#3 War Machine [WM] vs. #6 Bring Back The Rifts [Rift] - Game 2 of 2
Match Infos
  • Category: Guild Wars Factions Championship Season One · Quarterfinals
  • Guild hall: Warrior's Isle.
  • Match duration: 36:51
  • Defends: iGi defends.
  • Credits: Lure.
Note: some skill descriptions may have changed since this match was played. Highlight the skills with a red border to see these changes.
Match report

WM's Build: WM's build stayed pretty much the same as game one with one very key difference. In a calculated risk, both Monks brought Mantra of Lightning, anticipating that Rift would run their Air spike build. If Rift didn't run this build, this skill would be risky, and in most ways, a waste. But the gamble paid off, as Rift did run their Air spike build. WM also had a considerable amount of Enchantment removal in their build to counter the dual attunements that the Rift's build relies on.

Rift's Build: This is the Air spike build that Rift is very well known for. They can spike very often with this build and even if their early spikes don't kill, the sheer number of spikes often overwhelms opponents. They use dual attunements (Elemental Attunement and Air Attunement) to keep their energy up while spiking. For Warrior defense they bring Blinding Flash, Enervating Charge, and Wards spread throughout the build.

Rift came aggressively out of the gate, earning some fast kills. By 1:32 they already had three kills, and their defense was holding. WM had two hard resurrections (Resurrect on both Mesmers #3 and #7) and were relying on them to keep the rest of the team from wasting Resurrection Signets. At 2:15, WM sent a Warrior to solo-attack NPCs at the back of Rift's base, and Rift answered by sending #7 and #1, who killed him.

WM sustained a lot of casualties between 4:00 and 6:00 near the flag stand, losing four different players. In spite of this, they relied on their two hard resurrections and were able to repair Rift's catapult at 6:15.

Rifts attempted to push a flag at around 6:30 when the game broke wide open in WM's favor. They were able to take down Rift #1 at roughly 6:41, followed by Rift's flag carrier, #7, at 6:47. WM's Energy denial/Enchantment removal started to slow Rift down, and even though WM sustained two more casualties around 7:00, they were able to get a morale boost at 7:30. Rift began to succumb to WM's pressure, and after sustaining heavy losses, were forced to retreat.

WM backed off, boosted to +10%, and waited for Rift to make a move. At 10:15 Rift tried to do a 4/4 split, running their flag and their repair kit out their side door. Taking both of these to one side proved to be a mistake, as WM pulled their Warrior from their attack team (just as they did in game 1) and turned the side battle into a five vs. four in their favor. Rift lost their repair kit (the carrier was killed) and later were unable to cap the flag (their flag-runner was killed mere feet from the stand). After more deaths, they were again forced to retreat.

There were no major engagements between 17:00 and 30:00, as both teams were content to wait until VoD ("Victory or Death!"). WM didn't want Rift to work off their death penalty, and Rift wasn't able to secure the flag and hold it.

At VoD WM was able to kill all of Rift's remaining NPCs with a single shot, giving them a huge NPC advantage. Despite this, Rift's Air spike continued to prove itself lethal, still producing kills at the 35-minute mark. Due to their control of the flag, however, WM was able to shrug off any losses with continual morale boosts. Although Rift tried to split and gank WM's Lord, WM never lost control. Rift's Lord died near the flag stand at the 37-minute mark.

~Jonathan Sharp (GuildWars.com)