Costume Brawl (2009)

Overview
The Costume Brawl is a part of the Halloween festivals, first introduced during Halloween 2007. It allows players to join a PvP match looking like a notable person of the Guild Wars storyline of the same profession and gender of the character. Two randomly-grouped teams of 5 players each compete to be the first to 20 points. At the end of the match, every player on the winning team receives a prize.

Obtained from
 * Bobby in Lion's Arch, Kamadan, Droknar's Forge or Great Temple of Balthazar

Quotes
 * "After you speak with Bobby, you will enter the outpost for the Costume Brawl already dressed in your costume, with your skills selected. If you forgot a weapon, one will be spawned at your feet. From there, you will join the combat in one of two brand new arenas or two favorites from the Hero Battle series. Each brawl is free of Death Penalty, and each round will last ten minutes. At the end of a match, every player on the winning team will receive a prize."

Prize

 * 5 Trick-or-Treat Bags
 * 9+n Gamer Points (where n is the number of consecutive wins, the first win gets 10 points, the second 11, the third 12, and so on, up to a maximum of 41).
 * 40 Balthazar Faction for the first kill of each member of the opposing team, 20 Faction every time your team earns a point, and an additional 5 Faction per point for a victory.

Disguises
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Skills used

 * Each profession uses their corresponding skills listed below.
 * Gender of the character does not change these skills.

Warrior
Strength: 10, Hammer Mastery: 14, Tactics: 10

Ranger
Expertise: 11, Wilderness Survival: 12, Marksmanship: 12

Monk
Healing Prayers: 9, Smiting Prayers: 14, Divine Favor: 11

Necromancer
Death Magic: 12, Soul Reaping: 11, Curses: 11

Mesmer
Fast Casting: 8, Illusion Magic: 12, Inspiration Magic: 14

Elementalist
Air Magic: 13, Water Magic: 11, Energy Storage: 10

Assassin
Dagger Mastery: 14, Shadow Arts: 9, Critical Strikes: 11

Ritualist
Restoration Magic: 12, Channeling Magic: 13, Spawning Power: 9

Paragon
Spear Mastery: 14, Command: 10, Leadership: 10

Dervish
Scythe Mastery: 14, Wind Prayers: 11, Mysticism: 9

Weapons
Upon entering the mission, a customized weapon (and shield, if applicable) will drop for each player. These weapons match the skill set of your costume. These cannot be sold to merchants.

Warrior

 * War Hammer
 * Blunt Dmg: 9-35 (Requires 12 Hammer Mastery)
 * Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%)
 * Damage +20%

Ranger

 * Sturdy Recurve Bow
 * Piercing Dmg: 15-28 (Requires 12 Marksmanship)
 * Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%)
 * Damage +20%

Monk

 * Smiting Staff
 * Holy Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 12 Smiting Prayers)
 * Halves skill recharges of spells (Chance: 20%)
 * Halves casting time of spells (Chance: 10%)
 * Damage +20%

Necromancer

 * Bone Staff
 * Dark Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 12 Death Magic)
 * Halves skill recharge of spells (Chance: 20%)
 * Halves casting time of spells (Chance: 10%)
 * Damage +20%

Mesmer

 * Hypnotic Staff
 * Chaos Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 12 Illusion Magic)
 * Halves skill recharge of spells (Chance: 20%)
 * Halves casting time of spells (Chance: 10%)
 * Damage +20%

Elementalist

 * Air Staff
 * Lightning Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 12 Air Magic)
 * Halves skill recharge of spells (Chance: 20%)
 * Halves casting time of spells (Chance: 10%)
 * Customized (Damage +20%)

Assassin

 * Bronze Daggers
 * Piercing Dmg: 7-17 (Requires 12 Dagger Mastery)
 * Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%)
 * Damage +20%

Ritualist

 * Channeling Staff
 * Lightning Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 12 Channeling Magic)
 * Halves skill recharges of spells (Chance: 20%)
 * Halves casting time of spells (Chance: 10%)
 * Damage +20%

Paragon

 * Suntouched Spear
 * Piercing Dmg: 14-27 (Requires 12 Spear Mastery)
 * Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%)
 * Damage +20%


 * Heraldic Shield
 * Armor: 16 (Requires 9 Command)

Dervish

 * Suntouched Scythe
 * Slashing Dmg: 9-41 (Requires 12 Scythe Mastery)
 * Damage +15% (while health is above 50%)
 * Damage +20%

Maps and Strategies
There are three maps and each has capture points; the objective of both maps is to be the first team to score 20 points. Points are accumulated by killing opponents (1 point each kill) and capturing shrines, which fill up the team's "Morale" bar and consequently grants points each time it fills up completely. Holding more capture points increases the rate at which the Morale bar fills up.

Depending on the map, the following shrines may be encountered:


 * Battle Cry Shrine: Grants Battle Cry effect, increasing movement, attack and skill recharge speed by 15%
 * Health Shrine: Gives +120 maximum health
 * Energy Shrine: Reduces energy cost of skills by 20%
 * Morale Shrine: Increases morale speed by twice as much as other shrines and also gives all nearby creatures the "To the Pain!" buff. While under this effect, you deal 10% more damage but healing is reduced by 10%.

Unlike Alliance Battles, capturing shrines is not the key to victory, as shrines will only add to the morale speed rather than adding points directly. However, the teams that neglect shrines will be faced with both a tactical disadvantage and may not be able to kill faster than the opposing team is gaining points from shrines. Teams should therefore balance shrine-holding and killing while preventing deaths.

If you decide to break off from your team alone or with a partner, make sure you know the advantages and disadvantages of your own team's professions as well as you know the other team's. Safety in numbers can be beneficial, but knowing how classes match up can allow your team to take a more spread out approach, allowing you to cap more shrines with less wasted effort and sometimes allowing you to split up the enemy team as well to pick them off.

It is often smart to split up at the very beginning to cap more shrines, since 4 people cap at the same speed as 5, and you won't be running into any enemies in the first 15 seconds of the game anyways.

Keep in mind that every death from your team gives the opponent a point, so make sure you know when to retreat from battle and when to lay on pressure. In general, don't allow yourself to be outnumbered if you can help it. Additionally, if your opponent is able to outrun or snare you, it may be best to turn around and cause them as much trouble as possible.