Understanding Combo Fields and Finishers
At their simplest, Combos are about combining two skills. One skill creates an area with a particular effect, while another skill interacts with that area to produce an additional result. A Fire Field might turn a projectile into a burning attack, while a leap through that same field can grant an entirely different benefit.
The important part is that the two skills do not have to belong to the same player.
You may already be performing Combos without realizing it. Many skills have a Combo Field or Combo Finisher attached to them in addition to their primary purpose, so ordinary combat can occasionally produce Combo effects entirely by accident.
What Types of Combo Fields Are There?
There are nine different types of Combo Fields, each associated with a particular family of effects. A skill that generates a field will say so in its tooltip.
Dark
Combo Field: Dark tend to be generated by Thief, Revenant, and Necromancer skills. Their combo finishers focus on generating Dark Aura or Life Siphon.
Ethereal
Combo Field: Ethereal are most commonly found on Mesmer skills. Their combo finishers focus on generating Chaos Aura or applying Confusion.
Fire
Combo Field: Fire are relatively common among classes, but especially for Elementalist and Engineer. Their combo finishers grant Might, generate Fire Aura, or apply Burning.
Ice
Combo Field: Ice are most common for Elementalist. Their combo finishers generate Frost Aura or apply Chilled.
Light
Combo Field: Light are the domain of Guardian, but other professions can also create them. Light combo finishers Cleanse Conditions or apply Light Aura.
Lightning
Combo Field: Lightning are most often found on Elementalist and Engineer skills. Their finishers grant Swiftness, Daze enemies, or apply Vulnerability.
Poison
Combo Field: Poison are relatively rare, but can be found on Engineer, Ranger, Thief, and Necromancer skills. Poison finishers apply Weakness or Poison to enemies.
Smoke
Combo Field: Smoke are even more rare than Poison, found on Engineer, Ranger, Thief, and a single Elementalist Trident skill. Smoke finishers grant Stealth or apply Blind.
Water
Combo Field: Water are common for Ranger, Engineer, and Elementalist. Their finishers grant Healing or Regeneration.
What Types of Combo Finishers Are There?
There are four types of combo finishers. For a given skill, the type of finisher is noted in the tooltip.
A combo field only sets the stage. To actually trigger the interaction, you need a combo finisher.
Combo finishers are skills or attacks that interact with an existing combo field. Unlike fields, which determine the type of effect you can create, finishers determine how you interact with that field.
Blast Finisher
Combo Finisher: Blast tend to be explosive abilities.
When targeted within a field, they generate an area effect with Radius 360 around the blast.
Keep in mind that Combo Finisher: Blast only affect five players.
Leap Finisher
Combo Finisher: Leap are abilities that cause a character to jump, dash, or teleport to (or sometimes away from) an enemy.
When a leap finisher intersects a combo field at any point, it applies its effect to either you or the target enemy, depending on whether the effect is beneficial or not.
Projectile Finisher
Combo Finisher: Projectile are abilities that launch a projectile at an enemy.
When the finisher intersects a combo field, it applies its effect to the enemy hit or to allies within a Radius 240 of the enemy hit, depending on whether the effect is beneficial or not.
Note that a number of abilities, particularly autoattacks on ranged weapons, are Projectile Finishers (20% chance). This means they have a 20% chance to finish a combo when they intersect a combo field.
Whirl Finishers
Whirl
Combo Finisher: Whirl involve whirling or spinning.
When they occur within a field, they launch projectiles in random directions that apply their effects when they contact an enemy or ally.
Note that beneficial effects will also apply to the character using the finisher, and that many Whirl finishers will trigger multiple times on a single combo field.
How to Trigger Combos
To trigger a combo in Guild Wars 2, place a Combo Field and use a Combo Finisher inside it. When multiple fields overlap, the finisher will interact with only one field, prioritizing your own Combo Field and the order in which they were placed.
For example, if a Condition Willbender places the Combo Field: Light from before the Fire Field from , using inside both will create Cleansing Bolts. If was placed first, will create Burning Bolts instead.
Combo Finishers can also interact with Combo Fields placed by allies, but the result may be unpredictable when several Combo Fields are active. To reliably trigger the combo you want, use your Combo Finisher when the intended Combo Field is the only one nearby.
Summary of all Combo Interactions
| Combo Field | Blast Finisher | Leap Finisher | Projectile Finisher | Whirl Finisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | Area Dark Aura | Dark Aura | Life Siphon | Leeching Bolts |
| Ethereal | Area Chaos Aura | Chaos Aura | Confusion | Confounding Bolts |
| Fire | Area Might | Fire Aura | Burning | Burning Bolts |
| Ice | Area Frost Aura | Frost Aura | Chilled | Chilling Bolts |
| Light | Area Condition Removal | Light Aura | Condition Removal | Cleansing Bolts |
| Lightning | Area Swiftness | Dazing Strike | Vulnerability | Brutal Bolts |
| Poison | Area Weakness | Weakness | Poison | Poison Bolts |
| Smoke | Area Stealth | Stealth | Blind | Blinding Bolts |
| Water | Area Heal | Healing | Regeneration | Healing Bolts |
Notable Combos
Some Guild Wars 2 combo interactions are especially valuable and should be used intentionally whenever possible.
Using a Combo Finisher: Blast inside a Combo Field: Water, for example, Heals up to five nearby targets for a base value of 1,320. This makes Combo Field: Water Combo Finisher: Blast a powerful source of group Healing for Ranger, Elementalist, and Engineer healers, as these professions have access to several Combo Field: Water and Combo Finisher: Blast.
Similarly, using a Combo Finisher: Blast inside a Combo Field: Fire grants three stacks of Might for a base duration of 20 seconds. This is extremely useful for quickly building Might on your subgroup, particularly in World vs World (WvW), where many other sources of Might are weaker than their PvE equivalents.
Condition Reaper: Deathly Chill and Chilling Bolts
Condition Reaper is built around , a trait that applies Bleeding whenever the Condition Reaper applies Chilled to an enemy. Condition Reaper also has access to Combo Field: Ice and Combo Finisher: Whirl, allowing the build to generate Chilling Bolts consistently.
Each Chilling Bolt can apply Chilled to the enemy it strikes. When combined with , these projectiles also inflict a large amount of Bleeding. This interaction makes Chilling Bolts one of Condition Reaper's strongest sources of burst Condition Damage.
Relic of Karakosa and Blast Finishers
is one of the most commonly used pieces of combo-focused equipment. Its effect triggers whenever you successfully complete a combo with a Combo Finisher: Blast, Healing four nearby allies for a base value of 805. The Healing also scales strongly with Healing Power.
If a Healing build has at least two Combo Finisher: Blast with reasonable Cooldowns, can consistently generate its own Combo Fields, and does not require a specific relic to provide essential boons, is often an excellent choice.
It can add a significant amount of passive group Healing throughout an encounter.
Heal Alacrity Specter: Dark Aura Combo Synergies
Some combo synergies involve several traits and effects working together. Heal Alacrity Specter is a strong example. At first glance, the build may appear to have limited Healing and Condition Removal, but several traits interact with the combo system to produce an exceptional amount of both.
and will Heal and Condition Cleanse nearby allies, respectively, whenever the Heal Alacrity Specter grants itself Dark Aura. Although relatively few skills grant Dark Aura directly, Heal Alacrity Specter has access to multiple long-duration Combo Field: Dark and two frequently available Combo Finisher: Blast.
costs only four initiative, while has a base Cooldown of three seconds. Using these Combo Finisher: Blast inside a Combo Field: Dark repeatedly grants Dark Aura, allowing and to trigger frequently. This helps keep nearby allies healthy and free from damaging conditions.
Adding provides even more Healing whenever one of these Combo Finisher: Blast successfully triggers a combo, giving Heal Alacrity Specter exceptionally strong sustained Healing and Condition Removal.