Polymock

General
Polymock is a mini-game available in Guild Wars Eye of the North. The game has been invented by the Asura, who are its undisputed masters.

Playing the game requires Polymock Pieces that can be acquired via quest rewards, found as rewards in dungeon chests, or be traded with other players.

Registration
To be able to play Polymock, a player needs to register at least three Polymock Pieces. The first three Pieces can be obtained from Hoff in Rata Sum. The pieces to be registered have to be in the player's inventory, then the player has to talk to Denn in Rata Sum to have them registered for play. Once a Polymock Piece has been registered, it is permanently removed from the inventory and can no longer be traded with other players or other characters of the same account. Polymock Pieces are registered per character.

Rules
There are two ways to play Polymock: commoner rules and tournament rules.

Commoner rules
Commoner rules apply for duels that occur as part of the Polymock quest chain, starting with Polymock: Defeat Yulma. Players are free to choose as many pieces from each rarity as they want. The Polymock quests are NOT repeatable. However, once Polymock quests have been beaten and the respective rewards have been accepted you can speak to the Polymock Player who had the quest and play with tournament rules.

Tournament rules
Tournament rules apply when dueling a Polymock player outside the Polymock quest chain. The restriction imposed is that the player has to choose exactly one Polymock Piece from each rarity: common, uncommon, and rare. If a player does not have at least one piece of each rarity, that player cannot duel under Tournament rules. For beating an opponent in a tournament match, points for the Asura Title Track are granted. You will gain 40 points for defeating Yulma, 60 points for defeating Plurgg, 80 points for defeating Blarp, 90 points for defeating Fonk, 90 points for defeating Necromancer Volumandus, 90 points for defeating Dune Teardrinker, 90 points for defeating Grulhammer Silverfist, or 90 points for defeating Hoff.

NOTE: If you are rank 8 (Not Too Lazy) or higher in the Asura Title Track, you will gain no points.

Setup
If the rules' conditions have been met, both the player and the opponent NPC will be transported to one of the Polymock arenas. These arenas essentially consist of two platforms that are close enough to each other that the opponents cannot move out of their opponent's range. Talk to Vokk the Polymock Judge to determine three of your registered pieces with which you will play. Whenever you choose a piece, your opponent will too, so you can base your next pick on your opponent's previous choices. Then pick the piece with which you will open the duel. Each choice is final, and once all three pieces and the starter piece have been picked, you can start the first round at any time by talking to Vokk again.

The duel
When the match starts, an enemy piece dies, or the player's piece has died and the next piece has been chosen, a 10 second countdown will start. When it reaches zero, the duel starts. All enchantments or other effects the player has used end, and all summoned creatures are removed from play. The character's equipped weapons and armor have no effect on the game.

Piece stats
Each Polymock piece can have different values of maximum Health and Energy than another piece. There is no natural Health or Energy regeneration. Pieces can be moved around during play to evade projectile spells. For a list of pieces, their rarity, and stats, see the Polymock Pieces section.

Skills and effects
Polymock skills follow the same basic mechanics as in the normal game. The only difference is that all conditions, such as Burning or Bleeding, cause -10 Health degeneration instead of their normal values.

Death
When a piece's Health reaches zero, it has been defeated, and its owner must select one of the remaining pieces as the next one. If no pieces are left, that player loses the game.

Overview
All Polymocks have the same five skills and three more that differ.
 * Slot 4 is Polymock Power Drain, which interrupts target's spell or glyph and you get 3 Energy.
 * Polymock Block is in slot 5 and makes the next spell targeting you in the next 2 seconds fail.
 * In slot 6 there is Polymock Glyph of Concentration that makes your next spell not able to be interrupted.
 * Polymock Ether Signet in slot 7 gives you 10 energy if you have 0.
 * And the last one in slot 8, Polymock Glyph of Power, gives your next 1 attack (if your HP<50%) or 2 attacks (if your HP<25%) +200 damage.

There is also one skill in every polymock that does a small amount of damage with small cooldown which differs in details (approximately 120 damage averaging over all polymocks).

The remaining two skills are the most powerful and distinctive ones each build has to offer, with each having certain proportions of damage, interrupt, or utility effects. Those skills by and large determine a piece's play style, strengths, and weaknesses. They also typically have the longest recharge and the largest energy costs of a build's skills, so it is wise to make sure these skills find their target.

General strategy notes

 * Opponents usually start by casting Polymock Glyph of Concentration followed with their most damaging skill, so be ready for an initial spike. To counter this, start with your most damaging 1 second cast skill, followed by Polymock Block as soon as the opponent starts casting. If your opponents damage skill is dodgeable, you can save the block and dodge. If your piece has a second high damage skill, use the Polymock Glyph of Concentration on yourself and then follow with that for an initial damage burst that your opponent will not be able to stop.
 * Interrupting Polymock Glyph of Concentration is generally not worth it as your interrupt will then be unavailable for the next spell anyway.
 * Pieces with Polymock Mind Freeze make poor pieces for being first to face opponents, but they make excellent pieces to be second and third as bonus damage from that spell is much more likely to land and finish opponents quickly.
 * Beware of quickly spiking an opponent under 50% or 25% of health. You might not have enough energy to finish them off, or spells could be inconveniently recharging. The bonus from Polymock Glyph of Power can quickly undo any advantage you gain.
 * Using strafe to dodge incoming projectile attacks can make most fights much easier. Beware, however: while dodging, you cannot cast. So dodging a major attack is a good idea while dodging the spammable 1-Energy-attack is usually not worth it. However, if you get into the pattern you can cast your spammable attack then sidestep to dodge theirs to pick up some free damage.
 * If you have trouble with skill lag (such as when trying to interrupt your opponent) try playing at non-peak hours when there is less of a load on the servers.
 * As soon as your opponent uses Polymock Block, use a glyph or preparation spell of your own. If you need to press your attack, use your spammable attack to drop the block. Don't worry about interrupting through the block, as the enemies almost never cast while it is still active.
 * Try to interrupt the major damage skills while not worrying about the spammable attacks. If you have problems with interrupting, try to be not casting anything and ready when you think a 2 second cast is coming up and just try to interrupt those.
 * When your piece is defeated, wait at least 30 seconds before entering the next round. This gives the enemy pieces time to recharge their Polymock Glyph of Concentration and allows you to spike them while they're casting it, for a free burst of damage that can often finish them off if they're weak without your piece taking more damage. If your enemy is the Ice Elemental, this also allows the +1000 health bonus from Polymock Frozen Armor to expire so you can finish them easier.
 * A good opening piece when you still need to use common pieces is the Skale because it does 150 damage with its spammable attack to enemies > 50% health and has two damage skills, both of which do a great deal of damage but take time to activate and thus benefit from facing a healthy opponent.
 * If your piece has a degen skill, try to maintain it on the enemies because it adds a significant amount of damage. If you're about to die however, don't bother applying degen because all negative conditions on the enemies are removed when your piece falls. Note that when their piece falls, all negative conditions remain on your piece so you don't want to let your guard down on interrupting or blocking degen conditions even at the end of the round.
 * When the Kappa is your only Uncommon piece, try to use it as your second piece behind the Skale so that you can take advantage of its higher life total to use Polymock Glyph of Power as long as possible.
 * Be certain to use Polymock Glyph of Power as often as possible when below 50% health, because it greatly increases your damage output.
 * Be willing to waste a Polymock Power Drain or Polymock Block to run yourself out of energy if you need to so that you can use Polymock Ether Signet to gain the use one of your expensive attacks to finish or damage an enemy before it finishes you.
 * Polymock Block can be used as an alternative to Polymock Glyph of Concentration if you use a 1 second spell right after it. Frequently the enemy won't react right away after having a spell blocked, giving plenty of time for your spell to complete. They will often be able to interrupt a 2 second spell after being blocked though, but if you can use the block while they're not casting then it will work for longer spells as well. If you have neither available, you can also slip a 1 second spell in right as the enemy is activating one of their spammable attacks to get it through uninterrupted.

Plurgg will always use his pieces in the following order: Fire Imp, Ice Imp, Kappa.
 * Plurgg can be the hardest to beat, due to the limited pieces at your disposal. The key to defeating him is to dodge his major projectiles (such as Meteor), and as many of his smaller projectiles (such as Ice Spear) as you can.
 * Against Plurgg, a good strategy is to use Skale, Fire Imp, and then Gargoyle.

Blarp will always use his pieces in the following order: Earth Elemental, Ice Elemental, Fire Elemental.
 * Against Blarp, a good strategy is to use Kappa, then Fire Imp and finally Skale.
 * Another good strategy is to use Skale, Kappa and finally Fire Imp.

Fonk will always use his pieces in the following order: Kappa, Aloe Seed, and Wind Rider.
 * Against Fonk, a good strategy is to use the Ice Imp first, then Kappa, and lastly the Fire Imp.

Grulhammer Silverfist will always use his pieces in the following order: Dredge, Dolyak, Dwarf.
 * Against Grulhammer Silverfist, a good strategy is to use the Gargoyle, then the Earth Elemental, and then the Kappa.
 * Another good strategy is to use the Earth Elemental, then the Kappa, and finally the Ice Elemental.

Necromancer Volumandus will always use his pieces in the following order: Skeleton, Wraith, Dragon. Suggested strategies:
 * Aloe Seed, Kappa, Earth Elemental.
 * Kappa, Fire Elemental, Earth Elemental.
 * Gargoyle, Earth Elemental, Kappa.

(NOTE: As long as you use the above pieces, Necromancer Volumandus and Grulhammer Silverfist don't offer much of a challenge despite the master difficulty warning in the Quest Log)

Dune Teardrinker will always use his pieces in the following order: Charr Shaman, Charr Flamecaller, Titan.
 * Against Dune Teardrinker, a good strategy is to use the Fire Elemental, then the Kappa, and then the Earth Elemental.
 * Also good is Gargoyle, Earth Elemental, Kappa.

Polymock Master Hoff will pick different polymock pieces each time, but always use them in order from right to left.
 * Master Hoff is difficult to defeat without a calculated strategy, but can be taken down with ease by using the Ice Elemental, Earth Elemental, and Fire Elemental.

Defeating these NPCs again in tournament mode will give Asura points (if you are less than level 8--Not Too Lazy). The amount of points you receive depends on the difficulty of your opponent. Yulma, for example, will only yield 40 points on victory, but Hoff will award you 90 points for a win.

To make future runs easier, avoid registering the Ice Elemental, Aloe Seed, and Mirage Iboga pieces as you get them, and just complete the quest sequence with the Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, and Kappa. Then pass these pieces off to new characters that need to go through, and return them after completion. Note that this will prevent you from participating in Tournament Mode until you register a Rare piece.

Skill Spammer's Guide to Polymock
This strategy can work for those that aren't fast and accurate at managing skills. If you are at zero energy, click on 7 and wait till you get 10 energy back. Watch zero energy closely! If you are below 1/2 health click on 8 any time it is ready to fire. This skill helps your 1,2,3 skills greatly.
 * Put three fingers on keys 1, 2, and 3.
 * Use mouse clicks to click on skills 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
 * To start a battle, on countdown of 1 start clicking on 4.
 * As soon skill 4 fires, start spamming 1,2,3 over and over again by slowly drumming your fingers on the keys (not a fast pace).
 * Continue spamming 1,2,3 during the whole battle, only pausing when you click on 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 just long enough for the skill to fire.
 * Click on 4, 5, and 6 any time they are ready to fire, with the following VERY IMPORTANT exceptions:
 * Follow the suggested orders (above) in picking your pieces. They work very well.
 * Have patience. With practice you will defeat all of the quest tournaments.

Trivia

 * Some ideas from Polymock may have come from the classic Nintendo Series Pokémon, since it is similar in gameplay and nature, and the name sounds suspiciously similar.