Guild Wars 2 sPvP Conquest Guide

Guild Wars 2 sPvP Conquest Guide by rodelvr

This is an introduction guide to the sPvP gamemode Conquest. Since many new players are coming to sPvP and some older guides are outdated it is time for a new guide.

First to enter sPvP one must go to Heart of the mists (lobby) by using the PvP logo (swords) on the top left of your screen. This will be able on your first character from level 22 on.

Practice, Unranked and Ranked Arena’s

When using the quickstart option in the Heart of the Mist one can choose three options to join a sPvP match.

1. Practice = A game mode that lets you try PvP without having wait for a new match to begin. Also it does not contribute to your sPvP leaderboard ranking. This gamemode is useful for trying out new builds (we’ll discuss builds later on) and to find out which suits you best.
2. Unranked = Does not contribute to your leaderboard ranking but one has to wait in a queue before a team is found/made. When the queue ends and all players are ready a vote will be cast to decide which map will be played in. Has a full map rotation on the three choosable maps. Also has a map that is not conquest but Team deathmatch namely Courtyard. This map is still severly unbalanced as the first team losing a person will usually lose.
3. Ranked = Does affect leaderboard ranking and also has a waiting queue. The three voteable maps are always three of the following: Forest of Niflhel, Legacy of the Foefire, Temple of the Silent Storm or Battle of Kyhlo. This gamemode and Unranked Arena’s contribute to the Champion “class specific” achievement title which needs 150 rated wins in a class.

Expressions:

Communication is key in sPvP. Foremost use the team chat option to inform your teammates for example map chatcan be read by the opposing team. Before a match starts try to sort out where everyone goes. By teaming up with a party and using a voice chat third party application like TeamSpeak3 or Mumble communication can be alot quicker this could benefit your team (Beware you do need a server to join to use these apps). However this is not necessary and just a suggestion.

General expressions:

1. Close/Home = the capture point closest to your spawn point.
2. Mid = the capture point equally in between the two spawn points.
3. Far = the capture point closest to your enemies spawn point.

Some maps specific terms and map mechanics that should be known by every sPvP player are:

• Lord = each team has a lord in the map Legacy of the Foefire it awards 150 points if the opposing team slays it.But do not try to hard to kill the opposing lord especially if your team has under 350 points as the other team will be able to capture most capture points.
• Svanir/Chieftain = Bosses in the map Forest of Niflhel, the chieftain spawns closer to the blue spawn point and the Svanir viceversa both award 25 points to the team that hits the boss last before slaying it. Beware to not focus on these bosses too much. An enemy player could snipe the boss or down you and obtain the points you’ve been fighting for.
• Buffs = Buffs appearing in the map Temple of the Silent Storm. From wiki: “Four ‘meditations’ spawn periodically through the map. After completing the channeling for each meditation, the respective team acquires the buff granted by that meditation. Communing will be interrupted on teleport, stealth, or invulnerability.” There are three meditations (buffs) here is a link to a screenshot of the map with locations on the buffs: Map of Meditations. Below are the descriptions:

1. Meditation of Ferocity (south-west and south-east) = Your team gains +3 points for each kill.
2. Meditation of Stillness (center) = Your team receives double points for each captured point. Comes at 11:30, 8:30, 5:30, and 2:30 time left.
3. Meditation of Tranquility (north) = Captures all three points for your team, launching foes out of the capture point. Comes at 8:30 and 2:30 time left. These buffs are essential to win the match in this map. Especially if Tranquility appears your team but also the opposing team has an opportunity to get all three capture points without having to capture them personally.

• Treb = Two trebuchets can be used in the map Battle of Kyhlo. Each team has one trebuchet and could be the key to holding the mid point. But beware the treb can be destroyed and can only be rebuild if a repair kit is found and brought back to the treb. Usually 4/10th of an attack bar is enough to hit the mid capture point (assuming it is pointed at the mid point).
• The Skyhammer = An asura laser that deals alot of damage and can be accessed through an asura gate just underneath the mid capture point in the map Skyhammer. The Skyhammer could be the key to win a match as its attack is unblockable and deals about 8k damage which makes it easier to hold capture points. But beware it has a slow casting time and can be evaded and while using it your team is outnumbered.
• The orb = An orb that spawns in the middle just beneath the spawn points in the map Spiritwatch. If succesfully communed with it, it awards 30 points to the team bringing it to a captured point or 15 points to a capture point that is either not taken or hold by the opposing team. The orb will appear on the minimap (in the color of the team who has it) if an ally or enemy has it. But beware skills that give for example Invulnerability will make you drop the orb so the other team can get it. (Knockdown skills also make an opposing enemy lose the orb).

Builds:

One of the most important things in sPvP is your skill/weapon/trait build usually just referred to as build. To see the latest builds check out MetaBattle and go to “Rated Arenas”. Meta builds are usually the most used and the “best” builds, but this still depends on your own playstyle so pick a build that suits you the most. Keep in mind your PvE armor and weapons do not effect your PvP effectiveness. But do not run naked in PvP as you need a basic set of armor equipped to obtain defense. Choose your traits/runes/amulet in PvP by clicking on the helmet icon in the top middle of your screen. Some builds use combos to gain full potential watch the Youtube videos stated on the bottom of your build page to see what damage rotation is used for your build.

Bare in mind that some builds are harder to master than others. There is no rating system for this yet, however this could be added to the MetaBattle site. Usually tanky builds with alot of toughness/health/healing are easier to master than builds that need alot of positioning and specific skill rotations. Some easy personal suggestions are the following builds: Supportive bunker guard or Shoutbow Warrior, these builds should not be hard to master but are still useful for a team.

Match rewards and sPvP Reward track:

By playing sPvP you are able to obtain rank points. The distribution of rank points after a match will differ from the game mode you play and whether you lose or win. Completing a match will always give you an amount of silver this amount is capped per day though. For precise rank points and silver we refer to Rank rewards and silver. Obtaining rank points will improve your PvP rank and will give you the ability to equip new finishers if your rank has improved sufficiently (1-10,10-20 etc.). You can choose your finisher by going to the Hero panel, this finisher will be shown if you Finish an enemy in downed state. To view and show rankbound finishers in open world one can use the command /rank or /rank 20 to for example show the finisher of rank 20.

Not only these rewards are given if you finish a match. You can also select a reward track in the PvP menu, this is the second tab of the quick start menu. There you can activate reward tracks which give rewards specific to the reward track chosen and general rewards. Examples of general rewards given are tomes of knowledge and transmutation charges. To unlock certain reward tracks one must run dungeon story modes. These reward tracks progress with rank points and thus progression is dependent on winning or losing also. Beware if you finish a reward track it jumps to the next reward track, making you have to activate the old reward track again. Also some reward tracks are not repeatable.

Tips for sPvP:

A few tips for sPvP that a beginner should read.

1. Capture points and hold them. Captured points give score points over time so it is essential that you hold points with your team. A team that holds 2 of the 3 capture points usually wins the game.
2. Finish your enemies. To finish your enemies if they’re downed move to them and use “Finish Him”. This will prevent your enemy from being ressed or withhold you from capturing a point. Optional: if no ally of the downed is nearby you can let the downed slowly die. This will prevent the downed player to regroup with allies.
3. Do not fight unnecessarily. Fighting outside of a capture point does not help your team, meanwhile the opposing team could capture points. But do not back down from helping allies if your capture point is safe, this will prevent an outnumbered situation later.
4. Never run into a group fight outnumbered. You won’t win a fight that’s 3 vs 1 and if a teammate does choose to fight against a group then do not join. It will still be 2v3 those odds are not in your favor. Best is to go to another capture point or wait for your team to group up again but beware do not zerg. Spreading across capture points is an important key to hold more capture points or to steal them.
5. Do not double cap points. Two people capturing points does not make the capture faster. One is enough and the other is better off helping capture other points.
6. Resurrect downed people but not die trying. Try to ress teammates asap having more teammates always gives an edge in groupfights. But do not die trying to revive a teammate it will just make things worse. Another option if you are using a build that has low survivability to “Finish” downed enemies, this will revive your teammates instantly.
7. If a fight is not going your way regroup with allies. If you are losing a fight and you are using a build that allows you get away fast do so and regroup with allies. This allows you to maybe outnumber the enemy but the chances of you getting killed are always lower.
8. The minimap is your friend. Alot of information is displayed on the minimap, the placement of teammates, the capture points etc. Check on the minimap which points are capped and which can be capped. If someone is capping it and there is no one from the opposing team close don’t try to also cap it.
9. Give Swiftness to your teammates before a match begins. Swiftness is essential to move around the map faster. Other useful mechanics to use are Stealth to surprise enemies just before getting to a capture point and stacking Might for some extra power and condition damage. But beware if in stealth or invulnerable you do not contribute to capturing!
10. Press B before the match starts to see what kind of professions you’re going against. By doing so you can still before the last countdown starts change some optional skills. Say I am a guardian and see that I’m up against a projectile heavy team (rangers etc.) I’ll swap an optional skill for wall of reflection or some other projectile negating skill.

I hope this guide gives some needed information to new people trying out sPvP. If any new useful suggestions are made I will add them to the list.