Team roles
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It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled PvE roles and PvP roles. (discuss) |
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[edit] Team Roles (PvP)
[edit] Frontline
A team's frontline usually consists of melee characters (typically Warriors). These are the players who are constantly amidst the enemy, and thus is most often reserved for characters which are there by necessity (such as the range of melee weapons, or the (relative) safety of higher armor).
[edit] Midline
A team's midline usually consists of casters, ranged damage dealers or support. They typically play utility roles, such as disruption, shutdown, spreading degeneration, hex and enchantment removal, and the like, although most midline characters bring a skill to use as a spike assist to help the frontline score kills. These characters play between the frontline and the backline, although they may sometimes move forward or back as tactical situations require. Midline characters are the most varied in a standard balanced build; a Domination mesmer and a Water elementalist accomplish totally different tasks. What they have in common is their positioning and utility playstyle.
Midline characters tend to have less armor than the frontline but often have the same or a little more armor than the backline. The overall goal of a midline character is to provide as much support as possible without being too vulnerable to the enemy's frontline. That being said the midline must be coordinated enough to stay within range of the backline for healing purposes but also stay in range of the enemy in order to attack them.
[edit] Backline
A team's backline is the part of the team which is most protected, usually devoted towards defending the rest of the team. A backline generally consists of healer or protection type characters, typically Monks and occasionally Ritualists or other supportive classes. Being behind the rest of team means that enemies have to go through them to get the defense, which allows for better intrinsic safety of those characters so that they can focus on other members of the team as well.
A backline can vary depending on the build at hand. In some case Paragons can be considered backline due to their roles. For instance a Paragon in Heroes' Ascent playing in a zergway build often has multiple healing skills such as Song and Ballad of Restoration and thus is theoretically considered a backline character.
[edit] Caveats
These classifications only apply to typical "balanced" teams that attempt to cover all bases with a versatile build. Degenerate builds such as dedicated spike teams may have no true "frontline" or "midline", consisting solely of backline characters and spikers.
[edit] Team Roles (PvE)
[edit] Frontline
[edit] Tank
Tanks take as much damage as possible away from the rest of team; they are also required to prevent foes from getting away or reaching the midline or backline of the party. They usually pack skills that disrupt and snare the enemy, such as Earth Shaker, as well as skills that provide party-wide damage mitigation, such as "Save Yourselves!".
[edit] Non-tank frontline
These frontline characters specialize in dealing damage rather than keeping the rest of the party untouched by foes. Skills that target more than one enemy, such as Death Blossom and Scythe attacks help clear large groups of enemies fast.
[edit] Midline
[edit] Mob control
Mob controllers are mostly casters that specialize in preventing foes from reaching the midline or the backline, much akin to the tank. The difference is that they do so at a safe range, utilizing snares such as Deep Freeze, summoning minions or using binding rituals to create a wall of offensive and defensive spirits.
[edit] Nukers
Nukers specialize in ranged damage, they bring mainly skills such as Savannah Heat, Cry of Pain, Discord or Barrage to clear large amounts of enemies at a distance, or to quickly spike down single targets. These midline characters may also bring utility skills such as snares and interrupts in their repertoire.
[edit] Support
Midline support roles focus on increasing the damage output of the team and mitigating incoming damage. Imbagons and orders dervishes and necros fit the description.
[edit] Backline
[edit] Healer
Healers focus on restoring health the party has lost. They bring a variety of single target heals such as Word of Healing and Dwayna's Kiss, as well as party-wide heals such as Life and Heal Party powered by Healer's Boon. These healers can spec into damage mitigation lines to become hybrids.
[edit] Prot/Protter
Prots focus on damage mitigation rather than restoring health. Damage mitigation is generally more efficient than pure healing; a well-placed Protective Spirit or Shield of Absorption can easily mitigate hundreds of damage against a boss or a large mob, something which a healer may take more than a few spells to achieve.
