First off is a “perfect world” scenario. This assumes little opposition and few problems getting inside. Rarely the case but following this core strategy wins more than any other I’ve seen.
A lot of people are trying to advocate a one sided attack on the base. Everyone goes in through one side and beats their way into the green gate for an “easy” win. While many of these people promise success and a quick victory, the reality for following their strategy is (99 times in 100) overwhelming odds once you’re inside, getting kicked out by the NPCs, and a lost match while those strategists call everyone else on their team noobs.
Aside from noob, I’ve had these people call me a Kurzick and an afker for ignoring this nonsense, but they remain strangely silent when seven people, their turtle and Luxon warriors all die and they have to run in through the gate I’ve opened by myself…and a little help from my Luxon NPC minions.
The regulars in Aspenwood will all say the same thing: two sides equals two turtles. That’s your hammer here; those turtles can knock out most NPCs in two shots (one with a little help from you) so ignoring one third of your attack strength (GOING IN!) is probably not the smartest thing you can do.
Stick to that turtle, too. Those all powerful catapults can do some serious damage to Kurzicks, but they don’t hurt you a bit. It’s a roaming defense platform, dishing out fire nothing can ignore, and fighting around it ensures that some of what you attack is going to get hit.
Now that we’re out of the gate and moving down both sides of the field, you’ll probably notice a small swarm of blue dots appearing in front of you. Those are your Kurzicks coming in to take the orange and purple amber mines so they can do their jobs. The Longbows at the mine don’t last long against a strong onslaught, but a quick side trip to retake those mines means that the Kurzicks at least have to waste time taking them back again. It doesn’t hurt the tempo of the game to do this either, since you should have your turtle waddling its way to the first gate as we speak. Very important though: DON’T WASTE TIME ON THE RUNNERS. As a rule, burning all your time on a Whammo that is still going to get away from you is a waste of mana. Concentrate on the mine cleaners; take out the NPCs; that’s the goal of this mission.
I’ve heard and said this said several times in game: the mines are nice but Gunther is the goal. Focus on him if you want to win. Even attacking the mine cleaners you should keep an eye on your turtle. Left alone it will walk all the way to the green gate and start killing Gunter; but it’s a rare Kurzick team that will leave it be for long.
By the time the outer gates are both gone it’s usually time to say good bye to the mines for the day. Unless you’re in the middle of fighting off a second onslaught of Kurzicks, make your way to the turtle and get ready to go inside. When the inner gate falls is usually where the trouble starts for Luxon teams. An NPC guarded teleporter drops the Kurzick players right into the center of your offensive and many people lose interest in killing NPCs in favor of fighting the players that respawn.
DON’T. Unless a player is particularly nasty (MM, a good Mesmer, a smart Monk) or attacking the turtle then you’re most important task is to help those turtles set up for the green gate offensive. Focus on NPCs at the teleporter first and the turtles (with their Luxon warrior escort) will plant themselves right on top of that tele and start wailing green. As soon as that happens (if not sooner) you need to shift focus to another NPC in the Kurzick’s last stand: the Juggernaut. With a monster skill that knocks down turtles for 5 seconds and a punch that can wipe them out in 3, the Juggernaut can decimate your turtles in a minute easily. Both of them. Take it out; it’s a game breaker.
EDIT: Not a new development, but something more and more people are doing in game: avoiding the teleporter altogether, people run directly to the green gate and start wailing on stuff solo or in groups of 2 and sometimes 3. I’m not entirely sure what is going on inside these people’s heads. Whether they think that they can do to the green gate what they have been unable to do to both outer and inner gates before or they think that going for the Juggernaut early will help; maybe they think that if they run straight to the green gate that the turtle will switch targets and help them (which is NOT the case. The turtle has a set pattern of attack and movement. It will attack targets in a specific order and only move forward as those targets are destroyed) but I digress.
When the turtle is inside the Kurzick base is the worst possible time for you to Leeroy away from the AI’s attack plan. The Kurzicks are throwing everything they can at the team; a break up at this juncture loses you the Luxon Warriors and the turtle’s firepower. For the first time, you really are alone unless all eight members oif the team decide to go in with you.
The result is Kurzicks better able to focus their attack on the Luxon Warriors and th turtle, tearing your support to shreds. If they don’t kill your turtle, your support players and those eight helpful AIs, they will at the least keep you outside much longer than you should have been by defending the NPCs that the turtle is pounding.
More often than not, the Kurzicks do kill your turtle, the Luxon Warriors and your support players with ease. Without the true threat to concern them, the Kurzicks can (and do) turn their attention on the green gate Leeroy and easily tear him a new one…if the AI gate guards haven’t done it three times already.
Far from being poor strategy, charging Green too soon is just plain dumb.
Watch target calls and don’t get punchy. Move on the NPCs at the tele and concentrate on the nastiest players. That Juggernaut will come to you all too soon, moving away from the support ele and mesmers at the gate so you can take him out safely and quickly. With the tele NPCs down, the turtles should move forward to start hitting green.
Now, while the green gate is falling, is a good time to hang back and protect those turtles from the Kurzick players. After the gate goes down, its time to forget them. They’ve done their job; they got you inside and you can attack Gunther and his two healer hench friends. Most games, the Kurzicks will stop teleporting out to the turtles anyway, once every Luxon player dashes into their base and starts killing their 3 truly important allies.
Gatekeepers are both monk NPCs, adding a boost to any monk Kurzick you’re playing against. They don’t have the self heals they should though, so taking them out is not a problem. A lot of people want to just pound Gunther and be done with it at this point. My view is better to be thorough and ensure that win than take a chance at having to pound my way inside again. Kill the gatekeepers and most of your team can then focus on Gunter now. One or two can shift to the monks that are healing him if they are an issue, but mostly it’s all back to "Gunter is the goal". With him dead you win; if he’s alive when the blue bar fills, you lose. That simple.
Game breakers: there are several scenarios that can break a Luxon offensive, so I’m going to talk about them beyond the core strategy provided. Mostly it’s a question of timing. The Kurzicks who do this—above all else—want you to stop attacking their base, run all the way back to the start of the map and stop what they are doing or repair the damage they’ve done. Depending on how far you have to run or how bad you team needs you elsewhere, a judgment call has to be made as to when and how you deal with these situations.
First off are Commander Killers. Certain people have adapted GvG builds to suit this game style, and their tactics are similar. If a commander dies then you lose that command point and have to kill a pair of Kurzick NPCs to retake it. While the commander is down, no turtle reinforcements will come, meaning that a dead turtle stays dead until that control point is Luxon again.
Early in the game is the worst time to lose your commander but the best time for you to retake it. Once the inner gates drop its time to go inside Aspenwood and fight though.
Usually, a commander isn’t an issue until everything else is falling apart, and then he’s #1 on your priority. Retaking him is more important that protecting him imho. If your team is pushed outside and the turtles are on the deep end of dead, call a little help in to get that command point back in Luxon hands. Otherwise, most times you can ignore what that fellow on you flanks is doing.
Next is monks. If you’ve never played Guild Wars before then this will come as a surprise to you. Players can cast certain spells through walls. A spell like Flare won’t work, but a Meteor will drop on your head from anywhere. So will most heals.
A wide array of monks are trying their level best to heal the gate guards on the Kurzick side of the mission. The worst for you is a good Bonder. I’ve seen healers try, I’ve seen Prot Boons almost succeed, but a Bonder monk can reduce the damage to a gate guard and keep your team locked out for the whole game…provided you can’t strip his enchants. Many characters have some great skills that can remove enchantments (if damage dealers could be bothered to bring them). Assassins have a few that are remarkably good at keeping them off. Timing and precision can be a prerequisite for defeating a gate bonder, but it can be done with patience and persistence. Don’t get flustered; with the right tools, anything can be brought down.
Last is skill interupters. Longbow Rangers are the more dangerous seeing as they can stay safely out of range of anyone else while shutting down your turtle. I like prot spells for a simple fact. Guradian is an any ally 50% chance to block interupt rangers. If that doesn't earn it a place on your monks skill bar, I can't help you.
Now let’s talk about characters. I don’t advocate specific builds for most people. Use what you like. Keep in mind certain skills however, that I’ll focus on in your lineup. Most important of all: Bring Self Heals. Due to the mission’s randomness, you can’t assure yourself of a monk, and if you’re constantly dying, they’ll get sick of blowing all their mana on you and let you.
Assassin: it makes no sense to me that teleports do not allow you to go through walls. Warriors can attack through it if you stand right up against it, and much of the “unfairness” of bonder monks would be removed if teleports did what they should in this game, but I digress. Assassin speed and 1-man spike is disastrous to NPCs and players alike, but don’t ignore your hexes. As stated previously, you have some of the best non-damage elites in the game, preventing spells from being cast and enchantments as well. Use these to your advantage; round out your character.
Elementalist: nuke is nice, isn’t it now? AoE spells break up groups or kill them quickly, while helping your turtle keep moving at a faster pace by cleaning everything out in a single spell. I’m Earth ele when I nuke, so much of my energy goes into Unsteady Ground. There are a lot of melee fighters out there right now, making knockdown a sheer pain in the butt for most people trying to overwhelm a turtle. Wards I’ve tried, but the pace seems too quick for most of them; by the time they are cast, its time to move ahead. Water hexers also get a round of applause; slow an amber runner with Ice Prison and watch him creep creep creep his way back to base while your team pummels him from all sides as a snack on their way to green gate.
Necromancer: As I stated in the first guide, these missions are the #1 reason, imho, why the minion master necro was nerfed. It’s just sick how easily a good MM can tear into opposition by itself. Be sure to bring self heals though; Blood necro spells are a personal favorite here. Malign intervention has shown use in my bar several times; make sure to bring a minion theft spell like Verata’s Aura or gaze to take control and you should be able to keep your army near 10 and still doing damage. That said, nothing beats an SS necro for clearing out those mines solo and keeping the Kurzick Whammos and Assassins from bunching up on your turtle. SS will flat out trounce an Assassin 3 goes in 4. Don’t forget your enchant strips either; you’ve got two of the best in the game. Also, remember that life stealing ignores armor and enchantments. If a monk is causing trouble, give his gate guard a taste of what you can do.
Mesmer: Complicate is pure evil to a monk that needs to cast Blessed Signet for mana every 10 seconds or risk watching its charge die. You’re the bane of any skill spammer and everyone knows it. Degen hexes prove popular in this game, but I’ve found Diversion a devastating shutdown. Echo that on the monks and let the Whammos kill stuff to their hearts content.
Warrior: Charge works on turtles. There; I said it. If you need another reason to stick near them, consider that your interrupts and knockdown can cause more chaos because they come on top of the best DPS of the game already (I still hold them higher than Assassins due to death ratio and downtime) and you’re a rip roaring warrior from hell. Bring those speed buffs and armor buffs too; if you see a chance to run in and hit that gate bonder monk; take it. Just don’t go too far. That you can survive on your own is not the question; that you can keep your head and help your team where they need it most is. Remember: only you can prevent Whammo bashing.
Ranger: interrupt or damage, I love to see a ranger in the group. Because a lot of time can be spent stuck behind the inner gates while longbows attack your turtles, a good ranger can mean the difference between getting inside and waiting being locked down. R/N; touch necros are brutal in PvP. So too here. Life Stealing ignores both armor and enchantments in damage dealt; if the build appeals to you, try it. One of the few classes that can do more with alternate skills than the core profession, touch rangers are a fav of mine for their durability and destruction. Last up for Ranger is Edge of Extinction. Proper placement of this beyond evil skill means the difference between a Kurzick win and a Luxon stalemate (a loss). Get to know the map before you start dropping EoE as you please, and put it where it will do the Kurzicks the most harm. Remember; just because there’s a PvP build that slaughters in HoH doesn’t mean your team is going to be set up for it when you go in. One person ready for EoE is not as important as the other 7 players who aren’t.
Ritualist: I’m still not big on these guys, but I’ve seen some impressive things happen in game. Heal or attack, or heal and attack, Ritualists are everything a good smite monk should have been. Spirits keep killing for a long time after the rit is down, so spirit spammers are seeing a lot of play Kurzick side. Not so much Luxon though. Stick to healing mostly is all I can recommend; they are in short supply and union/recuperation work on allies. All allies.
Monk: Actual In-Game Quote: “Why should you worry about healing when you rez in 5 seconds?” Someone actually said this. I can only guess how he got that far into the game, but Ebay lies heavily on my mind when I think of him.
Scourge Healing is a very good hex to bring, but I will say this to all the smite monks that want to bring it: how much damage can you, 4 luxon warrior NPCs and a turtle do? As a smiter, not much. You and they are going to be dead soon. As a monk doing what monks do best, plenty. You keep those NPCs alive and healthy, the Kurzicks don’t know what hit them. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have broken through both outer and inner gates on my side and beaten my way into green gate ALONE! No help from the other seven members of my team, on 2 separate occasions a healing monk has beaten the Luxon team inside and was hitting Gunther! A monk with four Warrior skill spamming minions and a glass cannon to boot is a threat greater than any smite monk, and as dangerous as many MMs.
Just don’t forget about those other seven members of your team now that you know the secret to monking Aspenwood (Luxon). If they spend all their time running back from their rez point to help you fight, then they aren’t helping you fight. Prioritize turtles first, players second, and NPCs as you can.
I like Prot Boon over other builds; I’m #1 on the hit parade to most savy Kurzicks, and the strong self heals added with good protection to everything else makes me a powerful weapon with staying power. Hex and condition removal are a must here, furthering prots usefulness over heal. 2 all-party spells I’ve found that work well are Release Enchantments and Aegis, though rarely. Guardian+Divine Boon for Release fodder are a regular weak heal party for 2 mana more, and I get 2 more self heals out of the chain while I reapply. A Mo/Me Boon Prot with MoR is just sick for Releasing a Heal Party or CoPing yourself to remove hexes and conditions. Frankly I see a nerf for Release Enchantments soon; it's actually taken over my old Port Spirit slot, and I never thought any skill could do that!
Final Thought
Its a saying as old as war: when the first arrow flies, the best plans are thrust aside. Be flexible in your build and your tactics; play smart and adapt to threats. Kill whats killing you most; target whats stopping your advance first. There are no real cookie cutters for PvPvE, and no way to ensure the perfect team if there were.
Play Fair and Good Gaming
"-" Minus Sign
