User:Feedmenow4244

Build:Team - Dual Anguish Farmer
This build is designed to farm the City of Torc'qua with just two people to get Margonite Gemstones and other items.

The Tank
NOTE: The tank must have rank 4 lightbringer or higher or this build will not work.

Equipment

 * A full set of armor with radiant insignias with a superior rune on each.
 * A +5 energy sword or axe with a 20% enchanting mod on it such as a Totem Axe or a Rajazan's Fervor and a grim cesta from the quest Cities of Ascalon.

Equipment

 * A full set of armor with radiant insignias with a rune of superior wilderness survival and any expertise rune.
 * A Insightful Staff of Enchanting with a Hale & Hearty inscription is optimal, but any weapon set will work.

Usage

 * The first thing to do upon entering the city is to cast the 4 enchantments on the tank. During this time, the ranger should be using Blood Ritual on him/her.
 * Within 40 seconds of the first person to enter the area, the ranger should cast Quickening Zephyr followed by Famine behind the gate. NOTE: The ranger should cast the spirit within range of the Margonite Quickening Zephyr. The ranger will continue to use Quickening Zephyr whenever it recharges and Famine whenever it is about to die.
 * The ranger should then use Blood Ritual on the tank until he/she has at least 37 energy.
 * One person must then take the quest The City of Torc'qua from Captain Sulahresh. The participants at this time may also take the Anguish Hunt from the Whispers Informant.
 * The ranger should stay near the gate while the tank moves forward.
 * The tank should have his/her hero window active and being able to easily click on his/her Lightbringer title.
 * The tank should then cast Protective Spirit and Spell Breaker on him/herself and engage the first group of Margonites.
 * The tank should then toggle his/her Lightbringer title on and then quickly off. This will cause a 4...8 damage reduction based on Lightbringer rank. This damage reduction does not last forever and should be reapplied every 15 seconds. NOTE: If the tank is rank 5 or higher Lightbringer, they will not gain energy due to Essence Bond, thus Essence Bond should be replaced with Blessed Signet. See below variant.
 * As soon as the tank has enough energy, he/she should use Healing Breeze.
 * The tank should reapply Healing Breeze, Protective Spirit, and Spell Breaker whenever necessary.
 * The Warrior and Dervish Margonites will then begin to attack the tank in melee.
 * The tank should then begin to use Sympathetic Visage whenever it recharges (which is only 10 seconds because of quickening zephyr). This will drain the energy of the warriors and dervishes relatively quickly. They will begin to take damage from famine, which will cause the enemy monks to heal the melee attackers. Because they use Healing Whisper, they will move closer to the attackers.
 * The tank should then try to get the monks to be very close to each other by pulling the melee attackers. Be sure not to pull backwards as this will allow the Margonites to attack the ranger, which will cause you to fail.
 * The tank should then go into adjacent range of the monks. The dervishes and warriors will follow.
 * The energy should completely drain from the monks and they will stop healing. They will later die due to famine. This will also leave the dervishes and warriors at very low health.
 * Once the monks have died, the other Margonites should be easy to kill using a similar method, although once the dervishes and warriors have died it will be impossible to kill other Margonites because Sympathetic Visage only triggers when you get hit in melee.
 * The tank can pick up his/her loot whenever he/she chooses and can pull the Margonites away so that the ranger can pick up his/her loot.

Variants

 * If the tank has rank 5 or higher Lightbringer, he/she should use a radically different build since he/she will be taking 0 damage from the Margonites. This also allows for a 2 man farm for all of the City of Torc'qua and The Foundry of Failed Creations.  An example of this build would be:


 * The ranger could put some attribute points into Beast Mastery and bring Edge of Extinction to speed up the farming a bit.
 * The ranger could bring Sunspear Rebirth Signet with the small hope that, if the tank dies, he can be resurrected and the build can restart. This is near impossible due to the fact that the Margonites will rush the area before you have time to set up again.
 * The ranger could bring some running stances such as Storm Chaser, Dodge, and Natural Stride to pick up loot.
 * The tank could also be a Mo/W who uses "Fear Me!" to drain energy instead of Sympathetic Visage and uses Balanced Stance or Dolyak Signet to prevent knockdown while using Spell Breaker. The build should be something similar to this:


 * To effectively use this build, it is advisable to set the button to use "Fear Me!" to something easily pushed. This variant of the build only works in the City of Torc'qua or any other place with massive (20 or greater) mobs.  The main advantage to this over the Visage build is that it does not require melee attackers to energy deny.  If you have Lightbringer rank 5 or higher, replace Mending with "For Great Justice!" or Blessed Signet.  Auto-attacking is also a good idea to more quickly gain adrenaline for "Fear Me!".

Build:N/Mo Boss Farmer
This build is intended for quick and direct farming of bosses. It relies on the normal 55 standard and very high health regeneration for healing and damage reduction. Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit provide energy for the consistent spamming of regeneration skills. The main damage comes from Spoil Victor and possibly one Touch Attack. This build allows the user to charge directly for the boss monster and ignore the boss's mob.

Equipment

 * Each of your armor pieces need to have a superior attribute Rune. This will lower your base Health to 105. (The only required type is blood, but 5 are necessary to hit 105 health.)
 * It is a good idea to bring a second set of armor. This will allow you to adjust your health manually based on any Death Penalty you might accumulate.
 * Any +5 energy/20% longer enchanting sword/axe such as Rajazan's Fervor or Totem Axe.
 * The -50hp Grim Cesta from the Cities of Ascalon quest. (This is not required if you don't mind dying once and using a -20 offhand to hit 13hp. This will work better in most cases.)
 * For 13hp build, any -20hp offhand (preferably +12 energy). (Life is Pain Inscriptions help with this.)
 * If you have any +hp offhands they could also be useful if any DP is accumulated.

Usage

 * Cast your four maintained enchantments when entering the explorable area. Try to allow full energy regeneration after each one until you're used to an area.
 * As you approach your target cast Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze.
 * Target the boss monster and cast Spoil Victor.
 * Get as much aggro as possible from the boss's mob of monsters.
 * Begin using Vampiric Touch on the boss
 * After any touch attempt refresh either Healing Breeze or Protective Spirit. Alternate the refresh between the two.
 * Having the touches interrupted is not an issue. They have a fast refresh time.
 * Refreshing Healing Breeze and Protective Spirit early is ideal when facing a boss whose mob has interrupt capability. If they are interrupted this is less problematic as they'll likely refresh before they expire.
 * To keep melee foes from fleeing, keep hitting them with your axe or sword.

Counters

 * Enchantment stripping spells such as Chilblains, Lingering Curse, Well of the Profane, Gaze of Contempt, Rend Enchantments, Strip Enchantment, Inspired Enchantment, Dark Apostasy, Shatter Enchantment, or Expunge Enchantments.
 * Life Steal attacks will bypass the protection offered from Protective Spirit. This will usually kill you.

Variants

 * Consider using Blood of the Aggressor instead of Vampiric Touch for lesser energy use and damage from a distance (safer against interrupts from warriors or rangers). Vampiric Touch is sometimes impossible to use in areas where there's a lot of energy degeneration such as Domain of Secrets.
 * Some groups apply more degen than you can handle, in this case replace Vampiric Touch with either Life Siphon or Blood Renewal. Life Siphon is better for groups without a lot of interrupts, while Blood Renewal has a faster cast time, and the sacrifice will be healed before you notice it most of the time.
 * Another skill you may consider in replacing Vampiric Touch is Wallow's Bite or Touch of Agony. With only 5 energy cost and 3 sec recharge time, you can definitely spam this skill to speed up killing.  The 10% life sacrifice is hardly noticeable.  A good example would be the case of farming Wing's Axe.  If you encounter a mesmer with two ritualists, it's almost impossible to kill her with just Spoil Victor as she strips off hexes the moment you put it on her.  Not to mention she strips off hexes from the her party too.
 * Replacing Watchful Spirit with Vigorous Spirit and Vampiric Touch with Plague Touch opens up a lot of possibilities. Vigorous Spirit maybe be used as a cover enchantment versus enchantment removal or a cheaper heal than Healing Breeze when down to one or two attackers. When using Vigorous Spirit as a cover, it's usually best to cast Protective Spirit, then Vigorous Spirit, then Healing Breeze immediately before attacking the target mesmer or necro (Kournan Seers are one example of where this works very well). Plague Touch is useful to remove conditions such as Dazed from the Grasping Darknesses in the Underworld, or Deep Wound when fighting Stoneaxe Hekets while farming greens like the Eye of Argon and Balthazar's Fury though removing Deep Wound isn't always a good idea, since you end up taking less damage which makes you harder to kill.

Build:N/R Stygian Solo Farmer
This build is made specifically to farm the Stygian Demons associated with the Breaching the Stygian Veil quest in the Stygian Veil for Stygian Gemstones and shiny weapons. It is capable of destroying all mobs, although the later mobs take more time and are much more difficult.

Equipment

 * You'll need one high-health set of armor and weapons and one 55 set (see Invincible Monk for details on 55 equipment).

Usage
When you enter the Stygian Veil, there is a mob in the trench immediately to your right (S-SE) that may be (mostly) killed easily for fun and profit and to get the first few no-drops out of the way. If you get a great drop from these, use Consume Corpse and retrieve it. This will end this farming run. Watch out for the patrol - particularly the Mind Tormentors and Water Tormentors that often spawn will hurt.

Head East, dodging the nasty Shadow patrols. Talk to the Whispers Informant to receive Anguish Hunt. Then talk to the Adept of Whispers, take the Breaching the Stygian Veil quest, and immediately run NE along the wall above the Dreadspawn Maw. Wait for three mobs of six Stygian Hungers to gather around the Adept of Whispers.

Carefully run along the wall to the lower area around the Dreadspawn Maw - there's just enough room to get down there from either side without aggro'ing any of the groups..

Now the fun begins....

Part 1 - The Hunger Mobs
Stygian Hungers are touch/AoE necros with Grenth's Balance as their elite. Switch to your 55 health setup to counter Grenth's Balance. Repeat the following:


 * Use 'c' to select the nearest target - make sure it is in one of the side mobs - save the center mob for last.
 * Cast Suffering.
 * Run away around the Dreadspawn Maw using a running skill until aggro is broken. Occasionally, this will be difficult. Do not stop running until aggro is broken.
 * Make sure you have the nearest target of the same mob, and cast Desecrate Enchantments. The Hungers use Dark Aura, making this do a decent amount of damage to the mob.
 * Run away and break aggro.
 * Nearest target, cast Feast of Corruption.
 * Run away.
 * Go back to the first step, and repeat until their health is low.

You really want to finish them off with Feast of Corruption or Desecrate Enchantments. If you let them degen to death while you're not in the area, you may not get any drops. They should be in an easily killable range with either skill once their health bar is into the 'Lvl' text. If you are using your 55 armor, then all can be killed simultaneously.

When a mob dies, it will be replaced by another one from a spawn point behind the gates the first three mobs came from. You have a lot of time to run around the Dreadspawn Maw to lose aggro from the other two mobs, but do try to avoid aggro'ing the new one.

Part 2 - The Brute Mobs
Stygian Brutes are hammer warriors. While facing them, you can switch to your high-health armor if you wish, but you're still probably dead if they actually hit you. Use the same techniques as on the Stygian Hungers, except only cast Desecrate Enchantments when you have energy to burn, as it is considerably less cost-effective for damaging the Brutes.



Part 3 - The Fiend Mobs
Stygian Fiends are rangers with Crippling Shot, Choking Gas, and other fun skills to mutilate necromancers with. Once again, you really don't want to get hit by these. Unfortunately, if they even shoot at you and miss, Demonic Miasma will make it hurt. Use the high-health armor when dealing with these, as you're likely to at least be *missed* by a barrage or two of arrows.

Once again, hit and run. If possible, run up the nearby hill while running away to minimize any height-advantage and additional range the Fiends may get. See the highlighted path in the map:



Part 4 - The Golem Mobs
Stygian Golems are Dervish beasts which use Harrier's Haste to catch up with you. It's almost impossible to reliably lose them with just running skills. The trick here is to circle around the mob and plant Muddy Terrain *behind* the mob, to the NE of the Adept of Whispers (center point on the map to the right). Then head back down below and do the following:


 * Cast Suffering
 * Run away (use a running skill just before leaving Muddy Terrain's area of effect).
 * Wait for mob to resettle.
 * Cast Feast of Corruption.
 * Run away and wait for mob to resettle.
 * Cast Suffering
 * Run away until you lose aggro, then head back and drop another Muddy Terrain spirit at the spot on the map.
 * Rinse, repeat.

It works best if you trigger your running skill just prior to leaving the area under the effect of Muddy Terrain. This makes you go fast while the Golems are still stuck trudging along. If the spirit is correctly placed, they'll give up before getting out of its range.

Part 5 - The Horror Mobs
Stygian Horrors are warriors which, similar to the Stygian Golems, use Bull's Charge to speed them on their way to killing you. Use the same technique with Muddy Terrain to kill these as used for Stygian Golems.



Part 6 - The Mixed Mobs
The last mob of each of the three sets has all of the Stygian Demons in it. You'll need to use the high-health armor to deal with the Fiends and use the Muddy Terrain technique (See the map images for placement for Eastern and Western mobs). Unfortunately, that means you're unlikely to kill them all simultaneously. Once the Stygian Hungers are the only ones left, switch back to your 55 armor for the final kills.

Part 7 - How do I get my drops?!?!
Once you've killed all the mobs, the area around the Adept will be safe. However, it's easy enough to pick up valuable drops long before that point, either directly after killing one set or not.

If you've just killed a set, then run away *without* using a running skill. Go around the Dreadspawn Maw with the remaining two mobs trailing behind you. Just as you cross the halfway-around point, hit your running skills and head for your most valuable drops. If done correctly, you can pick up one or two items, then run away without being hit and be able to continue the farm if desired.

This will most likely not work if a mob of Fiends, Golems, or Horrors is present - only make hoover runs with Brutes and Hungers around. Look at the table showing the order of the mobs in Breaching the Stygian Veil to figure out your best kill order to get drops.

If you haven't just killed a set, just aggro them with Suffering and run around the Maw as described above.

Variants
A N/A using Deadly Paradox Shadow of Haste Dark Escape and Dash and 12 Shadow Arts instead of the ranger skills and Wilderness Survival. The strategy is very much the same except for the running away part. For that you activate Deadly Paradox then Shadow of Haste, run in, cast your spell(s), then use Dash to cancel out Shadow of Haste. This will teleport you back to the place where you used Shadow of Haste and you can proceed to run using Dark Escape if needed. For a more indepth guide to this version see here.

Counters

 * Everything in this area hits hard. Getting hit once is likely to produce a Necromancer-shaped corpse.  Try to avoid getting hit.

Build:Team - 55/SS
A modern 55/SS pair for farming. The build is based on an Invincible Monk tank and a modified N/Me SS Nuker.

Build Concept
While there are different tactics for different situations (explained below, in the tactics section), the general outline of how this team works is very similar to most other 55/SS teams:
 * The 55 monk attracts all aggro of the enemies. This includes the important step of taking melee attackers to spell casters and/or ranged attacker whenever possible to allow Spiteful Spirit to kill as many foes simultaneously as possible. Solid lining up of ranged attackers and then solid piling of melee attackers on them are the keys to making this team build effective and successful.
 * The SS necromancer's job is to carefully administer Spiteful Spirit on foes so that as many foes as possible drop at the same time. If the 55 monk does a solid job piling up foes, then Spiteful Spirit placed on two of them can take out the entire group in a matter of seconds.
 * The 55 monk's primary responsibility is to survive. He/she must be accustomed to playing the role of an invincible monk.
 * The SS necromancer is in charge of killing, and must utilize his skills in the way that takes out the most dangerous foes first.
 * In case of aggro breaks the 55 monk needs to cast protective and healing spells on the SS necromancer who then needs to gather the enemies together again.

The Invincible Monk (55)
Usage:
 * Cast Blessed Aura, Mending and Balthazar's Spirit at the beginning. Note that you will have low energy regeneration. Use Blessed Signet to recharge.
 * In situations where there are no enemy mesmers or elementalists, use Protective Spirit and engage. With four pips of health regeneration from Mending you should not need Healing Breeze until you round all foes and they are all hitting you at the same time.
 * The Energy from Balthazar's Spirit should be more than enough for all situations, but use Blessed Signet to fill when it has recharged.
 * Use Spell Breaker to deflect enchantment removal, or prevent initial spells while you approach. When you see a Dying Nightmare pop up in your mini radar, use Spell Breaker immediately to avoid Rend Enchantments. If your enchantments are removed, cast Protective Spirit as fast as you can to avoid death.
 * If the necromancer is attacked, cast Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze on him, so that he will survive when pulling the attackers to you.

Equipment:
 * A sword or axe with an Of Enchanting upgrade. A Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor is ideal.
 * The Cities of Ascalon quest reward -50hp Cesta.
 * Ascetic's Armor, with 5 monk superior runes.

Variations:

If you are sure that the SS necro will stay out of harm's way and not die (not likely in a PUG), you can replace Rebirth with one of the following:
 * Bonetti's Defense and use it when encountering large mobs or before using Healing Breeze to help interruption. (Note that it will end upon successful casting.)
 * Essence Bond for better energy management.

Spiteful Spirit Necromancer (SS/SV)

 * Good choices for the Optional skill slots are Blood Ritual, Awaken the Blood, Leech Signet and Desecrate Enchantments/Defile Enchantments. Your monk will love you for the extra energy from Blood Ritual, the extra four damage from Awaken the Blood will add up quick, Leech Signet can be the difference between life and death if your monk misses Spell Breaker on a Dying Nightmare spawn, and Desecrate/Defile Enchantments are great for that last bit of damage needed to kill a group of Smite Crawlers, Coldfire Nights, or Terrorweb Dryders.
 * Insidious Parasite is also useful, only use it to speed up the killing of one foe, and to kill escaping graspings/smites on your own (doing this with smites is pretty dangerous and needs practice. Don't make the monk come to you. You can kill it on your own, if you are in danger however (below 50% health) run to the monk to get breeze and PS.
 * If you use Blood Magic skills move points from Soul Reaping to Blood Magic and take a Blood Magic rune, preferably a superior one.
 * If you do not have access to the Sunspear Rebirth Signet, you can substitute a normal Resurrection Signet instead.
 * A high Soul Reaping is not really needed, it only gives you (near) full energy after the mob is killed. So you can remove ALL points in Soul Reaping (you can keep the minor rune) and use the attribute points to raise your Illusion Magic to 12. This will give you a nine-seconds-lasting Sympathetic Visage or Ancestor's Visage. It will decrease the time that the tank doesn't have SV/AV on him. Now, this advantage might not look so great, but it can prevent the Smite Crawlers to gain energy. So that they won't use Smite Hex on your precious Spiteful Spirit. (This can save a lot of time.)

Usage:
 * Patience and good timing are the most important aspects of success. Give the 55 monk room to operate and round up and gather aggro. Following closely will only result in breaking up aggro and making fights longer. Never move into the aggro range of enemies before they are concentrating on the monk. Most enemy types will also change their target to you if you go closer than the maximum spell casting range.
 * Once the enemies are piled up into one nice pile, proceed to echo and apply Spiteful Spirit and its copy on different foes. Follow it up with Reckless Haste if you have it (which affects an area so you do not need to apply it to more than one foe in the same cluster before the duration wears off). Generally, Warriors and Assassins make the best targets as they attack fast and invoke stances while attacking which only serves to increase the damage SS deals.
 * Maintain Sympathetic Visage or Ancestor's Visage (but rarely/never at the same time) on the monk, especially against Grasping Darknesses (otherwise they will interrupt the tank) and Smite Crawlers (otherwise they will use Smite Hex to remove Spiteful Spirit)
 * Use other damage spells such as Desecrate Enchantments and Defile Enchantments to deal extra damage to speed up the killing. They might also be useful in situations where the enemies break aggro.
 * If you are attacked, pull the attackers to the monk, who should cast Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze on you, so that all enemies will be damaged by the SS. If you act quickly, the enemies will die to the initial SS spells and you won't need to recast it.
 * Bladed Aatxes are pretty easy to kill. Just make sure that any Dying Nightmares are killed as fast as possible, before the Spell Breaker of the 55-monk runs out.
 * With the Grasping Darknesses, make sure that the tank has Sympathetic Visage or Ancestor's Visage on him when possible to prevent the Graspings from interrupting the monk.
 * When fighting Smite Crawlers you need to be more careful and wait for the monk to finish the pull and let the Smites gather around him to prevent aggro change. Cast SV on the monk, wait 9 seconds to let SV lower the energy of the Smites, then cast in the following order: AV on the monk, Arcane Echo, Spiteful Spirit on target 1, Spiteful Spirit on target 2, SV on the monk again, and move away from aggro range if the mob has 4 or 5 smites (they'll come after you). If its a group of 4, cast Insidious Parasite (if you have it) then a cover hex like Reckless Haste or even SS. If it is a group of 5 smites, place two SS's (explained above) then run away until the smites lose aggro. When they are back at the monk, just restart the process.
 * Coldfire Nights are easy to kill if the monk is able to keep them together and you stay out of their aggro when not casting SS on them.

Equipment:
 * A 20/20 weapon set, Ideally, Villnar's Glove and the Wayward Wand of Curses from the Adept of Bone. A curses Wailing Wand is also very useful, it can be obtained from Telamon or Gertrud. This significantly reduces the average recharge time of Spiteful Spirit.
 * High rated Scar or Cabalist's Armor with Runes of Attunement.
 * The Stonereaper also works relatively well with this character.

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== Build:W/Rt UW solo ==

A Vengeful Farmer is a Warrior that employs the elite Vengeful Was Khanhei (VWK). When a foe attacks you through melee or ranged attacks, they lose health for each attack and you gain that lost health. Using dolyak signet a warrior can alternate between these for farming Smite Crawlers in the underworld.

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.

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

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.

Variants
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.
 * 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.

Build:W/any 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.

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)

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.

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 Strength Skill
 * Hundred Blades *Elite*
 * Final Thrust
 * Galrath Slash
 * 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).

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.

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.

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.

Example
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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alternatives

 * A W/Rt can use Resilient Weapon for negating the poison and some extra armor.

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Build:W/Me UW Solo
This build uses dual visages, physical resistance, and warrior adrenaline attacks to farm the Smite Crawlers in the Underworld.

Equipment

 * Full Knight's Armor
 * Axe Helm of Superior Axe Mastery (for fighting)
 * Strength Helm of Superior Strength (for running)
 * Elemental Axe of Enchanting (for Grasping Darknesses)
 * Zealous Axe of Enchanting (for Smites)

Usage

 * Take Clearing the Chamber immediately and lure one group of Graspings. Make sure you have a visage up when luring them. Sprint to the middle of the chamber to lose the Bladed Aatxes. Kill the Graspings one at a time with your attacks. Lure another group and repeat.
 * Once you have completed the quest, run along the right side of the room and through the open gate.
 * Stop as soon as you have broken aggro in order to heal and/or recharge. Continue running along the path until you reach the Smites.
 * Now kill the Smites the same way you did the Graspings. You have to give them a couple seconds of hitting you before attacking so they can't put up Shield of Judgment.

Counters

 * Bladed Aatxes
 * Coldfire Nights

Variants

 * Remove the axe attacks for Sever Artery, Gash, and Dragon Slash.
 * Exchange Cleave with Triple Chop for some AoE damage.
 * Exchange Cleave and Dismember for Eviscerate and Executioner's Strike for greater overall DPS (before the Deep Wound is considered) at the cost of slightly more energy. (DPS is increased because using adrenaline skills lowers your adrenaline by one strike; while this is gained back if you hit, that hit will not result in a net gain of adrenaline, meaning that higher cost adrenaline skills will actually increase your DPS.)
 * Exchange Healing Signet with another attack skill such as Penetrating Chop or Furious Axe.
 * Change Penetrating Blow to Bonetti's Defense for better energy management (Recommended).

Template
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Build:E/Mo 330 Ele
This build is used to farm the jade right outside the Ring of Fire Mission. Its sole purpose it to rapidly zone farm the Jade in hope of a rare perfect Mursaat Hammer or Mursaat Hornbow. Runs are consistent and take four minutes.

Equipment

 * Any armor will do, however you will need to bring your health down to 330 and it must be Infused. The exact number is not required, but must be over 250. Wearing a Superior Rune in both Earth Magic and Energy Storage is the best way reach 330 health.
 * A +20% Enchantment staff is recommended.

Usage



 * Enter the mission and cast Balthazar's Spirit.
 * Wait for the Mursaat casters to agrro the Dwarf NPC and run off.
 * Once gone, run up to the Dwarf Corpses. You can find them by using the Alt and Ctrl buttons.
 * Use Protective Spirit and Stoneflesh Aura, then Aggro the 2 mobs of Jade.
 * Quickly run up the hill to the third Jade mob.
 * There will be a Jade Bow at the top, once you are in front of him, you will be safe from both sides.
 * As long as you are quick to run into the safe zone, the Mursaat won't bother you.
 * Use Protective Spirit and Stoneflesh Aura again, drop Ward of Stability and use Sliver Armor.
 * Heal with Zealous Benediction as needed.
 * If you are low on health and Protective Spirit is flashing, use Protective Spirit first.
 * Always have Stoneflesh Aura after Protective Spirit, as Stoneflesh Aura will absorb the 33 damage given by Protective Spirit.
 * Use Teinai's Crystals and Crystal Wave energy permitting.
 * If damaged monsters flee, wand them, and they will return.
 * Renew your skill cycle as needed.

Counters

 * Knockdowns without Ward of Stability and Interrupts will stop you. You cannot farm the Mursaat themselves, as the Mesmers will interrupt you and the Necromancers will throw hefty health degen on you. Avoiding them is easy, just follow the steps in the Usage Section.

Variants

 * Farming other areas is not hard, just bring the core skills Protective Spirit, Stoneflesh Aura and Balthazar's Spirit, you can tank most mobs. Optional skills will vary on the mob.


 * One recommended place for farming is the Tusked Howlers outside Yohlon Haven. They tend to work pretty efficently.


 * Another place this works is outside the Dajkah Inlet. The mesmer boss outside (Eshim Mindclouder) is farmable with some effort. The degen he and his group has makes healing and watching Protective Spirit and Stoneflesh Aura absolutely vital. When farming The Mindclouder I recommend taking the skill Aftershock in place of Teinai's Crystals for better energy management and effiecent damage dealing.

List of Farmable Areas

 * Jade outside of the Ring of Fire mission.

Build:R/Me Underworld Speed Trap Solo
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.

Equipment
arcane echo cannot copy dust traps
 * 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.

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

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.

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.

Templates
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Build:R/Mo Basic Ranger Runner
This is a basic ranger running build, capable of completing all runs from Ascalon to the Crystal Desert, some of the Southern Shiverpeaks runs, most runs in Cantha, and even with a variant for the Droknar's Forge run. The build is also suited for mapping if you are going for the Grand Master Cartographer title.

Armor
Note #1: It is possible to mix Druid's Armor for energy with Sentry's Armor for higher armor. Note that the armor bonus is location specific.
 * Full Druid's Armor set for maximum energy.
 * Full Sentry's Armor for extra armor (+10 AL in stance).

Note #2: If you use Sentry's Armor only, it is advised to polish up your energy pool with weapons as explained below.

Runes

 * Rune of Vigor

Weapons

 * Any one-handed weapon that increases health, energy and/or lengthens enchantments:
 * 1) Sword with +5 Energy and +30 hp or +20% Longer Enchantments
 * 2) Rajazan's Fervor
 * 3) Totem Axe

Note: Of course, you are free to use the collectors' shield versions instead of the Green ones.
 * Any shield with either stance and/or health modifications:
 * 1) Emboldened Carapace Shield from Hagnon Warblade [Health +60 (while hexed), Received damage -3 (while hexed)] - for hex passages of specific runs.
 * 2) Grognar's Defender - the Runner's Best Stance Shield Choice.


 * Fires in the East staff with a +5 energy Staff Head (+18 energy), and either a health or an enchantment lengthening mod.

General
The Running Sequence gives you a constant high speed boost and a high chance to evade missiles, and attacks. Holy Veil against hexes and the healing skills against conditions and degeneration help you survive.

Running Sequence
Note #1: Dodge and Zojun's Haste only evade missile attacks.
 * Use Dodge, Zojun's Haste and Escape for a constant speed boost.
 * Only Dodge and Zojun's Haste boost your speed to 33%, whereas Escape only provides you with 25%.
 * Use Escape to avoid mass damage as it provides a 75% chance to avoid attacks. It also protects from knockdown from melee attackers.

Note #2: Avoid knockdown if possible.

Healing

 * Cast Mending when entering a new area.
 * Use Restful Breeze before engaging large damage dealing mobs. Remember to activate run skills first.
 * Use Heal Area when taking large amounts of damage and when you are in need of instant healing. Be aware of your energy level.

Note: There are enemies which strip enchantments such as Stone Summit Heretics or Avicara Guile. You have to decide then which enchantment (Holy Veil or Mending) you want to use as cover, and which you do not want get stripped right away. Cast the cover enchantment that you want to get stripped last. Pay attention to Chilblains which mostly strips two enchantments.

General

 * Use Storm Chaser to regain energy when running through elemental damage dealing mobs.
 * Use Troll Unguent instead of Healing Breeze for lower energy cost. Remember to set points into Wilderness Survival.
 * Use Smite Hex instead of Holy Veil.
 * Use Smite Hex instead of Purge Conditions or Heal Area for a second hex remover.

Bold Forge Runner
The Bold Forge Runner variant can be used to solo-run Droknar Forge. It is highly reliable and you will notice that it is easier to run Lornar's Pass with, actually. Snake Dance and its Tundra Giants need a bit practice, though. Below are specific Ranger hints for this run:

Note #1: It is advised to use a weapon with 20% longer enchantments for the sake of Healing Breeze.

Note #2: Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering two or more Barbed Traps. Crippled will always hit you last.

Worm Tunnel

 * Cast Mending, and Holy Veil (in this order). You don't want the Avicaras to strip Mending right away. Holy Veil represents a cover enchantment here (unlike later).
 * Use Healing Breeze before and during encountering dangerous situation, such as a run-through.
 * Use Zojun's Haste and Dodge to outrun the worm(s).
 * Use Escape when expecting mass damage from attacks, especially in melee by groups of Avicaras. It helps you survive grave danger situation by evading most attacks.

Worm Path

 * Use Healing Breeze after you got knocked-down by the worm(s) and when he is just outside your aggro bubble. This helps to avoid interruption again. Recast Mending on you between knockdowns, in case it got stripped through Chilblains. Without Mending in coordination with HB you might get into trouble regarding your health.
 * Use Escape for running through the groups of Grawls and when you get slowed down by hexes and take attack damage from melee.

Dreadnought's Drift
Note: When HB fades out, and after a Giant Stomp recast it as often as needed. Mending and HB should keep you alive without problems.
 * Cast Holy Veil, and Mending (in this order). This time Mending is the cover enchantment for Holy Veil due to the high risk of encountering Heretics.
 * Lose aggro and regenerate before encountering the Tundra Giants.
 * Use Healing Breeze and Escape before running through groups of Giants. Make use of a Stance Shield here.

Attention: When Stone Summit Heretic(s) and Ice Golem(s) get spawned and you cannot avoid them, immediately run back and rezone. Reasons: 1) Two different slow-down spells (Crippling Anguish & Deep Freeze), 2) covered with different hex-spells 3) accompanied by Gnashers & companions 4) with a Tundra Giant group to be passed at full health with Healing Breeze, and fully recharged Escape only. Smite Hex and Holy Veil will not make you survive this - no matter how high your running level is.

Snake Dance

 * Try to only aggro one group of Giants at a time.
 * Aggro them before running through to make them stomp before your run-through comes.
 * Use Healing Breeze as often as possible between stomps. The chances for an interrupt between two stomps are low.

SB Ranger Runner
The variant SB Ranger Runner is optimal for solo-running Copperhammer Mines -> Iron Mines of Moladune and vice versa as ranger. Spell Breaker lasts long enough to overcome the Mesmer spawns at the hardest parts of the run. The success rate with this build is very high.

Note: A weapon with 20% longer Enchantments is a must.


 * Activate Holy Veil as Mending coverage, and as additional hex remover when Spell Breaker wears out.
 * Follow the main ranger running principles listed above.

Note #1: It is known that bosses will still follow you, especially when running the route in a reversed way. This is the point where Holy Veil is of good use to get rid of the last hex-spell being a slow-downer if a Mesmer boss, or Golem boss got spawned.

Note #2: Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multiple traps. Downside is the longer casting time, and that you cannot clean up from all conditions at a time.

Elona Reach (Mission) Runner
Variant skills could be


 * Rebirth for Heal Area if you want to make sure no one dies. (Very Much recommened because Heal Area is 10 energy and almost never needed, and when you do use it you end up with low energy resulting in a death.

This Variant Elona Reach (Mission) Runner is a perfected build to solo run the mission easily. With the use of constant running and condition removals it is possible to complete this runnable mission within 10 minutes..

Attributes


 * Expertise = 12 + 3 + 1


 * Healing Prayers = 12

Equipment

Full Sentry armor is recommended for +10 AR(while in stance), Very useful for tanking out hex's and crippling conditions.

Weapon


 * A Axe/Sword of Fortitude
 * With +5 Energy
 * 30 hp

AND

or a Max Armor shield with equivalent stats.
 * Crimson Carapace Shield


 * -2 received damage (while in stance)
 * +45 Health (while in stance)

Runes
 * Major vigor / Superior Vigor
 * 3 attunement runes
 * Superior Expertise
 * Minor Expertise

Usage
Hug the right wall once you go under the bridge and run around to the Ghostly Hero
 * Minotaurs can be easily outran at the start of the mission. Head left at the start and follow straight down the hill until you come to a bridge, run under the bridge, maintaining a running stance at all times.

Note #1 Make sure your team does not follow you from the start because it is likely they will drag minotaurs to the cutscene, and killing the Ghostly Hero, which will result in the failure of the mission. Make sure you do not aggro any groups to the Ghostly Hero!!


 * Once you pass the first cutscene decide which way you will go first.. Either NW or E.

Note #2 Make sure to try and maintain running skills and mending at all times!

Note #3 Make sure before running into mobs to see if the mesmer boss is there, if so cast a pre Holy Veil and Healing Breeze then run in.

Note #4 If you need another 75hp then you can always drop the crystal and gain 75 hp from your wepons, running away then returning at full hp for the cystal, this is very helpful and saves you much of the time.


 * Make sure when you reach the vision crystal, look for mesmer boss (for pre Holy Veil, then cast Healing Breeze then run in, pick it up and try to avoid Enchanted Swords, if you become crippled from the Enchanted Swords, use Mending Touch,and run away. Try to maintain your hp above 100 and use Heal Area RARELY when needed (Use healing breeze instead to recover health. Run away from the Enchanted Swords and Elementalists (Arcanists, they spike you with large amounts of dmg) as quickly as possible. Try and use Dodge or Zojun's Haste when picking up the crystal because you run 33% faster instead of 25% faster.


 * Try not to aggro any groups that are avoidable, make sure not to aggro groups of enemies up to the Ghostly Hero when returning the crystal.This is rare that they will continue following after you get clearly by the alter/ghost. The ghostly hero must stay alive to suceed.

After some practice this run can be mastered.

Possible Routes
Listed below are all the possible high-level routes that this build and its variants can be run with:

Prophecies

 * 1) Beacon's Perch -> Camp Rankor -> Droknar's Forge
 * 2) Camp Rankor -> Deldrimor War Camp -> Granite Citadel -> Copperhammer Mines Using henchmen as cannon fodder is important on most parts of this trip.
 * 3) Copperhammer Mines -> Iron Mines of Moladune and reversed.
 * 4) Iron Mines of Moladune -> Marhan's Grotto -> Thunderhead Keep
 * 5) Elona Reach (Mission) + bonus

E/Rt UW Vengeful 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.

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.

Fighting Aatxes and Nightmares

 * 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Team - Dual UW Smite
This Dual Monk build using a 600 Tank and a Smiter. Spirit Bonding is not nerfed, this build proves it.

=600 Monk=

Attributes and Skills

 * Inexperienced players are advised to take Blessed Signet for energy management.
 * More experienced players are advised to take Frenzy (Warrior Secondary).

Equipment

 * Armor with lowest possible AL and a Vigor Rune
 * Any weapon set with 20% longer enchantment mod and additional health

Usage

 * Cast Blessed Aura, Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond and maintain them.
 * Use Blessed Signet whenever energy is needed, energy should be around 35 before attempting to engage any monsters.
 * Before entering into battle cast Spell Breaker, Protective Spirit, Spirit Bond and Shield of Absorption. Always keep Protective Spirit and Frenzy (if taking Warrior secondary) on. A second before SoA ends cast Spirit Bond, followed by SoA after another second (to avoid interruption). Repeat cycle until monsters have died.
 * When facing coldfires, only use Protective Spirit and SoA as Spirit Bond will not give you any extra health. It is also recommended to keep spell breaker on as much as possible.

Attributes and Skills

 * The first choice for the optional slot is Blessed Signet.
 * The second choice for the optional slot is Signet of Rage.
 * This build works just as well with Signet of Judgment replacing Shield of Judgment. Since it is a Signet and not a Spell, you can use it with 0 energy, and it will deal damage to multiple targets.

Equipment

 * Any Armor
 * Any weapon set

Usage

 * Cast Vital Blessing, Life Attunement, Holy Wrath and Retribution on 600 monk. Stay back and let the monk do the rest.
 * When facing coldfire nights with 1st optional skills, remove Holy Wrath, use Blessed Signet until there is sufficient energy to cast Shield of Judgment on the teammate. Use Blessed Signet to cast holy wrath again on the tank. Once Shield of Judgment has finished repeat cycle until they are dead.
 * When facing coldfire nights with 2nd optional skills, spam the 3 smiting signets until they are dead.
 * Dying whilst using this build is highly unlikely when properly executed; the smiter should always remain half a minimap distance or more away from the 600 Monk. The 600 Monk should have no problems tanking, but just in case, Rebirth is handy incase any problems should arise.

Hero Variant
This build works well with a Smiter Hero. Usage, armor and skills are identical to the above. Here are some tips:
 * Keep your Hero in Avoid Combat mode at all times.
 * Disable all the hero's enchantments, so they will be maintained.
 * Cast all of the enchantments on yourself, always keep the hero a good distance away from the fight because of monsters who run and heal for a bit. But remember keep within distance of enchantments.
 * When fighting against coldfire nights, keep the hero in Avoid Combat and carry out the cycle chosen above. It can be tricky to control your enchantments and your hero's position.

Build:Team - 55/Famine Redux
This is a dual farming build that uses a 55 monk to tank and a ranger for support and damage which is designed primarily for farming specific portions of the Underworld. This is a modification to the original 55/Famine build which overcomes AI changes from the Nightfall Update.

Ranger Equipment

 * Any max armor will be sufficient. Druid's Armor is recommended
 * Any weapon will be sufficient but a staff with +20 energy can be useful, as well as a zero or low requirement bow.

General Ranger Usage
At the beginning of the run, cast Essence Bond, Succor, and Balthazar's Spirit on the 55 monk. Let the monk draw aggro and Essence Bond will replenish your energy. Cast Famine and Edge of Extinction well outside of the monk's aggro circle (Spirit range is a little over twice the radius of your aggro circle). The best placement location is 2 times the radius of the aggro circle, as creatures will scatter off the monk into a circle about 3/4 of an aggro circle away from the monk. Be sure not to draw aggro from creatures the monk is tanking, the monk can die any number of times without ruining the run, but if the ranger dies, the run is over. If you do draw aggro, activate Whirling Defense and attempt to bring the enemies back to the monk or flee to break aggro.

If the 55 monk should die use rebirth to teleport their body out of danger. Since the 55 monk will now only have 1 hp, rebirth will not bring them back to life, it will only move their body. Once you have used rebirth to pull their body away from the monsters paths, use Resurrection Chant to bring them back to life and they can use another weapon/armor set to raise their health.

A Note on Ranger Experience Points
You are only eligible for experience points from a creature if that creature considers you a threat before it dies. That means that the ranger will get almost no XP for this run unless he deliberately takes steps to get XP. One method is by bringing the monk into your aggro circle briefly after the monk has obtained aggro but before famine is placed. Another method is by shooting 1 creature from each group with a longbow after the monk has obtained aggro. Either of these actions can result on the ranger obtaining aggro from the group, but this is only a risk with groups larger than three creatures. For groups larger than three creatures, it is usually better for the ranger to simply play safe and not let the monsters see him as an enemy.

Note that this does not effect drops- only XP.

Monk Equipment

 * A customized max damage wand.
 * A +20% Enchantment weapon.
 * The Cities of Ascalon -50 Cesta.
 * Ascetic's Armor, with 5 monk superior runes

General Monk Usage
Cast Blessed Aura and Mending on yourself, ranger will cast Succor, Essence Bond, and Balthazar's Spirit. Cast Mantra of Resolve and Healing Breeze then aggro up to three enemies (any more than three and the build becomes slower). If any nightmares appear quickly cast Spell Breaker on yourself and then wand them. Cast Sympathetic Visage as soon as possible. When Sympathetic Visage begins to end cast Ancestor's Visage (alternate so you always have one or the other on you). Keep Protective Spirit up and use Healing Breeze as need applies. If you aggro more than one group at a time some of the enemies will periodically run away to heal- they will eventually return to your side. When fighting non-melee enemies aggro melee fighters next to them. Generally follow the advice of the 55 Monk Guide.

It helps to keep a +20% enchanting weapon selected when not dealing specifically with Dying Nightmares, switch off to your customized wand for Dying Nightmares.

Counters
Anything that can strip enchantments can result in a quick monk death. Taking too many hits at once can also result in the monk dying. Extremely strong Degen and interrupts can also be a problem. Note that the monk can get up to a full -60% DP with this build and not be in a position to end the run as long as they die in a location where the ranger can successfully Rebirth them to safety, and have non-55 armor they can switch into in slow stages to mitigate DP. Anything that kills the ranger ends the run.

Usage

 * Bladed Aatxe

The monk should engage groups of 3 or less Aatxes at a time, being mindful of Dying Nightmare popups. Casting AV or SV on yourself before engaging will deprive the Aatxes of their interrupt skill. Engaging more than 3 will make killing Aatxes harder due to them running away from the monk to heal. If a ranger obtains aggro from an Aatxe, the monk can help the ranger considerably by putting Protective Spirit on him.

Edge of Extinction is not necessary for small groups, but Apply Poison can shorten the length of combat for small groups.


 * Dying Nightmare

Dying Nightmares will popup in somewhat predictable locations throughout the Underworld and will die in 1 to 3 hits from a customized max wand that does light damage (for which the requirement is met). These are best handled using Spell Breaker before an engagement, where interruption is not a problem. If not killed quickly, interrupted, or guarded against using Spell Breaker, a Dying Nightmare will strip the enchantments off the monk using Rend Enchantments.


 * Grasping Darkness

Grasping Darknesses come in groups of 3 to 4, and will spam Distracting Blow on their first hit. Before engaging, a monk should have AV on them already, or should wait until all of the engaged Grasping Darknesses have used their interrupt. If not subdued with AV, these creatures will quickly drain their opponents energy using "Fear Me!" and will be effective at keeping the monk from using Protective Spirit to keep themselves alive. If properly subdued, and taken in groups of 3 or less, they are trivial. In larger groups, they will break off to heal, and Edge of Extinction works nicely to speed up the combat.


 * Coldfire Night

Generally, a group of Smites should be aggro'ed and then pulled to a group of coldfires so that the Smites attacks can trigger AV/SV and through that Famine. Using Spellbreaker before aggroing the Coldfires will shut them down in the crucial first moments while the Smites are causing the energy drain. They only represent a serious threat to the monk when multiple Maelstroms are hitting thus using up Spirit Bond or helping to out damage Healing Breeze. Edge of Extinction can be useful here, especially when the Coldfires are not all clustered together.


 * Smite Crawler

By themselves, Smite Crawlers have a hard time overpowering Healing Breeze and have no interrupts, so they can easily be tanked. They often come in groups as large as 5 though, and will run off to heal in those cases. Some care should be made with spirit placement. NOTE: When the monk has a death penalty, and health is above 55, their fast attack speed can overcome health regeneration when there are more than 3 crawlers.


 * Terrorweb Dryder

Much like Coldfires, Terrorwebs are best handled with a small group of melee creatures to trigger AV/SV. They are found in groups of 3, but 1 will always run out of immediate range. Once the monk has aggroed the Aatxes to the group of Terrorwebs, and Famine is taking effect, the ranger can help by concentrating on the lone Terrorweb. Once the other 2 Terrorwebs are dead, the monk can bring the surviving Aatxes to the lone Terrorweb for a quick finish.

Groups larger than three (as found in the "Servants of Grenth") quest as given by the reaper of the Icy Veil are not recommended without additional help.

Variants
The ranger can speed up Aatxes by bringing Apply Poison instead of Whirling Defense, a +33% Poisoning bow, and making sure Aatxes stay poisoned. A ranger without such defensive skills should be extra careful about obtaining aggro from large groups.

Mantra of Resolve mitigates risk from interruption either from Bladed Aaxtes or Grasping Darknesss, but Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze may not be sufficient against a large enough group of Smite Crawlers. An experienced 55 will usually have more luck substituting Spirit Bond or Shield of Absorption for Mantra of Resolve, and learning how to time their casting so as to not be interrupted. Essentially the monk can be fully successful with any 55 build that keeps them alive and keeps SV/AV up all the time while they are in combat.

If the Ranger is afraid of aggroing, bringing Dodge, Zojun's Haste, or Natural Stride instead of Whirling Defense.

The Ranger can also be replaced by a Hero.

---

Build:Team - 55/Famine regular
The build is based on an Invincible Monk tank and a Famine-SV-AV ranger.

Build Concept
While there are a lot of differences that affect tactics, this team works in a very similar way to Team - 55/SS;
 * The 55 monk attracts a group of enemies, and tanks them.
 * The ranger deals damage with the elite Nature Ritual - Famine, which hurts anyone whose energy reaches 0, and cast Sympathetic Visage and its duplicate Ancestor's Visage on the monk, to get the melee mobs attacking him down to 0 energy over and over again.

A major advantage of this build, is that it lets rangers, a profession which is less wanted as farmer, take a part in duo UW farming, make some money and gain xp. It could also be a nice way for a ranger to cap a Black Widow himself, with help from only one other player. Note that with groups bigger than 3, an AoE effect triggers, making some of the group to spread, while 3 will remain still fighting.

Famine now causes enemies to scatter, with careful aggro-management an SS is faster.

Famine-AV-SV Ranger
Usage:
 * Patience and good timing are the most important aspects of success. Give the 55 monk room to operate and round up and gather aggro. Following closely will only result in breaking up aggro and making fights longer.
 * Lay down Famine.
 * While the monk is gathering the mobs, wield a bow and be ready to kill or interrupt any Dying Nightmares.
 * Once the enemies are gathered around the monk, cast Sympathetic Visage on the monk. Once SV is half way through its recharge cycle, cast AV, and so on.
 * While waiting, you can use Apply Poison, and fire an arrow at each enemy.
 * As long as you have a group of enemies, do not hurt any of them in any way except through Famine and even poison spreading, since they all contribute to each other's downfall, and losing one will slow the killing of the rest.
 * Casters can be carefully taken care of with Images of Remorse and poison.

Equipment:
 * A sword or axe Of Enchanting. The Totem Axe and Rajazan's Fervor are ideal. Another option is Vokur's Cane for the fast recharge.
 * a 20/20 Jeweled Chakram from Arliss Vaughn or Dauv Merishahl.
 * A fast-shooting bow for Savage Shot and Apply Poison.
 * Druid's Armor.

Variations:
 * Replace one of the interrupts with EoE, Conjure Phantasm, or Charm Animal in case you plan to charm a pet spider.

The Invincible Monk (55)
Usage:
 * Cast the 4 enchantments on the right of the skill bar at the beginning. Note that you will have 0 energy regeneration. Use Blessed Signet to recharge to at least above 25 so you can cast Protective Spirit and then Spell Breaker before Bladed Aatxes interrupt.
 * In situations where there are no enemy mesmers, the approach is to put Protective Spirit on and engage. With 4 pips of health regeneration from Mending, you should not need Healing Breeze until you are tanking a lot of foes or are bleeding from the Bladed Aatxes.
 * The Energy from Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit should be more than enough for all situations; use Blessed Signet to gain energy if needed.
 * Use Spell Breaker to deflect enchantment removal, or prevent initial spells while you approach.
 * The bigger the aggro (the rounded up enemy group) the better. If the monk is a secondary warrior, they can take up to 14/15 foes at a time.
 * If there are ranged spell-casters (Terrorweb Dryders or Coldfire Nights), try and find a nearby group of melee attackers to take to them. This is much faster (and safer energy-wise) than having the ranger try to kill them off with just poison and degen.

Equipment:
 * A sword or axe Of Enchanting. The Totem Axe and Rajazan's Fervor are ideal.
 * A longbow/flatbow to pull Smite Crawlers from groups of Coldfire Nights.
 * The Cities of Ascalon -50 Cesta.
 * Any AL Ascetic's Armor, with 5 monk superior runes (one of each kind plus any other).

Variations:
 * Replace Blessed Aura with "Fear Me!" to speed up the process or keep Blessed Aura for extra safety.
 * Replace Essence bond with Bonetti's Defense (Balthazar's Spirit gives you adrenaline, or you can attack too)

Variations

 * Change the 55 monk in ways described in Invincible Monk.
 * Replace the R/Me with a Me/R. this would probably go a bit slower, but, as noted under Build Concept, it might be a good way for mesmers to take part in UW farming, and get XP and skillpoints.
 * If the Mo/Me has an available slot on their skill bar, Spirit Shackles can be used to take down groups of Coldfire Nights without bunching a group of Smite Crawlers around them.

--

D/Mo 130hp Dervish
This is a build designed to farm bosses as a Dervish, by bringing your health down to 130 health, so that Protective Spirit lowers damage taken to a maximum of 13. It is in many ways similar to the 55 Monk build, but dervishes can not lower their health below 130 whilst wielding a scythe, because of the inherent +25 health on Dervish chest pieces. This particular build wields a scythe, thus negating the effects of any off-hand item you have equipped. Watch 130HP Dervish clip

Equipment

 * Any kind of armor other than armor with the survivor insignia or health boosting runes will do, as long as it has a total of 5 superior runes on. Note that armor level does not matter for this build, so a set of armor purchased in Kamadan will serve this builds purposes just fine.
 * A customized Scythe with a "Guided by Fate"/"Strength and Honor"/"To the Pain!" inscription. A scythe grip of Enchanting and a Sundering or Zealous scythe snathe can make things easier.
 * A Zealous scythe is recommended while facing only one foe; if you don't use one you may not gain enough energy to recast all 3 enchantments. Note that energy mangement when facing a single foe may become easier by dropping Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond.
 * Dwayna's Grace, Lyssa's Bedlam, Scythe of Corruption, or Suli's Scythe would work well for this build. The Soulbreaker also works.

Usage
Whenever you enter an explorable area cast Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond and wait for your energy to regen. Before approaching the monster(s) you want to kill, cast the first 3 skills on your bar. Aggro the monster(s) and keep your enchantments up while spamming your attack skills. If you're having trouble staying alive, consider deliberately getting yourself killed; the resultant Death Penalty will lower your health and therefore make the build more effective.

Mystic Regeneration is quite effective at keeping your health up, however enemies with fast attack speed or powerful health degen spells can render it useless. Try not to face your target alone, make sure he has company. When you aggro a group, make sure they are more or less mobbed up. With the help of Mystic Vigor, you will gain about 25 health each hit; with 3 targets in one hit you will gain 75 health per hit. With fast attacks and the assistance of Mystic Regeneration, you should survive quite easily.

Mystic Vigor is your anti-spike skill. When you get spiked, it should only take one hit from you while enchanted with Mystic Vigor to bring your health back up.

When there are only 1 or 2 enemies left, it's useful to just use Mystic Vigor instead of Mystic Regeneration, to conserve energy.

For some bosses, it is more effective to insert Mirage Cloak into the build instead of Eremite's Attack, to help counter the onslaught of melee attackers. This variation can often be used without having to harvest Death Penalty first, and also gives nice AoE damage. Note, however, that Mirage Cloak will lower the effectiveness of Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond, so don't attempt to use it unless you have a zealous scythe equipped.

Counters

 * Blind
 * Weakness
 * Blurred Vision
 * Enchantment removal
 * Avatar of Grenth
 * Health Degeneration exceeding 20 pips
 * Health Stealing
 * Energy Denial (Spirit Shackles)
 * Chilblains this skill can ruin many of your farming runs

Variants
Replace Reaper's Sweep with Wounding Strike.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with Arcane Zeal if you are having trouble with energy management.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with Mystic Twister.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with any form except for Avatar of Melandru, which gives +150 health boost. Avatar of Balthazar and Avatar of Dwayna are particularly useful here; the former with its armor boost(doesnt matter due to Protective Spirit) and armor-penetrating damage; the latter with its hex removal and healing, which can negate the need for Mystic Vigor. Avatar of Lyssa works wonders against Mage Bosses, as they are constantly casting spells on you, you dish out +38 damage on a target that is casting a spell.(Remember you will only have about a minute to kill each group, however, if you rely on a form to make the build work.)

Replace Mystic Regeneration with Healing Breeze and take healing prayers instead of earth prayers. Not as effective, but works if you haven't come far enough in the Nightfall campaign to get Mystic Regeneration, unlock Mystic Regeneration with Balthazar Faction, then buy it off the skill trainer.

Replace Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep for Fleeting Stability to counter knock down.

Replace Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep for Heart of Holy Flame when fighting undead for double damage.

Templates
-

Build:Mo/any SoA Monk
This build can be used in many solo farming areas and does not rely on healing prayers at all. This build can take on any number of monsters as you like without worrying about your health dropping below 55 health. Shield of Absorption reduces damage by 5, and this build has a maximum health of 55. With Protective Spirit, this means that every attack against you will do zero damage. This build will work with Death Penalty and with 1 health (unlike previous Invincible Monk builds). This means that you can tank as many monsters as you want, similar to the old Spirit Bond monk. See the Invincible Monk article for more information on both of these kinds of builds.

Attributes and Skills

 * See the Variants section for some skills to use in the optional slot.

Equipment

 * Ascetic's Armor for a larger energy pool, with a +1 Protection Prayers scalp design. You will need to upgrade your armor so as to bring your health down to 55 hp (as seen on this section of the Invincible Monk page).


 * Any Sword or Axe of Enchanting. The bonus must be +20%. Also, a +5 Energy modifier (or the inscription "I Have the Power") helps to increase the energy pool even more. The Totem Axe and Rajazan's Fervor are common choices for this. A two-handed weapon cannot be used or your health will be more than 55.


 * A 20/20 Insightful Protection Staff of Enchanting works just as well. Unlike using a sword or axe, the staff will help mitigate an enemy's death. Having 105hp doesn't adversely affect the builds effectiveness.


 * Consider bringing a scalp design that provides a bonus in Divine Favor and/or a staff of Mastery in Divine Favor.

Usage

 * First cast Watchful Spirit and Balthazar's Spirit. This will provide +2 health regeneration (in case Shield of Absorption slips) and energy management.
 * Then cast Blessed Aura. If you are using a Divine Favor headpiece and/or a staff of Mastery in Divine Favor, equip them now to maximize its effect. Note that if you are using a staff of Mastery, it may take multiple castings for the Divine Favor boost to kick in. Be sure to re-equip the Protection Prayers scalp and your sword/axe/offhand combo after you are satisfied with your cast.
 * Note: These three enchantments can be cast in any order according to preference.
 * After all of the enchantments are cast, head towards your enemies (but see Choosing Enemies, below).
 * Before entering battle cast Protective Spirit and Shield of Absorption. (You should do this no more than two seconds before you do the next step.)
 * Aggro your enemies. You must keep up Shield of Absorption (near-)continuously. Depending on how high your Divine Favor attribute was when you cast Blessed Aura, you can have as little as .5 seconds to recast it - or you may have as many as 1.85 seconds. Note that if you miss a recast by a few seconds, the health regeneration from Watchful Spirit combined with the damage reduction from Protective Spirit will help prevent death, but don't take your time about recasting it. (Be aware that larger mobs mean faster death in this situation.)
 * Use Shield of Judgment for damage. Your enemies should kill themselves by attacking you.
 * Use Blessed Signet for energy management - it can even be used in battle if you have a few seconds to spare.

Choosing Enemies
Only certain enemies will be effectively damaged by this build. Enemies that are knocked down by Shield of Judgment will scatter; enemies such as hydras cannot be knocked down and therefore will be damaged by this build. Before you use this or any other build with Shield of Judgment to farm monsters, do some research to see if they can be knocked down or not before deciding whether to bring Shield of Judgment.

Also, when considering choosing an area, try to find an area with abundant ranged attackers, such as Ranger or Paragon, who do not flee from damage as melee creatures do. Ice Imps and Siege Ice Golems are good enemies to farm outside Ice Caves of Sorrow.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal can be deadly if it hits Protective Spirit and/or Shield of Absorption. Because Necromancers and Mesmers have so many skills to do this, avoid them.
 * Major health degeneration will also kill you. Watchful Spirit will counter minor health degeneration, but even that inflicted by Bleeding or Faintheartedness can overwhelm it. Again, avoid places with Necromancers or Mesmers. (Note that minor health degeneration over Watchful Spirit may not necessarily be deadly as you will heal yourself every time you cast a spell on yourself due to the healing bonus from the Divine Favor attribute.)
 * If Shield of Absorption is interrupted, you could be in trouble. You will have to last ten seconds on the health regeneration from Watchful Spirit and the healing boost from casting Protective Spirit on yourself - although Protective Spirit has a five second recharge.

Variants

 * Watchful Spirit and Balthazar's Spirit can be easily replaced by Mending and Essence Bond, respectively, with absolutely no change in the way the build works. Additionally, either one could fill the optional slot.
 * Healing Breeze or Watchful Healing is useful when killing foes that cause -3 (or greater) health degeneration.
 * Zealot's Fire can provide relatively consistent AoE damage; you must be cautious as to how you time your spells so that there is at least three seconds between each of them, or you will cause your enemies to scatter.
 * If your enemies will scatter from Shield of Judgment (see below), consider bringing another elite or another damaging non-AoE spell instead of it. Spell Breaker is a good choice for defense.
 * Having only 55 max health is not necessary to maintain a nearly invulnerable monk - see the Mo/E SoA Sliver build, and look at the Spirit Bond variant of that build. It can be used to counter health degeneration, and to some extent, life stealing.
 * You may want to ensure survival by using Shielding Hands. Cast it before SoA wears off to stay invulnerable.


 * Additional skills are recommended depending on your secondary profession.

Warrior
 * Bonetti's Defense - for energy and +75% chance to block attacks, making you more resistant to melee interrupts such as Savage Slash.
 * Balanced Stance - to resist knockdowns and therefore some interruptions

Mesmer
 * Arcane Echo - for longer use of Shield of Judgment
 * Mantra of Resolve - to prevent interruptions (but not knockdowns)

Ranger
 * Brambles - for more damage from Shield of Judgment
 * Serpent's Quickness for quicker recharge time on all skills cast while it is active

Necromancer
 * Spiteful Spirit for a different skill with a faster recharge and more damage output.
 * Spoil Victor for farming most melee bosses (assassins, dervishes, and warriors)

Dervish
 * Fleeting Stability - to prevent knockdown

Elementalist
 * Sliver Armor - to do tremendous damage once surrounded by masses of monsters
 * Glyph of Concentration - to avoid interrupts
 * Ward of Stability - to prevent knockdown
 * Grasping Earth - to keep monsters from fleeing