Intro to Strikes: Getting Ascended gear & Every IBS Strike Explained in Seconds! Guild Wars 2 Guide

[@MuklukYoutube]

Need quick guides on the other strikes that came out after these? You can find them all here: mukluklabs.com/gw2-strike-mission-guides

[@ryanmacallister6373]

"Strikes are supposed to be entry level difficulty prior to raids" that one sentence clarified exactly what I needed to hear. As someone who has recently returned to the game I feel massively overwhelmed. I also think the game does a poor job at making that clear - and I think you should not have to access content outside the game to know this. Great vid.

[@Hardstyleeerrr]

Its self explainatory in a very basic sense. Dungeons are smaller group content and throughout levelling process are supposed to prepare you for raids or any other endgame content like it. This holds true for any MMO. These remind me alot of FF14s Trials, very much the same idea and principle.

[@ryanmacallister6373]

@@Hardstyleeerrr ?? This makes no sense to someone who is fresh to GW2. I play most MMOs and no content in game directs you to or explains strikes difficulty curve level.

[@atarri3494]

Yeah I agree. I have been playing off and on and had no clue about strikes until I started the icebrood saga. I had no idea the amount of content there was aside from dungeons, fractals, and pvp. It's been a blast finding all this stuff and I'm excited to get into it.

[@Rizon1985]

​@@Hardstyleeerrr If we're meant to go off by dungeons, then the only conclusion should be that every endgame is broken and deserted. Dungeons aren't done unless by some people wanting achievements. In many other MMOs the dungeons are an important path on your way to max level to learn boss mechanics, group dynamics and do important quests with strong loot rewards. To teach all these things dungeons are very controlled so anyone can find their place in it. In GW2 a newbie joins a dungeon and it's a bunch of shiny people with wings and stuff floating around their character. For the few seconds they can see them because they quickly take shortcuts the newbie doesn't know or they run through mobs who later come back to rapekill our newbie with his blue gear and half finished skill tree. Then while at least stories in GW2 kind of lead you to dungeons, the rest you have to find on your own in lfg. Fractals starting to have the same problem as dungeons of not having players unless you play during the few prime time hours. Strike missions even emptier. And if you find the raids, it's a bunch of people trying to sell their godliness. GW2 doesn't operate in a vacuum. It can have all the content it wants. If it's buggy without things getting fixed and there is no good and modern integration into the game for people to play that content, there are many other games who will welcome new players and do offer those things. Anet has to step up their game if this game needs to survive. Or make GW3 if GW2 is considered FUBAR.

[@herdo1561]

@@Rizon1985 hey, I'm shiny with wings and floaty balls and I still have no idea what to do in group PvE content.

[@casual_citizen]

GW2 community is blessed to have content creators like Mukluk. Good quality guides that would benefit any game community

[@damoresa]

As a long time WoW raiding veteran and after years of playing this game and trying to get into "endgame" PvE content, this guide made me push it into strikes and I can say I'm having a blast - I was literally overwhelmed by the amount of content and I had no idea how to "get involved". Thank you very much for the guides, they're amazing

[@dermuxx4917]

I searched Strike Missions on your channel two weeks ago because I want to do them regularly. The videos were good. But this stuff. That's exactly what I was looking for. Fantastic timing for me. Thanks a lot :D

[@joelm.]

"Kill the dummies (not your DPS, the straw ones)" Eles: what did I ever do to you?

[@missk1697]

"These people are insane" Well, someone had to finally say it.

[@OneAmancham]

I honestly love your way of summarizing content in a few simple steps. Makes the strikes sound and look so much easier all of a sudden. Great video. Thank you very much. (also love your humor, but I'm sure, we all do. ^^)

[@ToshiShinto2]

Projectile block is handy for Kodans, Fraenir and Cold War: At Kodans you can block most autoattacks of the BowBear, additionally there is a phaser where everyone is targeted by an aoe, but that can be skipped by a projectile blocker, therefore you could keep on dps... fraenir is pretty much the same szenario. In Cold war and Boneskinner it just eases the fight, by taking pressure away from the group, especially handy with boneskinner.

[@JamesBond-gb1do]

Thank God you posted this vid, cos I was just hanging around the Eye of the North pretending like I knew what was going on.😁👍

[@brubanvenom]

The dislikes are from the ones who ask for Li on LFG for strikes

[@ChaosContrl]

What's an Li?

[@jethrojangles9541]

@@ChaosContrl externally-verifiable proof of past kills. I don't know the details at all

[@TQV3]

@@ChaosContrl legendary insight, which is earned from strike challenge mode or raid boss kills.

[@lindareinert5900]

Thank you for this! I was looking for a guide to strike missions and Tiffy Miss Wiffy sent me your link. (Even though I am a subscriber, I couldn't find this). I really find it helpful the way you and Tiffy explain things as you go. I Cannot thank you enough!!!!

[@MuklukYoutube]

I'm glad it helped! All the strike guides are gathered here if it helps you in the future: Guides on GW2 Strike Missions: mukluklabs.com/gw2-strike-mission-guides

[@Sovann_the_Mighty]

I've never gotten into strike missions, as I didn't know what to do, even though I raid. Thanks for the vid! It really helps! I was hfb on the ice snake boss and told to kinda spam stability, thought I missed the timing every time we got flung into the air.

[@MuklukYoutube]

Haha, yeah stability doesn't work on that "launch into the air" thing, you just have to deal with it.

[@mikedsps]

Thanks for this, especially the bit about not standing in the Whisper of Jormags hit box. I got a lot of grief once about the fact that me and two others didn't know how to do that strike and were killing people with the chains, now I was melee (bs axe/axe) and was moving when I needed to so I was a bit baffled... then I remembered the staff daredevil who was moving and dodging into the boss hitbox all the time... so... not much I could do about that.

[@ItsASleepySheepy]

Note for the Boneskinner and Whisper of Jormag: if you fail the encounter and wipe, and you still see puddles of death goo/ice explosions in the arena even when you're all resetting back at the pylon, the instance itself will need to be reset, so everyone will need to leave and re-enter. I once had the Whisper of Jormag bug in the last 25% where he basically just went turbo mode and was constantly firing off his attacks so stupidly quickly that he'd start casting the next attack before his previous one finished. Conveniently, that was also the fight where my husband had just finished gearing up a healscourge and was testing/practicing it for the first time, and I think he was the only healer in our pug. We did beat it, but MAN was it a wild ride.

[@MrEnArC]

Literally watched these while doing the strikes and managed not to die... thanks for the tips bossman

[@hansgouws6590]

Thank you so much! Kind of sidelined a lot of the IBS content but currently looking to max out masteries again so this helps a lot. I'm a raid noob but a fractal veteran and didn't want to go into these blind and frustrating teammates by making avoidable mistakes.

[@Marunylos]

what a striking video you've made, well done

[@Slanghappy]

this comment strikes me as punny

[@arisu9417]

After a year of playing I finally got brave enough to try strikes (with a random chaotic pug lol) as I'm in a desperate need of those skyscale shards. And even though I'll probably see chains everywhere for the rest of the week, it was fun!

[@tonimi137]

In Cold War, it isn't the speed that gets you more chests, but how many helicopters you shoot down with the charzookas. My groups have tested this. Projectile block also works for Boneskinner to make things easier.

[@MuklukYoutube]

-In Cold War every time you kill an enemy the little bar at the top right fills a bit, filling more for helicopters and minibosses. Every time the bar fills the chest counter goes up by one and the bar resets. With high enough dps groups I've gotten 8 chests on it. - Yes! Projectile block can be helpful if you don't have enough pulls on boneskinner, the little adds use projectiles.

[@SandersChicken]

Oh yeah, having 2 guys specifically target and down every heli asap gets us about 7 chest each time

[@lucleadergaming3487]

Cool! Thanks. Came back after 2 years and didnt know what strikes were

[@frankyz]

thanks for the tips; simple and straight forward

[@lucasferes3519]

I just got the tag yesterday and formed a squad with two friends and rest random players. We did the 3 easier one first and it all went pretty damn well. I tried to divide the subs as to guarantee all boons and healing were good enough. Today i wanna to the rest. Thanks for this guide

[@Jepysauce]

Returning player from between HoT and PoF, and WOW these look so easy but fun! I've been struggling with CM 99 and 100 the past few days, and I think I might just take a break and do these and some of the first raid wings :) I was a little intimidated to do strikes bc when I played every group was looking for LI which... didn't match up with the fact I'd been told that strikes are SUPER easy. This video confirms that they're just clowns,,, Thanks for the great guides as always! You're such a great boon to the community and I hope you always will be :)

[@datmanbrooksiehd875]

1:41 you were very polite about the people who didn’t get there first this time :)

[@SpottedWithin]

Encountered a new bug today, idk how it happened but a squad mate got downed in spookyland by their clone at the 25% mark and that caused the boss to disappear. They rezzed themselves and were stuck in spookyland, they /gg'd and the boss went back to being targetable again, so might be worth it to not totally wipe if that happens - hopefully this PSA helps someone in the future

[@HiSpeedOxygen]

I did forging steel solo, is that normal?

[@zaeryzenn]

Admittedly, I've done it under a dozen times, but I always use my utility skills on my clone and have never seen Whisper get bugged.

[@Akria1999]

About to start the video. This looks rlly helpful! Is it bad that I can clear almost every raid and have legendary armor, but have never stepped foot in a strike mission before? Lol idk but I think today is the day. Thank you for your high quality videos Muk!

[@MuklukYoutube]

Certainly not bad, I think a lot of us shy away from trying new content. I myself avoided raids until I wanted coalescence so bad I made myself try them :P

[@rouxipanda1053]

"don't run around with a chain or you'll cut everyone in half" ... i do feel like this phrase was made for me ghahahah

[@samuelvine]

Me too lmao, since I literally did this to Muk myself.... whoops!

[@noelic6744]

Great timing! Now that they made Eye of the North available to free players I just had to teach two of my f2p friends how to do them. I'll just show them towards this video next time.

[@_yugo]

But Strikes are not available for F2P accounts are they? I thought its only the hub and Marionette

[@manmataya]

@@_yugo still educational when they do get the xpac

[@_yugo]

@@manmataya That was not my question but thank you it still answers it somehow

[@noelic6744]

@@_yugo Ooo, is that so? Well, they're in for a slap in the face when they log in. I shouldn't have hyped them up for it so much. Well, whatever. Maybe it'll encourage them to buy the game? Who knows?

[@_yugo]

@@noelic6744 Would be cool :D the more the better As I said I don't know whether you can only do strikes with Icebrood Saga so thats why I asked in the first place xD

[@alectts4253]

love the video! woulda been helpful to know if strike rewards are weekly or daily though

[@MuklukYoutube]

I agree, should've included that. The first time you clear a strike each day gets you the "big loot". You can farm it repeatedly but you get the most loot on the first clear of a strike each day. The big chest in eye of the north is once a week.

[@TerraWing]

You forgot to mention this for Shiverpeaks Pass. When the fight starts, just roll your face on your keyboard to win.

[@rainbowturtle]

With chains, if YOU have the chain, it does pay to be right outside of his hitbox. If anyone gets close enough to you to be taking damage from the chain at that point its their own fault, but it protects those who maintain healthy social distancing guidelines during the fight. DO NOT get in the hitbox on whisperer, though.

[@loonela]

Do not rez people with chains either unless you are confident in your position; always be between boss + downed if you're chain rezzing, or better yet yell at the DPS to rez.

[@xeri6760]

Coming back to the game after a hiatus I'm happy to hear people still want to do this content. It's actually the biggest problem I have with most MMOs in general is that some content just becomes impossible to do because nobody wants to do it.

[@MuklukYoutube]

I've been there before in previous games. Any time they raise the level cap that tends to make old content soloable or dead.

[@rremnar]

Like dungeons; I want to do them for leveling up but no one is doing them. It kinda sucks having to level alts solo just on clearing maps.

[@JasonCebedo]

Strike missions in GW2 are basically dark souls boss fights in a nutshell. Dodge rolling and hitting the boss till it dies lol

[@DespicableMe007]

haha I like it ..... am a semi new player and I enjoy this with pugs ..... still not unlocked Ice Brood storyline yet .... strike is a good way to test your skills and practice rotations

[@maqseedal-maqseed3196]

best video guide ... thank you

[@MaxSeidel1]

Another thing about the Bugs at Whisper of Jormag. Don´t know if it is superstition, but but ppl are tending to NOT CC the breakbar below 30% as that seems to trigger Disco chains and machine gun mechanics.

[@black07rr]

Is forging steel part of the story line for that area?

[@loessgebiet]

nice! thank you :)

[@haxelhimura]

Was that... "Now you know how to do all the strikes. You're welcome." a dig at JoCat lol

[@skrubknight884]

maybe but its also not necessarily the most original line in "get to the point" type explanations of things

[@tuffigk8235]

Thank you 🙏 Excellent video guide

[@trlavalley9909]

​ @Rizon1985 Dungeons were the original endgame, but esp in story mode some people would pause for Clips, and some push on, so it could be a challenge to keep a PUG together, Then Came Fractals, Next Raids which Quickly became an Elite Zone, and finally Strikes which I believe were made to provide a Bridge to Raids, because as I said they had become an Elite(ist) Zone. So yes Dungeons have been Neglected for years, not sure the new Daily system is going to help them at all.

[@westcoastwarriorsarchive7929]

is there a trick to placing the flesh wurm for whisper of jormag? it seems that most times I try it the wurm does nothing. But sometimes it blocks all of them or only half.

[@MuklukYoutube]

Yeah, it has to be dead center in his hit box

[@SpottedWithin]

"you will die unless a heal scourge loves you" FACTS

[@ripkm-iwaly]

Li on LFG is definitely insane, why the hell do people want me to be raid level of experience and gear when i'm barely getting into the endgame PvE with strikes

[@superleipoman]

Are daily strikes worth doing or only weekly?

[@vert3x560]

"this ppl are insane" love u XD

[@dylanwarwick4429]

TIL Stormsounder has different effects depending on the day... I thought it was always flash freeze.

[@Killerbot23]

Rev spirits also block WoJ orbs, every group has an alac anyway so necros don't really have to waste a slot

[@MisterNo1111]

On the point, Thnx:)))

[@bpk0666]

was that a jocat reference????

[@chrysline6539]

@Mukluk, can we rename the title to "Intro to IBS Strikes" instead of "every strike"? I'm adding this to a (KZbin playlist Strikes guide) compilation for newbies in our guild. But the "every strike" in the title might make them think EoD strikes are included.

[@MuklukYoutube]

adjusted title and pinned a comment

[@gg3-yobm675]

people keep asking for my KP and UFE in fractals all the time... is that mandatory?

[@paulogaspar8295]

no, those people just want to run the fractals on first try and don't want new players in their team because they think new players are bad and they don't want to waste even a second teatching you. In reallity most of the people who ask for that are the ones who don't know how to play and need good players to do the fractals. My advice is to advertise yourself as a new player and go with other new players do the fractals, or find a guild or group that does fractals with you.

[@epiclord7039]

Since you don’t want to stand in whisperers hit box, can you still use melee?

[@MuklukYoutube]

Yes, you can hit most mobs from a few feet/meters away, you dont have to stand inside of their graphic.

[@wooldsonandre8934]

Hello after last update my FPS drop 63/90+ for 3/12 FPS, i found solution in your video about addon manager DirectX 12, thank you very much for the video, It helped a lot.

[@medulla78]

uhm sorry I'm kinda new to strikes but just want to know if you can solo the first 3 you mentioned? I asked because I usually play solo cuz I have no friends who plays video games so I'm mostly alone lol

[@JonnesTT]

6:48 Aren't those also straw? At least they drop as easily lol. JK I main thief I'm squish too. (But I have infinite dodge :p)

[@mane101970]

saw someone asking for 250kp for strikes

[@credentz]

Who is Li?

[@xeri6760]

Sorry if I missed this in the video but is the person with the highest toughness the tank in all of these encounters?

[@MuklukYoutube]

None of these encounters use a toughness based tank. The bosses just do what they want at whoever they want.

[@inkubusgaming]

Wait did he just end this with a JoCat reference?

[@iSeeSoundsShow]

Cool video and all. Still not going to do a fractal/strike/raid until GW3 is launched

[@paulogaspar8295]

what? How does that makes any sence? Gw3 is not going to be launched in the next years, if ever. And even if it was, if it was lauched and people moved to the new game then you would do this content in gw2? wtf?

[@iSeeSoundsShow]

@@paulogaspar8295 yeah I was sarcastic. I'm never playing fractals/strikes/raids. Never will.

[@paulogaspar8295]

@@iSeeSoundsShow Well if you where being sarcastic I don't think you did it well but ok sure. Sorry for that.

[@dousan6515]

What's a tool tip? (I kid)

[@rremnar]

Nice quick tutorials; but you forgot to mention you need to unlock certain masteries to get the treasure, and to use the pylons to get the buffs they spew out. So if you finish a strike and are locked out from looting the chests, it's because you don't have the masteries for them. You also forgot to mention the treasure box next to the portal, that after completing the strikes you can open it but it is suggested to use 3 shards for it. These you can get from the NPC nearby.

[@MrOskiee]

Can these be done with pugs? Or do I need to find a group?

[@MuklukYoutube]

I usually pug with the group finder, so my experience is there.

[@Maximum_Watts]

"Getting ascended gear and every IBS" - Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

[@MrGoldsmitch]

yesss

[@lordbetty4806]

I got kicked from a group today for not having 250x killproof on boneskinner, never done a strike mission before but regularly doing t4 fracs and raids typically being top dps in the group and i've got alot of exp doing raids in different mmo games. I joined another group and It was brain dead easy, literally barely had to learn any mechanics and came out as 2nd in dps in most of the Strike Missions that we did.

[@LeDracodon]

Well, I am a fresh player and when I tried to get info on raids (difficulty, what are wings, length, exotic enough ?, etc ...) I got so much different answers. Some said that the first wings were ok in exotic and it is fun content if I was focused and some were dead serious about it, that you need very endgame gear with legendaries and have a very coordonnated group. At the end, I decided to run a training group, very specifically called "Noob only". We spend 5 hours and didn't kill the last boss of W1 BUT I had fun, I learned and having arcdps, I could see that some poeple had less than 2k dps and no utility so definetly not ascended so with a bit more experienced players and a more clear leadership (because I lead and I learned the mechanics on the spot), it was very doable. I see the same thing on strikes, when I search in lfg there is so much group demanding Kill proof or Insights for training strikes it is very daunting and soooo detrimental for players wanting to go into strike but not knowing anything. And at the end, I am here making more reaserch than playing the game because people gatekeep so hard.

[@lordbetty4806]

@@LeDracodon exotiska gear is more than fine if you're not braindead

[@LeDracodon]

@@lordbetty4806 Yeah, that's what I found out myself but some players gatekeep so hard it is both hilarious to imagine them sweating for the first strike in exotic and depressing.

[@ruisen2000]

Mukluk: "Shiverpeaks pass: he doesn't have a dangerous ability" Me doing Shiverpeaks pass for the first time on my ele: goes into downstate 3 times while being stacked on raid

[@MuklukYoutube]

O.O I'm sorry you went through that. Did your group have a healer in it?

[@ruisen2000]

@@MuklukKZbin No idea lol, everyone in game just tells me "yeah that's just normal ele gameplay" lol. Rerolled and tried out your autoboomer build and I am happy to report that I am no longer in downstate haha

[@Goremize]

Oh, the tank strike is literally just the story mission

[@Kikikongkun]

Hi!, I love U man

[@MuklukYoutube]

And I love YOU random citizen

[@felipedroppelmann1565]

Summary of the video: Doooooddggeeeee! Strikes should advertised more ingame, they are not challenging, but can teach some mechanics of the game to player. Also never go to an public strikes...they are always abandonded.. maybe the daily one will have some people at reset..

[@ALBERTOUCATOLICA]

bring all the stab u can :D

[@TheGreenDeath8914]

For what bosses and which attacks specifically?

[@ALBERTOUCATOLICA]

@@TheGreenDeath8914 all boses have knock backs backs every few seconds so you want syg on fb and jalis on alac, maybe for whisper you dont need perma stab (only at 25%)

[@oOKenduOo]

Ok the shiverpeak pass boss still dies without anyone trying. I mean i like the easier entry etc but boss shouldnt be worse than a champion in open world xddd

[@skunkix]

is this a reupload O.o?

[@MuklukYoutube]

Nope. I've had guides for boneskinner, coldwar, and whisper of jormag before but they were all right after the fights came out and bloated with information. This is the first video like this I've done for strikes.

[@yesman5164]

comment

[@minkuspower]

Forging Steel is not a strike mission

[@Marunylos]

and why not?

[@eonBlackfire]

It has a hum over the bonus weekly chest with the other strikes, so it may as well be.

[@minkuspower]

@@Marunylos because it's a vision of the past. just like how a dungeon is not a fractal. ever notice how forging steel is available from the scrying pool and not the asura gate?

[@Marunylos]

​@@minkuspower then why is it listed as a strike in the wiki, shares the weekly chest with other strikes AND the NPC next to the chest even refers to ALL 5 ECHOES as "[...] echoes from treasure from Strike Mission" (which includes forging steel)? you can't tell me that you know more about it then the developer besides, what else is it supposed to be?

[@minkuspower]

@@Marunylos that chest doesn't make it a strike, and you know the wiki is made by players, right?

[@mastergrandpa3654]

To fast for someone in my age, sorry :/

[@butterydeath7145]

I still prefer kp strikes squads over normal. Anyone on eu knows its the normal.

[@mrbladez8274]

same

[@butterydeath7145]

i just want to go into strikes sometimes knowing all 10 people will be doing there role well or doing good dps. making it so we can get all gold in a very efficient manner.

[@stephenheart1916]

Why do you sound so annoyed? lol

[@MuklukYoutube]

It's just a character, I always do that for the "get to the point" videos.

[@Stdeo7]

Here we frikkin go lol..I like this character

[@DerechteAlbrechtDürer]

With no Duty Finder... the group finder ANet threw into the game last minute is insultingly bad btw and utterly useless... Strike Missions are D.O.A.

[@LordFerret920]

Yeah that's way incorrect. They've been in the game for years and are quite popular.

[@lnnova2436]

Mukluk is calling me insane noo I guess we should ask for no requirements and spend an hour for strikes, if we don’t wipe at boneskinner :(

[@missk1697]

He's right, you are biased elitist