Guild Wars 2 Endgame Guides

Guild Wars 2 is a casual-friendly game, so some players find it difficult to approach 10-player endgame instanced content. But with a little time and patience, any player can complete a strike mission or raid encounter, and my collection of endgame guides and resources will help.

Navigating the Guides

Each encounter guide has a 'Know Before You Go' section which lists prerequisites, requirements, and recommendations. Prerequisites are masteries, mounts, or graphics settings you'll want to ensure you have before even walking into the instance. Requirements and recommendations are utility you'll need/want before attempting the encounter.

Encounter guides are then organized by general mechanics and phases or strategies. If a boss has no phases, mechanics are listed in the order they appear.

I've also included stat tables for all bosses, similar to the example below. If you forget what an icon means, simply mouse over the icon or text to see a tooltip showing you what the stat is.

Plushie the Peerless

Health

Toughness

Hitbox

Defiance Bar

Phases

Enrage Time

Enrage Type

Hard Enrage?

Tank

Difficulty

• Health: Higher health doesn't always mean greater difficulty! Some bosses with high health get incoming damage modifiers during the fight.
• Toughness: The default is 1374. The lower this is, the more power damage a boss takes, and vice versa.
• Hitbox: Sizes range from 48 units all the way up to 1670 units. Some builds perform better on larger hitboxes thanks to 360° projectile spreads or large AoEs with random impacts inside the area.
• Defiance Bar: The main boss' defiance bar value. If there are mini-bosses with defiance bars in the encounter, they are noted in the guide.
• Phases: The number of phases in an encounter. Some bosses have a variable number of phases, while some have no phases and only acquire new mechanics as the fight goes on.
• Enrage Time: The time on the encounter clock in the upper right-hand corner when the boss enrages.
• Enrage Type: Whether the time-based enrage is hard (will wipe your squad) or soft (will deal more damage and/or gain/lose mechanics).
• Hard Enrage?: Whether the boss has a hard-enrage mechanic at all, whether it coincides with the time or not. (Some bosses have a soft and hard enrage.)
• Tank: What kind of tanking mechanic exists, if any.
• Difficulty: A difficulty rating based on how much trouble I think an average player will have completing the encounter.

Achievement guides have a simple infobox for each achievement stating its requirements.

Achievement Name

Complete Encounter?

Stay Alive?

• Complete Encounter?: Whether you have to complete the encounter/defeat the boss. In other words, you get the achievement at the end of the encounter. These are usually achievements for avoiding mechanics.
• Stay Alive?: Whether you have to be alive at the end of the fight. You can be Downed, but you can’t be Defeated.

FAQ

Who wrote these guides?

All of the guides are written by me and fact-checked and reviewed for clarity by other raiders of various experience levels. I actively raided in Guild Wars 2 for three years; played tank, support, and DPS; and performed most boss roles. If you notice misinformation, are confused about something you read, or want me to include a missing strategy, please let me know!

Who are the guides intended for?

The Path to Endgame and encounter guides are intended for beginners. They do, however, introduce strategies that beginners may not be able to perform depending on their experience in MMOs, raiding, and with their chosen build/profession. I include them so players can experiment with different things and make my recommendations and any DPS requirements clear.

Why are these guides so long?

The guides are comprehensive (i.e. long) so I can give you the most complete information. I try to make them easy to navigate, digestible, and put specific sections intended for tanks or kiters at the end of the guides so not everyone has to read them. I understand the format might not be for everyone.