forsaken (non-enchanted) armor type, which can boost their armor from the base up to 75 (while enchanted, if using Windwalker) or up to 70 (while not enchanted, if using Forsaken). There are also various avatar forms which can be used to increase defense in various ways. The wisest way to take down a Dervish would be from a distance, with any attacks you wish to use, since their armor has no built-in weaknesses.

• Elementalists have extra defense vs elemental attacks, so you should definately not match the type of elemental armor they are using. The best attack against them would be purely physical.

• Mesmers have 60 base armor and typically dont get much boost against attack types, so they use their stances accordingly. You need to pay attention to what types of stances they are using and modify your attack to maximize your damage accordingly. If the mesmer you are fighting uses the Elemental Resistance stance, switch to a physical damage weapon, if they use the Physical Resistance stance, switch to an Elemental damage weapon.

• Monks start with 60 base armor, and can choose to have a boost of 10 armor vs magic or phys, depending on their armor choice... but most go for the tattoos to get the energy boost it provides. Any damage source should work pretty well against monks, especially those with armor penetration.

• Necromancers have 60 base armor, with similar options to what the monks can have, so any damage source works good, with armor penetration becoming quite useful against them.

• Paragons have a base 80 defense armor, making them extremely well-protected. The best way to damage them is to use non-elemental and non-physical means. (Use skills that ignore target defense, such as conditions/hexes/curses/smiting...)

• Rangers have 70 base armor with an extra 30 armor vs elemental damage, plus another 15 to an element of their choice depending on their armor choice. Selecting the same element as what they are defending against would be a poor choice, while physical attacks are definately the best choice.

• Ritualists have fairly normal armor, at 60 base max, but can occasionally boost it by holding certain ashes with defensive capabilities. You can use any types of attacks for maximum damage against a Ritualist.

• Warriors have a HUGE boost to their defensive capabilities through their extremely high all-round armor, which starts at 80 and can easily hit 200. The best way to damage them is through non-elemental and non-physical means. (hexes, curses, smiting skills, and other skills that ignore target's armor level)

Now, if you are used to playing PvP, much of this is simply a review. All monsters in GuildWars follow the same armor types and professions as the players! Therefore, you can visualize Charr Axe Fiend as just another warrior and hit him with any elemental attack, doing more than a physical attack would. This is in addition to the racial/creature type built-in weaknesses that exist in the game. For example: All undead are weak vs holy damage and fire damage.

Armor Penetration Effects

There are several factors to consider when penetrating an opponents armor. All armor penetrations work from a value of 0 (no armor). The higher the opponent's armor, the more of an effect armor penetration can have on that target. Thus, if you are running 40% armor penetration, and hit 3 different targets (one at 60 armor, one at 100 armor, and one at 200 armor) with an attack that normally does 40 damage, the 60 armor defender will take 64 damage instead of 40, and the 100 armor target will take 40 damage instead of 20, and the 200 armor target would take 16 damage instead of 3. This equates to each of these targets losing 24, 40, and 80 armor each, respectively.

Certain effects can cause armor penetration, some of which are in effect at all times, while others depend on certain conditions. The Warrior primary attribute Strength gives 1% armor penetration per attribute level, for a maximum of 16% armor penetration at all times. The Hornbow type of bows give an inherent (not shown) 10% armor penetration at all times. There are also several attacks that penetrate armor which can work in conjunction with these, specificallly Penetrating Attack, which negates 20% target armor level. These effects also stack with weapon modifiers such as the Sundering mod, with a 10 - 20% chance at 20% armor penetration. With all of these possible armor penetration effects working together, you can attain a maximum possible effect of negating 66% of the enemy's armor level.

Adrenal Skills

Adrenaline is built up over time as one fights. Striking a foe gives you 100 (single full strike) points of adrenaline, while being struck by a foe gives you 5 points of adrenaline. Therefore, being struke 20 times gives you 100 adrenaline points, which equates to 1 strike of adrenaline. Certain skills and enchantments can alter this behavior, while other skills can increase or decrease the speed of your attacks. You can gain adrenaline with ranged weapons, the fastest ones would probably be wands/scepters/rods. Adrenal attacks for a warrior are all in melee range, while a Paragon has the ability to use ranged adrenal attacks.

Upon examining an adrenal skill, you will note the number of adrenaline strikes are required to activate it. Skills that recharge your other skills do NOT function for adrenal skills, while being hit with a mesmer's "blackout" skill can strip away all your adrenaline and cause your entire skillbar to reset. Note that a properly equipped mesmer can render just about every attack you have useless, if they are so inclined. To use an adrenal skill, you spend an entire strike of adrenaline on ALL your adrenal skills. If you strike the target, you gain back that strike of adrenaline, and all your adrenal skills that were already fully charged before become fully charged again. If you should miss, then you will need to gain back those 100 points of adrenaline before you can use the next adrenal skill.

Adrenal attack strings are generally used for spike damage, in order to finish off an opponent very quickly. The standard tactic is to build up adrenaline by attacking a weak target with normal attacks, and then to suddenly switch to the true target to unload all the high adrenal skill attacks, killing it very quickly.

Assassin Combination Skills

Assassin attack style is somewhat different from all other classes, in that their attacks must follow a specific type of order to inflict their maximum potential damage. There are certain attacks that can skip to another part of the attack order, which always depend upon a condition to be met beforehand, such as the target being knocked down, or hexed/cursed. Normally, however, you will need a Lead Attack in order to start the attack string.

• First, you start with the lead attack. This leaves a / (slash) mark on the hp bar of the enemy you are attacking (only for the assassin that attacked it, nobody else can see these marks.) Striking a target with another lead attack will always start your attack string over again. Not striking a target with the next part of an attack sequence for 15 seconds will cause the mark to disappear.

• Following the lead attack will be your off-hand attack, which must strike a foe with the / (slash) mark on it, and then leaves a X (crossed slash or x) mark on the target.

• Following the off-hand attack will be a dual attack, which must strike a foe with the X (crossed slash) mark on it. This skill always strikes twice. This skill leaves a * (triple slash) mark on the target.

• Following a dual attack can be an elite off-hand attack, which must strike a foe with the * (triple slash) mark on it. This skill leaves a X (crossed slash) mark on the target. This would allow you to immediately follow with another dual attack, if you are so inclined.

Double Strike

Assassins have the ability to Double Strike their enemies during melee combat. This only occurs during a standard attack, and at a rate of 2% chance per attribute level in Dagger Mastery (0% - 32%). Assassin Dual Attacks are always double strike, but the chance of a double strike during the use of an attack skill is otherwise zero.

Critical Strike

A critical strike can be achieved directly through use of a skill, or through natural or boosted means. When a critical strike is called for, the damage of your weapon is multiplied by the square root of 2 (approx 1.41), for a +41% damage boost, which is applied to the maximum possible damage your weapon can inflict. This is in addition to all other damage modifiers you have for that weapon, including customization, weapon suffix damage modifier (per damage vs special class), and weapon automod.

Specifically for Assassins, the critical strikes primary attribute line increases their chance of a critical strike by 2% per attribute level, and also gains them 1 - 3 energy per critical strike, when achieved. Assassins also have certain stances or enchantments that increase their chance to perform a critical strike.

Customization

Customizing weapons costs you only 10 gold per weapon, cannot be removed or undone, and renders the trade value of a unique (green) weapon to NOTHING.

Customizing a weapon gives you a bonus 20% damage modifier on it, but also makes it so that it is practically useless to any other player, including other characters you own. The only use another player or character would have for a customized weapon would be to salvage it for the modifiers (and hope they get them). However, having additional customized weapons laying about is not all that bad a thing, as the Heros from the Nightfall campaign are able to use any weapon that the character they are following has had customized. So, if you have spare fire elemental equip laying around that you have had customized on your elementalist, then when you pick up Sausuke and Red Hoof, you can immediately equip them with your spare fire elemental equipment along with a copy of your fire elemental skillbar, since Heros can use any skill you have unlocked on your entire account.

Weapon Prefix Modifiers

Table of Prefixes available for weapons.

Modifier Name	Bow	Axe	Sword	Hammer	Scythe	Dagger	Spear	Effects
Fiery	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Changes phys damage to fire damage
Icy	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Changes phys damage to cold damage
Ebon	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Changes phys damage to earth damage
Shocking	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Changes phys damage to lightning damage
Barbed	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	Increase bleeding time 33%
Heavy	no	yes	no	yes	no	no	no	Increase deep wounds time 33%
Vampiric	1 - 5	1 - 3	1 - 3	1 - 5	1 - 5	1 - 3	1 - 3	Adds life stealing and -1 hp degen
Sundering	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	10 - 20% chance of 20% armor piercing
Crippling	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Increase crippled time 33%
Zealous	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	+1 energy per hit, -1 energy degen
Silencing	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Increase dazed time 33%
Poisoning	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	Increase poisoned time 33%

Weapon Suffix Modifiers

There are various suffixes you can pick and choose from when customizing your weapon to your liking. Some of these grips are unlockable, while others are not.

• Items available for unlock are:
  • Defense (+3 - 5 defense - phys AND elemental)
  • Enchanting (adds 10 - 20% time to any enchantments you cast)
  • Fortitude (+20 - 30 life)
  • Attribute Enhancement (+1 to item's required attribute 10 - 20% of the time when using skills of that attribute)
  • Shelter (+4 - 7 defense vs physical damage)
  • Warding (+4 - 7 defense vs elemental damage)
• Items NOT available for unlock are:
  • Charrslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Charr)
  • Deathsbane (+10 - 20% damage vs Undead) Related to Skeletonslaying... but much better :P
  • Demonslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Demons) Oni come to mind quite readily... as do Menzies and Smite Crawlers
  • Skeletonslaying (+10 - 20% vs Skeletons) Related to Deathsbane... but not as good :P
  • Dwarfslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Dwarves)
  • Dragonslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Dragons)
  • Giantslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Giants) Anything that does Giant's Stomp.
  • Trollslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Trolls)
  • Ogreslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Ogres)
  • Pruning (+10 - 20% damage vs Plants) any of the plant based monsters: moss scarabs and trees
  • Tenguslaying (+10 - 20% damage vs Tengu) Avicara and those Star birdies in Napui Quarters count

Weapon Automods and Inscriptions

Weapon modifiers that can occasionally appear can vary from low to high values, with those that list a 15% boost as their maximum generally being the most sought after. You cannot change, apply, remove, or upgrade a weapon automod in any way. It is a basic part of the weapon, and cannot be altered. This does, of course, mean that the base item's automod is far more important than ANY other consideration of what to add as your weapon's prefix or suffix. Recently, in Nightfall, the new inscriptions have come out, which allow you to apply/salvage what used to be a weapon's automod, although they all follow similar rules concerning the minimum and maximum possible effect on a weapon.

• So, from highest to lowest value to most players
  • +10 - 15% damage ALWAYS (-5 energy)
  • +10 - 15% damage while over 50% hp (+15%^50)
  • +10 - 15% damage while you are enchanted (+15%e)
  • +10 - 15% damage ALWAYS -1 energy regen
  • +10 - 15% damage while you are in a stance
  • +10 - 15% damage while your target is hexed
  • +5 energy (always) -- note that there is no + or - damage % on this bow!
  • +10 - 20% damage while YOU are hexed
  • +10 - 20% damage while YOU are under 50% hp (20%_50)

The modifers of +15%^50 and +15%e are worth more because they are useful in far more situations. The +15% damage always (with -5 energy) is at the top of the list for price, as there is never any qualifier for using it - the enhanced damage is always in effect. This listing is here for informational purposes only, in order to assist players in determining what types of weapon automods to look for when buying or trading for a weapon to use (see final section: Buying/Trading).

End Credits

Currently a work in progress, please do not edit.