Spiker

A spiker is a player whose goal is to quickly inflict massive amounts of damage to a single target, with the tactic of taking them down quickly. This is in contrast with a Nuker, whose objective is to deal large amounts of damage to multiple targets. A nuker basically overwhelms a healer, while a spiker would overpower a healer.

Spikers are usually Elementalists using Air Magic or Earth Magic, but some Necromancer builds can work as well. Air Magic is considered the best option because its spells cannot be evaded and because of their armor penetration.

Spikers are very popular in PvP, as most players are smart enough to get out of a nuker's AoE spells, but are not as adept as dodging spells aimed at them.

One way to avoid spiking is to take spikers down and send focus your strong attacks on them... Take advantage of the fact that their armor is weak. Another tactic is to bring protection against elemental damage. A third tactic is to neutralize them with mesmer skills.