Although Hero Battles are a relatively new venture in Guild Wars, they have matured rapidly since their inception. One could argue that implementing the 1v1 ladder and placing top hero online gold Battles on Observer Mode have rapidly developed the metagame for hero online gold  Battles. Although many players would claim those features have stagnated Hero Battles, they have also generated more interest in this new form of PvP.

Going into a hero online gold Battle, a player needs a different frame of mind than other forms of PvP. Much like Alliance Battles, most effective characters in Hero Battles need a degree of self-sufficiency. Players tend not to bring a build balanced for 4v4 play because 4v4 battle occurs infrequently. If one of the players does not want to fight 4v4, it simply won?t happen. Instead, a player can choose to split forces the whole time and concentrate on controlling shrines, earning one pip on the morale meter for outer shrines and two pips for the center. The more pips, the faster the score rises. Thus, most battles revolve around 1v1 or 2v2 skirmishes, and self-sufficient characters become crucial.

As a result, the popular metagame build is one Assassin (player-controlled) and three hero online gold consisting of a Monk and two "Pack Hunters" (named after the Ranger/Paragon pre-made character template from the Nightfall preview). Some builds replace a Pack Hunter with another Monk, support character, damage dealer, or shutdown character.

Currently, the most common setup for the self-sufficient Pack Hunter is the following:

Heal as OneProfession: Ranger/Paragon
Skills: Heal as One, Barbed Spear, Whirling Defense, Remedy Signet, Poisonous Bite, Lightning Reflexes, Charm Animal, Resurrection Signet
Some add Disrupting Lunge or Disrupting Spear instead of Resurrection Signet or one of the defensive Stances.

A Pack Hunter capably splits and captures shrines for a number of reasons. First, Rangers are durable with their 70 armor and +30 armor versus elemental damage. Using defensive Stances with this armor, Pack Hunters can survive without Monk support. Also, the hero gold AI manages this skill set well and can hold out by itself for a long time in a 1v1 confrontation with another hero online gold. Finally, the AI of Heroes tends to attack a pet instead of the pet?s controller. Consequently, the pet soaks up damage in a 1v1 battle between Heroes and, if it dies, the Pack Hunter can quickly resurrect it with Heal as One. Although a good micromanager can lock a Hero?s target to the pet?s controller, a Pack Hunter, with solid self-healing, still lasts longer than many builds. These aspects of the Pack Hunter make it useful for taking a shrine by itself.