The latest edition of the State of the Game series of articles about the art of PvP in Guild Wars has been posted on the Guild Wars official site. This week the article focuses on breaking down defensive tactics.

"Blind on One."

"Blurred on One!"

"Blurred on Two!"

"$#@%! BLOCKED!"

These complaints of physical attackers should ring familiar to many players. Any halfway serious PvP team brings at least some sort of defense, and many top guilds run multiple layers of defense. Guilds like Cry for Eternity [Cry], currently ranked second on the Guild Ladder, have even chained "Shields Up!" on their front-line Warriors in recent Automated Tournaments. Breaking down these defenses thus becomes critical to success.

Defenses exposed

Defense, defined in the broadest sense, consists of anything that prevents a team from losing. For team builds such as Heroes' Ascent's IWAY, which has recently fused with Zergway, defense comes from an unyielding offense. These teams spam the Energy-denying "Fear Me!" and use high-damage and disruptive attacks to prevent opponents from using key skills. Empty the blue bar, or empty the red bar--it doesn't matter as long as the opponent can't kill anyone. The high armor of every character allows the team to get by with healing support and defensive buffs from Paragons, who also contribute offensively.

In addition to Energy denial, disruption, and simply killing the opposition, other defensive measures include debuffs, shutdown, damage mitigation/prevention, healing, and removal. Of these, healing takes center stage because, on a spike, preventative measures only do so much if the victim never regains Health. Naturally, well-timed skills like Spirit Bond or Cry of Frustration can deaden a spike (depending on the spike), but replenishing the Health bars remains essential to the team's survival.

Read the article here.