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Introduction

This guide is intended as a thorough analysis of The Battle of Kyhlo map.  It will cover the mechanics of the game as well as key elements with as much detail and accuracy as possible.  It will also cover strategies and techniques to enhance your teams performance on this map.

This guide is not the absolute authority on Kyhlo.  After all GW2 is currently in beta and changes to all aspects of the game are made regularly.  The guide is also written by a human and not an asura so it is inherently prone to errors.  With that, read and enjoy.

History

Kyhlo is a Fortress in Ascalon, the precise location is unknown.  It was home to the guild Ascalon’s Chosen, led by King Adlebern.  Kyhlo was sieged by a rival guild, the Zealots of Shiverpeak, in 1052 AE.  Since the Mists is effectively a place that exists outside of time and space it can create scenarios for combatants to fight in.  You are effectively fighting the actual Battle of Kyhlo in this sPvP map.

Game type and Mechanics

The Battle of Kyhlo is a Conquest Game type, basically a Capture and Hold scenario.  Teams are granted points by controlling one of three locations on the map. You gain 1 point every 2 seconds for each point controlled.

• The Mansion is the Blue teams natural capture point.  It sits atop a hill with two ramp entrances and has a large fountain near the blue side that can serve as a line of sight building.

• The Windmill is the Red teams natural capture point.  It is almost the mirror of the Mansion in terms of entrances and area to fight in.  Its major feature is a stairway that allows access to a large pipeline leading to a courtyard on the Red side of the Clocktower.

• The Clocktower is the center capture point that sits on the top floor of the tower.  There are two stair wells in a center hallway that leads up to either side of the control point.  There is a walkway that encircles the building and is accessible by staircases on the blue side and the red side.  You can also access this walkway by jumping up a series of building which can lead to faster access when coming from the Mansion or the Windmill but requires more skill to access these routes.  The room with the control point can be accessed from the walkway buy destroying the windows through skills or by destroying the walls with a trebuchet.

You are also awarded points for killing enemy players.  Each kill grants 10 points given after the downed player is finished.
 Capture points

Capture points are controlled by standing within the square with the round icon of that particular point in the center.  However, it appears that sometimes you can be within the square but not on the icon and no longer gain progress in capturing the point as seen in this video.  You cannot capture a point while downed or while stealthed as seen in this clip.  You can, however, prevent further enemy capture of a base while in a downed state.

Capture Bar

Level of control is indicated by a capture bar that shows the level of control you have over the point.  At the start of the game all points are neutral.  If a point has been fully captured by the enemy you have to push the bar to completely clear the enemy’s control of that point to neutral and then push the bar all the way to your team’s control.  To push a bar to neutral from full enemy control it takes 4.5 ticks of a fully controlled enemy’s capture bar with the half tick occurring at the very end of the capture bar.  Each tick takes 1 second.

To capture a control point from neutral it takes 14 ticks with 1 tick per second of control.  If at any point an enemy is also standing in the control point they will prevent the movement of the bar regardless of how many people of either team are currently standing in the control point.  This small technicality means that even one person can prevent the total capture of a point if they are able to survive long enough for help to arrive even against overwhelming odds.  This is in contrast to the tower capture system in Eye of the Storm in World of Warcraft where more people makes the bar move even if enemies are present. In the Eye of the Storm more people also make that bar move faster which is not the case in The Battle of Kyhlo. You will also continue to gain points when the enemy is contending the point but your team’s color is still present on the capture bar.

Trebuchet

The Trebuchet is, well you know, a catapult but cooler and with less torsion.  The Trebuchet is a device that one player can control to fire flaming explosives hitting almost every point on the map with the exclusion of your team’s home base and the enemy home base.  You can launch a projectile off of the map, which does not make you look very good.  Thankfully, there is a lot of projectiles being launched in the background scenery so chances are no one will notice how bad you are at aiming.

The Trebuchet projectiles damage both enemies and buildings and have a knockback.  The damage range is 8k to +11k but anything above 10K appears to be damage to buildings and not players.  This is very hard to verify since the only one who can see the damage numbers is the guy in the Trebuchet halfway across the map or people who have died recently after a projectile hit.

Beliasta’s Trebuchet Range Estimate

In the official Guild Wars 2 Wiki the Trebuchets are able to shoot the enemy Trebuchet and destroy it. However, it also lists the range of all Trebuchets as 10,000 units which is much larger than the map of Kyhlo.  This most likely refers to the range of WvW siege trebuchets which do have a much longer range.  Anecdotal evidence from Beliasta indicates that the range of the Kyhlo Trebuchet is about compass range, roughly 2,500 units, which is just short of the enemy Trebuchet.  More research needs to be done to find the maximum range.  The Trebuchet does have a minimum range of fire which lands just past the second wall for your team’s base.

 Trebuchets can be destroyed by the enemy by skills as well.  To repair one that has been destroyed a repair kit must found and transported back to the destroyed Trebuchet as seen here.  The person carrying the repair pack looses all access to their skills while they are carrying the repair kit.

Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

In every game there are a million things that you can do to improve and enhance your gameplay.  The best tip to improve your gameplay is to play a lot, but with a focus on improving a certain skill each time.  Playing for fun is great but consistently honing a skill is even better.  If you take a lot of damage, set out every game to time your dodge usage appropriately in your 1v1 encounters and not focus on killing the enemy.  The other best tip, if you can swing it, is recording your gameplay and reviewing it. . .several times.  This is a huge time investment but looking objectively at your gameplay outside the heat of battle is perhaps the single best way to analyze how you are doing and what skills you can refine.  Even the Pro teams do this. 

Trebuchet

ArenaNet Concept Art for the Trebuchet

The Trebuchet is an often overlooked secondary mechanic in the game when in a PuG sPvP match.  Its overlooked because it does not directly score points to help you win and its kind of boring.  However, it does earn you glory assuming you can use it properly.  A Trebuchet in this game style resembles the application of fire for Artillery.  At the same time it also suffers from similar drawbacks of Artillery such as immobility and sometimes requiring communication from the front lines to properly target and time attacks.

Proper ways to use the Trebuchet:

• Use it to destroy the Clocktower walls to allow your team easier access to the other points or allow for suppressive cover fire to help your team defend or attack the zone.  Destroying the Clocktower walls cannot be undone and should it should be communicated when and if this action should be taken. 

• Lay down Suppressive Fire to weaken enemy forces that are attacking areas you control or are trying to capture. 

• Lay down Preparation Fire to soften or kill the enemy at an area that they control and your forces are moving into.

• Harassing Fire can also be used sparingly which entails firing at random intervals at random locations where they enemy will likely be in order to hinder movements and create an atmosphere of uncertainty.