Guide to hard mode
From Guild Wars Wiki
This strategy guide deals with the special challenges of hard mode PvE. For a more complete treatment of general PvE tactics, check the Guide to PvE.
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[edit] Differences between hard mode and normal PvE
In general, hard mode can be described as normal PvE, just harder. However, it is useful to know the exact changes when planning the builds and strategies to be used. Enemies differ both in their AI and raw power:
- Monsters in hard mode are of a higher level (minimum level 20) compared to their normal mode counterparts.
- Monsters have a 33 to 50 percent shorter casting duration, faster movement and faster attack speed.
In terms of AI:
- Monsters in hard mode respond and escape from AoE damage more quickly.
- Monsters in hard mode will be more likely to kite for longer periods of time.
- Melee monsters in hard mode avoid focusing their attacks on one target.
All of these changes are meant to make monsters harder, but they can also be exploited. For example, a 50% faster attack speed means a 50% more damage dealt to your party. At the same time, it also means a 50% damage increase from hexes like Spiteful Spirit and Empathy.
[edit] Team build
As a rule of thumb, only the most efficient PvE builds will do for hard mode. Many sub-optimal builds are still able to complete the normal mode missions; hard mode, however, is less forgiving. Also, while using one general-purpose build for all areas might do for normal mode, in hard mode it becomes much more important to adapt your build to the special situation at hand. Check beforehand on the type of enemies you will be facing (melee or casters? hex spam or condition spam?) and alter your build accordingly.
Since monsters have much higher health in hard mode, your party will need to deal much more damage to them. Since you might need more healing and interrupts as well, only the very best builds in terms of damage output should be used. Because of the harder damage coming your way, the same is true for your monk builds: More healing output is needed. Because the damage in hard mode can at times resemble the spikes of PvP, it might be worthwhile to look to PvP monk builds for inspiration on how to counter this. Also, the higher attribute levels and faster casting/attacking make damage prevention more important. Interrupts and all kinds of anti-melee skills will become very useful.
One or more skilled rangers using traps can give your team an initial advantage, often even killing a few enemies before combat even starts. Minion masters are also useful, but only if your team provides corpses fast enough, otherwise it may be better to bring a different character.
[edit] The Enemies
Your playstyle should revolve around the AI: Counter its advantages and exploit its disadvantages.
- The AI will kite away from your melee fighters. Bring along snares to counter this if you field melee fighters.
- Use the AIs fast response to AoE as a means of dispersing enemies (if needed) and do not use AoE if you want your enemies clustered.
- This means that if using Fire Storm, the enemy will back out. Mostly used when a party member is in trouble.
- The AI will not focus on one target. Bring skills which protect more than one target (e.g. Aegis or Ward Against Melee) or those which recharge faster.
- Interrupting with skills like Leech Signet can make a huge difference to survivability, as it is often easier to interrupt a powerful spell (like Savannah Heat or Deep Freeze) than heal the hundreds (or thousands) of points of damage it can do to your party. Note however that the fast casting time foes have in Hard Mode can make it harder for some professions like rangers to interrupt so prepare your builds accordingly.
Due to their higher level, monsters hit much harder. Skills that prevent extreme damage (e.g. Protective Spirit) or such that outright cancel damage (Reversal of Fortune) are more useful compared to those that restore health after the attack than they are in normal mode. At the same time, higher monster levels make all skills that benefit from having an enemy with higher health more useful. The same goes for all armor-ignoring skills since the enemies also have better armor than they do in normal mode. Paragons can be useful with skills like "There's Nothing to Fear!" lowering damage to the party.
The faster casting and attack speed leaves ample room for exploitation. Consider skills such as Empathy, Spiteful Spirit or Backfire to take advantage of it. Reckless Haste loses its advantage, as foes are already attacking at maximum attack speed.
The monks especially can cause many problems for ill-prepared teams especially when there is more than 1 in a mob as they have no problem in out-healing your own monks. Dazed (from Broad Head Arrow) and other interrupts will easily put a stop to their healing.
[edit] Tactics
Tactics mostly stay the same compared to normal mode, but "good" tactical behavior is much more important. Having a good puller, a clear frontline-backline structure and party members who know when to run can, at times, be ignored in normal mode, but is essential now. Remember all-time favorite PvE strategies like killing healers first or using pets and minions to block enemies away from the backline and, of course, following target calls.
It should also be noted that using the surrounding environment has become even more critical. Weak members of your team should try to hide around corners or behind bumps in the terrain in order to take cover from very powerful foes such as archers, allowing melee characters to deal with them. While this tactic is not always necessary, it can often be the difference between success and failure.
For a more complete treatment of tactics, check the PvE Tactics.
[edit] Vanquishing
[edit] Death penalty
Vanquishing explorable areas in hard mode is mostly the same as in normal mode, with one essential difference to remember: the party will be teleported back to the outpost if all party members reach 60% Death Penalty (DP). This makes strong defensive play more rewarding in Hard Mode. There are several ways to avoid accumulating DP: have the same person designated to run (and res) in case of partial wipes, or make use of DP-reducing items such as candy canes or Four-Leaf Clovers. Another successful method for removing DP is to take advantage of experience bonuses such as experience-boosting scrolls or bounties. If you are struggling against a mob due to high DP go elsewhere in the zone and clear easier mobs until you have recovered and then return to the harder mob. For this reason it is advisable to leave easier mobs until nearer the end if possible to keep this option open. When properly handled, popup mobs may also be employed for the same purpose. Experienced parties may choose to leave the sections on a map that contain popups as a last resource to clear death penalty when vanquishing.
[edit] Bosses
When trying to vanquish an area, it is also useful to know the bosses it contains and their location. Bosses are important because they recharge your Resurrection Signets when killed. Typically, the healers in your party will carry hard resurrects. If you have used up all your signets, each time they die the party loses the bulk of its defense and will eventually be wiped, resurrecting at the nearest shrine and accumulating death penalty. This is particularly true when party size is limited to four, since your group will most probably contain a single healer.
Managing bosses becomes then a significant strategy for vanquishing. When possible, groups will typically clear the path to a boss but leave it alone to be killed only when a recharge of resurrection signets is needed. In areas that do not contain bosses, parties may also choose to bring hard resurrects instead of signets.
[edit] Increasing party size
- See also: Vanquisher#Larger party sizes
Many areas have a party cap of 4 or 6 instead of 8. Using a method known as caravan vanquishing, vanquishing some of these areas can be made much easier. Here parties travel from 8 capped areas without stopping at outposts until they reach their destination (often vanquishing along the way).
