How to survive a WH?

[sh0tcalla]

So I'm an old retail live O.G. from back in the day. I remember there were a few epic WH's back then who stood out from the crowd and would play like the WH of today, but it took skill and gear to execute their perfect rotation.

Now in 2022 100% of the time a WH pops out of stealth, I'm literally dead before I stand back up from their initial KD. Literally 100%. Now is there something I'm missing? I'm seriously asking advice here because from my current experience, once a WH pops out on you then it's instant win for them. Free RR. Free kill. There is no chance to even defend or escape unless you are surrounded by a group.

Now I'm not super geared, rr60 with full Vanq, but I'm literally getting killed this way by level 30's on orvr. How is that possible? If i had a chance to even use a skill I'd be able to put up a fight, but when they pop stealth, KD and then you're dead before you can even stand and use ONE skill, how is that even a game?

Am I the only one with this problem or anyone else? And is their solution to combat this and counter? Give me even 2 seconds to use a skill and it'll be a fight, but 100% jumped by a WH, 100% insta death, gg, bye bye.

thanks.

[Cultist]

To survive their initial burst having a large health pool definitely helps. Toughness also helps.
Then the problem comes when more of their "friends" creep out of stealth, then you are 100% dead.
What's your class?

edit: as a sidenote, you simply cannot compete with full-geared people w/ vanquisher, that's why they should reduce the gear cap there's currently on the server, but that's my opinion.

[Arbich]

What you can do depends on your class.

Some WH (and WE) delay their Knockdown, so you might get a detaunt through before the KD.
Even with Vanquisher you shouldnt die in KD. So you probably have to increase your defenses with renown points or talismans.

[Devonya]

As others said what's your class? It will vary.

WHs penetrate a lot of armor so having a high health pool is very useful. Try investing renown in Futile Strikes to mitigate crits because that will help you survive WH ambushes. Party up and stick with other people, because you're a lot less likely to get ganked if you are with even just one other person. Don't take obvious "safe" routes through the map. A knowledgeable WH is going to know what paths people run. It's actually safer to run through the middle of a map than it is to hug the edge of the zone in some cases (Praag is a good example with all the small streets WH/WE typically hang in the alleyways waiting for loners). If you survive the initial ambush and don't think you can handle the WH then run. There's no shame in that. Snare, knockback, whatever you got to do, and bail.

As a healer my general strategy is (after I get up from the initial knockdown) I immediately detaunt, chug a health potion, HoT myself, then apply a snare and attempt to punt them. If all that works I flee towards the nearest location that has allies, and if that's not possible I try to line of sight. I'm pretty geared so I generally survive an ambush and can heal through it. I've learned over my time that as a healer I'm a prime target for this kind of ambush so I never stray far from my allies anymore. Depending on what class you are playing it's going to vary on what you do.

[saupreusse]

As a WH myself I would say what most pisses me off is when the target has a huge health pool and is stuffed on healing potions aswell as absorb tactics. Because that means they survive my inital burst and If the fight goes longer than a few seconds usually I am the one suddently being hunted.
Ofc there are also WH that are build for longer toe to toe fighting, but their initial burst shouldn't be a threat to you as long as they aren't super duper well geared.

[diedrake]

Wh pops out realizes that he cant kill ya on initial engagement. Wh insta hide in plain sight ability ( idk what its called but same abil that thieves had in lotro) and runs away. Or he does the self punt and runs away. Vey hard to counter a whs escapes. Not very hunted down from what i can see. If both classes WE/WH have same amount of escape tools, love to see a classs that can track them, say the SH as the destro tracker and the SW or the WL, which WL might make more sense, have the tracking abilitiy to hunt for these classes naturally.

Then ya have the wh packs of 2-4 that love to roam, insta killed if you are solo and get caught by a pack like that.

Like others have said best bet is to grp up to avoid getting ganked. Not much you can do other then what peeps have said increase health pool and toughness.

[shoelessHN]

Looks like a sorc. Probably glass cannon with no hp. And then complaining about needing a group to support.

I've seen a handful of sorcs running around solo over the last couple years but it's pretty rare.

[Lion1986]

how to survive a WH/WE:

- you can't.

[geezereur]

Wounds and futile strikes detaunt before knockdown pots etc

[Deathsaw]

Everything points out that the idea here is never to survive the WH and WE unless they decide they can't kill you and run away... it has become for me, along with Shaman and SH the most hated and easiest classes to play.