User:Invaderjt

R/RT  B/I/P  Tombs farm

A re-do of the B/P interrupter for a Tombs team. ('I' in B/I/P stands for 'Interrupt')

[edit] Attributes and Skills Ranger / Ritualist Attribute Rank Marksmanship 11 + 1 + 3 Wilderness Survival 9 + 1 Channeling Magic 8 Restoration Magic 8

Barrage Serpent's Quickness Wailing Weapon Optional Wielder's Boon Comfort Animal Charm Animal Flesh of My Flesh

[edit] Equipment Armor - Any Ranger armor. Druid's Armor is best for the energy bonus. Weapons - a Zealous Longbow of Fortitude or Mastery [edit] Usage Use Serpent's Quickness to up the recharge on Wailing Weapon. Use Wailing Weapon. Spam Barrage into the group of whoever you want to interrupt. Use Wielder's Boon for a quick heal spike. Keep your pet alive. [edit] Variants Optional slot: Throw Dirt Winnowing Favorable Winds Splinter Weapon [edit] See also

A/W BoA sin {PvP} The BoA Sin (also called Burst Sin) is a fragile yet very deadly assassin used to take down targets quickly while making use of Shadow Prison to snare the target long enough to unleash the build's vicious assault.

Attributes and Skills Assassin / Warrior Attribute Rank Dagger Mastery 11 + 1 + 1 Critical Strikes 12 + 1 Deadly Arts 6 + 1

Shadow Prison Burst of Aggression Black Lotus Strike Twisting Fangs Black Spider Strike Blades of Steel Expose Defenses Resurrection Signet

Equipment A Full Set of Radiant (insignia) armor. Zealous, Vampiric and Ebon Daggers of Fortitude.

Usage The spike is done quickly, in the following order: Shadow Prison -> Burst of Aggression -> Black Lotus Strike -> Twisting Fangs -> Black Spider Strike -> Blades of Steel. Execute the attack chain with Vampiric daggers. Switch to Zealous daggers if energy runs low. Use Ebon daggers when fighting a Warrior or when you are not engaged in combat. Use Expose Defenses if your target is protected by any skill (Aegis, Guardian, Weapon of Warding, Ward Against Melee) that gives a chance to block attacks.

Counters Standard Melee counters. Restore Condition will basically ruin a spike of this build, it'll remove all of the conditions you have put on the target and heal most of the damage dealt. Hex Breaker will cause problems, as your initial 'Hex Jump' will be disabled, leaving your combo in shambles unless you can cast both hexes in quick succession. A well-used Contemplation of Purity.

Variants Horns of the Ox is a common variant that sacrifices damage for a knockdown, and can therefore replace Blades of Steel. Another Shadow Step or an additional healing/defensive skill (such as Feigned Neutrality) can replace the Resurrection Signet for Alliance Battles or Competitive missions. Siphon Speed can replace Expose Defenses as a backup hex to trigger the attack chain, and to quickly escape. Impale can be used in conjunction with different dual attacks (Horns of the Ox in Particular). Death Blossom can replace Blades of Steel. Assassin's Promise and Dark Prison can be used as a more PvE or AB/CM oriented version

 D/W Steady Runner This build makes use of the Dervish's enchantments for amazing of survivability while running. This includes high health regeneration, strong self-heals, increased health, increased armor, decreased condition duration, easy hex removal, and knockdown prevention.

[edit] Skills

Dwayna's Touch Pious Restoration Conviction Featherfoot Grace Mystic Regeneration Vital Boon Steady Stance Fleeting Stability

[edit] Attributes Dervish / Warrior Attribute Rank Wind Prayers 15 (11+3+1) Earth Prayers 9 (8+1) Mysticism 9 (8+1) Tactics 9

[edit] Equipment Weapon Set 1 :: Spear/Sword/Axe of Enchanting (+5 energy, lengthens enchantments 20%), Shield of Devotion (-2 damage/+45 health while enchanted) Note that this build, unlike many others, receives the full armor bonus from using a Tactics shield Weapon Set 2 :: Insightful Staff of Enchanting (+15 energy/-1 regen, +5 energy, lengthens enchantments 20%)

5x Windwalker's Insignia (+5 armor per enchantment, max +15 armor) [edit] Usage While running, Featherfoot Grace can easily be kept up continuously with its 24 second duration, 20 second recharge, and 1/4 second cast time. Not only does this give the desired speed boost, it also grants a 50% reduction on condition durations (what runner wants to stay Crippled?). This crucial enchantment is covered by casting Mystic Regeneration followed by Vital Boon, additionally providing +76 health and +9 health regeneration. Conviction should also be kept up continuously, giving you +24 armor while enchanted and +3 health regeneration in the rare situation that you are not enchanted.

In situations where you would be knocked down, cast Fleeting Stability before Mystic Regeneration and Vital Boon. As with Featherfoot Grace, this important enchantment will be protected by these two forming an "outer layer". When Fleeting Stability is about to end (begins flashing), activate Steady Stance to prevent being knocked down and gain additional energy.

Dwayna's Touch is used as a strong, quick heal - 150 health for 5 energy with a 3/4 second cast time. This can be repeated as necessary due to its short 2 second recharge time. If you are targeted with a dangerous hex (specifically a slowdown, for this build), use Pious Restoration. This will remove up to three hexes and heal you for 90 health. In addition, since Vital Boon should be in the outside layer of your enchantments, this will heal you for an additional 150 health for a total of 240 health.

E/RT uw farmer The Underworld Vengeful Farmer build can be used to farm the Bladed Aatxe, Grasping Darknesses and Smite Crawlers. It mainly uses the Item Spell Vengeful Was Khanhei(VWK) to preserve health and damage all attacking opponents.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Elementalist / Ritualist Attribute Rank Earth Magic 11 + 1 + 3 Restoration Magic 12 Energy Storage 6 + 1

Vengeful Was Khanhei Vengeful Weapon Glyph of Lesser Energy Glyph of Concentration Stoneflesh Aura Armor of Earth Kinetic Armor Earth Attunement

[edit] Equipment Tempest Armor(armor + 10 while affected by an Enchantment Spell) with two Runes of Attunement and a Major/Superior Vigor Rune. Galigord's Stone Staff or a Ritualistic Ghostly Staff as energy management is rather hard. A Longbow. [edit] Fighting Aatxes and Nightmares While behind the NPC the Aatxe cannot hit you, giving you time to deal with the Nighmare.When entering the Underworld, do not take Clear the Chamber from the Lost Soul straight away. Go to a nearby group of Bladed Aatxe and aggro only the Aatxe that is patrolling. If the patrolling Aatxe is stuck in a mob of stationary Aatxes, lure them, and run to where the farthest NPC stands. By running this far you should break aggro of the stationary ones. Should a Dying Nightmare pop up during the proccess, hide behind that NPC. Now, the NPC in front of you will effectively body-block the following Aatxe, giving you enough time to kill the Nightmare and cast your enchantments. Cast Earth Attunement, Kinetic Armor, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Armor of Earth and Stoneflesh Aura in this order. Use Glyph of Concentration before the fight and cast Vengeful Was Khanhei as the Aatxe begins hitting you. While fighting, cast Glyph of Concentration followed by Stoneflesh Aura, and Glyph of Lesser Energy followed by Armor of Earth. This skill combo should allow you to maintain your energy without getting interrupted and to keep your energy at an acceptable level. Also, Savage Slash, their only interrupt, has a recharge of 20 seconds. If you notice your foes had just used this skill, you may cast your spells without GoC to further save on energy. When VWK is not active, cast Vengeful Weapon to maintain your health at near full level. Whatever you do, do not try to spam it as you will find yourself low on energy very fast. Do not forget to maintain Kinetic Armor. Time your Vengeful Weapon to keep it up. After taking out one group of enemies scout the nearby area for any Dying Nightmares. When you are finished eliminating all the Aatxe in the chamber take the quest from the Lost Soul. [edit] Fighting Darknesses Grasping Darknesses are incredible anti-casters and can take you down very easily. You will only need Armor of Earth and Stoneflesh Aura for this as keeping up Kinetic Armor will be harsh on your energy pool. Always use Glyph of Concentration before applying your enchantments, then quickly use VwK to try and avoid interruption. When VwK is not active, try kiting around in circles to prevent their adrenaline gain as much as possible. Do not give up even if their "Fear Me!" drains your energy to zero. Kite around until your energy recovers to 5. Cast Glyph of Lesser Energy followed by VwK, Followed by Armor of Earth. After Dealing with the Darknesses exit the chamber to the north and proceed to the Ice Wastes. [edit] Fighting Smites You will find two groups of two Bladed Aatxe each and one of Grasping Darknesses and possibly a Dying Nightmare. Avoid them completely by luring the first group of Aatxe and running past them, without aggroing, to reach the second. These are the last Aatxe you will see, now your primary foes are the Smite Crawlers. As Smite Crawlers only do about 50 to 60 damage, you will not need to maintain Kinetic Armor here either. What will pose a threat here are the Coldfire Nights (see Variants section of this article) that patrol the area and the Dying Nightmares that may appear out of nowhere. Simply use VWK and Vengeful Weapon here to finish off the groups of Smite Crawlers. [edit] Counters Failure to maintain Kinetic Armor, Armor of Earth and Stoneflesh Aura while fighting the Aatxe. Interruptions. Strip of enchantments at inopportune times. Overuse of energy and energy denial. [edit] Variants The same build is possible with a Ritualist primary. Even with low Earth Magic, you still take zero damage from the Aatxes when all your enchantments are up. Although this can kill foes quite faster than an E/Rt, the lower energy pool and shorter duration of Stoneflesh Aura makes the run more difficult. A 20% enchant mod is a must for this variant. Note that Armor of Earth significantly slows your movement, thus should not be used when aggroing the first mob of Aatxes. You may fail to shelter behind the NPC with your slowness.

 R/Me FoW forest farmer

This is a Ranger/Mesmer build designed to run to, and then farm the monsters in Forest of the Wailing Lord in the Fissure of Woe.

[edit] Attributes and skills Ranger / Mesmer Attribute Rank Expertise 8 + 1 Wilderness Survival 12 + 1 + 1 Marksmanship 8 + 1 Inspiration Magic 7

Poison Arrow Kindle Arrows Optional Savage Shot Storm Chaser Troll Unguent Mantra of Lightning Physical Resistance

Optional slot variations:

Dodge Used as a secondary running skill. Dual Shot/Forked Arrow Used to kill faster. Ether Feast Used if you are having trouble taking down the Armored Cave Spiders. Favorable Winds This will increase damage and help your arrows move faster Distracting Shot Used to relieve pressure from the Spider's Apply Poison and Healing Spring as well as disable the Spirit Woods' Troll Unguent for an extra 20 seconds. [edit] Equipment One or more of the following armor Studded Leather Armor Reduced damage from Spirit Shepherd. Druid's Armor Extra energy. Explorer's Armor Extra health. Longbow/Flatbow. Shortbow for convenience. Recommended. Drago's Flatbow or something equivalent. Recommended. Bow from Blankets for the Settlers quest, modified with a Poisonous Bow String and Bow Grip of Defense which is commonly used when farming the forest, do not use this with Spirit Shepherds as it has the properties of a hornbow and does not have enough range. [edit] Guide This section of the article is a stub. You can help by adding to it. [edit] Running To The Forest In order to get to the forest in Fissure of Woe, you'll need to do a couple things. First off, when you first enter FoW, back up to the wall. This will (almost) ensure that you don't aggro the Shadow Army and get Rastigan the Eternal killed, thus kicking you back to your port of entry. Now, you'll need to run to the right, staying along the back wall. You will more than likely aggro the shadow army closest to you on the right - make sure to cast Storm Chaser (or Dodge if you brought it). This will help you get past them and if you keep going along the wall, you will just barely miss aggro'ing another group of 3 from the shadow army. After this you'll need to leave the wall and run to the left, behind the 3 shadows and towards what looks like an open spot. Be careful as many patrols are close by, and it is advised not to aggro them.

After you have run a little ways, you will be on a plateau in between 2 valleys. Stay on the plateau all the way until it ends. Near the end, a Shadow Beast will appear. This is a good time to hit Dodge/Storm Chaser because this Shadow Beast and other nearby patrols will pursue you longer then you may expect if you don't get out of aggro range quickly. Continue running straight until you hit a large cliff wall. Stop here (as long as no monsters are following you) and heal. After you get here, turn right and run along the wall until it bears off to the left. There is a little straight here that you will want to take. You will most likely aggro another group here, but hitting a running skill should cause them to lose interest quickly. Run along the wall again until it juts out to the right. Rest here again, letting your running skill recharge as well. Now comes the tricky part. The 3 shadows up ahead aren't as big a deal as the skeletons at the bottom of the hill to your right. If these two groups are far apart, you may be able to run through the shadows and by keeping left, reach a very tiny ledge that will allow you to rest before taking on the skeletons. If not, you will need to try and aggro the skeletons into the shadows, as they will fight each other, letting you get away. To do this, run towards the skeletons at normal speed. Shoot one of them with an arrow, in order to aggro them, then draw them up the hill, running with your run skill activated. This is crucial because if you stay within range of the spell caster in their group, you could be hit with Deep Freeze, and not being able to move in this part of the run equals a long walk off a short pier. Once they start fighting or you have run around the skeletons, stay left, hugging the wall at the bottom of the hill. Here you can rest again, letting everything recharge and waiting for a patrol of skeletons to separate from the larger group ahead of you. You can either try and stay on the wall, sneaking past the larger group; or you can wait for the patrol to leave, and run around the skeletons. It really depends on how they spawn. Either way, once you are past that group, you are effectively in the forest.

[edit] Farming The Forest Now that you are in the forest, you will see a group of 3 Spirit Shepherds and nearby, 2 Spirit Woods. Use Favorable Winds if you brought it, hit Mantra of Lightning, Kindle Arrows, swap to your Longbow/Flatbow. Target the nearest Spirit Shepherds and use Poison Arrow, if they start to cast any spells, turn around, run and lose them. Do not let them come close, as they will use lightning spells and inflict high damage and slow you down. You will also be required to be on the same height level otherwise you will be to far away to fire and forced to move inside their range to hit you with spells or you are to high and the Spirit Shepherds will move closer to get into range. It is recommended to use Poison Arrow on all of the Spirit Shepherds to do as much damage per second and quicken the battle as well as trigger the Edge of Extinction effect which the Spirit Woods put down. Keep Mantra of Lightning and Kindle Arrows up at all times.

Continue forward and 3 Rock Borer Worms will pop up to your right and another 1-3 Worms will pop up a little further on the left side. Use Mantra of Lightning, Kindle Arrows and Poison Arrow. Poison the first 3 Rock Borer Worms, when they reach 85% of health they will activate Lightning Reflexes which lasts around 5 seconds.

Move onto the Spirit Woods. Hit Physical Resistance and Kindle Arrows and shoot one of them with Poison Arrow, when their health reaches 75% they will begin to use Troll Unguent, use savage shot and interrupt this, now use your Troll Unguent and continue to attack, after 10 seconds the Spirit Wood will try to use Troll Unguent, again interrupt this.

If you wait around where the Spirit Woods died, a patrol of 3 Spirit Shepherds and a Spirit Wood will move close to this area. Put Physical Resistance on as the Spirit Wood will do more damage over time and quicky poison all the Spirit Shepherds, kill them and finish off the Spirit Wood. Keep Troll Unguent on from the beginning.

Slowly move up the road until you see a split in the road just before this area 3 Armored Cave Spiders will appear. These are considered to be the most difficult monsters to kill for this run and require a bit of timing and practice to kill. Run back out of the spiders aggro range, use Physical Resistance, Kindle Arrows and Poison Arrow. Use Troll Unguent before you initiate only one of the spiders. While it is possible to take on more then one, it decreases your chance of successfully completing the run. If you can safely get within Shortbow range, proceed as this will increase your chance to interrupt the spiders Apply Poison and do more damage over time. Armored Cave Spiders use Healing Spring which is an easily interruptible trap, using a normal bow attack will interrupt this, if you think you may miss use a Savage Shot. If you see the Armored Cave Spider use Healing Spring while you are activating Troll Unguent cancel this and quickly shoot a Savage Shot. If a Healing Spring gets activated by a spider, pull out a Longbow and step backwards so that it follows out of the Healing Spring. The spider will interrupt your healing skill (Troll Unguent) with Savage Shot, if your health drops below 20%.

After you have eliminated the spiders, go left and there will be 2 groups of 3 Shepherds walking as one group. Note there is a small ledge you walk up into the area where they walk and will decrease your Longbow range. Do not begin the battle if they are walking towards you, as they will have walked close enough to cast spells because of the flight time it takes for the arrow to reach the Shepherd. If you find getting the height correct hard, when they are furthest away from you, run past where they walk and move behind a rock cliff on the far side as this area is relatively the same height as the area where the Shepherds walk on.

Proceed along the path after killing the group and trigger a group of 3 Rock Borer Worms to pop up, after killing these move up the cliff and kill the Spirit Woods that you have passed.

At this point you have two options, pass the group of Skeletons standing on the edge of the bridge or go back out the way you came and proceed around the back way. The later being the safer options but longer. Refer to the Fissure of Woe page for a map.

Past Skeletal Bridge Method Aim across to the other hill from the current hill were you killed the recent Spirit Woods and kill all the reachable Spirit Wood and Spirit Shepherds. You will see a bridge with Skeletons standing on it. Do not go over the bridge. Activate your running skill, and run through them around the ledge to the other side of the small hill that you just killed the Shepherds on. Do it quickly else they will use Wild Blow and end the stance. Now that you've cleared the hill you don't need to fear aggro'ing the Spirit Mobs. Once you lose them a Spider will pop right next to the river to your left. Swap to your Shortbow and kill him. Beyond you there should be a group of Spirit Shepherds and Spirit Woods combined, one group of Woods on the hill, and 1-2 groups of Shepherds only. Hug the ledge to your right and shoot the Shepherds with your Longbow. Kill them and go up the hill to your right. Kill the other group of Shepherds. Now go back for the combined group of Shepherds and Woods. Use Physical Resistance as it will balance the damage. Kill them all but watch out as where they stood a group of 2 Spiders will pop. Don't attack them, kill the Woods on the hill first, then you have place to run away to heal and try to separate them. Kill them, and go with the road.

Another Spider will probably pop up, but he won't be a problem for you. You'll see a group of Spirit Woods and Spirit Shepherds. They will be far enough from each other so you won't have a problem killing the Woods. After you kill them and go forward a group of Rock Borer Worms will pop as well as 2 Spiders. The Worms won't be a problem, but the Spiders are hard to separate. You might want to separate them or to attack them together. Your choice. When you kill them and the Worms, go to the Shepherds group and kill them too.

Back Door Method Run back around and move north to the northern entrance, dodge all the skeletal groups. There are 2 groups of popup skeletal rangers, Skeletal Impaler, along the shortest path but may be bypassed by activating a running skill and losing them. Kill the first 3 Spirit Shepherds, again attacking them as they walk away. Continue forward after killing them and trigger the 3 popups of Rock Borer Worms. You are now able to continue as best suits you in this area, using the above methods to kill the enemies. In this area you will find further popups of Rock Borer Worms and Armored Cave Spiders, stay alert, scan areas and prepare to run.

[edit] Variants Replace Savage Shot with Distracting Shot for a longer interrupt. Replace Poison Arrow with Burning Arrow, and Kindle Arrows with Apply Poison, Use either a Fiery bowstring or bring Conflagration to convert damage into fire.

 RANGER TOTEM AXE FARMER This is a build designed for Totem Axe farming which utilizes the Ranger's superior speed skills to run past foes. When necessary, Apply Poison or Kindle Arrows skills are used to dish out large amounts of damage to quickly eliminate foes you must defeat.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Ranger / Any Attribute Rank Expertise 9 + 1 Wilderness Survival 9+1 Marksmanship 12 + 3 + 1

Dodge Zojun's Haste Escape Apply Poison Kindle Arrows Troll Unguent Distracting Shot Savage Shot

Escape can be replaced with Natural Stride, in case you either haven't capped Escape, or would prefer to use a different Elite. If you don't have access to Nightfall skills, Storm Chaser or Whirling Defense could also work.

[edit] Equipment Armor - Any max set of armor will do. Druid's Armor is preferred due to the extra energy it provides. Most of the damage you will take while Totem Axe farming is a result of degeneration, which is not affected by armor.

Weapons - You MUST have a longbow or a flatbow. Bows with Poisonous and Fiery bow strings are handy but not necessary.

A shield or other off-hand item with a defensive bonus is recommended for the run.

 WAR fissure spider farmer This article portraits a build designed to solo-farm the Fissure Shore and the Spider Cave areas in the Fissure of Woe as a primary Warrior. Note that there is not one single way to do it right, but multiple approaches, so this article will show different options, as well as one working example.

[edit] Skills [edit] General Many monsters in the area you will farm have very strong anti- spell caster skills. Do not bring any spells! (including hexes and enchantments)

[edit] Defense The first thing to consider when setting up a build for such a dangerous area as the Fissure is obviously how to survive. Fortunately, the Warrior-class offers high armor, as well as skills to increase it even further. Possible options are "Watch Yourself!" and Dolyak Signet. With those two skills together, and high enough attributes in Tactics and Strength, you can constantly boost your armor level by 60 points. Adding the right equipment (see below) will render you nearly invulnerable to a large number of foes. Although this is no requirement for this build to function, it is beneficial to set your secondary profession to Mesmer, because with Physical Resistance you will have an even stronger defensive skill at your disposal.

Any combination of two of those skills will allow you to survive just fine. Although for starters you may want to bring all three.

[edit] Offense Both swords and axes work, but better refrain from using a hammer, since the loss of a shield will really hurt. Skills that cause conditions, especially Deep Wounds, can be very effective, but also counterproductive (see enemy notes below), depending on usage. It is usually best just to bring some straight forward attack skills. Options that come into mind are:

Axe Skills

Cleave *Elite* Cyclone Axe Executioner's Strike Penetrating Blow Sword Skills

Hundred Blades *Elite* Final Thrust Galrath Slash Strength Skill

Power Attack Tactics Skill

Thrill of Victory Factions Only

Triple Chop *Elite* Dragon Slash *Elite* Standing Slash Silverwing Slash Quivering Blade *Elite* Pick three or four skills of your liking, but consider adrenaline and energy costs (don't bring only skills that need adrenaline, since you will need it for "Watch Yourself!" also. Likewise, don't bring too many energy consuming skills when using Physical Resistance). Cyclone Axe and Hundred Blades are very useful to build up adrenaline. For the same reason, consider bringing Flurry, Flail or Auspicious Parry (but only if you don't use Physical Resistance, since you can only have one stance active).

[edit] Healing Despite your high armor, you will still be taking damage from spells, conditions and the occasional lucky hit, so you need to be able to heal yourself. The only real option you have for this is the Healing Signet, unless you have access to Nightfall then Lion's Comfort is better.

[edit] Utility The shore and the spider cave are quite close to the starting point, but unfortunately there are some very strong groups of Shadow Army creatures in between. You cannot kill those with this build. To get to the shore, you will need a skill that increases your movement speed. If you have Nightfall, Enraging Charge is the best option for this, as it can be used to give you an adrenaline head-start. Other than that, use Sprint.

[edit] Example

Cyclone Axe Cleave Penetrating Blow Executioner's Strike Healing Signet "Watch Yourself!" Physical Resistance Sprint

[edit] Attributes Your attributes depend, of course, on the skills you chose to bring. Normally you will want a very high Tactics, so Healing Signet and "Watch Yourself!" (if you decide to use it) are as effective as possible. Likewise, if using Dolyak Signet you should try to raise your Strength to 15. With that, the signet can be kept up constantly. Also, the armor penetration granted by Strength helps a lot. Of course, your weapon attribute should be at least 12.

[edit] Example Warrior / Mesmer Attribute Rank Axe Mastery 11 + 1 + 3 Strength 8 + 1 Tactics 11 + 1 Inspiration Magic 3

You may wish to start off with only minor runes until you get some experience, then build up to using 1, or more superior runes. Consider using minor runes for running then switch to superior (weapon) and tactics when fighting. This will allow you to use Healing Signet less and attack more. Because there is a steady flow of damage, high health is not required.

[edit] Equipment [edit] Armor All sorts of armor work. Depending on your need for energy, Gladiator's Armor can be advantageous. Otherwise, Knight's Armor would be optimal, because of the additional damage reduction. Use a helmet that complements your choice of skills and attributes. Knight's Armor is advisable if you decide to go with only Physical Resistance and "Watch Yourself!" as armor skills

[edit] Runes Depending on your need of attribute points, and if you're willing to take the risk, consider using superior runes for both Strength and Tactics. A minor rune for your weapon attribute should suffice. You should use at least major runes of Vigor and especially Absorption.

[edit] Weaponry As mentioned above, both axes and swords are feasible. A weapon with a damage bonus while using a stance is best for this build, since you don't use enchantments and it is likely that your health will drop below 50% often. This is best, of course, if you use Physical Resistance. The weapon should have a suffix "of Defense" or better "of Shelter", with an as high armor bonus as you can get. As tempting as it may be, do not use an upgrade "of Fortitude". You will be taking huge numbers of hits, and as such every single point of damage you don't take due to higher armor will add up to impressive amounts of health you don't have to heal on the long term. If you feel like you are not taking too much damage, an upgrade with +1 Axe Mastery/Swordsmanship is advisable. For the prefix do not use an upgrade that converts your weapon damage to elemental damage (most monsters you encounter have increased armor vs. elemental damage). A Zealous upgrade can help with energy management. A Sundering is also advisable though you will need to be careful with energy

Likewise, your shield should offer a damage reduction of -2 while in a stance. Optimal would be an additional armor bonus vs. piercing damage, other than that, a health bonus (while in a stance) is always helpful.

Important: Do not forget to bring either a Longbow, Storm Bow or Flatbow for luring. The stats of this weapon don't matter at all, all you need is the long range.

[edit] Example Gladiator's Helmet of Major Vigor Gladiator's Hauberk of Superior Absorption Gladiator's Gauntlets of Minor Axe Mastery Gladiator's Leggings of Major Tactics Gladiator's Boots of Minor Strength Either Battle Axe from the collectors Nord Stonegrimm, Sir Pohl Sanbert, or Pietro, upgraded with a Zealous Axe Haft and an Axe Grip of Shelter +7. The Crimson Carapace Shield from Lord Dorn Lendrigen. [edit] Using the Build [edit] Fighting A typical encounter will start by you using either Physical Resistance or Dolyak Signet. Due to its slowdown effect you may want to wait to use the Signet until you are in melee range of your opponent. Physical Resistance can be used right away, so that it also covers ranged attacks while you are approaching. Once you have closed in on your enemy, use Flurry, Cyclone Axe, Triple Chop or Hundred Blades to build up adrenaline and activate "Watch Yourself!". Now just cycle through your attack skills, reapply the defense skills when they run out and heal whenever necessary. Only use Healing Signet if both your defensive skills are active!

Take heed of the enemy notes below.

[edit] Getting There From the starting point in the Fissure head south, hugging the wall to your right. A group of several Shadow creatures will be in your way. With luck, you can slip past them without aggroing them. If not just keep running till you are right in the middle of them, then use Sprint. Continue up the ledge roughly to the southeast. A group of Shadow Warriors and Shadow Monks will approach from the front. If you didn't aggro the first group or have already broken aggro, you can wait in a small recess in the wall to the southwest until the second group has come to a halt on the ledge above the path. You can use this pause to heal, if necessary. If there is still something chasing you, just sprint on.

As you pass the second group, a hidden Shadow Beast will pop from the ground. This will also aggro the second group, even if you already cleared it. If you didn't take a break earlier, after clearing the first group, Sprint will run out about now and you will have several mobs following you. Do not panic, just keep running straight to the west until Sprint is recharged. Now you should be far enough so that just activating Sprint will instantly break aggro with anything that is still behind you and the mobs will return to their initial position.

You should be in a relatively wide, open area now, with a small mountain south of you. Further from the south, beyond this mountain, three groups of shadow creatures will approach from a pass in the mountainside. Wait behind the mountain for them to clear the pass, but do not wait too long, as one of those groups will circle around the mountain and come at you from the east. The other two groups should disappear roughly to the northwest.

As soon as the way is open, use Sprint to run down the passage in the mountainside, which will lead you to the shore.

[edit] First Contact On the pass down to the beach, a group of three Snarling Driftwoods will approach from the front. Run towards them as quickly as possible, but beware of the Doubter's Dryder and even more so of the Ancient Skales behind them. You should dispatch the Driftwoods quickly and move on to the Dryder, because soon two of the Shadow patrols that you passed on your way here will come back. There is a safe spot between where the Shadows stop and the area where the Scales are. You should be about on it when you are fighting the Dryder, but watch your radar!

After clearing the pass, wait for another patrol of Driftwoods to approach from the beach. Unfortunately it will stop right in the middle of the Skale's area. This is why you brought a bow. Lure them up to your position and always be careful to stay well away from the Skales.

[edit] A Day at the Beach Now you should take your time to take a look at the beach, as far as you can see it from there. You will see multiple groups of Skales, one more group of Driftwoods and a few lonely Dryders. You should plot your course across the beach so that you aggro as few Skales as possible and also, if possible, so that you fight the Dryders one by one. It is often not possible to get past the first group of Skales, without aggroing them, so use Sprint to get past them and break their aggro quickly. After that you have two options: Keep close to the cliff to the north or go straight south to the waterline. Consider which one to use depending on the locations of the Skales (usually it is better to keep north). Wait for the Driftwoods to come to you, or lure them and if you want, also take out the Dryders.

Continue to the east, again using sprint to get past the Skales, if necessary. You will find yourself in an relatively wide area (to the south you'll see Admiral Saidon the Eternal, usually surrounded by Skales). Kill any Dryders in this area, because you may need a little space to maneuver later. To the east, behind some rocks, is the entrance of the Spider Cave, behind a waterfall and guarded by more Dryders.

[edit] Itzy Bitzy Spiders Lure the first two Dryders away from the cave entrance with your bow, and fight them so that your aggro bubble does not touch their initial position. After you have dispatched them, get a few steps closer to the third Dryder and watch your radar for red dots appearing. Immediately retreat to the wider area to the west (which you have cleared before). Now several groups of three Armored Cave Spiders each will come out of their hiding, one after another, and exit the cave. Wait for them to spread out a little, then engage. Due to the large number of opponents, this is going to be a quite long fight, but you can always break away to the west, using Sprint. During this fight take special care not to aggro any Skales, which may be nearby to the east.

Once this fight in done, the easy part starts. Just enter the cave and kill any Dryders and Spiders you will find. You will not encounter any other creatures in the cave, so you can advance relatively easily. But beware of Shadow Beasts, which may be hidden close to the other end of the cave. If you happen to aggro them when approaching the last Dryder, just sprint back into the cave and wait till the Spiders have taken care of the Shadows.

Now you should have killed 51 Armored Cave Spiders, 12 Snarling Driftwoods and up to 15 Doubter's Dryders, which is about all you can hope to achieve with this build. Of course, you can try to continue further to use any Obsidian Keys you may have found or brought. However, there usually is at least one chest in the area you cleared.

[edit] Enemy Notes [edit] Shadow Creatures As described above, there is a multitude of Shadow creatures, which you have to pass on your way to the beach. Most dangerous are the Shadow Elementals close to the starting point, as this build is not designed to withstand huge amounts of elemental damage. Also beware Empathy and Spiteful Spirit from Shadow Mesmers and Shadow Beasts. All types of shadow creatures are hostile to all other inhabitants of the Fissure and will engage them on sight. This may especially happen at the pass down towards the beach, where a Shadow patrol may steal your kills of some Snarling Driftwoods.

Note that you can use the Shadow beast popping up for your own good. Make it cast Spiteful Spirit and Mark of Pain on you, or just Mark of Pain, for that's what you are going to use. Immediately after it has cast Mark of Pain on you, use sprint and run into the Snarling Driftwoods, breaking its aggro. Now the only thing you need to do is to stand there and use your defensive skills, because they are enemies of the shadow army as well as yourself and will take huge amounts of damage due to beating on you. You will take no damage from it as it only damages adjacent allies of targeted foe.

[edit] Snarling Driftwood These warriors are just pathetic. Once you have your defenses up, they will not be able to damage you at all. There is, however, one possible danger: If you are engaged in a fight with Driftwoods and want to break away, because you happened to aggro some Ancient Skales, for example, you will probably be crippled and you will find that Protector's Strike is very well capable of penetrating even your high armor level.

Note that you can use the Shadow beast popping up for your own good. Make it cast Spiteful Spirit and Mark of Pain on you, or just Mark of Pain, for that's what you are going to use. Immediately after it has cast Mark of Pain on you, use sprint and run into the snarling driftwoods, breaking its aggro. Now the only thing you need to do is to stand there and use your defensive skills, because they are enemies of the shadow army as well as yourself and will take huge amounts of damage due to beating on you. You will take no damage from it as it only damages adjacent allies of targeted foe.

[edit] Doubter's Dryder As you are no spell caster, the only way for these Dryders to damage you is Wastrel's Worry. Which they will spam. Of course you can easily counter it by spamming skills yourself. Just do not use your attacks as soon as they are recharged, but wait for the Dryder to cast Wastrel's Worry. You will not need your defensive skills in a fight with a Doubter's Dryder, but they can of course be used to end Wastrel's, too. Keep in mind that every Dryder in the cave will spawn six Armored Cave Spiders.

[edit] Ancient Skale Immediately after aggroing them, they will hit you with Life Transfer and Life Siphon for -10 health degeneraton. Once damaged, they will use Grenth's Balance. You will have a very hard time to outperform this with both healing and damage. This is why you should flee them. If you find it hard to get past them, consider boosting your health by swapping armor parts with major or superior runes for parts with minor runes only (don't forget to swap back after you clear the Skales) or using a shield with additional health while hexed. Also, skills like Endure Pain can be helpful.

[edit] Armored Cave Spider They always come in groups of three, although at the cave entrance it will be next to impossible (but also irrelevant) to spot which ones belong together. Once you have your defenses up, their attacks should deal next to no damage. You will still be poisoned, though, and will have to heal yourself frequently. The spiders have the nasty habit of healing each other with Healing Springs. One possibility to overcome this is to wait outside the aggro radius for the spiders to spread out far enough so that they are out of each other's healing radius. However, this time consuming tactic often is unnecessary, as the spiders will stop using Healing Spring as soon you are stand immediately adjacent to them (Note: You know you are within range if your non-AoE melee attack can hit them. Being able to hit them with AoE weapon skills such as Cyclone Axe or Hundred Blades is not necessarily close enough). So when engaging a group of Spiders, position yourself so that you are standing right in the middle of them.

Note that if you use conditions on them, you grant them a relatively potent self-heal (Melandru's Resilience), and they will try to use Healing Spring even if you are in melee range. W/RT uw solo

Attributes and Skills Warrior / Ritualist Attribute Rank Restoration Magic 12 Tactics 10 + 1 + 2 Strength 8 + 1

Vengeful Was Khanhei Vengeful Weapon Dolyak Signet "Watch Yourself!" Healing Signet Bonetti's Defense Sprint Enraging Charge

[edit] Equipment Armor: Warrior Gladiator's Armor is best, although not vital. Weapons: A +5 energy sword/axe/spear with a +30hp or +7 armor mod. A shield with +30hp always and damage -5 (chance: 20%). Also shields with stance bonuses are advisable for the running portion and you could replace the +5 energy weapon for a weapon with "let the memory live again" to reduce the recharge time of Vengeful Was Khanhei. [edit] Usage Carefully approach, and take the quest from the Lost Soul who should be in front of you.

If you accidentally aggro a Bladed Aatxe, hit Sprint and run straight to the cliff wall behind you, this should break any aggro. If you attract a Dying Nightmare, use Vengeful Weapon until you kill it.

Once the quest was taken, you should have noticed some monsters appear on your mini-map. They are Grasping Darknesses, so we need to lure and kill them to escape from the chamber.

So aggro the closest group, usually of about 4 Grasping’s. This will normally also aggro the Bladed Aatxe, so we hit sprint, and run straight to the back wall. Only the Graspings should follow. (You could also use a longbow for luring the Graspings, that way you can save 5 energy from not having to use Sprint.)

Once lured, use Dolyak Signet, attack them with your sword (or axe) until Bonetti’s is charged, once charged use Bonetti’s, then Vengeful was Khanhei.

Repeat until they are dead. The main problem with Grasping's are their interrupts and energy drain, both of which can be tackled with Bonetti’s. Use it as a cover when casting VWK.

Once you have killed the 3 Groups of Graspings required for the quest, you can escape the chamber.

After escape you have to aim for smites, they are the creatures that you can kill that will drop ecto. Once you reach the Smites, do NOT attack the Smites, just lure them and let them attack you while you spam all the skills. When looking for Smites, be sure to watch out for Coldfire Nights, if you do aggro them, just sprint away. If you are hit by their Shard Storm or Frozen Burst spell, try to run and not to be in the middle of their Maelstorm.

For a better sight go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO4nVP_ZHvc

[edit] Counters Aatxes.

The standard set-up of this build cannot handle Coldfire Nights. However, Resilient Weapon can replace Sprint if you intend to farm them. Even with Resilient Weapon, they are very difficult to kill. Otherwise they should be avoided because once aggroed their spell Shard Storm will make it very hard to escape them, but its still possible if you evade their attacks and run to the beginning of smites.

[edit] Variants Resilient Weapon can replace Sprint if you intend to farm other areas of the underworld. "To the Limit!" can replace "Watch Yourself!" when you want some faster Adrenaline reload. Soothing Memories or Mend Body and Soul Can replace Healing Signet so you don't have the -40 Armor. Signet of Stamina can replace Healing Signet for running to smites and tanking them. Endure Pain can replace watch yourself,or healing signet. "To the Limit!" can also replace enraging charge if you don't have nightfall. Quick Note/Tip, replace both Healing Signet and "Watch Yourself!" with the health buffs shown and use one of them when heath gets low right before using VWS as it recharges. (Health will be about 130hp after using Bonetti's Defense then use Stamina or Endure, then dolyak, then VWS. VWS will bring hp to maximum, enabling you to repeat.

R/N touchy A Touch Ranger makes use of a ranger's durability in getting close to his opponents and "touch" skills from the necromancer's arsenal to steal his opponents' health. This build uses a high rank in Expertise to reduce the energy cost of the key skills Vampiric Bite and Vampiric Touch.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Ranger / Necromancer Attribute Rank Expertise 12 + 1 + 3 Blood Magic 12

Vampiric Bite Vampiric Touch Offering of Blood Throw Dirt Whirling Defense Dodge Plague Touch Resurrection Signet

[edit] Equipment Druid's Armor, With Rune of Superior Vigor and Rune of Superior Expertise Weapons (one of the following) A +5 energy axe/sword of shelter/defense/fortitude and a Blood Knife from Attendant Nashu or Jahn Pitz. A Blood Magic wand such as the one available from Karl Jakobs and Blood Magic focus such as the one available from Volsung Stoneketil. A +energy weapon set with otherwise same stats as the above. Milthuran's Staff for more energy [edit] Usage Get close to your target and spam Vampiric Bite and Vampiric Touch. Use Dodge to chase down kiting targets and avoid attacks that can be harmful to the build (such as crippling attacks). Use Whirling Defense or Throw Dirt when targeted by warriors, rangers or assassins. This is not only important for avoiding the damage, but also the harmful conditions like crippling and Deep Wound. Use Offering of Blood when you can get the full benefit of the energy gain and you are not taking too much damage. Use it as often as it recharges if you can. [edit] Counters Use anti-spammer strategies, such as Diversion or Distracting Shot. As the ranger needs to get within touch range, just stay away from them. Use any combination of snares, kiting and knockdowns to achieve this. The life stolen per second is not enough to overcome focused damage and health degeneration. However condition based degeneration won't work as they just use Plague Touch to pass it on. Signet of Humility, Arcane Thievery or Arcane Larceny can be used to shut down Offering of Blood, which is crucial for the build. When used in combination with even mild energy denial such as Energy Burn, the ranger will soon be out of energy. Blackout is devastating to touchers. "Can't Touch This!" will cause touch skills to fail, but this is not overly destructive and will only waste the touch ranger 2-10 energy. Tease will cause the recharge of all the touch skills used in the build to increase by a certain percent, decreasing the overall DPS of the build. It may be wise for users of this build to bring a melee weapon (such as a sword) as a counter-counter, since Tease ends if the target hits the caster (who will have to be within touch range to cast it in the first place) Because the build relies on two skills spammed consecutively, enemies with interrupts can easily time their interrupts. It looks like a toucher is easy to stop. However one on one (in most cases even 2 or 3 on one) with the touch ranger at full energy it's not as easy. The only realistic way to stop him is using hex based snares, Diversion, heavy energy denial or out healing him until he runs out of energy. [edit] Variants Verata's Aura can take control of all minions around for a medium-short amount of time. Highly useful for AB. Frozen Soil can be hidden on the Touch Ranger skill-bar, and when used intelligently, can be a devastating skill in TA, and especially RA. This requires the extra skill points to be put into Wilderness Survival. This can easily replace Throw Dirt. Barbed Signet can replace Resurrection Signet in AB, giving the Touch Ranger a secondary distance attack to compliment Vampiric Gaze. Signet of Agony and Distracting Shot with a barbed bow to replace Throw Dirt and Whirling Defense gives the build an interrupt and the ability to inflict 44 second bleeding (significant damage over time.) You can still have Blood weaponry as a secondary set. Blood Ritual is useful especially in a team situation as it is affected by expertise and gives an energy gain. Similarily, a group of touch rangers could be effective using Blood is Power and Blood Ritual on each other. Zojun's Haste, paired with Dodge, gives an almost nonstop speed boost and protection against rangers. This is a good replacement for Resurrection Signet in AB. Blood Renewal makes a good self heal if used properly. Strip Enchantment in place of Resurrection Signet for Alliance Battles or 8-Team Competitive Missions such as The Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood, where Resurrection Signets are useless. Use the 6 left-over attribute points and put them into Wilderness Survival, then using Serpent's Quickness as a way to increase pressure on your target. Touch of Agony and/or Wallow's Bite should not be overlooked. For players who only own Factions, a spare points Melandru's Shot could be used, with Vampiric Bite and Wallow's Bite as the damage. This will be less effective and conditional to enemies faced, however. Storm Chaser instead of Dodge can help with energy management, but is generally not as useful. In Alliance Battles, Resurrection Signet may be replaced with Awaken the Blood for more powerful touch attacks.

R/ME UW solo trap

This build is designed to farm the Underworld as a solo ranger trapper. The build uses the skill recharge bonus and energy given by the Nature Rituals and Serpent's Quickness to spam as many Dust Traps as much as possible.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Ranger / Mesmer Attribute Rank Wilderness Survival 12 + 1 + 3 Expertise 12 + 3 Beast Mastery 3

Energizing Wind Quickening Zephyr Serpent's Quickness Arcane Echo Echo Dust Trap Barbed Trap Whirling Defense

[edit] Equipment Full Druid's Armor or equivalent in function Two Runes of Attunement The best Rune of Vigor you can afford (but at least a major) Any staff with 15 or 20 energy bonus with + 7 armor against physical damage For extra protection when pulling you could take a replacement armor piece for one of those with a superior rune in it and a staff with +60hp. This will allow you to survive two hits from a Bladed Aatxe. [edit] Usage This build is for experienced trappers who want more challenge and get all the loot for themselves. It is hard at first but with practice, becomes pretty easy to handle. The idea of the build is to keep the mobs on the Dust Traps for their full activation time. This is difficult as AoE damage causes the enemy mobs to flee.

First, choose your trapping spot near an angle or any small confined space (e.g. in the Chamber, just under the stairs, close to the walls). You will want the mobs to be blocked by the walls when they try to flee the AoE damages. Once you've got the trapping spot, put down Energizing Wind and Quickening Zephyr just around the corner/angle, not too close to the wall (about the distance of activation of a trap). Start Arcane Echo and during its activation use Serpent's Quickness so that you have the stance before the casting of Arcane Echo finishes. Then use Echo, Dust Trap, Echo (copied with Arcane Echo), Dust Trap (copied with Echo), and Dust Trap (copied with Echo copied with Arcane Echo). Walk backwards a couple of steps, keeping clear from the wall(always about the distance of activation of a trap) and put down Barbed Trap. As soon as the Dust Traps have recharged, lay them down and keep SQ up (usually wears off at the end of the 5th Dust Trap, so recast) and spam Barbed Trap when possible. After the 7th Dust Trap, the spirits will end. Wait a couple of seconds for EW to recharge, put down EW and renew SQ. Then use Echo, Dust Trap, and the echoed Dust Trap. Keep the Barbed Trap that has recharged unused for your own safety. Now you can go pull the mobs. Hit Whirling Defense during aggro and run towards the spirit and stay put behind it. Usually Aaxtes will focus on it instead of you. Meanwhile they will take all the damage waves from the 9 Dust Traps as they try to flee through the walls. The usage of the build can be summed up with the following sequences (skills numbered from 1 to 8 from left to right): Laying down the spirits, the 3 Dust Traps and 1 Barbed Trap: 1, 2, 7, 4 + 3, 5, 6, 4, 5, 4 (3 is to be cast during activation time of 4) Laying down 4 other Dust Traps and 2 Barbed Traps: 7, 6, 5, 4 + 3, 7, 6 (with good timing you can renew SQ when 4 starts) Laying down a spirit and 2 Dust Traps and Barbed before pulling: 1 + 3, 7, 5, 6, 5 [edit] Counters The main flaw of the build is lack of self healing. Surviving in emergency situations and during pulling is possible with Whirling Defense, Barbed Trap, and clever movement. Whirling Defense will prevent most of the hits from foes. However Aatxes hit hard, so don't try to pull them from too far away or you'll have a greater risk to get hit and the traps set might start to go off on their own. When the enemy mob survives the initial traps, run away, put down Barbed Trap, lure the surviving enemies into it, and run far away from them. They should lose aggro. When Smites or Coldfire Nights survive, just run away from them until they break aggro. Coldfire Nights are the hardest mob to kill with this build. Avoiding them is the best tactic. If you can't, lay down your spirits far behind the trapping spot, and trap in multiple spots. 3 Dust Traps, step back a bit, Barbed Trap, step back, Dust Traps, etc... This is to ensure that when the Coldfires run after you they will activate all the traps on the way. To keep them in the traps, you can hit Whirling Defense and come into aggro distance so that the survivors focus on you and stay in the traps. [edit] Variants You could replace Serpent's Quickness with Trapper's Speed. However, it seems that the benefit of SQ is much better as it can also be maintained during the whole trapping process. Replacing Whirling Defense with Flame Trap allows for quicker takedowns, and results in health degeneration on the Aatxes. The only drawback is its harder to pull, so use this variant at your own risk. [edit] Notes This build is for experienced trappers and is hard to use. Once you've got the trick, you can clear out the chamber, take out most of the smites, and come back and clear the mobs in the southern part of the chamber within 1 hour. It usually takes an average 2 minutes per mob. Once you've finished a group, your skills and energy should have fully recharged while moving to the next trapping place. This is the most efficient trapping build for farming considering the fact that there are no other players getting drops. You can replace Whirling Defense with Tripwire to farm the Stygian Veil. watch out for corners because you sometimes will get blocked in and will almost surely die.

N/ANY virulent mm

This build adds powerful condition spreading to a MM build, accelerating the corpse-production process. The secondary is left open to allow flexibility and customization. The two optional slots and a few points from soul reaping can be used for extra healing/protection or utility, if necessary, including a resurrection skill.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Necromancer / Any Attribute Rank Death Magic 12 + 1 + 3 Soul Reaping 12 + 1

Virulence Plague Sending Signet of Agony Animate Shambling Horror Animate Bone Fiend Blood of the Master Optional Optional

[edit] Equipment Minion Master, Tormentor or Cabalist Armor With Runes Mentioned Above + Major Or Superior Vigor. Ghial's or Nightbringer Staff Or 20/20 Wand And Offhand (Death Magic) [edit] Usage 1. Activate Signet of Agony, then use Plague Sending in the middle of a group of enemies, followed by Virulence. If not under pressure, redo the combo when Signet and Virulence recharge (both have the same recharge - 15 seconds). If under pressure, simply use virulence on any targets of opportunity and plague send dangerous/long lasting conditions.

2. Regular MM activities - raise minions, heal yourself, if you can, and heal your minions.

[edit] Counters Interrupts, Condition removal, Anti-caster spells such as Backfire, corpse denial, etc.

[edit] Variants You can use your secondary (siphoning points off Soul Reaping) for added defense or utility. One suggestion would be using Dervish with 8 pts in Earth Prayers with Mystic Regeneration and Vital Boon, for instance. Or Monk for a hard res, Healing Breeze or Heal Area. Another suggestion would be a Mesmer secondary, using Epidemic.

Keep in mind that if you're taking points off soul reaping, you might want to replace bone fiend for bone horror (or even bone minions), since you'll have less energy.

n/any mm

There are many version of the Minion Master, however, this version unlike many does not use Healing Prayers line, removing any restriction on secondary class. This version is ideal for Sorrow's Furnace farming, Alliance Battles or PvE.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Necromancer / Any Attribute Rank Death Magic 12 + 1 + 3 Soul Reaping 12 + 1 Blood Magic 3 + 1

Animate Flesh Golem Animate Bone Fiend Animate Shambling Horror Blood of the Master Optional Taste of Death Dark Bond Generic resurrect

[edit] Equipment Minion Master's Armor or Cabalist's Armor. Bloodstained Boots Any 20/20 Bone Staff, Ghial's Staff, Woe Spreader or The Nightbringer [edit] Usage When starting out in a new area or low on minions:

Use Rotting Flesh on fleshy foes, preferably on large groups to spread the Disease condition. This is incredibly effective when used in PvE. Create a Flesh Golem with the first dead body to start off. Create other minions depending on your Energy pool. Once you have a few minions:

Create other minions, again, depending on remaining Energy. Use Blood of the Master to keep your minions alive. When without a monk on your team it is perfectly viable to use Taste of Death to keep yourself alive so long as you have Minions to feed off of. When idle, spam Blood of the Master on your minion army and use Taste of Death on a Flesh golem to regain the health lost. Don't forget that it is usually easier to kill off an old Flesh Golem for a new one instead of repeatedly healing one. This build can happily stay alive by sacrificing a minion with Taste of Death while other minions kill foes, while disease from Rotting Flesh degenerates most foes in PvE when low on minions.

[edit] Variants For the optional slot: Deathly Swarm can be used for AoE damage. Take Rotting Flesh to spread degeneration. (NOTE: not recommended against human foes) Use Infuse Condition for the transfer of conditions to your minions. Aura of the Lich can be used in place of Animate Flesh Golem to allow more spamming of Blood of the Master, although not advisable when anticipating health degeneration effects. This also makes Blood Renewal useful for self-healing if a higher level Blood Magic is used. Skills such as Putrid Explosion, Deathly Swarm and Bitter Chill can be added to give the Minion Master some direct damage skills that are linked to Death Magic. You can bring Death Nova to make one last final use of a minion that's near death. For more self healing Animate Vampiric Horror can be used in place of Animate Bone Fiend. This allows a more meat-shield like role of the minion master protecting the back line casters. If making this switch, it is a good idea to cast Animate Bone Horror more often due to the recharge time of Animate Vampiric Horror and to refresh your minions. Also great way to gain a positive health gained to sacrificed ratio if enough are summoned. Bring Verata's Aura to reclaim your minions if you die, or possibly to steal minions from monsters who create them. Not many monsters can, however, and the ones that can do not create them nearly as fast as the average Minion Master Necromancer. As such, Verata's Gaze may be a better choice for stealing minions. Infuse Condition in combination with Dark Bond is useful in scenarios where you are being targeted instead of your minions. Skills such as Putrid Explosion will exploit your corpses rendering them useless to a Minion Master. Instead of using Animate Bone Fiend and Dark Bond, try Fetid Ground and Deathly Swarm for damage when you need to kill enemies quickly without minions. You can use Animate Shambling Horror instead of Animate Bone Horror if you have Guild Wars Nightfall. The differences between a Shambling Horror and a Bone Horror, except for the 'skin', include a different attack range from Bone Minions and Vampiric Horrors, and the fact that when a Shambling Horror dies they will immediatly turn into a Jagged Horror, which will cause bleeding with its attacks. Those using Shambling Horror will find a longer recharge time in return for this fact, so faster-recharging summons are advised. Signet of Lost Souls may be an energy management option. Verata's Gaze and Verata's Aura Make excellent AB variant over the Resurrect skills because they allow the Minion Master to steal the enemy minions (Mostly other Flesh Golems or with aura all of the enemy minions). WARNING: Once Verata's Aura is used, especially with re-controlling your army MAINTAIN IT!

 MM 

The Minion Master PvE build centers on creating and maintaining an army of minions. See the General minion mastery guide for in-depth discussion.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Necromancer / Monk Attribute Rank Death Magic 12 + 1 + 3 Soul Reaping 10 + 1 Healing Prayers 8 Blood Magic 2 + 1

Animate Flesh Golem Animate Bone Fiend Animate Bone Horror Blood of the Master Dark Bond Optional Heal Area Rebirth

See Variants for possible skills for the optional slot. Karei's Healing Circle is the Factions equivalent skill for Heal Area. The skill set presented here is an example. No claims are made to its supremacy. [edit] Equipment Bloodstained Boots or Insignia are a must. Other than that, any Necromancer armor is fine, although Minion Master insignia is preferred. A staff or weapon/focus set that halves recharge and casting time of Death Magic is advisable. Ghial's Staff or The Nightbringer work great. See the Equipment section of the General minion mastery guide for more options. [edit] Usage As soon as corpses are available, start by raising a Flesh Golem, then Bone Fiends. If you are low on energy or are waiting for Animate Bone Fiend to recharge, raise up some Bone Horrors. Summon new minions during battle if needed. Use Dark Bond to mitigate damage, if you expect to be in a vulnerable position. Use Blood of the Master and/or Heal Area to keep your minions alive. [edit] Counters An enemy with Diversion will screw you up if it gets used on Blood of the Master. A good mesmer could mess you up when you try to summon minions. Another necromancer may get to corpses before you do, which will leave you with a lack of corpses. A mesmer with Conjure Phantasm or Conjure Nightmare will kill you pretty fast if you don't have a hex remover. See also the Opposing forces section of the General minion mastery guide. [edit] Variants Some find the extra healing provided by Heal Area unnecessary. This gives the Minion Master more choices in selecting a secondary profession. Also, the points put into Healing Prayers can be used in other attributes. Aura of the Lich can be used in place of Animate Flesh Golem to allow more spamming of Blood of the Master, although not advisable when anticipating health degeneration effects. This also makes Blood Renewal useful for self-healing if Blood Magic is used. Taste of Death can be used in place of Dark Bond healing. Skills such as Rotting Flesh, Putrid Explosion, Deathly Swarm and Bitter Chill can be added to give the Minion Master some direct damage skills that are linked to Death Magic. You can bring Death Nova to make one last final use of a minion that's near death. For more self healing Animate Vampiric Horror can be used in place of Animate Bone Fiend. This allows a more meat-shield like role of the minion master protecting the back line casters. If making this switch, it is a good idea to cast Animate Bone Horror more often due to the recharge time of Animate Vampiric Horror and to refresh your minions. Fill the optional slot with Verata's Aura to reclaim your minions if you die, or possibly to steal minions from monsters who create them. Not many monsters can, however, and the ones that can do not create them nearly as fast as the average Minion Master Necromancer. As such, Verata's Gaze may be a better choice for stealing minions. Infuse Condition in combination with Dark Bond is useful in scenarios where you are being targeted instead of your minions. Some like to bring other healing skills such as Healing Breeze or Blood Renewal to offset the sacrifice damage suffered by using Blood of the Master. Rebirth can be replaced by the resurrection skill of your choice. Skills such as Putrid Explosion will exploit your corpses rendering them useless to a Minion Master. Instead of using Animate Bone Fiend and Dark Bond, try Fetid Ground and Deathly Swarm for damage when you need to kill enemies quickly without enemies. You can use Animate Shambling Horror instead of Animate Bone Horror if you have Guild Wars Nightfall. The differences between a Shambling Horror and a Bone Horror, except for the 'skin', include a different attack range from Bone Minions and Vampiric Horrors, and the fact that when a Shambling Horror dies they will immediatly turn into a Jagged Horror, which will cause bleeding with its attacks. Those using Shambling Horror will find a longer recharge time in return for this fact, so faster-recharging summons are advised. Using Dwayna's Sorrow on your minions can provide numerous, cheap heals for your entire party. Signet of Lost Souls may be an energy management option. If you consider the healing from Heal Area unnecessary, replace it with a Death Magic spell such as Deathly Swarm, Bitter Chill or any other high damage Death Magic spell.