Monitor Boons and Conditions, and React Accordingly

At the start of any given boss fight, the first thing you’ll want to take note of are any specific boons they might have active. For example, many will have a stacking boon that negates the effectiveness of any crowd control skills used against them, but those stacks can be reduced by applying things like cripples and chills. If you don’t negate the boon early in the fight, it can continue stacking making the encounter much more difficult than it needs to be.

Another thing to watch out for is Retaliation. Whenever you see it active, be sure to stop attacking until it’s removed, or the duration expires. If you continue attacking while it’s active, you’ll effectively be doing part of the mob’s work for them by burning through your own health. While not all bosses will use Retaliation, it can be a good idea to bring along a profession that can remove boons – such as a necromancer – either way.

Don’t Neglect Your Underwater Build

While you won’t necessarily encounter underwater areas in every dungeon, certain dungeons will contain one or more paths that may require you to bust out your aquatic gear and go for a swim. If you haven’t done a lot of underwater content in the explorable maps, it can be easy to forget to keep your aquatic build up to snuff, and realizing you’ve neglected it in the middle of a dungeon isn’t exactly optimal.

Factor Team Support into Your Build

By the time you can enter the first dungeon – Ascalonian Catacombs – at level 30, all professions will have enough trait and skill points to factor in different forms of team support into your overall build. For dungeons, area heals or even condition removal via combo fields can be a huge help, but you’ll also want to find ways of making revives much easier.

Before entering a dungeon, take a few minutes to review your current build and swap out any utility skills that offer solid group support, adjust your major traits, and think about which weapon sets will function best in a group setting. As a general rule, even for more melee focused professions it can still be a good idea to consider bringing a mid- or long-range weapon set which can keep you a lot more mobile during more difficult encounters.