New GW Players: advice on a duo

A friend and I just started GW coming over from EQ2. We have played MMOs for 10 years and D&D/Shadowrun/etc for longer... so mostly we are just new to Guild Wars.

We tried a couple of duos to learn and decided to create a third one after learning better secondaries to try and finally deciding on a pair to focus on for some time.

I chose Assassin and she chose Ritualist. Secondaries are Ranger for me and Monk for her We like the classes and had fun with them so decided to try running them together.

We like to play duo, so will spend 90% of our time alone in PVE, with occasional guild runs, and maybe henchmen/heroes when we need them. Neither of us cares much about PVP and we didn't often raid in other MMOs. We would be more likely to raid than PVP.

I realize Assassin is not a tank, but we decided against the classic tank/healer duo and we've always preferred fun and interesting over more "guaranteed" type combinations.

We frequently have run duos people said would never work, like sorc/psi in Vanguard, so we are willing to practice to make things work.

So, I'm looking for any advice people might have, besides "change your classes".

We are still on the Factions island area near the Monastery and have hit level 14, getting ready to go to the eastern side. So far we mostly do OK. I am the "tank" for the most part along with my ranger pet.

We have had some frustrations with dying because we are both squishy, so any survival tips appreciated. Its getting better with practice and seems stronger than what a lot of documentation suggested.

We are reading the topics for our classes and I will probably post for advice specific to Assassin in that forum.

I realize we could just use henchman and heroes but whenever possible we'ld like to try it duo. Pointers to any documentation on effective duo teams would be appreciated as long as other related advice.

Thanks.

The game is based around playing with henchman, heroes, and players.

You could likely duo spirit spam with the two of you through most of the game in normal mode but it would be slow and perhaps boring. You would also need to find out how to get the skills, avoid taking damage without much heals, and what skills you could use till you get others. It would require A/Rt and Rt/.
http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:Team_-_2_Man_Spirit_Farmer

End game activities and hard mode would be much harder and again the game is balanced on groups.

Tbh i doubt that it is possible to complete factions with just a team of 2 (especially without a healer). There are some missions with many enemies and you easily get overwhelmed, because you cant pull enemies 1 by 1. GW is really about teamplay (some exceptions when it comes to farming), which usually needs a good mix between attacking- and defensive skills.

I think it would be a good start to get familiar with GW's great wiki and start reading about armor/weapons, how to to improve them (runes and insignia's for armor and mods for weapons).

Yea, Vanguard was based around groups as well: we still ran duo whenever possible, we just enjoy it. We'll use henchman and heroes as necessary, I'm just looking at ideas for surviving as a duo whenever we can.

I'm not sure what you mean above by "duo spirit spam... It would require A/Rt and RT/." You mean me pick ritualist as secondary and we both focus on spirits? I've already hit level 14 with ranger secondary.

I am hoping Heroes are a bit smarter than Henchman, as they have a tendency to make some fights harder than if we just did them alone, either by just not doing their job or attacking other groups that were not engaged.

We've been over that one and the one on wikia. Some of the information seems heavily geared at min/max type players and PVP, but we got good ideas from it. I just thought it would be at least interesting to ask players and not just read the guides.

it is if you play it that way, just like warriors.

until you have access to elite skills, or just more skills,duoing anything is going to be hard, so my advice is hereos and hench until you have finished the campaign, by then, youll have more knowledge of skills and bars, and will ahve unlocked hm, which can actually make gimmicky builds easier to run.
gwpvx.com is useful to lurk, as well as the profession specific sections of this forum, theyll give you an idea of what is OP, and what isnt. also, a good guild is a must imo,

Removed references to guilds which don't belong here

I don't want to hijack this thread but I've been thinking about something similar: There are lot of team builds of 8 for speed clearing dungeons but are things like this possible with just 2 or 3 assassins? Would it just be slower or would it be impossible without a full team? Or would I need to experiment to find my own builds? Thanks

We already joined a guild but if it doesn't work out we'll look those up.

In our current setup, does it make more sense for me to tank than her? When I have all the aggro it is a lot easier for her to heal. What really seems to kill me is damage-over-time. Otherwise I'm usually OK. As long as I am the only one who gets DoT'd, she can keep up. If we both get a DoT on us, we generally die or have to retreat.

I have a good bit of fun with my "beast assassin" A/R build, and the pet has lowered the amount of damage I take a good bit.

However since we are only level 14 in the starter island, now is the time for me to change if ranger is going to be a poor choice for us.

Also I don't mean to imply we'll never use help, we do when we have to. We just have fun running duo and so I just wanted to query about survival for those times.

We are having a great time so far and appreciate the advice. Its been good for us to get away from other games for a bit and try something new.

there are lots of build with a few assassins and teh other sopurces of damage, most notably FoWSC main team. if you wanted to do dungeons with a few sins and a few others, teh best thing would be to have the other wipe and res at important points, like at the boss.
there are also balanced bars on gwpvx.com for most dungeons, usually manly spike, which might be what your looking for.

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i cant respond to two posts in the same post, im retarded, so excuse the second post.

if your determined to stick with it, having teh rit run heals and support, and you deal damage and hopefully tank is a good plan. the pet has the advantage of being a meat shield, but the fact that to be really effective you need to spec into BM, and the 10 second disable if the pet dies are both negatives. you could consider running a dagger chain, and having the rit cast splinter on you when the enemies are slightly balled. you'll probably fit easier if you do it liek that and then ensure you attack rits and monks first, so that you dont end up being out healed.
if your really stuck and just need an extra player to help push through you can always PM me, if im not busy/afk ill be happy to help, my ign is i halfies

As far as GW goes, never ever use any wiki with 'wikia' in the URL. It's old and now used primarily for trolling. Non-official wiki - PvX (for builds) - Official wiki.

Unfortunately, the best advice is to bring henchmen. Other than that, the Assassin should attack (not tank) and the Monk could act as a bonder/prot.

They have essentially the same level of AI, but they can be set to Attack, Guard, or Avoid Combat. Plus, you equip them and give them builds of your choice.

EDIT - I forgot to mention that I think trying to "duo" the game is probably doable in the early stages, but it would be a lot slower. Basically, you would end up needing to be a higher level to do things than you would normally need to be. That is, for example, needing to be level 14 to complete areas designed for only level 10.
That's ok, though slower, at the lower levels, but once you get to max level (20) and the foes start getting higher level, you may find it to be a real struggle.
I would basically say that, as an Assassin and Monk, you should both be attackers - the Assassin as basic melee damage and the Monk as a smiter (eventually using Ray of Judgment). Use Henchmen healers.

For now we are determined, just because the game is new and we are learning fast and having fun.

I realize putting points into BM is an issue, but it seems that is an issue for any secondary you choose and actually make use of. We already restarted three times and so I hate to do it again. Might be better for us to run a pair through the whole thing to learn more before worrying about what is optimal.

We are alt addicts so we'll likely try just about everything in time.

I considered being a pure Assassin, but am not sure the points are worth more than the pet. The pet is fun in any case, and so far seems useful even for some minor crowd control, like putting pressure on that healer or ranged unit I cannot currently deal with.

For targeting order I am already hitting healers first. I sometimes find it necessary to hit mesmers too. In some cases we have a class putting a dot on us, or we'll be facing a lot of ranged units overwhelming us. In those cases I sometimes find it necessary to take care of those right quick then switch back to the enemy healers.

Thanks.

"I am hoping Heroes are a bit smarter than Henchman, as they have a tendency to make some fights harder than if we just did them alone, either by just not doing their job or attacking other groups that were not engaged."

You can set heroes to Defend and they should not aggro. You can also micro hero commands by bringing their command bar on screen. So, yes they are better than hench; not to mention being configurable and more powerful.

Your duo approach is very interesting. Hope we hear more as you progress in the game. Good luck!

P.S. you should not need to restart. There is a way to change secondaries higher up in the game. They are not written in stone.

Yes and you can change your secondary at Senji's Corner after Ascension.

If your having fun then just stick with it, however when fun turns to frustration you might think about changing how you play.

One of the great things about GW is that it does reward smart play and setting up stratagies. Place your hench, spirits and partner where they have the advantage and then pull the mob to you. For this you should always have a bow with you, even with no points in it you can use it for pulling.

Another thing to remember is that in GW professions really compliment each other if used correctly. By that I mean have the Rit cast a weapon spell, like Splinter Weapon, on you once the mob is balled up around you.

While 'tanking' does work to some extent you will find that in later parts of the game monsters will just ignore you once the softer, ie lower armor, classes enter their agro range.

One very important skill in GW is learning which targert to prioritize. If you can figure out the best target in a group and spike it down quickly, something that assassins excel at, then you will find things move quicker and easier.

Have fun and best of luck to you both.