So I had a pretty epic, random moment that showed off the combat system and the world design of the game.
I was at this Norn outpost in the southernmost end of Lornar's Pass. CrystalGemini is with me, and I go there just to sell some stuff and then afk to refill my cup IRL. When I get back, CG informs me that there's a vista and a cave, but the cave is "not that deep" and "there's no way to get to that vista". I look and see the vista. It's atop some rocks on the side of the mountain we're near. I try going up some nearby rocks, but that path quickly ends. CG points out a rock that you must jump down from in order to get to the ledge with the vista. The rock is way up there though. I scroll back the map and see what looks like a pathway up the mountain some bit further up north. Now CG has to AFK and I say, "well if this path leads there, I'll drop a Mesmer Portal for you to get up to the vista." And with that, off I go on my little adventure.
I come across the mountain pathway and see its lined with Ettisn and Grubs. Grubs are worm creatures not worth worrying about, but Ettins are some of the hardest hitting mobs in the game. One of their club swings can take out half your health, and they also do a knockdown. Pretty nasty if you don't dodge. I didn't feel like fighting a horde of Ettins, so I change my weapon and skill setup to stealth and escape. This is what I equipped:
Staff
1
Winds of Chaos Bounce an orb of energy between foes and allies that applies random boons to allies and random conditions to foes.
2
Phase Retreat Clone Teleport away from your target, summoning a clone that casts Winds of Chaos.
3
Phantasmal Warlock Phantasm Summon an illusion that deals extra damage for each unique condition on the target foe.
4
Chaos Armor Give yourself chaos armor, which gives yourself [sic] random boons and your foe random conditions whenever you are struck.
5
Chaos Storm Create a magical storm at the target location that applies random conditions to foes and random boons to allies.
Skill Type Description
Sword
1
Mind Slash Chain Slash your foe to make them vulnerable.
- -Mind Gash Gash your foe to make them vulnerable.
---Mind Stab Stab your foe and rip a boon off of them.
2
Blurred Frenzy Strike your foe with a flurry of strikes, distorting the space around you, making you evade attacks.
3
Illusionary Leap Clone Summon an illusion that leaps at your target, crippling them.
- Swap Swap locations with your clone. Immobilize nearby foes.
Torch
4
The Prestige Disappear in a cloud of smoke, blinding nearby foes. Reappear three seconds later, burning nearby foes.
5
Phantasmal Mage Phantasm Create an illusion that confuses foes and grants retaliation to allies.
Decoy Clone Gain stealth and summon an illusion to attack your foe.
Blink Manipulation Teleport to a target location.
Signet of Inspiration Signet Passive: Grants a random boon every ten seconds. Active: Copy all of your boons to nearby allies.
Plus my heal skill and a elite called Time Warp, which is like a AOE targeted Heroism/Bloodlust.
Anyways, I go in and use my stealth, escapes and decoys to avoid fighting mobs. At the very top route, I find several Veteran level Ettins and one Champion Ettin boss. I'm like fuck that and go around to the other pathway. As I get there, I notice a player in that exact area near the Vista ledge has gone down and has two ettins beating his face in. I pop in, drop some Illusions to mess with the Ettins, drop Chaos Shield on myself, and then Chaos Storm on top of them all, and then rez the Engineer player. He gets up and we finish off the two Ettins. We both try hopping on the rock ledge there to get to that vista, but neither of us figure out how to do it. So we both head back up the mountain, killing Ettins along the way.
We both make our way back to that top path, hoping therein lies the route to the Vista. Before us stand about three to four Veteran Ettins (think oldschool wow elites). We pull them one by one, using our skills. I notice the Engineer is using a bunch of turrets and we're handling these Ettins pretty well. After we clear out the Veteran Ettins, the boss Champion Ettin remains. (Higher up than an Elite, like a dungeon boss almost.) Just beyond the Champion Ettin is a hut with a treasure chest inside. So it's like.. AH HAH! We stand there staring at the boss, and make sure there's no more vet Ettins around. We don't talk to each other, but I go in first with a Chaos Storm on top of the boss, followed by my Warlock Phantasm. The fight begins.
Both of us are pretty good at kiting, and I'm using my all my Phantasms right off the bat. About a quarter of a way in, a Ranger shows up and joins our fight. He goes down pretty quickly, but we rez him up. The Engy has dropped all his turrets. He has a healing turret which applies Regeneration to allies, a Net turret which immobilizes, and a Flame Turret that does burning and has a second option to emit blinding smoke. The Ranger has his pet to tank a little, and he's using Healing Spring as a group and self heal. I am using Chaos Storm as often as I can, for the daze and other conditions disable the boss, along with the swap off my Illusion Leap chainskill to immobilize the Boss and keep him off the other two. The Net turret is netting the boss inbetween my Swap immobolizations. Every time I swap in, I follow with a Blurred Frenzy so the boss cannot hit me while I'm close. After that, I strafe around back of the boss and hit from behind. When he turns on me, I use The Prestige to Blind him and creep around in stealth. I also use the Prestige to blind him before he tries to hit the others. I then weapon swap again back to Staff to Chaos Storm and keep Warlock DPS up. Off and on, I'll shatter to inflict damage, or to pull off a Diversion to daze the Boss and disable his damage. The Engineer is using his Net Turret and bleeds, and Flame Turrets blind. The Ranger is using ranged attacks, pet tanking and Healing Spring. We basically ktie/disable the boss continuously.
Then the Veteran Ettins respawn on top of us. The Ranger goes down again, but we bring him back up. I switch my Phantasms to the Veterans, and my primary attacks to the Boss. The Phantasms and AOE take down the Veterans, and I AOE blind with Prestige whenever they are about to attack.
It's a long fight, but eventually we take the Boss and all the respawns down. It involved a lot of teamplay. We combo fielded to apply heals to ourselves via the Ranger or Engineer's aoe healing skills, or by Chaos Shield effects off my Chaos Storm. I also had the trait that made my Phantasms periodically grant Regeneration to nearby allies, so keeping my Phantasms up kept a Heal over Time tick on all three of us.
I loot the boss, get a masterwork item, and then we open the chest and I get like four blues out of it. So a good haul of loot was had and it was a pretty challenging, skilled fight. Then.. it was back to trying to find a way to the vista. The top route had no way up there, so we went back to the cliff where I found the Engineer fighting for his life. Eventually, the Engineer finds the angle between one rock to the next to make it over the ledge. I follow him, hop over the rock, and down to the ledge with the Vista. CG is back from AFK, I equip Portal and drop a portal at the rock top, and one down below by her. Mission Accomplished.
