Effective ritualist guide

Help: This article is seeking volunteers to help expand out the ideas into something truly useful.

''Note: this article is intended to provide guidance for experienced characters playing a new ritualist or experienced ritualists looking for additional options. If this is your first time playing Guild Wars, please see Getting started in Guild Wars Factions.''

The Ritualist profession is only available in Guild Wars: Factions. Guild Wars: Prophecies users will not be able to use this profession unless they have linked a Factions key to their Prophecies account.

=A Ritualist's Place= The ritualist is a 'jack-of-all-trades' usually seen as a support character, rather than primary damage dealer. The role of the class is to aid allies with additional damage, healing, and adding or removing conditions from hexes or enchantments.

=Being a Ritualist=

PvE Ritualists
Playing a PvE Ritualist is totally dependent on one's playing style. Since this class can be both an awesome support damage/healing character. Given that Professor Gai serves as a faux Protection Monk;
 * A PvE henchmen-assisted solo player can easily go the damage route to help out Tanks. Not to say that PvE Players couldn't do Gai's job themselves, but why not mitigate the deaths of your enemies?
 * If however one is a PvE player that likes to play with "live" allies instead of Henchmen, consider going for the Protector/Healer builds. Shelter/Union/Displacement make for strong protection when used in conjuntion with Ritual Lord and Boon of Creation.

PvP Ritualists
=Building=

Attribute Priority
The ritualist is a bit unlike many professions in that no matter what focus you choose, you are likely to need if not a good score, at least a decent score in more than two and possibly even all four of your ritualist attributes. Many post-PVE designed builds will focus on merely one or two attributes and give no advice for the remainder. Be cautious in taking this approach however, a lot of builds are over specialized and the ritualist is a generalist. It might be a better strategy to have three or four attributes at similar although not maximized scores and then to take a variety of skills that seem to work together well.
 * Spawning Power: If you are not using many spirits, you can let this one go a little, its rewards per level are small, and if you are generalizing you simply won't be able to afford maximizing it enough to make it worthwhile.
 * Communing: When using a mix of spirits and other spells, communing probably goes farther for you than spawning power as it will increase duration and effect of spirits as well as other spells.
 * Restoration Magic: Most ritualists are tasked to do some level of healing. Restoration makes a good second highest attribute in a generalized build that tries to protect and aid allies. If your focus is on protection, you may even want to maximize restoration.
 * Channeling Magic: Offensive ritualists will need to focus on channeling, but other builds can let it go somewhat as allies will be able to function as primary attackers while your ritualist stays to support or protection.

Types of Ritualists
This is not an exhaustive list of builds, but rather a short summary of common themes that many popular ritualist builds fit within. For specific builds see the article on Builds.

Restorer
A ritualist focused on healing and aiding, either in place of or in addition to a monk teammate. With a focus on restoration skills, the ritualist can do a pretty good job of healing.

Spirit Wrangler
A ritualist focused on managing spirits. This is probably what you want to focus on if you like doing damage, but don't want to tank. Some good spirits to take are Pain and Bloodsong, along with Recuperation. Spirit Boon Strike will do damage to your enemies while boosting your spirits' HP. Mend Body and Soul is a good compliment.

Minion Bomber
A ritualist, when played right can be a Minion Master, but perhaps not as effective as a necromancer, as it will be 2 minions short. However this is offset with the massive AoE damage of Explosive Growth. Primary skills for the minion ritualist are Boon of Creation, Explosive Growth, and Death Nova.

Item Carrier
Skills like Generous was Tsungrai are useful, especially when paired with Channeled Strike. This kind of build is also useful for some of the later missions, where you are carrying items a lot.

55 Ritualist
It has been suggested that the ritualist can make an alternative to the 55 monk build.

The Secondary Profession Dilemma
Perhaps moreso than any other profession, the choice of secondary for a ritualist is difficult. The ritualist plays very well when using only Ritualist skills. It can be difficult choosing a secondary when none of the choices seems to offer anything the class can't already do. A common strategy is to chose anything just to be able to progress past the initial Shing Jea Monastary quests and then ignore it. That advice however, can leave a new player unable to decide, and PvE for a ritualist can stall over this conflict.
 * See also Ritualist:Profession Combinations

Assassin
Assassin skills can allow greater mobility for a ritualist, combining along the same theories that would be useful for a Monk Assassin combination.

Elementalist

 * Glimmering Mark can be combined with the Channeling Magic lightning rituals for an effective blinding ritualist.
 * Glyphs can also be used to reduce Recharge time and energy cost on healing or damaging spells.
 * Earth Magic can enable a Ritualist to survive in PvP long enough to set up sufficient Spirits.

Mesmer

 * Using Mantra of Resolve and Mantra of Concentration this combination can become an effective counter ritualist, shutting down other ritualists or Ritualist Assassins.
 * Mesmer skills can also be useful for energy management of the primary ritualist.
 * It has been suggested that Mesmer as secondary is ideal for farming.

Monk
The combination of Restoration and Healing Prayers can make for a very powerful support character.

Necromancer
As the Rt/N Explosive Creation build shows, this combination can make for a different and potentially potent minion bomber.

Ranger
Ranger Traps can be combined with Spirit placement to corall victims into bombardment. Serpent's Quickness can serve as a weak version of Ritual Lord in the early game. Despite the common misconception, Spawning Power does not affect the pets of a ranger.

Warrior
The warrior's low energy demands can allow the ritualist to conserve energy for Rituals, but the skills do not generally compliment each other.

Suggested Strategies

 * Insert strategy advice here.

Spirit Stats
Spirits cannot be healed directly, but can be healed via the sprit boon strike spell, can be targetted by attacks, and are immobile. Spirits effects either work within a range around them, or are targetted by the spirit against those within their range. The exact range varies according to the spirit. Detailed information on Spirit stats is available within the Spirit article.

Managing Your Spirits
Ritual Lord/Boon of Creation builds allow for Spirit spamming. Your first priority should be to get and keep Boon of Creation going as much as possible. If you've got red anywhere on the radar, have this spell active. You do not want to enter combat without it up.

Get faster casting spirits up first, then fall back behind them just enough to switch agrro off of you and work on the rest of your list. If you are working with a specific build it may have different advice, and you should consider which suggestion is correct for you.

Spirit spells have very slow recharge times, so you will need to have a plan for what to with yourself in between. A spamming build will make up the space with other spirits, and offensive or protective builds will keep you busy with their own spells. If at all possible, seek out items that will speed up recharge time. At the earliest, the Monastery Quartermaster in Seitung Harbor will give access to a Communing Staff that has a 15% chance on halving recharge time. Be sure to save up 5 Monastery Credits so you can get this item, unless you are lucky enough to get a drop that is even better, such as a Ceremonial Cauldron. No other Monastery Quartermaster nor Imperial Quartermaster will equal this item.

Consider Draw Spirit as an option to bring vital spirits with you as you move, but be careful to not waste it on a short lived spirit in the heat of the moment. Spirits that take a lot of damage or have short life times are simply not worth the effort, even if the recharge time for them is long.

The hardest part of spirit management is not actually the spirits, but your teammates. Avoid 'go-go-go' PUGs if at all possible. If you end up in one, you are better leaving the mission or quest than hanging around and becomming the 'kill-guy'. When they run, all your spirits will be left behind, and with them all the support you could have provided until your recharge comes around. More than likely, you will get the blame for their error. A spirit spammer is a build that works best on a thinker's team. You want a team willing to let you set up a 'battle / spirit platform' (the area where you cast the majority of your spirits) and then to defend that space until the fight is over. You want them to draw in the opposition, lure them to your spirit platform, rather than chase it down.

With henchmen, this becomes easier to manage. Most henchmen will not stray too far from the PCs, and when they do will return if you choose not to follow them. On the other hand, they will not seek out and draw in opponents as readily as fellow players might, and often you will have to leave your own spirit platform to draw in an enemy, and then flee back hoping the hostiles follow and your henchment don't stop them too far away from the spirit platform. It is a delicate game, but it can be managed.

Resurrecting
With Flesh of My Flesh, Lively Was Naomei, and Restoration the Ritualist might be equal or even superior to the Monk in resurecting dead allies.