User:Mr Imagination

Hello im just using this to save builds on. Erm not actually sure if im allowed to do it but im trying it.

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

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

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

Optional slot variations:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Template Guide The Skills Template for this build is: ASRR4uImzYQ5YzYVfcfngkA

Burning Arrow Version

Template Guide The Skills Template for this build is: ASRx4uKOz6obfMzGpjvJBkEOOA

Retrieved from "Build:R/Me_Fissure_Forest_Farmer"

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

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

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

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

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

Retrieved from "Build:R/Me_Underworld_Speed_Trap_Solo"

This Bold Forge Runner build was especially designed for the Droknar's Forge run with a Ranger. It makes clever use of the Ranger's abilities to recharge skills faster to use Balanced Stance, and "Charge!" twice in a row. The downside is that one has to tank out hexes, and conditions successfully.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Ranger / Warrior Attribute Rank Expertise 8 + 1 + 1 Wilderness Survival 10 + 1 Tactics 12

Dodge Zojun's Haste Serpent's Quickness "Shields Up!" "Charge!" Balanced Stance Troll Unguent Healing Signet

[edit] Equipment [edit] Armor Full Sentry's Armor for extra armor (+10 AL in stance). Full Fur-Lined Armor for the extra +15 AL against cold damage. This helps a lot vs. the ice imps and ice golems, which will usually be the reason you're stuck tanking in the first place. It's also the best option if you're limited to prophecies. Note: Your armor level (AL) is more important than your energy pool due to hex- and condition-tanking, that is why it is not advised to use the popular Druid's Armor here.

[edit] Runes Rune of Major or Superior Vigor [edit] Weapons Any one-handed weapon that increases health, and/or energy: Sword with +5 Energy and +30 HP NOTE: There is a cheap +25hp axe that is given as a reward for completing the Scavengers in Old Ascalon quest. It makes a good beginning/budget running weapon since it is free and obtainable early and easily.

Any shield with either stance and/or health modifications: Grognar's Defender - the Runner's Best Stance Shield Choice. Emboldened Carapace Shield from Hagnon Warblade [Health +60 (while hexed), Received damage -3 (while hexed)] - for hex passages of this runs. Crimson Carapace Shield from Lord Dorn Lendrigen [Health +45 (while in a stance), Received physical damage -2 (while in a stance)] NOTE: The above shield has identical stats to Grognar's Defender, and can be obtained with greater ease.

An additional weapon or shield with a -20% crippled mod. [edit] Usage [edit] General The Running Sequence provides a constant speed boost, whereas the Anti-KD Sequence fully protects from knockdown effects for a long time. Pay attention to hexes, and conditions which can put you in grave danger if not tanked out correctly.

[edit] Running Sequence Use Dodge, Zojun's Haste and "Charge!" for a constant speed boost. Dodge and Zojun's Haste give a 33% speed boost, but "Charge!" only gives a 25% speed boost Note #1: With Dodge and Zojun's Haste you can evade missile attacks.

Note #2: "Charge!" is the only Warrior running skill that can be used together with Balanced Stance, as it is a shout and not a stance. Remember: Only one stance can be used at a time.

[edit] Anti-KD Sequence The Anti-Knockdown Sequence protects you from knockdowns by Frost Wurms, Tundra Giants, and Siege Ice Golems. Furthermore, it adds protection against damage.

Activate Serpent's Quickness, "Shields Up!", "Charge!", and Balanced Stance (in this order). You will be able to use "Charge!" twice in one Balanced Stance recharge cycle. Balanced Stance will recharge immediately after that due to the enhanced recharge time that Serpent's Quickness (SQ) gives, but beware that there will be about a 2-3 second gap in coverage before you can reactivate it (assuming 12 tactics). Shields Up is optional, depending on the situation. It's good for going by Tundra Giants and the first wurm area with the Avicara. Use it whenever you know ranged damage is coming your way. Note: If you run into a situation where you're going to run out of Balanced Stance before you're out of harms way, you can try the following. As soon as the Balanced Stance icon begins blinking, indicating that it's about to end, hit your Troll Unguent. You should be able to get Troll Unguent on just before Balanced Stance expires, thus giving you a little edge on tanking while you wait for it to finish recharging. If you miss this, then you may be unable to activate Troll Unguent because of the knockdowns.

Note: "Shields Up!" is used right away to protect you from extra damage. It is not an essential part of the Anti-Knockdown Sequence, but comes in handy for taking less damage.

[edit] Healing Try to use Troll Unguent before engaging large damage-dealing mobs. Be aware of the long casting time of 3 seconds. Use Healing Signet in safe areas where regeneration is possible. [edit] Handling Hexes This build has no anti-hex, or anti-condition mechanism. You are forced to tank out the damage and keep on jogging.

Activate "Shields Up!", and Troll Unguent to counter damage, and/or degeneration. Try to avoid ice golems. If there is no way to get past one (or a group of them), use troll unguent before going by and then do Serpent's Quickness + Charge + Shields Up + Balanced Stance. You can also try to use Dodge or Stormchaser to get by them quickly and then do the mentioned combo when the first hex hits you. Sometimes if you're lucky you can get far enough away from them that by the time the first hex lands, they are out of attack range and they may not harass you any more than that. The main danger from the ice golems isn't really them killing you, but the other things that hang out with them killing you while you're slowed. This can either be Avicara and Frost Wurms at the first wurm area, Grawl at the large ice golem/Grawl field, or even trolls if you get that one ice golem that spawns at the second troll cave in Snake Dance. The first wurm area and the grawl field are probably the hardest parts of the entire run for this build if the ice golems spawn/patrol in such a way that you cannot sneak by them. Avoid Stone Summit Heretics like the plague. Crippling Anguish + Conjure Phantasm will snare and shred you quite quickly. The only place where this is really survivable is at the very end of Snake Dance when Camp Rankor is in sight. The Heretic that sometimes spawns there is by itself, other than some Blessed Griffons which are (thankfully) hostile towards it. If you get hexed there you actually have a good chance of surviving and getting to Camp Rankor. Sometimes the griffons even attack it before it tries to hex you, in which case you get a smooth end to your run through Snake Dance. Everywhere else Heretics spell almost certain death. [edit] Variants Whirling Defense can replace Healing Signet for a better tanking out hexes, and conditions. Be aware that you have no quick-heal then. Storm Chaser can replace Zojun's Haste if you do not have Factions. [edit] See Also For the R/Mo sister Droknar build, being a total different approach to Droknar running, have a look at R/Mo Bold Forge Runner. For further tips on Droknar running have a look at W/Mo Bold Forge Runner. Retrieved from "Build:R/W_Bold_Forge_Runner" This is a PvE build. It also works well in PvP against Necromancers, Mesmers, and other rangers. It is also an excellent build for evolving a new pet into a dire pet (see animal companion for details), as the pet does incredible damage with Enraged Lunge. This is a Prophecies+Factions build.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Ranger / Any Attribute Rank Beast Mastery 10 + 2 Expertise 11 + 1 + 2 Wilderness Survival 10

Enraged Lunge Symbiotic Bond Call of Protection Predatory Bond Call of Haste Troll Unguent Comfort Animal Charm Animal

See "Variants" on the choice of healing skill. [edit] Equipment Use a Longbow or a Flatbow to get your pet to attack foes while keeping the foes out of your aggro area. While your pet is attacking, use a staff that maximizes energy and health (Kole's Torment, Illyana's Staff, Bohdabi's Spire or a maximized Insightful Staff Of Fortitude are ideal). The sole purpose of the weapon is to tell the pet who to attack. Use Explorer's Armor to maximize health. [edit] Usage General usage of this build:

As soon as you enter the explorable area, use Symbiotic Bond and Call of Protection. These will protect your pet, and will be the first two skills that will be recharging for you. As soon as combat starts, use Call of Haste and Predatory Bond. Now that you have 4 skills recharging, use Enraged Lunge repeatedly for +80 damage every 5 seconds. Use Troll Unguent repeatedly, as your pet is sharing your health. On the rare occasion that your pet does take heavy damage, use Comfort Animal to restore its health. Key mindset of this strategy:

With the exception of Charm Animal and Comfort Animal, no skill should ever remain fully charged in combat. You need your skills to be constantly recharging to fuel Enraged Lunge. With a high Expertise you should not run into any energy issues except when fighting multiple bosses. This is because each time a boss dies, your skills reset. With this build you need your skills to be constantly recharging, so killing a boss means a slight energy drain from using your 4 shouts again. Remember that you can use any of the shouts and the Enraged Lunge even while you are activating Troll Unguent. [edit] Variants Replace Call of Haste and/or Predatory Bond with one or two pet attacks, such as Brutal Strike, for more damage. When using multiple pet attacks, however, remember to watch the pet's damage closely to ensure that the first attack hits before the second attack is played. Otherwise, only one of the attacks will succeed. If you are playing a R/W, replace Troll Unguent with Healing Signet, and redistribute all attribute points from Wilderness Survival into Tactics. This provides more healing (230 vs 160 over a given 10 second period), and uses less energy. Otyugh's Cry can replace Call of Protection, giving your pet an Armor bonus and unblockable attacks for a short time. If it will not be needed for a run, replace Symbiotic Bond with an optional skill. An extra pet attack: Brutal Strike or Disrupting Lunge are good. Disrupting Lunge can be very annoying in PvP. Be sure to go R/W and carry Healing Signet if you do this so you don't have to spend energy healing. A nature ritual like Symbiosis or Edge of Extinction A defensive stance or shout like Whirling Defense or Watch Yourself! [edit] Notes Your pet can take 900+ damage (with Symbiotic Bond, the pet shares your hit points) Deals 80-120 points of damage every 5 seconds in addition to normal level 20 dire pet attacks. Prevent up to 17 damage per hit (Call of Protection) Attack 25% faster (Call of Haste) and gain 25 points of life per hit (Predatory Bond). Ability to flee personally while still dealing damage with the pet, and the ability to resurrect the attacking portion (Comfort Animal). Ability to continuously attack while healing (Troll Unguent). Enraged Lunge only requires 3 skills to be recharging to deal its maximum damage if you have 13 beast mastery, as it counts itself as recharging. If using Zojun's Haste to solo, start the pull with the bow. Shoot two arrows, activate Zojun's Haste, and flee. Move until the encounter is about on the edge of the mini-map. Sit back, spam pet attacks and healing signet. After your target has died, select another quickly and move to attack, but cancel your attack immediatly; this will cause the pet to move to the new target. This works well with most mobs but large ones will kill the master due to Healing Signet being overwhelmed by the redirected damage from Symbiotic Bond. [edit] Templates Template Guide The Skills Template for this build is: ASNhVvLWHZ5phzoK/M+GazmB

Retrieved from "Build:R/any_Tank_Master"

The R/any Solo Desert Trapper can be used to farm slowly but surely in the Crystal Desert. Its main purpose is to gather collectable drops, which can often be traded for decent weapons. Of course, a fair amount of keys, gold, and gold items can be found as well.

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

Poison Arrow Serpent's Quickness Dust Trap Barbed Trap Flame Trap Toxicity Troll Unguent Storm Chaser

[edit] Equipment Druid's Armor. A Flatbow or Longbow. A Recurve Bow or Composite Bow. Poisonous bow strings work very well. [edit] Usage See General Guidelines.

[edit] General Guidelines Use the Flatbow or Longbow to lure your enemies onto the traps and use the Recurve Bow or Composite Bow when firing Poison Arrow. Always activate Serpent's Quickness before laying traps. Lay them in this order: Dust Trap, Barbed Trap, Flame Trap. You should be able to lay down two sets of traps just as Serpent's Quickness ends. It's safe to lay a third set afterwards, as well, but any more and you run the risk of letting some traps self-detonate before any enemies reach them. Dust Trap causes Blindness, allowing you to set more traps right under the enemy if needed. Lay down a Spirit of Toxicity somewhere in the area but far enough away that it won't get attacked. In times of trouble, you can always run past it and let the enemies kill it instead of attacking you. Make sure Serpent's Quickness is up first; the recharge time is quite long. You can out-regen the damage of most but not all monsters with Troll Unguent - it's usually safe to cast it before activating Storm Chaser and running away. The following can be farmed in Diviner's Ascent, leave from Elona Reach:

Sand Drakes (Topaz Crest) - Approach these and stop just short of aggro range. Activate Serpent's Quickness and lay double sets of traps. Now, shoot off a Poison Arrow to each Drake and back up - let the Drakes run over your traps. They should be dead, if not, the degen will soon kill them. Sometimes Drakes are linked in aggro but are spread far apart - watch the radar carefully for any incoming Drakes. It can mess up your trapping badly if one or two don't hit the traps at the same time as the others. In this case it is best to pull a retreat or out-regen them with Troll Unguent and Poison Arrow. Rockshot Devourers (Bleached Carapace) - These are annoying, because they are also trappers and they carry Distracting Shot, but mostly because they tend to pop up at the most inopportunate moments. Follow a similar procedure as with Drakes, but keep a farther distance between you and the Devourers so as to avoid accidentally aggroing them prematurely. Once your traps are set, hit them with Poison Arrow and run slowly back to your traps. Devourers are less pull-friendly than Drakes so you'll have to give them more time. Do not try to set any more traps unless you are sure the Devourers are blind. It often takes two or more rounds of traps to kill Devourers, so you may wish to simply pick them off with hit-and-run Poison Arrows. A good counter-tactic to Distracting Shot is to start activating Troll Unguent and immediately cancel it by moving - the Devourers will use Distracting Shot and waste it. With a 10 second recharge, you have plenty of time to cast Troll Unguent in peace. The following can be farmed in Skyward Reach, leave from Augury Rock:

Hydra (Dessicated Hydra Claw) - They are very dangerous to farm with this build, but it can still be done. Lay traps safely away from them and then use Poison Arrow. They will always use Meteor or Fireball, so immediately use Storm Chaser and run away. They should still follow. Lead them over the traps - this will cause Crippled. Now it's just a matter of waiting for degen and dodging Fireballs. Don't try to take on more than two at once. Storm Kin (Shriveled Eye) - More dangerous than most but safer than Hydras. Follow the usual procedures, and you should be fine. Counter Conjure Phantasm with Troll Unguent. The following can be farmed in The Scar, leave from Thirsty River:

Dune Burrower (Dune Burrower Jaw) - These are stationary, so with the Flatbow or Longbow you can sometimes take them out without any opposition (try to get a height advantage). Otherwise, just hit them with Poison Arrow and move outside their range. They will try to counter with Healing Spring, just shoot them to disrupt it. There will always be Jade Scarab and/or Rock-Eater Scarab buried nearby, so it may be wise to take them out first. Jade Scarab and Rock-Eater Scarab (Jade Mandible) - These are more fragile than the other monsters and are often killed with the first sets of traps, so treat them like Sand Drakes. Remember that Jade Scarab carry Plague Touch, so try to not let them get within melee range. If they do, though, use Troll Unguent to counter the degeneration. Sand Giant (Massive Jawbone) - These have Plague Touch and are more sturdy than Jade Scarab, so they are a bit tough. They also knockdown with Giant Stomp occasionally. However they are fairly slow so you can generally use hit-and-run tactics after the first wave of traps. They also rely on self-caused Conditions and Plague Touch to transfer them - Crippled from Barbed Trap is very potent against them. The following can be farmed in Prophet's Path, leave from Augury Rock:

Desert Griffon (Iridescent Griffon Wing)- Requires a lot of patience, they use "I Will Survive!" to counter your Conditions. They are often more trouble than they are worth, but if you really need those Griffon Wings this build is a surefire way to get them...eventually. There are of course much more effective Tanking builds that have been made for Griffons especially, but this build can still do them. Minotaur (Minotaur Horn) - These are easy. Follow the same procedure as Drakes, but remember that Minotaurs often run in a patrol route rather than lazing around in one spot. Marrow Scarab and Scarab Nest Builder - for some reason neither of these drop any Collectible Drop, don't bother trying to kill them if you don't have to. They are hard to kill, anyways...Marrow Scarab will use Plague Touch and Virulence to devastating effect, and Scarab Nest Builder have Distracting Shot ready to interrupt Troll Unguent, as well as being Trappers themselves. In the event that comflict is unavoidable, lay down three or even four sets of traps to eliminate the Marrow Scarabs in one go. But stay out of Touch range! Salving Cactus (Spiny Seed) - While it can be hard to find them, they are very easy to farm. They don't move much and always cast Holy Wrath first - so start off with Dust Trap to blind them. After that you can finish them off any way you choose. Note, there are always one or two of these outside Heroes' Audience, beware the Sand Elementals though. Notes on other creatures:

Sand Wurm (Bleached Shell) - Good luck finding one, and good luck soloing it. Not recommended, but it could be done. Enchanted (Forgotten Seal) - They are immune to Poison and Bleeding and can't be farmed with this build. Sand Elemental (Encrusted Lodestone) - Like Enchanted, these are immune to Poison and Bleeding and thus can't be farmed. Besides that, they are very dangerous. [edit] Counters Blind to some extent, though with Antidote Signet or another remedy (see Variants) this is no problem. Crippled, though no monsters in the Desert inflict this condition except the Barbed Traps of Scarab Nest Builders. Sudden spike damage, such as what occurs when facing Sand Elementals. Always use Storm Chaser and run away when in danger! [edit] Variants Oath Shot, Spike Trap, or Trapper's Focus could be used instead of Poison Arrow for a purely Trapping build, though it plays a bit differently from the Posion Arrow one. For farming Minotaurs, Throw Dirt can be a viable skill to replace Toxicity. It will let you set more traps instead of having to run away. Antidote Signet, Mending Touch (R/Mo), and Remedy Signet (R/P) are also excellent skills to consider bringing along. In the event you step on a Dust Trap or Barbed Trap, these will let you counter them effectively. However, this is not too common an occurance, and generally bringing Toxicity will yield a better net effectiveness. Natural Stride is a viable alternative running skill to Storm Chaser if you're not facing enemies that use Hexes. Trapper's Speed is a good skill to consider bringing instead of Toxicity. Activate it just before Serpent's Quickness expires.

Retrieved from "Build:R/any_Solo_Desert_Trapper"

This build is a basic barrage ranger that can be used and modified for many situations and secondary professions, the main goal is to use the common elite skill Barrage so as to synergize with other skills for a better effect or at least other skills that compliment it in its most common uses. This is most often used to target groups of enemies as well as solo areas with increases to damage output or other effects on each barrage.

[edit] Attributes and skills The base is below but to give a more detailed description of the attributes, the highest score is always in Marksmanship (often maxed at 16 but other times it can be as low as 12 depending on the secondary profession used - see below), 9 or 14 ranks in Expertise to effect 10 energy skills primarily (or 8 or 13 if all skills used are 5 energy), and Wilderness Survival is good at 8 or 10 for the use of Troll Unguent or to switch out for secondary profession skill ranks.

Ranger / Any Attribute Rank Expertise 8-12 + 1 or + 2 Marksmanship 8-12 + 1 + 1-3 Others 0-12

Common Core Barrage baseline:
 * The above attributes are a good baseline to work with and can be adjusted as playstyle/preference allows.

Barrage Distracting Shot Savage Shot Antidote Signet Favorable Winds Whirling Defense Troll Unguent Generic resurrect

[edit] Equipment Any armor can be used though Druid's is best if energy is lacking. Scout's is a poor choice as preparations will not be used in a Barrage build. A Flatbow is commonly used in a barrage build provided Favorable Winds is brought as well to lessen the large arrow arc from a Flatbow and to help speed the arrows to their targets. Otherwise, each bow has it's own ups and downs but can be used as preffered. Vampiric or Zealous bow strings are used a lot in Barrage builds as you get multiple hits per shot (provided the build doesn't call for an elemental string) though a Sundering string is a good stand by if you don't want to worry about the degen or makes a good switch out weapon. [edit] Usage The function of a barrage build varies slightly but the overall effect is to do damage to a group of foes with each use. Therefore, attacking the central most target in a group is desired for the best effect rather than the closest. Placement of any spirits before hand is key as they usually increase the damage and speed the arrows fly at. Be sure to place them where they will be effective yet not attacked by enemies. Often, interrupt skills are brought along to take out any big skills or those that might hurt you like Meteor Shower or Resurrect as examples of big skills or Empathy and Spiteful Spirit as examples of skills that can seriously hinder or hurt you. Be aware that you will have to wait for the barrage animation to finish before the interrupt will fire. Some sort of self heal, condition removal (primarily for blindness), or defensive stance is popular as well though not required. [edit] Counters Any standard melee/ranger counters such as blindness, on attack/hit hexes, and/or blocking. Energy denial. [edit] Variants Support or damage enhancing skills often brought from the ranger skill line may include but are not limited to: Throw Dirt as an emergency skill to blind foes attacking you or your allies. Winnowing to add 4 damage to each arrow. Conflagration to change your bow's damage type to fire damage. Winter to change any elemental damage to cold damage. Barrage/Pet Variant

Adding a pet to the build with then turn you into what is referred to as a B/P ranger. Pet attacks will not slow your rate of fire as they are all shouts. Often, a team will consist mostly of these creating a pet wall and multiple barragers, or just have one around. Multiple variants can be found for this at Build:Team - Barrage/Pet (Tomb Ruins). [edit] Variants with Secondary Professions [edit] R/Warrior Attributes levels usually are in Tactics and at around 8-9 ranks should do it in most cases. Shouts can be used without interrupting the fire rate flow thus making them useful and often charged with the high adrenaline gain from barrage if they are adrenaline based. "Watch Yourself!" charges quickly and can increase the party's AL without any cast time. This also combines well with Soldier's Defense. "Fear Me!" can be used repeatedly to reduce the enemy's energy levels though this typically has a minor effect if any on an enemy's seemingly limitless energy pool. "Shields Up!" can be used to reduce the damage your party members take from projectiles. Healing Signet can be used as an alternate, energy free, though risky heal. Protector's Defense can be used to help those near you as you often will not move while barraging.

[edit] R/Monk Solo Vigorous Barrager

Use: Cast and maintain Live Vicariously. Before battle put up Symbiosis to gain the extra health it offers from enchantments. When entering a battle, cast Vigorous Spirit. When enemies start to pile up, use Barrage to take full advantage of the healing provided by a vampiric bow, Live Vicariously, and Vigorous Spirit.

Other skills:

Attributes levels usually are in Healing Prayers, Smiting Prayers, Protection Prayers, or none at all depending on what is taken/used and typically at around 8-9 ranks in only one of those areas should do it in most cases. Ranks in Wilderness Survival are usually sacrificed as healing from Trolls Unguent is often replaced with other skills. If Symbiosis is used just use whatever remaining ranks are left but no more than 8-9 ranks in Beastmastery at most. Live Vicariously will return health to you for every creature hit which can be up to 6 per Barrage. Commonly used for soloing areas. Vigorous Spirit will behave similar to Live Vicariously but without the drain on energy regen. Single target heal spells or healing enchantments can replace Troll Unguent as a self heal that can also be used on others. Healing Touch is an example skill that can be used as it's cost is reduced with ranks of expertise though it gains no benefit from Divine Favor with a Ranger primary. Judge's Insight to add Armor penetration to each arrow and typically defeat masses of the undead or others weak to holy damage. Mending Touch to remove blindness or other conditions. Watchful Spirit will sap your energy regen but provide +2 health regen with no needed attribute points spent. Renew Life and Restore Life's costs are reduced by ranks in expertise making them decent resurrects to exchange for the Resurrect Signet. Otherwise, there are plenty of reusable resurrection skills in the monks repertoire. Balthazar's Spirit or Essence Bond are usually used when soloing as you will be the sole recipient of damage and will often return massive amounts of energy. Hex removal skills like Smite Hex or Holy Veil can help eliminate damage from on attack/hit hexes like Spiteful Spirit, Empathy, or others. Symbiosis can be useful if using multiple enchants on yourself or others in your party.

[edit] R/Necromancer Attribute level of Death Magic, Blood Magic, or Curses is usually at around 8-9 ranks in most cases if at all. Many skills can be used to replace a self heal that either give you health, steal health, or exploit a corpse for health. Order of Pain will help add damage to every attack but for a very limited time. This is best left to another party member (who can also use Order of the Vampire) that can achieve higher attribute levels as it will slow your rate of fire and eat up your energy if you cast it. Mark of Pain may cause scatter but can be most useful in narrow passages. Plague Touch's cost is reduced with ranks of expertise and can be used to transfer any conditions from yourself with limited success as it is restricted to touch range. Many Necromancer skills can benefit a Barrager but usually they need to be cast by another party member that is dedicated to that role.

[edit] R/Mesmer Attribute level of Inspiration Magic, Domination Magic, or Illusion Magic is usually at around 8-9 ranks in most cases if at all. Interrupts like Leech Signet can be used to add to or replace bow interrupts. Hex removal skills are available like Hex Breaker or Inspired Hex. Distortion can be used with limited results as a temporary defensive stance. Energy management skills are available mostly from the Inspiration line. Ether Feast can be used as a self heal. Elemental Resistance, Physical Resistance, or any of the mantras can be used as a replacement for a defensive stance depending on the areas you may be in. Arcane Mimicry can be used to make use of another party member's Elite skill in combination with yours without spending any attribute points in a Mesmer attribute line.

[edit] R/Elementalist Fiery Barrager

Use: Use the Glyph to reduce spell costs and cast Conjure Flame on yourself and Mark of Rodgort on your central most target. Fire a fiery bow using Barrage and you can keep the hexed targets burning. Some may prefer to use Fire Attunement instead of the Glyph to reduce energy costs.

Other Skills:

Attribute level of Fire Magic, Water Magic, or Earth Magic usually start at around 8 to as high as 12 ranks in most cases if at all. Any Conjure skill with the appropriate bow string can add damage to each barrage. Stone Striker should NOT be used, as it will convert your attacks to earth damage, which will mean that your attacks will no longer trigger Conjure Flame or Mark of Rodgort, even if you have a fire bow, as Stone Striker overrides the normal damage type. If you wish to still have the benefits of a Vampiric, Zealous, or Sundering bowstring, you must bring Conflagration to convert your arrows to fire, so they can still trigger Conjure Flame and Mark of Rodgort. Multiple Earth Magic or Water Magic skills can be used for defensive options such as Stoneflesh Aura, Armor of Frost, or many of the different Wards. Though less popular and very energy intensive, Glyph of Lesser Energy and Meteor Shower (which causes exhaustion) can be used together to add repeated damage and knock downs on your targets, preventing them from escaping your Barrage area. Similar to the Meteor Shower combo, Deep Freeze can be used for a large slow down effect on your foes and no exhaustion though this is uncommon as well. If using 2 or more enchantments on yourself Symbiosis becomes a viable option as listed under R/Mo above.

[edit] R/Assassin Attribute level of Deadly Arts or Shadow Arts is usually at around 8-9 ranks in most cases if at all. Caltrops can be used to slow your targets though it requires a closer range. Shadow Refuge makes a good self heal. Viper's Defense and other stances can be used for defensive options. Way of Perfection can add healing with high ranks in Marksmanship and a lot of targets with minimal energy spent (similar to Vigorous Spirit as seen above but relies on criticals for health return) though it performs best if there is a Paragon in your party using "Go for the Eyes!" to drastically increase chances of critical hits.

[edit] R/Ritualist Splinter Barrager

Use: Same as the usual barrage build but cast Splinter Weapon on yourself (or allies as time allows) and be sure to target a group of foes. Recast as needed and as foes are available. Especially good in tight passages.

Other Skills:

Attribute level of Channeling Magic, Restoration Magic, or Communing is usually at around 8 to as high as 12 ranks in most cases if at all and often means the reduction of ranks in Marksmanship though only slightly. Nightmare Weapon can be useful for stealing health on up to 3 enemies hit per casting. Wailing Weapon can add interruption to a mass of attacking foes for the entire duration. Warmonger's Weapon can add interruption to a mass of non-attacking foes for the entire duration. Brutal Weapon can add damage to every arrow provided they aren't enchanted. This can be very tricky as many healers will enchant the entire group or those damaged and may ruin this weapon spell unintentionally. Guided Weapon can make your Barrages unblockable. Vital Weapon can add to your maximum health and others in the party. Wielder's Boon can be a useful self heal if under a Weapon Spell effect. Spirit Rift can be used as a spiking skill add-on if timed properly and especially effective when combined with Splinter Weapon. Cast Splinter Weapon, Spirit Rift, then Barrage and it all hits about the same time. Drawbacks include energy cost, casting time, and the enemy may move from where the Spirit Rift appears. Spirits: Often a R/Rt may also bring a spirit to add more damage or healing as the case may allow (also taking advantage of the cost reduction Expertise allows) though this rarely will enhance Barrage in any way but simply takes advantage of the party make-up. Expendable spirits (like Life or Destruction that give an effect when they expire) tend to make a good defensive "shield" of sorts to hide behind should you come under attack as well. The most commonly brought are: Recuperation to add health regen in spirit range to all things friendly - especially good for groups with multiple pets, minions, and/or large groups of players and/or friendly NPC's. Life to add cheap healing in spirit range to all things friendly and a "shield". Destruction to add cheap damage in spirit range to all things unfriendly and a "shield". Bloodsong to add a cheap attacker and possible "shield" that can steal health though less common. Pain to add a cheap attacker and possible "shield" that does a little more damage than Bloodsong but can't heal itself though also less common.

[edit] R/Paragon "Go for the Eyes!" Barrager

Use: Same as the usual barrage build but spam "Go for the Eyes!" and "Find Their Weakness!" together as they charge to do critical hits to your targets and deep wound to one of your targets as well as add crits to the targets of those in your party that are effected. "Find Their Weakness!" only affects one ally and the first critical hit though so it is usually the skill to change out for others listed below.

Other Skills:

Attribute level of Command or Motivation is usually at around 8-9 ranks in most cases if at all. Shouts can be used without interrupting the fire rate flow thus making them useful and often charged with the high adrenaline gain from barrage if they are adrenaline based. "Never Give Up!" can add energy to an unhealthy party. "Never Surrender!" to add health regen to an unhealthy party. "Stand Your Ground!" to add armor to your party while not moving. Many motivation skills can be used for party health, energy, defense and more though they don't benefit more from use with barrage unless adrenal based. Anthem of Envy can add some minor damage at the easy cost of adrenaline. Bladeturn Refrain can be used to add defense to yourself or others and last a long time if using other chants or shouts allowing you to cover the party or at least multiple members. Song of Concentration and Hexbreaker Aria can both be charged quickly though will slow you down with the long cast times. They will still benefit the group with less interruption or hex removal though. Chorus of Restoration or Energizing Chorus can be quickly charged and used for energy or health management on yourself or others that meet the conditions. Remedy Signet is a good condition removal skill.

[edit] R/Dervish Attribute level of Earth Prayers or Wind Prayers is usually at around 8-9 ranks in most cases if at all. Dust Cloak or Staggering Force can be used to change your weapon damage type to earth damage.(do not use if you are working with an orders necromancer) Heart of Holy Flame can be used to change your weapon damage type to holy damage.(do not use if you are working with an orders necromancer) Grenth's Fingers can be used to change your weapon damage type to cold damage.(do not use if you are working with an orders necromancer) Zealous Renewal can be used for energy management. Harrier's Grasp to cripple your targets. Harrier's Haste may add some damage to moving foes but works better with Harrier's Grasp. [edit] Barrage in other primary professions: Barrage isn't limited to Ranger primaries and other professions can make good use of the skill. Many will make good use of their primary attribute skill line in combination which Ranger's can't (at least not as effectively with zero ranks).

The SS Nuker is a popular PvE build, used in both farming groups and storyline progression. With proper aggro control, an SS Nuker is a devastating weapon against computer-controlled groups.

[edit] Attribute and Skills Necromancer / Mesmer Attribute Rank Curses 12 + 1 + 3 Soul Reaping 9 + 1 Blood Magic 9 + 1

Awaken the Blood Arcane Echo Spiteful Spirit Reckless Haste Enfeebling Blood Spinal Shivers Blood Ritual Resurrection Signet

[edit] Equipment Necromancer armor of personal preference. a 20/20 cold damage weapon and 20/20 offhand, such as the Wailing Wand from Gertrud or Telamon and Villnar's Glove or The Shadestone (as long as you have 9 blood magic). The Stonereaper is also good for this build, however it deals dark damage that will not trigger Spinal Shivers. Therefore you might also consider its collector counterparts. [edit] Usage Be conscious of the aggro distribution around the tanking characters. The success of this build relies on proper placement of Spiteful Spirit, and poor placement can be the difference between eliminating the group and a wasted spell. Before battle, cast Awaken the Blood, followed by Arcane Echo. Choose a target and cast Spiteful Spirit, followed by Reckless Haste. Assassins are ideal targets, due to their higher attack speed. Select a second nearby target and cast a second Spiteful Spirit. Cast Spiteful Spirit on any remaining foes as energy and recharging skills allow. Cast Spinal Shivers on any monk targets standing after the initial hexes, and attack them with a cold-damage weapon. Blood Ritual is used as a quick supply of energy for the party. Enfeebling Blood should be used as a protective measure. [edit] Variants Replace Enfeebling Blood, Spinal Shivers, or Blood Ritual with: Parasitic Bond should you need a cover hex or healing. Suffering for additional degeneration. Defile Enchantments or Desecrate Enchantments for additional spike damage. Putrid Explosion and move some points to Death Magic for a strong finishing spike. Consume Corpse for Corpse control. Price of Failure for additional damage with Reckless Haste. Strip Enchantment or Revealed Enchantment for control of strong enchanted foes. Mark of Pain for additional pressure when your party deals physical damage. Insidious Parasite or Vampiric Gaze for dealing with one or sometimes two scattering enemies. Enfeebling blood and Oppressive Gaze combine well for spike damage and life stealing. When farming The Deep, bring Blood Renewal instead of Awaken the Blood for self healing. For Prophecies only characters, replace Reckless Haste with Parasitic Bond for additional self-healing. Move a few points from Soul Reaping and Blood Magic to Inspiration Magic and use Auspicious Incantation on the echoed version of SS for better energy management. [edit] Template Template Guide The Skills Template for this build is: AUNAlWes8GLReI02Bf0JCAA

Retrieved from "Build:N/Me_SS_Nuker"

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

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

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

See Variants for possible skills for the optional slot. Karei's Healing Circle is the Factions equivalent skill for Heal Area. Healing Ring is the Nightfall equivalent skill for Heal Area. The skill set presented here is an example. No claims are made to its supremacy. replace bone horror with shambling horror, bone horror sucks... [edit] Equipment Bloodstained Boots or Insignia are a must. Other than that, any Necromancer armor is fine, although Minion Master insignia is preferred. A staff or weapon/focus set that halves recharge and casting time of Death Magic is advisable. Ghial's Staff or The Nightbringer work great. See the Equipment section of the General minion mastery guide for more options. [edit] Usage As soon as corpses are available, start by raising a Flesh Golem, then Bone Fiends. If you are low on energy or are waiting for Animate Bone Fiend to recharge, raise up some Bone Horrors. Summon new minions during battle if needed. Use Dark Bond to mitigate damage, if you expect to be in a vulnerable position. Use Blood of the Master and/or Heal Area to keep your minions alive. [edit] Counters An enemy with Diversion will screw you up if it gets used on Blood of the Master. A good mesmer could mess you up when you try to summon minions. Another necromancer may get to corpses before you do, which will leave you with a lack of corpses. A mesmer with Conjure Phantasm or Conjure Nightmare will kill you pretty fast if you don't have a hex remover. See also the Opposing forces section of the General minion mastery guide. [edit] Variants Some find the extra healing provided by Heal Area unnecessary. This gives the Minion Master more choices in selecting a secondary profession. Also, the points put into Healing Prayers can be used in other attributes. Aura of the Lich can be used in place of Animate Flesh Golem to allow more spamming of Blood of the Master, although not advisable when anticipating health degeneration effects. This also makes Blood Renewal useful for self-healing if Blood Magic is used. Taste of Death can be used in place of Dark Bond healing. Skills such as Rotting Flesh, Putrid Explosion, Deathly Swarm and Bitter Chill can be added to give the Minion Master some direct damage skills that are linked to Death Magic. You can bring Death Nova to make one last final use of a minion that's near death. For more self healing Animate Vampiric Horror can be used in place of Animate Bone Fiend. This allows a more meat-shield like role of the minion master protecting the back line casters. If making this switch, it is a good idea to cast Animate Bone Horror more often due to the recharge time of Animate Vampiric Horror and to refresh your minions. Fill the optional slot with Verata's Aura to reclaim your minions if you die, or possibly to steal minions from monsters who create them. Not many monsters can, however, and the ones that can do not create them nearly as fast as the average Minion Master Necromancer. As such, Verata's Gaze may be a better choice for stealing minions. Infuse Condition in combination with Dark Bond is useful in scenarios where you are being targeted instead of your minions. Some like to bring other healing skills such as Healing Breeze or Blood Renewal to offset the sacrifice damage suffered by using Blood of the Master. Rebirth can be replaced by the resurrection skill of your choice. Skills such as Putrid Explosion will exploit your corpses rendering them useless to a Minion Master. Instead of using Animate Bone Fiend and Dark Bond, try Fetid Ground and Deathly Swarm for damage when you need to kill enemies quickly without enemies. You can use Animate Shambling Horror instead of Animate Bone Horror if you have Guild Wars Nightfall. The differences between a Shambling Horror and a Bone Horror, except for the 'skin', include a different attack range from Bone Minions and Vampiric Horrors, and the fact that when a Shambling Horror dies they will immediatly turn into a Jagged Horror, which will cause bleeding with its attacks. Those using Shambling Horror will find a longer recharge time in return for this fact, so faster-recharging summons are advised. Using Dwayna's Sorrow on your minions can provide numerous, cheap heals for your entire party. Signet of Lost Souls may be an energy management option. If you consider the healing from Heal Area unnecessary, replace it with a Death Magic spell such as Deathly Swarm, Bitter Chill or any other high damage Death Magic spell. [edit] Templates Template Guide The Skills Template for this build is: A0QAJFbajCQTFTBeoIYEAITA

This build is meant to solo farm the Bladed Aatxe in the Underworld for ectos and to solo the Grasping Darkness for gold drops and other rare items.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Necromancer / Monk Attribute Rank Blood Magic 12 + 1 + 3 Death Magic 0+3 Curses 0+3 Soul Reaping 0+3 Healing Prayers 10 Protection Prayers 8

Protective Spirit Vigorous Spirit Spoil Victor Healing Breeze Plague Touch Essence Bond Balthazar's Spirit Mending

Consider replacing Vigorous Spirit with Suffering so that you can use it as a cover hex and be able to solo the Smite Crawlers. [edit] Equipment Use cheap radiant armor, or cheap armor that gives you extra energy, and 5 superior runes to bring your health down to 105. Use a sword, or axe with a 20% enchantment mod (this is critical, because vigorous spirit's effect will activate slower with a wand, scythe etc.) The -50 HP grim cesta is also needed for this. [edit] Usage Fighting an Aatxe.Enter the Underworld Aggro the Bladed Aatxe group on the left, or right, and run in the opposite direction to the opposite corner. The Bladed Aatxe group should not follow you, but if there was a Dying Nightmare near the Bladed Aatxe group then it should have followed you, cast vigorous spirit and wait for the Dying Nightmare to remove it with Rend Enchantments, now use Protective Spirit and wand the Dying Nightmare to death. Stand in a safe spot, and cast all of your maintained enchantments. You should have at least 25 energy after the enchantments before you begin to aggro the Bladed Aatxe group. Cast Vigorous Spirit before you aggro the group of Bladed Aatxe, now use Protective Spirit, target a Bladed Aatxe and use Spoil Victor Begin attacking the Bladed Aatxe with your sword or axe. Health gained from Vigorous Spirit should be enough for a group of 2 Bladed Aatxe. Maintain Protective Spirit and Vigorous Spirit while fighting the group. If you have health problems, and your health stays steady at half full, use Healing Breeze. Apply Spoil Victor to your target(s) when it recharges. Most of the time 1 cast of Spoil Victor will fully kill a Bladed Aatxe or a Grasping Darkness, but if not recast it. Repeat steps 2-9 for the second Bladed Aatxe group. Kill the Bladed Aatxe groups on the right and left, be sure to also include the lone Bladed Aatxe that walks around to both groups frequently (you can kill the middle group, but if there is a nightmare spawn and you run, the entire group will follow you). Take the quest after the Bladed Aatxe on the right and left are killed. Use steps 2-9 for the Grasping Darkness If dazed use Plague Touch on a Grasping Darkness. Usually the health gained from Vigorous Spirit is enough without Healing Breeze to maintain stably high health against a group of 3 or 4 Grasping Darkness. Continue on through the chamber with in the direction of the Smite Crawlers and you will find more Bladed Aatxe and Grasping Darkness to farm. Be sure not to aggro more than 2-4 groups at a time. Path for aggroing.[edit] Counters Rend Enchantments from a Dying Nightmare that you did not take action upon when the Dying Nightmare spawned. Interrupt. [edit] Variants Live Vicariously can replace Vigorous Spirit so that your main way of healing can't be interrupted. Note that Live Vicariously provides less hp than Vigorous Spirit. [edit] Notes This build cannot solo the Smite Crawlers (unless a variant is used). Or Coldfire Nights. Retrieved from "Build:N/Mo_Solo_Bladed_Aatxe_and_Grasping_Nightmare_UW"

This build is designed to handle the new "erratic" AI with the Solo SS Farmer build.

[edit] Attributes and Skills Necromancer / Monk Attribute Rank Blood Magic 1 + 3 Death Magic 2 + 3 Soul Reaping 2 + 3 Curses 12 + 1 + 3 Healing Prayers 9 Protection Prayers 9

Protective Spirit Healing Breeze Well of Suffering Spiteful Spirit Rotting Flesh Mending Balthazar's Spirit Essence Bond

[edit] Equipment Armor:

Scar Pattern Armor or Cabalist's Armor type (if you have Guild Wars Factions) because they offer the most energy required for the build. All armor pieces must have Necromancer superior runes: a Superior Death Magic is recommended but not compulsory. Aim for the cheapest runes.

Weapons:

Totem Axe for the energy and the +20% length of enchantments To solo the Underworld you will need a max damage Truncheon such as the one from Uderit Ignis, or, if you have Factions, a Wailing Wand from Gertrud or Telamon. The off-hand item is the Cities of Ascalon quest reward -50HP Grim Cesta [edit] Usage The process of this build is basically the same as the old one. Cast Essence Bond, Balthazar's Spirit, and Mending Before battle and let your energy recharge. As you aggro your target cast Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze. Once your target attacks cast Spiteful Spirit and shortly after, Rotting Flesh. If the target group is large enough they will start taking turns attacking. Once a body is available cast Well of Suffering. Remember to keep up the enchantments.

[edit] Counters Any enchantment removal will most likely kill you. Conditions also pose a threat to any 55. Stack too many and you will negate your health regeneration. Death penalty will majorly mess you up. Be very careful of interrupting attacks from warriors, an example is Mountain Trolls' Disrupting Chop. This is especially dangerous as it adds 20 second cool down to the recharge of the affected spell, if this hits on Protective Spirit or Healing Breeze it can leave you dead in seconds. [edit] Variants Well of the Profane may replace Well of Suffering to hinder enchantment reliant attacks Guardian may be advisable for attacking a large group at one time. The AI still has everyone attack at once and then after some time (Undetermined) they break up The use of Putrid Explosion may be helpful in certain situations. Necrotic Traversal is an energy friendly alternative to Well of Suffering [edit] Notes This build was successfully tested on the minotaurs in Elona Reach and has also been successfully tested at level 13 with 4 Superior Runes and Grim Cesta and the following attributes: Soul Reaping 0+3, Death Magic 0+3, Curses 3+3, Blood Magic 0+3, Protection Prayers 7, Healing Prayers 8. This build was successfully tested on the Desert Griffons in The Scar. This build was successfully tested on the Hydras in Skyward Reach. This build was successfully tested on the Hydras in Skyward Reach on Hard Mode. This build was successfully tested on Trolls in Talus Chute. This build was successfully tested on Cobalt Mokele group in Vehjin Mines, as long as there are no Cobalt Scabara in the groups. This build was successfully tested on Tusked Howlers and Tusked Hunters in Arkjok Ward. This build was successfully tested on Veldt Nephila in The Floodplain of Mahnkelon. Template Guide The Skills Template for this build is: A0YAFlYyxd+ZUPQmH10FRqP5BA

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

[edit] Build Concept While there are different tactics for different situations (explained below, in the tactics section), the general outline of how this team works is very similar to most other 55/SS teams:

The 55 monk attracts all aggro of the enemies. This includes the important step of taking melee attackers to spell casters and/or ranged attacker whenever possible to allow Spiteful Spirit to kill as many foes simultaneously as possible. Solid lining up of ranged attackers and then solid piling of melee attackers on them are the keys to making this team build effective and successful. The SS necromancer's job is to carefully administer Spiteful Spirit on foes so that as many foes as possible drop at the same time. If the 55 monk does a solid job piling up foes, then Spiteful Spirit placed on two of them can take out the entire group in a matter of seconds. The 55 monk's primary responsibility is to survive. He/she must be accustomed to playing the role of an invincible monk. The SS necromancer is in charge of killing, and must utilize his skills in the way that takes out the most dangerous foes first. In case of aggro breaks the 55 monk needs to cast protective and healing spells on the SS necromancer who then needs to gather the enemies together again. [edit] Build Details [edit] The Invincible Monk (55) Monk / Any Attribute Rank Divine Favor 11 +3 Healing Prayers 10 +3 Protection Prayers 10 +3 +1

Blessed Signet Protective Spirit Healing Breeze Spell Breaker Blessed Aura Mending Balthazar's Spirit Rebirth

Usage:

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

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

If you are sure that the SS necro will stay out of harm's way and not die (not likely in a PUG), you can replace Rebirth with one of the following:

Bonetti's Defense and use it when encountering large mobs or before using Healing Breeze to help interruption. (Note that it will end upon successful casting.) Essence Bond for better energy management. [edit] Spiteful Spirit Necromancer (SS/SV) Necromancer / Mesmer Attribute Rank Curses 12 + 3 + 1 Illusion Magic 9 Soul Reaping 9 + 1

Arcane Echo Spiteful Spirit Reckless Haste Sympathetic Visage Ancestor's Visage Optional Optional Sunspear Rebirth Signet

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

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

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