User:BabyJ1110

{TOCright}} This build uses high damage PBAoE spells, with the added damage bonus from the Lightbringer title, to farm caster-only groups in Ravenheart Gloom for Torment Gemstones.

Gloom farmer

Attributes and Skills

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

Equipment

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


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

Usage

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


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

Counters

 * Heart Tormentor
 * Earth Tormentor

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

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

The Neutral IW uses Illusionary Weaponry to deal armor-ignoring damage and chance of double strike, while staying alive by keeping Dark Escape and Feigned Neutrality up constantly. This gives the Mesmer 150 armor (60 + 10 + 80) and +7 health regeneration while dealing substantial damage. Designed for PvP but can be used effectively in PvE.

Netural IW

Equipment

 * Max armor with +10 when enchanted
 * Superior Rune of Illusion Magic
 * Superior Rune of Vigor
 * Rune of Purity
 * 2 Runes of Vitae
 * Crippling (for Return) Daggers with of Enchanting suffix and "I have the power" +5 Energy inscription (because none of the +damage% mods will affect the damage from IW)

Usage

 * Start by casting Illusion of Weakness and followed by Feigned Neutrality to heal if no monk.
 * Choose your target, Armor level does not matter.
 * Against Normal Opponents: Cast and Maintain Illusionary Weaponry, Deadly Paradox and Feigned Neutrality (in order) then attack. Cast Death's Charge after Deadly Paradox if you need to close the gap.
 * Against Armor Ignoring Opponents: Cast and Maintain Illusionary Weaponry, Deadly Paradox, Dark Escape and Feigned Neutrality. Always remain in Dark Escape stance. Since Deadly Paradox will no longer affect Feigned Neutrality it will be used half as often.
 * When reapplying enchantments, casting Death's Charge can be a good healing boost before Feigned Neutrality.
 * You should be almost indestructible, but if for whatever reason Illusion of Weakness triggers then fall back using Return and heal.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal.
 * Energy denial.
 * Kiting.
 * Interrupting or removing Illusionary Weaponry will make this build useless.
 * Heavy health degeneration such as Burning, Poison or Conjure Nightmare.
 * Life Stealing and other armor ignoring damage.
 * Stoneflesh Aura

Variants

 * For Alliance Battles Resurrection Signet isn't important, so Illusion of Haste give you ways of kiting.
 * Assassin primary; lower damage but stronger.
 * Exchange Return for Distortion. This will sap energy but can be more effective at protecting yourself.
 * Replace Return for Shadow Refuge to help further counter degeneration.
 * Add Caltrops to snare kiting foes.
 * For PvE, consider bringing a scythe (with the same preferred mods as the daggers) in a second weapon slot. The scythe will do a steady 24 DPS instead of the average 36 DPS of the daggers (32 if you don't count double strikes). However, if two or three foes are adjacent you do a nice 48 or 72 DPS respectively. Change between the daggers and scythe as the situation warrants.
 * Death's Retreat can also be used instead of Return, or with Return to retreat further back.

Equipment

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

Usage

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

This build is intended for quick and direct farming of bosses. It relies on the normal 55 standard and very high health regeneration for healing and damage reduction. Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit provide energy for the consistent spamming of regeneration skills. The main damage comes from Spoil Victor and possibly one Touch Attack. This build allows the user to charge directly for the boss monster and ignore the boss's mob.

Equipment

 * Each of your armor pieces need to have a superior attribute Rune. This will lower your base Health to 105. (The only required type is blood, but 5 are necessary to hit 105 health.)
 * It is a good idea to bring a second set of armor. This will allow you to adjust your health manually based on any Death Penalty you might accumulate.
 * Any +5 energy/20% longer enchanting sword/axe such as Rajazan's Fervor or Totem Axe.
 * The -50hp Grim Cesta from the Cities of Ascalon quest. (This is not required if you don't mind dying once and using a -20 offhand to hit 13hp. This will work better in most cases.)
 * For 13hp build, any -20hp offhand (preferably +12 energy). (Life is Pain Inscriptions help with this.)
 * If you have any +hp offhands they could also be useful if any DP is accumulated.

Usage

 * Cast your four maintained enchantments when entering the explorable area. Try to allow full energy regeneration after each one until you're used to an area.
 * As you approach your target cast Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze.
 * Target the boss monster and cast Spoil Victor.
 * Get as much aggro as possible from the boss's mob of monsters.
 * Begin using Vampiric Touch on the boss
 * After any touch attempt refresh either Healing Breeze or Protective Spirit. Alternate the refresh between the two.
 * Having the touches interrupted is not an issue. They have a fast refresh time.
 * Refreshing Healing Breeze and Protective Spirit early is ideal when facing a boss whose mob has interrupt capability. If they are interrupted this is less problematic as they'll likely refresh before they expire.
 * To keep melee foes from fleeing, keep hitting them with your axe or sword.

Counters

 * Enchantment stripping spells such as Chilblains, Lingering Curse, Well of the Profane, Gaze of Contempt, Rend Enchantments, Strip Enchantment, Inspired Enchantment, Dark Apostasy, Shatter Enchantment, or Expunge Enchantments.
 * Life Steal attacks will bypass the protection offered from Protective Spirit. This will usually kill you.

Variants

 * Consider using Blood of the Aggressor instead of Vampiric Touch for lesser energy use and damage from a distance (safer against interrupts from warriors or rangers). Vampiric Touch is sometimes impossible to use in areas where there's a lot of energy degeneration such as Domain of Secrets.
 * Some groups apply more degen than you can handle, in this case replace Vampiric Touch with either Life Siphon or Blood Renewal. Life Siphon is better for groups without a lot of interrupts, while Blood Renewal has a faster cast time, and the sacrifice will be healed before you notice it most of the time.
 * Another skill you may consider in replacing Vampiric Touch is Wallow's Bite or Touch of Agony. With only 5 energy cost and 3 sec recharge time, you can definitely spam this skill to speed up killing.  The 10% life sacrifice is hardly noticeable.  A good example would be the case of farming Wing's Axe.  If you encounter a mesmer with two ritualists, it's almost impossible to kill her with just Spoil Victor as she strips off hexes the moment you put it on her.  Not to mention she strips off hexes from the her party too.
 * Replacing Watchful Spirit with Vigorous Spirit and Vampiric Touch with Plague Touch opens up a lot of possibilities. Vigorous Spirit maybe be used as a cover enchantment versus enchantment removal or a cheaper heal than Healing Breeze when down to one or two attackers. When using Vigorous Spirit as a cover, it's usually best to cast Protective Spirit, then Vigorous Spirit, then Healing Breeze immediately before attacking the target mesmer or necro (Kournan Seers are one example of where this works very well). Plague Touch is useful to remove conditions such as Dazed from the Grasping Darknesses in the Underworld, or Deep Wound when fighting Stoneaxe Hekets while farming greens like the Eye of Argon and Balthazar's Fury though removing Deep Wound isn't always a good idea, since you end up taking less damage which makes you harder to kill.

Equipment

 * You'll need one high-health set of armor and weapons and one 55 set (see Invincible Monk for details on 55 equipment).

Usage

 * When you enter the Stygian Veil, there is a mob in the trench immediately to your right (S-SE) that may be (mostly) killed easily for fun and profit and to get the first few no-drops out of the way. If you get a great drop from these, use Consume Corpse and retrieve it.  This will end this farming run.  Watch out for the patrol - particularly the Mind Tormentors and Water Tormentors that often spawn will hurt.


 * Head East, dodging the nasty Shadow patrols. Talk to the Whispers Informant to receive Anguish Hunt.  Then talk to the Adept of Whispers, take the Breaching the Stygian Veil quest, and immediately run NE along the wall above the Dreadspawn Maw.  Wait for three mobs of six Stygian Hungers to gather around the Adept of Whispers.


 * Carefully run along the wall to the lower area around the Dreadspawn Maw - there's just enough room to get down there from either side without aggro'ing any of the groups.

Now the fun begins....

Part 1 - The Hunger Mobs

 * Stygian Hungers are touch/AoE necros with Grenth's Balance as their elite. Switch to your 55 health setup to counter Grenth's Balance. Repeat the following:


 * Use 'c' to select the nearest target - make sure it is in one of the side mobs - save the center mob for last.
 * Cast Suffering.
 * Run away around the Dreadspawn Maw using a running skill until aggro is broken. Occasionally, this will be difficult. Do not stop running until aggro is broken.
 * Make sure you have the nearest target of the same mob, and cast Desecrate Enchantments. The Hungers use Dark Aura, making this do a decent amount of damage to the mob.
 * Run away and break aggro.
 * Nearest target, cast Feast of Corruption.
 * Run away.
 * Go back to the first step, and repeat until their health is low.


 * You really want to finish them off with Feast of Corruption or Desecrate Enchantments. If you let them degen to death while you're not in the area, you may not get any drops.  They should be in an easily killable range with either skill once their health bar is into the 'Lvl' text.  If you are using your 55 armor, then all can be killed simultaneously.


 * When a mob dies, it will be replaced by another one from a spawn point behind the gates the first three mobs came from. You have a lot of time to run around the Dreadspawn Maw to lose aggro from the other two mobs, but do try to avoid aggro'ing the new one.

Part 2 - The Brute Mobs

 * Stygian Brutes are hammer warriors. While facing them, you can switch to your high-health armor if you wish, but you're still probably dead if they actually hit you.  Use the same techniques as on the Stygian Hungers, except only cast Desecrate Enchantments when you have energy to burn, as it is considerably less cost-effective for damaging the Brutes.


 * [[image:Stygian_fiends_path.jpg|frame|Path to run away from Fiends]]

Part 3 - The Fiend Mobs

 * Stygian Fiends are rangers with Crippling Shot, Choking Gas, and other fun skills to mutilate necromancers with. Once again, you really don't want to get hit by these.  Unfortunately, if they even shoot at you and miss, Demonic Miasma will make it hurt. Use the high-health armor when dealing with these, as you're likely to at least be *missed* by a barrage or two of arrows.


 * Once again, hit and run. If possible, run up the nearby hill while running away to minimize any height-advantage and additional range the Fiends may get.  See the highlighted path in the map:


 * [[image:Stygian_muddy_placement.jpg|frame|Placement of Muddy Terrain for Eastern mobs]]

Part 4 - The Golem Mobs

 * Stygian Golems are Dervish beasts which use Harrier's Haste to catch up with you. It's almost impossible to reliably lose them with just running skills.  The trick here is to circle around the mob and plant Muddy Terrain *behind* the mob, to the NE of the Adept of Whispers (center point on the map to the right).  Then head back down below and do the following:


 * Cast Suffering
 * Run away (use a running skill just before leaving Muddy Terrain's area of effect).
 * Wait for mob to resettle.
 * Cast Feast of Corruption.
 * Run away and wait for mob to resettle.
 * Cast Suffering
 * Run away until you lose aggro, then head back and drop another Muddy Terrain spirit at the spot on the map.
 * Rinse, repeat.


 * It works best if you trigger your running skill just prior to leaving the area under the effect of Muddy Terrain. This makes you go fast while the Golems are still stuck trudging along. If the spirit is correctly placed, they'll give up before getting out of its range.

Part 5 - The Horror Mobs

 * Stygian Horrors are warriors which, similar to the Stygian Golems, use Bull's Charge to speed them on their way to killing you. Use the same technique with Muddy Terrain to kill these as used for Stygian Golems.


 * [[image:Stygian_muddy_placement2.jpg|frame|Placement of Muddy Terrain for Western mobs]]

Part 6 - The Mixed Mobs

 * The last mob of each of the three sets has all of the Stygian Demons in it. You'll need to use the high-health armor to deal with the Fiends and use the Muddy Terrain technique (See the map images for placement for Eastern and Western mobs).  Unfortunately, that means you're unlikely to kill them all simultaneously.  Once the Stygian Hungers are the only ones left, switch back to your 55 armor for the final kills.

Part 7 - How do I get my drops?!?!

 * Once you've killed all the mobs, the area around the Adept will be safe. However, it's easy enough to pick up valuable drops long before that point, either directly after killing one set or not.


 * If you've just killed a set, then run away *without* using a running skill. Go around the Dreadspawn Maw with the remaining two mobs trailing behind you. Just as you cross the halfway-around point, hit your running skills and head for your most valuable drops.  If done correctly, you can pick up one or two items, then run away without being hit and be able to continue the farm if desired.


 * This will most likely not work if a mob of Fiends, Golems, or Horrors is present - only make hoover runs with Brutes and Hungers around. Look at the table showing the order of the mobs in Breaching the Stygian Veil to figure out your best kill order to get drops.


 * If you haven't just killed a set, just aggro them with Suffering and run around the Maw as described above.

Variants
A N/A using Deadly Paradox Shadow of Haste Dark Escape and Dash and 12 Shadow Arts instead of the ranger skills and Wilderness Survival. The strategy is very much the same except for the running away part. For that you activate Deadly Paradox then Shadow of Haste, run in, cast your spell(s), then use Dash to cancel out Shadow of Haste. This will teleport you back to the place where you used Shadow of Haste and you can proceed to run using Dark Escape if needed. For a more indepth guide to this version see here.

Counters

 * Everything in this area hits hard. Getting hit once is likely to produce a Necromancer-shaped corpse.  Try to avoid getting hit.

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

Equipment

 * Full Druid's Armor or equivalent in function
 * Two Runes of Attunement
 * The best Rune of Vigor you can afford (but at least a major)
 * Any staff with 15 or 20 energy bonus with + 7 armor against physical damage
 * For extra protection when pulling you could take a replacement armor piece for one of those with a superior rune in it and a staff with +60hp. This will allow you to survive two hits from a Bladed Aatxe.

Usage
This build is for experienced trappers who want more challenge and get all the loot for themselves. It is hard at first but with practice, becomes pretty easy to handle. The idea of the build is to keep the mobs on the Dust Traps for their full activation time. This is difficult as AoE damage causes the enemy mobs to flee.
 * First, choose your trapping spot near an angle or any small confined space (e.g. in the Chamber, just under the stairs, close to the walls). You will want the mobs to be blocked by the walls when they try to flee the AoE damages. Once you've got the trapping spot, put down Energizing Wind and Quickening Zephyr just around the corner/angle, not too close to the wall (about the distance of activation of a trap).
 * Start Arcane Echo and during its activation use Serpent's Quickness so that you have the stance before the casting of Arcane Echo finishes. Then use Echo, Dust Trap, Echo (copied with Arcane Echo), Dust Trap (copied with Echo), and Dust Trap (copied with Echo copied with Arcane Echo).
 * Walk backwards a couple of steps, keeping clear from the wall(always about the distance of activation of a trap) and put down Barbed Trap. As soon as the Dust Traps have recharged, lay them down and keep SQ up (usually wears off at the end of the 5th Dust Trap, so recast) and spam Barbed Trap when possible.
 * After the 7th Dust Trap, the spirits will end. Wait a couple of seconds for EW to recharge, put down EW and renew SQ. Then use Echo, Dust Trap, and the echoed Dust Trap. Keep the Barbed Trap that has recharged unused for your own safety.
 * Now you can go pull the mobs. Hit Whirling Defense during aggro and run towards the spirit and stay put behind it. Usually Aaxtes will focus on it instead of you. Meanwhile they will take all the damage waves from the 9 Dust Traps as they try to flee through the walls.
 * The usage of the build can be summed up with the following sequences (skills numbered from 1 to 8 from left to right):
 * Laying down the spirits, the 3 Dust Traps and 1 Barbed Trap: 1, 2, 7, 4 + 3, 5, 6, 4, 5, 4 (3 is to be cast during activation time of 4)
 * Laying down 4 other Dust Traps and 2 Barbed Traps: 7, 6, 5, 4 + 3, 7, 6 (with good timing you can renew SQ when 4 starts)
 * Laying down a spirit and 2 Dust Traps and Barbed before pulling: 1 + 3, 7, 5, 6, 5

Counters

 * The main flaw of the build is lack of self healing. Surviving in emergency situations and during pulling is possible with Whirling Defense, Barbed Trap, and clever movement.
 * Whirling Defense will prevent most of the hits from foes. However Aatxes hit hard, so don't try to pull them from too far away or you'll have a greater risk to get hit and the traps set might start to go off on their own.
 * When the enemy mob survives the initial traps, run away, put down Barbed Trap, lure the surviving enemies into it, and run far away from them. They should lose aggro.
 * When Smites or Coldfire Nights survive, just run away from them until they break aggro.
 * Coldfire Nights are the hardest mob to kill with this build. Avoiding them is the best tactic. If you can't, lay down your spirits far behind the trapping spot, and trap in multiple spots. 3 Dust Traps, step back a bit, Barbed Trap, step back, Dust Traps, etc... This is to ensure that when the Coldfires run after you they will activate all the traps on the way. To keep them in the traps, you can hit Whirling Defense and come into aggro distance so that the survivors focus on you and stay in the traps.

Variants

 * You could replace Serpent's Quickness with Trapper's Speed. However, it seems that the benefit of SQ is much better as it can also be maintained during the whole trapping process.
 * Replacing Whirling Defense with Flame Trap allows for quicker takedowns, and results in health degeneration on the Aatxes. The only drawback is its harder to pull, so use this variant at your own risk.

Equipment

 * Armor: Oracle's Armor (+10 AL while holding an item) is good. If energy is a problem then Halcyon's Armor.
 * Weapons: Spiritgarden's Repose or anysuch weapon is recommended (but not required). The 20% faster recharge can make VWK recharge even faster. A one-handed weapon and focus with HSR 20% each will even increase your chance of recharging VWK.
 * Any weapon you want to take is fine as the item spell will cancel out any bonus from it except the initial cast.

Usage
This build is optimal for farming groups of enemies that are mostly attackers (warriors or rangers) and that do not have heavy interruption, enchantment removal or spike damage. As such, it can farm a wide variety of areas ranging from the Jade Brotherhood in Kaineng Center to the Undergrowths in Echovald Forest and the Naga in the Jade Sea.

Before encountering foes
 * Before engaging foes, hit Arcane Echo.
 * Go into enemy foes and round them up around yourself. This means taking the melee attackers to the ranged attackers.
 * Invoke Vengeful Was Khanhei. If Arcane Echo starts blinking before you are done rounding up enemies, invoke VWK anyways.
 * Continuously use Vengeful Weapon as it recharges.
 * Invoke Sympathetic Visage and when it runs out invoke Ancestor's Visage (AV). If you fear interruption you might want to cast one of them before you go in. If you do this, make sure to cast them before Arcane Echo.
 * When the first VwK runs out, use the echoed version. By the time the echoed version runs out the original will have recharged.

Counters

 * Groups with interruption will interrupt SV or AV, this is why having both is a good insurance policy.
 * Groups with enchantment removal will remove SV and AV off of you.
 * Bosses are generally very formidable as they do increased damage that, over time, is more than what VWK steals back.

Variants
In the optional slots, a few skills can be used to boost your defense:
 * Elemental Resistance: When facing groups of Undergrowths, Stone Scale Kirin and Dragon Moss. The moss can spike hard using Arc Lightning and Shatterstone.
 * Physical Resistance: When facing warriors or rangers that hit hard (Jade Brotherhood Knights or Naga Archers), this can be used to boost resistance.

Other possibilities include:
 * Channeling for extra energy. However, VWK only costs 5 energy, so the most needed at any time is 15 for VWK and SV or AV. Also note that VWK always comes with it's energy. i.e. When VWK ends, you gain back 10 or more energy which was held back by not using your weapon and/or focus item. So, you should never face a situation where you cannot cast VWK.
 * Generous Was Tsungrai will give you extra health to endure the initial attacks while you make your entrance and then a big healing boost when you switch to VwK.
 * An interrupt if farming foes that use skills that you fear and which you can interrupt. Examples include elementalists and ritualists.

Usage
Leave from Rilohn Refuge. When you spawn cast Physical Resistance, Illusion of Haste run past the beast to Zelnehlun Fastfoot lair. Recast Illusion of Haste run across bridge past spiders to rez shrine wait till they cluster, cross back over bridge. Target Zelnehlun Fastfoot, cast Physical Resistance, Channeling, Arcane Echo, aggro (run into mob of spiders), cast Vengeful Was Khanhei, Empathy on Zelnehlun Fastfoot proceed to cast Vengeful Weapon, Empathy (always on Zelnehlun Fastfoot), Soothing Memories and Vengeful Was Khanhei as needed. Everything should be dead in 1-3 min(s).

Soloable Boss:
 * Zelnehlun Fastfoot

Usage
Accept the quest from the Lost Soul positioned in the center of the starting chamber. In doing so you should be careful not to aggro any of the surrounding creatures. Run back to the platform and cast Physical Resistance, then cast Illusion of Haste, aggro a group of Grasping Darkness and run to the back corner of the chamber. The Bladed Aatxe should discontinue pursuit, the Grasping Darkness will not. As soon as you are out of range of the Bladed Aatxes, immediately cast a visage spell before the Darkness reach you (This may take a few rounds to master, as the speed of the Darkness makes them fairly unpredictable). Let the Darkness hit you a few times (approximately 3-4) and then cast Arcane Echo. You can then cast Vengeful Was Khanhei. Keep one of the visage spells up at all times, and recast Physical Resistance as needed. Vengeful Weapon can be cast intermittently, keeping energy management in mind while doing so. When Vengeful Was Khanhei begins to end, cast the echoed copy. When that begins to end, recast the first. This cycle should take care of any group of Darkness, however the need to resort to Vengeful Weapon to defeat the remaining is likely.


 * Be sure not to aggro multiple groups at a time. One grouping of Darkness will contain three to five of them, and any number after three will cause some of the Darkness to back off and scatter. Groups of three are generally preferred for expedient killing and progression.


 * Starting with the group of Darkness left of the Lost Soul and working your way to the right is advisable. The group farthest right will "float" up and down the steps leading to one of the chambers behind closed doors. Wait until they have reached the Aatxes closest to the steps right of the Lost Soul before aggroing them.


 * If a Dying Nightmare appears, wand it. You can also use Vengeful Weapon to destroy it.

After you have eliminated the grasping darkness, allow yourself time to regenerate energy and health as needed. When you begin your run, start up the right steps, cast Illusion of Haste and "hug" the right wall on your way to the passage around the right corner. Occasionally you will be forced to "bottle-neck" with Aatxes or Darkness coming through the doorway. Attempt to make a straight motion parallel to them, as they will continue heading in the same direction they were pointed for a few moments, thus giving you time to escape any attacks(1). Once you reach the first group of Smite Crawlers any Grasping Darkness following you should then discontinue pursuit.


 * Distortion should be used whenever you need to recast Illusion Of Haste, thus giving you protection from adjacent creature's attacks.


 * (1) Avoiding this is simple, if you time your attempt correctly. Start running from the first chamber and towards the door once the group of creatures in the doorway begin to move away from it. You should also learn to time your run so that you are never forced to recast Illusion Of Haste in a doorway, as this may get you pinned against a surrounding wall by groups of creatures in the area.

When you begin farming the Smite Crawlers your challenge is lessened. Occasionally their Zealot's Fire will put your health in a tricky situation, but it is generally countered once you are able to recast Vengeful Was Khanhei, and/or get your cycle of Visage spells started. The process for killing the Smite Crawlers is identical to the method used against the Darkness, only without the need to wait to cast Arcane Echo, as the Smite Crawlers can not interrupt it. Spamming Vengeful Weapon while fighting against the Crawlers is advisable.


 * Do not engage the Coldfire Nights unless you have eliminated all of the Smite Crawlers and wish to leave The Underworld, or you wish to suffer an untimely, Ectoplasm-less death.

Counters

 * Being attacked by Bladed Aatxes will end your run quickly, unless you avoid them as instructed in the walkthrough.
 * Groups of more than four Smites can actually cause problems for you. Once you're VWK cycle is done, if too many are alive, they will kill you with Zealot's Fire.
 * Having a Dying Nightmare remove your enchantments as you make your way to the Crawlers will prematurely end you, as Illusion of haste will end and cripple you. Use distortion and make all attempts to recast Illusion Of Haste should this happen.
 * Fighting the Grasping Darkness on the way to the Crawlers will aggro Aatxes in the area, despite distance.
 * Coldfire Nights are not un-farmable, but have a tendency to kill you very quickly by combination of slowing you, and interrupting your spells with Maelstroms. They do not drop Ectoplasm.

This is a very effective build for farming Ancient Armor Remnants at the Remains of Sahlahja Challenge Mission, by killing Maddened Spirits and Infestations outside the Wurm.

Equipment

 * Armor - Maximum energy Armor
 * Weapons - Doesn't matter much. Any staff or wand in the restoration or channeling attributes should do the trick.

Usage
Do not get into wurm. Camp near first maddened strike location (but not TOO near). Cast Bloodsong. Attack nearby infestations, using essence strike and gaze from beyond and the occasional wanding. Wait for Maddened Spirit to appear. Hit "Can't Touch This", followed by vengeful weapon. As spirit starts attacking you, put vengeful was khanhei up. Spam vengeful weapon a few more times. When maddened spirit dies, you can siphon your bloodsong then recast it at a different location, still within the first area - do not touch the yellow sand :). Clean nearby infestations. Etc. Notice that, strictly speaking, you only need to recast Bloodsong every three spirits, more or less (they seem to spawn within 30 seconds of each other), but it's not recommended to wait that long. Being caught without bloodsong will drain your energy (since you must spam vengeful much more), so recast it every two maddeneds.

Counters

 * Be careful not to be caught off-guard killing infestations and forget to use "Can't Touch This". If you eventually get bored, hop on the wurm and do it the old-fashioned way.
 * Getting your Bloodsong killed is a nuisance, but not a fatal one (for the Ritualist - for the more fragile P/Rt version it is dangerous) - spam vengeful weapon until it's dead and recast it. Maddened Spirits will usually come for you, not the spirit, unless the spirit is a much more convenient target. Therefore, the best position for you is to stand between Bloodsong (a mere step away will do) and the incoming Maddened Spirit, or exactly on the same spot (if you just cast it, for example).

Variants

 * You can switch around a few skills, the only essential skills are Can't Touch, bloodsong and vengeful spells. This configuration means you can kill nearby infestations quickly and always replenish energy for quick maddened killing.
 * A P/Rt variant is possible, but it's much more complicated to use. Here is the skill bar for it: Can't Touch This, Vengeful Was Khanhei, Vengeful Weapon, Nightmare Weapon, Essence Strike, Go For the Eyes!, Spirit Siphon, Bloodsong. Attributes: Command 10 (headgear+superior), Leadership 4 (Major), Restoration 11, Channeling 12. Use a zealous spear and max energy armor with attunement runes. When Maddened arrives, use can't touch and vengeful was khanhei as he gets closer. Use vengeful weapon once. When Khanhei starts blinking, cast Nightmare Weapon and start attacking the maddened spirit when khanhei's effects ends. Use all your energy management skills whenever possible and attack nearby infestations to regain energy (go for the eyes is there for energy management - 2 energy per use). Remember you can attack maddened spirit with essence and your zealous spear - even though it does no damage, you still gain the energy. It's complicated, but doable - don't forget to always recast bloodsong after every 2 maddened spirits - being caught without it will probably be fatal.

Usage

 * Stand as far away from combat as your spirits can be and still affect allies.
 * Use Boon of Creation for Energy management. Cast it first, then begin casting Shelter.
 * Activate Ritual Lord during shelter. Like a stance, it has zero casting time so it can be cast during other skills.
 * Invoke Displacement then Union.
 * Be sure to constantly refresh Boon of Creation and Ritual Lord.
 * Typically, Displacement will run out fairly quickly, at which time Union will start eroding. Before Union runs out, your Displacement should be recharged and ready. Invoke it as soon as it becomes ready again.
 * For the duration of the battle, try to balance Union and Displacement so that at least one of them is in effect, while always maintaining Shelter. This will make healing extremely easy.

The end result of this build is that the party will almost always take no more than 30-38 Damage Per Hit and will avoid most attacks.
 * In Alliance Battles and certain missions (Amatz Basin, etc.), the effects are even better. All 3 spirits affect allies, as opposed to only party members. Thus, even 1 Ritual Lord can turn the tide of battle.

Counters

 * Removing Boon of Creation will greatly reduce the energy management within this build.
 * Likewise, any energy denial skills can greatly impact the build's effectiveness.
 * If targeted, the build will usually die quickly as it does not have attack or healing skills.
 * Interrupts while creating the spirits will force the player to wait the full length of recharge time.

Variants
There are two optional slots in the skill bar. These can be filled as follows:


 * Soothing
 * Suggested as a near must have for one of the optional slots. This is not a universal opinion, but should be considered. It will go a long way towards shutting down Adrenaline users.


 * Armor of Unfeeling
 * Pointless in PvE, excellent in PvP. A flat-out damage reduction to give more protection than any amount of Armor. Not always effective.


 * Mighty Was Vorizun
 * So-So in PvE, great in PvP. Can't go wrong with additional Armor and Energy, although you lose any Fast Casting/Recharge mods on your weapon.


 * Feast of Souls
 * Overpowered in PvE, excellent in PvP. This far outstrips Heal Party. Chances are, Shelter won't die before it recharges. Feast of Souls can therefore be cast to give the party a strong heal. Used early it will give the party a very strong Heal.


 * Signet of Creation
 * Good in PvE, good in PvP. Gives Union and Displacement a helping hand before they die.


 * Shadowsong
 * Protects caster and caster's spirits from melee attackers that try to bring them down.


 * Spirit Siphon
 * By using two Superior Runes, one each of Communing and Spawning Power, and a Minor Rune of Channeling Magic and putting Communing and Spawning Power at 14, you can put 11 into Channeling Magic and use this skill for much more efficient energy management. Great for PvE, if you stay out of aggro range. Dangerous in PvP because of much lower health.


 * Mantra of Resolve
 * If your secondary class is Mesmer, put 3 into Inspiration. Not needed in PvE, but you may want it for PvP. Binding Rituals are not spells, so there are less interrupting skills to affect them, but interruptions will not trigger Ritual Lord's Recharge reduction, thus, it's really bad to be interrupted. Don't worry about the low Rank: There will be Energy to spare if Boon of Creation is managed properly.


 * Mantra of Concentration
 * A longer lasting, cheaper variant of Mantra of Resolve. Only stops one interrupt per cast however.


 * Frozen Soil
 * Many teams (most notably IWAY) prefer to have one Frozen Soil-spirit carried by the Ritual Lord, to prevent enemies from reviving dead teammates. This requires Ranger as secondary profession.

This is a dual farming build that uses a 55 monk to tank and a ranger for support and damage which is designed primarily for farming specific portions of the Underworld. This is a modification to the original 55/Famine build which overcomes AI changes from the Nightfall Update.

Ranger Equipment

 * Any max armor will be sufficient. Druid's Armor is recommended
 * Any weapon will be sufficient but a staff with +20 energy can be useful, as well as a zero or low requirement bow.

General Ranger Usage
At the beginning of the run, cast Essence Bond, Succor, and Balthazar's Spirit on the 55 monk. Let the monk draw aggro and Essence Bond will replenish your energy. Cast Famine and Edge of Extinction well outside of the monk's aggro circle (Spirit range is a little over twice the radius of your aggro circle). The best placement location is 2 times the radius of the aggro circle, as creatures will scatter off the monk into a circle about 3/4 of an aggro circle away from the monk. Be sure not to draw aggro from creatures the monk is tanking, the monk can die any number of times without ruining the run, but if the ranger dies, the run is over. If you do draw aggro, activate Whirling Defense and attempt to bring the enemies back to the monk or flee to break aggro.

If the 55 monk should die use rebirth to teleport their body out of danger. Since the 55 monk will now only have 1 hp, rebirth will not bring them back to life, it will only move their body. Once you have used rebirth to pull their body away from the monsters paths, use Resurrection Chant to bring them back to life and they can use another weapon/armor set to raise their health.

A Note on Ranger Experience Points
You are only eligible for experience points from a creature if that creature considers you a threat before it dies. That means that the ranger will get almost no XP for this run unless he deliberately takes steps to get XP. One method is by bringing the monk into your aggro circle briefly after the monk has obtained aggro but before famine is placed. Another method is by shooting 1 creature from each group with a longbow after the monk has obtained aggro. Either of these actions can result on the ranger obtaining aggro from the group, but this is only a risk with groups larger than three creatures. For groups larger than three creatures, it is usually better for the ranger to simply play safe and not let the monsters see him as an enemy.

Note that this does not effect drops- only XP.

Monk Equipment

 * A customized max damage wand.
 * A +20% Enchantment weapon.
 * The Cities of Ascalon -50 Cesta.
 * Ascetic's Armor, with 5 monk superior runes

General Monk Usage
Cast Blessed Aura and Mending on yourself, ranger will cast Succor, Essence Bond, and Balthazar's Spirit. Cast Mantra of Resolve and Healing Breeze then aggro up to three enemies (any more than three and the build becomes slower). If any nightmares appear quickly cast Spell Breaker on yourself and then wand them. Cast Sympathetic Visage as soon as possible. When Sympathetic Visage begins to end cast Ancestor's Visage (alternate so you always have one or the other on you). Keep Protective Spirit up and use Healing Breeze as need applies. If you aggro more than one group at a time some of the enemies will periodically run away to heal- they will eventually return to your side. When fighting non-melee enemies aggro melee fighters next to them. Generally follow the advice of the 55 Monk Guide.

It helps to keep a +20% enchanting weapon selected when not dealing specifically with Dying Nightmares, switch off to your customized wand for Dying Nightmares.

Counters
Anything that can strip enchantments can result in a quick monk death. Taking too many hits at once can also result in the monk dying. Extremely strong Degen and interrupts can also be a problem. Note that the monk can get up to a full -60% DP with this build and not be in a position to end the run as long as they die in a location where the ranger can successfully Rebirth them to safety, and have non-55 armor they can switch into in slow stages to mitigate DP. Anything that kills the ranger ends the run.

Usage

 * Bladed Aatxe

The monk should engage groups of 3 or less Aatxes at a time, being mindful of Dying Nightmare popups. Casting AV or SV on yourself before engaging will deprive the Aatxes of their interrupt skill. Engaging more than 3 will make killing Aatxes harder due to them running away from the monk to heal. If a ranger obtains aggro from an Aatxe, the monk can help the ranger considerably by putting Protective Spirit on him.

Edge of Extinction is not necessary for small groups, but Apply Poison can shorten the length of combat for small groups.


 * Dying Nightmare

Dying Nightmares will popup in somewhat predictable locations throughout the Underworld and will die in 1 to 3 hits from a customized max wand that does light damage (for which the requirement is met). These are best handled using Spell Breaker before an engagement, where interruption is not a problem. If not killed quickly, interrupted, or guarded against using Spell Breaker, a Dying Nightmare will strip the enchantments off the monk using Rend Enchantments.


 * Grasping Darkness

Grasping Darknesses come in groups of 3 to 4, and will spam Distracting Blow on their first hit. Before engaging, a monk should have AV on them already, or should wait until all of the engaged Grasping Darknesses have used their interrupt. If not subdued with AV, these creatures will quickly drain their opponents energy using "Fear Me!" and will be effective at keeping the monk from using Protective Spirit to keep themselves alive. If properly subdued, and taken in groups of 3 or less, they are trivial. In larger groups, they will break off to heal, and Edge of Extinction works nicely to speed up the combat.


 * Coldfire Night

Generally, a group of Smites should be aggro'ed and then pulled to a group of coldfires so that the Smites attacks can trigger AV/SV and through that Famine. Using Spellbreaker before aggroing the Coldfires will shut them down in the crucial first moments while the Smites are causing the energy drain. They only represent a serious threat to the monk when multiple Maelstroms are hitting thus using up Spirit Bond or helping to out damage Healing Breeze. Edge of Extinction can be useful here, especially when the Coldfires are not all clustered together.


 * Smite Crawler

By themselves, Smite Crawlers have a hard time overpowering Healing Breeze and have no interrupts, so they can easily be tanked. They often come in groups as large as 5 though, and will run off to heal in those cases. Some care should be made with spirit placement. NOTE: When the monk has a death penalty, and health is above 55, their fast attack speed can overcome health regeneration when there are more than 3 crawlers.


 * Terrorweb Dryder

Much like Coldfires, Terrorwebs are best handled with a small group of melee creatures to trigger AV/SV. They are found in groups of 3, but 1 will always run out of immediate range. Once the monk has aggroed the Aatxes to the group of Terrorwebs, and Famine is taking effect, the ranger can help by concentrating on the lone Terrorweb. Once the other 2 Terrorwebs are dead, the monk can bring the surviving Aatxes to the lone Terrorweb for a quick finish.

Groups larger than three (as found in the "Servants of Grenth") quest as given by the reaper of the Icy Veil are not recommended without additional help.

Variants
The ranger can speed up Aatxes by bringing Apply Poison instead of Whirling Defense, a +33% Poisoning bow, and making sure Aatxes stay poisoned. A ranger without such defensive skills should be extra careful about obtaining aggro from large groups.

Mantra of Resolve mitigates risk from interruption either from Bladed Aaxtes or Grasping Darknesss, but Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze may not be sufficient against a large enough group of Smite Crawlers. An experienced 55 will usually have more luck substituting Spirit Bond or Shield of Absorption for Mantra of Resolve, and learning how to time their casting so as to not be interrupted. Essentially the monk can be fully successful with any 55 build that keeps them alive and keeps SV/AV up all the time while they are in combat.

If the Ranger is afraid of aggroing, bringing Dodge, Zojun's Haste, or Natural Stride instead of Whirling Defense.

The Ranger can also be replaced by a Hero.

The DoA Balanced team build is a build designed to conquer all of the Domain of Anguish (DoA). 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 all the 4 areas in the Domain of Anguish: City of Torc'qua, Stygian Veil, Ravenheart Gloom and The Foundry of Failed Creations. The same concept build can be used to defeat Mallyx the Unyielding in the Ebony Citadel of Mallyx with modifications to the damage dealers. The specific steps to use the build in each area are discussed below.

Conquering the DoA in sequence is done in the order: City -> Veil -> Gloom -> Foundry. This has the benefit that the chests at the end of each area would increasingly yield more gems. The City chest will yield one Margonite Gemstone for each party member, the Stygian Chest would yield two Stygian Gemstones, the Ravenheart Chest would yield three Torment Gemstones and finally, the Foundry Chest would yield four Titan Gemstones.

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.
 * A Necromancer-Ranger provides an added punch with Spiteful Spirit and maintains two helpful ranger spirits.
 * 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.

The Obsidian Flesh Tank
The Obsidian Flesh tank can be done in many ways. This includes a Warrior/Elementalist, Elementalist/Mesmer as well as other builds. The warrior provides the safest approach as their typical armor is 115 vs Physical and 95 vs Elemental damage without using a single skill. That being said, any of the other builds can be even more successful with enough skill and experience in the Domain of Anguish. Find other proposed tanking builds in the variants section.

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 Dolyak Signet 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 as you pull foes into the tanking spot 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.
 * Use Dolyak Signet to buff up your armor when facing foes that deal large amounts of damage such as the Tortureweb Dryders and the Stygian Brutes.
 * Use Glyph of Concentration to avoid having any of your spells interrupted. Use Wary Stance to protect the glyph if you expect physical interrupts from attack skills such as Savage Shot from the Spirit Tormentors and Disrupting Throw from the Sanity Tormentors.
 * The optional slot can be:
 * Ward Against Foes or Grasping Earth when the elementalists start dropping their nukes to snare foes long enough to take them out before aggro breaks.
 * Lightbringer's Gaze: To add some offensive punch to this very defensive build and provide an interrupt.

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
The primary damage dealers of this build are two regular Searing Flames nukers and one Freezer:

The Regular Nukers
These elementalists take out foes by spamming Searing Flames and with tactical usage of Meteor Shower.

Usage: Equipment:
 * Wait until all enemy aggro has settled on the tank.
 * Maintain Fire Attunement 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 and Glowing 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 Meteor Shower to finish them off. In fact, against pure melee foes (Warriors, Dervishes and Assassins), try not to use Meteor Shower altogether.
 * If an ally is killed during battle, use Glyph of Sacrifice and then Resurrection Chant.
 * If the tank gets hexed in certain critical situations, then use Convert Hexes.
 * It's possible to replace Fire Attunement with Essence Bond maintained on the tank.
 * May be good for one (only one needed) of the nukers to replace Convert Hexes or Glyph of Sacrifice with Mark of Rodgort. So for 37 seconds all Searing Flames hits (except first one) will cause damage AND reapply burning at the same time, instead of one SF every 5 seconds doing no damage. Against spell casters, cast Meteor Shower first then Mark of Rodgort. The first and subsequent meteors will apply burning, synergizing with Searing Flames (but remember that meteor shower only has adjacent radius while SF and Mark of Rodgort are "nearby").
 * 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. Using a 20% HCT+HSR wand and focus set will also significantly increase the DPS by speeding up the casting and recharge times of Searing Flames (normally 1 + 2 seconds).
 * A variety of armor choices make sense:
 * An armor set with Radiant Insignia will provide extra energy.
 * 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 Searing Flames Freezer
This elementalist freezes enemies piled around the tank so that they do not disperse before they are killed.

Usage:
 * Wait until all enemy aggro has settled on the tank.
 * Maintain Fire Attunement 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 and Glowing 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.
 * Cast Deep Freeze to hamper enemy movement until they are taken down. If you drop Meteor Shower on foes, Deep Freeze would be ideal immediately afterwards.
 * It's possible to replace Fire Attunement with Essence Bond maintained on the tank.

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 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 Spiteful Spirit Spammer
This high utility necromancer provides pressure by casting Spiteful Spirit on enemies, maintianing useful spirits up during fights, providing other casters with energy and bringing a pet for the Foundry.

Usage:
 * Lay down Edge of Extinction at the start of every fight in a safe spot that keeps all foes in range.
 * Pick your spots... Lay Spiteful Spirit on the foes most likely to trigger it the most. Margonite Anur Vus, Fury Titans, Stygian Horrors and so forth are prime candidates while foes that activate skills slowly like Margonite Anur Tuks or Despair Titans would be poor targets.
 * Cover SS with Reckless Haste. It also enhances the triggering of SS.
 * Spam Desecrate Enchantments as it becomes available. Enemy Dervishes are the best targets for these.
 * Use Blood Ritual on teammates as they need energy.
 * Use Symbiosis only in the Stygian Veil when the tank is pulling groups that may contain Stygian Hungers. It is best when laying it down to put it in a spot to the side of where the tank will hold aggro, not behind. This way it will give the tank the furthest possible coverage.
 * In the Foundry, kill your pet (by moving around) before the entrance to each chamber, and then resurrect it after the chamber is cleared.

Equipment:
 * A Necromancer staff or wand and focus item that provide extra energy as well as halving the spell recharge on Spitefull Spirit are ideal.
 * Cabalist's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

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 and Ethereal Light are the primary healing skills.
 * Use Heal Party to heal the tank at a distance, or when the party is collectively moving and taking damage from Enduring Torment.
 * Use Healing Seed on the tank and alternate it with the other monk.
 * Use Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse to jump outside of rooms as a saftey measure in the Foundry, see the walkthrough below.

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 and Blessed Aura on yourself.
 * Dwayna's Kiss is the primary healing skill.
 * Use Protective Spirit on any party member 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 along the way, so feel free to use it as needed. It is also useful as a moderate heal.
 * 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. In any fight that includes spell casters that can jeopardize the tank's enchantments (Margonites, Greater Dream Riders, Anguish Titans, ...) make sure to renew Spell Breaker on the tank every time it recharges.

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.
 * Maintain 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 in the Foundry (see below), you will need to maintain Life Barrier, Life Bond and Vital Blessing 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.

Tactics
This is a detailed area by area walkthrough:

The City
During the city, there are no major hurdles to be wary of other than the annoying energy denial setting. The environmental effect Repressive Energy along with the skill set of the Margonites makes it harder than usual to manage one's energy. The bonder may need to drop bonds on one of the damage dealers (usually the necromancer).

Tanking and pulling in the City is straightforward and involves pulling and using corners to pile foes in preparation to nuke them. In general, after the tank has pulled foes to a spot, the elementalists should apply Searing Flames pressure on the closest foes until the Margonite Anur Ki steps up to heal them (they like to use Healing Whisper). As soon as that happens, the elementalists should unload a Meteor Shower or two on the Ki until he dies.

After the city has been cleared, the groups that come with Lord Jadoth can each be pulled to the city gate (with the party hiding inside) and then dispatched (while the tank prevents them from coming in by blocking the door way). If any of the groups that accompany Jadoth (Shaunur the Divine's group, Turep, Maker of Orphans' group or Jadoth's group itself) give the tank trouble while pulling them, an elementalist can aggro them through the wall by casting on them. This usually makes them want to go all the way into the city to get to the elementalist.

The Veil
Conquering the Stygian Veil involves four stages:
 * 1) Clearing the initial mobs of monsters at the start of the Breaching the Stygian Veil quest.
 * 2) Clearing the two hills north and south to defeat the two Stygian Underlords and complete the Breaching quest.
 * 3) Killing the four Stygian Lords to complete Brood Wars and cause the Dreadspawn Maw to appear.
 * 4) Destroying the Dreadspawn Maw.

The Initial Assault
For the first part of Breaching the Stygian Veil, the party should first clear the area south of the Acolyte who gives the quest. There is a small bend there that the tank can use for holding mobs. To use this spot, the party needs to clear any casters or rangers in the patrol moving below in the trench. Then they need to clear out the one patrol of Shadow Army that blocks the path leading to the Whispers Acolyte.

The tank should take the quest and back up till all the mobs reach the Acolyte. Spirits should be laid and then the tank should pull all the mobs (by aggroing using his/her bubble, not a bow). There will be three mobs jumbles up together, whenever you clear a mob, another will come from the same hill that the first mob came from, till you see a mixed group of foes. That will signal that there will be no more mobs coming from that hill. If the party is inexperienced, they may want to pull one group at a time using a bow.

Depending on the type of mobs, the party should react accordingly:
 * Groups of Stygian Hungers should be pulled to tank, they will pile themselves around him nicely. Nuke a middle target, freeze them and then finish them off with Searing Flames. Use Spell Breaker or Obsidian Flesh when they are below half health to prevent them from using Grenth's Balance on the tank.
 * Groups of Stygian Brutes or Stygian Horrors do not require Spell Breaker. However, the tank should buff himself up with the Dolyak Signet as soon as he/she gets to their spot as their Physical damage can trickle to the bonder.
 * Groups of Stygian Golems actually benefit from Symbiosis, but not as much as the tank. They are handled like the Horrors and Brutes.
 * Groups of Stygian Fiends are very dangerous. The tank should pull them back using a zig-zag motion till they form a tight ball for the nukers to nuke them. Also, if the tank goes to them in melee range and attacks, they will say on him.
 * Mixed groups will usually have one Fiend and then the rest will be melee. The melee foes should be nuked first and should the Fiend go for the party, containing it should not be a problem.

The Two Hills
Starting with the southern hill, the technique should be the same. Spirits get laid down, the tank goes in and gathers several enemies, then brings them back within spirit range and tanks them. The only thing to watch out for is that the Stygian Fiends can cripple the tank and the Horrors can knock him/her down with Bull's Strike. The Healer's Boon monk should use Heal Party to aid the tank at a distance. When pulling the Underlord's group with Water Tormentors, the tank should have Spell Breaker coverage.

The northern hill has pop-ups through out the first half of it. As such, the spirits should be laid outside the hill, the tank should go in till a group starts popping up (the tank should stand still till they all come out of the ground, there is usually 6 monsters). The group will be mixed with at least one Stygian Fiend. There are thre more pop-up groups past the first one. A group around each of the Torment Claws that will spawn near the middle of the hill.

Past those Torment Claws, there should be no hidden groups and the tank should proceed like the first hill, gathering groups and bringing them to spirit range until the other Underlord is killed. The spirits should be constantly moved as the party makes its way deeper into the hill.

The Stygian Lords
There are ways to skip over barriers and so on to get to the Sytgian Lords. This guide will simply tackle the problem straight on.

The party should choose one of the trenches to clear out, the best candidates would be the second trench to the north or south. Either of those trenches leads to a Stygian Lord, and from there on the party can move in a circle to get to the remaining three. The one to the north leads straight to the monk Lord and offers a quick passage to the Gloom.

Each trench will spawn two melee groups as soon as someone is half-way through it. The two groups will rush towards each other (and kill anyone stuck inside) and then will camp on the opposite end of where they spawned. In addition, some Tormentor demons will spawn up top on one or both sides of the hills sandwiching the trench. To avoid surprises, one party member can simply run into the trench to trigger its spawns and then die half way through. The party can then Rebirth that member from atop one of the two hill overlooking the trench. If dying is such a big deal, one Elementalist can go secondary Assassin and bring Recall and use it to leave the trench before the pop-up groups close in on him/her. Also, if the tank is skilled and familiar with the spawns, he/she can take SB, go into the trench and pop up all the pop-ups then go back and tank them at the start of the trench. Bonder must watch that the tank not lose bonds.

Once the trench's spawns are stationary the tank can tackle them under spirit range and the party can destroy the closer melee group then the further one as well as the spawns on top of the hills. Once the trench is clear, the party can proceed to the Stygian Lord, kill any patrols roaming around him, and destroy him. From that point on, the party will simply circle around to kill the other three lord (see the walkthrough for the quest Brood Wars for their locations).

Note the following:
 * The first Stygian Lord to the south is a necromancer, there is a patrol that comes in front of him from the east and another from the west. After clearing the eastern patrol, he can be pulled without the western patrol. He is guarded by Tormentor demons.
 * The next one to the east of him is a mesmer. There is a stationary group of Tormentors around him as well as two spawns of Torment Claws.
 * The next one to the northeast is an elementalist. There are two patrols on the way to him and then a large pop-up spawn inside the alcove he is found in. The tank should hold them around the entrance to the alcove so they cannot go around him to the rest of the party. Casters should watch out for Chain Lightning and Sandstorm from the Stygian Lord.
 * The final boss heading northwest from that spot is a smiting monk. Again he is found in an alcove which he can be pulled out of using a long bow. If anyone steps past the entrance of the alcove, a spawn of Stygian Hungers will appear at the entrance. The party should either pull carefully or trigger them on purpose and take them out first.

The Dreadspawn Maw
After the party returns and cashes in the quest Brood Wars, the Dreadspawn Maw will appear immediately behind them. Make sure everyone is out of the center area and safely next to the Acolyte before having ANY party member accept the reward. The Maw will be comprised of six Smothering Tendrils. The objective is to kill all six and their spawns.

For each Tendril, one elementalist should weaken it with Searing Flames and finish him with Meteor Shower, when it is at half health. This elementalist should have Protective Spirit on them by the Spell Breaker monk. Everyone else should move back north where the party originally killed the monsters of the initial assault.

As soon as the Tendril is about to die, the SB monk should leave and join the others. The elementalist should finish off the Tendril and then pull back slowly. As soon as the Tendril dies, numerous Torment Claws will spawn as will as several Stygian creatures. If the Stygian creatures DID see the elementalist, he/she should just pull back slowly and have them kill him/her midway to the party. They should NOT bring them back to the party otherwise the party can wipe after doing so much work. After they kill the elementalist, someone can rebirth him/her and then the tank can pull the spawned groups into spirit range and the party can destroy them.

The party can then proceed to kill all the Torment Claws that spawned (great wanding fun). The same steps should be repeated for each Smothering Tendril.

The Gloom
The Ravenheart Gloom is comprised of three quests plus the final fight against The Greater Darkness.

The Stand-off
The quest To the Rescue! invovles making a stand against a massive horde of demons in the little nook that the whispers followers will be located. The party can choose to run past the first mobs as well as the wandering patrols outside that little nook. Alternatively, the tank can round them up and bring them to corners and the elementalists can nuke from behind the tank.

Once the group gets to the nook (fighting or running), the tank should find the corner that leads outside the nook and hold aggro there. Everyone else should stay behind the tank and hug the wall so that foes need to go through him/her to get to them. The Spell Breaker monk must have Blessed Aura on in this part as well as a weapon of Enchanting. It is imperative that the monk and the tank be able to chain Spell Breaker and Obsidian Flesh to prevent the tank from being hexed. Currently, the skill Rending Sweep used by the Earth Tormentors is glitched and will strip the tank of ALL enchantments if the tank is hexed.

With careful and timely casting, constantly staying on the closest target and stepping away when foes try to cast on them, the party should be able to survive the onslaught. When the kills start piling up, EoE will kick in and help out a great deal.

The Rift
After the Rescue is completed, the next quest, The Rifts Between Us, invovles capturing a portal (a Chaos Rift guarded by two Torment Claws) northeast of that alcove. The party can head to the quest marker and find the ridge south and a little east of the quest marker. This ridge should be used by the tank to provide a corner that he/she can hold monsters behind (the party should be below the ridge not above it).

The tank should pull the roaming patrols around the rift and then the stationary group at the rift (without entering the rift's range). After they are cleared, the elementalists should take out the claws.

Once the area is clear, 4 or 5 party members should go in and capture the rift. As soon as they do, a group of Flesh Tormentors will spawn to the west of them and rush to them. They should stand fast until the rift is closed and the quest updates and then start running back south and below the ridge. Do NOT run above the ridge as a group of Earth Tormentors, who can cripple their foes, will spawn there. The Flesh Tormentors will not follow for long and the group can cash the quest and take the next one.

The next quest is trivial compared to this. The tank can simply walk up to the Deathbringer Company and the elementalists can nuke them and freeze them so they don't scatter. With EoE they should wipe fairly quickly.

The Greater Darkness
After the final quest, the Greater Darkness will spawn. The tank should approach with Spell Breaker. This will cause two more of the Darknesses to spawn. The tank should line them up and then the elementalists should take them out. After those three die, a spawn of five more Darknesses will appear. The party should back off and let the tank pile them up into one nice nukable bunch. If they aggroed on some party member in the back, it may be best to simply pull back collectively, break aggro and then send the tank back in anew. After they are piled up and nuked, all five must be killed at the same time, so EoE must be used here.

If the tank had any hexes before they died, this hex needs to be converted or the next spawn of Earth tormentors (30 in total) will destroy the tank. Again, the party should step back and let all the Earth Tormentors settle on the tank (with Buffs, the tank will take 0 damage from them). Once they are piled up, they should be nuked and frozen until EoE takes its course and the whole lot just dies.

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 necromancer should have his/her 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.

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/she is in their aggro range until all aggro settles on him/her (i.e. their melee attackers all start attacking). 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.

If the spawn did not see them, the party should retreat to the gate quickly, cast Spell Breaker on the tank and have him/her go in and pile aggro on the Margonite monk. If they've been seen, 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 tank.

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.

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 secondary 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. 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 middle or back of the room. They can be taken out by a frontal assault (tank charge in when they are balled up). Before the last foe dies, the party should pull that foe 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 and the next quest from Tekliss. The pet will no longer be needed.

The Great Hall
The name of the game in the Foundry is pulling and aggro control. Because the Foundry is spacious, kiting and breaking aggro 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. The Greater Dream Riders always like to camp on the right side of the tank, as such, if he/she pulls them around a corner where the wall is to the right, they will pile on the tank perfectly.

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 one elementalist (codenamed, the babysitter) 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 the mob stops following. The Captain should be taken away to safety and then the remaining party members should kill off the Dryders and Riders.

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 babysitter should cash in the quest to trigger the Fury and come help the party finish off the Black Beast's group. The party can then take on The Fury's group. The tank 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 from the side first then the Dryder guardians and the Riders. The Fury is actually less of a threat than those Dryders.

Variants

 * One of the Searing Flames nukers can be replaced with Necromancers using Feast of Corruption or a Mesmer using Spiritual Pain to spike. It's usually good to have at least two elementalists with Meteor Shower in the team.
 * The SS Necro can be replaced with a BiP necro carrying the same spirits if the party has energy issues.
 * 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. One such variety uses an elementalist as follows:

Elementalist Tank
This tank is more fragile in terms of vunerability to enchantment removal. However, they have longer more powerful Earth Magic enchantments as well as infinite energy.

Usage:
 * Generally keep up Stone Striker + Mantra of Earth at all times except in select situations. They will provide you with infinite energy.
 * Before a pull, invoke Stoneflesh Aura to take 0 damage from most attacks and go in with Spell Breaker on.
 * While pulling, if met by strong physical damage (such as from the Stygian Brutes), invoke Armor of Earth. because of the lower base armor, the bonder can take significantly more damage through Life Bond than is customary with warrior tanks.
 * If anticipating interruption, use Mantra of Resolve.
 * If dazed or facing heaving interruption, use Glyph of Concentration while under Mantra of Resolve and then cancel Mantra of Resolve with Mantra of Earth.
 * Use Obsidian Flesh when Spell Breaker is about to run out.
 * The optional slot can be:
 * Ward Against Foes or Grasping Earth when the elementalists start dropping their nukes to snare foes long enough to take them out before aggro breaks.
 * Lightbringer's Gaze: To add some offensive punch.
 * Sliver Armor: To help block physical interrupts as well as deal out considerable damage.

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 helps. However, having an Earth Magic Focus item with 20% chance of halving skill recharge is optimal. It can also be a 15/-1 set to provide an extra energy boost in times of trouble.
 * Geomancer's Armor has great synergy with Stone Striker.

The Tank
NOTE: The tank must have rank 4 lightbringer or higher or this build will not work.

Equipment

 * A full set of armor with radiant insignias with a superior rune on each.
 * A +5 energy sword or axe with a 20% enchanting mod on it such as a Totem Axe or a Rajazan's Fervor and a grim cesta from the quest Cities of Ascalon.

Equipment

 * A full set of armor with radiant insignias with a rune of superior wilderness survival and any expertise rune.
 * A Insightful Staff of Enchanting with a Hale & Hearty inscription is optimal, but any weapon set will work.

Usage

 * The first thing to do upon entering the city is to cast the 4 enchantments on the tank. During this time, the ranger should be using Blood Ritual on him/her.
 * Within 40 seconds of the first person to enter the area, the ranger should cast Quickening Zephyr followed by Famine behind the gate. NOTE: The ranger should cast the spirit within range of the Margonite Quickening Zephyr. The ranger will continue to use Quickening Zephyr whenever it recharges and Famine whenever it is about to die.
 * The ranger should then use Blood Ritual on the tank until he/she has at least 37 energy.
 * One person must then take the quest The City of Torc'qua from Captain Sulahresh. The participants at this time may also take the Anguish Hunt from the Whispers Informant.
 * The ranger should stay near the gate while the tank moves forward.
 * The tank should have his/her hero window active and being able to easily click on his/her Lightbringer title.
 * The tank should then cast Protective Spirit and Spell Breaker on him/herself and engage the first group of Margonites.
 * The tank should then toggle his/her Lightbringer title on and then quickly off. This will cause a 4...8 damage reduction based on Lightbringer rank. This damage reduction does not last forever and should be reapplied every 15 seconds. NOTE: If the tank is rank 5 or higher Lightbringer, they will not gain energy due to Essence Bond, thus Essence Bond should be replaced with Blessed Signet. See below variant.
 * As soon as the tank has enough energy, he/she should use Healing Breeze.
 * The tank should reapply Healing Breeze, Protective Spirit, and Spell Breaker whenever necessary.
 * The Warrior and Dervish Margonites will then begin to attack the tank in melee.
 * The tank should then begin to use Sympathetic Visage whenever it recharges (which is only 10 seconds because of quickening zephyr). This will drain the energy of the warriors and dervishes relatively quickly. They will begin to take damage from famine, which will cause the enemy monks to heal the melee attackers. Because they use Healing Whisper, they will move closer to the attackers.
 * The tank should then try to get the monks to be very close to each other by pulling the melee attackers. Be sure not to pull backwards as this will allow the Margonites to attack the ranger, which will cause you to fail.
 * The tank should then go into adjacent range of the monks. The dervishes and warriors will follow.
 * The energy should completely drain from the monks and they will stop healing. They will later die due to famine. This will also leave the dervishes and warriors at very low health.
 * Once the monks have died, the other Margonites should be easy to kill using a similar method, although once the dervishes and warriors have died it will be impossible to kill other Margonites because Sympathetic Visage only triggers when you get hit in melee.
 * The tank can pick up his/her loot whenever he/she chooses and can pull the Margonites away so that the ranger can pick up his/her loot.

Variants

 * If the tank has rank 5 or higher Lightbringer, he/she should use a radically different build since he/she will be taking 0 damage from the Margonites. This also allows for a 2 man farm for all of the City of Torc'qua and The Foundry of Failed Creations.  An example of this build would be:


 * The ranger could put some attribute points into Beast Mastery and bring Edge of Extinction to speed up the farming a bit.
 * The ranger could bring Sunspear Rebirth Signet with the small hope that, if the tank dies, he can be resurrected and the build can restart. This is near impossible due to the fact that the Margonites will rush the area before you have time to set up again.
 * The ranger could bring some running stances such as Storm Chaser, Dodge, and Natural Stride to pick up loot.
 * The tank could also be a Mo/W who uses "Fear Me!" to drain energy instead of Sympathetic Visage and uses Balanced Stance or Dolyak Signet to prevent knockdown while using Spell Breaker. The build should be something similar to this:


 * To effectively use this build, it is advisable to set the button to use "Fear Me!" to something easily pushed. This variant of the build only works in the City of Torc'qua or any other place with massive (20 or greater) mobs.  The main advantage to this over the Visage build is that it does not require melee attackers to energy deny.  If you have Lightbringer rank 5 or higher, replace Mending with "For Great Justice!" or Blessed Signet.  Auto-attacking is also a good idea to more quickly gain adrenaline for "Fear Me!".

Equipment

 * Full Druid's Armor or equivalent in function.
 * As many Runes of Attunement as you can (up to 3)
 * A Staff of the Forgotten or a similar staff (with at least 15 energy bonus)

Usage
This build requires good coordination between the two players.
 * First, choose the trapping spot.
 * Then, the Mime uses Arcane Mimicry on the Puller to copy his Echo. The Puller must be carefull not to begin the combo before the Mime has copied Echo, so the Mime should Ctrl-click on Arcane Mimicry so that the Puller knows he can begin. Now both trappers have Echo.
 * The main sequence is: Trapper's Speed > Echo > Dust Trap > copy of Dust Trap > Trapper's Speed > Dust Trap > copy of Dust Trap. Just lay down the other traps while both Dust Traps are recharging, and don't forget to always have Trapper's Speed on you before you drop a trap.
 * When each trapper has dropped two series of traps (which makes a total of 8 Dust Traps equaling 8*5*26=1040dmg), the Puller can aggro (don't forget to use Troll Unguent and Whirling Defense to stay alive). The Mime should have finished laying down his second Spike Trap by the time the mobs arrive. He should make a step backwards and hit Whirling Defense.

Tips

 * You don't have to put all the traps on the exact same location. You can spread out a bit to cover a wider area. You'll just have to make sure that when mobs trigger the first trapper's traps, they trigger the second trapper's traps too.
 * Good spots to put traps on are corners. When the puller comes back, chased by mobs, they tend to take the shortest way, thus grinding the wall inside the corner. The Puller should drop his traps right inside the corner, while the Mime should drop his traps a bit farther outwards. This way, you are sure that all of them will be hit by Spike Trap and stay in the Dust Traps for their whole duration.
 * When you trap in an open area, put all your traps on the same spot, except Spike trap. The Mime should place one a bit backwards on the left and another one a bit backwards on the right of the spot where the other traps are. This tactic is meant to counter the AI which makes mobs spread out before engaging you to try to circle you.
 * Sometimes Aatxes won't stay on the traps for the whole duration, so you have basically two solutions:
 * Put a couple more Dust Traps on the trapping spot before pulling them.
 * Active trap them if they survive the initial traps.
 * The first solution is as fast as the second and more reliable, so each trapper should put 5 Dust Traps before the Aatxes are to be pulled.


 * Against Coldfire Nights, you can lay a single series each (for a total of 4 Dust Traps, 2 Barbed Traps, 1 Flame Trap and 1 Spike Trap) on their path, then run backwards. It's generally enough to kill them.
 * Against mobs that chase you from afar, such as the ones you aggroed but didn't manage to kill, just run away until they break aggro, then try to find the exact point where they aggro again. Put a first series of traps just behind that spot, wait, and when the second series is ready, put it down two steps forward. Stay on this spot until the mobs come back at you, then walk two steps backwards to make them trigger the first series of traps.

Variants
The build for trapper 1 can also be used to farm vermins outside Senji's Corner, then replace Resurrection Signet with Ether Signet and put the extra attribute points in inspiration magic and use it the second time you lay the echoed dust trap.
 * Take Tripwire instead of Troll Unguent for the mime. Use it just after the enemies are knocked down for the first time so they will be knocked down again, thus taking even more damage from the Dust Traps.


 * An excellent alternative for Trapper 1 is to run a pure Dust Bomber build, the skills would include Arcane Echo, Echo, Dust Trap, Serpent's Quickness, Ether Signet, Troll Unguent, Whirling Defense, and Sunspear Rebirth Signet. In order for this build to work, you need to have 57 energy exactly, no more no less. Take an end game Nightfall staff with plus 20 energy and set you armor up with Radiant Insignias (don't put one in the head peice), Runes of Attunement, and of course a Vigor of your choice. Your attributes should be as follows:

Inspiration: 6

Expertise: 11+1

Wilderness: 12+3+1

You will run Serpents Quickness+Arcane Echo+Echo+Dust Trap+Echo (from Arcane Echo)+Dust Trap+Dust Trap+Ether Signet

Go through your Dust Traps again once they recharge and if you want you can lay another 4 Dust Traps with just Echo (making sure to use Ether Signet in between skills) to make a grand total of 10 Dust Traps from Trapper 1 alone! If you do 10 Dust Traps, you'll only have a few seconds to pull before they start going off, so I recommend doing 8 until you find your medium.

Counters
This team build will give you a hard time against Terrorweb Dryders, but with proper aggro, it is not impossible to destroy them.

The Urgoz Trapping team is a build designed to clear the way to, and destroy Urgoz inside Urgoz's Warren as quickly as possible while keeping the odds of party failure to a minimum. The core of the build is trapping which is used to damage the large groups of enemies in the warren as well as to keep them off balance. The build relies on Edge of Extinction (or EoE) to destroy Urgoz when the party reaches his inner sanctum.

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:
 * The team will set its traps and spirits at a good tactical position that does not expose it to moving patrols and allows for retreat. Using line of sight to protect against ranged attacks is always a good strategy if available.
 * A sweeper will go scout and pull the target enemy group back to the traps (usually the trapper with the most experience in the Warren).
 * As the enemy hits the traps. the party will finish them off with nuking and more trapping.
 * During fights, the monks and ritualist try to keep all party members alive.

Build Details
Urgoz's Warren allows for a party of 12 members. However, at its core, this build is composed of 9 members:
 * Three trappers
 * Two nukers
 * Two healers
 * One BiP necromancer
 * One Ritual Lord ritualist

Typically, the final three spots are filled with a backup trapper, a backup nuker and a backup monk. Such redundancy can protect the party from failing due to a team member leaving or getting disconnected.

The Trappers
The core three trappers should serve do three different roles, the fourth one can be a duplicate of either of the last two:

The EoE Trapper
This trapper specializes in bringing the skill Edge of Extinction at the highest possible level (16 Beast Mastery). This means that his/her Wilderness Survival traps (the bulk of the traps) will not be as potent. However, the presence of this trapper makes defeating many of the large groups in the warren much easier, as well as making the defeat of Urgoz himself a walk-in-the-park.

Note: Because of the lower than usual Expertise rank, it's better if this trapper not carry Dust Trap.

Usage:
 * Place EoE and EW (Energizing Wind) at a safe spot that will be within comfortable range of where the traps will be. Using line of sight to protect it from rangers is always a good approach.
 * Trap with the other trappers using Viper's Nest primarily as well as other traps.
 * When enemies are pulled into range use Oath Shot as soon as you can, do not wait till EoE has been killed to recharge it with Oath Shot. This will cause you to have to wait until Oath Shot is recharged to be able to use it again. Instead, adapt the approach of using Oath Shot as soon as you can, not when you have to.
 * During the fight, keep trapping as your energy allows (with Whirling Defenses on), while keeping an eye on EoE and making sure it is always up. It is not recommended that you keep EW up during the fight as it tampers with the recharge time of the skills of other party members.
 * For tips on the final confrontation with Urgoz, see the tactics section below.

Equipment:
 * Druid's Armor is recommended for maximum energy. Tamer's Mask is required to achieve maximum EoE.
 * Carrying a Traveler's Mask with a superior Wilderness Survival rune on it and swapping it with the Tamer's Mask while laying the trappers can help the potency of your traps. Remember to switch back to the Tamer's Mask when laying down the spirits.
 * Any Insightful staff will serve as a good trapping weapon. A staff wrapping of Fortitude is a nice bonus.
 * Any bow to use with Oath Shot to recharge your skills. The best for purposes of accuracy would be a Recurve Bow.

The Pure Trapper
The pure trapper has 16 Wilderness Survival and as such, his/her traps carry maximum potency. He/she is also in charge of laying down Quickening Zephyr (QZ).

Usage:
 * Place QZ at a safe spot that will be withing comfortable range of where the traps will be. Using line of sight to protect it from rangers is always a good approach.
 * Trap with the other trappers using all of your traps. Make sure Dust Traps are especially well spaced to protect your back line from melee attackers.
 * During the fight, keep trapping as your energy allows (with Whirling Defenses on). It is not recommended that you keep QZ up during the fight as it tampers with the energy cost of the skills of other party members.

Equipment:
 * Druid's Armor is recommended for maximum energy. Traveler's Mask is required to achieve maximum trap potency.
 * Any Insightful staff will serve as a good trapping weapon. A staff wrapping of Fortitude is a nice bonus.
 * A bow for pulling is optional.

Variations:
 * This trapper can also bring Healing Spring for to heal himself and his fellow trappers when trapping in health degeneration rooms.

The Hybrid Trapper
The Hybrid trapper has high Wilderness Survival and Beast Mastery to act as a support trapper for the Pure trapper as well as a backup in case the EoE trapper leaves or is disconnected. This is mainly because EoE is such an important component of defeating Urgoz.

Usage & Equipment:
 * Exactly like the Pure Trapper. In addition, a Tamer's Mask in case this trapper is forced to use his/her EoE instead of the main EoE trapper.

The Nukers
The two nukers will have the exact same build and their main focus should be Fire Magic. The build could be any Build:E/Me Heavy Nuker build, but for Urgoz, the following basic build seems to work best:

Usage:
 * The main function of the two elementalists is to finish off enemy groups. They must be patient and allow the enemy to fall into the traps. While the ensuing chaos may spoil a perfect nuke, it serves the party better to have enemies scurrying about blinded, burning, and crippled.
 * It's best to time the cast of nukes with traps triggering. If enemies are pummeled by Meteor Shower just as they trigger a trap, they will be damaged fully by the trap before they can run off. After a little time and experience the nukers will get the hang of it.
 * Use Breath of Fire wisely. Its primary usage should be to break away melee attackes who wander past the trappers or who arrive late and are not affected by the traps.
 * Glyph of Energy is extremely useful in fighting in areas where the party will be under the effects of Sheer Exhaustion.

Equipment:
 * Battlemage's Armor may provide an extra defensive boost, but any armor works fine.
 * A staff or (Wand and Focus Item combination) that provides +5 Energy and +30 Health as well as faster casting time and skill recharge for Fire Magic would be optimal.

The Healers
The monks in the party should all specialize in Healing Prayers primarily. While other healing builds (such as boon prot) can be just as useful, the heavy presence of mesmers in the final few rooms of the Warren makes builds that rely on Protection Prayers less effective. Such builds tend to rely on enchantments which will be consistently removed by Greater Blood Drinkers and Maddened Mind Wardens. All monks should run a build along these lines:

Usage:
 * Word of Healing is the primary healing skill for other party members and healing touch is the primary healing skill for self-healing.
 * Protective Spirit is mandatory in at least one of the monks in case the Rituliast drops out. Facing the Thorn Wolves without some way to control their spike damage is ill-advised.
 * Heal Party is mandatory for many scenarios in the warren. There are at least two rooms with -15 health degeneration and Heal Party makes operating in those much easier, especially in the presence of the BiP necromancer.
 * Extinguish is extremely useful on the Fire Flower bridge.
 * Use Holy Veil (or any other Hex removal skill) to remove critical hexes from your party, such as Icy Veins and Shroud of Silence.

Equipment:
 * Ascetic's Armor is recommended for energy.
 * Any staff (or wand and focus item combination) that provides +5 Energy, +30 Health and fast recharge and cast time for Healing Prayers is optimal.

Variations: There can be many variations for the monk builds as the only essential skills are Heal Party and Protective Spirit. All other skills can be replaced with others in a very flexible manner...
 * Word of Healing can be replaced with Blessed Light or Healing Light.
 * Extinguish can be replaced with Aegis.

The Bipper
The BiP necromancer is the energy source of the party. Without him/her, the run can take an hour longer. The presence of the necro allows the trappers to trap faster, the monks to heal more frequently and the whole party to simply take on bigger groups of enemies. The build is no different that Build:N/any BiP Necro with the addition of a traversal skill for room 3.

Usage:
 * Keep Blood Renewal on at all times.
 * Use Blood is Power on any party member you wish to give Energy to.
 * A good Bipper never waits for people to call their Energy. Instead, the bipper should have a plan:
 * While trapping and setting up for enemies, the bipper should focus on feeding the trappers.
 * During a fight, the bipper should bip the monks, then elementalists, then trappers in that order of priority.
 * Use wells as Energy and circumstances permit.
 * Use Consume Corpse (or Necrotic Traversal) to get on the bridge in room 3.
 * Having as little maximum health as possible allows the bipper to be extremely effective in doing his/her job, however, this should only be done if the bipper is very good at staying alive. Dying does not really harm the bipper, but having to do without the bipper in the middle of an intense fight is not a good thing for the other party members.

Equipment:
 * Scar Pattern Armor is recommended for energy. Adding Superior Runes to reduce health is an option.
 * Any staff (or wand and focus item combination) that provides +5 Energy and fast recharge and cast time for Blood Magic is optimal. An item which reduces health or one that lengthens enchantments (for Blood Renewal and BiP) can help also.

The Ritual Lord
The Ritual Lord ritualist is a Communing-specialized ritualist who maintains 3 very imporant defensive Binding Spirits up. The main objective is to create a spike-free zone for the party to operate in.

Usage:
 * Make sure Boon of Creation and Ritual Lord are on at all time.
 * Extend Spike Trap and Meteor Shower knock down time to 3 seconds with Earthbind.
 * When the rangers are almost done with their traps, the ritualist should setup the spirits. A good spot would be near where the trappers setup EoE.
 * As the spirits die, the ritualist should be constantly replacing them. Beware of interrupts.
 * In any room in which there are Thorn Wolves, it is imperative that the spirits be up and ready when the Wolves approach the party.

Equipment:
 * Halcyon's Armor is recommended for energy.
 * Any staff (or wand and focus item combination) that provides +5 Energy, +30 Health, and fast recharge and cast time for Communing is optimal.

Tactics
The build primarily follows the mission walkthrough in the article Urgoz's Warren, the following are tactics specific to this build:

Room 1:
 * The trappers should set the traps where the party spawns; all non-trappers should move back a little bit (to the open gate behind the party). The trappers should make the traps in multiple layers as the Thought Stealers usually precede the Hopping Vampires. When ready, a trapper should move forward to trigger the pop-ups.
 * The party should then bunker down in the corridor. Traps should be set at the end of the corridor while spirits should be placed just around the bend where the party spawned.
 * Pull one or more (if the party is proficient) of the Dredge groups. Trappers should keep their focus on the Maddened Dredge and the Maddened Dredge Savages while the nukers should try and take out the Dredge Gardeners and the Maddened Dredge Seers.
 * For this pull and all future pull, the puller should be a veteran trapper. It is poor pulling to get the enemy group trickling one by one. Instead, the trapper should try and bunch them up (using Whirling Defense to stay alive) so that they approach the traps together. It renders the traps useless (and puts a lot of strain on the monks) to have one enemy come first and set off all the traps and then have the rest of that enemy's group arrive unmolested.
 * After the Dredge patrols are destroyed, kill the Twisted Bark and then set up near the top of the flight of stairs. Pull the Dredge group there.
 * After destroying that group, set the traps at the open gate (without stepping in) and then when ready, step in to bring the two running patrols (one will come from each side). Pull them through the traps and then finish them off. Proceed to kill the Guardian Serpent.

Room 2:
 * Non-trappers should stay outside of the health degeneration effect (roughly where the dark shadow ends). The trappers place their spirits out of degeneration and then setup around the corner. They should proceed to pull the two large Dredge groups and the one Greater Blood Drinker pop up group.
 * The Bipper needs to focus mainly on the monks in this room. They will be spamming Heal Party.
 * The nukers should step in to the degeneration area to nuke and then step out.
 * When the path to the Twisted Bark is clear, the nukers should go in and kill it quickly.
 * Trappers are extremely effective at neutralizing the Greater Blood Drinker in an open battle. Depending on how proficient the party is, they can pop out one or more of the Blood Drinker groups hidden in the room and just take them head on. Using Whirling Defense, exploiting the face that the Blood Drinker use mostly slow casting necromancer skills, and because they like to target softer targets in the back, the trappers will be able to trap almost unmolested under their feet. This will keep the Blood Drinkers off-balance (getting knocked down by Spike Trap, running from AoE trap effects) and will actually make the job of the monks much easier. At this stage of the fight, the Bipper should keep the monks and nukers well-fed.

Room 3:
 * The trappers should trap heavily (and in mutiple layers) at the gate and then just pull both plant groups (the Burning Brushes, Brooding Thorns, and Uprooted Malices). Fire nuking and Flame Trap are extremely effective in wiping out these groups.
 * The party should then proceed to all hide under the bridge. Traps will work under the bridge and damage those above it. EoE is very important in quickly taking out the Dredge who are not on the bridge.
 * The bipper should use Consume Corpse to get up on the bridge and open the two locks.

Room 4:
 * Trappers should set their traps at the start of the bridge. The ritualist should set up his/her spirits as closely as possible to the beginning of the bridge to provide protection to the puller as far as possible.
 * A puller should pop the first group of Thorn Wolves (about 1/4 of the way throughthe bridge) and finish them off.
 * Re-stablish traps and spirits then get the second group of wolves. The second group (at the center of the bridge, where the two lamps are) is the hardest to pull, because the puller would be so far from the healers and because the pulling distance is so long that they sometimes do not follow all the way back to the traps. The party should just be patient. Using Recall in this situation greatly helps (see Variations below).
 * After this group is cleared, the party should move up to the two lamps and setup traps and spirits there. The puller should then proceed to pull the third group of wolves (once again, Recall being very useful).
 * Finally, the party should re-establish traps (in two layers) and then the puller should proceed to the end of the bridge where the Vampires and Thought Stealers will pop up. Recall would work perfectly as they will run to the party anyway even if the puller is gone.

Room 5:
 * This area is filled with Thorn Wolf pop-ups and a veteran in the party needs to let them know where to pause for traps at each juncture.
 * At each point, traps should be set up (special emphasis should be made on a few Dust Traps near the casters) and the ritualist spirits have to be up to prevent disaster.
 * Monks should use Hex Breaker (see Variations below) when possible to prevent themselves from getting shrouded. Preventing this hex is much better than trying to remove it while being unable to cast for several seconds.
 * The party will proceed past the left bridge then go right, then straight to the green area, then right and cross a long bridge. At that point they should turn right sharply (passing under the bridge they last crossed) and head straight till they get to the Guardian Serpent. All along this path there are Thorn Wolf pop-ups that need experience to tell where they will appear.

Room 6:
 * One member should wait while the rest of the party should go in, destroy the Twisted Bark (a couple of players staying behind it will prevent it from running the wrong way out of AoE). The bipper can give a little extra boost of energy if needed.
 * After this, the party should destroy the Guardian Serpent, cross the bridge, then signal to the waiting member to catch up to them.

Room 7:
 * The trappers should set traps just before the gate and then pull the large group of plants and take them out.
 * Trap at the gate now and then pull the other group of plants that is near the Guardian Serpent.
 * If the elementalists can damage a Brooding Thorn enough (not a Burning Brush because they will run away and around the back to try and attack) that the Twisted Bark comes to heal it with Healing Touch, then the party can have a shot at killing it without having to fight the Wardens.
 * If this does not work, the trappers should setup past the gate and around the corner to the left (so that the casters are outside of Sheer Exhaustion) and then they should proceed to pull the Warden groups.
 * When fighting the Wardens, it's important to be conscious of spacing and movement. The casters should not stand next to each other (making themselves vulnerable to group interrupttion via Cry of Frustration). The nukers should focus on the Maddened Song Wardens and Maddened Mind Wardens while the trappers should take out the melee wardens.
 * After the Wardens and plants are destroyed, the party should kill the Twisted Bark to be exhaustion-free in the next area.

Room 8:
 * Traps should be laid at the gate (the top of the stairs) and the spirits should be placed around the corner and away from where the party members will be standing, this is to prevent Churning Earth from destroying them.
 * The presence of EoE is extremely useful in wiping out large numbers of Wardens quickly.
 * All party members should be ready to kite to avoid damage from Churning Earth that is cast by Maddened Earth Wardens.
 * After the first few group are pulled to the gate and destroyed, the party can go in and clear the stationary plants. The final two Warden groups will require the same scheme of trapping and pulling.

Room 9:
 * The party should name one party member who will stay behind the gate no matter what transpires. This is to prevent the entire party from stepping past the door during the heat of battle and getting locked in with a few pop-ups of Thorn Wolves. the ideal candidate for this should be the ritualist who will be laying his/her spirits just behind the gate at all times.
 * The trappers should generally use the gate as their trapping point and pull back to it. Occasionally, a few monsters will be stuck or refuse to follow all the way back in which case they can move the traps a little bit ahead (but staying within the range of the protective Binding Spirits).
 * When the door finally opens on the other end, then the full party can advance.

Room 10: Urgoz's Inner Chamber
 * The nukers and trappers should quickly go in and kill the Twisted Bark causing the life degeneration. Monks should spam Heal Party.
 * As Urgoz begins his monologue, trappers should setup in the middle of the bridge and then pull enemies to it.
 * It is advisable to not only destroy the Guardian Serpent in the way, but the one to the left which will be near where EoE will be placed to kill Urgoz.
 * The EoE trapper should go in and to the left away from Urgoz. With experience he/she will know exactly where to place EoE so that Urgoz is in its range. If EoE is placed too close, then Explosive Growths will spawn next to it and destroy it. To check that EoE is in the right place, a party member (preferably armed with Hex Breaker) should run in and stand next to Urgoz and see if EoE is showing up in the Effects Monitor.
 * Once EoE is set up and Urgoz is clearly in its range, the nukers and trappers (other than the EoE trapper) should go in and start attacking him, being mindful not to stand in one spot for more than one skill usage. As soon as his health is down to 90%, EoE will start damaging him with the death of the growths.
 * Once EoE starts kicking in, the nukers and trappers should just run around Urgoz in circles and let the death of the Explosive Growths destroy him. The bipper and the healers should stay on the ramp and spam heal party if needed. In less than a minute, Urgoz will kill himself.

Variations

 * All the party roles above have been listed in a flexible manner without a secondary profession. However, when possible, party members should consider either going with monk as a secondary profession to bring Rebirth for crisis recovery, or to go with mesmer as a secondary profession and bring Hex Breaker which makes surviving in the final battle against Urgoz extremely easy.
 * Monks could experiment with elementalist as a secondary profession to be able to use Glyph of Energy in areas where they are under the influence of Sheer Exhaustion.
 * One of the trappers could bring assassin as a secondary profession and use Recall on a party member before pulling enemies. This is especially useful on the Fire Flower bridge where many pullers die under the pressure of the Fire Flowers and the Thorn Wolves. By canceling Recall, they will be teleported instantly to safety and can then proceed to pull the Wolves (which would then be popped) using a bow.