User:XT-8147/How to pull properly

Having played a rather disproportionate amount of time on my ranger during the five years I've been playing Guild Wars, I've gotten used to pulling enemies. Over this time, I've found that certain things can affect a pull for better or for worse. I'm writing this article to share what I've learned through much trial and error.

Pulling isn't just some fringe tactic that's only useful in a handful of areas, it can make every single area of the game easier, especially on Hard Mode. For it to have any value to your party, it must be done properly. It's not always possible to pull, but when it is possible, give it serious consideration.

This article assumes a fairly balanced party is in use, generally containing two of the game's available melee classes as a frontline, with more than one party member in a healing role, generally one each of "red bars go up" and "make red bars go down more slowly". The rest of the party can be any composition.

I like to have a fairly clear division of tasks in my parties, both as individual party members and as arbitrarily defined groups. This should become apparent as you read through this article. I firmly believe that each party member should pick one thing to do and do it well, rather than trying to fit multiple unrelated tasks onto a single skill bar. This is the principle of a "well-oiled machine", a group where everything Just Works&trade; and unforseen issues are dealt with in the proper manner.

Who does the pulling?
The classic choice for a puller is a ranger, but really, anyone can do it. Weapon switching is in the game for a reason, use it. Melee classes should carry a flatbow on weapon switch for pulling. Backline classes should generally avoid being the puller except in certain circumstances where it can be useful. The stats on a bow used solely for pulling don't matter at all, so just pick up the next random white one you see drop while playing the game. As long as it's a longbow or a flatbow, you're good to go. I personally prefer a flatbow as their attack speed is faster, but I play a ranger and thus don't have to switch weapons after pulling.

All of that having been said, this article is written around having a ranger as a puller. If this ranger has a pet, they should have its control window open and set it to Heel whenever setting up a pull. Once the party has engaged, the pet can be set back to Guard or be assigned a specific target.

Enemy group types
For the purposes of this article, there are three types of enemy groups. From least threatening to most threatening, they are stationary groups, patrols, and pop-ups. Each needs its own strategies to be dealt with, though don't over-strategize and skimp on overall party damage. The best defense is a good offense.

Pulling methods

 * Bow: The best possible way to pull is to fire a flatbow from a higher altitude than the enemies, at the maximum available range.
 * Wand/Staff: If a sufficiently ranged bow is not available, a wand or staff can be used. They have less range, so the puller needs to be more careful.
 * Spell: Casting a spell on an enemy can also work, though in general is not a preferred method. This works best when the spell is a Water Magic area of effect slow hex (best candidates: Ice Spikes and Deep Freeze) and is cast on a stationary group that has converged, so it hits the entire group.  If you're worried about casting time, bring something to speed it up.
 * Aggro: The absolute least preferred method is pulling by walking into aggro range of the enemies. If a height advantage can't be obtained and the party doesn't have a suitable spell to cast, this may be your only option.
 * Hero: The aggro pulling method can be done by flagging a hero forwards and then flagging them back behind the party once enemies take notice. This is a slightly safer method of aggro pulling.

Overextend
In order to exploit the game's aggro mechanics in your party's favor, your puller needs to run out of casting range of your party's healers. As this would suggest, the puller needs to have a good knowledge of enemy skills and movement speeds, as well as environmental hazards and any terrain snags. This isn't too difficult to figure out on the fly.

Spacing is key
The puller needs to know what the proper enemy spacing is to pull a manageable group. This is a bit less than an aggro radius around the enemy. Some enemies aggro from farther away, specifically at spirit range. These include Kournan Spotters and Siege Devourers. Very few will aggro from farther than this.

Stationary enemy groups follow a pattern that is useful for pulling. They will wander around for a while, then periodically they will all converge on a single spot. If the puller waits until the enemies converge to pull, it's easier to get a controlled group.

Patrols often stop for brief moments, so if your party has set up off of the beaten path to wait for a patrol, ambush them when they stop.

Timing is of the essence
The puller needs to know the exact timing for firing their bow and turning around to run back. It's not rocket science, wait for the arrow to appear on screen, then turn around and book it. The better you get the timing, the more time you have before enemies can use skills to inflict damage or restrict movement.

The puller is in control
The party should follow the puller's lead when setting up for a pull. Voice chat facilitates this, but the compass works just as well. The party should refrain from drawing or pinging on the compass while a pull is being orchestrated, so as to not mess with the puller's party direction efforts. If the party has Favorable Winds available, the puller should control its placement, and the party should remain stationary nearby it.

If the puller is using the compass, the party should know that the line drawn on the compass as a "go no further" guide indicates not the positioning of party members, but rather the forward edge of their aggro circle. The reason for this is that enemies check up to an aggro radius behind the first party member they see for more party members, and for an ideal pull we don't want them to see anyone else.

The party is an element of pulling
The rest of the group shouldn't remain ignorant to the whole process, they play a very vital role. When the puller indicates that the pull is successful, and only then, even if the puller is firing multiple shots, the party should run forwards to engage. While the puller is setting up, the party should organize itself so that the melee classes are in front and the casters are behind by about an aggro radius. When it's time to run forwards, maintain this relative spacing.

When using heroes and henchmen, whoever is controlling them should flag them back with the party, and cancel the flag when it's time to run forwards.

A case for firing multiple shots during a pull: Getting started in Perdition Rock involves traversing an area covered by a large number of patrols. Among these patrols are groups of Mahgo Hydras, which have Meteor Shower. A ranger puller bringing a couple of interrupts can pull the hydras, then interrupt as many of the Meteor Showers as possible before bringing them back to the party. Interrupts should be fired in the order of their recharge time, lowest to highest. Doing this lets the party engage without having to dodge falling flaming rocks, and is highly preferable to the alternative, where the party gets engulfed in three Meteor Showers and wipes.

About allies
Uncontrollable allies, whose lives may or may not be crucial to any mission or quest your party is doing, make pulling more difficult. In the case where they will follow a specific party member, typically whoever talks to them, make sure they're following one of your backliners. Tell them to stay put on each pull, and have them follow between pulls.

Summoning stone allies are very bad for pulling tactics, as they will run in when the puller begins attacking. If used properly they can be an extra party member to dump aggro on during a pull, however. The puller should not use a summoning stone, ever.

Enemies aren't stupid
Your puller needs to know about how far the enemies will pull. They should have in mind the exact spot the battle should take place at. Meanwhile, the rest of the party should wait until the pull is successful.

Use terrain to your advantage
The terrain features of a zone are rarely smooth, and have corners and chokepoints everywhere that can be used to your party's advantage. When using one of these spots, it should be between the puller and the rest of the party, with the melee classes lined up to body block enemies. The melee classes should remain motionless in this case, and let the puller run past them. The positioning decisions should rest solely on the puller's shoulders.

It's best to not have the puller and warriors' aggro circles overlap those of the rest of the party, but usually this isn't needed. Due to the positioning of your melee classes, your aggro circle merely needs to be behind them, but not touching them. Healers should stay as far as possible from the melee classes while still being able to cast on them.

Calling targets
This is very important, but is secondary to making sure that aggro has settled. Everyone should know their class and do their thing while aggro is settling, but should remain very cautious during this stage. Once enemies have stopped moving, call a suitable target, such as the enemy healer. At this point, the party should know which of your melee classes is taking the brunt of the damage. Have the other one dump aggro and engage the called target. If both go, the front line collapses and enemies can romp about the backline.

Oddly enough, while it helps to eliminate an enemy healer in the beginning of the fight, some healers can be safely ignored. It depends on the skills they use, and the skills your party has. If your party has enough damage to take down a single target that's being healed, do so.

Generally, the puller should be the one calling targets. However, if your healer calls a target, it's generally because there's something in the backline beating on them, and you would be wise to get it off of them as soon as possible. Try to do so without collapsing the front line if possible.

Not every pull goes well
In the event of a bad pull, don't linger. The puller should know the difference between what a good pull looks like and what a bad pull looks like, and should signal on a bad pull for a full party retreat. The rest of the party should learn this as they go along. If there's a large amount of red dots headed your way, or something unexpected happens, be ready for the puller to call a retreat.

The job of puller should not be filled by a player who is going for the survivor title. If you're playing such a character alone with heroes and henchmen, you may have no choice but to be the puller, in which case you should be even more cautious than you normally are. In this case, you may prefer to use the hero flagging method of pulling.

Wait out enemy conflicts
Some enemies are aggressive to each other, and your party may encounter them already fighting. It may be tempting to run up and wreak havoc while their attention is diverted, but this can backfire. It's best to set up as if you were pulling and then wait. Your puller should watch the fight, and when it's clear which side is victorious, then your party should engage. There's a small threshold for engaging while members of both enemy groups are still alive, generally this is when the losing group only has one or two members left, and their health is low.

When these inter-enemy conflicts are known, it can be advantageous to purposefully aggro one group onto the other. This should ideally be done by a party member with a shadow step and/or a speed stance. Doing this won't get your party any drops as you won't be getting credit for the kills, but if it makes a tedious area more easily passable, then by all means, go for it.

Use aggro anomalies to your advantage
There are cases where enemies that look like they should aggro together don't actually do so. Generally these occur in Factions, where most often a boss can be aggroed separately from their accompanying group. Sometimes doing this involves pulling the boss away from their spawn area, as the rest of the enemies will be hidden and appear when the party gets close enough.

Utilize common sense
Stationary groups are less threatening than patrols. When working through an area, you will want to secure your position by eliminating patrols. If possible, try to flank the patrols to let the pulling tactics work their stuff. Pop-up groups exist, of course, so when advancing, the party should watch their radar. If anything suddenly appears, your puller should call a target immediately (C-(Ctrl-Space)) and stop moving. Pop-up groups for the most part can only be dealt with in an unorganized manner, so just get it done.

In the process of "getting it done", try to work from the unorganized beginning to an organized end. Since enemies prefer stationary targets to moving ones, your party's backline should move between using skills to try and dump aggro. A fairly reliable aggro dumping method is to put a more durable party member between yourself and the enemy. Once the enemy engages the more durable party member, move somewhere less precarious as necessary. This may be obvious, but if for some strange reason it isn't: it's far easier on your healers to only have one or two party members taking damage.

If your party has someone with a shadow step that targets an ally, you can approach pop-ups in a slightly more organized manner. Have the party member with the shadow step run ahead of the party. They should watch for pop-ups. When one happens, they should call a target and then shadow step back to safety.

Watch your aggro circle at all times, especially if moving around during battle. You absolutely do not want to aggro anything extra onto your party at any time. Your healers will hate you forever.

Healers shouldn't panic
It is normal for the puller to take some damage from time to time during a pull. Healers should expect this and wait to run forwards until the puller retreats. The party's healers, of course, should still act if the puller is taking too much damage. The priority healing target on a pull is the puller, followed by the melee class(es) that the puller dumps aggro onto. Generally speaking, unless the puller has been snared, the healers should wait until the puller reaches their spellcasting range to heal. Outside of these guidelines, knowledge of when to heal is a part of playing a healer. It's dependent upon build and environment, and is outside the scope of this article.

Speed is your greatest enemy
Generally, party wipes are caused by party members trying to rush forwards when the party isn't ready to do so. This can be fueled by any number of contributing criteria. It's best to try and achieve a balance between speed and reliability as you move through an area. Moving quickly can keep the party from aggroing unnecessarily in some cases, but avoiding too many enemy groups can leave your party in a very bad position.

Move forward not with speed, but with confidence. From the confidence comes the necessary speed. If your party is incapable of advancing reliably, moving faster won't do you any good.