Introduction
Player vs. Player in Guild Wars 2 is an exciting game-type that pits you against other players from across the world in the ultimate test of skill. Whether you’re looking for casual skull-cracking or competitive domination – we’ve got you covered. While you play you’ll earn ranks, gold, and exciting new rewards from the Reward Track feature.
There are four main avenues to choose from to participate in PvP in Guild Wars 2:
- Hot-Join – The go-to place to get your feet wet. This is the most casual form of PvP in Guild Wars 2 – great for learning. In Hot-Join (accessible from the PvP menu) you’re able to hop in and out of games at will, allowing you to play at your own pace.
- Custom Arenas – Duel your friends or setup scrimmages with competing teams! With the customizable settings, you’ll have your very own playground to make your own. Custom Arena owners are also able to play on an exclusive death-match style map – Courtyard.
- Solo Arena – Ready to get a taste of rated play and get your name on the leaderboards? In Solo Arena you’ll automatically be teamed up with four other players of similar ranking.
- Team Arena – Feeling brave? You and your friends can jump in against other similarly-ranked teams and fight for bragging rights!
Conquest
In the Conquest game-type, two teams of five players each are matched up against each other. The objective is to be the first team to reach 500 points. Points are awarded through holding capture points and kills. There are 3 capture points on the map, and when captured, each location grants one point every two seconds. Each player kill grants five points. If neither team reaches 500 points, the team with the most points will be declared the winner after the 15 minute time limit. In the event of a tie, the team with the highest total player score wins.
Each PvP map (listed below) also has a secondary objective:
- Forest of Niflhel – NPC monsters spawn after some time and then after every 3 minutes in the north-western and north-eastern corner. Defeating them grants your team 25 points and a short-time buff (+50 to all stats).
- Legacy of the Foefire – NPC guards and ‘guild lords’ spawn at the beginning of each match in the starting zones of their respective team. In order to get to the guild lord, the enemy team has to take down a wall first. Walls can only be damaged by direct damage. Defeating the Lord grants 150 points.
- Battle of Khylo – Each team has access to a trebuchet which can bombard any enemy or area on the battlefield. It causes massive damage to enemy players and causes knockback to players who get caught in the area of effect. It does no friendly-fire damage or knockback.
- Temple of the Silent Storm – Four ‘meditations’ spawn periodically through the map. After completing the channelling for each meditation, the respective team acquires the buff granted by that meditation.
- Spirit Watch – Capture the Orb of Ascension and bring it to any of the three shrines for bonus points.
- Skyhammer – Calibrate the Skyhammer to your team to do massive damage to the areas you select.
Conquest Tips
- Your personal score doesn’t correspond to the amount of rank you gain. You get fixed amounts of rank for winning and losing. Play to win!
- You only need one person to stand on a point to capture it.
- You cannot capture a point if you’re stealthed or invulnerable.
- Try not to take part in uneven fights. Use numbers in your favor.
- Watch your mini-map! You can see the location of your teammates and any enemies that they can see.
- Each capture point has a unique name. Learn them! Players will often refer to the specific name rather than the location of the point.
- Home is the closest capture point to your spawn, mid (or middle) is the capture point nearest to the center of the map, and far is the enemy team’s home point.
Rewards
With the April 15th Feature Pack, PvP rewards are better than ever! With the PvP Reward Track system, you can progress towards the rewards that you want – rewards applicable to all areas of Guild Wars 2.
Here’s some more information about reward tracks:
The reward track system will have both repeatable and non-repeatable tracks. Currently there are five region tracks, eight dungeon tracks, and one Balthazar Back Item track that has a unique back item skin, which can be equipped and used in PvE, PvP, and WvW with the new wardrobe.
- Five Repeatable Region Tracks—Shiverpeak Mountains, Ascalonian, Ruins of Orr, Krytan, and Maguuma Jungle.
- These tracks contain region-based weapon skins, Dragonite Ore, Empyreal Fragments, Obsidian Shards, and champion bags.
- Eight Repeatable Dungeon Tracks—Ascalonian Catacombs, Caudecus’s Manor, Twilight Arbor, Sorrow’s Embrace, Citadel of Flame, Honor of the Waves, Crucible of Eternity, and the Ruined City of Arah.
- These tracks contain your choice of dungeon armor and weapons, dungeon tokens, and champion bags.
- One Non-Repeatable Balthazar Back Item Track
- This track contains the unique Fires of Balthazar back-slot skin, Dragonite Ore, Empyreal Fragments, Obsidian Shards, champion bags, and Mystic Clovers.
Additional Rewards Information:
- Reward tracks also include Tomes of Knowledge for leveling your character and Transmutation Charges so you can alter your character’s appearance via the wardrobe system.
- Opening loot chests from Reward Tracks will give you loot that corresponds to your current character’s level.
- In the future, Living World releases will have a corresponding reward track, meaning you can get Living World rewards while you PvP!
- Region reward tracks unlock sequentially, so finish Krytan to unlock the next region.
- The available dungeon reward track will cycle every two weeks. You can run the story mode version of the dungeon to unlock it permanently.
Ranks – There are 80 ranks available separated into 8 tiers. Each of these ranks unlocks a new finisher for you to use to stomp your enemies.
- 1-9 – Rabbit
- 10-19 – Deer
- 20-29 – Dolyak
- 30-39 – Wolf
- 40-49 – Tiger
- 50-59 – Bear
- 60-69 – Shark
- 70-79 – Phoenix
- 80 – Dragon
You can also purchase additional stomps from the Black Lion Trading Post!
How do I participate?
The Heart of the Mists is the central-hub for all things PvP-related.
- To access Heart of the Mists, click the crossed-sword icon in the top left-hand corner of your in-game interface.
- In the top left-hand corner of the PvP panel, select “Go to Heart of the Mists”.
If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend jumping into hot-join for your first few ranks to get acclimated to fighting other players in Guild Wars 2. You can enter hot-join by clicking the “Play Now” button in the PvP panel. When you’re ready, you can enter Solo Arena and Team Arena via the “Arenas” tab on the left-hand side of the PvP panel.
What now? Builds and beyond!
Now that you’re in Heart of the Mists, you need to setup a build for your profession. The Guild Wars 2 trait system allows for incredible customization, letting you to play your character exactly the way you want to. You can access the build editor by clicking the “PvP Build” button at the top of your UI while in either Heart of the Mists or a PvP map. From here you can quickly edit your build on the fly. New stat combinations, runes, and sigils can also be purchased from this panel.
Now that you know how to edit your build, here’s a quick explanation of the basic roles in conquest PvP:
- Bunker – As a bunker, your main role is to support your teammates and to keep control over capture points. Players accomplish this by building very defensively, either through large health-pools, high-healing power, or builds that focus on evasion.
- Roamer – The roamer is a mobile damage-orientated player, focused on moving between capture points and helping his allies where needed. He moves quickly and strikes quickly.
- Far-Point Assaulter – This player’s role is to constantly assault the enemy team’s capture point and to keep them distracted. This player is usually very defensive and can hold off multiple opponents at once. This player can also be very mobile, like a thief.
- Home Defender – The Home Defender’s job is to make sure that nobody takes their home capture point. I mean nobody! This is usually a very mobile profession or very tanky.
Grouch, give me a build, yo! (Courtesy of Ostrich and Dantes)
Elementalist:
Fresh Air S/D Build
Rock Solid D/D
Engineer:
Bomb/Nade
Chaith’s Power Nade
Guardian:
The Go-To Bunker Guardian
Kensuda’s Bunker Guardian Guide
Arken’s DPS Guardian Build
Mesmer:
Supcutie’s Shatter
Countless’ Clone Kill
Helseth’s Halting Strike/Shatter
Necromancer:
Dhuumfire Necro
Basic Necromancer Power Well Build
Minion Mancer
Ranger:
Basic Spirit Ranger Build
Basic Trap Ranger Build
Power Ranger
Thief:
S/D Evade
Caed’s D/P
S/P
Warrior:
Hammer Longbow
Basic Bunker Warrior Build
Condi
Now you’re geared up and ready to roll. But here’s a bit of advice….
PvP in any game has a fairly steep learning curve. Don’t get discouraged if you get owned the first couple of matches you play – you’ll get better!