User:Entropy/AB

So I've been playing AB with Felix and Co., and I've run a variety of builds, some good and some bad. Yet they all worked somehow. I want to keep them here for my future reference and your future laughs.

"Anything works in AB" (I saw a Monk using Live Vicariously, and a Ranger with Ether Signet / Ether Feast, etc etc), but during the last hours of AB weekend it's nice to at least run something semi-competent. :D (T/C) 09:20, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

R/Mo Srs Bsns PvP

12 Expertise (breakpoint for 10e, and close to breakpoint for 15e), 11 Wilderness Survival, 12 Marksmanship

It's a 12-12-11 split, you can mess with the attributes if you want. I prefer 12 Expertise because otherwise I feel like I never have enough energy (and sometimes I actually don't).

This is pretty typical sort of Burning Arrow PvP Ranger. It's good all around. With a Flatbow you can kill NPCs without them attacking you (usually). Also: bring a Recurve Bow. Save yourself major pain from expensive dodged Pin Downs.

You can take Antidote Signet instead of Mending Touch, but Mending Touch is basically free and can be used on allies. Distracting Shot can also be Savage Shot for more domages. (preferable in AB, I suppose)

A/W Exhausting Moebius

14 Critical Strikes, 13 Dagger Mastery

This was designed with those annoying Escape Etc Stance Rangers in mind. You use Wild Blow so you can start hitting them. Disrupting -> Exhausting gets you to Moebius and then Nine Tail Strike, since they probably activated a new block stance. If they didn't, kill them with Twisting Fangs anyway. This is also just generally very annoying, because it's nearly impossible to dodge the interrupts from Exhausting Assault, and casting again after an interrupt is a common reflex. Especially on NPC it's good - I've interrupted Prot Spirit for example...Exhaustion on a Monk is win. But anyway it's just a good combo.

If you're not expecting Blockway, go ahead and take Death Blossom instead. (Wild Blow also ends Disciplined Stance and takes out Shield Bash, etc, it's too good to leave out) You can also take out Malicious Strike for an IMS like Dash, which helps a lot.

E/A Fire

14 Fire Magic, 13 Energy Storage

Pretty typical Heats bar. The buff to Immolate means it actually hurts kinda sorta now. Dash is > Flame Djinn's Haste since that was nerfed, at least I think so; in any case, since your primary purpose is eliminating shrine NPCs you shouldn't be getting anywhere near melee enemies.

E/A Water

14 Water Magic, 13 Energy Storage

This was a less than serious build, but the snares turned out to be fairly useful, and certainly annoying for the targets. One of them was a Toucher for instance, and Heats is useless against that really. Maelstrom is quite useful when capping any shrine with Monks at them. Ice Spikes is nice as it's not a projectile, so you can cast through walls etc. and randomly snare solo NPC gankers.

Notice the use of Dash. The other speedbuff for Water is Armor of Mist. However, that has a moderately large downtime, enchant removal is fairly common, and the extra armor is meh since it's AB. I mean it's not bad. But I just like Dash. It's quite common.

E/A Air

14 Air Magic, 13 Energy Storage

Invoke is surprisingly nice skill for PvP. It's not line of sight so you can hit for painful domages through walls and such. Also, most shrine NPCs conveniently come in groups of two-three. Shell Shock is useful against those ever-annoying Defy Pain tanks; and many players take some sort of armor buff anyway. Lightning Orb can be annoying to hit with on some maps, but that's why you have Invoke/Hammer anyway.

Again, Dash, and it's because 1) Windborne Speed is just bad (long cast, short duration, inefficient; take Fall Back to help allies tbh), and 2) Storm Djinn's Haste is ehhh in AB, cause you're not a runner or such and thus prolonged speedboost that drains energy is meh. In GvG obviously I'd take Storm Djinn's, though. And don't forget enchant removal.

E/A Earth

14 Earth Magic, 13 Energy Storage

I was really uncertain about this build, and others had doubts, but it worked surprisingly well. Perhaps I was just lucky. A lot of players (and of course NPCs) are too dumb to dodge Ebon Hawk + Stoning, or perhaps they didn't expect it. I often hit fleeing foes with the combo to annoy them and/or kill them. Glyph of Energy lets you cast a good damage, AoE knockdown once every 10 seconds pretty much. Of course you can also just cast it without, since you're not really hurting for energy here. These AoE knockdown are useful when capping shrines, and just generally good skills for disruption and annoyance. Of course, if interrupters were paying attention that would have made it less useful, but almost no one was.

Grasping Earth is an excellent self-defense skill when paired with Dash. If they continue to chase you, then use Ebon Hawk and Stoning to further annoy. If they keep coming after that...well, then they're just dumb.