Hard Mode: Tips and Tricks

OMG! This literally made me laugh till I cried. Made my day. Thank you Loki.

Awesome tips guys. This is why I love this board. For the most part, the members are nice, helpful people. I was going to contribute my two cents, but it's been covered and then some. Thanks to all the contributors here!

Two words: Deep Wound. A PvP staple. These enemies have 600-1000 health so have a character pack at least 1 skill to dish out Deep Wound.
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Deep_wound This wiki page has a nice list to help you get an idea where to integrate it.

Edit: Up to 100 health removed for a Deep Wound.

I've gone from fire ele... to a hybrid air spike / lesser Earth ward ele.
Air spikes to hit the softies in the back row... earth ward to protect the group to survive the onslaught a bit longer.

Meteor Showers is less effect, they know to run from that.. and with SF.. found it at most gets 2-3 enemies.... unless you have a ton on of them on someone.. which may be too late anyway.

A Meser is a great addition to any HM party now.

The Char Messmer in Ascalon do a great job of spamming back fire / chaos storm on back row monks/ele.

deep wound damage is capped at 100, unless changed recently.

That's correct. Quoting from wiki.guildwars:
"Deep Wound will never reduce your health by more than 100 points, even if your original health was more than 500."

I found eles to be indisposable, and having strong tanks and melee is always good. Mesmers should be really good too, try empathy or backfire on the melees and casters respectively. Haven't done a lot of mixing around yet, and I need to unlock more skiills, but I'll post a more detailed tip post when I do.

I have cleared several areas already with just heroes/hench....

I make sure to ...
1. have half the team as monks...
2. make sure to specialize my heroes for the area..(this takes a few 'dry' runs)
3. take it slow and easy...

I'm also having big problems with Jokanur Diggings in HM.

I'm a derv and I have to take Melonni who is also a derv.

Someone please tell me how I'm supposed to make a good 4 man party for hard mode in Jokanur Diggings with 2 dervs and one is a hero with wonky ability to use skills properly? Telling me exactly what skills to take on me, Melonni, and any other two heroes would be much appreciated.

Mind you...in the hard mode area's I've played in it seems all the mobs dish out conditions by the buckets anyway...there's hardly a fight where you don't get hit with deep wound yourself...

I guess the PvE builds are gonna look more and more alike now too...I'm already bored with it. My warrior now brings along a condition removal skill standard.

I dont really have much advice, but a teambuild that worked well for me: Healers boon, Bonder, SS Curse nec, Dom mez, 2x SF ele, 1 or 2 decent warriors.

congrat on the title.

I usually bring along Smite Hex in my utility slot...

Condition pressure can be handled with Mend Condition (damnit, i completely forgot about Extinguish, knew my Olias was missing somet). Hex pressure on the other hand... Divert Hexes seems to be completely useless against it. And since i tend to run Prot instead of Heal on my hero monk for 6 man teams... i miss out on Dwaynas Kiss.

I've had to spend a fortune kiting out my heros that i intend to use for Hard Mode. Given them all Major Vigours, a full set of Survivor Insignia and the odd Vitae rune to fill in slots. I really could use a decent set of weapons though.

Well haven't done that many missions/areas, but from the one's i've done the things that are usually working ok are:

1. Quick run when u are in a new area with new enemies, just to check the skills,etc.

2. Adapt the build of your heroes, ask your party members if they can play a specific build for that area.

3. Whenever possible DO NOT bring hero monks... the image of dunkoro getting spiked time and time again, while remaining in the same place still haunts me...

4. Have Fun

btw congrats on the title Deluxe

Taking a party half full of monks is generally not a good idea, especially so in hardmode. It may seem like an obvious thing "boy I'm taking a lot of dmg, I'll bring more monks!" but having half your party be monks will cripple your damage output and after all the best defense is a good offense.

The key to good healing coverage is...
1) make sure you have a balance of prot and heal. Prot is really important to have in hard mode. You shouldn't ever really need more than 2 monks as long as you have secondary healing/mitigation spread around on a couple other chars as well, which leads me to...
2) Make sure to fit secondary healing or damage mitigation on your support characters. MM's are great secondary healers. I like putting light of deliverance on my MM instead of Flesh Golem for instance. Ele's are also a great way to bring some dmg mitigation with wards or secondary healing/mitigation like heal party or aegis. Ritualists are great half healers with weapon spells and recoup. Paragons are built for this kind of situation too.

Another good tip is don't put the exact same bar on both your monk heroes. Not only are you sacrificing healing or prot to double up but you are also putting the AI in an awkward position. They all use the same AI for skills, so having the same bar on more than one char means they'll be thinking about those individual skills at the same time and attempting to use them at the same time possibly even on the same targets. That's the kind of little thing that can cost you a mission.

Bring a couple running skills in great northern wall, it will make your life alot easier in the end.

OK guys need some input here. I modded a sword with +25% vs charr now need help on what i should use for the other mod that will inflict the most pain, any ideas?

You really need us to tell you that? Some people just cant think for themselves..

vampiric sword of charrslaying 15^50/whatever, on average that will be the kind of sword that will deliver you the most damage over time. ofcourse there are monsters who have resistance vs physical or elemental damage.

And you could not think of that?

sorry to disturb you... I was just making sure cause I wanted the most damage wasnt sure if i should use sundering, vamp, or ele mod. Chill out.

Elemental mods can outshine Vampiric mods. Where Vampiric is a set amount of extra damage, elemental mods have the potential to ignore 20 armour which can result in another +20-25% damage increase.
However, this is dependent on knowing what armour types mobs are using, and as that's impossible to know, you have to do some experimentation.

Sundering is generally a no-no.

Obviously, against ice golems, you can't beat fiery mods. Also remember that fiery mods synergise well with some fire ele skills, particularly [skill=text]Mark of Rodgort[/skill]. And that in turn synergises with [skill=text]"They're on fire!"[/skill].

Edit: Also, 15^50 is not necessarily the best damage modifier. Consider +15% while in a stance; after all, as a warrior you should always be in an IAS stance. And the other to consider is +15% / -5e, especially if you are running mostly adrenal skills. 15 energy is more than enough to fuel two 5e skills

It makes me sad to see that someone has gotten a Guardian title already and I havent managed to clear one area or even to max out ss title.

P.S. Gratz on that btw.

Guardian is not clearing areas,
that's the vanquisher line.

Grats on the title Deluxe.

/Santa

We cleared Deldrimore Bowl last night. The main issue here are the healers in the mobs group. Even more so when you have a group of 2-3 of them. For the first time though I found actually charging all my warriors Adren based skills and then spike them using Eviscerate followed by other strong dmg skills. They were quick off the mark to use Mend Alliment so using Eviscerate followed directly by Disrupting Chop while in a 33% attack faster stance often put a quick end to them.

The first time I really used a spike to kill something in PvE. Hard Mode is great fun. Good work ANET.

Another one for the list - I've had alot of success adding communing spirits (shelter in particular) to a BHA ranger.

I finally found the answer to my problem with Jokanur Diggings.

I turned Melonni into a SS Necro nuker (and put spare points into earth as she doesnt have soul reaping).
I then used Zhed as a SF ele and Tahlkora as a mixed healer/proto monk and then there was me as a posion arrow ranger.

There where a lot of pauses to regain energy between fights, but no deaths.

I hope this helps.

Tip #1: Bring a Long- or Flatbow.

Pulling groups towards you where you can fight them without being disturbed by their pals is essential.

I would say 15/-5 is possibly the best mod for Hard Mode if your a warrior.

Any enemy with E-Burn/Surge will drain you VERY quickly if your the first into battle, ie the warrior. The lower your max energy, the less there is to surge away, because damn those 10 energy Surge/Burns hurt.

Flatbow = The ONLY bow for luring in hard mode. Its flight time gives you plenty of time to get away from potential snarers or higher damage attacks. Not to mention on those static mobs that i prefer to call 'fragbait' they don't rush you if you turn and run fast enough. Found a couple of these in Iron Horse Mines, no way in hell am i fighting 6x Scouts or 6x Axe Wielders... take 2 or 3 down with Crossfire and poison, then sweep through the rest.

I am in the process of vanquishing Ascalon atm. I went through Flame Temple Corridor and Dragon's Gullet last night with my Dervish, MM MoW, SF Sousuke, and Boon Healer Dunk. Each of my heroes had hex removal(remove hex) and a res sig(x-cept dunk). These areas didn't have many enemies in them(about 100 each) but these charr are a pain in the ass. With armor of sanctity and conviction on my derv those blade storm/axe warriors do 0 damage to me(even with hundred blades) which eases the pressure off dunk, he has enough trouble keeping MoW alive. Once the minion army is set, killing the charr in Flame Temple is easy as pie. Only tough areas was the first staircase to ur left when u get into actual temple area, there was 5 chaot and a shaman. Enchantment stripping ftl. In the end SF took em down, put fire attune and AoR(as a cover enchantment) on Sousuke and disabled all of his spells except for SF and Mark of Rodgort, called a target, and watched them roast. Combined with AoE Scythe Attacks(Wounding Strike and Chilling Victory FTW) they fell surprisingly easily. Another tough spot was an area with 2 shaman, 2 melee guys, ashen claw, and chaot couldn't separate them. Killed the warriors with SF spike and the minions killed one of the shaman and almost got the other one before we got wiped. I was the only one left alive. Res'd dunk and got the last 3 guys. Dragon's Gullet was a pain as well with all the Hydras.

My tips are: (don't know if these have already been said, but here it goes)
In 4 person areas:
1.) The team I described above works really good but depends on your class.
2.) Everyone needs a res.
3.) Do whatever is necessary to avoid 60DP boot.(flag one hero(with res) away)
4.) If you know where pop-ups are, avoid them as they don't count to vanquisher unless triggered.
5.) Human monk is necessary with mission critical NPC's(Rurik=retarded)

In 6 person:
1.) 2 monks, MM, Tank, dual SF(<-most effective but not necessary)
2.) Everyone whould still have res.
3.) 60DP boot shouldn't be as big a problem as it was with 4 people.
4.) With 6 people you could remove an SF ele for a BHA ranger(lengthen daze bow) as soft interrupts are hard to execute with the monsters 50% faster cast.

In 8 peson:
Really shouldn't be a problem. Still bring res, 2-3 monks, MM or 2, SF eles are always nice, interrupts, tank or 2.

P.S. - Vanquisher Title = great excuse to do cartographer as well

Grats Deluxe!

( I had the title on Sunday myself! ----> http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...9&postcount=47 )

Also, I'm halfway to Guardian of Elona.... I think the earlier missions are harder than some of the later ones. The bonus for Moddock Crevice now is pretty difficult because the runners run faster than normal AND use Natural Stride. I need to bring more than Crippling Shot and Deep Freeze I think! :/

can someone give me some tips about clearing ruins of surmia on hard mode,could use some real help and rurik=retarded agree 100% can´t focus on killing mobs if he lures everything he might be related to devona.So i would apreciate some help, btw im monk and it is kinda hard to heal trough the lingering curse and stay alive while chars pown u especialy when i die in 3 hits.In mi opinion i dont find to mouch balance insome of the misions ex: finishing ruins of morah on hard mode and getting masters wihthout haveing any death and repeat the misions in ascalon 5 times because 4 mobs can whipe out a team

Heh just managed to finish Vizunah, heres my recipe for that one:

-Bring two good warriors to block the stairs from which the afflicted spawn
-Meteor shower is your friend
-Curses necros can speed up killing by putting mark of pain on called targets to give adjacent targets damage, SS owns too
-2 or 3 monks outfitted with aegis and restore condition against daze and blind. Hero monks rarely cast aegis at the same time, so youll get a good chain
-Kill eles first, they bite
-Bring at least 1 human monk smart enough to dodge broad head arrow, daze sucks
-Don't be afraid to try again after a wipe, theres a certain luck factor in that mission

Nothing beats a 30ish second double snare with Renewal/Echo Imagined Burden with Mantra of Persistance, but then again i haven't tried it on HM... so i dunno how fast they run even when snared.

Lol, i think the best possible advice is... start from an area with the highest possible party size. I did Ascalon Foothills, Flame Temple Corridor and Dragons Gullet in 1 go. Just started from Yaks Bend and worked my way through.

Afflicted Yijo = MAJOR pain in the arse.

Congrats both of you on the Guardian of Tyria title! awesome! And nice to see a former alliance member Evilsod . And ty for a nice thread, I will definetly look into it deeply before continuing at Frost Gate where I am right now!

Any tips for Eastern Frontier, having the worst time trying to kill 2 Grawl Ulotydes and 2 Grawls.


ADDED: Any idea if getting a 6 man party still works using the LDD quest the way you used to.

1. Run to eastern frontier and die by high level charr on NORMAL mode and return to outpost
2. Change skills abondon quest and change to hard mode then enter Eastern Frontier without LDD.

Would this work?

keep Rotscale dazed

Heh managed to do 3 more today,

Unwaking Waters:
Since you always seem to get a hench team on the other side this one is frigging hard. Kuunavang PWNS your face, so ranger with lots of interrupts is very important, she's really in a foul mood in HM. Watch out for the ele boss, theres a 50% probability he spawns in the last group, he hurts.

Arborstone:
Went surprisingly smooth, glyph of concentration is every casters friend for minions, aegis and w/e. Anti melee spells are pretty essential because machine gun oni's maul players in a few seconds. The stone judge and his hammering friends are annoying as ever, enfeebling blood , SS, insidious really helped me.

Sunjiang District:
Walk in the park

We managed quite easily with knockdowns and spike damage. Usually Meteor Shower with me using Eviscerate, Executioners Strike spike.

I haven't noticed any exceptionally different behavior from the new AI. It almost seems as if they just upped the levels and used the AI they have been using and then dumbed down the AI in normal mode. That being said I'm finding that the same tactics I've always used seem to work just as well. The one exception to this is areas where you sometimes get multiple healers. Then it helps to spec a hero or party member to be a dedicated interrupter. I personally find Acolyte Jin with R/Me skillset makes a real nasty interrupter. I have vanquished half the explorable zones in Elona using my D/W and haven't had any problems yet or seen any enhanced AI only higher level monsters.

The problem skill is the healing hands on the grawl uglyodyke. Take a fast recharging enchantment remover, and switch targets if you cant remove the enchant.