User:Yshyii/A Practical Guide To Raids
A Practical (Pugging) Guide to Raids[edit]
Most raid guides are great for finding the specifics on raid boss mechanics, but it is hard to imagine how all those phases link together, or how it actually gets organised in a pug group. There are unspoken rules and tactics in pug raids, which add another barrier of entry to the complexity of the hardest PvE encounters in the game. This guide explains the most commonly used strategies so even new players can recognise all the raid lingo, and discusses commonly used roles so you know what to do when one of those gets assigned to you.
The main draw to use these boss guides is twofold. The 'How Not To Kill Your Squad' guide gives all the quick pointers without having to understand the reasoning, and without bothering with selfexplanatory mechanics (most red things are bad). It can be used to prepare yourself half a minute in advance of the raid. The other side of the guides is an explanation of the most used strategies and their terminology, in addition to your role within it. Pugs have developed expectations that aren't always clears to a starter. "Doing greens" or "Doing cannons" do not mean anything to anyone unfamiliar raiding, so those are discussed in more detail.
Disclaimer: This guide is far from finished and does not discuss all mechanics in detail.
How to use the guides[edit]
If you know nothing about raiding, take a look at the Getting Started Guide. It is very limited but gives a few pointers.
If you have five seconds left before the raid starts and you don't know the mechanics, read 'How Not To Kill Your Squad', and read the 'Role Discussion' for your role if you got assigned one.
If you are a well educated and responsible Guild Wars 2 player and started reading up on the encounters in advance, read the rest too, check the wiki walkthroughs and read up on your profession specific boss tutorials on Snowcrows' site if they are available.
Each boss guide is split in:
- a How Not To Kill Your Squad, which only explains how not to kill your entire squad
- a Short Guide, which at a minimum explains how not to kill yourself, and how to make it not too obvious that you don't know what you're doing, without explaining all mechanics or intricacies
- a brief discussion of all mechanics
- a discussion of the most common pug strategies
- a discussion of what your role is, sometimes in function of a specific strategy, and sometimes in function of your profession
- a chronological overview or simulation of a whole fight.
| Raid | Wing | Encounter |
|---|---|---|
| Forsaken Thicket | Spirit Vale (Wing 1) | Vale Guardian |
| Spirit Woods | ||
| Gorseval the Multifarious | ||
| Sabetha the Saboteur | ||
| Salvation Pass (Wing 2) | Slothasor | |
| Prison Camp (Trio) | ||
| Matthias Gabrel | ||
| Stronghold of the Faithful (Wing 3) | Siege the Stronghold (Escort Glenna) | |
| Keep Construct | ||
| Twisted Castle | ||
| Xera | ||
| Bastion of the Penitent (Wing 4) | Cairn the Indomitable | |
| Mursaat Overseer | ||
| Samarog | ||
| Deimos | ||
| Hall of Chains (Wing 5) | Soulless Horror (Desmina) | |
| River of Souls | ||
| Statues of Grenth | ||
| Voice in the Void (Dhuum) | ||
