Intermediate Guild Wars 2 Combat Mechanics & Settings Guide | How to Get Good

[@Fiyaaaahh]

Some tips and tricks of my own: > If you have a piercing auto attack always try to line up your opponents. Especially when one of them is downed you can easily do double the damage. > When outnumbered it's often better to bail than to kamikaze > Remapping 789 to zxc and F1 to shift makes them really accessible (these choices are personal preference though) > Stealthed opponents are not invulnerable. Save up your AoE attacks, put your back against a wall, and spam them when you think they're close. Oftentimes you'll clip them. It's best to not pick the closest wall so them breaking stealth roughly coincides with stealth running out, which increases predictability. > In a teamfight always call a target on an opponent so you can burst them down. Getting the numbers advantage is more important than anything else. Sidenote: dps classes are easier to kill than support/healing classes.

[@bergstedt9104]

It's worth mentioning the comfort factor and the question of wrist damage I believe. Regarding "increase DPI", while I agree that a higher DPI is very beneficial to the game, a very high DPI requires you to use muscles in your wrist that were not designed for the stress that these constant movements cause. This is one of the primary factors of wrist damage among gamers. Your wrists were not designed with computers in mind. The comfort factor is also very important. There are optimal setups for keybinds but while those are important everyone has different hands and different movements are easier for some than others. Hence focusing entirely on optimizing your keys without taking into consideration your own physique can often become more of a detriment than a benefit. There are multiple instances of pro or high rank players of many different games having very odd keybinds that work for them.

[@alechill2175]

yet

[@kalasmournrex1470]

yea, I have giant hands and I still don’t get how people comfortably use the 5 key with wasd. I remap 5 to f and f to c

[@winplease0]

Kormir bless you, vallun

[@mexcore14]

Why would you curse him like that?

[@Vallun]

playing with 2 hands is optional

[@Josh-sv8nj]

Thanks for giving me this knowledge, step-bro!

[@thorlus]

I know you weren't too serious, but as a player with a paralysed arm and hand I literally am only playing with one hand. And that said without skill-clicking thanks to a MMO Mouse with 19 programmable keys which sometimes I press multiple ones the same time to get all the different actions mapped. Am I limited? Of course, in my current setup I can only walk left or forward, but, using Free Camera, having game knowledge and being able to predict players or bosses, as you mentioned, it's a minor pill to swollow. A tip I can give is that if your Mouse supports tilting the Mousewheel you can easily double your Mousebutton-actions with hardly any additional effort, by binding Shift or Alt or Crtl to the Tilt and combine that with pressing your mousebuttons. That's how I do F1 - F5 for example while the exact same mousebuttons pressed solely are for my weaponskills.

[@kyber75]

@@thorlus a logitech G6 has a 2nd mouse right button that can be bound to shift/ctrl (or w/e you like ) i find it to be the best mouse for me , but it can take some time to get it down

[@thorlus]

@@kyber75 If you mean the g600 than yes, but sadly my right arm/hand is paralyzed, so I'm "forced" to play with the only left-handed mmo mouse on the market, the Razer Naga which doesn't have this option. But I can see that this could be useful als a modifier key in oder to double your thumb buttons

[@woof3065]

@@kyber75 oh man I had a g600 which also has it, and now I have the razer naga x, but it was a hard choice to give up that button. Really every mmo mouse should have it, for moving your mose around you really don't need more than your pinky WHY DONT YOU UNDERSTAND RAZER and CORSAIR. just STEAL good ideas already.

[@rylok]

Amazing that you addressed disabled folks. Something content creators tend to completely ignore. Thank you.

[@TheNGCMax]

The accessibility part was beautiful, thanks for all the effort you put into your content Vallun

[@eldrevo]

Lots of helpful stuff, thank you! One little hint that does not get enough mention (so I was surprised to discvoer it myself): Any AOE or skillshot skill - which needs you to pick certain area or direction - can be activated by double tapping the skill keybind. Like, say, you can press thief shortbow 5 and then click LMB to cast it to a location, or you could just hit 5 twice for the same effect if your cursor is already in right place. For me, a former moba player with quickcast addiction, it was a lifesaver :D

[@Vallun]

yes fast cast ground targeting is great, I should've made a quick mention of that

[@aidam6152]

I personally prefer the single click quickcast setting (specifically "on release"), especially with grenade kit.

[@pfunkle]

With fast casting enabled it’s a press and release, so if you know you are maxing range, and single key press will activate the skill. :)

[@TomasOlivaMusic]

Amazing video! This should become a mandatory manual for all GW2 players!

[@armoraz]

I really really love you using WoW music as background, specially a Night Elves theme.

[@bradhorner]

Yes, that music has such good associations for me.

[@shaky_dawg]

As a newer player, I can definitely see the power in the freedom of this setup and your recommendations. Thank you for all that you do. I changed a lot of my options today based on this video and although at my age it takes a lot more time to develop muscle memory, I'm in for the long haul so here's to a few weeks of playing terrible as I learn lol. Cheers!

[@diogenes2941]

Thank you for adding the accesibility perspective to the discussion. Personally I only have one hand and play with a moba mouse however much of the game is problematic when it comes to movement especially I can never do raids, fractals and content with many mechanics

[@thorlus]

I am a one handed player myself and I do everything you mentioned on a daily basis. I use a Razer left-handed Naga and have mapped almost every skill ect on my mousebuttons with some of them being combinations of 2 mousebuttons. If you have any questions about how I've set it up, feel free to ask. I can also recommend using things like a Stinkyboard or a Bcon to "outsource" some skills to your feet as well. Although I have both I am so used to play GW2 without them that I don't use them - I don't know why.

[@bencepandi3568]

Don't you guys have pedals? I'm asking genuinely.

[@diogenes2941]

@@bencepandi3568I tried out a bcon controller but it was laggy. As for pedals I don't know how others do it. But since I'm having trouble with one leg I only use one foot switch but that's not really enuff for mowement Got any tips?

[@Nitidus]

The Low Intensity (LI) builds on Metabattle might suit your needs. Also, back in the day there were "MMO mice" with not only 2, but like 10 or more extra buttons on the inner side of the mouse. I'd assume something like this must still be available somewhere. You can set up loads of macros. Also, many Roccat mice have a so-called "Easy Shift+" button in addition to the usual two side buttons. On mine, it's located directly below the thumb rest. It works like a normal shift key on your keyboard: while you hold it down, every other button and even mouse wheel directions (left, right, forward, backwards) can be configured separately. And those are definitely available right now. Maybe you didn't know some of this stuff :) Hope someone someday gets inspired to look into the stuff.

[@scientio3695]

One of the best explanations of proper way to play guild wars 2 I've ever seen seriously definitely the best combat guide good job

[@algumnomeaihehe]

my man earned this like twice over just with the accessibility schpiel on the intro. strong work.

[@OldTime--Gamer]

playing the game for 4 years and still find these videos entertaining and learning opportunity. Amzing :)

[@erictankgaming7632]

Omg thank you so much for telling me you can stove weapon to cancel a skill, as a weaver my dagger earth 4 skill has a 2 seconds cast time which cost me so much death cuz I can’t cancel it when someone is attacking me, now I can just cancel and cast what I need to dodge or counter attack.

[@woof3065]

great tips, and very true, everyone is always like "learn your rotation" even in wvw / pvp, which is really bs as there are many different situations you have to act on and indeed combo's are the thing (didn't even touch on combo fields and combo fields from allies yet, talking about knowing your build and skills) also for wvw I want to add to keybind "lock autotarget" and use it to detarget an enemy so you can quickly use offensive skills that have a leap, as travel and retreat skills instead. You can also detarget by left clicking on the ground but from my experience if you are running and your cursor drags while clicking the ground just a tiny bit your detarget will fail and likely makes you end up dead. and you will also have to make sure your mouse pointer isn't currently somewhere else you dont want to click on, so a button is a better way imho. Personally I also play with both an mmo mouse and a game pad (razer tartarus) to really have all skills in direct range (and to avoid RSI!) I do think its an advantage as it's almost impossible to keybind everything you need just on your keyboard in direct range. Also taking your fingers off your movement keys is not ideal. Yes you can use your both mousebuttons to keep running forward, but what if you are fighting a mesmer and constantly need to target the actual opponent and need to keep moving; your next target or nearest target keys are not gonna be enough. But I have to add to that I use the same keys for every profession and build. Otherwise ofcourse you can setup your keys for 1 build and save / swap out some keys. Another thing I have keybound for wvw is 6 builds, 3 of which in direct range, allthough some will argue you need to play with what you have, if my build is just the wrong build to counter with I like to go quickly ooc swap and reengage. Or say i'm running a stealth thief and i have to go fight in a revealed area like a tier 3 tower or fort where a huge area reveals my thief, you can swap to a non stealth build instantly. But I think this build swap keybinding is especially handy for a solo or small group roamer. And ofcourse keybind them for raids etc but then you don't need to have them in instant range.

[@DragynFyre12]

Ok instant like for the accessibility stuff. Just want to throw this out there (as someone with a large competitive FPS background) be careful with the advice on mouse settings. Wrist aiming is not universal. High sense wrist play tends to lead to carpal tunnel, especially if your mouse is on the heavier end of the spectrum. You can perform just as well at low sense and using your whole forearm to aim. Just as many pro FPS players aim with the forearm vs the wrist. It isn't really a loss in efficiency and FPS require way more mouse movements than GW2. Know if your mouse is claw or palm too. Also, storing your weapons is the biggest secret tech in this game.

[@fistandantilos]

i have been playing this game since 2015 using an xbox360 controller

[@flailmail7069]

Love the stowing trick, really good to know

[@cerioth5648]

I wish everyone watched this video, it deserves to be seen by more folks.

[@ezmyrelda]

To be fair.. A lot of people stand inside the boss because tags require people to stack on tag and that's where the tag is standing.. Also.. As a half assed necromancer.. I've found that some classes aren't as affected as others by being right up against that bosses DPS.. Necros are generally more tanky by default so standing right on top of the boss isn't that big of a deal for us.

[@ezmyrelda]

I think a couple of things people need to learn as gw2 players is that you should never double tap your dodge.. Dodging once should be enough that running after a dodge gets you out of the way of the impending attack.. Also.. when people get down stated I see people continuing to attack the most tanky enemy or the boss when they should tab target the closest and weakest enemy to get out of downed state.

[@ayast.claire1512]

this is very good basic essentials!!! that "theorycraft your build first and play around it"

[@Selphidal]

Increasing DPI might not be a good idea for everyone and everything. While it makes it easier to move your cursor bigger distances, it also means that your cursor movement becomes less precise. Meaning that you might fail to target a player or miss a skillshot that might have otherwise hit. You want to find the middle ground where you can move the cursor swiftly but still precisely. Some players might actually be better off decreasing their DPI instead. Thanks to the false marketing of the industry, some players still believe that higher DPI is better and use absurd DPIs beyond 4000 that are not only impractical but also have less tracking accuracy than lower DPI values. As a rule of thumb: Choose your dpi in a way that you can comfortably reach all corners of your screen but not much further. This will turn out with a decent result for everyone depending on mouse, grip, monitor size/resolution, hand size etc. Personally I'm a very big fan of camera rotation speed adjustment. My advice would be to set it to a value where when comfortably swiping your mouse from a neutral position to the right or left you turn your character by something between 200° and 360°. More is not really necessary by any means and might make it difficult to get the exact orientation you want, less is disadvantageous because it becomes tedious to rotate the camera in any orientation you want with no effort.

[@pabloh5rufino]

Coming from a player that has spent a fair amount of time in Valorant and CSGO, games where mouse accuracy is almost everything, THIS. (e)DPI should always be whatever you feel comfortable on: if you need a lower dpi and you do better moving the whole arm, do it. I would even say that using the whole forearm is the most usual way to aim in competitive shooters, so why would it be different here? Whoever reads this, just try to find what method and dpi is better for you especifically, no one can tell you what dpi and movements you should do.

[@Selphidal]

@@pabloh5rufino There are 2 reason for it being a bit different here: Shooters care even more about precision due to the benefit of different damage numbers based on where you hit. Guild Wars 2 doesn't know this, as long as you hit, you hit so the margin of error is greater than for shooters. On top of that, GW2 has many buttons to press so a mouse with more than 2 buttons is recommended. If you have one, using your entire forearm to move the mouse might impact your ability to press these additional buttons in the middle of mouse movement.

[@pabloh5rufino]

@@Selphidal I must admit that I had not taken into consideration the difficulty added by using a proper mmorpg mouse (mine only has 5/6 keys, so it doesn't have any "inside buttons"). Perhaps I'm biased due to my experience on shooters, but it just irked me somewhat that such a good guide suggested that increasing dpi and wrist-aiming were always benefitial

[@SGTDread12]

Reminds me so much of the Rune-keeper in Lorto

[@TruePermafrost]

Ever since my guild leader back in like 2015 told me to move some buttons around i haven't changed them since and they will continue to be my mmo buttons. 1-5 for weapon skills, Q E R T Z for heal, util, and elite (6-0) and Shift+1-5 for alternate f1-f5 buttons and weapon swap and dodge are on my mouse

[@user-rq7cg1xj5e]

Your GW2 is TOP NOTCH, thank you. 👍

[@happybrain2674]

seems good. the only points i want to diskuss a little: - what is a rotation and a combo for you? - pvp has no good trainingsarea for learning combos or rotations (i mean the "trainingsarea" is open for the hole lobby...). whats the best things you would recommend? - pls add a point to fight toxity or bad behaviour. Thats one of the main reason why people leave.

[@Vallun]

1. rotations are long winded combos that essentially dictate an entire use of your skills, combos are synergies between skills that can create big effects but are usually short and flexible 2. dueling servers in the hot join menu or the golems in the lobby 3. maybe in another video, but its mostly around sticking up for yourself while also not giving too much weight to what others say

[@happybrain2674]

@@Vallun thanks. means on 1. we are on the same page only that we call them different xD so i call them on the way you do. 2. private servers would be my option cause there are still enough trolls that interuppt your training. 3. I got the feeling if we ignore toxity it will still be there. But if we try at least to understand the people and they understand thats not ok to spread toxity (cause well you then only play with toxic players or ignoring peoples). I know its a lot harder, but arenanet doesnt do anything against it, so why not the old rabbits?

[@TheRexTera]

The best tip for any MMORPG is to get a Keypad. The Logitech G3 is my favourite, but unfortunately it’s no longer in production. Best alternative is the Razor Tartarus V2 right now. Pair it with a Razor Naga and you’ll be unstoppable. Get use to move your character with the analogue stick like with a controller and now the rest of your fingers is free to cast spells. Bind cool-downs, items and utilities spells to the number pad on the Naga and you’ll start to wonder how was I ever able to play an MMORPG with just a keyboard and a simple 2 button mouse.

[@EthanBonardel]

Haven't played the game but it looks sweet!

[@Alex-rh5jo]

This is a life saver. Been trying to challenge myself while levelling and often die from my cumbersome control setup!

[@riddlesphinxx]

Your videos are so wonderful for the community. I just wish they were required viewing.

[@bigcrab796]

Thanks for all the videos and guides you put together for GW2. Many of these same concepts can be used outside of GW2 into other games as well!

[@4kgamingworld314]

I was the NGUYEN VAN LONG guy at the end of the video lol Vallun

[@MrKazxeheu]

how did this only come out 3 days ago? i just logged in today after like 3 years to pick up my eighth birthday present

[@DemethVLK]

Loving your content we need more content creators ! I agree the combat in gw2 is by far the best of the top mmos

[@ryukjoga]

Awesome vid, dude! I'd definitely recommend this for new players.

[@gift160]

I'm using my Xbox elite remote to play this game but i still use the keyboard for other mechanics. But this video is so helpful. My friends and I just started playing this game.

[@Streeknine]

This is the video I've been looking for.

[@LurkinPT]

Distracting trying to listen and focus on gw2 info when WoW music was playing in background! 😂

[@rodfarva5107]

Yea with mechanics vale guardian comes to mind with the green mechanic as a berserker my rotation requires me to use my heal skill to keep berserker up but if I use it during rotation I don' t have it when the green mechanic goes off

[@milantasic6669]

Great guide thanks !

[@ezmyrelda]

I only use mouse for camera orientation.. All my keybinds are set so that my fingers stay on one line for combat and only have to reach one row up for utility skills.

[@gailbrookhart1777]

Good video that I will recommend. I'm three years into the game and still found quite a bit to learn and, more importantly, understand better in your advice. I agree with the "learn combos, not rotations" advice because I believe good gameplay is knowing how to best react when things turn bad. Knowing how to turn the fight, not just ride along while the enemy drives you.

[@kyber75]

I use a logitech G6 which has a 2nd right mouse button that can be bound to shift/ctrl(or w/e you like) which can give you like 30ish functions on your mouse. I have all weapon/utility skills and F1-F5 and dodge on my mouse. It took some time to get used to but now its all muscle memory. ( I too have an mobility issue with my left hand)Using the G6 plus a gaming pad for movement in my left hand(thumb toggle) has made me more competitive and I feel at less of a disadvantage. I hope this helps anyone who feels the frustrations of a disability and are looking for a solution.

[@alinfliy1]

brother i would love to show u how i play on CONTROLLER with action camera and show u how accurate i m with all my skills

[@bminus7377]

Excellent vid!

[@multic0l0r16]

Happy holodays and a happy new year Vollun. My resolution is to stop the rampant keytrade. I also appreciate the advice and have since switched to playing gw2 with only 1 hand. I sprained it while using my shake weight. 10/10 very helpful, up thumbered.

[@Patsoor]

Thanks for the vid. This has been an eyeopener for me, I thought I was somewhat decent, now I know I suck bigtime. Learning other proffesions and their skills (and animations?) yea right, ain't nobody got time for that... don't react, predict... sure thing bro, I'm already happy IF i can react according to being hit. More then half of the fights I'm in, I don't even know what class I'm up against, unless its a lame ass runawaybitchthief or ranger and necro's. stowing weapon while casting skill to fake animations? anyone who does that against me is wasting his time and skills imo. anyway, nice work.

[@sigmaape6264]

gotta tell it is so hard to play with free camera now that i have capped 2 characters... but m trying pvp dummies can see amazing benefits .

[@adumbledoor394]

Using just your wrist for mouse movement is extremely unhealthy long-term and can cause severe wrist problems later on in your life. If you can't move your mouse enough using mainly your forearm, buy a bigger mousepad and change your mouse/keyboard position on your desk to get more space for your mouse. If you mastered the proper use of the camera and tools like 'About Face,' you rarely need to turn your camera 180° or more.

[@Vallun]

my DPI is turned so high that merely moving my mouse an inch wll cover the entire monitor, but i understand if that doesnt work for everyone and they use lower dpi and some arm

[@MissDee13]

Very interesting 👌

[@REMagic42]

Speaking from a PvE/Raid standpoint: Disagree on your first point in "Learn Combos, not Rotations". Practicing your rotation at the golem for hours and hours is how you get good at adapting. Everyone who says "golem isn't important, because real bosses are never like the golem" usually do rather mediocre damage and are certainly worse at adapting than people who have spent hours grinding the perfect rotation. In my experience, it's an excuse for not practicing, rather than a legitimate argument. When I get into a boss fight, I can perform well because I can execute my rotation blindfolded. The time I spent at the golem doesn't mean I get a brainfreeze the moment the boss does something and think "the golem never fought back, what do I do now?!?". It's the players who have no idea how to do their rotation cleanly and say "I just focus on the mechanics and adapt my rotation" that are at the bottom of the DPS chart every single time. Obviously, there is a point where no amount of golem practice will help you improve, and it's good to also play raid bosses, but let's not pretend that a significant proportion of the player base was anywhere close to the point where they practiced the golem too much so they can't learn anymore from it. Perhaps I am slightly missing your point here as well, it's more of a frustration I have with a lot of people who refuse to practice at the golem, saying that they "know the rotation" and "golem is not like a raid". Anyway: The problem with people "blindly copying a rotation" is that they are not really learning the rotation. They just hit the golem a few times, hit some mediocre number (probably with the wrong golem setup), say that's because they are missing a few infusions, and call it a day. The problem isn't that people are blindly copying, it's that they are not copying enough. You'll find that low DPS is a consequence of not sticking to the golem rotation. Had they practiced more, they'd know how to maintain some semblance of the rotation through all raid mechanics.

[@Vallun]

You are comparing people who don't practice on the golem and say "I learn combos" to people that do practice and stay to rotations. How is that a fair comparison? I never said you shouldn't practice on the golem. I specifically say you should, but instead of practicing it on a dps golem you should do it in situations where you actually have some threat so you need to adapt. The player I'm suggesting is one who learns combos not rotations and practices, the ones you have a personal vendetta against are the ones who make excuses for being bad, AND don't practice

[@Selphidal]

Knowing combos is very valuable for all raid scenarios. Knowing combos equates knowing where your damage is. That in turn becomes extremely relevant when bosses have phases and you have cooldowns that don't match the written opener for your class so you can maximise your DPS. If you're playing Dragonhunter and you know the F1 GS4 GS2 combo and use it at the start of every phase and then off cooldown and add whatever else you have up on top, you're likely dealing very respectable DPS already. If you're playing Mirage and use the Axe2 F2 Crystal Sands Jaunt combo off cooldown on Largos or Soulless Horror then you pretty much carried your minimum weight in my eyes already. Rotations are often long and confusing, they don't respect the fact that you have to pay attention to other things that will screw your rotation (like having to ress someone), they tend to obfuscate where most damage comes from and they sometimes contain crazy overcomplications for minor DPS gains that will cause most players to lose DPS compared to a simplified rotation if they try to use it on an actual boss. Grenade usage on pHolo (especially sword) or scepter usage on cFB would be the first that come to my mind. Based on my experience in raid trainings, many new and even some seasoned players would do better damage if they went by a combo approach as they often end up using skills incorrectly (jumbled skill order in the DH combo is common) or not at all as they are getting distracted by boss mechanics. Combos are both easier to memorise and pull off and are therefore a fantastic mean to get from theory into practice.

[@Vallun]

@@Selphidal yea i like the sound of that sentiment better than what i said lol

[@Katzenweitwurf]

you can learn your rotations faster if you "chunk" them. It also helps if you have a short time window and a more condensed version of your skills have higher burst, but lower sustained dps. like skipping longbow 2 on power soulbeast to go straight into axe 5.

[@REMagic42]

@@Katzenweitwurf I agree with that, it's absolutely necessary to understand where your damage comes from. And to learn a rotation, it's best to start with a small part, and then extend it over the course of maybe an hour until you have the full loop memorized. The rest is then speed and muscle memory. But in my experience, the advice "learn your combos" results in people "practicing" the DH's Trap F1 GS 4 GS2 for a few minutes, then they get bored because they already "mastered" it, go into a raid and then randomly using that combo whenever they can see their combo is off cooldown. This results in very low DPS. Which is fine, of course. People are allowed to do low DPS. I just feel that most people would do a lot better if they were encouraged to learn the full rotation until they bench at X% of the SC benchmark. High DPS numbers in raids are not achieved by "remembering combos", but by largely sticking to a rotation that resembles the one at the golem. The best raiders will obviously again deviate from the golem rotation to taylor it to the specific fight, but it's silly to suggest that average raiders should be doing that instead of practicing the standard way first. If the fight is shorter than a single weapon swap loop, things can obviously change. However, I'd argue that mastering the golem opener would then carry you most of the way, and the adaptation you mentioned in particular is pretty much only relevant for high end fractals, where I'd expect you to do some research to come up with the optimzed rotation for each specific fight. Im talking about mostly new players, who want to improve and deal good DPS. For them, being able to cleanly perform the rotation loop of Soulbeast would be a vast improvement over "remembering that LB 2 4 and 5 are good skills, and use Axe 5 during Sic'Em".

[@GirlWars]

This was a great video thx

[@kursna]

Correction: change dpi in your mouse settings, don't adjust pointer speed in windows setting. Dpi is only adjustable in the application for your mouse. Pointer speed is not dpi.

[@Vallun]

thanks for clarifying, my mouse has a dpi shifter button so I thought this would work for people with mouses which dont have a uniue software or shifter lol

[@kursna]

@@Vallun thats true for sure. Cheap desktop mice from staples will only be about to use windows pointer option and zowie mice or clones normally have a button on the bottom. Correcting my correction :p

[@Hairobi]

it would be great if we were able to use free camera while using mounts, or do am I missing something?

[@murshidyahmoumaniekadre]

I really love your content.

[@davidconway6344]

1:25 and to hit more than one key at a time kids!

[@Wordslay]

Geez I was wondering how I could put my weapon away but its neat to find out gw2 has the mechanic to stop your ability if you stow your weapon. Other mmos its just you have to move to interrupt or if youre a super pvp tryhard you macro it instead of moving to stop the cast.

[@tyrelhamblin229]

lol i use a controller to play gw2 and it runs very well.

[@KAS_gg]

Same here

[@TheZebigboss]

Good tips!

[@trevorcoates918]

I think telling people to only use their wrist to control their mouse is potentially dangerous. If you believe that using only your wrist leads to an advantage, think it still needs to be said that the player should do it at their own risk. Too much wrist movement is very unhealthy, and professional fps players opt to use their arm as much as possible so they can lead longer careers. This next point is definitely more relevant in FPS games, but using your arm allows for more precision, because it allows for lower sensitivities. Full arm motions can be used to quickly move the camera around, while the wring can be used for slight adjustments. Using your arm also helps with precision because arm movement is made with multiple joints, and so it can be moved side to side without any sort of arc. If you only use your wrist, without significant claw-grip finger movement, your field of motion on a mouse is that of an arc, rotating around a single point, making it more difficult to make precise, straight lines. This is also the reason why professional artists prefer to use broad movements with their arm, and why art teachers tell students not to use small strokes with their wrist to accomplish the task. Otherwise, great video. It's well organized with lots of great tips, and I love the inclusion of accessibility based settings.

[@TymokRapesNalia]

I use controller in combat

[@poisenbery]

Raising DPI was a very questionable tip. I come from FPS and have been an arm aimer for a very long time. Higher DPI means that you're more likely to use your wrist for aiming. That's very bad health wise. "You don't want to be moving your arm when you move the mouse" Yes you do....it's better for your joints and more ergonomic. Your wrist isn't designed to make those types of movements.

[@Vallun]

yea ive been told that before and it was mostly a result of my mouse pad being too small, so i needed a higher dpi to get the best results, but as you say the risks may not be worth and stretching is definitely necessary if you do want to use higher dpi. A little wrist won't hurt but a lot for extended times will

[@mu9600]

my mouse right button is hesitating when I need it. I'm forced to use action camera =(

[@iamwontolla]

Could you timestamp the section at 15:31 too?

[@botseler9748]

Do you use the 'W' key or only right mouse button to walk forward? Trying to figure out how you're doing this. It's a bit tricky.

[@Vallun]

i use both, mainly W but only both mouse buttons when im doing a lot of other stuff with my keyboard hand

[@TuSevun]

best solution is to get a mouse with 12 buttons on the side. beast mode.

[@canine_coach]

put weapon skills QERFC and utility Shift+QERFX BEST KEYBINDS

[@IvanBliznakov-w2t]

precisely because of these jumping puzzles and many other bad mechanics of the game since I've had it since 2014 and I've been playing it for 2 weeks a year :), but now I seriously want to learn this crappy mechanic.because this is the only game whose graphics are like a previously illustrated children's storybook and no other graphics I like so much,that's what always brings me back to this game, the magical worlds, their graphics and character graphics!

[@ericmills5683]

man you should see my setup lol I'm a min max slut, using a azeron keypad and a CORSAIR SCIMITAR ELITE that being the best mouse for me for this game and literally changed my playstyle. if you look at the azeron it does look daunting but its basically second nature at this point. there was a learning period and trying to map the keys to be where I wanted them. But man its a game changer.

[@victorruas1463]

ty for info 👌👌

[@NeverWolf]

Any tips on remapping esc key for action cancel without penalty?

[@Vallun]

just left click to detarget and bind stow weapon

[@Jinny-Wa]

Action camera is fine for 99% of the content. I would not be playing the game without it. I understand that I will never be the top 1%, but then again I don't care.

[@l1ttlemyu]

10/10

[@dreamboatcap]

Thank you so much for accessibility part of the video. Many people neglect the disabled community. I am left handed and i can't use my right hand efficiently enough to play gw2 with it. I am using razer naga 2014 left-handed edition to play it and this solves many problems for me but it wasn't available because razer didn't make enough profit to continue. Anywa the product is back now and it's razer exclusive meaning you can only buy from razer's store. I live in Turkiye and razer don't ship to it as far as i know. Any idea on how can i purchase one of those? Anyone can help? Want to be my gaming-hero and live imaginatively along side my super heroes including Saitama (One Punch Man), One-For-All (My Hero Academia) and my favourite Matoi Ryuuko (Kill la Kill) :D (Yeah i had lots of free time)

[@Vallun]

Go to Amazon.com's International Shopping Portal, Sign Up For A Shipping Forwader, and then buy the item. Otherwise you'd need to find someone who will buy it for you

[@filnicogalan3220]

may i know your camera settings sir vallun? pls reply

[@Vallun]

theyre in this video

[@taginn790]

Thank god I'm a skill-clicker - I don't have to rebind any keys! :)

[@tsunamioflove]

Hard to do anything of that or learn anything when you're dead in 5 seconds.

[@EnGee23]

Great content. But please could you slow down a bit in your delivery and not edit your screen activity so much. I found I had to pause and rewind your video LOTS of times to understand what you're saying. We're not all experts (though most would like to claim to be). And I still understand what you mean by "Free Camera"? It sounds important

[@trevorcoates918]

Although I do believe free camera is superior to action camera, I also think you're giving action camera too little credit, as there are workarounds to many of the issues you have listed, just as there are many workarounds to free camera, such as the one's you've demonstrated. Here are some benefits to action camera, as well as work-arounds to your proposed issues with it. -As far as vision constriction goes, increasing FoV, and modifying camera horizontal position, plus near/far camera position can be very beneficial to increasing player awareness. -Contrary to your assertion in the video, it is possible to comfortably ground cast behind yourself in action camera, and fire projectiles in the opposite direction of your movement, as long as you have a binding for 'Look Behind'. The only exception to this, is a small selection of backwards movement skills. While most of these skills, like ranger shortbow 3, and water sword 2 function correctly, allowing the player to move forwards with them if being cast with 'Look Behind', there are a few that for whatever reason, don't account for 'Look behind", despite being camera based. Two examples that come to mind are fire staff 4, and Shiro Riposting Shadows. However, about face is still an option for these skills. I frequently use 'Look Behind' just to observe my surroundings without adjusting my movement. -Using action Camera allows Left Click as a binding for your basic attack, or anything else, which can potentially free up a binding. -Lastly, it is essential, in my opinion, to have a binding that allows you to easily dip in and out of free camera. This way, the player can take advantage of the benefits of both modes. When toggling to free camera, they can have full control back for ground-casts, and have the benefit to double-click intractables on screen. For example, being able to double click the body you are trying to revive, instead of stomping a body, because the game gives priority to stomping with the interact key.

[@ihavecrabs56]

i dont understand. why are people saying action camera is bad for pvp? i plan to focus mainly on pvp and instantly gravitated towards action camera, but i dont want to handicap myself if free camera is superior. i saw that "look behind" and "about face" are both accessible during action camera so why do so many people say its hard to look/attack behind you during action camera??

[@trevorcoates918]

@@ihavecrabs56 a lot of skills are bugged and dont properly cast behind you with action cam on, when they do without it. To me personally, all these downsides still don't make me use traditional cam, but if I evaluate it purely logistically then regular cam comes out ahead by a sisable amount. Action cam is easier to get a hang of initially, but in the end it makes you work harder for a similar but slightly worse resuly.

[@ihavecrabs56]

@@trevorcoates918 really? u cannot use the look behind or about face hotkeys to have them fire behind you?

[@trevorcoates918]

@@ihavecrabs56 You can use look behind, but its an extra button you have to press, and if you cancel it early then the attack might do the same. There's workarounds for most of the issues, but they add extra steps where there doesn't need to be. I hope one day anet patches them all up. I could imagine them taking a look at it for the steam release, but aside from that its unlikely.

[@TNTspaz]

Basically the same attitude you have to have with FF14 except for the literal impossible content to do without coordinated rotations

[@ezmyrelda]

both mouse buttons? really? My right hand is fucked up but.. I want to try this out.. hrmm.

[@vocalthought4474]

I want to play with a Gamepad instead. How?

[@Vallun]

if you have shift alt or ctrl on the gamepad you can create lots of shift keybinds, so you have zxcv and then shift + zxcv so basically combining different things to increase your total keybinds.

[@vocalthought4474]

@@Vallun I tried using a gamepad before, but I think I downloaded the wrong computer app. Everything wasn't working right for me.

[@ezmyrelda]

As a person who has gone about attempting to do this.. and succeeded somewhat.. It's kind of pointless after you set up a gamepad.. There are too many keybinds needed to play to make using a gamepad efficient.. There would be way too many key combinations people would have to remember to pack everything in to a game pad.. It's just not designed as a game where it actually makes sense to play with one.

[@vocalthought4474]

@@ezmyrelda I don't care how pointless it may seem to someone else. I don't care if I can't set up everything on a game pad. I do care to use my gamepad instead of a mouse and keyboard. I'll settle for a gamepad with some keyboard use.

[@vocalthought4474]

@@ezmyrelda Thanks, can you send me info on how you did it?

[@2mellow35]

Been doing this from the start ez high dps.

[@kajhall3581]

Brilliant content Vallun Scrapper is still a broken class XD One-handed beating a holosmith... Comon XD

[@brandoncomer6492]

I’d rather be bad that use free camera.

[@canine_coach]

3:20 WRONG

[@IAmHorrified]

imagine using a mouse

[@foenrik8941]

A reminder that WvW is GW2's worst mode, and thieves deserve the hatred they get.

[@Frosth15]

Whoa chill, every class has its perks and downs

[@THE16THPHANTOM]

@@Frosth15 but thief though, it has been cancer since launch. mostly because if makes you feel helpless if you are new and not equipped to make them fight for their lives. even then they still the most cancer troll class in the game. it doesn't do much anywhere besides in PvP but extra annoying in WvW. especially when its broken because then you have everyone abusing it.

[@gw2shibarashi674]

Get out of here

[@biyaogw2]

@@THE16THPHANTOM losing to stealth burst classes feels bad yea-that's an old song. Let me say this: Most thief players do not like being forced to use Shadow Arts to be efficient and I do agree that Shadow Arts should be looked at, because it's too reliable and forgiving, entirely removes most of the risk/reward decisions from thief players. The thing is backstab damage is superbad in comparison to the risk it takes to land. Shadow Arts is a must have for thieves unless some power is shifted back to them. That's at least my opinion. Thief duels rn are super dumb with Shadow Arts current state. And rifle Deadeye with Shadow Arts is just Pepega. Thieves are locked in on 2(SA and Trickery) out of 3 traits right now and it's super boring but using anything else is just hardcore trolling. In MY opinion.

[@OKDC]

Think i understand why you teach people about gw2 pvp... you want better team mates and enemies. Boredom

[@Akymma]

My suggestion is less theory and more action. Play the game how you want and find your own play-style and what works for you.

[@Chevalier_knight]

Lol no bdo has the most skilled combat system its not even up for debate .

[@heyhoe168]

11:55 as if GW2 had clear trait descriptions in the tooltips. 🙃