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:

• There's not much you can do here, their Vapor Form 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:

• They have not one but 2 downed CC skills. The first one which is instantly available is a ranged pull called Grappling Line. 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, Booby Trap is an AoE knockback. Animation: they raise their right hand towards the sky.
• Stability works on both and so does Blind (if your timing is good) or invulnerabilities like Mist Form. Grappling Line could also be shut down with Swirling Winds 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 Grappling Line is ranged so there's a chance they could snipe you and interrupt the cast.
• 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:

• Downed AoE CC skill Wave of Light is available to them right away. Animation: they raise their right hand towards the sky.
• Stability and invulnerabilities are a safe bet.
• 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:

• Mesmers have a teleport skill that gives them 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 Steal 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 Deception 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, Phantasmal Rogue hits like a truck. If you're below ~7k HP you should definitely dodge this Phantasm just to be safe.

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, Blind, Stealth and invulnerabilities.
• Blind and double teleports work with proper timing.
• The real danger here isn't even their CC but the damage. Skill #1 Life Leech 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 or a single Blind for their CC. It gets even more rough once they can use their #3 which is Fetid Ground. 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 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 Life Leech until you manage to recover some health.

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 and invulnerabilities are the best bets here.
• Blind could work with proper timing but you might need more than 1, as they might use their pets for extra CC.
• Stealth sometimes works but certain pets like Wolf with their AoE Fear could interrupt you even then.
• Double teleport can work if you can outrange Thunderclap (ranger) and time it well.

Revenant:

• Their autoattack is mildly annoying when you're cleaving because of the 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, Blind, Stealth, bodyblocking, invulnerabilities and double port all work against them.

Thief:

• Their autoattacks aren't too dangerous most of the time, but Deadly Arts could buff it especially for condition thieves. Anti-projectile skills could shut down the damage.
• Thieves get to use Shadow Escape 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 Judge's Intervention 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 Blink there's some luck involved too.
• If they survive long enough to use skill #3 Smoke Bomb they get to 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:

• Skills 1-2 are probably the worst across all professions.
• Their damage is low and everything works against them: Stability, Blind, 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:

• Running away with Vapor Form 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 Bandage, or take Mesmer/Thief portals to safety.
• After building distance with Vapor Form Grasping Earth's immob could buy you a few extra seconds by snaring enemies who are trying to reach you.

Engineer:

• Spamming the auto works well enough when it comes to denying cleave attempts as the autos could inflict 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 Grappling Hook and then hitting them with a Booby Trap right as they're about to get up. From then on keep spamming autos hoping for Chill applications to make them travel slower.

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 Lick Wounds becoms available, which could easily rez you without any help from teammates. For this you need to pace out your pet CC skills and Thunderclap (ranger), interrupting stomps right at the end or disrupting hard hitting abilities when you're getting cleaved.
• It's worth pet swapping right before using Lick Wounds 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 you might even be able to Stealth yourself if you have the trait Clarion Bond. All you need to do is make the Smokescale drop a Smoke Field then swap to your other pet which should trigger a blast finisher proc.