Mastering Downed State In PvP

Introduction

A PvP guide to stomping downed enemies in PvP as well as how to survive stomp attempts on each profession.


Stomping Enemies

These are tips for dealing with downed enemies based on their profession.

Elementalist Elementalist:

  • There's not much you can do here, their allows them to go invulnerable and travel around for a few seconds. They get to avoid any stomp attempts. Best advice is to start cleaving or stomping as soon as possible to quickly force out the Vapor Form, after that they're a free kill.


Engineer Engineer:

  • They have not one but 2 downed CC skills. The first one which is instantly available is a ranged pull called . Their character pulls their right hand back as they charge up the skill, that's your sign to dodge if you can't negate the attack.
  • The second one becomes available after a few seconds in downed state, is an AoE knockback. Animation: they raise their right hand towards the sky.
  • Stability Stability works on both and so does Blind Blind (if your timing is good) or invulnerabilities like . Grappling Line could also be shut down with or any other anti-projectile skill. If you don't waste any time then they don't get to use their Booby Trap, but if they do then the projectile denial won't be enough.
  • Double teleports could work but is ranged so there's a chance they could snipe you and interrupt the cast.
  • Stealth Stealth might work on Grappling Line but not Booby Trap, and even with Grappling Line you should be behind the target to avoid them getting lucky with a random Grappling they throw forward.


Guardian Guardian:

  • Downed AoE CC skill is available to them right away. Animation: they raise their right hand towards the sky.
  • Stability Stability and invulnerabilities are a safe bet.
  • Blind Blind and double teleports work with proper timing.
  • Their downed skill #3 is an AoE rez with multiple pulses. Not a major threat on its own but could make it easier for their allies to pick them up, and stomping them while they have high enough downed HP could give them enough time to self-rez.


Mesmer Mesmer:

  • Mesmers have a teleport skill that gives them Stealth Stealth and summons a clone.
  • The clone appears before they leave stealth, so always stomp the Mesmer that appears second - they're the real one.
  • This one's a bit tricky but if you have an instant teleport skill that's either ground targeted or takes you right to the target like then with proper timing you could stomp them.
  • To efficiently stomp a Mesmer you must begin stomping, interrupt your own cast about halfway through by sidestepping then start stomping again. With a little luck they fell for your first attempt and used their right as you begin the second stomp. Deception's stealth duration is 2 seconds, stomping takes 3, you'll have a little less then 1 second to locate the downed Mesmer coming out of stealth and teleport close enough that your stomp connects. You mustn't move during the second stomp!
  • Honestly just cleave them, this isn't worth it but hey, if you like a challenge you could try.
  • Be careful with their downed skill #3, hits like a truck. If you're below ~7k HP you should definitely dodge this Phantasm just to be safe.


Necromancer Necromancer:

  • Their downed CC isn't very dangerous, long cast time and obvious animation (black symbol above their head, raised right arm).
  • Easy to stomp with Stability Stability, Blind Blind, Stealth Stealth and invulnerabilities.
  • Blind Blind and double teleports work with proper timing.
  • The real danger here isn't even their CC but the damage. Skill #1 makes them quite durable as they steal health while channeling. The damage is quite good too, so stomping them on low HP may not be the best idea, even if you have Stability Stability or a single Blind Blind for their CC. It gets even more rough once they can use their #3 which is . This is a pulsing AoE that scale with both Power and Condition damage and they get to keep channeling Life Leech on top of it. The Poison Poison even impacts your incoming healing.
  • TL;DR don't stomp a Necro on low HP unless you can avoid most of their damage, and even cleaving could be problematic. Sometimes after a 1v1 it's smarter to block line of sight so they can neither damage nor heal with until you manage to recover some health.


Ranger Ranger:

  • Rangers have arguably the strongest downed toolkit in the game: an AoE CC, an insanely good self-rez and even full control over their pets.
  • It's best to stomp them as soon as possible and don't even try to bleed them.
  • Stability Stability and invulnerabilities are the best bets here.
  • Blind Blind could work with proper timing but you might need more than 1, as they might use their pets for extra CC.
  • Stealth Stealth sometimes works but certain pets like Wolf Wolf with their AoE Fear Fear could interrupt you even then.
  • Double teleport can work if you can outrange and time it well.

Revenant Revenant:

  • Their autoattack is mildly annoying when you're cleaving because of the Slow Slow but it doesn't affect stomping. Anti-projectile skills can negate the autos.
  • They only have a single target CC. Animation: they slowly raise their right hand to make a pushing gesture.
  • Stability Stability, Blind Blind, Stealth Stealth, bodyblocking, invulnerabilities and double port all work against them.

Thief Thief:

  • Their autoattacks aren't too dangerous most of the time, but Deadly Arts Deadly Arts could buff it especially for condition thieves. Anti-projectile skills could shut down the damage.
  • Thieves get to use to teleport away and move out of stomping range.
  • Instant teleport skills and good timing is the only thing that works here. You must use something like to teleport after them while channeling the stomp, and you must port AFTER they use Shadow Escape which is instant cast. Sometimes your window here is less then 0.1 second. This is kind of easy with teleport skills that target enemies, but with ground targeted ones like there's some luck involved too.
  • If they survive long enough to use skill #3 they get to Stealth Stealth themselves, interrupting the stomp that way.
  • They're rather squishy so usually you're better off going for the cleave instead of trying to get the stomp.

Warrior Warrior:

  • Skills 1-2 are probably the worst across all professions.
  • Their damage is low and everything works against them: Stability Stability, Blind Blind, Stealth Stealth, bodyblocking, invulnerabilities, projectile hate and even double port.


Surviving In Downed State

This section contains tips for prolonging your life while downed while making the most of your situation.


Elementalist Elementalist:

  • Running away with could counter every stom and cleave attempt. You even get to pass through gates like the ones in the base on Foefire where you should be safe to self-rez with , or take Mesmer/Thief portals to safety.
  • After building distance with Vapor Form 's immob could buy you a few extra seconds by snaring enemies who are trying to reach you.


Engineer Engineer:

  • Spamming the auto works well enough when it comes to denying cleave attempts as the autos could inflict Weakness Weakness.
  • Having 2 CCs is quite strong in most cases.
  • If they're trying to leave you behind to bleed you could try pulling them back with and then hitting them with a right as they're about to get up. From then on keep spamming autos hoping for Chill Chill applications to make them travel slower.


Guardian Guardian:

  • Against Blind Blind stomps you could use 's pulses to eat the blind and time to go off right after the symbol deals damage, securing the AoE interrupt. This tactic is quite useful when sitting in a for example.
  • Being an AoE CC you could interrupt teleport stomps with if your timing is good enough. For this you might need to start casting the skill a split second before they port back to you. If you're able to see the stomp in the distance or count the seconds then you might be able to anticipate it.
  • If there's any chance of allies reviving you always use the moment it becomes available.


Mesmer Mesmer:

  • Try to teleport out of the range of the stomp because the stealth on is shorter than the stomp animation, if you reappear in range then you'll get stomped all the same even if you ported.
  • is ground targeted, you could get closer to allies, escape to the highground or just get out of harm's way in general.
  • does a ton of damage, it could even force enemies into downed state. however prevent the Phantasm from being summoned, so if you're blinded then do an autoattack first to get rid of it. While the condition UI is hidden you can spot the blind from the visuals at the edges of your screen and the smoke around the eyes of your character.


Necromancer Necromancer:

  • With skill retargeting enabled and a little luck you could interrupt stealth stomps. Start casting without a target and hope that you're about the click on the reappearing enemy at the last moment.
  • In terms of damage Necromancers have some of the most threatening downed abilities.
  • and are amazing when it comes to downed 1v1s too. You should be able to beat anyone except maybe a downed Ranger or a Warrior who uses .
    • Against Mesmers and Thieves you might want to wait with Fetid Ground until after they teleport to a new location.
  • While makes you more durable, sometimes you might want to stop attacking with it. As this skill heals you it effectively delays your respawn, so if a fight is lost and you can't contribute to a kill then there's no point in healing yourself.


Ranger Ranger:

  • On most builds your biggest asset isn't even your downed bar but your pet. Despite the pet UI being hidden while downed you have full control over your pet, from skills to pet swapping.
  • Your goal is to survive until becoms available, which could easily rez you without any help from teammates. For this you need to pace out your pet CC skills and , interrupting stomps right at the end or disrupting hard hitting abilities when you're getting cleaved.
  • It's worth pet swapping right before using unless your pet was dead. The only way to cancel this skill is to kill your pet so you want your pet to be at max health. Starting the skill revives your pet if he was dead, but doesn't heal ones that were simply already low HP.
  • With Smokescale Smokescale you might even be able to Stealth Stealth yourself if you have the trait . All you need to do is make the Smokescale drop a then swap to your other pet which should trigger a blast finisher proc.

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