User:MerQry/buildarchive/Build:Team - Foundry Balanced

The Foundry Balanced team build is a build designed to conquer all of The Foundry of Failed Creations in the Domain of Anguish. It is a balanced build that relies on the tried and true formula of a warrior tank, elementalists nuking and monks keeping the team alive.

This build can complete the quest The Foundry of Failed Creations, the quest Foundry Breakout and kill The Fury. Incidentally, this same build can actually be used to conquer any of the 3 other areas in the Domain of Anguish with slight modifications.

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 as follows:
 * An Obsidian Flesh tank draws aggro and tries to hold it.
 * Three Searing Flames nukers take out the targets.
 * Two healer monks keep the tank alive and catch any damage that strays towards the elementalists.
 * One bonder maintains all bonds on the tank and some bonds on the nukers to prevent massive spikes.
 * An optional Ranger can use Broad Head Arrow to shut down critical spell-casting foes among the enemy.
 * The party avoids fighting in tight spaces (which the Foundry tries to enforce) by using a pet and the skills Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse to have one party member with Rebirth outside the room whenever there is danger.

The Obsidian Flesh Tank
Usage:
 * The tank will be heavily bonded. As such he/she will only be receiving partial damage at all times.
 * The tank will have Balthazar's Spirit on which will allow for constant casting of all Earth Magic spells.
 * When going into a group of foes, it is best not to use Obsidian Flesh or Armor of Earth as they will slow down your approach. Instead ask for Spell Breaker from a monk.
 * When pulling a group of foes, it is actually useful to invoke Obsidian flesh or Armor of Earth as moving slower than computer controlled foes will make them follow you as far as they could as opposed to running at normal speed.
 * Use Stoneflesh Aura as often as possible. It will make you take zero damage from nearly all attacks and spells.
 * Lay down Ward Against Foes when foes around you are near half-health. This will snare them around longer for the elementalists to finish them off.
 * The optional slot can be:
 * Glyph of Concentration: To avoid having any of your spells interrupted.
 * Dolyak Signet: As a massive armor boost. This is not needed, but is useful in situations where, for example, monks go down and you need to stay alive till they are revived.
 * Lightbringer's Gaze: To add some offensive punch to this very defensive build.
 * Sliver Armor: To add some damage as well.

Equipment:
 * A sword/axe with +5 Energy and a 20% "of Enchanting" grip. This will give you extra energy and make all the Earth spells last longer on you. Rajazan's Fervor or the Totem Axe make great weapons for this build.
 * A Shield with either +30 Health or +45 while Enchanted is optimal. Also, having a secondary set of Earth Magic based wand and Focus item is optimal for energy. It can also be a 15/-1 set to provide an extra energy boost in times of trouble.
 * Gladiator's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Searing Flames Nukers
''Note: The remainign 3 attribute points should be placed in Healing Prayers or Protection Prayers based on the type of resurrection skill the elementalist is bringing. See Usage section below.''

Usage:
 * Wait until all enemy aggro has settled on the tank.
 * Maintain Fire Attunement during a fight unless facing the Greater Dream Riders (see tactics below).
 * You will have two combos to invoke during a fight.
 * If the foes contain casters you need to take out quickly (enemy monks, mesmers, necromancers and/or elementalists) then use Glyph of Sacrifice followed by Meteor Shower. Then proceed to spam Glyph of Lesser Energy, Searing Flames, Glowing Gaze and Lightbringer's Gaze as they become available.
 * If the foes are mostly melee foes (like all Titans) then inverse the combo. Spam the first four skills on your bar until foes are at half health, then use Metoer Shower to finish them off. In fact, against pure melee foes (Warriors, Dervishes and Assassins), try not to use Meteor Shower altogether.
 * If your Lightbringer title is less than rank 3, replace Lightbringer's Gaze with Liquid Flame.
 * In the "generic resurrection" slot, each of the three E/Mo nukers must equip a different one of these skills:
 * Rebirth: One elementalist will be in charge of "Glyph-Sac" rebirthing players who in a bad spot inside the foundry itself. This elementialist can also help monks rebirth players through the gate when the party is setting up to fight behind a gate.
 * Resurrection Chant: One elementalist must have this skill. combined with Glyph of Sacrifice, it can bring a player immediately up and at full health. However, it only has half the regular range. This is mainly used to bring up the tank (and the ranger if used) on the other side of the gate.
 * Resurrect: The third elementalist must bring this skill in case the tank dies outside of the range of Resurrection Chant.

Equipment:
 * As elementalists have a large pool of energy, the only real upgrade this build really needs is 20% HSR preferably on both the wand and the focus item. This is to speed up the readiness of Meteor Shower.
 * A variety of armor choices make sense:
 * An armor set with Radiant Insignia will provide extra energy.
 * An armor set with Pyromancer Isnignia will provide extra protection against the Tortureweb Dryders' nukes.
 * An armor set with Stalwart Insignia will provide extra protection against any melee aggro that comes your way.
 * Tempest Armor would provide extra protection as the elementalist will always have at least 2 enchantments on.

The Healer's Boon Monk
Place spare points in death magic

Usage:
 * Maintain Healer's Boon on at all times during a battle.
 * Maintain Essence Bond on the tank.
 * Dwayna's Kiss is the primary healing skill.
 * Healing Touch is for self-healing.
 * Use Heal Party to heal the tank at a distance, or when the party is collectively moving and taking damage from Enduring Torment.
 * Using Healing Seed on the tank and alternate it with the other monk.
 * When the party comes to a room where they will have to fight outside the room (see the tactics below), you will need to run to the gate as soon as it closes and then invoke Necrotic Traversal (or Consume Corpse) and then move away from enemy casting range. If the party has a fighting chance, then assist them with Heal Party.

Equipment:
 * A perfect Insightful Staff of Enchanting with 20/20 HSR and HCT for Healing Prayers is optimal.
 * Ascetic's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Spell Breaker Monk
Usage:
 * Maintain Essence Bond on the tank.
 * Dwayna's Kiss is the primary healing skill.
 * Healing Touch is for self-healing.
 * Use Protective Spirit on any party memeber other than the tank who begins to draw the attention of foes.
 * Dismiss Condition is primarily for the Prisoners of the Foundry Breakout quest so that they do not become crippled, however, there is disease, Poison, Bleeding and Deep Wound aong the way, so feel free to use it as needed.
 * Cascade Healing Seed on the tank with the other monk.
 * Use Spell Breaker on the tank as he goes in to gather aggro. This will allow the tank to move freely without being slowed by Obsidian Flesh.
 * When the party comes to a room where they will have to fight outside the room (see the tactics below), you will need to cast Spell Breaker and Protective Spirit on the Healer's Boon monk to make sure he makes it outside to safety.

Equipment:
 * A perfect Insightful Staff of Enchanting with 20/20 HSR and HCT for Healing Prayers is optimal.
 * Ascetic's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Bonder
Usage:
 * Maintain all the bonds above on the tank in order from right (Life Barrier cast first) to left (Vital Blessing cast last).
 * Maintain Balthazar's Spirit on yourself as well.
 * Maintian Life Barrier on the elementalists and (depending on your skill and how comfortable you are with bonding) everyone else.
 * When the party gets to the Prisoners part, you will need to maintain Life Barrier and Life Bond on each prisoner as he is being rescued. After the prisoner is taken to safety, you can remove those bonds. Since no fighting takes place during those sequences, you can drop the bonds on the elementalists if you need to.

Equipment:
 * A perfect Insightful Staff of Fortitude with +5 Energy while health is above 50% ("Hale and Hearty" inscription) is optimal.
 * Ascetic's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.
 * Two head pieces, a Defender's head piece with a superior Protection Prayers rune to cast the bonds and then a Prophet's head piece with a superior Divine Favor rune to maintain them.

Necromancer Variant
This is a more common variant that just uses the spirits from the ranger profession along with Curses damage abilities.

Usage:
 * Lay down Edge of Extinction at the start of every fight in a safe spot that keeps all foes in range.
 * As soon as the tank brings back foes and is set, use Spiteful Spirit and follow it up with Reckless Haste for constant Damage on foes. Reapply Spiteful Spirit on other foes as it recharges.
 * Spam Desecrate Enchantments and Defile Enchantments as they become available. Stygian Golems are the best targets for these.
 * Use Blood Ritual on teammates as they need energy.
 * Manage the pet as the ranger above.

Tactics
Conquering the Foundry involved clearing the four chambers leading up to the Foundry itself and then clearing it of most monsters to set up the final fight against The Fury. This is a chamber by chamber walkthrough:

1st Chamber
This is the easiest of the four chambers and should be completed without the party having to use the "Necrotic Traversal then Rebirth" trick. However, just to be safe, the ranger should have his pet die outside the first gate. Everyone should take the quest from Captain Jerzah. As soon as everyone is sufficiently deep enough into the room, the gates will lock and a group of Margonite Anurs will spawn at the end of the room.

After everyone has their bonds on. The Tank should be covered with Spell Breaker and should go in just as the spawn of Margonites is collapsing so as to form a nice ball for Meteor Shower. Remember not to cast anything on the tank while he is their aggro range until all aggro settles on him (i.e. their melee attackers all start attacking him). As soon as aggro is set, the elementalists should proceed to nuke with Meteor Shower first. When this group is about to die, make sure to save one last Margonite and pull him back to the gate where party came in, then finish him off there. This should ensure that the next spawn of Titans does not aggro the party, or at least aggro only on the tank. After the last Margonite dies, 3 Rage Titans and 3 Despair Titans will show up.

If those Titans spawn ouside of everyone's aggro, then the tank should take another Spell Breaker and go to them. If they spawn within aggro range of the tank then he/she should use Obsidian Flesh and walk to them (to ensure they do not walk to him/her and see other party members behind). Whenever the tank is setting aggro like this, Heal Party should be the only healing used.

These titans will not spawn more titans, however, because they cannot be knocked down, Meteor Shower acts like Fire Storm making them scatter rather quickly. So, try and stick with Searing Flames as much as possible. Finish off the Rage Titans first as they can wipe out the whole party with Earthquake followed by Churning Earth. If things look grim, the Healer's Boon monk should always have his/her finger on the Necrotic Traversal trigger. However, with experience, this group should be easy to take out with no deaths.

Revive the pet then move it to the door of the next chamber and then let it die.

2nd Chamber
This room is nigh impossible to fight in. It is very small and the spawn that appears after the door closes has three Tortureweb Dryders (which can wipe a tightly packed party in 2 spells). The party should hug the left wall and proceed slowly until the spawn appears. As soon as it does, the Spell Breaker monk should throw Spell Breaker followed by Protective Spirit on the Healer's Boon monk and that monk should Necrotic Traversal out of the room and move away from the casting range of the Dryders.

The Party should try and take out the Margonite Anur Ki that spawns in this group before wiping as well as any Dryders they can, however, they should also try to die as close as they can to the gate. After the fight is over and all members in the chamber have died, the monk should proceed to rebirth them outside the room leaving the warrior and the ranger. Those two must always remain in the room the party is trying to clear out.

After the casters have all been resurrected and bonded, one of the elementalists should "Glyph-Sacc Rez" the tank inside the chamber. The tank should come as close as possible to the game and the bonder should careully reapply bonds while the monk heal him/her. The elementalists should be able to nuke the enemy from across the gate and the wall. They should spread apart so that Searing Flames does not damage all of them at the same time.

Sometimes, a foe or two will run off and get stuck on the opposite side of the room. If the party waits for a few minutes, that foe will come back within casting range. Alternatively, one of the eles could resurrect the ranger inside the room and the ranger can use poison to bring that foe down.

When the chamber is almost cleared, the Spell Breaker monk should cast Spell Breaker on the tank as the second spawn contains a Greater Dream Rider. The second spawn should be cleared in the same manner.

Revive the pet then move it to the door of the next chamber and then let it die.

3rd Chamber
This chamber will spawn all its creatures at the same time (there will be no seondary spawn after the first groups are wiped). There will be four patrols roaming the room (all of which come near the gate, but not all the way). A patrol of 4 Misery Titans, a patrol of 4 Anguish Titans, a patrol of 4 Rage Titans and a patrol of 3 Dryders along with one Rider.

The Titans in this room will exhibit the usual Titan behavior of spawning smaller Titans. There are two spawn chains:
 * Anguish Titan-> Despair Titan -> Fury Titan
 * Misery Titan-> Rage Titan -> Dementia Titan

The Healer's Boon monk should wait outside the gate using Necrotic Traversal. The Tank can try and pull the Misery titans (easiest to take out) and the party can wipe trying to finish them off. Make sure not to stand right next to the gate or the new Titans that spawn from the dead Titans might spawn outside the gate and prevent the Healer's Boon Monk from rebirthing.

After the party is rebirthed on the outside, the tank can proceed to pull group after group, while the elementalists take them out.

Revive the pet then move it to the door of the next chamber and then let it die.

4th Chamber
This chamber will again give the party room to operate. A spawn of Dryders along with a Margonite Anur Ki will spawn at the back of the room. They can be taken out by a frontal assault (tank charge in when they are balled up). Before the last foes dies, the party should pull that foes back to the beginning of the room and finish it off there to be safe. The next spawn will be a large group of Dementia Titans. At this point, the Healer's Boon monks should leave the room to be safe. The party can try and kill them while they are on the tank. If aggro breaks, a wipe + rebirth maybe necessary.

After this group there will be a mixed group with a Margonite Anur Ki, a few Titans and a Dryder. One of the Titans is a special Fury Titan that drops a unique item.

After this room is clear, you can proceed to take the quest reward anf the next quest from Tekliss.

The Foundry
The name of the game in the Foundry is pulling and aggro control. Because the Foundry is spacious, kiting and breaking aggor if things go bad is quite possible, so there will be no more need for the pet.

As soon as the party goes in, they will see a large Vat to their right with a small gap between it and the wall. That gap will be the focus of all pulling and tanking till that part of the Foundry is cleared. The tank will simply aggro a group and tanks them at the gap so that they are unable to get through the gap and then the nukers can cast on them through the wall.

Past the gap, the party will see 4 large vates in the center of the hall, they should always use those vats for groups that do not pull all the way to the gap. The tank should pull the foes to the vat, the casters should be behind him/her so that the enemies need to go through the tank to get to them and then nuke.

Note that the Greater Dream Riders will follow indefinitely. One way to exploit this is to aggro their group (usually patrol with Dryders) and then run off till the Dryders break aggro, and then kill off the Riders who, alone, will not do much damage.

After all patrols are cleared, the party can attempt to complete the quest. For each prisoner, the bonder will place Life Bond and Life Barrier on that prisoner, and the SB monk will place Spell Breaker on the prisoner and immediately after that, the tank will speak to the prisoner and advance the quest). Then everyone needs to run far away and the prisoner will follow them. If the prisoner is crippled, Dismiss Condition should be used, Heal Party should be used for healing the party as they move. After aggro breaks, everyone should stand still, and the ranger should take the prisoner away till the names in the party are all grayed out. This will ensure the prisoner does not follow the party anymore.

The same procedure should be done with the other two prisoners. Captain Valkyss' group should be taken out as they are in the way of future fights. First, the party should run away till only the Riders follow. After they die, the Captain should be taken away to safety and then the remaining party members should kill off the Dryders.

After all three prisoners are safe, the tank should advance to the gate to aggro the spawn of The Black Beast of Arrgh. With bonds, the tank should be able to tank him even with 0 attribute points. However, the Beast should first be pulled all the way to where his patrol will follow no more and then fought there so that they do not try and go for party members behind the tank.

After the Beast dies, the quest will be completed and the prisoners will be removed from the party list. The party can then take on The Fury's group. Once again, they can pull the Guardians of Komalie who look like Dream Riders all the way to the gap and finish them off. After that, they can keep pulling the Fury's Group back and forth until they find the spot beyond which they will not follow, and then nuke the monks first then the Dryder guardians. The Fury is actually less of a threat than those Dryders.

Variants

 * The entire nuking cast can be replaced with Necromancers using Feast of Corruption to spike.
 * The tank does not necessarily need to be an Obsidian Flesh warrior. Other tanking builds can be used, as well as non-warrior tanking builds like a continual Shadow Form assassin or an Obsidian Dervish.