Guide:GvG Basics

Introduction to Guild Battles.

GvG Mechanics

 * GvG is an 8v8 format with no skill restrictions. Two guild members (including an officer in the guild) are required to enter a GvG match.
 * You play in guild halls which are mostly symmetrical maps, containing an NPC guild lord along with various other NPCs and a flag.
 * The Guild Lord is a special NPC with 1680 HP, high base health regeneration, and both melee and ranged attacks. All guild halls have the guild lord protected by a Bodyguard (heals the guild lord), two Knights (warriors that output useful physical damage and have [[Healing Signet@9]), and Archers (rangers with [[Pin Down] and [[Troll Unguent@9]), with more Archers strewn across the guild hall's perimeter. Some maps also have two Footmen (warriors with lower damage output) and one Archer near the entrance to each base.
 * The match is won by killing the enemy's guild lord. In the event that neither guild lord is dead at 28:00, the team that inflicted more damage on the opposing team's lord (subject to some modifiers) wins. →Read more...
 * Deaths incur 15% death penalty, outside of exceptions such as dying too quickly consecutively or because of skills such as [[Death Pact Signet (PvP)]. Dead players who have less than 60% death penalty will automatically resurrect every two minutes, beginning at 2:00. Killing an enemy player removes 2% death penalty for players that are alive.
 * The flag is a bundle item. Interacting with the flagstand while holding the flag captures the stand for your team, starting a 2-minute countdown. If the other team does not end this countdown by capturing the stand themselves, the holding team receives a morale boost (10% morale bonus and all skills recharged).
 * Flux is a global effect that affects all PvP formats, including GvG. On the 1st of each month, the next flux in the rotation of 12 takes effect. A list of fluxes can be seen at Flux.

Basic Tactics/Terminology

 * Spiking is defined as focusing burst damage on a target. Depending on the build and situation, this can be done for differing purposes - while any kind of spike can force the enemy monks to cast, “clean” spikes are intended to take a target from full to zero before the monks can react. →Read more...
 * Splitting is the action of dividing one’s team for tactical purposes.
 * Pressure refers to outdamaging a team’s ability to heal incoming damage in the long run.
 * Flagging refers to the process of bringing the flag out of the base and capturing the flagstand. Nominally, the dedicated flagger/runner in builds is responsible for this, but this is usually not a viable option since the flagger’s healing is crucial to the team’s survival. Consequentially, the specific character designated to carry a flag will vary according to circumstance. →Read more...

Individual Builds
The GvG builds can be categorized into the following archetypes:
 * Frontliners serve as primary damage dealers and offensive coordinators. Due to game mechanics (ability to inflict deep wounds for an instant functional +100 damage and weapon autoattacks inflicting high DPS for free in comparison to casters), melee professions are the most efficient source of damage both overall and on spikes, making at least one mandatory in all builds that aren't exceptionally specialized.
 * Midliners provide utility and damage support. The exact nature varies considerably depending on the individual build and its role in the team build. Their common feature is, in contrast to frontline characters, ranged damage, which allows team-wide coordination of damage and constant skill or attack usage even against moving opponents.
 * Backline consists of three healers which work in conjunction to ensure that team members do not die unnecessarily and can perform their tasks.
 * Split Characters are highly mobile characters designed to work independently as they split off the team. Their goal is to gain an advantage for the end of the match by removing opposing NPCs or to create skirmish situations which are disadvantageous for the opponent.

For a list of individual builds featured on PvX, see...
 * Meta GvG builds
 * Rated GvG builds
 * Unrated GvG builds

Team Builds
GvG builds do not consist of any eight individual bars thrown together; they require a high amount of synergy to function correctly, making each of the 64 skills in a team build crucial. In general, team builds fall under one of three archetypes derived from the three basic actions:


 * Spike builds rely on having enough damage to kill a target from full health on a spike. Depending on having enough damage output to do so usually entails keeping all the offensive characters together, making spike builds vulnerable to mobility.
 * Pressure builds are designed to output enough damage to overwhelm the enemy backline’s ability to keep the team alive over time. While generally simpler to execute offensively, pressure builds have trouble killing against defensive teams.
 * Split builds move offensive characters around the map to force advantageous mismatches against the defense. Having characters constructed to function away from the main team makes split builds very weak if forced into a situation where they are prevented from splitting.

Note that builds of each archetype are not restricted to functioning only along those lines. Spike builds often integrate pressure spikes into their offense – very frequent spikes that do not do maximum damage, but run the opposing monks out of energy because they need to cast constantly. Pressure builds, especially those involving rangers and a blood necromancer, have versatile characters capable of splitting as needed. Split builds, especially those with elementalists, have high damage spikes when the offense is together.

For a list of GvG team builds on GWPvX see [here].

Automated Tournaments
Automated tournaments (ATs) are the lifeblood of GvG. Without a critical mass of guilds playing ladder, the regularly scheduled times and guaranteed matches make ATs beacons of activity, particularly the Daily C (European hour).
 * ATs occur every day on a fixed schedule.
 * Before each AT, there is an hour-long registration period during which guilds can sign up at a cost of five Tournament Tokens (purchasable from Tolkano for 1000 Balthazar faction each). At least five guilds must enter for the AT to start.
 * Two human players who have been members of the guild for at least 7 days are required to play AT matches, and all players must have their accounts registered at Tolkano.
 * ATs run on a swiss format - after the first round, teams with the same record are paired against each other whenever possible, and the team in the lowest place receives a bye (an automatic win) if the number of participants is odd. ATs with 5-8 entrants have three rounds, 9-16 have four, and 17+ five.
 * At the beginning of each round, the pairings are made and five minutes of preparation time are provided. The actual match time of each round lasts 30 minutes.
 * On the third Saturday of each month at the same time, a Monthly Automated Tournament occurs. This differs from daily ATs in that there is a requirement for entry besides the fee (20 qualifier points from daily ATs since the previous monthly AT) and there is a 4-round single-elimination playoff portion after the swiss rounds involving the top 16 guilds.
 * In addition to the normal rewards of Balthazar faction for GvG matches, ATs award tournament reward points (RPs). Each won round in a daily AT is worth 3 RPs, each team that finishes all rounds receives a bonus of 15, while the top 25% of guilds that play matches in daily ATs earn a bonus of up to 60 for winning. Monthly ATs award large bonuses for making the top 16, which range from ~500 for losing in the first round of playoffs to 4500 and a permanent gold trim for victory.
 * The map rotation is fixed for each AT: the first round will always take place on the first map, the second round on the second map, and so forth. Rotations change on the 1st of every month. Note that the rotation displayed ingame at Tolkano is frequently inaccurate. See below for the correct rotation.

Guild Halls
The guild halls that you go afk in aren’t just for show, they’re also the maps that GvGs take place on. Each of them has its own unique layout and function, which combine to favor specific tactics/skills.