User:CurinDerwin

= W/Me Enduring Visage UW Solo =

The W/Me Enduring Visage UW Solo uses both Visages, Dolyak Signet, and Warrior's Endurance combined with Energy based attacks to farm the Smite Crawlers in the Underworld. Because it does not use Healing Signet, it can also kill Coldfire Nights. It has a very high survival rate and is possibly the safest Underworld Solo Build around for its speed, finishing a run in under 30 minutes.

Attributes and Skills

 * * Weapon mastery will be either Axe Mastery or Swordsmanship.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Knight's Insignias.
 * Runes of Superior Strength, Major or Superior Vigor, Superior Absorption, Minor Tactics, and Minor Weapon Mastery.
 * Weapons
 * A Zealous Axe or Sword of Enchanting with a "Strength and Honor" or a "Dance with Death" inscription. Since you have no weapon based attacks, Swords and Axes work equally well.
 * A Shield of Endurance (Requiring Strength) with a "Run for your Life!" Inscription, or any shield with equivalent stats. Arrahhsh's Aegis is ideal.
 * For those with the money, a Shield with both -2 Physical Damage while in a Stance and while Enchanted is greatly superior. There are no Green Items with these stats and they cannot be created with Inscriptions and Upgrades.
 * Any type of Longbow or Flatbow. Since it will only be used for pulling, the stats do not matter.  Flatbow is preferred, since you will be obstructed less frequently.

The Entrance

 * Take the quest Clear the Chamber as soon as you can without being seen by any Aatxes.
 * Grasping Darknesses have a natural speed boost of around 33%.
 * Aatxes have a natural speed boost of around 10%.
 * This means that any time you aggro both Aatxes and Grasping Darknesses, the Grasping Darknesses will get to your first.
 * Turn your back to the mob of Grasping Darknesses you want to pull, and wait till it moves near a group of Aatxes.
 * Hit either "F" or "C" so that you don't cast spells on the Lost Soul.
 * Just before aggroing, cast Ancestor's Visage on yourself.
 * Back up, aggroing the Aatxes. Instantly hit Enraging Charge and rush for the wall in front of you.
 * When the Aatxes aggro, the Grasping Darknesses will come along with.
 * The Aatxes will give up very quickly, but the Grasping Darknesses will keep coming.
 * As soon as you think you've lost the Aatxes, hit Dolyak Signet.
 * Turn around and start attacking the Grasping Darknesses. You should get enough energy from your Zealous Axe to use Sympathetic Visage when Ancestor's Visage runs out.
 * As soon as you get 5 energy, use Warrior's Endurance.
 * Hit Ancestor's Visage again when Sympathetic Visage runs out.

Notes:
 * If you aggro a Dying Nightmare either while getting the quest or while luring Grasping Darknesses, run like heck for the far wall and hope the Aatxes with it break aggro before you get there.
 * If they don't break, you will probably die. Just keep running around using your Enraging Charge and hope they give up.

To Kill Grasping Darknesses

 * Use Warrior's Endurance, followed by spamming Power Attack and Counterattack every time they recharge. Maintain Dolyak Signet and your Visages.
 * They do almost no damage, and their interrupts are non-existent with Visages. These should be easy, if boring, kills.
 * Once you've killed one group, lure the next and repeat.

Notes:
 * Sometimes the third group will get itself stuck on the stairs to the right. If this happens, kill the other two groups first, then hit Enraging Charge and run past the right side Aatxes.  Aggro the Grasping Darknesses, then run to the right, straight into the closed door.  You should have lost the Aatxes, but the Grasping Darknesses will follow you, and can now be killed alone.

To Kill Dying Nightmares

 * Since you couldn't care less if they strip your enchants, these enemies pose no threat to you whatsoever after they have spawned (except possibly around Smite Crawlers) and can either by killed or ignored at your leisure.

Notes:
 * The threat Dying Nightmares do pose is in spawning.
 * All Dying Nightmares in the starting room have Aatxes mobs associated with them. Aggroing them is considered a bad idea.

To Kill Bladed Aatxes

 * Just don't. Try to avoid them at all costs.  If you do manage to aggro some, just keep running away until they leave you alone.
 * Unlike some builds, you will not die in one hit from an Aatxe, it usually takes five or six.

The Run

 * Once you have completed the quest, run along the right side to the open gate, being sure to break aggro with the three or four nearby Aatxes.
 * If there are enemies in the passageway, this is a (mostly) safe point to stop and wait. Be careful of the patrols nearby.
 * As soon as the passageway is clear, run through it. Try to time your run so that you will not be seen by the Grasping Darkness patrol, as even with Enraging Charge you cannot outrun them and will be forced to fight. Use Enraging Charge just as you leave the passage, and head to the left.
 * If you can, try to run all the way past both groups of Aatxes in one shot. If you can't, break aggro and wait in the big room (avoiding patrols) until Enraging Charge has recharged, then run past the last pair of Aatxes.
 * Be careful, as you may have to wait till Enraging Charge recharges to break their aggro. If this happens, you will end up directly in the middle of the Smite Crawler group, and will be forced to fight.

The Run: Alternative Method

 * Watch the Grasping Darkness patrol in the room to the right, at the end of the passage.
 * As soon as you see them circle around and move away from the end of the passage, hit Enraging Charge and run along the right side of the room straight to them. The Aatxes behind you will break aggro fairly quickly.
 * As you reach the door, take note of where the Aatxes are.
 * If they're in the Passage or coming towards it, run past them as fast as you can. This is the hardest part, as it is far too easy to be trapped against the wall.  They will only get two or three hits off at most if you make it past.  Run to your left.
 * If they're still in the room, just keep running. Hug the left-side wall. Enraging Charge will wear off about now.
 * Keep running to your left. Just as the Aatxes behind you catch up, hit your recharged Enraging Charge.
 * the Aatxes behind you will break aggro just as you run into the pair in front.
 * Run straight through them, towards the Smite Crawlers on the other side. In this method, the Aatxes normally break aggro before you reach the Smites Crawlers.

Notes:
 * Lag is extremly dangerous when running through the narrow passage with the Aatxes. It's very easy to get body blocked without you knowing it. Your character will keep running but infact he is stuck between the Aatxes, if this happens, your run will most likely end here. The best thing you can do is just wait until they are far away from the Passage

To Kill Smite Crawlers

 * Pull one group of Smite Crawlers with your bow to a place where you can fight them alone. When fighting multiple groups, a mistake often leads to death.
 * Once you've gotten to the spot you want to fight at, hit Dolyak Signet and switch weapons.
 * As soon as they start to reach you, hit Ancestor's Visage and Warrior's Endurance.
 * Wait a few seconds until you think they've been sufficiently drain of energy, then start attacking.
 * When Ancestor's Visage is halfway recharged, cast Sympathetic Visage.
 * Handle them just like Grasping Darknesses, but here Visages are required to stop their healing. Warrior's Endurance will provide you with plenty of energy to maintain them.

Notes:
 * If you start taking damage from Shield of Judgment, it means you have not fully drained their energy. Cast your next Visage and switch targets.
 * Once you get down to the last Smite Crawler, the energy drain is much slower. It can out heal you easily though, so make sure to keep your Visages up.
 * Occasionally, for unknown reasons, a Smite Crawler group will become hostile to all other Smite and Coldfire groups in the area. Just let them die, it's not worth running in for the loot.
 * You should be able to handle up to five Smite Crawlers at once, which is the largest that most groups contain.

To Kill Coldfire Nights

 * First, identify their patrol route. Stand in front of their path, so they they're walking towards you when they see you.
 * Hit Enraging Charge just before getting in their range, you should be able to reach them before they can cast Shard Storm or Maelstrom.
 * As soon as you get in melee range, hit Dolyak Signet, Lion's Comfort, and Warrior's Endurance.
 * Fire off both your attack skills. Keep attacking as often as you can with your attack skills, using Warrior's Endurance and Dolyak Signet when they recharge.
 * You can use Lion's Comfort twice per Dolyak Signet, once just after it's used, and once about 9 seconds later. The rest of the time, just keep the adrenaline stored.
 * You will be at around 100-200 health the whole time, but if done properly, you should survive.
 * As they cast Shard Storm often, running away is unlikely to succeed.

Notes:
 * Coldfires have no valuable drops, and thus it is often better to skip them altogether then to kill them, unless they are blocking a mob of Smite Crawlers.
 * Killing groups of two is fairly easy, but groups of three are not recommended.
 * If you do need to kill a group of three, try to find a barrier that you can pull them to. Hide behind it to block Shard Storm until you see them cast at least two of their Maelstroms, then engage.

Safety Spots
This is a map of the path taken by this build:


 * The Green line is the path you should be taking.
 * The Red dots are the Safety Spots.
 * If you need to take a break or recharge, go to the closest Safety Spot you've cleared, and stay there.
 * All enemies can be pulled to at least one of the marked safety spots and fought there.
 * Two of the Safety Spots are not on the path. These spots are only used when a group of Smite Crawlers spawns in a bad location nearby.
 * All of these spots (except the ones in the middle of The Run) are free of Patrols.

Survival Tips

 * When trying to run around Aatxes, always try to go past on the most open side. They like to trap you by forcing you to run to one side, then cutting you off. Running past them close to walls is a good way to dig an early grave, as is running past them without Enraging Charge activated.


 * If you accidentally use Lion's Comfort just before Dolyak Signet recharges, just hit Enraging Charge and run. You can't tank more then 4 Smite Crawlers or Grasping Darknesses safely without it.


 * If the Grasping Darknesses interrupt one of your Visages and drain all your energy, just keep Dolyak Signet up and keep hitting them. Eventually either you'll get up to 5 energy and you can use Warrior's Endurance to gain more, or they'll just die.  They can't kill you as long as Dolyak Signet is up.


 * If you hit Dolyak Signet when you didn't mean to, just stop running. You can't escape anything while slowed, so stand still and tank if there are any enemies in the area.


 * Use Enraging Charge while Warrior's Endurance is recharging, followed by Lion's Comfort for a quick heal. Remember to do this only after you've activated Dolyak Signet.

Variants

 * Counterattack can be replaced by any other 5 Energy attack skill with a quick recharge. Be warned of energy problems if you do change it. This is not recommended unless you do not have access to Counterattack.
 * For experienced players, Final Thrust or Dismember can replace Lion's Comfort. Be warned that this will make aggroing large groups of Smite Crawlers and/or Coldfires much more dangerous.
 * The only variant for the attribute distribution is 10+1+3 Strength, 8+1 Weapon Mastery, 2+1 Tactics, and 12 Illusion Magic. This variant is slightly more effective against Smite Crawlers, but kills slower.  Only recommended if you have no Grip of Enchanting for your sword or axe.
 * There are many variants to the strategies proposed for pulling, running, and tanking. None were considered effective enough to include here, but if it works for you, use it.

Counters

 * Bladed Aatxes.
 * Attacking Smite Crawlers with Shield of Judgment on them.

Skills Template
For Axe

For Sword

Equipment

 * Player's Choice.(Radiant or Survivor armor is preferred)
 * Sword with +5 energy and 20% enchant mod (or a Fortitude modification) and a max armor Shield, +30 health. Since you have balanced stance, try to get a shield with a -2 while in a stance.
 * Focus swapping items for energy when needed.

Usage
Use Zealous Benediction on targets with low health. Use Infuse Health on targets getting spiked (this requires a fast reaction time). Use Reversal of Fortune and Shield of Absorption on allies about to be taking heavy damage. Use Dismiss condition for condition removal. Use Shield Bash and Balanced Stance when you think you are getting spiked, or if you know you are about to be. Otherwise, don't spam those skills. Try to keep your energy up, casting a spell maybe once every 3-4 seconds.

Counters

 * General spellcasting counters, such Backfire and Diversion.
 * Knockdowns while Balanced Stance isn't up.

Variants

 * Use Deadly Riposte or Riposte instead of Shield Bash. Be sure to bring a sword should you do so.

Attributes and Skills

 * Signet of Rejuvenation can be used for better energy management
 * A Hex Removal such as Smite Hex can be brought if some or multiple "critical" hexes are being used in the area

Equipment

 * Any armor is usable, though for PvE Radiant armor may be best
 * A 20/20 +5energy +30hp healing staff is recommended

Usage

 * Cast Holy Haste and recast it whenever necessary
 * Cast Dwayna's Kiss and Ethereal Light whenever needed
 * If multiple allies take damage, use Light of Deliverance
 * Use Light of Deliverance whenever you can't reach an ally in need of healing
 * Healing Touch and Light of Deliverance are your self heals, though the easily interruptable Ethereal Light can be used as one as well
 * Dismiss Condition whenever a "critical" condition appears on an ally such as Blind on a warrior or Dazed on an elementalist
 * Smite Hex whenever a "critical" hex appears on an ally such as Backfire on a caster, Empathy on a warrior or Vocal Minority on a paragon. Of course Scourge Healing is lethal when using Light of Deliverance and therefore this should have high priority when removing hexes
 * Use Restore Life on a fallen ally, however don't do this until you are sure you can spend some free seconds where no allies need healing. The last thing you want is more deaths because of a resurrection

Counters

 * Any spell caster counters (daze, backfire, etc.)
 * Scourge Healing can do major damage when being careless with Light of Deliverance

Variants

 * Orison of Healing can be used instead of Ethereal Light if you get interrupted a lot while using Ethereal Light
 * Words of Comfort can be useful instead of Ethereal Light if many conditions are used in that area
 * Mend Condition can be used instead of Dismiss Condition if you think you don't get conditions yourself or if few enchantments are being used
 * If no conditions are being used in a certain area, consider bringing another healing skill or another hex removal instead of Dismiss Condition
 * Any other hex removal skill such as Remove Hex or Inspired Hex (must become /Me) can be used instead of Smite Hex
 * If no hexes are being used in a certain area, consider bringing another healing skill instead of Smite Hex
 * Signet of Rejuvenation and possibly Signet of Devotion can be used for a better energy management in this build. Replace Dismiss Condition or Smite Hex by one of these signets, depending on what you need most, anti condition or anti hex
 * Resurrection Chant instead of Restore Life for a resurrect from some distance

RC bonder is a Monk build focused on Random Arena matches. It is extremely powerful here because random groups very rarely deal with it appropriately.

Equipment
Armor set can be chosen according to philosophy, with Ascetic's Armor possibly being the most useful for the higher energy pool. However, if surviving is a problem, Acolyte's Armor provides its benefit continually with this build.

Any weapon combination that lowers casting and recharge times of Protection Prayers will work well with this build. A couple of suggestions are:
 * Jayne's Staff.
 * Kepkhet's Refuge.
 * A Holy Staff from Nord Stonegrimm fitted with a perfect Insightful or Hale staff head and wrapping of Enchanting.

Usage
Maintain Balthazar's Spirit and Divine Boon at all times. In addition, keep Life Bond on the other 3 party members. Before battle or during lulls, Blessed Signet will more than offset the energy drain. In battle, Balthazar's Spirit will provide energy. Healing is not as necessary because of the damage reduction, so Divine Boon on top of Reversal of Fortune or Restore Condition is enough to maintain healing. The quick recharge and low energy cost of these spells keeps the energy demands low.

In the Random Arena, you encounter one of a few types of attackers. Most anti-monk Mesmers focus on anti-casting spells such as Blackout and Backfire, which do little to a monk maintaining enchantments. Warriors that target you early are easy to notice and avoid. Usually, just running is an easy enough tactic. Your enchantments are still contributing to the effort, and if you have one or two chasers, the rest of your team will have little difficulty in taking out the remaining players with Life Bond on them.

Counters
If you get the focus of more than one enemy and they're good with snares, you can die very quickly. This is rare in the Random Arenas, but it does happen. After death, your efficacy is greatly diminished because you don't have the time or energy pool to recast your enchantments. Life Bond (and therefore Balthazar's Spirit) are not worth recasting, so you turn into a reduced Boon Healer at that point.

High damage casters such as Necromancers with Vampiric Touch/Vampiric Gaze or Elementalists that are not getting interrupted can be a nuisance. Fortunately, such targets get killed very quickly in random games, particularly if you warn your group beforehand.

The biggest obvious weakness is getting your enchantments stripped. Mass enchantment removal is very rare in Random Arenas. Sometimes, Life Bond will get stripped off your allies, but you can easily recast it. It is important to order your enchantments such that your most important ones are deepest and the cheaper/less important ones are used as cover.

Variants
A major variation is to drop the Boon Healer part of the build. Replace Divine Boon and Restore Condition with Bonetti's Defense and Shield of Regeneration. Maintaining one fewer Enchantment makes a big difference in your energy regeneration. You're also better off not running from melee attackers, as Guardian+Bonetti's Defense will quickly refill your energy bar. In situations where a Warrior or Pet or Spirits target you and continually attacks you, you end up with an endless energy pool and your team will be nearly invincible. You can also replace RC and Divine Boon with mend ailment (for conditions) and ZB for healing, when a target is subject to heave damage, becouse of the conditional energy gain on ZB you should be ok with maintaining your energy.

Equipment

 * A -5 energy set
 * A 30/-2 energy set
 * An enchanting weapon
 * Select weapons to preference.

Usage

 * Maintain Hex Breaker.
 * Precast Holy Veil on your self, and/or your melee (these are the prime targets for hexes, it allows for fast removal of Faintheartedness etc. from your melee, and otherwise unremovable debuffs such as Shame or Diversion from your self.).
 * Use Reversal of Fortune to react to damage.
 * Gift of Health is your main heal, use it whenever possible.
 * Spirit Bond should be used to protect against heavy hitters such as hammer warriors, dervishes and elementalists.
 * Use Dismiss Condition to strip dangerous conditions from allies.
 * Zealous Benediction can be used for a massive, cheap heal once an ally drops below 50% health. Don't get in to the habit of waiting for them to drop though, make use of Reversal of Fortune and Gift of Health to keep them alive - if an ally is below 50% health, faced with a pumped-up warrior or an assassin, the ally could be dead before you complete casting of ZB.
 * Don't make red bars go up - prevent damage.

Counters

 * Daze/Interruption
 * Knockdown
 * Signet of Humility
 * Energy Denial

Variants

 * Dismiss Condition can be replaced with Mend Condition or Mend Ailment.
 * Shield of Absorption can be replaced with Shielding Hands.

Equipment

 * Full Ascetic's armor for a maximal energy pool.
 * 5 Superior runes, at least 1 Superior Protection Prayers and 1 Superior Divine Favor.
 * A Scythe with a 20% enchantment mod with the "I Have The Power" +5 energy inscription or similar bonus.

Usage
This build uses SOA and PS to tank and the Scythe's ability to attack more than one target, even with Illusionary Weaponry.
 * Use the maintained enchantments first. Switch to a +1 Divine Favor head gear when using Blessed Aura and keep using the +1 Protection Prayers head gear for fighting/tanking.
 * Before aggroing, cast PS>AV>SOA (Keep a Visage up at ALL times during an aggro).
 * Take the aggro and watch out for the nightmare. use power return to interrupt the spell cast by it and wand it with a backup staff/wand.
 * If a second nightmare pops, interrupt one and wand the second. if you die from the second nightmare, bad luck and try again.
 * When the aggro is under control and the mob has 0 energy and no adrenaline, cast IW and begin to slash away with the scythe. Make sure you attack the monster in the middle of the mob to hit the two beside it.
 * When dealing with mobs of 4+, just attack the same target until it is dead and the scythe will take care of the surrounding mob. If smites break, they will spam Reversal of Fortune, but DON'T WORRY, they won't be able to keep spamming it long enough to fully heal another smite.
 * If one smite won't die, switch to another smite.
 * Avoid coldfires at all times, this build has no way to kill them as interruption and slow is a pain.
 * You can counter the Dying Nightmares by just aggroing the Aatxe's and running behind the dead spirits the Aatxe won't hit you any more but the Dying Nightmares will use Rend Enchantments so you won't need to worry because the Aatxe's won't be hitting and you will just need to reenchant yourself and kill.

Counters

 * Death is a stand out counter.
 * A second nightmare popping up without you noticing, resulting in death.
 * Miscasting SOA, resulting in a death.
 * Bleeding at the beginning as it may degenerate your health quickly at 105 hp, resulting in death.
 * The recent changes to the skills Rend Enchantments and Shield of Absorption may have a significant effect on this builds stability. SoA is now fair game for Bladed Aatxe's interrupts, and Dying Nightmares are even more of a threat now with a 1 second cast time to Rend. More testing will be needed.(I suggest switching soa for Shielding Hands) resulting in death.

Equipment

 * A insightful staff of enchanting with a HSR 20% mod such as Kepkhet's Refuge or The Yakslapper
 * A negative energy set for focus swapping will help against energy denial.
 * A one handed weapon with a crippling mod may also be a legitimate choice to increase the cripple duration from Return

Usage

 * Dismiss Condition used upon enchanted allies serves as a good cheap healing spell even if that ally has no conditions on them, but Reversal of Fortune should be used as a primary heal on allies being attacked.
 * Use Signet of Devotion whenever you can safely do so. This will help keep your energy reserves up.
 * Try to only use Zealous Benediction on allies that have health below 50% in order to take advantage of the energy gain bonus from the skill.
 * Protective Spirit should be used on any allies that are taking large amounts of damage per hit.
 * Use Dark Escape when you are being attacked or are being knocked down to reduce damage taken by 50%. Since it is a stance it can be used at any time. The speed bonus will help you get out of the way and prevent being knocked down again.
 * Return is to be used when you expect a spike from warriors in order to cripple them and quickly get out of harms way.
 * If an enemy is using a shutdown hex on you such as Backfire or Mark of Subversion, cast Holy Veil on yourself and leave it on until that hex is cast on you, then cancel Holy Veil to remove the hex without triggering it. Otherwise simply cast Holy Veil  on an ally with a hex on them and remove it immediately afterwards to utilize the skill as a normal hex remover.

Counters

 * Energy denial on this build, just as any monk build, can cause problems. Since it is necessary to have 10 energy in order to cast Zealous Benediction and gain the 10 energy back, having less than 10 energy can be dangerous.  Hiding energy with focus swapping is the best way to protect yourself from this.
 * Mesmer shutdown spells, such as Signet of Humility and Diversion as well as the assassin skill Shadow Shroud can also be dangerous to this build. The best way to combat this is to watch enemies and cast Holy Veil on yourself if you expect to be hexed with something like this and release the enchantment once hexed.

Variants

 * Replace Protective Spirit with Spirit Bond or Shield of Absorption.
 * Replace Return for Shadow of Haste. Once Shadow of Haste has been used, Dark Escape can be activated to cause you to teleport to where Shadow of Haste was initially cast.  Since there are no cast times involved in this process, it holds a bit of an advantage if you expect to suffer from a lot of knockdowns.
 * A minor Protection Prayers rune may be used instead of a major to give the player more health.

Equipment

 * Full Radiant Insignias
 * Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor or equivalent weapon.
 * Divine Favor off-hand with health +30 core, and energy +5 while enchanted inscription.
 * If preferred, a halves skill recharge inscription (Forget Me Not) could be used to increase usage of Spell Breaker.

Usage
The power of this build comes from the long-lasting preventative action of Spell Breaker. At rest points, allow Spell Breaker to recharge while you heal yourself. Successful usage of this build is facilitated by smart gameplay; only use Spell Breaker when you (forsee you will) need it - do not try to keep it active all the time.
 * Begin your run by casting Blessed Aura. This constantly maintained enchantment will help to fuel your Enchanted Haste.
 * If desired, pre-cast Watchful Spirit so you may cancel it in the event of an emergency for a quick heal boost after taking damage. Although you do not need to stop to cancel Watchful Spirit, you will need to stop to recast for future uses.
 * Use Spell Breaker when passing through areas with casters. Even with an enchanting weapon and Blessed Aura, you cannot maintain this enchantment indefinitely.  It should last around 25 seconds, so know your area and plan ahead for the 20 second downtime.
 * Use Enchanted Haste and then Harrier's Haste immediately after Enchanted Haste expires. With 9 points in Wind Prayers, you can run constantly and with no energy downtime while cycling through these skills.  Note that both of these skills are stances and, as such, one will cancel the other.
 * Use Fleeting Stability just before entering a knockdown area. This is an enchantment and, as such, it will not interfere with your running stances. Beware of the self-knockdown effect after Fleeting ends.
 * Use Smite Hex as needed.
 * Use Mending Touch as needed.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal and hexes can be devastating. Avoid running through dense enchantment removal and hex areas without Spell Breaker active.
 * Excessive physical attacks can prove fatal as well. Taking a wrong turn or getting boxed in/body blocked can end your run.  Know the geography and spawn locations of enemies so that you can plan to circumvent them accordingly.

Variants
The build can be customized to conform to specific runs, enemies, and user preferences:
 * If knockdowns are not a concern, consider bringing Healing Touch instead of Fleeting Stability, lower your attribute rank in Earth Prayers to 0 and increase your attribute rank in Healing Prayers to 9. With your high rank in Divine Favor you will get 144 heal for 5 energy.
 * If knockdowns are not a concern, consider bringing Conviction for added armor.
 * If you choose to use conviction with this build, consider bringing Featherfoot Grace, as it is an enchantment running spell and will not conflict with your Conviction stance.
 * Watchful Healing can be used instead of Watchful Spirit, as a cheaper regen spell. Additionally, bring a "lose enchantment" skill to cancel Watchful Healing and gain its healing bonus.
 * Pious Restoration or Signet of Pious Light can be used to cancel Fleeting and Watchful Healing if you choose that skill as well.
 * If you're running with a team, consider using Dismiss Condition to assist your allies if needed.
 * If you are not concerned with hexes, replace Smite Hex with Signet of Devotion for self healing, ideally at rest stops or after breaking aggro.

Attributes and Skills

 * Some nice skills for the Optional Slot are Featherfoot Grace or Vow of Piety. Lyssa's Haste may also work.

Equipment

 * Any Staff or Wand/Offhand combination will work as long as they are tied to Protection Prayers and have a 20% Enchantment Modifier. A perfect example is Sadi's Benediction.
 * Ascetic's Armor or armor fully equipped with Radiant insignias is recommended for the additional energy, but Acolyte's Armor or armor equipped with Blessed insignias will also work nicely for the additional armor.

Usage

 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself at the start of the match.
 * Cast Shield of Absorption and your other protective Enchantments on yourself if you come under attack, but continue to use Mystic Healing.
 * When you have an opportunity, you can also cast other Enchantments on yourself to make Mystic Healing more powerful
 * Try to only use Zealous Benediction on allies that have health below 50% in order to take advantage of the energy gain bonus from the skill.
 * Dismiss Condition can be used both as cheap condition removal on enchanted allies as well as a cheap heal
 * Reversal of Fortune should be spammed on allies. This should be your primary heal on allies under attack
 * Protective Spirit should be used on allies under heavy fire.

Counters

 * Enchantment Removal
 * Energy Denial (Focus Swapping can help negate this problem)
 * Anti-Spam Skills (Such as Diversion)

Variants
Skills to Consider:
 * Gift of Health
 * Guardian
 * Blessed Aura

= MONK VERMIN FARMER =

This build was designed to farm the Vermin outside Senji's Corner in Xaquang Skyway. With the use of the Monk's armor-ignoring damage skills from the Smiting Prayers line, you are able to deal damage to multiple foes simultaneously. Protection Prayers and Earth Prayers skills are used to defend yourself from the enemy attacks.

Equipment

 * Max Radiant Armor with the above mentioned runes. Basically your normal prot gear, the minor smiting rune isn't even needed.
 * Whatever you want of enchanting. I prefer a staff of enchanting so I can do some additional damage myself. Another weapon of enchanting will also work but does less damage.

Usage

 * Maintain Blessed Aura, Balthazar's Spirit, and Essence Bond at all times.
 * Gather as many vermin as you feel like, you can tank an infinite number if used right.
 * Keep Fleeting Stability and Shield of Absorption up at all times, I find it smart to follow SoA with FS.
 * Use Mystic Regeneration to counter the health degen of the vermin.
 * Use Shield of Judgment to damage the vermin, follow it up with Balthazar's Aura. The knockdown for SoJ will allow BA to deal lots of damage without scattering the vermin. attack a vermin at all times so it keeps attacking you. Shreader should always be taken down first.

Counters

 * No real threats from Vermin, but Jade Brotherhood may be able to kill you.

Armor

 * Acolyte's Armor for its +10 armor (while enchanted) bonus - you will be under enchantments almost 100% of the time of your run.

Runes

 * Rune of Major or Superior Vigor

Weapons
Two weapon sets are optimal for this run, so that you can switch while running. This, of course, depends more or less on your personal style of running. One set for high energy, and faster recharge, and one for running through groups of Tundra Giants.

Weapon Set #1

 * Gardock's Staff

Weapon Set #2

 * Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor


 * Grognar's Defender

Note: The 20% longer enchantment mod helps to keep up the life-saving skill Divine Intervention longer which can be helpful when running through groups having this skill up.

General
The Running Sequence provides an almost constant speed boost. It is not gap-less, that is to say, there is a short pause between one Sprint and "Charge!" cycle. The Divine Favor Cycle provides the best quick-healing, and the Hex-Countering Mechanism the best anti-hex measurements.

Running Sequence

 * Use Sprint, and "Charge!" for a speed boost of 25%. Sprint and "Charge!" together do stack for a total boost of 33%.
 * Use Balanced Stance to counter knockdowns by Frost Wurms, Ice Golems, Tundra Giants, and Azure Shadows.

Note: Balanced Stance cancels Sprint and vice versa, for they are both stances. Never use them simultaneously if you don't want to lose either of them. Balanced Stance should be used with "Charge!" instead. Balanced Stance will outlast "Charge!" by 8 secs. Use Balanced Stance, wait 4-8 secs and activate "Charge!". It is better to be quicker in escape than in approach due to the aggro/ deaggro behavior of the NPCs.

Divine Favor Cycle

 * Activate Watchful Spirit (WS) when entering a new area.
 * Cancel Watchful Spirit whenever instant healing is necessary. Try to recast Watchful Spirit after that.
 * Use Divine Intervention (DI) as backup healing.

Note #1: Depending on your running abilities it is advised to use DI first before canceling WS in order to be still under the effect of the +2 health pips by WS.

Note #2 Your high Divine Favor attribute allows you to heal you from spells like Purge Conditions, and Smite Hex, too. Though, it might not be much healing but in case of little healing it is much better than canceling Watchful Spirit

Hex-Countering Mechanism
Note #1: Always use Smite Hex for removing a Hex before canceling Holy Veil. By not canceling Holy Veil first you make sure that the enemies still need twice as long to cast for their hexes.
 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself first as major hex-protecting mechanism.
 * Use Smite Hex as major hex-remover.

Note #2: For an extra hex remover cast Holy Veil and wait for it to recharge. By canceling it, recasting, and canceling it again, you can remove up to two hexes only with Holy Veil.

Conditions

 * Use Purge Conditions for an all-in-one conditions clean-up.

Note: Beware traps set by Pinesouls that cripple you for quite a long time. It is not unlikely that two traps are behind each other. Go on running crippled to check whether a second trap is about to ignite; only then use Purge Conditions to reduce the chance of getting trapped twice to a minimum. Alternatively, Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multi-traps.

Variants

 * Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multiple Barbed Traps.

Talus Chute
Due to the high damage output by the groups of Avicara, and the knockdowns by Azure Shadows, it is advised to modify the build for the final stage of the Droknar run. However, this is not needed if you have henchmen or real players as meatshields. Do not forget to put some attributes into Healing Prayers.
 * Activate Mending, Watchful Spirit, and Holy Veil (in this order).
 * Before encountering the first Azure Shadows cast Healing Breeze.
 * Activate Balanced Stance when the first Signet of Judgments are about to hit you.
 * Use "Charge!" in the first corner (left hand) near the Azure Shadow Boss.
 * Cancel Watchful Spirit whenever healing is required. Try to reapply it immediately.
 * Activate Divine Intervention as final life-saver skill when running through the groups of Avicara.

= 55hp MONKIE = The 55hp Monk is used to solo many popular farming locations containing Griffons, Hydras, Mountain Trolls, and Minotaurs. It is an enchantment heavy build, so it is not suitable for areas with disenchanting mesmers or necromancers.

This build is often called "55 Monk" because of its low health -- only 55 hp. The low health makes Protective Spirit, which limits damage to 10% of a character's maximum health, reduce all received damage to 5hp/hit, which is easily countered by the 8 pips of health regeneration granted by Healing Breeze (16 hp regained every second).

This build no longer works as described because of the Wednesday 25th of October monster AI update, whereby monsters that can be knocked down no longer kill themselves on Shield of Judgment (meaning Hydras can still be farmed with this build for they cannot be knocked down). If you run past the Mountain Trolls in the cave outside Droknar's Forge, use this build to farm the Tundra Giants, be sure to use a skill like Dolyak Signet against them so you can cast your healing skills and Shield of Judgment to prevent them from disrupting you with their stomps. This also works well with Sand Giants  in the Scar area of the Crystal Desert.

It does work in areas such as the zone with Hydras and Griffins outside of the Augury Rock. It is still effective only takes longer. In the Nightfall campaign of Guild wars the build works real well against the groups of  Tusked Hunters and Tusked Howlers outside Yohlon Haven

See the article Invincible Monk for a discussion of the concept of the build.

Equipment

 * Any 20% of Enchanting, preferably with extra energy. A Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor is ideal.
 * The off-hand item is the -50 Grim Cesta obtained via the Cities of Ascalon quest.
 * Ascetic's Armor offers the most energy which is beneficial to this build, all armor pieces have to have Monk superior runes: one of each with one extra to bring your health down to 105 (this doesn’t include health deduction with the -50 Grim Cesta). Keep in mind that you don't need high armor for the build, so any Ascetic's with maximum energy will do.

Usage

 * Cast the first 4 enchantments before the fight. You won't have any energy regeneration, so use Blessed Signet to regain energy out of combat.
 * Before aggroing mobs, cast Protective Spirit. You should not need Healing Breeze unless you have more than 3 foes that cannot be knocked down (such as hydras), or 5 that can be knocked down (such as forgotten).
 * The energy gained from Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit should be more than enough for all situations.
 * Blessed Aura and your weapon of Enchanting will prolong your Shield of Judgment, which is your core offensive spell.
 * The build is most successful against melee attackers and is least successful against spell casters (especially Mesmers). To use it for farming, find an area with a heavy concentration of melee attackers (such as the Blessed Griffons in Snake Dance or the Hydras in Skyward Reach) and take them on.

List of Soloable Bosses

Wajjun Bazaar
 * Lian, Dragon's Petal - (aggro as many as possible for energy benefit)Instead of Essense Bond bring Zealot's Fire for additional damage.

Variants

 * Monk
 * Replace Essence Bond with Zealot's Fire for more damage output. See the notes on casting in succession to avoid breaking aggro.
 * Replace Blessed Aura with Smite for more firepower. Note that if you are used to Blessed Aura, then getting used to the decidedly shorter durations of Healing Breeze, Protective Spirit and Shield of Judgment will take some time.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Strength of Honor while using a melee weapon to do more Damage.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Symbol of Wrath and use it right after Shield of Judgment tends to kill Mountain Trolls with one round of Shield of Judgment.
 * Replace Healing Breeze with Shield of Absorption for 0 damage (With Totem Axe and Blessed Aura, Shield of Absorption will come back soon enough to recast before it ends.
 * Use Watchful Spirit for more regeneration
 * Warrior, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Bonetti's Defense for an excellent energy providing skill, though dodging will reduce the DPS average.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Balanced Stance to protect yourself against knockdowns, such as Meteor casted by Hydras. This will make Hydra-Farming a lot easier.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Dolyak Signet to securely eliminate knockdowns from monsters such as Tundra Giants
 * Elementalist, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Aftershock. This works fine with the knockdown provided by Shield of Judgment and does not break aggro like Zealot's Fire.
 * Replace Shield of Judgment with Glyph of Renewal and use Sliver Armor for damage.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Bed of Coals.
 * Necromancer, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Suffering. Use this after Shield of Judgment, when the enemy(s) are knocked down because of its 2 second cast time it's easier to interrupt. For large mobs, cast it into the center of the group.
 * Mesmer secondary, you could do one or more of the following:
 * Replace Essence Bond with Channeling to gain tons of energy from crowding foes (this works well in conjunction with Zealot's Fire).
 * Replace Blessed Aura with Arcane Echo to lengthen the effect of Shield of Judgment.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Mantra of Resolve against enemies with interrupts. This can be useful against Titans and Mountain Trolls.
 * Replace Balthazar's Spirit with Sympathetic Visage. This will deplete enemies' energy and cause spellcasting monsters such as Hydras to attack you more once they no longer have the energy to power their spells.
 * Ranger, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Serpent's Quickness for back to back Shield of Judgment casting.
 * Replace Blessed Signet with Brambles to add damage and inflict bleeding when enemies are knocked down by Shield of Judgment. Remember that Brambles is Factions only.
 * Dervish, secondary
 * Mystic Regeneration based:


 * Benefits - more points in Divine Favor and Smiting Prayers means Shield of Judgment does more damage for a longer time. Mystic Regeneration is far better than Healing Breeze (0.25 cast, up to +16 health regen for 24 sec).
 * Replace Watchful Spirit with Mending if you don't have WS.
 * Replace Watchful Spirit with Fleeting Stability if getting knocked down is a problem ("only" get max +14 health regen though). Suggested: Protection Prayers at 9 and Earth Prayers at 6 for longer Fleeting Stability.
 * Additional equipment: a wand + the Grim Cesta in another weapon set. If an enemy runs away, switch to wand, attack it then switch back to usual set. Unless the AI has changed, it should run back to attack you.
 * Mystic Regeneration for healing.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal
 * Interrupting
 * The dazed condition
 * Life stealing
 * Degeneration

Equipment
((+3-Scythe Mastery Rune)) ((+3-Earth Prayer Rune)) ((+3-Mysticism Rune)) ((+3-Rune(Your Choice)) ((+3-Rune(Your Choice))
 * Rune's

((Radiant Insignia (x5) for more energy (*But not necessary*))
 * Insignia's


 * 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 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.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with any form except for Avatar of Melandru, which gives +100 health boost. Avatar of Balthazar and Avatar of Dwayna are particularly useful here; the former with its armor boost(doesn't 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.

Equipment

 * Armor:
 * Two major attribute runes.
 * One superior rune of Vigor.
 * Two runes of Attunement (+ energy).
 * Radiant insignias (+ energy).
 * Weapons:
 * Sundering Scythe of Enchanting, with a "Guided by Fate" inscription.
 * Vampiric Scythe as well, switching out as you need them.
 * A staff in case of Dealth Penalty, as DP will reduce your max energy below that required for your Avatar.

Usage

 * Before the upcoming confrontation and while clearly out of a ranger interruption range, activate Avatar of Melandru. Your HP should be at an impressive 685. Use Victorious Sweep upon targets with lower HP than yourself. Use Wearying Strike every 10 seconds to keep a Deep Wound upon your target. Since conditions do not affect you, you won’t suffer weakness from Wearying Strike. Always put Zealous Renewal back up once it drops while being careful not to use it prematurely.
 * Helping teammates: If you have the energy to spare, and you should, use draw condition to totally wipe out all conditions when it really matters. You won’t have to worry about them affecting you due to Avatar of Melandru. Use Imbue Health to give other party members a potent 300 HP heal (which you should easily be able to grant with your large HP pool), esp. when allied healer is unable to heal at the right moment.

Variants

 * You may want to swap out a skill for Mystic Vigor.
 * You may want to swap out a skill for Crippling Sweep, to prevent kiting.
 * You may want to swap out a skill for Watchful Intervention, for even more anti-spike protection.

Counters

 * Anti-Melee hexes can cause problems with attacking.
 * While Avatar of Melandru is down, like all Avatar builds, the build will lose some functionality. Mainly, you cannot use Draw Conditions unless in extreme situations, Wearying Strike is mostly out of the question, and Imbue Health will take a slight hit.
 * If you happen to get totally destroyed, your Imbue Health won't be too much help to your allies. Plus, healing yourself with Victorious Sweep will be harder to manage.
 * Fragility will decimate you. Since Avatar of Melandru applies conditions and then instantly removes them, the damage from fragility can be fatal. Be extremely wary of this hex!

= D/A Dark Silence Runner =

This build allows for a Dervish/Assassin to complete the Droknar's Forge run with a higher success rate than any other build yet. With the use of Vow of Silence and Dark Escape you can easily run past enemies while taking little damage. This build also combines the use of Fleeting Stability, Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention to create a safe versatile run. This build can also run most of the entire game with no change at all.

Equipment

 * Armor: The Windwalker Insignia should be used for this build since you will be under multiple enchantments for most of the run. Apply a Rune of Major Vigor or a Rune of Superior Vigor and Rune of Attunement for extra energy.
 * Weapons: A Staff with an enchantment lengthening mod and at least +15 energy since you will need energy more than armor. An inscribeable Insightful Staff with a "Have Faith" inscription will give you +20 energy while you're enchanted.  A Shield can be used but you will often find yourself lacking energy.
 * A sword of enchanting with a shield that lowers damage taken while enchanted and HP +45 while enchanted.

Before 1 Feb. Update Usage

 * Start: Cast Faithful Intervention at start and whilst not under attack if it is not currently on.
 * Or you can just run through them with either Dark Escape or Dash.
 * Lornar's Pass
 * Wurm Tunnel: Cast Fleeting Stability -> Mystic Regeneration -> Vow of Silence -> Deadly Paradox -> Dark Escape. As soon as Vow of Silence ends, cast Fleeting Stability -> Vow of Silence before reaching the Siege Ice Golems.  Then use Deadly Paradox -> Dark Escape to outrun them.
 * Grawl zones: Vow of Silence is not required to run past the Grawl unless there are Siege Ice Golems located close by. As long as you maintain Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention and avoid the Grawl Crones you'll be fine.
 * Snake Dance
 * Make sure you maintain Fleeting Stability and Mystic Regeneration when running past Tundra Giants and Azure Shadows.
 * Always use Deadly Paradox before Dark Escape.

Counters

 * Grawl Crones can strip you of Vow of Silence and other enchantments with Chilblains and can cause almost certain death if Siege Ice Golems are nearby. Just stay out of their range and you'll be fine.

Variants
You can switch Dash for Signet of Pious Light for ending Fleeting Stability for extra health and can combine with Vital Boon for a quick health boost when needed.

There are many assassin skills which can be used instead, though they may leave you more exposed.


 * Earth Prayers | 12 + 2


 * Mysticism | 12 + 1 + 2


 * Shadow Arts | 3

Pious Haste provides a fast alternative aswell as lets you skip investing anything in Wind Prayers, giving you longer duration on all your skills, higher max health, better energymanagement though it has a downside of removing an enchantment when it ends but if timed right you may even use it to your advantage (Vital Boon).

Template
= D/any Forge Runner = Dervish Forge Runner for Beacon's Perch to Droknar's Forge run.

Equipment

 * Maximum level armor with Radiant or Windwalker insignias.
 * The runes you will need are as follows: Major Mysticism, minor Wind Prayers, Minor Earth Prayers, Rune of Attunement, and a Superior Rune of Vigor (if you can afford it).
 * Any weapon with an enchantments last 20% longer mod and +5 energy inscription and a shield or a staff with similiar mods.
 * Totem Axe and a Wooden Buckler from Luci
 * Kepkhet's Refuge

Usage
Keep Faithful Intervention on at all times, and use Watchful Intervention for emergency heals. Vow of Silence will keep you going through the grawl, ice imps, and ice golems safely.Featherfoot Grace reduces poison, bleeding, and cripple when running through the Grawl. Harrier's Haste and Enchanted Haste are stances to increase your speed. Try to keep Mystic Regeneration up. Fleeting Stability will get you through the worms and other knockdowns you may encounter.

Watch your enchantment expirations. If they are about to go out, go ahead and recharge them whenever you can.

Variations
Using a D/A, take out Watchful Intervention and Enchanted Haste and replace them with Dark Escape and Dash. Attributes should be aligned as 14 Mysticism (With Hood+Superior Rune), 11 Earth Prayers, 10 Wind Prays, and 9 Shadow Arts.

Attributes and Skills
The code for this build is: "OgFTkYGXnBVsM4hLR+SpgWYKAA"

Equipment

 * Tempest Armor
 * Something along the lines of Galigord's Stone Staff will be perfect.

Usage

 * Upon entering the Underworld, check in front of you to see if there are three Bladed Aatxes in the mob. If there is, and the third isn’t moving, it means there is a Dying Nightmare spawn to the right.
 * If there is, cast Kinetic Armor and maintain it with, Aura of Restoration.
 * Pull the first mob and run to the NPC Benton. As long as you hide behind him the Bladed Aatxes cannot get to you, however keep your enchantments up for convenience.
 * By now, the Dying Nightmare would have spawned and you can now wand him without worrying about the Bladed Aatxes.
 * If there is no third Bladed Aatxe, then you are safe and you are free to pull the mob.
 * After taking out the Dying Nightmare, or if there were none, take the Clear the Chamber quest. Then cast Armor of Earth and tank the mob.
 * Cast Glyph of Renewal to keep up Magnetic Aura, and use Sliver Armor for damage.
 * Keep Teinai's Crystals or Crystal Wave if you are using only Prophecies skills, as a finisher. This way, the Grasping Darkness’ will be able to contribute to Sliver Armor’s triggering and the Bladed Aatxes will die faster. Bladed Aatxes have the higher armor so you will want to target them first.
 * As of the October 25th AoE update, the monsters will run when they take too much damage. Don’t worry, just wand them and they will come right back. You will be wanding anyways to charge up Bonetti's Defense.
 * When low on health, cast more, and if you are Dazed just use Aura of Restoration and Magnetic Aura to keep Kinetic Armor up. Wait for it to finish and continue to kill the mob.
 * When low on energy, use Bonetti's Defense, you will be almost guaranteed to block everything for the full 6 seconds it is active. Be cautious as casting to keep Kinetic Armor alive will disengage Bonetti's Defense.
 * After killing the first mob, move on to the next in a clockwise rotation.
 * First, pull any Dying Nightmares that might be hiding, if you aggro the Bladed Aatxes run back to NPC Benton and hide.
 * Wand the Dying Nightmare and carry on killing the mob.
 * Rinse and repeat until all Grasping Darkness’ and Bladed Aatxes are dead. Move on to the Ice Wastes.
 * Facing Smite Crawlers is the easy part as they attack fast, have lower armor and deal less damage.
 * Be careful when running to Smite Crawler nests as Dying Nightmares could pop up. They will likely be alone, so take it slow.
 * Do not engage the Coldfire Nights as they can interrupt you and they don’t drop any Globs of Ectoplasm anyway.

Counters

 * Enchantment stripping
 * Interrupts

Equipment

 * Cruel Scythe of Enchanting with "Guided by Fate" Inscription
 * Sundering Scythe of Enchanting with "Guided by Fate" Inscription
 * Sundering Scythe of Enchanting with "Strength and Honor" Inscription
 * Full Radiant armor
 * Superior Vigor Rune
 * Attunement Rune

Usage

 * Select a target, preferably a squishy one.
 * Cast the three enchantments as you approach your target, beginning with Mystic Regeneration.
 * Use Crippling Sweep to prevent kiting.
 * Begin attacking with Wounding Strike, followed by Mystic Sweep.
 * Continue spamming Mystic Sweep, reapplying conditions as necessary.
 * Alternatively, attack with Wounding Strike when not enchanted and your target has a good amount of health, then once they drop below 50%, use it to inflict Deep Wound right before Mystic Sweep for a bigger spike.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal
 * Anti-melee Hexes such as Spirit of Failure
 * Energy denial
 * Dazed

Variants

 * Resurrection Signet should be replaced with another, non-resurrection skill for Alliance Battles.  Some suggestions:
 * Pious Assault, for more spiking ability and a controlled way to end Enchantments.
 * A low-cost Hex removal skill, such as Remove Hex.
 * Mystic Vigor, for additional healing and damage.
 * Eremite's Attack, also a quick scythe attack for spiking
 * Replace Wounding Strike with Reaper's Sweep for more raw damage at the expense of condition versatility.
 * Conviction can be used to boost defense.

Equipment

 * Any weapon with lengthening 20% enchantment time will work but I recommend Kepkhet’s Refuge for the extra energy given.
 * All pieces of armor must have a superior rune on them bringing your health down to 105hp which is a variation of the 55 Monk build.

Usage
Cast the last 2 enchantments when loaded into the area and take the Anguish Hunt and Quest. Cast Protective Spirit, Spell Breaker, and then Shield of Absorption once Quickening Zephyr is up. Gather all mobs into one central area and stand very close to all spell casters and start on a cycle of casting Ancestor's Visage and Sympathetic Visage. Note that these 2 only work when being hit with melee attacks so do not continue to keep up if there are no melee attacks on you. Maintain Protective Spirit, Spell Breaker, and Shield of Absorption at all times. Stay close to the monks 1º, then spellcasters, necros and mesmers. After finishing them go for the melee enemies. If any non-melee targets manage to stay alive attack them with your wand, wait for their Healing skills (Troll Unguent, Leader's Comfort) and interrupt them using Lightbringer's Gaze or/and ask for the ranger's help with Apply Poison.

Counters and Problems

 * Casting Spell Breaker when Quickening Zephyr is not up will result in it not recharging in time which then can lead to enchantment stripping and death.
 * Not having all the spell casters in adjacent range to be hit by Visages.
 * Healing spikes from Margonite Anur Ki
 * Being interrupted by an Anur Vu's Magehunter's Smash (which only happens if you cast your Visages too late.)
 * Due to Shield of Absorption nerf you now need to spam Shield of Absorption to keep yourself alive

Equipment

 * Radiant Armor with Superior Wilderness Survival rune and runes of attunement for any other slots available is recommended.
 * A Staff with 15 or more energy.
 * Any type of Bow (Longbow or Flatbow is recomended).

Usage
Cast last 2 enchantments on Monk when done loading and take Anguish Hunt and Quest. Use Serpent’s Quickness followed by Quickening Zephyr when Monk is ready. Cast Famine and keep Quickening Zephyr and Famine up at all times. Cast Edge Of Extinction when Margonites are close to death.

Variants

 * Replace Apply Poison with Lightbringer's Gaze (depending on Lightbringer Rank) for different ways to deal with stragglers.
 * Some people like to carry Succor in place of Balthazar's Spirit.
 * Replace Serpent's Quickness with Lightbringer's Gaze. Cast Quickening Zephyr only while under the effects of Quickening Zephyr. The Margonite Anur Tuk will cast the initial one for you.

Build Concept
While there are a lot of differences that affect tactics, this team works in a very similar way to Build: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.

= R/Me Underwould SpeedTrap 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

 * 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.
 * Replacing Whirling Defense with Dryder's Defenses helps a lot when going against Terrorweb Dryders and Coldfire Nights. You can also echo it if you want to make a big pull.

Templates
= R/Me Solo Echo Energy Trapper =

Use traps to damage enemies. Can be used to add damage to characters attacking monks.

Attributes and Skills

 * you can replace the resurrection signet with Whirling Defense if your not too sure with luring.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * as long as you have armour of 70 you will be ok. (i like to use drakescale).
 * 1 major Rune of Wilderness survival
 * 4 Runes of Attunement ( the more enrgy the better)


 * Weapons
 * Any staff with 15 or 20 energy bonus

Usage
This build can be used for either SOLO Rangers in the underword or Elona Reach and for the more experienced trappers that want more of a challenge.

Counters
General Interrupters.

The main flaw of the build is lack of self healing. 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
See notes

Overview
This build utilizes the synergy between Barrage, Favorable Winds, and Winnowing to inflict high damage on multiple foes, with a wall of pets and minions to defend the party. This build requires only loose coordination between players, and a large spectrum of variants are viable. Barrage/pet builds are resilient to dropped players, as only two roles, the monk and the minion master, can be said to be essential.

The most common barrage/pet team consists of:
 * 5 Barrage rangers
 * 1 Minion Master
 * 1 Orders Necromancer
 * 1 healing Monk

Membership
This is one of many possible variations. The builds noted below are suitable for pick up groups, but it is by no means definitive. A more complex alternative can be found here.

Barrage Rangers
Variations: The purpose of the pets is to tank for the group (at least until the minion master raises a sizable army) and to provide an endless source of corpses for the minion factory. A dead pet with an exploited corpse serves no purpose, so it is important for the rangers to raise their pets at every opportunity.
 * At least one ranger must carry Favorable Winds (FW). A FW Barrager should replace Troll Unguent with Favorable Winds, and move all points from Wilderness Survival into Expertise.
 * At least one ranger must carry Winnowing (WW/Winn). A Winnowing Barrager should replace Troll Unguent with Winnowing and can lessen ranks in Beast Mastery for higher ranks in Wilderness Survival if they desire a longer lasting spirit with more health.
 * Winter can be used against Terrorweb Dryders and Mark of Rodgort, efficiently preventing it from triggering.
 * Consider using Paragon as a secondary profession. Paragons suffer no ill effects when struck by a foe using Fingers of Chaos, and can carry Signet of Return, a repeatable resurrection skill.
 * Consider using Ritualist as a secondary profession. Splinter Weapon can increase damage significantly without sacrificing orders damage, and Flesh of My Flesh is an effective combat resurrection.

Note: Skill bar blackout time from pet death is reduced by higher ranks in Beast Mastery.

For additional information, see Build:R/any General Barrager.

Minion Master
The purpose of the minion master is to raise a large undead army and keep the attention of the foes. Unlike many other minion builds, the minions here are not intended for pure damage, but rather to body-block the Grasps of Insanity from reaching the ranger line.

Note that this build is not set in stone, and there are nearly as many variants as there are Minion Masters. Keeping this in mind, some minor variants include swapping the skills Rotting Flesh for Dark Bond for a more durable build, swapping Animate Flesh Golem for Jagged Bones for "free" minions, and changing any of the animate skills.

For additional information please see the general minion mastery guide.

Orders Necromancer
The Orders Necromancer doesn't deal direct damage, but drastically increases the effectiveness of the barrage team due to the guaranteed damage of the Order skills. This character should stay well clear of combat; their low health and reliance on enchantments makes them vulnerable targets.

''Note: Well of Blood should only be used in the rare cases where the minion master disconnects. This maybe so rare that you may want to switch out Well of Blood for another skill/spell.''

''Be careful of enchantments. Casting these to try to 'help' the monk out in a pinch can harm a recipent who is down in HP if he is close enough to a Banished Rider with Shatter Enchantment.''

''For additional information please see N/Mo Tombs OoV."

Healing Monk
Any pure healing Monk. Use of enchantments is generally discouraged, due largely to the prevalence of Fingers of Chaos and Shatter Enchantment.

Critical Barrager
In this variant, any number of Rangers can be replaced by Assassin/Rangers, as they can deal greater damage using Sharpen Daggers to cause bleeding and the increased critical hits.

For additional information, See Build:A/R Critical Barrager.

Six Barragers Variant
In this variant, the Orders Necromancer is replaced with a sixth Barrager. All Barragers either use elemental bowstrings, or one Ranger brings Greater Conflagration instead of Barrage. The foes in the Tomb Ruins, being mostly of the Warrior and Mesmer classes, have no additional defenses against elemental damage.

Analysis: An Orders Necromancer with maximum Blood Magic gives a guaranteed damage bonus of 17 (or 19 if aided by Awaken the Blood) per arrow that hits. In the worst case, with each of the five barragers hitting just one target each, this translates to an additional damage output of 85 (or 95) for the team. A sixth Barrager with maximum Marksmanship will do around 40 damage per arrow with an elemental string; he will thus have to hit at least three targets every time to outperform the Orders Necromancer's worst case damage output. In even a slightly better case, where each barrager hits three targets each, the damage output of the Orders Necromancer is 255 (or 285), which is more than the sixth barrager can achieve even if all his six arrows connect. Without an orders necromancer, the team is free to use elemental bowstrings, which increases the damage output of every arrow by around 5-10 points.

It should be noted that Order of the Vampire offsets some of the healing pressure from the Monk, and the Orders Necromancer doubles as a battery for the Monk.

Fevered Dreams Variant
In this variant, either a Ranger or the Monk brings Fevered Dreams and coordinates with the conditioners in the team to spread conditions around using very effective combinations. One possible combination is Fevered Dreams + Enfeeble + Virulence: all foes in the area become weakened, poisoned and diseased. Another possible combination is a ranger/mesmer using Fevered Dreams on a target, and then adding conditions with Pin Down, Apply Poison and Throw Dirt.

Analysis: While potent, this build takes some coordination between the players, and so is most likely not suitable for loosely organized PUGs.

Minionless Variant
In this variant, the minion master is replaced with a different Death Necromancer build. The plethora of corpses are used for Wells of Suffering and Putrid Explosions instead of the minion factory. This variant depends more heavily on the pets forming a sturdy front line, so it is common to have all Barragers have 8 or 9 in Beast Mastery and bring skills to aid the pets such as Otyugh's Cry, Call of Protection and Symbiosis. The Monk in this variant also tries to keep the pets alive for as long as possible.

Analysis: This variant requires very careful aggro management, and is therefore most likely unusable by PUGs.

Monkless Variant
This variant replaces the healing Monk with a sixth damage dealing character. All healing in the build is done by Predatory Season and the Orders Necromancer who brings Heal Other and Heal Party for emergency healing. Predatory Season makes minions more durable. This variant is essentially a 100% damage-dealing build.

Analysis: This variant is risky, but when correctly executed, can be among the speediest Barrage/Pet variants. Clearing times of 40 minutes or lower are not unheard of.

Paragon Variant
In this variant, a paragon replaces the orders necromancer. Anthem of Flame when combined "They're on Fire!" can both increase damage output and reduce incomming damage. "Incoming!" can further reduce spike damage common at the begining of an engagement, and Song of Restoration can provide some additional healing. "Go for the Eyes!" and "Find Their Weakness!" are especially effective with Critical Barragers.

Historical notes
Historically, the six barrager variant was one of the earliest barrage/pet team compositions. Before Order of the Vampire was modified to make it ineffective together with Order of Pain, the Orders Necromancer was always the clear winner in terms of raw damage output, so the six barrager variant fell into disuse. Its popularity has resurged after a March 2nd 2006 update changed Order of the Vampire, because a well managed six barrager team can match or outperform an Orders Necromancer.

= Leveling a Dire Pet =

It's well known that one can level his/her pet to Dire either around Ice Tooth Cave or Gates of Kryta. To do so, builds are not hard to come by. A bit armor or evasion, and healing via Predatory Bond is enough. The main thing here is to get builds together that are capable tanking foes with at least lvl18 somewhere around Tyria or Cantha.

Discuss each build on this page, as this is a 'Creative Corner'. Please also sign your comments.

Equipment

 * A staff with maximum energy and health bonuses. Wenslauss' Faith or Flint's Fleshcleaver are ideal.  The use of a staff ensures that you will do minimal damage when you attack.
 * Maximum Gladiator Armor.

Notes/Ideas

 * The leveling of your pet is best done by killing the minotaurs around the Ice Tooth Cave, as they are level 10 and only do physical damage. Avoid all other monsters in the area.
 * As soon as you enter the explorable area, use Symbiotic Bond, Call of Protection, Call of Haste, and Predatory Bond. When you have a group of minotaurs surrounding you, use Enraged Lunge and Healing Signet repeatedly.
 * Constantly attack the minotaur closest to your pet with your staff. While only doing a minimum amount of damage, it will direct your pet and build up adrenaline.
 * When you have adequate adrenaline,stop using other skills and use Bonetti's Defense. Your energy will rapidly increase to its maximum (with the equipment listed, that maximum should be 43).  When it reaches its maximum, continue using Enraged Lunge and Healing Signet.  Repeat as necessary.
 * --Token Cleric 21:38, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

Equipment

 * any hammer

Notes/Ideas
This should work to tank at least some minos HJT (talk) 01:19, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

R/any
Variation of the farming build designed to solo the Desert Griffons at The Scar near the east exit of Destiny's Gorge (Desert Griffon Farmer build). Depends on constant defensive stances to tank while the pet kills the enemies and evolves to Dire.

Equipment

 * Explorer's to increase max health.
 * Your damage doesn't matter, any staff will do, +10 energy and health upgrades are a good idea.

Usage

 * Step out of Destiny's Gorge, walk north until you reach the Resurrection Shrine nearby, then go east to the open area. Try to avoid Devourers and Scarabs, you can kill them slowly but it's a waste of time.
 * Aggro a group of griffons, remember to always step ahead so they attack you and ignore your pet. If your pet gets attacked, zone out immediately, come back and start again, it's not far so you won't lose much time (that's why Comfort Animal is not needed).
 * Stances sequence is the following: Whirling Defense - Escape - Lightning Reflexes - Escape - start again. Wait one or two seconds between each one to keep timing holes from merging. If by mistake you find yourself stanceless, use Throw Dirt to gain some time.
 * The pet will deal most damage troughout Predator's Pounce and Disrupting Lunge, chosen for their damage bonus, low cost and low recharge. Healing and disrupting are leftovers.
 * Use Troll Unguent when damaged. Don't let you health drop below 50%, or their Final Thrust can get you in trouble.

Counters
Making a mistake with the stances sequence or letting your health drop below 50%, will mean a quick death if you don't react fast.

Notes/Ideas
I used a previous version (similar to the original farming build) of this build to evolve mi Dire Lizard after reaching lvl 15 traditionaly, by killing Minotaurs outside Ice Tooth Cave. Then it was more like solo farming Griffons with the pet by your side, it got attacked a few times but it still came out Dire at lvl 20. I haven't tried this version, but theorically could be use to evolve the pet even from low levels (including newly charmeds). Good luck, Ereanor

Previous Article
see Build:R/any Tank Master.

Equipment

 * No Weapon is required, but a Melee weapon will help keep aggro off of your pet. When starting combat hit the first enemy coming at your with your melee weapon then activate Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit. This will not eliminate aggro on your pet but it will significantly reduce it, especially on Mountain Trolls.
 * A +12 off-hand with optional enhancements to either Smiting Prayers (to increase damage) or Protection Prayers (to make sure you stay alive). Shen's Censure works nicely for this build. The extra energy this provides makes staying alive easier.
 * Starter Armor...the lower the armor the better. As a Ranger's Default Armor is AR 10 it's the best. I don't know how well the basic armor sold at the the Shing Jea Monestary will work. Wear only the Vest for the extra energy and the leggings for extra energy recovery.
 * Superior Rune of Beast Mastery - Apply to one of the two peices of armor you are wearing. This is soley to increase the amount of energy you get with Ferocious Strike.

Notes and Ideas

 * This can be used to tank any of the well known high level Warrior Spawns, such as the Mountain Trolls (avoid Avicara in the area) outside of Droks or the Minotaurs in Elona Reach.
 * When you first enter the instance (whichever one you choose) start by casting Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit. Wait for your energy to regen to at least 30, though I recommend waiting until your energy is fully charged though. Cast Retribution. After casting this you will have no energy regen except what is provided by Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit.
 * Before entering battle make sure you have 20 energy to cast both Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit on yourself, you will die quickly if you do not.
 * When entering combat immediately cast Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit and keep these two spells up all the time while you are in combat otherwise you will die in a short period of time.
 * Ferocious Strike is used when low on energy (usually when you are facing low numbers of enemies) or when you want to speed things up.
 * This build works because as the enemies hit you you deal damage back to them via Retribution. It's only a small amount (14 or 15 damage) but it adds up over time and due to Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit you can tank as many enemies as you can aggro. The reason this build is faster than others is because you are doing the damage to all enemies that are attacking instead of relying on your pet to kill each one, one at a time. I have leveled up 3 pets to dire using this method, it works as long as you don't let your pet take too much damage or die too many times (I've had my pet die up to 8 times from 5-15 and still got dire).
 * This build can be used to level a pet from when you charm them all the way up to level 20...slow down in leveling is mitigated by the fact that you are facing high level enemies
 * The opposite build (Mo/R) with the same skills is even more effective due to more Retribution damage and better energy management.
 * --Thor79[[Image:Ranger-icon-small.png]] 13:49, 8 September 2006 (CDT)


 * If your pet dies just keep killing with Retribution but stop attacking your pet will still level up and has still done most of the registered damage so will still turn dire, do not use Comfort Animal to rez else your pet will take more damage. --Heurist 14:44, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

Equipment
Any Staff that provides maximum energy and life. A maximized Insightful Staff of Fortitude does well. It is preferable to use a staff that does not have a monk-based prerequisite for damage so that damage actually dealt by the monk is minimized. Wenslauss' Faith is a good choice.

Strategy

 * 1) The leveling of your pet is best done by killing the minotaurs around the Ice Tooth Cave, as they are level 10 and only do physical damage. Avoid all other monsters in the area.
 * 2) As soon as you enter the explorable area, use Essense Bond, Balthazar's Spirit, Symbiotic Bond, Call of Protection, and Predatory Bond. When you have a group of minotaurs surrounding you, use Enraged Lunge and Orison of Healing repeatedly.  Do not get a group of more than 5 minotaurs at a time.
 * 3) Do not attack the minotaurs.  Run to the front and allow them to attack you.  Repeated use of Orison of Healing should be enough to keep you alive.

Equipment
please add

Notes/Ideas
hm, this may work, but probably not :\ pretty sure still too much damage, but... maybe someone else has an idea? HJT 08:36, 23 August 2006 (CDT)

hmhm, i started mino leveling as R/Me only tanking 2 or 3 at a time, with only predatory bond and physical resistance... so... that may work too, just not superfast :\ HJT 04:27, 30 August 2006 (CDT)

Physical Resistance? You sure? Greater Conflagration will make all physical damage elemental so Physical Resistance is counter productive, replace with Elemental Resistance and this may work. --Heurist 00:20, 21 September 2006 (CDT)

Well, what happens when GC wears out? dying is not the best idea, so... first have GC/MoF on, then PR... HJT (talk) 01:54, 22 September 2006 (CDT)


 * When GC dies 110 seconds later? Put up another one. But yes you are right, have some contingency plan. --Heurist 03:53, 22 September 2006 (CDT)

- Why not replace Physical Resistance with Winter and Mantra of Flame with Mantra of Frost? I know you're thinking it doesn't work that way but it does. A friend and I have tested it.

Equipment

 * Any weapon with an Of Enchanting upgrade. Galigord's Stone Staff works well.
 * Geomancer's Armor

Notes/Ideas
Problably is more reliable for getting a dire pet than the old version, as now only your pet deals damage. It is possible to just keep using all the enchantments (except Aura of Restoration), Ward Against Melee and Ferocious Strike when they recharge without running out of engergy. --Curse You 20:34, 1 December 2006 (CST)

Equipment
Zealous Shortbow of Warding. Damage is not important, mods should be perfect.

Usage

 * Use Call of Protection
 * Use Critical Eye and Way of Perfection.
 * Run into the enemies.
 * Attack with the bow to make your pet attack.
 * Use Tiger's Fury/Bestial Fury followed by Enraged Lunge for damage.
 * Reapply Critical Eye as needed for energy.

Notes/Ideas
This works well for killing Mergoyle Wavebreakers outside Gates of Kryta (Location). Best with a level 20 that has max armor (70).

You may wish to remove Way of Perfection and put the points from Shadow arts into Critical Strikes. However, it helps to have some healing for the damage you take.

The marksmanship is intentionally lower than any requirement for a max damage bow. At first you deal slightly more than your pet with normal attacks, but as it levels, it should deal much more than you.


 * Moved the discussion to the discussion page -Thor79 13:34, 13 September 2006 (CDT)

Equipment

 * A Zealous Sword or Axe of Defense and a shield.

Usage

 * Gather some Minotaurs by walking backwards with Dark Escape on.
 * Make sure they are all bunched up then use Deadly Paradox, Palm Strike and Blinding Powder to blind them all.
 * Attack with your weapon to make your pet attack, and use pet attacks to take down your target. Your pet will deal more damage, and the energy for each hit will help.
 * Re-use Blinding Powder after about 14 seconds, making sure that Deadly Paradox is up when you use it.
 * If you start taking too much damage, use Dark Escape to reduce the damage and Shadow Refuge to regain health.

Notes/Ideas
Made changes to improve build. It needs to be tested on the minotaurs, unfortunately, I don't have the Desert on my assassin. --Curse You 01:54, 14 December 2006 (CST)
 * With Deadly Paradox, you can keep the minotaurs blinded perpetually.
 * Energy can be a problem if you use the skills more than you need to.

Equipment

 * A spear of Shelter with an "I have the power!" Inscription
 * A motivation shield of Fortitude with a "Luck of the Draw" Inscription

Usage

 * Use "They're on Fire!", Blazing Finale, Mending Refrain and Anthem of Flame
 * Aggro
 * Use Fericous Strike and keep using it whenever it recharges
 * Maintain "They're on Fire!", Blazing Finale and Anthem of Flame
 * Use Signet of Synergy on your pet if health drops too low

Notes/Ideas

 * Initial testing shows that this build can keep up energy while maintaining the shouts. Needs testing on a group of foes. --Curse You 19:19, 3 March 2007 (CST)

Equipment

 * An Insightful Staff with an enchanting mod, Galigord's Stone Staff should do.
 * Any armor, Radiant is best

Usage

 * Use Armor of Sanctity, Veil of Thorns and Call of Protection
 * Aggro
 * Use Fericous Strike and keep using it whenever it recharges
 * Maintain Armor of Sanctity and Veil of Thorns
 * Use Mystic Regeneration if health drops too low

Notes/Ideas

 * Might not even need Mystic Regeneration --Curse You 19:19, 3 March 2007 (CST)

= W/Any Rage of the Mokele =

This Warrior build allows a player to instantly charge adrenal skills, allowing for an immediate opening attack chain. The use of a hammer with a solid attack chain and an IAS provides lethal damage. It can also be used to spike low armored targets.

Equipment

 * Armor: 1 Radiant Insignia (on chest piece), 1 Stonefist Insignia (any), all other pieces with Survivor's Insignia. 1 Rune of Attunement, 1 Rune of Clarity.
 * Weapons: Furious, elemental (any) and Vampiric Hammers of Fortitude, all with damage +15% (while health is above 50%) mods.

Usage
Approach your target using Enraging Charge. Your initial attack should be Mokele Smash. When Mokele Smash successfully hits, Enraging Charge will end, but the adrenaline gain will fully charge the cost of Devastating Hammer. Immediately use Tiger Stance and quickly follow up with Devastating Hammer, Crushing Blow, and Fierce Blow. Rinse and repeat.

Counters

 * Blind
 * Anti-melee spells
 * Anti-knockdown
 * Block, Evade
 * Sympathetic Visage, Ancestor's Visage, Soothing Images severely hinder the effectiveness of this build.

Variants

 * You may replace Tiger Stance with Frenzy or Flail upon self preference.

The Optional Slot gives a good deal of utility:
 * Wild Blow to rid stances.
 * Bull's Strike works well in conjunction with Enraging Charge to catch kiters.
 * Distracting Blow can be used for a key interrupt.

In addition, you may change your secondary to any type you believe can complement your play style in the optional slot. Here are a few useful choices:
 * Necromancer - Plague Touch
 * Monk - Mending Touch
 * Dervish - Rending Touch
 * Assassin - Death's Charge. Good for catching the target off guard. Trigger Enraging Charge, shadow step with Death's Charge, then proceed with Mokele Smash and the rest of the combo. It also gives out some healing so is useful to get out of an AoE.

Equipment

 * Use full Gladiator's Armor with Stoneskin Gauntlets.
 * If using a PvP character, use a Vampiric or Zealous PvP Hammer of Fortitude and an Ebon PvP Hammer of Fortitude. If using a PvE character, use all three of the above with a wand/shield combo.

Usage

 * Upon entering battle, begin building adrenaline. When you and any other warriors on your team have adrenaline, organize a spike on a suitable target.
 * Try to spike down low health targets.
 * Don't stay on a target if he gets enchanted by skills like Protective Spirit.
 * Spam Devastating Hammer on targets that are blocking for knockdowns and extra damage.
 * Use Frenzy to build adrenaline faster and to speed up your spikes.
 * Use Rush to catch kiting targets and to cancel Frenzy if you come under focused fire.
 * Use Healing Signet to keep your health up and to ease pressure off of your monks. Don't use it when under focused fire.
 * Use your Ebon weapon to bypass enemy warriors' resistance to physical damage.
 * Of course, use Resurrection Signet to resurrect dead party members.

Counters
All the usual warrior counters apply, such as snares, blind, weakness, Empathy, Faintheartedness, etc.

Variants

 * You can replace Bull's Strike with Hammer Bash or, to utilize the Weakness condition from Devastating Blow, Heavy Blow.
 * NOTE: If you are doing this, it is advisable to replace Rush with Sprint, since both Hammer Bash and Heavy Blow cause you to lose all adrenaline.
 * If you don't have the Factions campaign, Mighty Blow can replace Fierce Blow with only a few points of damage loss.
 * Rush can be replaced with Enraging Charge for quicker adrenaline gain.
 * Healing Signet can be replaced with another utility skill such as "To the Limit!", Plague Touch, Distracting Blow, or Bull's Strike.
 * You can replace a skill with Way of the Fox to ensure your spike hitting.
 * You can replace Fierce Blow with Heavy Blow for an additional knockdown.
 * You can replace Irresistable Blow with Death's Charge to get to your target quicker, but it has a long recharge time.
 * With a Dervish secondary, you can replace Rush with Pious Haste for a quick recharging cancel stance. As well, W/D allows you to make use of Rending Touch.

= Rt/Any Spirit Nuker =

The purpose of this build is create spirits on the battlefield, and subsequently destroy them with Rupture Soul for massive damage and blindness. With this skill the ritualist acts like a trapper, by strategically placing spirits in combat and blowing them up for 146 lightning damage to nearby enemies. This is especially useful in some missions, such as The Eternal Grove, where enemies can be "bottle-necked" in certain locations.

This build has a significant advantage over a ranger trapper because, unlike traps, binding rituals are not easily interruptible. Also, once the first spirit is destroyed by Rupture Soul, the ritualist has 13 seconds of blinded enemies to cast and destroy the next spirit. If done properly, the last thing that any enemy in the area should "see" is the first spirit exploding.

Attributes and Skills
NOTE: The important attribute here is Spawning Power. The remainder of this point distribution is solely for improving the effectiveness and duration of the binding rituals shown below. As long as Spawning is maximized, however, the other attributes can be adjusted as necessary to fit your needs and skill set.

Usage

 * Always maintain Boon of Creation, Explosive Growth, and Ritual Lord.
 * During normal combat, wait until the fight is joined (that is, until the enemies have begun attacking other targets in the party). Run into a group of enemies and cast a binding ritual, immediately followed by Rupture Soul.  The combined effect of Explosive Growth and Rupture Soul will deal 214 lightning damage to all nearby enemies.  Also, the blinding effect of Rupture Soul provides protection to your warriors, and will often provide the cover necessary to cast and destroy a second or third spirit.
 * If a bottleneck location is available, cast multiple Binding Rituals at a bottleneck location. Work with your party to pull the enemies through the bottleneck.  Repeatedly cast Rupture Soul until all of the spirits are destroyed.  Repeat as necessary.
 * Cast and destroy Restoration if an ally dies.

When playing this build, other binding rituals may be used (such as Destruction instead of Pain). However, consider the following when choosing them:
 * Every second counts. Unlike the Elementalist, who can cast high damage spells from afar, the Ritualist must run into the middle of combat to plant his spells.  Because of this, binding rituals with a casting time of 3 seconds are recommended over those with a casting time of 5 seconds.  The exception to this is Restoration, which doubles as a resurrection and a damage dealing (or healing; see below) spell.
 * Some spirits, such as Shelter and Union, take damage when certain events happen in play. This can lower the duration of the binding ritual dramatically, and cause the spirit to die before you can destroy it.

Equipment

 * Depending on your style, either Halcyon's Armor for the added energy boost or Mystic's Armor for added protection in the middle of combat. For the healing variation below (which does not require you to go into the combat zone), Halcyon's Armor is preferred.
 * A spawning collector's staff (such as the one traded by Sakai in Senji's Corner) with an Insightful Staff Head and a Staff Wrapping of Fortitude for added energy and health.
 * A Minor Rune of Communing and Restoration, a Superior Rune of Spawning, and the strongest Rune of Vigor you can find.

Variants
Spirit Healer: The premise of this variation is the same as the Spirit Nuker; spirits are made and subsequently destroyed. The difference in this variation is that they are destroyed for the purpose of healing rather than damage dealing. To achieve this, only 2 skills need to be changed, with no changes to attributes:

Strategy:
 * Always maintain Boon of Creation, Spirit's Gift and Ritual Lord.
 * When combat begins, wait until the fight is joined (that is, until the enemies have begun attacking other targets in the party), the begin casting binding rituals as close to the front line warriors as possible. This will heal your nearby allies for 53 damage each.  When they are destroyed with Feast of Souls, they will provide an additional 103 points of healing for each spirit destroyed.  Note that, when Feast of Souls is used, the party members do not have to be standing nearby to gain the healing effect.
 * If you spread your binding rituals out, you can also pick them off one at a time using Feast of Souls. This can be useful in providing a steady stream of 103 HP healing to the entire party every 10 seconds.
 * Remember that this build is used for MASS healing, and not spot healing. Your healing heals everybody in the party by hundreds of hit points at a time; it is wasted on players who are already at or near full life.  For this reason, this build is optimized when there is at least one monk in the party to take care of the "stragglers."

Other Variations

 * The elite skill used in this build, Ritual Lord, can only be found very late in the game. If you wish to try this build before getting Ritual Lord, you can replace Ritual Lord with Doom (this was the original variation).  While not as effective, it still enhances the damage dealing characteristics of the build, and easy to create early in the game.
 * The elite skill used in this build, Ritual Lord, can also be replaced with Preservation.
 * The skill Empowerment can be replaced by a skill that will work with these builds, unless you are in Random Arena or GvG with flagrunners.

Templates
Spirit Nuker

Spirit Healer

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ = BREAK = +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

= ELITE SKILLZ! =

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[[Image:Warrior-icon.png]] Warrior
Strength

Axe Mastery

Hammer Mastery

Swordsmanship

Tactics

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[[Image:Ranger-icon.png]] Ranger
Expertise

Beast Mastery

Marksmanship

Wilderness Survival

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[[Image:Monk-icon.png]] Monk
Divine Favor

Healing Prayers

Protection Prayers

Smiting Prayers

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[[Image:Necromancer-icon.png]] Necromancer
Soul Reaping

Blood Magic

Curses

Death Magic

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[[Image:Mesmer-icon.png]] Mesmer
Fast Casting

Domination Magic

Illusion Magic

Inspiration Magic

No Attribute


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[[Image:Elementalist-icon.png]] Elementalist
Energy Storage

Fire Magic

Air Magic

Water Magic

Earth Magic

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[[Image:Assassin-icon.png]] Assassin
Critical Strikes

Dagger Mastery

Deadly Arts

Shadow Arts

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[[Image:Ritualist-icon.png]] Ritualist
Spawning Power

Channeling Magic

Communing

Restoration Magic

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[[Image:Paragon-icon.png]] Paragon
Leadership

Command

Motivation

Spear Mastery

No Attribute


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[[Image:Dervish-icon.png]] Dervish
Mysticism

Earth Prayers

Scythe Mastery

Wind Prayers


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No Profession
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(stolen from Elite Skills lists)

= E/A Gloom Farmer = This build uses high damage PBAoE spells, with the added damage bonus from the Lightbringer title, to farm caster-only groups in Ravenheart Gloom for Torment Gemstones.

Attributes and Skills

 * With a Lightbringer rank of 4 or below, consider using one of the Variants. See the Discussion for additional ideas.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Radiant Armor with Attunement Runes where possible (Or equivalent). Ensure that you have at least 90 maximum Energy.


 * Weapons
 * Any single handed weapon with +5 energy and +20% enchantment duration extension. Rajazan's Fervor or the Totem Axe are ideal.
 * A focus with a "Live for Today" inscription (+15 energy, -1 energy degeneration). Chung's Focus is ideal.

Usage

 * Enter Ravenheart Gloom from the Gate of Anguish. Receive the bounty from the Whispers Informant.
 * Run past the first group of foes with Shadow Form and Flame Djinn's Haste up.
 * Now, near your position there are two mobs made entirely of spellcasters:
 * One to the left, composed of a mixed group of spellcasters.
 * One to the right, composed of six Curse of Darknesses.
 * Wait for combat between the Shadow Army and the Order of Whispers ends. Get closer to the mixed group.
 * Cast Shadow Form and get into the middle of the enemy group with Death's Charge.
 * Now attack with all of your AoE spells from left to right.
 * Should any foes attempt to escape, you may either:
 * A - Run away with Flame Djinn's Haste.
 * B - Cast a second Flame Burst.


 * Once the mixed group has been cleared, repeat the above tactics for the group of six Curse of Darknesses.

Counters

 * Heart Tormentor
 * Earth Tormentor

Other Farmable areas
The quest Battle of Turai's Procession (see the discussion of this article for details)

Variants
Under Lightbringer Rank 4, see the discussion of this article.

Screenshots
Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2

Video 2

=INVINCIBLE MONK ATRICLE=

Description
An Invincible Monk, often shortened to "invincimonk," "solo monk," or "55 monk" is a family of monk builds designed primarily for farming, although it can be useful in parties under some circumstances. The term is much more general now than it was before Factions came out, much less with the arrival of Nightfall.

The basic underlying principles of the "Invincible Monk" Builds, are all very similar. By use of the Skill Protective Spirit, and by equipping five Superior Runes and a unique Grim Cesta, a Monk will only take 5.5 damage (Though Guild Wars seems to round the exact amount). Now obtaining "Invincibility" can be done in a multitude of ways, the most popular being regeneration and or by use of the skill Shield of Absorption. The different types of "Invincible" Monks will be described more in-depth later on in this guide.

All these builds are difficult to implement at first. Remember that practice makes perfect; if you need more assistance, there are often videos that can be found online to help you figure out timing and priorities. It may be worth noting that once you figure out how to use a build correctly it is very easy to use.

Types of Invincimonk
The main goal of every invincimonk is essentially the same: do not die. Some invincimonks add on to this with such goals as "kill all who attack me" or "kill all in this radius", but in the end, every invincimonk must stay alive. There are currently three known ways to do this:

Health Regeneration
This is the standard, or "classic", invincimonk. It takes advantage of having extraordinary health regeneration (sometimes +12 or more). It is the oldest invincimonk (though perhaps not the most common anymore), and the one of which there is the most known information.

To see how this works, consider two monks:
 * A regular monk (no runes) under Protective Spirit, with +5 health regeneration.
 * An invincimonk (with five Superior runes and with the Cities of Ascalon -50HP Grim Cesta) under Protective Spirit, with +5 health regeneration.

The first monk will have 480 HP and attacks against him will do at most 48 damage (10% of his maximum health). He regenerates health at a rate of 10 HP per second (each pip is 2 HP per second), so it takes him a little less than 5 seconds to regenerate the damage from an attack reaching the 10% maximum health.

The invincimonk will have 55 HP, so each single attack against him will do only 5 HP of damage (the game apparently rounds down decimal values of .50 and less [don't quote us on this, though], so 55/10 = 5) if the damage normally would exceed the 5 HP. He still regenerates health at a rate of 10 HP per second, hence each single damage of 5 HP takes just one half of a second to regenerate. As a result, the invincimonk can tank quite a number of creatures doing physical, elemental or magical damage without them overwhelming his health regeneration.

Note: The only situation where this might happen, is when there are twelve damage sources, all doing 5 damage (near-)simultaneously. The health regeneration of Mending and Healing Breeze can't keep up with that much damage in a very short period of time, thus resulting in the death of the invincimonk.

When it comes to skills:
 * Mending is popular for situations where the skill bar is not taxed by the necessity of having many specialized skills.
 * Watchful Spirit is another skill sometimes used for this purpose. It provides +2 regeneration without any requirement for attribute points. However, it cannot provide more than +2 regeneration, and thus is a less popular choice.
 * Healing Breeze is often essential for additional regeneration while under attack by many enemies. When farming areas with high monster density, attacks (even with reduced damage) can come fast and furious, and can overwhelm Mending's regeneration. Supplementing this with Healing Breeze in those cases is important. Additionally, some popular farming areas contain enemies that cause Bleeding, which can entirely negate (or even overwhelm) Mending's regeneration.
 * Mystic Regeneration can provide more regeneration for a much longer time with an almost instant casting time, but requires a Dervish secondary and some points in Earth Prayers.

Restful Breeze is generally not used, as the invincimonk must constantly be using skills.

When running Mending and Healing Breeze, the decision to make is how many attribute points to put into Healing Prayers. For Mending, 8 Healing Prayers is +3 regeneration, while 13 Healing Prayers is +4 regeneration. For Healing Breeze, 9 Healing Prayers is +7 regeneration, while 12 is +8, and 14 is +9. Generally, health regeneration of at least +8 is desired. Depending on the number and capability of the enemies of the invincimonk, regeneration of +10 (to tank as many enemies as possible) to +13 (to tank as many enemies as possible and negate minor to moderate health degeneration) may be desired and achieved (and +16 desired but generally not achieved from these skills). Also, at least +2 regeneration should be from a source that cannot be interrupted in the middle of battle, leaving the invincimonk partially naked. (He should, after all, still have Protective Spirit to cover him.) Mending and Watchful Spirit are the usual choices for this.

Mystic Regeneration can provide a large amount of health regeneration at very little cost. Firstly, its longer duration can make it much more useful than Healing Breeze. Secondly, because it provides regeneration based on the number of enchantments on the caster, an invincimonk can easily gain health regeneration of +14 from this skill alone with Earth Prayers at 3 and seven enchantments on his skill bar (four of which are maintained enchantments and the eighth being reserved for Blessed Signet). However, this forces the monk's secondary profession to be the Dervish, making many other skills unusable.

Combined with the skills mentioned above, Earth Prayers boosted to 8 and Healing Prayers at 14, Mystic Regeneration can make health regeneration of +46 conceivable (+21 from Mystic Regeneration, +9 from Healing Breeze, +4 from Mending, +10 from Restful Breeze, and +2 from Watchful Spirit). Note that the attribute point allocation will not allow for the invincimonk to do much other than tank many enemies while withstanding an enormous amount of health degeneration. Also note that it is uncommon for PvE enemies to inflict a combined amount of health degeneration greater than -8, nor for PvP enemies to inflict a combined amount of health degeneration greater than approximately -22. Finally, this strategy means that five of the eight skill slots are predetermined, not allowing much room for variation. The above strategy providing 14 health regeneration is recommended instead.

Another additional source of health 'regen' is the Divine Favor healing bonus which occurs when casting a spell. Frequently if the invincimonk's health is starting to slip from overwhelming attacks, simply casting Protective Spirit will give a health boost of about 25-35 points, healing the monk back (or at least close) to his maximum health of 55 HP.

Another thing to note is that 19 is the optimal operating health for this type of invincimonk. This is because the character will only take 1 damage per attack and thus must take 15 (near-)simultaneous attacks to die. 15 hp is very difficult to attain, however. An easier choice is to run with 13 hp by dying once and equipping any -20 hp offhand (such as the one obtained from the Poor Tenant quest in pre-searing Ascalon). 15 health is obtainable by having 24% DP and a -20 health focus equipped.

Instant Healing
These invincimonks center their skills on immediately healing any and all damage they take. Currently, there are no builds known to utilize this theory of invincimonking.

The first (and so far only) skill capable of doing this is Spirit Bond. However, it was nerfed in the update of October 25, 2006 and is now all but incapable of fulfilling its former role. The build focused around the use of this skill can be found here, although it has fallen into disuse.

The Spirit Bond monk was often called a "600 monk" due to an early misconception that Spirit Bond would only activate if the damage taken after Protective Spirit were 60 or greater, thus requiring a minimum of 600 hp; later tests proved this incorrect (characters below level fifteen would use the build with near-perfect results), but the name stuck. This granted the 600 monk another unique quality; to date, it is the only known invincimonk that could operate with any amount of health.

The Instant Healing invincimonk was the ultimate in invincible monks; with the ability to keep its maximum health very high combined with its near-complete damage reduction, it could ignore many of the counters to invincimonks. While the GuildWiki community (and indeed, the Guild Wars community in general) is looking for a replacement to this type of ultimate take, the odds of ArenaNet allowing such an overpowered build to slip into the game again are extremely slim.

Complete Damage Reduction
Complete damage reduction (or prevention) monks attempt to stop all damage before it hits their health bars. These invincimonks are centered around using skills that reduce damage dealt to them to zero. This is currently by using seemingly weak Protection Prayers skills in conjunction with Protective Spirit to require damage to be reduced by low amounts.

With the release of Nightfall, the enchantment Shield of Absorption came into play. This skill is currently ideal for an invincimonk; 55 hp character with Protective Spirit will take zero damage from all damage sources (but see the Drawbacks section). Therefore, he/she only need worry about health degeneration, which can be countered by Mending and/or Watchful Spirit.

Several builds have already sprung up around this skill, utilizing a max of Enchanting weapon in addition to an extremely high Divine Favor attribute (values of 15 and higher are not uncommon) to fuel the skill Blessed Aura to make Shield of Absorption last as long as possible - generally around 10.5-11 seconds.

Shield of Absorption can also prevent damage if the character has more than 55 hp. By utilizing a combination of Protective Spirit, Shield of Absorption, and Spirit Bond, this monk maintains a high amount of health while still preventing most (but not all) damage.

Stoneflesh Aura, utilizing the Earth Magic line from the Elementalist, applied after Protective Spirit can be used to negate 21 damage and thus, you can have 210 health. This is an easy way to counter moderate Life stealing. Use a max of Enchanting weapon to extend Stoneflesh Aura long enough to cover its own recharge time. This fares better against life-stealing, as there is only one known skill that could be able to steal more than 200 HP, which is Meditation of the Reaper, which only Shiro uses.

The Build
Within these three broad categories of invincimonks there are many different variations on each build; not only do different players have different preferences, but different farming situations require different skill changes. Additionally, changes in the game have caused a move away from AoE smiting damage dealing because of enemies' tendencies to flee.

Every invincimonk must solve the following problems with his skills:

Damage Reduction

 * Protective Spirit is the usual choice here.
 * Protective Bond is seldom used any more, as the energy cost, even with very high Protection Prayers skills, is prohibitive and non-compensatable with other skills.

Additionally, some other skills that are sometimes employed actually serve as damage reduction. Bonetti's Defense, while primarily an energy management skill, additionally serves to slow down the rate at which damage is done. This is likewise for Shield of Judgment, which knocks many types of enemies down (preventing them from attacking and thus reducing their attack rate).

Reducing Health
The health reduction is accomplished as follows. A level 20 monk with no runes has 480 health. Adding five Superior runes, one for each monk attribute and one duplicate (the duplicate is not effective toward the attribute [runes do not stack] but the -75 hp is in effect), reduces the 480 HP by 375 HP (75 HP times five superior runes), leaving a total health of 105 HP. Additionally, the invincimonk uses the Cities of Ascalon quest reward Grim Cesta, which has a -50 HP modification on it to reduce his health to 55 HP.

Ascetic's Armor is recommended, as the nature of this build requires energy and the Armor rating of the armor is irrelevant; taking a hit outside of Protective Spirit is generally instant death.

Energy Management
This build requires a lot of energy, at least two and sometimes up to four or five maintained enchantments will be used. The build must also be able to cast Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze every ten to fifteen seconds, and cast damage-dealing Spells. As a result, base energy regeneration is not nearly enough.

There are two enchantments and one stance which provide energy on being attacked:
 * Balthazar's Spirit is the better of the two for this purpose, it provides one Energy on taking any kind of damage and also provides adrenaline (needed for Bonetti's Defense).
 * Essence Bond is the other, which provides 1 energy on taking physical or elemental damage only.


 * Bonetti's Defense is an excellent energy management skill which requires a Warrior secondary profession. This short-lasting stance provides 5 energy per melee attack blocked and also provides defense against arrows (75% chance of blocking for both) but does not gain energy from arrows. This skill is especially useful when fighting smaller groups of enemies, if the monk does not take enough damage from multiple sources to gain Energy from his maintained enchantments. Additionally, as noted earlier, Bonetti's reduces the total amount of damage dealt by reducing the number of hits from melee and arrows taken.

Damage Dealing
Smiting Prayers is the usual mode of damage dealing for the invincimonk.
 * . Keeping with this build's expectation that enemies will continue to hit it, Shield of Judgment is the most popular and powerful damage spell invincimonks commonly use. This elite skill causes 53 damage per hit (at 16 Smiting Prayers) and also causes knockdown.  Note that enemies immune to the knockdown effect considers this AoE damage, and may flee from it.
 * is not used as often in solo-farmbuilds, because of the AoE damage update. If the player times his usage of spells every three seconds then enemies won't detect AoE damage and will stay put.
 * is a low-cost spell that is weakened by the fact that enemies flee its effect; however, often before the enemies will actually flee, three of the five seconds worth of damage has been done.
 * was once a staple of the invincimonk build; this spell has fallen into disuse because of its high cost and reduced effectiveness.
 * is a good smiting spell alternative to Balthazar's Aura or Symbol of Wrath. Its low cost, quick casting speed, and decent recharge make it a deadly spell. Although it attacks only a single enemy, when timed right using Shield of Judgment, it does double damage.
 * is a good choice for doing slow but constant damage without using other skills while maintaining Healing Breeze and Protective Spirit, but it is a maintained enchantment (meaning you may not be able to bring another helpful maintained enchantment, such as Blessed Aura (see below). Note that unless Protective Spirit is not on you, it will do only one damage per attack.

Other secondary professions offer even more skills to deal damage. Examples of skills used include the following.


 * can be useful due to the abundance of energy an invincimonk has, the AoE damage, and the fast recharge.
 * gains power as the number of enemies attacking the enchanted character increases. Because the mobs around bosses usually have more members than your average mob, this skill is also very good for boss killing.
 * will deal a large amount of damage to a foe so long as that foe has more health than the invincimonk. Since the invincimonk commonly has only 55 hp, this often means "until the foe is dead." Because of its effectiveness on single targets, it is often used on bosses to farm for greens.
 * was previous a viable 55 Monk and Necromancer hex, but has fallen into disuse after the Nightfall update.
 * is very uncommon for Monk primaries, but can be used to eliminate a single target in green farming. Using a Scythe turns this into a powerful AoE making small mobs farmable for "105 monks" and "600 monks".

Weapon Choice
As mentioned above, the invincimonk build requires the Grim Cesta from the Cities of Ascalon quest. Therefore, the monk is constrained to using a one-handed weapon. Helpful modifications include lengthening enchantment duration and extra energy.

Smiting skills are the most damaging spells available to a monk, but they have the longest recharge time. However, there is a great one-handed weapon you could acquire quite easily to negate this. In Droknar's Forge, there is a collector by the name of Ornhelm Brightaxe that will trade you a smiting rod (max damage, halves recharge rate of smiting prayer skills 20% of the time) for 5 Stone Summit Badges. Another choice is to use the fire wand you can obtain from Wain Hughes outside Nolani Academy to have 5 more energy. In addition, a Totem Axe or a Rajazan's Fervor would help increase the time Protective Spirit is active.

However, by far the most useful invincimonk weapon is the Fiery Flame Spitter. This weapon has a 10% chance on halved recharge on all spells, and is also modifiable with a Furious Mod (10% Chance on double adrenaline per hit (for Bonetti's Defense) and an Axe Grip of Enchanting (maximum of 20% longer enchantments).

Note that the Cities of Ascalon Grim Cesta requires Blood Magic of 5. Thus, if one of your classes is not Necromancer, you will have 3 less energy. (Much of the time, skills such as Bonetti's Defense or any of the utility skills listed below make up for this loss.)

Utility Skills
Additionally, a number of skills can be used in particular situations or to enhance the ability of the build to function in a certain area.


 * Balanced Stance is important for farming areas where enemies will knock you down, such as Hydras in Skyward Reach and Tundra Giants in the Southern Shiverpeaks.
 * Dolyak Signet can sometimes be used if you know you no longer will be moving around pulling aggro (for instance the Mursaat in the Ring of Fire mission) but being a Strength attribute skill, its duration will be limited to 8 seconds for primary monks.
 * Spell Breaker can be invaluable against enemies who shatter or rend enchantments, such as Dying Nightmares in the Underworld. Note that using Spell Breaker precludes using Shield of Judgment, as both are elite skills.
 * Mantra of Resolve can aid against enemies who interrupt spells, such as Mountain Trolls, Bladed Aatxes and Avicara Braves.
 * Sympathetic Visage (or its Factions counterpart, Ancestor's Visage) quickly drains groups of melee-attacking monsters of adrenaline and energy, shutting down their skills (such as a Hydra's Meteor or a Smite Crawler's Shield of Judgment).
 * Blessed Aura can add to the duration of all cast enchantments, sometimes killing a group with one Shield of Judgment instead of two.

Attribute Allocations
One excellent feature of the invincimonk is that because of all the superior runes, his attributes are quite high. No other character type can boast such high values in such a broad range of skills. Allocating attributes is often a matter of personal preference and depends on the area to be farmed. However, each skill affects the build in different ways.


 * Healing Prayers affects the pips of regeneration from Mending or Healing Breeze.
 * Protection Prayers affects the duration of Protective Spirit.
 * Smiting Prayers affects the amount of damage done by Shield of Judgment (and also the amount of adrenaline gained from Balthazar's Spirit, which is normally used to charge Bonetti's Defense)
 * Divine Favor affects the duration of Spell Breaker, the effect of Blessed Aura, and the amount of healing gained from casting normal spells.
 * Tactics affects the duration of Balanced Stance, Bonetti's Defense, and other defensive skills of the Warrior profession.

Use
Invincimonks used to be primarily useful against melee attackers, however, since the AI update, melee monsters will now flee from AoE damage, so the more common choice is ranged attackers such as Tusked Howlers and Tusked Hunters like the ones in Arkjok Ward. Any ranged attacker that hits hard and fast is able to be farmed. As the build relies on enemies that hit it, both for energy management and damage dealing, it is primarily successful against Paragon or Ranger type monsters with minimal healing capabilities. The build is also an excellent tank against more powerful creatures. One popular two-person build in The Underworld pairs an invincimonk (who acts as a tank) and a damage-dealing caster. A popular choice for a partner in the Underworld is the Necromancer with the skill Spiteful Spirit, as seen in the 55/SS team.

Drawbacks
A Fragile Existence

The Invincimonk's existence is completely dependent on maintaining his/her enchantments up throughout a fight. Therefore, they are extremely susceptible to enchantment removal, health degeneration, and to a lesser extent, interrupts. Thus Invincible Monk builds are primarily used in areas that lack Mesmers and/or Necromancers.

The monk can protect him/herself against some enchantment removal skills such as Strip Enchantment and Drain Enchantment by covering the important enchantments with a less important one, as the game mechanics dictate that the first enchantment removed will be the one most recently applied. The most deadly forms for an Invincimonk to face are Shatter Enchantment and Rend Enchantments. Shatter will deal damage ignoring armor (generally enough to instantly kill anyone with 55 hp) and Rend will remove as many as eight enchantments, so covering enchantments is virtually impossible. As a way to "shield enchantments", put up enchantments and keep spells that do not reduce damage last in order to shield the enchantments. Additionally, the elite enchantment spell Spell Breaker can be used to protect the caster. Spells such as Shatter Enchantment or Rend Enchantments are rendered useless. This spell is widely used in the Fissure of Woe farming runs to protect frequent enchantment removals, and also against elemental damage. Note that spells such as Well of the Profane will still have their full (and deadly) effect.

Slowly Fading Away

The monk's protections are aimed at direct damage hits and do not counter health degeneration very well. A Mesmer casting Conjure Phantasm, a Necromancer with multiple degeneration spells or a foe with attacks that cause burning, poison, or bleeding can greatly reduce the effectiveness of Healing Breeze and Mending in keeping the monk alive.

Life Stealing

Life stealing skills at high ranks of Blood Magic are the absolute bane of 55 monks, because they go right through the damage reduction protections since they aren't classified as damage in the usual sense. Vampiric Touch can easily steal 60+ health, which means instant death to 55 monks regardless of their health regeneration capabilities, and its short activation and recharge times (not to mention its copy, Vampiric Bite) means a 105 monk won't be able to sustain two hits either.

Health Change

Certain areas can have AoE effects which increase or decrease max health, an obvious example being the spirit Symbiosis, which can easily raise a 55's hp to above 150.

Designed for a Specific Setup

It is very important for 55 monks to recognize that their build is completely built on facing direct damage dealers who attack fairly frequently. This is why this build is highly successful in areas where there are predominantly melee attackers.

Using this build in a party is normally not encouraged because most missions and quests contain a mixture of creatures which will make it hard for the monk to stay alive. It is also important to note that a 55 monk has very little to offer a party in terms of actual help. Healing a party with just Healing Breeze and Mending is unacceptable to most parties.

Casters

Groups of enemy casters in general pose a problem for 55 monks. This is because they do not attack as often as groups of melee attackers or rangers. Instead, they cast, make a few attacks, cast again, and so forth. This usually has the unfortunate side effect of making the monk low on energy. Enemy elementalists and necromancers are particularly troublesome in this regard. Adding to the trouble is that most invincimonk builds focus on dealing damage to those rapidly attacking or using skills. Because casters take longer to kill than attackers, the fight will be longer and more energy problems will bother the monk.

When facing casters (especially slow ones), it is usually best to try to find nearby attackers, aggro them, and then use their attacks to fuel the energy of the monk while taking out the casters.

Death Penalty

After a 55 Monk has died, resurrecting them with Resurrect, Rebirth and most other resurrection spells is impossible. The reason being that Death Penalty applies to a character's full health, not their health after applying runes. Therefore, a level 20 character who dies for one time will receive a death penalty of 15% which is 72 hit points (0.15 x 480). No character is allowed to have less than 1 hit point. A 55 monk upon dying will have exactly 1 hit point. Common resurrection spells attempt to raise the player at less than 50% or less health, which for a 1 HP character is zero. The monk will rise and drop dead immediately, before they can do anything. Using Rebirth will still teleport the body to the casters feet, which might be useful if the monk has died in a large group of monsters, as you can then safely resurrect them at the spot they were teleported to. With a proper amount of luck and timing, it is possible to quickly remove a peice of armor (usually by double clicking) in the split-second the monk will be alive. It usually does not work the first time, but is an alternative should no working means be avaliable.

Working means of resurrection are
 * Resurrection Shrine
 * Resurrection Signet
 * Sunspear Rebirth Signet
 * Vengeance
 * Unyielding Aura
 * Flesh of My Flesh
 * Resurrection Chant
 * Restore Life at high (11+) Healing Prayers
 * Renew Life

After being resurrected, the player can swap out their -50 health focus (to perhaps the -20 health Earth Scroll from the Cities of Ascalon quest) or swap out a rune. (If they were revived by vengeance they will then need to wait the 30s and be resurrected again, this time permanently.) This will bring the player below 55, but above 1 health, and because of the reduced health the player takes less damage and can tank more enemies. However, as you work off the Death Penalty, don't forget to swap your focus/runes back.

The Counters of the Counters


 * Spell Breaker can serve as a blanket cover against all spells that cause enchantment removal or health degeneration, but even if replicated with Arcane Echo and various enchantment prolongment, the gap in coverage of Spell Breaker is still dangerously long. It is important for players to remember that Spell breaker only stops spells and not all skills. Therefore, touch skills like Vampiric Touch, Shock or the monster stance Fingers of Chaos will go through.
 * Holy Veil is also a good way to protect enchantments. As an added bonus, it removes a hex from you when stripped.
 * Power Drain is very useful for Mo/Me 55 monks in the Underworld. It will enable them to interrupt the Dying Nightmares without expending 15 energy in Spell Breaker and provide them with energy. It is also based Inspiration Magic, like Mantra of Resolve. It is perfect for countering a single pop-up of a Dying Nightmare. However, if more than one shows up, Spell Breaker becomes the only option.

Alternatives
Any character with monk as a secondary profession can use the 55 build by equipping five Superior Runes of the primary class and the Cities of Ascalon quest rewarded Grim Cesta and using Protective Spirit, Healing Breeze, Mending, Balthazar's Spirit and four other skills to taste. In this way a player can create a character with the advantages of the invincimonk's damage reduction and with higher-level skills from the primary character class.

Related Articles

 * Watch 55 monk VideoClip
 * Comprehensive Guide to the Solo Monk on GW Guru
 * Build:Mo/any SoA Monk - the original complete damage reduction invincimonk.
 * Build:Mo/E SoA Sliver - a commonly vetted variation on the above build.
 * Build:Mo/any Spirit Bonder - the original instant healing invincimonk. It is no longer in use, but is provided here for historical reference.
 * Build:Mo/any 55hp Solo Monk - a community vetted health regeneration Invincible Monk build.

= 55/Spirit Ranger TEAM BUILD = This is a variation of the 55hp monk build that uses the unpopular farming skill Protective Bond.

Build Concept
The idea behind this build is allowing the 55hp monk to use Protective Bond without losing massive amounts of energy from it. How it works is that when both Greater Conflagration and Winter are active, all damage is converted to Cold Damage. Physical -> Fire -> Cold. This allows the 55hp Monk to use Mantra of Frost to regain energy past what is lost with protective bond.

=55hp Tank=

Armor

 * Asthetic Armor for the extra energy (get cheap armor, armor level doesnt matter when you are a 55hp, its better to save your money)


 * 3 diffrent headpeices: Smiting (superior rune), Healing (no rune), Protection(no rune)


 * note: You dont need superior runes on 2 of the 3 headpeices, just on the smiting one. since the headpeice switiching is done before the battle.


 * When you use your skills switich the headpeices to gain that +1 bonus to the skill. This is nessasary to get +4 regen on mending and -3 energy on protective bond.

Weapons

 * Any one handed weapon of Enchanting such as the Totem Axe


 * CoA -50 cesta

=Spirit Ranger=

Armor

 * Druids Armor for + energy


 * Travelers Mask of Superior Wilderness Survival

Weapons

 * Long Bow of any kind

= Usage =

Prefight
Monk


 * 1) Cast Watchful Spirit, Mending, Protective Bond and Essence Bond on yourself
 * 2) Regain energy with Blessed Signet


 * Switch to the healing headpiece before casting Mending and switch to the protection headpiece before casting Protective Bond. Make sure to switch to the smiting one before you attack

Ranger


 * 1) Cast Balthazar's Spirit on the Monk
 * 2) Wait for energy regen
 * 3) (When in range of target foe) Set up the 3 rituals: Brambles, Greater Conflagration and Winter

During The Fight
Monk


 * 1) Maintain Mantra of Frost CONSTANTLY (without it you die) and maintain Healing Breeze as required
 * 2) Cast SoJ for damage and knockdown

Ranger


 * 1) Keep the spirits alive, recast them as soon as they recharge
 * 2) If in the UW: Take out any Dying Nightmare's with Savage Shot
 * 3) If the monk dies during the fight break aggro with Storm Chaser and then pull the monk with Rebirth and rez with Resurrection Chant

Counters

 * Any enchantment removal


 * Any stance removal


 * Killing the spirits will shut down the monk

Variants

 * If your monk is good and won't die, the ranger can switch Rebirth and Resurrection Chant for Essence Bond (for his energy management) and Succor (To give the monk a little more health and energy)


 * The monk can lose Watchful Spirit and replace it with Arcane Echo to lengthen the effect of SoJ

Testing

 * So far this is only theory, I havent found a equally equipped guildie to help me. If you want to be either the 55hp or the ranger, I have both ready to go. PM me ingame on either my monk - Jirobu Kanajashi or my ranger - Yulung Kain. I'm online most evenings, between 4pm - 10pm Pacific.

Needs
x1 Fav Ranger x7 BHA rangers

Attributes and Skills
BHA Rangers

Attributes and Skills
Fav Ranger

Equipment
Any armor will do as long as it is max. A flatbow that is max damage require 8 or 9 and if you want lengthens daze by 33%.

Usage
Fight your way to Rotscale. Once you kill wraiths on bridge Fav Ranger should use Favorable winds. Everyone works together to kill bone dragons by using Kindle Arrows and Dual Shot to do 4 different types of damage. Once Rotscale is dead respawn back to kill him again.

Counters
Blind. Sometime knockdowns are a threat.

Equipment

 * Armor: The Windwalker Insignia should be used for this build since you will be under multiple enchantments for most of the run. Apply a Rune of Major Vigor or a Rune of Superior Vigor and Rune of Attunement for extra energy.
 * Weapons: A Staff with an enchantment lengthening mod and at least +15 energy since you will need energy more than armor. An inscribeable Insightful Staff with a "Have Faith" inscription will give you +20 energy while you're enchanted.  A Shield can be used but you will often find yourself lacking energy.
 * A sword of enchanting with a shield that lowers damage taken while enchanted and HP +45 while enchanted.

Before 1 Feb. Update Usage

 * Start: Cast Faithful Intervention at start and whilst not under attack if it is not currently on.
 * Or you can just run through them with either Dark Escape or Dash.
 * Lornar's Pass
 * Wurm Tunnel: Cast Fleeting Stability -> Mystic Regeneration -> Vow of Silence -> Deadly Paradox -> Dark Escape. As soon as Vow of Silence ends, cast Fleeting Stability -> Vow of Silence before reaching the Siege Ice Golems.  Then use Deadly Paradox -> Dark Escape to outrun them.
 * Grawl zones: Vow of Silence is not required to run past the Grawl unless there are Siege Ice Golems located close by. As long as you maintain Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention and avoid the Grawl Crones you'll be fine.
 * Snake Dance
 * Make sure you maintain Fleeting Stability and Mystic Regeneration when running past Tundra Giants and Azure Shadows.
 * Always use Deadly Paradox before Dark Escape.

Counters

 * Grawl Crones can strip you of Vow of Silence and other enchantments with Chilblains and can cause almost certain death if Siege Ice Golems are nearby. Just stay out of their range and you'll be fine.

Variants
You can switch Dash for Signet of Pious Light for ending Fleeting Stability for extra health and can combine with Vital Boon for a quick health boost when needed.

There are many assassin skills which can be used instead, though they may leave you more exposed.


 * Earth Prayers | 12 + 2


 * Mysticism | 12 + 1 + 2


 * Shadow Arts | 3

Pious Haste provides a fast alternative as well as lets you skip investing anything in Wind Prayers, giving you longer duration on all your skills, higher max health, better energymanagement though it has a downside of removing an enchantment when it ends but if timed right you may even use it to your advantage (Vital Boon).

Template
= D/E Mirror of Ice Scythe =

The Icy Fighter is a simple Dervish Build that uses Water Magic to add extra damage, increase armor, and provide protection from spells. This build is effective in most PvE.

Equipment

 * Armor with Windwalker's Insignias is perfect.
 * An Icy Scythe is necessary +15% while enchanted and an enchanting mod would be useful.
 * The Soulbreaker is perfect.

Usage

 * Cast and maintain Frigid Armor, Conjure Frost and Mirror of Ice
 * Note: It is usually a good idea to let them end before renewing them so you gain the Mysticism bonus.
 * Keep a close eye on Mirror of Ice since it is often difficult to notice when it ends.


 * Cast Mystic Vigor before a battle and refresh it as soon as it ends.
 * Use your attack skills when their bonuses will be useful.
 * For harder targets chain together Victorious Sweep, Eremite's Attack and Mystic Sweep in that order for a large spike attack.

Counters

 * Enchant removal is not a direct counter but will slow an Icy Fighter down for a few seconds while they re-apply their enchantments.
 * Skills that harm you based on your enchantments will hurt quite badly.(i.e. Defile Enchantments, Melandru's Arrows, ect.)
 * Blind, Weakness, Crippled, and other standard melee counters.

Variants

 * Unlike most builds, the elite skill here is the optional slot. Many other elites are better for certain situations and play styles.
 * Armor of Frost and Armor of Mist are usually less effective than Frigid Armor but could be used instead.
 * Frozen Burst can be a very effective damage/snaring skill if you don't need a resurrect or feel like taking out an attack skill.
 * Blurred Vision costs quite a bit of energy, but keeps you pretty well protected.
 * Most attack skills can replace Victorious Sweep, some useful attacks are, Rending Sweep, and Chilling Victory.
 * Many players prefer using Reaper's Sweep instead of Mirror of Ice and Victorious Sweep.
 * Crippling Sweep is also very useful(usually in PvP) for some extreme anti-kiting.
 * Consider bringing Mystic Regeneration(in place of a attack skill) for PvE play and moving some points from Mysticism to Earth Prayers(3 or 8 are cut off points for Mystic Regeneration).
 * Consider bringing Banishing Strike when fighting in an Alliance Battle. It will do 130 damage (with 11 in Scythe Mastery) to all nearby minions, pretty much killing all of them.

Templates
= A/E UW Farmer =

This build uses high damage PBAoE spells combined with the immunity given by Shadow Form in order to accomplish the smites run/farm in UW.

Necessities

 * Radiant or Shrouded Armor.
 * 20% enchanting, +5 energy weapon, such as a Totem Axe. Wand or Staff, max damage rec. fire to deal with Dying Nightmares.
 * +12 energy rec. fire focus.

Usage
Walk up and take the quest from the Lost Soul. Watch out for any Dying Nightmare popping up.

Then cast in this order: wait to get max energy back... Then quickly grab one or two groups of graspings and run back. Then cast skills in this order:
 * Fire Attunement
 * Flame Djinn's Haste
 * Shadow Form
 * Glyph of Elemental Power
 * Meteor Shower
 * Bed of Coals
 * Lava Font
 * Flame Djinn's Haste
 * Feigned Neutrality

There should be no survivors amongst the graspings. If they are any graspings remaining, they are at this time fleeing from your AoE damage, so Feigned Neutrality should give you sufficient defense and life back to stay alive in order to recast one or two offensive spells to finish them or wanding them. You have a 24s invulnerability with Shadow Form on for the pull and the killing, so you can take your time to insure your AoE spike.

Another option for the bravest, is to cast Fire Attunement + Shadow Form and to go straight ahead into the big group of graspings, Bladed Aatxes and an eventual Dying Nightmare, and then unleash hell on them, finishing the graspings off with Flame Djinn's Haste and running away with the speed boost after the spike (because the Bladed Aatxes are not really friendy!).

Once all the graspings have been eliminated, do the typical run to the smites using Flame Djinn's Haste. You can make a stop just before passing the arch if you have misjudged the path of Bladed Aatxes or graspings and Dying Nightmare patrol. If a Dying Nightmare pops up while you run and follow you, just pull him in a safe place and while going close kill him with a Flame Djinn's Haste burst. Anytime during the run you can use Shadow Form if you find yourself in danger (remind that you should be far from danger at the end of Shadow Form), with a 24s duration time (with a +20% enchanting) you should have plenty of time to reach the smites area.

In order to pull large groups of smites or while waiting before they are all balled up around you, you can start by using Feigned Neutrality to assure some good defense and survival. Then cast the skills:
 * Shadow Form
 * Glyph of Elemental Power
 * Meteor Shower
 * Bed of Coals
 * Lava Font
 * Flame Djinn's Haste
 * Feigned Neutrality (that should be reloaded even if used in the beginning of the pull)

If any smites survives, do the same tactics as stated above for graspings or if anything goes really bad, you still can run away with Flame Djinn's Haste. Keep Fire Attunement up while casting fire spells as it's your only energy management.

For the Coldfire Nights, your best solution is to avoid them, but if you get caught, this build is safer than any other one, cast Shadow Form and stay far as they use Frozen Burst, the only spell that can hit you through Shadow Form and slow you down. Then hit your running enchantment and go out of their reach.

Counters

 * Bad timing is the only real counter here.
 * Energy Degen
 * Knockdown/Interrupts by grasping

Equipment
(Earth Prayers needs to hit 13 in order for Mystic Regeneration to hit +4 which is imperative when fighting Shreader)
 * Scythe of Enchanting
 * Runes need not be adhered to strictly as long as you hit the breakpoints

Usage
The maintained enchantments and Conviction can be kept up indefinetly with no consideration as they do not waste activation time. Mystic Regeneration should be kept up for healing, as should Fleeting Stability (although you might not need to refresh it while fighting the smaller groups if the mob is about to die anyway). Vow of Strength should be kept up for increasing your damage. While the defensive mechanism of Mirage Cloak is unneccesary, the bonus damage could help, so keep it up as well, just remember not to renew until it expires so damage takes effect. Also, you might want to cast this last so you don't have to wait for energy as the blocking can sometimes slow down your energy gain. Mystic Vigor is optional, but can give you a larger margin of error against Shreader Sharptongue's group.

While fighting, you might want to reposition so all three of your aggroed foes are damaged. Though this is unnceccesary, it will speed up the run. While fighting Shreader Sharptongue, simply target him first and deal with the rest.

This build can also be used to farm bosses or other areas, especially ones where knockdown is used.

Variants

 * Reaper's Sweep, Wild Blow and Mystic Sweep may be used to replace Vow of Strength, Mirage Cloak, Mystic Vigor, or Conviction while dealing with bosses or fewer foes to give higher output.
 * If a warrior secondary is used, Bonnetti's Defense may be used for energy and Faithful Intervention could be added to trigger Mystic Regeneration or Vigor. Similarily, Flail and "Watch Yourself!" could both improve the run-speed seeing as they both have no activation time or energy cost, making it more effective against a single foe.
 * Sympathetic and/or Ancestor's Visage can be used in areas with interruption. Zealous Vow can then be used for energy management.

Templates
To be added.

Equipment

 * Armor:
 * Headgear with any mod
 * A max level armor with insignia and runes that boost your armor and/or energy.


 * Runes/Insignia:
 * Energy/Armor boosting insignia
 * 1 Superior Rune of Scythe Mastery.
 * 1 Minor mysticism rune
 * 1 Minor earth prayers rune
 * Best vigor rune you can afford


 * Weapons:
 * Any scythe will do. A zealous scythe with energy/health boost and/or armor penetration is suggested. Mhedi's Vow is a perfect unique scythe for this build.

Start

 * Cast in this order: Avatar of Balthazar, Mystic Regeneration, Vital Boon, Mystic Vigor when you spawn in the FOW.It is very important to cast enchantments in given order!
 * Run to the right, through the mobs, and circle around the large rocky outcrop where you can stop to let the patrols pass you.Use Mystic Regeneration to heal yourself.
 * When you meet the Snarling Driftwood, take them down quickly followed by the Doubter's Dryder that stands behind them. This must be done quickly because of the two shadow patrols that come past that point.

Killing
Important: Always keep away from the Ancient Skale!


 * While fighting the Snarling Driftwood, keep up Physical Resistance, Vital Boon, Mystic Vigor and Avatar of Balthazar whenever possible. Then when your health is low, cast Mystic Regeneration to keep your health up. Because of the three enchantments on you, your health stays high. And even when your health drops (which it shouldn't anyway), the enchantments on you provide enough healing power to stay alive. Keep on spamming the attack skills and when their health is at 1/3 you will also gain health from Victorious Sweep. The mobs should die quickly and easily.


 * The Doubter's Dryders are killed in a different way. First of all do not cast any enchantments on yourself because they will use Shatter Enchantment and Drain Enchantment which deal quite a lot of damage. Just lure them to a safe spot away from the Ancient Skale and attack them with your two attack skills. They should die quickly without any problems. Use Mystic Vigor, Mystic Regeneration and/or Vital Boon when your health drops below 250.


 * The Armored Cave Spiders are also very easy to kill. First kill the three Doubter's Dryders that stand in front of the cave. Then make the Armored Cave Spiders spawn and wait for them to spread out in front of the cave. Cast Vital Boon, Mystic Regeneration, Mystic Vigor and Physical Resistance before you proceed. Then lure one of them and pull him away from all the others, causing a group of 3 spiders to follow you. Wait until the three Armored Cave Spiders are together and pull them back further. Then just keep your enchantments up and Mystic Regeneration will provide you with enough healing power to stay alive and counter the poison. Spam your attack skills and they will die within 20-40 seconds.

Details

 * For a more detailed version on how to approach the mobs in FOW read the Build:W/any Fissure Spider Farmer article, which describes how to attack and position yourself as you are farming in FOW.

Counters

 * Watch out for the Ancient Skale. You are almost certain to die if you don't rush through them, so always sprint away from them.

Equipment

 * Windwalker and Radiant Insignias
 * A Zealous Scythe of Enchanting
 * Runes of Attunement

Usage

 * Cast Contagion, Dark Aura, and Mystic Regeneration
 * Engage target, and use Signet of Agony, followed by Wearying Strike.
 * Signet of Agony will deal 15 damage to all adjacent enemies, as well as cause you to bleed, and to sacrifice 10% health. The sacrifice will trigger Dark Aura, dealing 38 damage to all adjacent foes. Contagion will cause the Bleeding to be spread to all nearby foes, and will cause you to sacrifice 6% health, triggering Dark Aura a second time, for another 38 damage to adjacent foes.
 * Wearying Strike will apply Deep Wound to hit enemies, and will give you Weakness. Contagion will instantly spread Weakness to all nearby enemies, and trigger Dark Aura a third time.
 * Use Plague Touch to get rid of Weakness, and use Wearying Strike a second time.
 * Re-apply Dark Aura and Signet of Agony as soon as they are available.


 * Mystic Regeneration will give 9 points of health regeneration (or more with extra enchantments), to help offset the sacrificing and bleeding. It also acts as a cover enchantment for the two Death Magic enchantments, which are critical to the build.


 * Conditions applied from foes will trigger Contagion and Dark Aura. This can make the build more powerful, as long as you know what to expect. If you know that your enemies will be dealing conditions, try to time it so that their conditions and your conditions are not being applied at the same time, as the health sacrifices could become overwhelming.

Counters

 * Enchantment stripping will greatly reduce the effectiveness of this build. The Death Magic enchantments must be kept covered.

Variants
Optional skill slot:
 * Armor of Sanctity. Ths will reduce damage by 13 from all foes suffering from a condition. It will also increase Mystic Regeneration's effect to +12 regen (+9 with Bleeding).
 * Conviction. This will provide +24 armor.
 * Faithful Intervention. This can act as a safety heal, but could be triggered unintentionally.
 * Heart of Fury. 11 seconds of IAS, follwed by Burning.
 * Zealous Renewal. A cover enchantment to help with energy management.
 * Reap Impurities. Gain health from enemies suffering from conditions.
 * Victorious Sweep. Gain health from foes with less health.
 * Consume Corpse. Corpse denial, self-healing, energy management.

Attributes and Skills
D/Mo


 * Add in Mending Touch and/or Rebirth if you decide to go D/Mo. If you do not think a resurrection skill is needed, it is recommended to bring either Mystic Sweep or Eremite's Attack.

D/W


 * Add in Wild Blow and/or Resurrection Signet for D/W. If you do not think a resurrection skill is needed, it is recommended to bring either Mystic Sweep, Eremite's Attack, or Distracting Blow.

D/A


 * Add in Signet of Malice and/or Resurrection Signet for D/A. If you do not think a resurrection skill is needed, it is recommended to bring either Mystic Sweep, Eremite's Attack, or any Assassin utility skills.

Equipment

 * Armor: Windwalker's Insignia armor with a Scythe Mastery hood (70 AL).
 * Runes: Major Scythe Mastery, Minor Mysticism, Major Earth Prayers, Vigor, Attunement x1
 * Weapon: Sundering or Zealous Scythe of Fortitude with energy+5 inscription.

Usage

 * When entering combat, activate Faithful Intervention, Armor of Sanctity, and Mystic Regeneration to give you max health regeneration (20hp/second).
 * Use Conviction. At this point, you will have at least 109 armor (70 from normal armor, 15 from windwalker's, and 24 from conviction). This does not include Armor of Sanctity's damage reduction, which is 18 less damage from all sources.
 * Find a target.
 * Try as much as possible to spread Deep Wound. My suggestion is to use Wouding Strike followed by Victorious Sweep to deal some significant damage. Then, move on to another target and do the same thing. This will greatly help your party's overall damage output and you can easily serve as a tank with Armor of Sanctity.

Variants

 * Reaper's Sweep can replace Wounding Strike as you see fit.

Counters
= D/Any Mystic Renewal =
 * Enchantment removal.
 * Hexes.

This Dervish build is great for PvE for dishing out some damage while still able to heal itself with a decent degree of energy management. This build is good for causing some AoE damage without the healer of the group focused on you and can heal the party to a better degree.

Equipment

 * Armor: Radiant Insignia for energy mixed in with Survivor's Insignia for health. Radiant Insignia should be used on the chest area for maximum energy.
 * Weapons: Any good Scythe should do.
 * Runes: In addition to the runes outlined in the Attributes table, take a Rune of Attunement and the best Vigor rune you can afford. Nightfall characters - such as all Dervishes - get a Rune of Minor Vigor from an early quest.

Usage

 * Before running into battle, activate your enchantments.
 * Only activate the first 2 enchantments from left to right, then as you reach your target (hopefully targets) activate the other 2 enchantments from left to right. This should cause some damage to multiple foes.
 * The very first attack should be Twin Moon Sweep to ignite your enemies on fire. Activate Mystic Sweep to add some more damage.
 * Because of Mystic Vigor you should gain a fair amount of health each hit. Soon mystic vigor should be about finished and same with Vital Boon and they should be reactivated seeing how they should be recharged.
 * After activating them use Heart of Holy Flame again followed by Twin Moon Sweep to once again ignite them.
 * At this point Zealous Renewal should finish and you should gain all your energy back.
 * Repeat this proccess until the targets are taken out.
 * If at a point you are low on health activate Avatar of Melandru for some health and to cancel any conditions.
 * Vital Boon can be used for quick healing via casting it, and then using Twin Moon Sweep to quickly strip it and heal yourself for 200+ health. Of course, you can always let Vital Boon run out normaly, but this above method is for speedy healing.

Counters

 * Energy denial and draining.
 * Enchantment Removal can do some damage to this build but since ending any of those used, except Mystic Vigor, gives you benefits, it's not that bad.
 * Blindness, Weakness and Crippling can obviously slow this build down by preventing it from hitting with most of your attacks, lowering the effectiveness of your attacks, and stopping you from attacking fleeing targets. However, since you have Avatar of Melandru, you can quickly negate these effects.
 * Interrupting Avatar of Melandru - by the time the 30 second recharge has elapsed, it is possible for the Dervish to have been killed.

Variants

 * You might also choose to swap out Heart of Holy Flame for Conviction or Balthazar's Rage, which can be used for backup healing as well as increased armor levels from Conviction.
 * Mystic Sweep can be replaced with another attack such as Victorious Sweep and Chilling Victory.
 * Avatar of Dwayna may also be a good choice, if you want hex removal and healing.
 * If you have a Zealous or Vampiric scythe, it may be a good idea to switch Heart of Holy Flame with Heart of Fury for the IAS.

Templates
= D/any Reaper's Vow =

This Dervish uses Zealous Vow to allow almost infinite spamming of attack skills, while Earth and Wind Prayers help with healing and condition removal.

Equipment

 * A Vampiric Scythe of Enchanting with a "Guided By Fate" inscription.
 * Windwalker's Insignias on your armor.
 * A Rune of Clarity on an armor piece, Runes of Attunement on everything else.

Usage

 * Cast your enchantments before going into battle. Use Whirling Charge to speed up your attacks.
 * Spam Victorious Sweep and Mystic Sweep for damage. Use Chilling Victory as a powerful finisher.
 * When low on energy, auto-attack to gain some back.

Counters

 * Heavy enchant removal
 * Standard anti-melee counters, though the durations of conditions are greatly reduced.

Variants
Mysticism Variant:

By moving points from Earth Prayers to Mysticism and using a minor rune, this allows you to have an IAS active all the time by cycling Whirling Charge and Heart of Fury.
 * Pious Restoration for areas with dangerous hexes.
 * Conviction can help with survivability
 * Wild Blow and Protector's Strike are great attack skills to spam, with a Warrior secondary
 * Crippling Sweep can help prevent kiting
 * Mystic Sandstorm can be used for a finisher, or to counter energy denial.
 * Mystic Twister can also be used for AOE damage.
 * Signet of Pious Light can be used for emergency healing.

= D/Mo Shielded Derv =

The Shielded Derv is a simple build that uses the Protection Prayers line for damage reduction and condition removal.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Two Radiant Insignias and three Survivor Insignias.
 * One Rune of Attunement & Vitae
 * Weapons
 * Zealous Scythe of Enchanting with a "Guided by Fate" inscription. (Scythe of Corruption is ideal)

Usage

 * Cast Extend Enchantments, one of the shields or HH, and Mystic Vigor before attacking them.
 * Let the enchantments end by Extend Enchantments and recast.
 * If you have Shield of Deflection, cast it, then let it end and recast it. For Shield of Absorption cast it as soon as it is available.
 * Use Mending Touch on yourself and on allies.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal.
 * Spiteful Spirit, Insidious Parasite, etc...

Variants

 * For additional armor and evasion/health regeneration, switch Shield of Absorption for Shield of Regeneration or Shield of Deflection and replace Wounding Strike with Wearying Strike.
 * Healing Hands variant

Equipment

 * Radiant insignias on all armor pieces.
 * Any +5 energy weapon of enchanting such as the Totem Axe and Rajazan's Fervor.
 * An Earth Focus, with +health and +armor while enchanted mods, or a HSR mod, such as Hajok's Prism.
 * For more experienced players, the Aegis of Augh is definitely the way to go.

Usage

 * Keep up constantly Stoneflesh Aura, Armor of Earth, and Mystic Regeneration.
 * Armor of Earth and Obsidian Flesh can be cycled constantly.
 * If facing minor interrupts, cover your spells with Glyph of Concentration.
 * If facing heavy amounts of hard interrupts, cover Glyph of Concentration with Mirage Cloak.

Counters

 * Non-Spell Enchantment removal
 * Interrupts
 * Dazed

Variants

 * If you're doing single areas with minimal knockdown, replace Fleeting Stability.
 * If not doing Ravenheart Gloom, replace Mirage Cloak.
 * If an elementalist is using Deep Freeze, Ward Against Foes may be replaced.
 * For less experienced teams, you can include a Resurrection Signet.
 * Conviction, Vital Boon, Sliver Armor, and Grasping Earth are good variants.
 * Fire Storm can be used to pull the monks in the mobs up to you.

Equipment

 * Shaman's Armor - will provide 75 AL when three spirits are maintained
 * Wayward Wand with Channeling requirement (+5 energy > 50%, HSR of Channeling Magic Spells)
 * Communing Focus from Elder Ezio (Energy + 12, Communing Magic + 1 [20%], Health +30)

Usage

 * Summon spirits at the edge of the battle, once your party has aggro. Try to space them so multiple spirits will not be affected by enemy AoE attacks. Spirits have a range that is further than the edge of the aggro circle; careful placement will allow your spirits to engage the enemy, while not attracting too much aggro.
 * Painful Bond will greatly enhance spirit damage, and should be applied when it is recharged. It hexes enemies adjacent to your target, so plan accordingly.
 * Whenever an enemy is about to die, hex them with Assassin's Promise. With Deadly Arts at 8, Assassin's Promise will last for 10 seconds. If the hexed enemy dies within those 10 seconds, you will gain 13 energy (net 8), and all of your skills will be recharged, including Assassin's Promise. Once a fight gets going, you should be able to spam Assassin's Promise on multiple foes, allowing you to refill your energy bar, and resummon any spirits that may have fallen.
 * At the end of battle, you should generally have a full energy bar, with every skill recharged.
 * Feast of Souls can be used for an emergency party heal of 73, 146, 219, or 292 HP, depending on spirit placement.

Counters

 * Spirits' low health and AL make them magnets for aggro. It is important to place them strategically, and replace them immediately for full effectiveness. If all your spirits are killed, you are not very useful to your party.
 * Hex removal can disrupt your Assassin's Promise spamming.

Variations

 * Dissonance could be replaced by another spirit, if the area warranted it.
 * Feast of Souls could be replaced by Boon of Creation or Spirit to Flesh, if you are more comfortable with those methods of healing.

Template
= Rt/D Spirit Scythe =

The Spirit Scythe utilises the hard hitting abilities of a scythe while boosting damage with Spirit's Strength as well as providing defensive abilities from the Earth Prayers line.

Attributes and Skills

 * Use Sight Beyond Sight if anticipating blindness-causing enemies, otherwise take Wielder's Remedy instead.

Equipment

 * Emissary's Armor for the extra defense.
 * A Zealous Scythe of Enchanting.

Usage

 * Cast Vital Weapon, Spirit's Strength, Wielder's Remedy, and Mystic Regeneration when going into battle.
 * Use Conviction to boost survivability.
 * Use Victorious Sweep and Mystic Sweep for damage.
 * Use Sight Beyond Sight or Wielder's Remedy as nessesary.

Counters

 * Heavy enchantment removal will lower your DPS, but you will still be doing a decent amount due to high Scythe Mastery.
 * Frequently reapplyed conditions such as blind from Ebon Dust Aura, if you don't have Sight Beyond Sight.
 * Standard anti-melee hexes.

Variants

 * Victorious Sweep can be replaced by Eremite's Attack for another fast activating attack skill.
 * Zealous Renewal can be used for energy management.
 * Twin Moon Sweep can replace an attack skill, but this requires a spammable enchantment such as Vital Boon.

= Rt/Me Painful Echo =

This build is designed to integrate the damaging communing spirits with some support skills from spawning, and a hex from channeling. The result is a spike based on spirits, which is extremely effective in AB and PvE, and with some variants it is equally powerful in Random Arena and 1v1.

Equipment

 * Use the communing cap to use with the superior rune.
 * Use Halcyon armor for the extra energy. You'll need it.
 * A collector Insightful Channeling Staff of Fortitude should do nicely. Binding Rituals do not recharge or cast faster with a 20/20 Communing Staff because they are not considered spells. But the Hex Painful Bond which is important for this build can recharge faster with a 20/20 Channeling Staff or Wand/Focus.

Usage

 * Start by casting Boon of Creation to keep your energy up and health up while you're casting spirits.
 * Use Ritual Lord, and put down Pain, Shadowsong, and Bloodsong.
 * Use Arcane Echo to set up your Painful Bond.
 * Target a close group of enemies, and hit them with Painful Bond. Use the Echo-Painful Bond on another group, or save it for a few seconds. Your call.
 * Use Vital Weapon as needed. It can also be used as a quick heal.

Counters

 * Energy isn't really that big of a problem since you have the use of Boon of Creation, but excessive energy denial can cause a problem.
 * Getting interrupted while casting a spirit can be a hassle, but is avoidable if you try to hang back and cast the spirits.

Variants

 * Arcane Echo can be replaced by Ghostly Haste, but Arcane Echo is more efficient for Painful Bond in this build.
 * Vital Weapon isn't necessary, but it is a helpful health buffer during Alliance Battles to keep you alive. If you're doing a 1v1 or a Random Arena, try replacing Vital Weapon with Doom. Use Arcane Echo on Doom instead of Painful Bond, since when you're in RA or 1v1, the one hex will usually effect all of your enemies due to close grouping. If you use Doom and Arcane Echo together once you have all of your spirits cast, you can spike for a hefty chunk of damage, along with the high-damage spirits.
 * Arcane Echo can be replaced with Dissonance or Disenchantment, turning this build into a one-man army against melee bosses, like Sskai, Dragon's Birth for farming (PvE).
 * The new Nightfall Spirit Anguish could be used instead of the spirit shown here.
 * If you would like to use a channeling spell instead of arcane echo you could take a minor for communing and a superior + headgear for channeling. The build works just as well since the extra damage from painfull bond and bloodsong ofsets the lost damage from pain and shadowsong. However it does reduce the effectiveness of vital weapon slightly.

Template
= Rt/Mo Burst Healer =

This build takes advantage of the fact that Weapon Spells and Ritualist Urns may not be removed like Enchantments can, and uses that advantage to heal allies.

Equipment

 * Full Halcyon armor set for Extra Energy.

Usage

 * With Attuned was Songkai at High Spawning Power, the cost of Heal Party and Extinguish is nearly halved. With 14 Spawning Power, 15 energy spells are only 8 energy, 10 energy spells cost 5, and 5 energy spells cost 3.
 * Soothing Memories costs no energy if you have the Attuned was Songkai.
 * Heal Party should be used when everyone has a bit of damage but has not been hurt enough to warrant a casting of Soothing memories.
 * Vengeful Weapon is basically Reversal of Damage with no means of stripping it. It costs 3 energy when you have the Ashes.
 * Weapon of Warding is used when there is a hazard of Warriors, Assassins, and Rangers. It should be used sparingly because of the cast time.
 * Remove Hex and Resilient Weapon are used as safety skills for when hexes come that are extremely harmful, such as Spiteful Spirit, Backfire, Empathy, Diversion, etc.

Counters

 * High levels of Degeneration.
 * Lack of protection versus high-damage hits.
 * Energy Denial.
 * 15 second downtime when the spells are full cost, meaning heal party and Extinguish cannot be used effectively during those times.

Variants
If enchantment removal is not an issue:
 * Holy Veil instead of Remove Hex for hex removal
 * Gift of Health instead of Extinguish as an emergency heal.
 * Take Heal Other or Jamei's Gaze instead of Extinguish.
 * Lively Was Naomei instead of Resurrection Chant.
 * Healing Breeze instead of Extinguish, thereby countering degeneration instead of removing it.
 * Vigorous Spirit instead of Vengeful Weapon (it's more energy efficient on Warriors and Assassins than Vengeful Weapon and won't remove Weapon of Warding)

= Rt/N Explosive Creation = The Explosive Creation build deals damage throughout and upon the creation, life, and death of animated minions. This build takes advantage of Spawning Power's ability to affect minion creation as well as spirits.

Equipment

 * An Insightful staff of Enchanting, possibly with an Inscription of "Aptitude, Not Attitude", which gives HCT of Death Magic (20%), or a Poisonous Sword/Axe of Enchanting with Bortak's Bone Cesta//Armind's Focus. The weapons from Shichiroji are favored for their +5 Energy mod.
 * Best Vigor rune possible and superior Spawning Power. All other minor runes to conserve health.
 * Harbinger's Armor or Halcyon's Armor. For Nightfall, this is Survivor and Radiant Insignia, respectively. Runes of Vitae and/or Attunement are also recommended.

Usage

 * Use Rotting Flesh to start spreading damage if you do not have minions or when there are no corpses.
 * Keep Boon of Creation and Explosive Growth up when creating minions.
 * Create a Flesh Golem when you do not have one.
 * Create Bone Minions when you already have a Flesh Golem. This doubles the Explosive Growth damage and provides two targets for Death Nova. With Boon of Creation, this skill almost entirely recovers its energy cost upon successful cast.
 * In PvE, if you still have minions before a battle, activate Signet of Creation, cast Death Nova on all of them, and rush them into battle, preferably near a large group of enemies. The Signet should keep most or all of them alive to attack your foes for up to 30 seconds, and then kills them all simultaneously, activating Death Nova's explosions.
 * Use Blood of the Master to keep minions alive between battles.

Check General minion mastery guide for an in depth discussion of minion usage.

Counters

 * Remove the enchantments upon which the build depends.
 * Exploit the corpses with faster-casting Necromancer skills.
 * Use Smiting Prayers, which double damage against undead creatures.
 * Use high-level magical Area of Effect damage against the low-level minions before they come into Death Nova range.

Variants

 * Use Bone Fiends, Vampiric Horrors, or Bone Horrors instead of minions for longer lasting undead followers.
 * Use Spirit Channeling to provide energy for creating a constant supply of Bone Fiends or Horrors and fund Blood of the Master.
 * Attuned Was Songkai may also be used for energy management when focusing on higher cost undead animations, but keep in mind it negates all weapons and off-hands while being held.
 * Add quickly recharging spirits such as Destruction and use Rupture Soul, possibly drawing them into position with Draw Spirit allowing you to deal damage on creation and destruction of the spirit.
 * Use Taste of Death instead of Signet of Creation to focus on killing off specific minions, specifically the Flesh Golem to create a new one, to trigger Death Nova when required, and to self-heal.
 * Use Generous Was Tsungrai with a few extra points towards Restoration when low on health and immediately drop to heal.
 * Reduce Spawning Power, increase Restoration, and add spirits such as Recuperation to help your teammates and minions last longer.
 * If a resurrection skill is necessary, leave out either Blood of the Master or Rotting Flesh. If you increase Restoration, take Flesh of My Flesh.
 * Switch out Rotting Flesh for Bitter Chill for spammable damage, Vile Miasma for damage and degen, or Deathly Swarm for groups of enemies.

Nightfall Variations

 * Swap out Blood of the Master for Spirit's Gift and Rotting Flesh for Putrid Flesh, for disease/degen on your foes and healing/condition removal for your minions.
 * Swap out Flesh Golem for Reclaim Essence for superior Energy management or areas with heavy Enchantment removal. Or, Jagged Bones makes every allied minion an "exploitable corpse", ensuring an infinite source of bomb material, another activation of Explosive Growth, and another source of degen via Bleeding.

= Rt/R Wanderlust Lord =

This build is about supporting and protecting casters while allowing damage dealers to eliminate opponents through using Wanderlust and Shadowsong to keep enemies at bay.

Attributes and skills

 * Optional skills should be a self heal, Troll Unguent works well, but its long cast time is undesirable to some.
 * Doom was suggested and can be used for added damage to help your group's damage output.
 * Draw Spirit can be helpful in fast moving environments.

Equipment

 * Armor:: Any armor really works, energy management shouldn't be an issue but never hurts.
 * Weapons:: Insightful Communing Staff of Fortitude or Hale, the added health cushion comes in handy.

Usage

 * Put Boon of Creation on yourself at the start of the match and keep renewing it as needed, its recharge is slightly less than its duration so use that as a guide.
 * Activate Serpent's Quickness just before you complete your first ritual.
 * Put down Wanderlust first, then Shadowsong
 * Other spirits down in any order
 * Maintain Boon of Creation and keep dropping spirits as soon as they're recharged
 * Exception:: Pain lasts much longer than its recharge so judge that as needed
 * Try to always have Serpent's Quickness on before dropping Wanderlust, otherwise there's a large gap where you won't have it.

Counters

 * Interrupt Rangers and Mesmers can trash this build, if you find you're being interrupted try dropping Union first, and hope they interrupt that, then put down Shadowsong or Wanderlust when they don't have an interrupt ready.
 * Diversion can also do some damage to this build, so take note when it's on you, and what you're casting next. Pain is the best to cast to take Diversion away because of the shorter recharge and long life span.

Variants

 * Spirits can be changed out; Earthbind may be preferred by some to keep them on the ground after Wanderlust.
 * Subclass can be changed to Mesmer and use Mantra of Concentration or Mantra of Resolve to foil interrupts but the recharge time hurts this build a lot.
 * Mantra of Resolve can also devastate your energy supply, so be careful
 * Add Brambles and make sure you are using Devona, knockdown Heroes, or knockdown based party members for a great time. If you can get another party member to add Lacerate lots of things will die really quickly.
 * If you want to have a higher damage output you may want to put in Bloodsong instead of Union.
 * In Luxon vs. Kurzicks you can sub Draw Spirit in for Resurrection Signet because your teamate will be revived quickly and Draw Spirit will enable you to bring your spirits to the front lines faster. Also when your doing this instead of putting Draw Spirit in the optional spot you can put a healing spell like Spirit Light in there.
 * For TA when you are certain you will have a dedicated healer this build deals more damage and disrupts the enemy much more. Casting is same as standard build, right down the line.

Equipment

 * Emissary's Armor for additional armor.
 * A Zealous sword or axe of Enchanting with +15% Damage While Enchanted modifiers.
 * The weapon modifiers aren't strictly needed.
 * A Spawning offhand of Fortitude with "Faith is my Shield" inscription.
 * You may take a shield instead if you want more armor.
 * The best Vigor Rune available to help offset the Superior Rune and increase overall survival.
 * 2x Rune of Vitae.

Usage

 * Before engaging in combat, activate Spirit's Strength and follow up with Vital Weapon.
 * Proceed to attack your chosen target with the help of Flurry.
 * If you are ever blinded, activate Sight Beyond Sight to quickly cancel the blind effect and prevent future applications for 20 seconds. Alternately, if you suspect blinding or enchantment removal from your target, apply the skill before engaging your target.
 * Use Wielder's Boon for healing.

Sword:
 * Use Distracting Blow to interrupt important skills.
 * Use Final Thrust to finish off enemies.

Axe:
 * Use Dismember to inflict a deep wound.
 * Use Executioner's Strike for additional damage.

Counters

 * As this build is a pressure build, Weakness will lower the overall damage, lessening the impact of the pressure.


 * Relying on an enchantments for the additional damage, the build is susceptible to enchantment removal. If such techniques are suspected it is advisable to use sight beyond sight as a cover enchantment.

Variants

 * In Alliance Battle and Competitive Mission battles, the Resurrection Signet can be removed and replaced with Weapon of Warding, Sprint, or another attack skill.
 * In PvE, the Resurrection Signet can be replaced with Flesh of My Flesh for a reusable res skill.

Axe:
 * Replace Flurry for Furious Axe or any other attack skill.
 * Replace Dismember or Flurry for Cyclone Axe for areas where there are a lot of enemies.
 * Replace one of the attacks with Distracting Blow or Disrupting Chop if you think you'll need to interrupt enemies.

Sword:
 * Replace Distracting Blow and Final Thrust with Sever Artery and Gash.
 * Replace Distracting Blow with Hamstring if you want to stop kiting enemies.
 * Replace Distracting Blow with Savage Slash.

Either:
 * Replace one of the attacks with Wild Blow to remove stances that prevent you from hitting.

Attributes and Skills

 * In AB you will not need a resurrect.

Equipment

 * Halcyon's Armor for the extra energy never hurts, or Oracle's Armor for the armor bonus.
 * Weapons are not crucial to this build as you will not be using them most of the time.

Usage
Begin by summoning the spirit of Empowerment, and follow up with Ghostly Haste and Attuned Was Songkai. Pick a target, preferably a soft one, and use Spirit Rift, Spirit Burn, and Channeled Strike, with Renewing Surges in between. In this way you can keep dealing damage while your stronger spells recharge.

Counters
Backfire; this is a spamming build. Energy denial will not hurt much, unless Attuned Was Songkai is interrupted.

Variants

 * Lively Was Naomei can be used as an AoE resurrect.
 * Draw Spirit is useful to have when paired with an NPC that is constantly on the move.
 * Destruction could replace Empowerment with its low recharge, or Bloodsong to increase damage. As long as a spirit is there to trigger key skills, the particular spirit is up to personal preference.
 * Ancestors' Rage is useful if there is a tank in your party, or if a monster somehow finds its way to you.
 * Soothing Memories is a useful self-heal, synergizing well with Attuned, but to make it truly effective more points would have to be moved into Restoration Magic.

= Rt/any Attuned Restorer =

This Ritualist Restoration build uses Attuned Was Songkai to create a whirlwind of healing and support, and is very effective at energy management. It is usually coupled with at least one Monk and aims to help save fading life and to ease their job.

Equipment

 * Halcyon's Armor for maximum energy or Mystic's Armor (you will be spamming skills constantly). You will usually not gain the effects of any equipped weapons.
 * No weapons or foci (see usage).
 * +15 energy -1 regen Restoration Focus and 20% recharge wand (see usage).

Usage

 * At 16 Spawning Power, Attuned Was Songkai provides 53% reduction in spell/ritual costs. For 5 energy spells, the game rounds down to 2; for 10, to 5; and for 15 it rounds to 7. Note because it reduces cost you can begin casting the spell/ritual as soon as you have the reduced cost, not the regular cost.
 * Your weapon and/or focus item are not used when Attuned Was Songkai is active. When a battle begins, you start with Attuned Was Songkai, which fills your hands. It is recommended to switch to an empty weapon slot for this build most of the time. Attuned Was Songkai causes you to stop holding your weapons, which can have the same negative energy effect as switching to weapons with no energy bonus.
 * Although you begin holding weapons again as soon as Attuned Was Songkai ends, if you cast it at only 10 energy with your weapons equipped you will receive a lot of negative energy, making you wait a dangerous amount of time with 0 energy. You only have no items in your hand for 15 seconds (Attuned Was Songkai lasts 45 seconds, recharges in 60), after which you re-cast it. One trick to get by this is to swap for a +15 energy -1 regen focus for that time, to cast one or two spells, then swapping back to the empty slot before re-casting Attuned Was Songkai.
 * Soothing Memories also helps with energy management. The spell costs 2 energy while holding Songkai's Ashes and returns 3 energy because you are holding an item, resulting in a free heal.
 * Use Recuperation immediately after Attuned Was Songkai when a battle begins. Recuperation, if placed in a safe location, will usually last the whole battle. Recuperation also greatly takes pressure off monks, because it fixes small healing tasks and counters weak degen, such as that from Bleeding.
 * If Attuned Was Songkai ever fast recharges, either from weapons or a Morale Boost, do not re-cast it until it's effects are about to fade. Heal someone instead, or save if for the next battle. It is sometimes smarter to not re-cast it if the battle is only going to last another 10-15 seconds or so, because you need it recharged for the next battle.

Counters

 * Interrupt Attuned Was Songkai, an Elite Item Spell.
 * Kill the Recuperation spirit.
 * Divert, Power Block, or Backfire the healer. Any anti-spamming tactic works.

Variants

 * Resilient Weapon can be replaced with Signet of Capture, a Celestial Skill, or something else your party needs.
 * A Rt/Me variant of this build uses Arcane Echo to copy Soothing Memories for a spin of free heals. Arcane Echo, however, still costs 8 energy to cast. This build can be less effective if you don't compensate for Arcane Echo's downtime.
 * Spirit Light is effective in PvE, where you rarely have to move away from your Recuperation Spirit. Resilient Weapon or either of the other healing spells can be replaced in this situation.
 * Flesh of My Flesh can be swapped for a better Resurrection skill, such as Rebirth if you're a monk secondary. Resurrection Signet is usually a better choice in areas where there are many bosses that can recharge it, or at times when fast, in-battle resurrection is crucial.
 * Replace Resilient Weapon with Ghostly Haste to keep Attuned Was Songkai up indefinitely.
 * Switch to Ranger secondary to use Serpent's Quickness immediately before (or during) the casting of Attuned Was. That will make Attuned match Serpent's 45 second recharge, allowing you to keep Attuned up indefinitely.
 * Replace Weapon of Warding with Wielder's Boon. Use boon on any targets under resilient weapon. Do not use with Vengeful Weapon since it will be likely removed very quickly.
 * This build is incredibly resilient as it is, so two superiors are easy to use. In that case, use a headgear for restoration instead of spawning. The difference between 15 and 16 on Spawning Power will not affect the cost reduction on 5 or 10 energy spells, and the 16 Restoration will make your spells much more effective.

Attributes and Skills

 * Communing and Channeling should both be as high as possible - choose runes based on your confidence level. I put Channeling in the top spot because of the increased effects of Painful Bond and Warmonger's Weapon, and because the life-stealing effect of Bloodsong is less vulnerable to damage reduction than the damage of Pain.


 * Depending on the monsters you face, you may wish to bring other spirits in place of Dissonance, Restoration, or indeed anything past Painful Bond. In many areas Shadowsong is a helpful thing to have.  The build as presented here is my general-purpose construction.


 * For a Factions-only variant, bring Brutal Weapon in place of Warmonger's Weapon and Boon of Creation in place of Wielder's Strike.


 * If interrupts are not needed, replace Dissonance with Anguish and Warmonger's Weapon with Splinter Weapon, which has the added advantage of a very long duration that enhances the "prepare outside of combat" aspect of the build.

Equipment

 * Armor: Halcyon's armor or Radiant insignia.
 * Weapons: Ideally, Wayward Wand (Channeling-based) and Kayin's Focus. Energy management is important but not crucial.

Usage
This build depends on the fact that Anguished Was Lingwah is NOT a Binding Ritual, and hence does not trigger the benefit of Soul Twisting. Thus, it is possible to essentially pre-cast two offensive spirits outside of combat, and place them quickly when combat begins. Since most of the skill recharge time happens between combats, the build is essentially combat-ready at any time.

When you first step out into the environment, cast Bloodsong. Immediately target the resulting Spirit of Bloodsong and cast Soul Twisting, followed by Anguished Was Lingwah. You should be able to carry the ashes into your first combat - if not, it will be recharged, so just cast it again.

Proceed to wherever you intend to plant your spirits for battle. When you are ready to fight, drop Lingwah's Ashes and cast Dissonance, then Bloodsong. You will have a Spirit of Pain instantly, a Spirit of Dissonance two seconds later, and a Spirit of Bloodsong three seconds after that. Pick a central target for Painful Bond, then cast Warmonger's Weapon and start picking on enemy spellcasters. Use Wielder's Strike if you need a damage spike, and Restoration if your side looks like they might be in trouble (or especially if it looks like you may die yourself).

Dissonance usually won't last the whole combat, but the instant recharge feature of Soul Twisting allows you to re-cast it immediately when it dies. With practice you can target it with Soul Twisting and kill it before it dies, then re-cast it quickly and keep it perpetually charged.

For smaller battles, you can skip Dissonance entirely and just cast Bloodsong; Soul Twisting will reduce the casting time to one second, meaning your two spirits are up before your enemies can muster a response.

After a combat ends, target any allied spirit and re-cast Soul Twisting, then Anguished Was Lingwah. You're ready to go again!

Counters

 * AoE damage can quickly take your spirits down. To counteract this, move around a little between spirits.  It will take a little extra time but nothing close to the normal casting time of Binding Rituals.


 * Binding Rituals can be interrupted. The spirit conjured by Anguished Was Lingwah is unaffected, but the other two can be blocked by timely interrupts.  Fortunately, whichever spirit you summon first gets an instant recharge, so whoever interrupts you had better be prepared to do it more than once.

Template
= Rt/any Continual Channeler =

Many Ritualist builds center around the summoning of spirits to support the party in battle. This build is designed as an alternative for those ritualists who would like to play a more direct offensive role within the party. It is called the Continual Channeler because users of this build will be continually channeling lightning damage to their enemies.

Attributes and Skills

 * This build does not have any unused attribute points and its elite slot is unfilled.
 * Renewing Surge may be changed to include the elite skills Soul Twisting, Caretaker's Charge and Spirit Channeling. If you choose the latter, you may want to go with the more Spawning Power-oriented variation listed below.

Variants

 * Restoration Magic can be lowered to 6 + 1 and Spawning Power raised to 11 + 1 to increase the longevity of your spirit. However, this means that the self-heal will be less effective.
 * Generous Was Tsungrai can be replaced by a more immediate healing spell like Mend Body and Soul, which also doubles as condition removal, or Resilient Weapon for extra armor while suffering from a hex or condition.
 * Spirit Rift can be added to deal some (one-shot) AOE damage on clumped foes.
 * Spirit Siphon can be swapped in to steal energy from your spirit.
 * Signet of Spirits can be swapped. Provided there is no interruption or energy denial, this build can be kept up indefinitely using the Signet of Spirits.

Equipment

 * Channeler's Headwrap with rune of Superior Channeling
 * Harbinger's Armor for the rest of the body (Mystic can be substituted for more armor while casting)
 * Minor runes for all supporting attributes
 * Superior Vigor rune to counteract penalty from Superior Channeling rune
 * Channeling staff with 20/20 HCT/HSR Channeling modifier
 * Ssyn's Staff

Usage

 * Open by casting Bloodsong. This provides a spirit which triggers all your skills' secondary effects. (If there are other Ritualists in the party, you may also choose to work from their spirits since you will be able to help keep the spirits alive with the healing effect of Spirit Boon Strike.)
 * Use the four attack spells on the bar from left to right. The healing from Spirit Boon Strike will more than counter the health the spirit loses from Gaze from Beyond.
 * Cycle attack skills as they recharge, making sure that you are always in the vicinity of a spirit when you cast Essence Strike, as this helps your energy management.
 * Cast and drop Generous Was Tsungrai as and when you need a heal, or hold it to increase your maximum Health.
 * If you should cast Flesh of My Flesh on a fallen ally, you can quickly regain the health that you lost by casting and dropping Generous Was Tsungrai.
 * You should not run out of Energy while using this build unless you meet energy denial foes or the battle is extremely protracted. If you do run out of energy, spam Essence Strike to help yourself out.

Counters

 * Destroy the spirit to reduce this build's effectiveness. However, note that two of the four attack spells do the same amount of damage with or without a spirit present.
 * Energy denial and anti-spam hexes, since this is a spamming build.