User:WhiteAsIce/Guide to Zaishen Elite

The Zaishen Elite is a popular mission used to quickly farm Balthazar Faction. This guide aims to expand on the current PvX Trapping Guide and General trapping guide by focusing on skills and builds specifically for the Zaishen Elite.

= Overview = The most common professions seen here are Rangers. Other professions you might encounter are Elementalists and Ritualists. Each profession has its own role. Rangers are charged with setting up the initial spike using traps, while others are charged with cleaning up survivors.

Ranger
Rangers are staple to any Zaishen Elite team. Every team should consist of at least 2 trapping Rangers. There are a handful of variations of a trapper, which will be discussed here.

Attributes & Equipment
All traps but one are tied to Wilderness Survival, and all traps' Energy cost are affected by Expertise. It is expected of any trapper to have 12+1+3 on Wilderness Survival. 12+3 Expertise is recommended, but certain builds may require less, but not by much.

If running 12+3 Expertise, extravagant equipment is unnecessary. Full Survivor insignias are recommended. The best Vigor affordable and Vitaes should take up the rest of the spots. Weapons should not be offense-based, but defense-based. Having a spear with +30 Health & +5 Energy is optimal, and a shield with +30 Health and +10 AL vs. is suggested too.

The exception to this is an Echo Trapper, which requires a heavy Energy pool. In this case, all Survivor, Vigor, and Vitae upgrades should be dropped for Radiant and Attunement, respectively. A +20 Energy staff is used for this.

Skills
Skills used by Rangers can be broken down into three types: traps, spirits, and support.

Traps

 * Capable of dealing the most damage if foes are kept in the trap for the full duration. Armor-ignoring damage is the main attraction of this trap.
 * Capable of dealing the most damage if foes are kept in the trap for the full duration. Armor-ignoring damage is the main attraction of this trap.


 * Also does high damage because of burning. Cheap to use and recharges fast
 * Also does high damage because of burning. Cheap to use and recharges fast


 * Does good damage, knocks down, and cripples.
 * Does good damage, knocks down, and cripples.


 * Good for spike damage, but it doesn't cause any conditions.
 * Good for spike damage, but it doesn't cause any conditions.


 * Low damage, and cripple is taken care of by Spike Trap, but it's the only trap to cause bleeding. This should be used only a few times just to inflict bleeding.
 * Low damage, and cripple is taken care of by Spike Trap, but it's the only trap to cause bleeding. This should be used only a few times just to inflict bleeding.

Traps not to use

 * Only use this if you're not bringing Spike Trap (which you should). Even Barbed Trap does more damage than this.
 * Only use this if you're not bringing Spike Trap (which you should). Even Barbed Trap does more damage than this.


 * It may inflict poison, but since it is tied to Beast Mastery, it is generally not worth it to invest points into that attribute just for one trap. Has some synergy with Toxicity or Fragility.
 * It may inflict poison, but since it is tied to Beast Mastery, it is generally not worth it to invest points into that attribute just for one trap. Has some synergy with Toxicity or Fragility.


 * Does not cause any damage, and the cripple only lasts half as long as Spike or Barbed Trap.
 * Does not cause any damage, and the cripple only lasts half as long as Spike or Barbed Trap.


 * No point in healing, since if you need to heal, there are foes left, meaning your party didn't do something right.
 * No point in healing, since if you need to heal, there are foes left, meaning your party didn't do something right.

Spirits

 * One of the few mandatory skills to bring, this is necessary to prevent the foes from resurrecting each other.
 * One of the few mandatory skills to bring, this is necessary to prevent the foes from resurrecting each other.


 * Usually not needed, since the traps should be enough to kill off the foes. If facing Warrior foes, ask a Ritualist on the team to kill this spirit after the traps have triggered.
 * Usually not needed, since the traps should be enough to kill off the foes. If facing Warrior foes, ask a Ritualist on the team to kill this spirit after the traps have triggered.


 * Prevents Warriors from the degen team from triggering traps too early when they Sprint. Put this spirit as far forward as possible to affect them sooner, since they won't be targeting the spirit anyways.
 * Prevents Warriors from the degen team from triggering traps too early when they Sprint. Put this spirit as far forward as possible to affect them sooner, since they won't be targeting the spirit anyways.


 * Doubles the casting time of hexes for the degen team. Helps you stay alive longer, but it is useless for all other teams. It may also hurt your team if you have Elementalists or Ritualists.
 * Doubles the casting time of hexes for the degen team. Helps you stay alive longer, but it is useless for all other teams. It may also hurt your team if you have Elementalists or Ritualists.

Support

 * Also mandatory of trappers. Serpent's Quickness is preferred because of 33% recharge over 25%, and it affects all skills and not just traps.
 * Also mandatory of trappers. Serpent's Quickness is preferred because of 33% recharge over 25%, and it affects all skills and not just traps.
 * Also mandatory of trappers. Serpent's Quickness is preferred because of 33% recharge over 25%, and it affects all skills and not just traps.


 * Helpful if you're the last survivor on your team against the degen team.
 * Helpful if you're the last survivor on your team against the degen team.


 * Can be used with any weapon, and helps against survivors.
 * Can be used with any weapon, and helps against survivors.


 * If you don't have time to run to the back to place a spirit down, use this to move it there from the front.
 * If you don't have time to run to the back to place a spirit down, use this to move it there from the front.

Standard Trapping Ranger
Simple build, just hit your stance and trap away. This can be done with 25 Energy.

Echo Duster
This specialized build has very little room for flexibility. Though it is capable to dealing incredible amounts of damage, it is weak on its own and requires a source of knockdown from a party member. It also requires a large energy pool of no less than 59 Energy.

Elementalist
Elementalists are meant to defeat any survivors of the other team. Where the traps won't kill them, an Elementalist will use Fire Magic to nuke the rest. Elementalists are key to defeating the Obsidian Flame and degen teams since the traps won't kill them all.

Attributes & Equipment
The only attributes needed are Fire Magic and Energy Storage, so go with 12+1+1 Fire Magic and 12+1 Energy Storage. Superior runes are unnecessary, as they don't add enough damage, and also greatly decrease your survivability. If bringing a spell from a secondary attribute, lower Energy Storage to 10+1 and raise the other attribute to 8.

A 40/40 Fire Magic weapon set is ideal to be held when casting spells. When you begin to take damage, it is optimal to have a defense set ready. See the Ranger section above for an example.

Skills
Skills the Elementalist should bring mostly fall into two-spell combos.


 * This allows an instant cast of Meteor Shower, which you should not need more than one of during a match. Always wait for them to approach you and stop moving before casting this; otherwise they will keep running and you will miss entirely. Against the degen team, target a Zaishen Necromancer. Against the Elementalists, pick the center of a clump of them.
 * This allows an instant cast of Meteor Shower, which you should not need more than one of during a match. Always wait for them to approach you and stop moving before casting this; otherwise they will keep running and you will miss entirely. Against the degen team, target a Zaishen Necromancer. Against the Elementalists, pick the center of a clump of them.
 * This allows an instant cast of Meteor Shower, which you should not need more than one of during a match. Always wait for them to approach you and stop moving before casting this; otherwise they will keep running and you will miss entirely. Against the degen team, target a Zaishen Necromancer. Against the Elementalists, pick the center of a clump of them.


 * This gives you two simultaneous casts of Rodgort's Invocation. If you prefer another elite, Rodgort's Invocation on its own is still good.
 * This gives you two simultaneous casts of Rodgort's Invocation. If you prefer another elite, Rodgort's Invocation on its own is still good.
 * This gives you two simultaneous casts of Rodgort's Invocation. If you prefer another elite, Rodgort's Invocation on its own is still good.


 * OR OR
 * Always keep Fire Attunement covered.
 * Always keep Fire Attunement covered.


 * Searing Flames works best if there is another Elementalist using it as well.
 * Searing Flames works best if there is another Elementalist using it as well.
 * Searing Flames works best if there is another Elementalist using it as well.

Other spells to consider:
 * (elite)
 * (elite)
 * (elite)
 * (elite)

Standard Fire Elementalist
As the enemies approach, use Glyph of Sacrifice. When they have stopped moving to begin attacking, cast Meteor Shower, Glyph of Renewal, Rodgort's Invocation, Rodgort's Invocation, Meteor, then Fireball. Mop up the rest where needed.

Dual Fire Elementalists
Apply Mark of Rodgort, then begin spamming Searing Flames, using the other spells where necessary.

Ritualist
Like the Elementalist, Ritualists are charged with defeating the survivors. Their role is to place offensive spirits behind the trapping line so that the enemies can still run up and trigger the traps. An advantage of having spirits is that they act as decoys for Obsidian Flame, ensuring that no party member gets nuked too early.