User:Entropy/characters

Last Seriously Updated: 8/12/07

Small note of explanation: "Retired" means I no longer play with that character for practical purposes; I may take them out to test something or farm Grawl in Witman's Folly, but not really play with them. "On Hold" means the character is active and I'm playing with them, however they aren't the current character I'm working on. "Active" is the one character I am specifically playing with at the moment.

Achievements on All Characters

 * Protector of Tyria title.
 * Defend Droknar's Forge completed.
 * All Tyrian outposts unlocked and at least 50% of the map explored.
 * All missions and quests in Factions up to Vizunah Square completed; all outposts up to this point unlocked.
 * All missions and quests in Nightfall up to Venta Cemetery completed, sans the quests that require Koss such as A Fool's Luck etc; all Istan outposts unlocked.
 * Access to all three continents.
 * Olias, Zenmai, Koss, Dunkoro, Tahlkora, a Zaishen Acolyte, and Melonni unlocked.
 * All Heroes level 20.
 * Full sets of Runes and Insignias for all Heroes.
 * Max-damage weapons for all Heroes, most of them fully modded as well.
 * Minor or Major Vigor runes for all characters, and some Heroes.

Lana Irving

 * W/any, preference to W/R archer or W/N Plague Touch
 * Name origins: Related to Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia
 * Personality: "aggressive"
 * Color: "Rusty" Red
 * Pet: Persian, L20 Heary Lynx
 * Armor(s): Gladiator's set, Knight's set, Stonefist Gauntlets, one of each weapon mastery helm
 * Weapons: (purple) 16v50 Barbed Long Sword of Fortitude (Long Sword skin), Crippling Katana of Shelter, Cruel Battle Axe and Heavy War Hammer, Victo's Blade; Icy Ascalon Longbow/Shortbow
 * Status: Retired, mule

Tall red-headed Warrior who has capped all Warrior elites plus others (Prophecies + Core) and has 92.6% of Tyria mapped out. She is proficient in all types of Warrior weaponry, knowing that certain situations call for certain weapons. Lana has completed To Sorrow's Furnace; The Final Assault and last Titan quests will probably be done with Heroes. Crippling Slash, Earth Shaker, and Triple Chop are Lana's favorite skills for each weapon type respectively. Whirlwind Attack is pretty uber too.

Lana was originally a W/Me, and it made progress very very hard for quite some time. Damn Pre-Searing traps.

Lana chose Jin because she has better synergy with a human Warrior - in PvE, Warriors should either be harrying, tanking, or killing casters. Jin helps a lot with all three.

Lana is over 1 year old and got a Miniature Prince Rurik for her birthday, which she retains as her Minipet.

Elena Gracewood

 * R/any, typically R/Rt; R/N Toucher
 * Name origins: Sounded Ranger-like
 * Personality: "mysterious"
 * Colors: Green, Brown
 * Pet: Couerl, L20 Hearty Stalker
 * Armor(s): Druid's set, Dwarven "set", Expertise and Beast Mastery headgears
 * Weapons: Drago's Flatbow, Sundering (20%) Stoneshard Hornbow of Marksmanship (20%), Crippling Recurve Bow, Shocking/Icy/Ebon Shortbow, Barbed Long Sword, Heavy War Hammer, Cruel Battle Axe, Victo's Blade
 * Status: Active

!This is my first and oldest character!

Tiny brunette Ranger who has achieved Protector of Tyria, Protector of Cantha, and Protector of Elona, beaten Eye of the North, and even done To Sorrow's Furnace, The Final Assault, and The Forge Heart - everything done with full Hero and Hench parties whenever possible. Many times this seemed impossible, but through determination and trial and error Elena always found a way to persevere for the coveted Master's and Bonus rewards. Some non-mission quests, such as the other Titan quests, will also need Hero assistance, and some of the Realm of Torment quests are proving frustrating. However, with every mission out of the way, these quests seem less important now...and, with EotN finally out, there are more important things to do anyways, like explore Dungeons.

Elena has all Ranger and Warrior skills, across all campaigns, including the elites, and also has all PvE-only skills (except for Kurzick/Luxon). Elena likes to use Drago's Flatbow because it is even bigger than she is; it's nice for Prepared Shot and Burning Arrow too. However, a Shortbow is more suitable for Broad Head Arrow and Glass Arrows, possibly two of the best general-purpose PvE Ranger Elites. By far, Elena's favorite skill of all time is Needling Shot. Point Blank Shot and its duplicate Zojun's Shot are also great after the buffs.

Elena sometimes farms for collectable drops in the Crystal Desert as a Trapper/Wilderness Survival soloist, using the R/any Solo Desert Trapper build. She has also learned to farm Totem Axe and Forgotten Fan, which is fun and requires no particular build to boot.

Elena also uses the R/N Toucher build on occasion for some variety and change. Two Touchers working together can stay alive pretty much infinitely, and it turns out to be a very easy farming combo for most Prophecies bosses (except against Healing-based Monks).

Since Elena has all the Ranger and Warrior skills, she has decided to try and be "The Best Ranger Ever", and experiment with all the other secondary professions too. Rangers are a versatile class and usually don't even really need their Secondary profession, but one can never know unless they try. All secondary professions have at least one combo to offer...R/Rt for Brutal Barrage, R/Mo for Mending Touch, R/E for Flame Barrager...but there are bound to be more. Elena plans to aim towards the Assassin secondary next. All those hated R/A's must have had a reason to exist...

Since Elena beat Nightfall Campaign and Eye of the North Expansion, she has all the Heroes, and first choices are no longer relevant. However, for the record she chose Jin, Margrid, and Norgu first. Jin and Margrid were essential for farming Battle of Turai's Procession (before Splinter Barrage was obliterated), and Norgu proved more useful than a duplicate of Koss. In Eye of the Noth, she got Ogden, Vekk, Jora, Xandra, Kahmu, and Gwen through the Sneak-Peek Preview Event and the rest of the Heroes shortly after buying the game.

Elena is over 1 year old and got a Miniature Temple Guardian for her birthday, which she gave to Vaya Shiis. She retains a Miniature Whiptail Devourer for her own Minipet, which was bought a long time ago...

Rayne Brunel

 * E/any, preference to E/Me for shutdown and Energy Storage Mesmer; occasionally E/N
 * Name origins: Related to Colette Brunel from Tales of Symphonia
 * Personality: "hapless" (see image ->)
 * Color: Purple
 * Pet: Chocobo, L20 Hearty Strider
 * Armor(s): Aeromancer's set, 1 of each attribute Headgear
 * Weapons: all max staves for Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Domination, Blood, Curses; Vokur's Staff; Morgriff's Staff; Fiery Ascalon Recurve Bow; HCT/HSR Healing staff for spamming Heal Party
 * Status: On Hold mule; actively used for Faction farming (Balthazar)

Medium purple-haired Elementalist and wannabe Minion Master who has completed To Sorrow's Furnace. Rayne specializes in making stupid mistakes and generally causing accidents to happen...such as scattering aggro with AoE. She prefers to use Air magic, but also enjoys being a Life Stealer or an Energy Storage Mesmer. She is a big fan of Energy Surge and Wastrel's Worry. Rayne is currently trying to earn more Skill Points due to an unfortunate accident...see Skills and Attributes Window Warning for more information.

Rayne has given up Ash Running. It's fun but dealing with people while giving away hundreds of items gets rather tiresome. This burden will probably fall on Dunames Dark Witch, who as a Minion Master will probably do it faster and more efficiently anyways.

Rayne does some Faction Farming at the Zaishen Challenge at least once a week to unlock new skills. She uses a typical GoR Echo MS Nuker build:

The Obsidian Flame Elementalist team really hates Rayne and the Zaishen Healer, Archer, and Mage for pwning them too often. Rayne can take on all of the teams with a pretty high victory rate, except the highly annoying ViM trappers who the Zaishen hench are incompetent against. Even the IWAY warriors aren't much threat.

Rayne has also recently moved on to the Zaishen Elite, which is harder but can provide even more faction than the Zaishen Challenge alone. Her most notable record so far is pwning the 8-man IWAY team, for ~360 faction and 200 xp (from wolves), as well as an additional 50 + 50 faction because it was a flawless victory. Pwn't.

Rayne chose Sousuke because having two nukers at once is great in both PvP and PvE.

Rayne is over 1 year old and got a Miniature Hydra for her birthday, which she gave to Rogue Doll. She keeps a Miniature Siege Turthe for her own Minipet, which was bought long ago...and it is probably the coolest and cutest Minipet, still. If only the cannon fired...

Astos the Wanderer

 * Mo/any, usually Mo/Me for energy management
 * Name origins: Monks in days of old were travelers and nomadic wanderers
 * Personality: "calm"
 * Color: Brown
 * Pet: Black Fang, a Black Wolf
 * Armor(s): Wanderer's set, Prophet's and Zealot's scalp design
 * Weapons: Kepkhet's Refuge, collector's staves for Healing, Divine Favor, and Smiting; Ascalon Shortbow
 * Status: Retired, mule

Tall black-haired Monk who is too lazy to do Sorrow's Furnace quests, even though Bonding works wonders there. Astos owns a Kepkhet's Refuge that was randomly acquired by Rayne Brunel in an "accidental" encounter with Kepkhet Marrowfeast while exploring Prophet's Path. But it's Smiting Prayers that Astos specializes in. His favorite skill is Signet of Judgment.

Astos can't stand Monking for PUG's and most human players in general. When players overaggro or do stupid things like use Healing Signet/Frenzy in the middle of combat, they blame the Monk for not protecting them. Astos prefers to be a "support/passive" Monk, using skills like Aegis and Light of Deliverance or bonding. The stress of constantly spamming Dwayna's Kiss and Reversal of Fortune is just too much sometimes.

Astos finally gave in and completed the Endangered Species quest, because he decided the Black Wolf looked cooler.

Astos has the distinction of being my sole Male character, other than my Mule. Why is that, you ask? ...I blame Alesia. It's pretty self explanatory from there. ><

Astos chose Jin because having someone to shut down annoying enemy Mesmers, Warriors, Assassins, etc is very good for a Monk. Having to worry less about interruption is a good thing.

Astos is over 1 year old and got a Miniature Jade Armor for his birthday, which he retains as his Minipet.

Rogue Doll

 * Me/W
 * Name origins: Named after a Yu-Gi-Oh! card; good Mesmer name anyways
 * Personality: "brash"
 * Color: Purple
 * Pet: None
 * Armor(s): Full Rogue's; headgear for all attributes
 * Weapons: Max Domination staff, Vokur's Staff, Totem Axe, Serrated Shield, Poisonous Nevermore Flatbow, Forgotten Staff (Inspiration)
 * Status: Retired, mule

Tiny blonde Mesmer who hasn't gone to Sorrow's Furnace yet. Rogue uses a variety of builds: IW with Cyclone Axe; Migraine Illusion; Energy Surge Domination; Spellcaster Hate with Mistrust, Shame, Guilt, and Power Block...quite a few are possible, since Mesmer is a pretty versatile class. Rogue hasn't even gotten around to mastering Elementalist for Flashfire type builds, so there are still limitless possibilities out there.

Expel Hexes is probably Rogue Doll's favorite skill, since it is cheap, recharges fast, is unlinked, and is well-used by Heroes.

Rogue chose Sousuke because it is good synergy: she shuts down casters and attackers with Hexes, while Sousuke pummels them for direct damage.

Rogue has a Miniature Hydra for her minipet, which she got from Rayne Brunel.

Dunames Dark Witch

 * N/any, secondary class rarely used at all
 * Name origins: Named after a Yu-Gi-Oh! card; good Necromancer name
 * Personality: "cold"
 * Color: Gray/Black (Necro armor basecolor is blackish)
 * Pet: None
 * Armor(s): Fanatic's set, Soul Reaping and Death Magic headgear, Bloodstained Boots
 * Weapons: Max Death, Blood, and Curses staves
 * Status: Retired, mule

Dunames Dark Witch, or DW for short. Tall red-headed Necromancer who has gone everywhere and done everything in Prophecies, pretty much. Dunames has capped all Prophecies and Core Necromancer elites, learned all non-Elite Necromancer skills in the game, and completed To Sorrow's Furnace. She has even done The Last Day Dawns - without human aid. 4-man party for LDD is pretty darn hard.

DW can play as a Blood Spiker, SS Curses disabler, or MM. MM takes the most work out of them all, and is hardest when playing with the AI; but, it is still one of the most rewarding and best overall for PvE.

Dunames capped Feast of Corruption on the last day of March, 2007.

Dunames has the palest skin color available and tries to avoid sunlight as much as possible. Nevertheless, Necromancers do look nice, without all the funky hair and really strange facial defects that most are born with. Hmph.

On April Fool's Day, the "gender swith" prank made Dunames a male, at least temporarily. (S)he still looked cool, though!

Dunames' favorite skills are Signet of Lost Souls, Signet of Sorrow, Reaper's Mark, and Blood of the Aggressor. Close seconds are Spiteful Spirit and Blood is Power. Third is Tainted Flesh and Animate Shambling Horror.

Dunames is not happy about the nerf(s) to Soul Reaping and has retired in protest.

DW chose Jin because enemies tend to die fast enough already as an MM, and it's more useful to have a shutdown character available. Jin as a Thumper also works well with an MM, since the minions distract foes from hitting her. Carrying Winnowing is also a great boon.

Dumanes completed the EotN expansion to get a Droknar's Staff for Soul Reaping, and also to craft Tinted Spectacles. But, they had massive and ugly clipping issues with her hair, so they were scrapped in favor of the unobtrusive scar pattern. A waste of 10k and materials and time...why can't they have an "armor preview option" to see what it looks like before you buy? They could charge a small fee for it, maybe like 10% the full cost. I would have paid for that a few times before...

Mila Kitsune

 * A/any, usually A/W
 * Name origins: Mila from an old game = Killer; Kitsune = Magic fox
 * Personality: "bashful"
 * Color: Brown
 * Pet: None
 * Armor(s): Shing Jea Nightstalker set; Bladed mask
 * Weapons: Sai, Shiro's Blades
 * Status: Retired, mule

I've waited forever for an Assassin! And I'm not disappointed. I love Assassins. :)

Tiny black-haired assassin that looks a lot like Mai, just...shorter. Unlike your typical "evil, sneaky, devious" Assassin, Mila is more along the lines of Kisai. She is shy and modest to a fault, but at the same time is not hesitant to display her skills with the blade when forced. Mila hasn't gotten far in Factions due to the fact that, as one editor put it, "New professions always suck in their native campaign". So true for Azns...

Nahpui Quarter is so annoying for Assassins! Star Light use Wailing Weapon to destroy your combos, and Star Sentinel use Lightning Reflexes to block attacks. Not to mention the Celestial creatures, who have KD, Snare, Weakness...and they don't bleed for Jagged Strike either.

Mila chose Jin to try out the R/A-type builds. And yes, they really are as bad as they say, unfortunately...

Vaya Shiis

 * Rt/Mo, few other secondaries have useful skills for Rt, or that work with Spawning.
 * Name origins: I was aiming for something Egyptian, a female Pharaoh, but failed. Oh well. Now it sounds like one of the Forgotten.
 * Personality: "lordly"
 * Color: Gray
 * Pet: None
 * Armor(s): Shaman's Shing Jea set (max), 1 of each Headgear
 * Weapons: Communing, Channeling, Spawning, and Restoring Staves
 * Status: Retired, mule

Vaya Shiis is my only dark-skinned character, and I must admit it looks good on a Rit. It seemed fitting for an aspiring Ritual Lord, in any case. For Prophecies, Vaya has finished The Last Day Dawns without human aid - who needs humans when you have Spirits? In Factions, she has ended up at Cavalon / House zu Heltzer with 35 Imperial Commendations...and Venta Cemetery in Elona after exploring every explorable area in Kourna, with the exception of Gandara and some of Barbarous Shore. With all the money and skillpoints, Vaya capped a few elites and bought a massive number of new Monk skills to help out Dunkoro and Tahlkora, like Deny Hexes. From poor to rich and back to poor again - Vaya has seen prosperous times, and Vaya has seen hard times. Other than Prophecies, she is farther in any campaign than any other character...most notably being the one to make the guild Luxon.

Hands down, Vaya's favorite skill of all time is Spirit Rift, followed closely by Lamentation. Even if it was nerfed. They aren't really a Spirit Lord sort of thing, but in Prophecies they just pwn. As to Elites, none so far are that great, but Weapon of Fury is nice even if awkward to use. Spirit Channeling is a good energy recovery skill after spamming Spirit Rift, and -5 regen is easily countered by +200 or more Health gain at the end.

Vaya chose Jin because of one thing: Splinter Barrager. It destroys just about anything.

Vaya has a Miniature Temple Guardian for a Minipet, which she got from Elena Gracewood.

Crusader Karah

 * D/W for Wild Blow and/or Whirlwind Attack
 * Name origins: Generic Dervish, but it actually has a nice ring to it. I like.
 * Personality: "zealous"
 * Color: None (eremite, remember?)
 * Pet: None
 * Armor(s): Mixed Istani/Elonian armor; Scythe Mastery and Mysticism hoods
 * Weapons: Suntouched Scythes, one 15^50 and one 15^Enchanted
 * Status: On Hold

Tall black-haired Dervish who thinks wearing hoods is pretty cool. Karah is Lana's Elonian counterpart, basically. I'm quite enjoying the Dervish class and especially Scythes. That snik-snak sound and the whole "Watch as I twirl this thing and hit three people" is just too much. :) Karah's main focus is on Scythe mastery attacks. Specifically, Victorious Sweep and Eremite's Attack are quite deadly, not to mention Banishing Strike which destroys minions, and Mystic Sweep for 1/2 second activation +30 damage...

Karah only has two Elites: Avatar of Melandru which is best used in PvP really, and the almighty Reaper's Sweep which is great. Wounding Strike is on the wishlist but won't be available for quite a long time, unfortunately.

Like Ki Aza, Karah chose Sousuke since a good nuker is very helpful for Assault on Beknur Harbor.

Ki Aza

 * P/W for "Watch Yourself!"
 * Name origins: Same name as Nightfall beta weekend event. Ki = life/energy
 * Personality: "Mean"
 * Color: Yellow ("gold")
 * Pet: None
 * Armor(s): Full Elonian set, headgear for each attribute
 * Weapons: Suntouched Spear of Shelter
 * Status: Retired, mule

Cheers, the name was actually reserved on my Beta Weekend account! Phew.

Ki Aza is a tiny blonde Paragon. But don't let looks deceive you; she is a master of the spear and is not hesitant to impale people for looking at her the wrong way. Ki Aza is a reincarnated character, having been a Beta Weekend character in a former life. She hopes to live up to the standards of her former self; so far things look good.

Ki took the "long way" around: after reaching Consulate Docks, she traveled to Tyria to get Ascended there. +50,000 bonus XP is totally worth the wait.

Ki Aza's favorite skill so far has to be Cruel Spear (Eshau Longspear in "Secure the Refuge"). For a non-elite, the Sunspear skill "There's Nothing to Fear!" is also very nice, though spamming it can be a bit cost-prohibitive without higher Leadership.

On a side note, I really wish Paragons got true boots and not sandals. Look fine on a Dervish, what with their generally Eremite-like dress, but on a Paragon? Meh...especially on male Paragons...they just don't look right. The Elonian set is pretty close though, but still not quite boots like I'd wish. And the FoW armor is just ugly. :( Thankfully, thanks to EotN armor, this will finally become a thing of the past. Even though the crafting costs are astronomical for just one piece, blah!

Ki chose Sousuke, like Karah, for Assault on Beknur Harbor.

Mule Was Entropy

 * Rt/?
 * Name origins: Inspired by "Elitist Was Auron"
 * Personality: "passive"
 * Color: Yellow
 * Pet: none
 * Armor(s): Starter
 * Weapons: Starter
 * Status: Official Mule - constantly "active"

I finally made a Mule. I use him to hold excess Crafting Materials and black dye, so that some of my other characters can be a bit more free...Mule Was Entropy probably won't move past Shing Jea Monastary, though I might reconsider if I get bored. If he does, then he will naturally specialize in Item spells. He is a Mule, after all, made to "hold" things. ;)