User:Jasminethetender/builds/team

=Spike Friendly Spikers= The Spike Friendly Spikers team build uses monk and ritualist skills to counter spikes while using a thumper and anti-caster to kill the other team. This build is designed for team arenas.

Equipment
Any armor and weapons are fine. The monk may want to get a -5 energy melee weapon for focus switching.

Usage
At the beginning of the game, the monk should put life bond on everyone and Balthazar's Spirit on himself. The monk then just uses blessed signet to get his energy up before the start. The ritualist should use ritual lord and boon of creation and cast union then shelter (make sure to do this for addition reduction) in the back. He should then put Shadowsong right next to the monk and rush up to the front line to put Pain and Dissonance up there. He should keep Boon of Creation and Ritual Lord up at all times. Also Shelter should be the biggest priority, it is required to get rid of spikes. The Mesmer should cast him anti-caster spells on the monk and interrupt him. The thumper should daze him then kill him. Once the monk is dead the thumper and anti-caster should just kill everyone else. The Monk during battle should use Reversal of Fortune and Dismiss Condition as the main heals. To counter spikes the monk should use Zealous Benediction. Only use zb when they are below 50 percent health or you will drain your energy.

Counters
Enchantment removal and Searing Flames spike builds can be a pain, but you can still win.

Variants
You could replace the Thumper with a Burst Of Aggression assassin but that is not recommended.

Fevered Dreams Assassin

 * Armor: Radiant Insignias.
 * Weapon: Poisonous Daggers of Fortitude, 15% DMG Vs Hexed Foes.
 * Combo: Target must be hexed. Black Mantis Thrust --> Black Lotus Strike --> Black Spider Strike --> Twisting Fangs. This combo is flexible, and it may be advisable to first use Black Spider Strike --> Twisting Fangs --> Black Lotus Strike --> Black Mantis Thrust if you’re afraid the target might die before the combo is finished. This will allow Fevered Dreams to instantly spread Poison, Bleeding, and Deep Wound. The combo is very flexible, requiring only Twisting Fangs to follow either Black Lotus Strike or Black Spider Strike.

Temple Strike Assassin

 * Armor: Radiant Insignias.
 * Weapon: Zealous Daggers of Fortitude, +5 Energy.
 * Combo: Target must be hexed for Black Lotus. Unsuspecting Strike --> Temple Strike --> Death Blossom --> Black Lotus Strike --> Death Blossom. Due to Death Blossom’s two second recharge, and Black Lotus Strike only needing to hit a hexed target as a qualifier, you can use the dual attack twice in rapid succession. This results in 180 DMG to both the target and everyone adjacent. While Temple Strike is recharging, you are still capable of using Unsuspecting Strike --> Black Lotus Strike --> Death Blossom. If you're concerned about the inital energy investment at the start of the combo to use a Temple Strike, but don't have a full energy bar, you can do Black Lotus Strike strike first, to pay for Unsuspecting Strike and Temple Strike.

OR

Temple Strike Assassin Var 2

 * Armor: Radiant Insignias.
 * Weapon: Zealous Daggers of Fortitude, +5 Energy.
 * Combo: Unsuspecting Strike --> Temple Strike --> Death Blossom (can stop here or continue with)--> Leaping Mantis Sting --> Wild Strike --> Death Blossom (can stop here or continue with --> Unsuspecting Strike OR Leaping Mantis Sting --> Wild Strike --> Death Blossom (etc.) This variant is more low energy oriented and flexible in spamming attacks (once everyone is suffering from multiple conditions and deepwound, this is useful for mowing down players), while still carrying along an anti-kite cripple in case it has to engage in solo play. However, if you are less concerned with pure DPS during battle and more about a damage to energy ratio, try replacing Wild Strike with Jungle Strike.

Shrine Capping
These two Assassins can cap every shrine without fear of death, if done properly. First, the Fevered Dreams Assassin will call out a target, and use Fevered Dreams on said target. Then, both Assassins Shadow Walk to the NPC. If two NPCS are present, it does not matter who is called out. If three NPCS are present, the target should be the middle one. This will ensue that Death Blossom will hit the two NPCS on the sides. Then, when the middle NPC drops, both Assassins attack opposing targets to keep them from casting while dazed. On the warrior shrine, this is done differently. The Assassins will have 10 seconds of blind to allow them to concentrate damage, overwhelming one Warrior at a time. If one of the Assassins begins to take too much damage, activate Deadly Paradox to cancel Shadow Walk’s stance, teleporting you to safety. Then take advantage of the shortened recharge time to cast Feigned Neutrality.

PvP Tactics

 * The Fevered Dreams Assassin should select primary targets. The consideration of primary targets and how to deal with them are as follows in order of priority:
 * 1) Healers: Dedicated healers should be wiped out first. If the Monk is using Guardian on themself, or a defensive stance, wait till the Monk recasts Guardian. Quickly cast Fevered Dreams on a foe standing near the Monk, then hit this target hard. The Monk will also receive the plethora of conditions in the process. Then switch over and proceed to pound on the Monk to interrupt his heals while dazed, until dead. This tactic can be used on well trained Monks, once you come across them, a general rarity in AB. To avoid the problem of hex removal, be sure to wait till the Temple Strike sin is already on the monk. The TS Sin will withold using Temple Strike until Fevered Dreams is applied, being sure to daze and keep the monk from removing it.
 * 2) Minion Masters: Killing a Minion Master with a considerable number of minions can throw a whole mob out of whack with the masterless undead. The Assassins will normally have the damage to do this, but things like Infuse Condition and Dark Bond can cause problems. Dark Bond can usually be beaten through sheer damage, but the target needs to remain dazed to ensure they can't heal. The Sins may also incur heavy damage by doing this, but Shadow Walk should ensure a quick entry and escape to survive.
 * 3) Necromancers, Mesmers, Air Elementalists, Water Elementalists: Due to their equipped anti-melee hexes (and blind in the case of Air Elementalists) taking these out first is suggested.
 * 4) High damage squishy players: This means other Assassins and Elementalists.
 * 5) The location of the target in relation to other characters. Going for a target that is in the middle of a mob of players will ensue that the whole mob is crippled, bleeding, poisoned, blinded, dazed, and suffering from a deep wound.


 * Chasing targets can be done by first using either Fevered Dreams or Shadowy Burden. In either case, use Shadow Walk --> Black Mantis Thrust to cripple the target; however Shadow Walk can be avoided on Shadowy Burden.


 * Tag Teaming is an important tactic that can be used to deal with multiple players and to mitigate damage. If one of the Assassins is taking much damage, they can start to run away from the point where Shadow Walk was used while the other Assassin beats up on the chasing enemy. Once the injured Assassin reaches a threshold, they can use Deadly Paradox and shadow step back. The other Assassin will start to be the target of damage. This sin can fight it out longer until s/he starts taking too much damage, and then Deadly Paradox. While this is going on, the first sin that retreated is healed up by now, and can Shadow Walk back in to fight a second time. This is a repeatable skirmishing effect, which can be utilized to slow down a larger force or a single target if both Sins have taken too much damage. It can also allow one of the Sins to survive if targeted by a Shadow Prison Burst Assassin. Said targeted Assassin should teleport away by targeting another foe and using Shadow Walk, while the non-targeted Assassin kills the Shadow Burster. If no other foes exist to be targeted, just turtling with Feigned Neutrality while the other Assassin kills is suggested.


 * Stances, enchantments, and other abilities that block an Assassins combo can be overcome by attacking some other foe standing nearby, for example a NPC. This will ensure that the high priority target is still inflicted with the seven conditions.


 * Solo play is possible while separated, but it is highly suggested both Assassins stay together. Accidental deaths will happen and separate players, so both Asassins are built to be able to operate alone as well. Both can still snare and hex to allow their full combos. This is not the case with the Temple Strike sin var 2, which can still snare, but doesn't need to hex.

Team Selection
These two Assassins can operate just fine by themselves. However, when selecting a team to play it doesn’t hurt to have a primary healer or a nuker. The nuker will have an easier time with the area-wide cripple.

Team Composition
For HA:
 * 3 / RaO Spear Chuckers
 * 1 / Barbed Orders
 * 1 / ZB Protection Monk
 * 1 / LoD Infuser

For GvG, add:
 * 1 / Me/E Expel Dom Mesmer
 * 1 / Rt/A Support Runner

For TA:
 * 2 / RaO Spear Chuckers
 * 1 / Curse Mesmer
 * 1 / ZB Protection Monk

Spear Chucker #3

 * Possible skills for the optional slot:
 * Remedy Signet or Antidote Signet for blindness.
 * Whirling Defense or Predatory Bond for defense.
 * Fertile Season.
 * Predatory Season.

Equipment

 * Beastmaster or Radiant insignia
 * Vampiric spear of Fortitude
 * Zealous spear of Fortitude
 * Shield with health bonuses

Usage

 * Designate a caller.
 * Fling all spears and pets at a target. Use skills accordingly.
 * Switch targets when needed, and in co-ordination with the necromancer's Mark of Pain spell.

Attributes and Skills

 * Skills for the optional slot:
 * Blood Ritual
 * Well of Blood
 * Glyph of Concentration

Equipment

 * Zealous spear of Enchanting
 * Curses wand with faster casting for curses
 * Curses offhand with fast recharge
 * Radiant insignia

Usage

 * Cast and maintain Awaken the Blood.
 * Co-ordinate Barbs and Mark of Pain with called targets. Cover hexes with Parasitic Bond.
 * Use Order of the Vampire to assist with damage.
 * Use Glyph of Lesser Energy and the zealous spear for energy management

TA Version

 * Use fast recharge weapons for curses.

ZB Protection Monk

 * Mo/A Shadow Arts Zealous Healer

LoD Infuser

 * Skills for the optional slot:
 * Holy Veil
 * Vigorous Spirit

Equipment

 * A Zealous spear is recommended for one of the monks' weapons, not just for energy management, but to assist on the damage of Barbs and Mark of Pain.
 * Wands and offhand for the LoD Infuser, Enchanting weapon and offhand for the ZB Protection Monk.

General Tactics

 * Rush. This build is meant to be aggressive, and requires line of sight for a lot of the damage.  Being swift and aggressive may catch an opponent off guard.
 * Formation: R/P in the front, orders necro close behind, monks in the rear.
 * Use Fertile Season when the opposition is suspected in being a spike team.
 * Use Predatory Season at your own discretion, and only if you think it'll benefit the team.

Counters

 * Mass water or slow hexes.
 * Mass blind.
 * Support shutdown.

Variants

 * Any monks can go with this.
 * A Me/N with fast casting and curses can be used instead of the orders necromancer.

See Also:
Other Monk suggestions: Additions for GvG:
 * R/P Rampaging Spear
 * Mo/Me Diverted Support
 * Mo/A Shadow Arts RC Monk
 * Rt/E Cold Vengeance

=Burst of Heat=

This build is a common Heroes Ascent build, utilizing the highly offensive capabilities of Assassins and Elementalists to destroy opposing teams. '''This Build is still under development, you can help on fulfilling it. See Talk page for more information.'''

= ZB Prot =


 * See Build:Mo/Me Zealous Prot for more details.

= LoD/Infuser =


 * Let the ZB Monk know you are infusing so they can get restore your health with Zealous Benediction.

= BoA Sins (x2) =

See Build:A/W Berserking Shadow for more details.

= SH Elementalist =


 * See Build:E/any Savannah Fire.
 * Flame Djinn's Haste is for relic running.

= Water Elementalist =


 * Blurred Vision should be kept on opposing Assassins and Warriors as much as possible.
 * There are many variants which drop the water Elementalist for another character. See Replace Water Elementalist section.

= Usage =
 * The BoA Assassin(s) should select a target and alert the team to be ready to spike.
 * Have the Second BoA Assassin attack the team's other monk should they have one during the spike.
 * During the spike itself the Assassins should unleash their combo while the SH Ele uses Gale and SH to unleash massive damage while keeping the monk on the ground.
 * When not spiking, the SH Ele should be using Immolate, Glowing Gaze, and Meteor to harass the other team with periodic bursts of damage and burning.
 * The water elementalist should be constantly hammering other weapon based classes with Blurred Vision,Water Trident,Freezing Gust etc...
 * The two eles can also coordinate a pressure spike of their own. The Water Elementalist can cast Deep Freeze on a group of clumped foes, while the fire ele uses Savannah Heat to unleash a massive amount of damage upon them.

= Variants =

Here are some major variants listed. However remember that you can consider this build as a meta build. Any variant of your own may work too. Stay creative. For more variants see the Talk Page.

Variants for BoA Sin's build

 * Drop Expose Defenses for Feigned Neutrality if you are not confident in your monks.
 * Dropping Shadow Prison and Feigned Neutrality for Assassin's Promise and Dark Prison will allow you to use the combo again faster. However be aware that if there is no hexer in the team you will not be able to use the combo for 45s if you fail to kill the target (hex requirements on Off-Hand Attacks).
 * NB : Do not use this variant in the "two spiking teams" variant because it will kill all the syncronisation of the team (If you fail to kill a target without the help of Savannah Heat or if you run out of energy when Savannah Heat is ready).

Variants for SH Elementalist's build

 * Drop Immolate and Glowing Gaze for Teinai's Heat and Searing Heat for more AoE damage.
 * Use Hex Breaker to counter speed down hexes during a relic run.

An SS/Warder :

 * This build focuses on a more defensive role, generally replacing the water elementalist.
 * Be careful to not overexhaust yourself with Gale.
 * Also beware of the pros and cons of wards, if your casters are bunched up within the wards, they may be vulnerable to various AoEs, Meteor Shower,Savannah Heat ect...

Another SH Elementalist (two spiking teams variant) :
This variants relies on two spiking teams. The teams are 1 BoA Sin and 1 SH Nuker.

Usage

 * Each spiking team choose a target. Generally the two monks.
 * The Sin Shadow Step to target casting Shadow Prison. Sin should call Shadow Prison for coordination with the SH.
 * The SH Elementalist cast Savannah Heat and Gale on the target.
 * If the target is not already dead, team finish to kill him with dagues attacks and Fire Magic Spells.
 * Switch target. Even if Gale can help, knocking down target for 2s, team would better not use the Shadow Prison + Savannah Heat combo again until those skills are both recharged. Communication is vital.

A hex pressure class
See on Talk Page.

Others variants
See on Talk Page.

=Nightmare Spike=

The Nightmare Spike team consists of Ritualist/Rangers that use Nightmare Weapon with Bow Attacks to create a Life Stealing Spike, similar to that of previous Blood Magic spike teams.

Usage

 * All Ritualists cast Nightmare Weapon and Kindle arrows before each spike.
 * The caller will then do your standard " 3, 2 , 1 Spike! " via Team Speak or Ventrilo.
 * All Spikers then fire Dual Shot, quickly followed by Distracting Shot for a devastating and virtually irresistible spike.
 * Ritualists should use Natural Stride to kite away from Melee opponents, beware that monks enchantments will end it prematurely.
 * Spirits should be used according to the map, ( Favorable Winds and Bloodsong aside.)
 * For use on the Monk builds go the "See Also" section of this article.

Counters

 * Life Stealing is unblockable damage, but the ritualist are casters and are very fragile.
 * "Shields Up!", Aegis and other standard weapon based counters.

Variants

 * Monks can change to Elementalist secondaries for access to Glyph of Lesser Energy and Aegis.
 * Ritualists can opt for Seeking Arrows to help narrow the margin of failed spikes.
 * The spikers can drop Kindle Arrows for another channeling spike esque spell.
 * Monks can drop channeling, or the entire Mesmer profession, for different utility skills such as Dark Escape, Glyph of Lesser Energy, etc.
 * Lively Was Naomei can be run to pierce through Frozen Soil when needed, additionally Rupture Soul can be brought to get rid of your Spirits (frozen soil in particular) should they become a hinderance.

Attributes and Skills
Player Grenth's Dervish a.k.a. the runner.

Optional-
 * Aura of Thorns + Mystic Vigor, allows for some decent self healing along with Victorious Sweep to solo efficiently.
 * Heart of Fury + Faithful Intervention are good options here.

Usage
*Tip* Keep Vigorous Spirit on your monk if it is being pressured.
 * Turn off Restore Condition against Searing Flames. If your monk isn’t wasting energy on Restore Condition every 2 seconds, this build will do well.  If you leave Restore Condition on, the battle will become much, much harder.
 * Against heavy melee pressure, use lock target with the ebon Dervish.
 * Use your heroes to run a split. Force cast imbue health, lock target melee with Melonni.  Make sure prot spirit is cast on who ever is being pressured. Let your heroes wipe if it means you can cap all the flags early on. Being down 3 points means little.
 * When it is imperative, make sure Melonni is using Ebon Dust Aura at all times.
 * Micro managing is important and it is what wins games.
 * This might be more superstition than anything, but some players believe that heroes on aggressive mode target anything while heroes on guard assist you. Keep the Mesmer on guard while you are running to keep him from running off and getting killed and make sure he is on aggressive while you are fighting so he will spread the interrupts. It might also be a good idea to lock the mesmer's target on the monk that way you can be sure to disable it.

Equipment
Weapons:
 * Ebon mod on Melonni.
 * 20% enchantment mod on both of the dervishes. (Increases the duration of ebon aura and aura of thorns to 36 seconds and mystic regen. to 24)

Variants
Feel free to play around with the Mesmer. Many variations there. Others:
 * Psychic Instability + Ether Phantom on the Mesmer would probably work very well. A two-monk backline with a Blighter is very common, but this Mesmer build is more effective. The reliability of Power Block against SF builds, which are very common, is nice.  AI is stupid, so won't reliably cover hexes, and will cast Psychic Instability on warriors as often as monks unless you lock target, but constant knockdowns puts a lot of pressure.
 * The interrupts aren't core to the build. On the non-Mesmers, they primarily function as free energy management. If you want to run less interrupts, drop Leech Signet for something else as Leech Signet will not always be used on spells so its function as energy management is limited.  Power Drain is an excellent spell, the energy it returns is fantastic.
 * You can easily drop Ebon Dust Aura from the Dervish build for something else. That said, dealing with heavy melee pressure will be MUCH harder.  Other good elites are a second Grenth, Melandru to run wearing strike, or the DW inflicting scythe attacks of your choice (wounding > reapers imo).  Use Dervishes for melee pressure.  Heroes often bunch up, making scythes with their AoE attacks very effective.

Counters

 * The Grenths dervish is not specifically designed for running nor is this build. It functions as a split build, but it is designed to break through the defense of a split build. Too much defense is very hard to break though. This build will farm faction much faster though than a 2 Monk + Ritualist + Assassin. And the grenths Dervish can solo most solo builds, 1v1 there is always a counter.
 * Heavy Enchant removal will pose a problem. Ebon dust aura is the only defense against grenths dervishes and unfortunately is also an enchantment, easily stripped by the form.
 * Paragon/R-spike; paragon buffs cannot be striped and are not spells. Ranged pressure cannot be shut down with a scythe the way melee pressure can due to the way AI clumps up.

=Spiritual Overload= The Spiritual Overload team uses Necromancer's Soul Reaping along with various Spirits to provide very high energy management for the necromancers, along with the various benefits and offense from the spirits. The Necromancers tend to play hybrid roles, while the necromancers support the team while attacking the opposing team with either Curses or Channeling Magic.

Example Build

 * There are many variants of a Spirit Spam team, so many in fact that it is not really possible to post an exact build of exactly what skills,attribute,spirits ect...to use.
 * Rather than set an exact team, an example will be given to give the readers of this article an idea as to what to run.

The Player (You)

 * The example give below will be a BoA Assassin, but there are countless variants as to what the player can be run.

Suggestions for Variants

 * Curses: Barbs,Soul Barbs,Defile Flesh,Parasitic Bond.
 * Soul Reaping: Icy Veins
 * Blood Magic: Life Siphon,Spoil Victor.
 * Death Magic: Animate Bone Minions,Toxic Chill,Rising Bile.
 * Communing: Dissonance,Disenchantment,Mighty Was Vorizun.
 * Restoration Magic: Preservation,Weapon of Warding,Wielder's Boon,Resilient Weapon,Vengeful Weapon.
 * Channeling Magic: Channeled Strike,Cruel Was Daoshen,Destructive was Glaive,Lamentation,Renewing Surge,Destruction.

Suggestions for the Player's Build

 * Build:A/W Moebius Impaler
 * Build:Rt/any Glaive's Priest
 * Build:W/any Dragon Sword
 * Build:P/any Conditional Paragon
 * Build:W/A Lone Ganksman
 * Build:R/Mo Burning Arrow Ranger
 * Build:R/Mo Prepared Shot Ranger
 * Build:D/Mo Wounding Strike Spiker
 * Build:P/D Ebon Dust Skirmisher
 * Build:A/any Impaler
 * Build:R/Mo Mending Touch Cripshot
 * Build:N/Me Reaper of Humility
 * Build:W/E Shock Axe

Build Usage

 * This is very much a holding build, so you will most likely be holding the center shrine, there are a good deal of things to take into consideration.
 * 1. Examine your opponents team, if the team has an Assassin prepare with Displacement, if they have elementalists SPREAD YOUR HEROES OUT and set up Shelter if you have it.
 * 2. Capping, this is generally the players job, depending on your build you may or may not choose to go after the secondary shrines.
 * 3. Survival, your builds survival may vary, the example build lacks an anti spike. Spirit Transfer helps greatly as a partial infuse health-esque skill, and there should always be plenty of spirits.
 * After you're prepared, set up your spirits. Spirits are the key to this build, spread them out if at all possible. Spirits such as Life and Destruction are very recyclable and restore energy to your necromancer when destroyed/expired.
 * Do your role, choose unprotected targets to attack, or jumbled up heroes to hit with Spirit Rift or whatever AoE spell you may have.
 * A rather aggressive tactic is to wipe the enemy team and rush to the resurrection shrine and set up spirits around it, this build is more successful with this tactic because of its nearly unlimited energy, whereas other builds would eventually run out and have to retreat.

=Steel Wall Deep Group= This is a standard 12 member deep group focused on completing the elite mission The Deep safely.

Overview
This party consists of:
 * 3 / Recall Warriors
 * 3 / Heavy Nukers
 * 2 / Utility Necromancers
 * 4 / Heal party monk

W/A Recall Warriors
Variations:
 * Replace Shove with any unconditional non-attack knockdown, such as Earth Shaker.
 * For Elementalist secondary, replace Shove with Shock, freeing the elite slot for Gladiator's Defense instead of Recall. Note that this comes at the cost of some additional risk when pulling.
 * Replace adrenaline skills with energy attack skills for an easier time in the Aspect of Soothing
 * Replace Resurrection Signet with Sunspear Rebirth Signet, for a better Resurrection skill.

E/Me Heavy Nuker
Variations: See Build:E/Me Heavy Nuker for additional variants. Elemental Attunement is preferred, since it allows faster recovery and longer battles.
 * Replace Meteor with Breath of Fire, Fire Storm or Searing Heat to keep aggro off back line casters.
 * Replace Resurrection Signet with Sunspear Rebirth Signet, for a better Resurrection skill.

N/Me Utility Necromancers
This build is very carefully orchestrated; variations are not suggested. When changing this build, be very careful to preserve the full functionality.

Variations:
 * Replace Resurrection Signet with Sunspear Rebirth Signet, for a better Resurrection skill.

Mo/Any Heal Party Monk
Variations:
 * Replace Word of Healing with Healing Light
 * Replace Signet of Rejuvenation with Signet of Devotion
 * Replace your rune of Minor Protection Prayers with a Rune Of Attunement

Division of labor, the first 5 rooms
This section describes the division and methodology for the first two rooms.

General Advice
The Darkened Irukandji and the Spirits of Restoration they bind are particularly troublesome in these rooms. Target them first, and attempt to interrupt Restoration if possible. Warriors should be careful when pulling. Pull small groups, and attempt to separate Ripper Carp, as they are easier to kill alone.

Room 1, Aspect of Soothing
Proceed normally. The Warrior should pull carefully and tank so the Elementalist can bring their skills to bear.

Room 2, Aspect of Death
Because of the healing penalty and the fact you can not retreat from battle, this group should wait for the other teams to assist. The monk should be casting heal party while the BR necromancer should yield energy for the monk's spells. Heal party will affect all party members in radar so it is possible to heal teammates in rooms 1 and 3.

Room 3, Aspect of Surrender
The Warrior should proceed first through the teleporter, and make sure there are no foes near the teleport pad. All party members should move to the extended platform to the rear of this room and pull carefully.

Room 4, Aspect of Exposure
Because of the large size of this room, the spawn should be fairly spread out. The necromancer should place Spinal Shivers on the Manta and eliminate them first, then proceed slowly.

Room 5, Aspect of Pain
Once Clear, each group should attempt to pull small groups out of this room and into the recently cleared room. Once the larger center room is cleared, the gates into the prior room will open and each group should fall back and assist the other teams.

Once all four teams are freed, approach the Kanaxai Aspect of Pain. Warriors should surround the aspect and attempt to prevent the aspect from moving, while Elementalist and necromancer assault him with damage spells. Monks should cast Protective Spirit to reduce Kanaxai's damage. Use this method to defeat all further aspects.

Room 6, Aspect of Lethargy
Warriors should line up at the gate to the next room, and block the entrance. Casters should stand clear of the warrior wall.

One warrior should cast recall on a nearby Ally, and proceed into the room and disable the fire flower. Once the flower has been disabled, the warrior should aggro as much of the room as possible, and proceed back to take his place on the wall. release recall if your health drops below 25%, or the room is aggro'd early. Monks should cast heal party as much as possible to heal the warrior while he is gathering aggro. Necromancers should cast Blood Ritual on all monks to counter the cost of heal party.

Once the Leviathans are assembled, warriors should body block, using whatever defensive skills they can, as all casters cast their damage spells. once the assembled leviathans are defeated, proceed into the room and clear any remaining foes, then use the same tactic from above to eliminate the aspect.

All recall warriors should cast recall on a single designated Monk or Elementalist and stand on one of the three pads closest to the gate, with both necromancers on the rear pads. The remaining party should proceed through the now open gate. Warriors should time recall to move together to the same character on the far side of the gate. any warriors without recall should be replaced with Elementalists, as Elementalist can tolerate Death penalty easier then any other member. Once the gate is closed any remaining characters should proceed to the gate and sacrifice or wait to die so they can be rebirthed through the gate.

Room 7, Aspect of Depletion
Corpse control and heal party are vital in this room, so necromancers should switch from an offense role to a support roll, casting Well of Blood and Blood Ritual as much as possible. Proceed slowly and eliminate one group at a time. Before killing this aspect, be sure to nuke the nightmares behind the gate to the previous room, so they do not follow once the gate is opened.

Use the technique from above to eliminate the aspect.

Room 8, Aspect of Failure
Use the same "Warrior wall" technique as room 6. Heal Party is even more vital. The warrior should attempt to pull all melee groups.

Once all melee groups are eliminated, all members should proceed into the room. One warrior should take a position under the jade outcropping to hold the attention of the ranger outcasts, while the other party member proceed to the staircase at the end of this room.

It is not necessary to kill this aspect to proceed

Room 9, Aspect of Shadows
Use the same "Warrior wall" technique. warriors should position themselves at the top left of the stairs. All casters should assemble to the far left, out of the aspect from the previous room. The rightmost warrior should proceed into the room and agitate as many Oni as possible, then return to body blocking.

'''Do not, under any circumstances, attack the Oni with weapons or wands. Eliminate them with spells ONLY.'''.

The "Warrior wall" should proceed as a unit along the left edge of the room, being careful not to step into range of the Leviathan. Do not kill the Reborn Irukandji, as they can be used as additional body blocking. There are three more Oni spawns before reaching the aspect. Use the same technique from above to eliminate this aspect.

Continue along the edge of the room until you reach the stairs into the next room. there are two additional Oni groups.

Room 10, Scorpion Aspect
Use the "Warrior wall" technique at the top of the stairs near the left corner. casters should stand behind the corner. Be careful to avoid killing the Reborn Irukandji, as it can be used to control teleporting under the aspect. Agitate as many Oni as possible and eliminate them with spells only. Look to the end of this room, you can clearly see the top of the gate to the next room. this gate will open once all the Oni in this room are defeated.

Once all Oni are defeated, pull as many outcast groups as possible outside the aspect and eliminate them. Next, the entire party should group together tightly and run as a group along the edge to the right into the small haven outside the aspect at the top of the stairs. Continue to pull outcast groups until you feel safe to proceed to the gate at the end of this room.

use the same technique from above to kill this aspect.

Room 11, Aspect of Fear
All party members should run as a group into the room to the corner at the bottom of the first set of stairs. Quickly position the Monks on the inside, followed by the casters, and lastly the warriors on the outside of the group. Clump together as tightly as possible. Eliminate the nightmares and Oni that attack you, there should be six groups, and it will be very clear when the spawn is finished.

Proceed along this room, using the "Warrior wall" technique at the end of each bridge to trap the Oni and eliminate them. Use the same technique from above to kill this aspect.

Room 12, Aspect of Depletion
Use the same "Warrior wall" technique at the narrow point between rooms. This wall should be carefully adjusted, as the gap is slightly too large for three warriors to block easily. Should a large number of nightmares escape, fall back and use the bridge to create a new barrier. Proceed around the right or left to the exit of this room.

it is not necessary to kill this aspect to proceed

Room 13, Aspect of Decay
Proceed carefully through this room. the sweep with the "Warrior wall" technique, as nightmare and Oni pop up groups are common, but small. Eliminate them as quickly as possible. The largest threat from this room is decay from the aspect and the the numerous condition flowers. Monks should use Heal Party and extinguish. the entire party should proceed either right or left. One warrior should go down Each line, disabling condition flowers while the rest of the party fights.

it is not necessary to kill this aspect to proceed

Room 14, Aspect of Torment
Proceed quickly, but carefully, keeping the warriors in front. Nightmare pop up groups are common, but small, eliminate them as quickly as possible. Use the same technique from above to kill this aspect.

Kanaxai's Chamber
All three Warriors and one Monk should proceed into this room, while the remaining party stays just outside the aspect. All Monks remaining back should repeatedly cast heal party to ensure all the aspect is countered. Necromancers should concentrate on blood ritual.

Warriors should pull Kanaxai to one side, usually the left, and surround him as far from the center of the chamber as possible. The Monk should use protective spirit on whichever warrior Kanaxai chooses to target. Two warriors should time knockdowns so Kanaxai is knocked down twice in rapid succession. note: monsters are immune to knockdowns while knocked down or standing from knock down, be careful to wait for Kanaxai to stand fully.

Once Kanaxai has been knocked down twice, and two groups of nightmares are spawned, all warriors should release recall and all party members should run out of the room until the nightmares are no longer following. Do not kill any nightmares.

Proceed back into the room to the opposite side, usually right, and prepare to assault Kanaxai. Warriors should pull and surround Kanaxai as far from the nightmares as possible. One Necromancer should constantly use inspired enchantment to remove Kanaxai's refuge, while the remaining necromancer casts blood ritual on the Monks. Monks should be repeatedly casting heal party, and one monk should maintain protective spirit on whichever target Kanaxai is attacking. Once Kanaxai is surrounded, the Elementalists should unleash fire. To return to the deep staging area enter your guild hall then leave.

=2 monk rotscale farm=

This build is fully capable of running to Majesty's Rest killing Rotscale and all his allies to obtain a Rotwing Recurve Bow then to keep rezoning to obtain more even with a 60% death penalty

Attributes and Skills
Note: Your stats can be modded to more once you get there by putting on superior runes such as superior smiting and superior protection to get 16 smite and 12 prot

Equipment
Monk/Ranger
 * Any Armor as long as it 60AL
 * A Weapon with Enchantments Last 20% longer

Monk/Necro
 * Ascalon Armor 15AL with a prot +1 head piece 30AL
 * A Weapon with Enchantments Last 20% longer
 * Another option if you don't want to buy armor is strip off your Scalp Chest and Arm Armor but leave the legs and feet for energy Regeneration and to put runes on.

Usage
Monk/Ranger This position is responsible for Monk/Necro This position is responsible for
 * Running to Majesty's Rest
 * Bonding the other Monk
 * Putting Smiting Prayer spells on him
 * Keeping Symbiosis up at all times except when Rotscale is at 1/5 life or less and you are actively smiting him
 * Staying away from all aggro
 * Taking all the damage without dying by using Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond effectively
 * Using Grenth's Balance on Rotscale to lower his health and gain a mass amount of health for yourself
 * Pulling back when Rotscale is at 1/5 life left and get in a position to where he is using a physical attack so Shield of Judgment, Retribution, and Holy Wrath will all trigger and do damage to him

The Theory behind the Monk/Necro
Spirit bond is based off of how much damage you were to take which is why its best to run a lower AL of Armor

Protective Spirit Controls the Damage Taken Because Desecrate Enchantments (Target foe and all nearby foes take 6...49+ shadow damage and 4...17+ shadow damage for each Enchantment on them.) equals 60 to 490 shadow damage + 40 to 170 damage

Grenths Balance steals life from Rotscale and gives it to you so the higher your health from symbo the faster it is to work him down to under 1/5th health

A thing I have noticed is if the Monk/Necro has 60 Dp Spirit bond + Protective Spirit on him will heal him for 10 health with symbiosis down and 1234 health but this is the only case when symbiosis is down that you will be healed from spirit bond When Rotscale is using his Breath Attack. Which is why if your under 60% DP You need to have it drop before you start letting Rotscale use his breath attack on you.

A Complete Guide

 * The Monk/Ranger runs you to Majesty's Rest. Once you get to Majesty's Rest, Monk/Ranger is going to put Vital Blessing on both monks so you can run past the first group. So once everyone is past the group and doesn't have aggro, Monk/Ranger is going to take Vital Blessing off of Himself. Monk/Ranger is going to cast his enchantments on the Monk/Necro, and Monk/Necro is going to cast his enchantments on himself. Once Monk/Ranger  has enough energy, he casts Shield of Judgment on Monk/Necro, and Monk/Necro runs into all the Wraiths and spams Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond, because Divine Favor will be his only source of healing right now.


 * Once the wraiths are dead, they both move up onto the bridge. Monk/Ranger lays Symbiosis and will keep it up until Rotscale is down to 1/5th life. Monk/Necro runs just into aggro range of the Rotting Dragons and Rotscale. All of the Rotting Dragons and undead should die off pretty quickly but while they are dying you may lose health fast and get interrupted a bit (VERY IMPORTANT if anything up there is being obstructed by the terrain it is going to take forever to kill them and you may die. So you need to move around and communicate With the Monk/Ranger) If Nothing is obstructed it should just be you and Rotscale after about 20 seconds. If your health starts falling low just target rotscale and cast GB on him for a full heal. If you are getting interrupted a lot look to see if you're dazed if you are, you can always pull back they won't follow far.  As far as the clerics go they will die slow but heal each other with Infuse Health and the way infuse health goes if they keep using it they will reduce to enough hit points where you can just wand them. Or you can opt to just leave them alone because they won't heal rot or the other dragons. Note: Some movement may be necessary in order to ensure the rotting dragons and other allies of Rotscale attacks aren't being obstructed by the terrain. And never go more than halfway up the stairs.


 * After only Rotscale is left, the Monk/Ranger just keeps Symbiosis up all the time, and just sits there. Monk/Necro won't be using Spirit Bond now, to get his health lower faster by means of Rotscale's spells. Keep using Grenth's Balance on Rotscale to do A LOT of damage, and get a full heal.


 * Repeat the above process until Rotscale is at about 1/5 health. From here on, Monk/Necro will have to back up so Rotscale is only attacking with his ranged attack and no spells. You need to be patient for this part, as it does take awhile. From this point on the Monk/Ranger will let Symbiosis run out. Once Symbiosis dies, Monk/Necro might die too. Just Rebirth him, and re-enchant him fully. Monk/Necro will then run in and aggro Rotscale again using Spirit Bond and not using Protective Spirit. The Monk Ranger strips off Holy Wrath to apply Shield of Judgment and keeps reapplying Holy Wrath as needed.  Rotscale will eventually die.  When this happens, run up the stairs together because Smoke Phantoms will pop up by the statue of Balthazar and go down the bridge to the stairs.  Collect anything you want then run back to portal and rezone or map out.

Counters
No counters

Variants
Use 2 monks and 1 ranger, have the ranger be the runner and use symbiosis while the Monk/Ranger just bring more bonds for extra health in the ranger skill places.

Advantage to this: Beast Mastery can be set to 16 and give more health making it go a little faster

Disadvantage is: you have 3 people going for the same Green rather than 2 so you have to do more runs if your splitting them 3 ways. Also it isn't that much faster to where the Bows per hour increases.

General Idea
The primary concern, and what makes farming in this area of the PvE metagame unique, is the monster stance fingers of chaos which has varying effects on PC's depending on their class and subclass. This skill can, however, be exploited by carefully designing your team to avoid most of its ill effects which is what makes this team build workable.

The 5 man base team consists of:

Note - Under no circumstances is it acceptable to bring any character with a monk subclass as they are effectively unbondable. This is due to Fingers of Chaos.
 * One wards tank or stance tank, W/E or W/Me respectively.
 * One healing monk, usually Mo/N or Mo/Me.
 * A minion master, N/Me.
 * One SS necromancer N/Me.
 * One Bonder monk with Life Barrier, Mo/Me.

Warrior
There are varying versions of a tanking warrior each with its own advantages and disadvantages, subclasses to avoid are necromancer, ranger and monk. These classes will provide no tangible benefit to a team’s tank and are consequently poor choices. The W/N will cause all foes with fingers of chaos active to lose a hex whenever they strike the tank which can, in some cases, render the spiteful spirit necromancer totally obsolete. The W/R will always be struck when attacked by fingers of chaos and therefore evasion is useless and since most ranger skills reduce damage via evasion this build is simply not feasible here. The W/Mo is completely useless in this area, they cannot enchant themselves reliably because of fingers of chaos so the primary self heals used by a W/Mo, mending and healing breeze, are totally useless. Furthermore the bonder will be unable to keep bonds active for very long on a W/Mo as well which will severely decrease the tanks longevity.

Good choices for the warrior's subclass are elementalist and mesmer. W/Es should bring wards such as ward against melee and ward against elements. As an elementalist you will be interrupted whenever struck by a monster with fingers of chaos so bringing glyph of concentration is a must as well. Mesmer warriors should bring mantra of flame to help handle the fire damage common in this area. Distortion is almost completely unworkable here as the combined energy loss from distortion and "Fear Me!" will be quite high. Physical resistance can be used to great effect, however, it will become less useful in the later stages of the run when fire damage and physical damage are encountered at the same time. Despite this draw back it is highly useful for levels one and two, where physical damage and elemental damage are encountered separately.

Lastly the warrior is the teams source of wurm siege interruption via distracting blow but this requires only an open skill slot and no specific secondary or attribute allotment. The recharge on distracting blow is fast enough a warrior can effectively shut down a single siege wurm making life easier on the rest of the party. Another prime target for this skill is meteor shower.

Healing Monk
The most common monk build is a pure spot healing monk, a Mo/Me or Mo/N.

There are two kinds of mesmer enemies in this area, interrupt/shatter and energy denial, and an ideal build would account for both. While the Mo/N has excellent energy management with offering of blood the Mo/Me can benefit from mantra of resolve and mantra of recall effectively ignoring both types of mesmer.

The primary healing target of the monk is the party's necromancers as they will be dealing the party's damage and are least able to defend themselves. The warrior is completely non-essential once a minion army has been formed but is still very useful in helping to manage aggro and should therefore be kept alive if possible but not at the expense of a necromancer. The bonder, who should be positioned just within spell range of the healing monk and a complete aggro circle away from any foes, is the lowest healing priority as they will be taking very little damage. If some enemies manage to break the front line and attack the bonder keeping the bonder over 50% hp is a must but this occurrence is a rarity. Since no member of the party will be attacking directly, for the most part, hex removal is largely optional. As a Mo/Me, however, inspired hex provides modest energy boosts and can be very useful when/if mantra of recall is shattered or rent unexpectedly.

Minion Master
The minion masters role in this party is to provide a wall of expendable allies that prevent monsters access to the party proper. Secondary roles include massive AoE damage and energy for the spiteful spirit necromancer. The best mix of blocking and damage is bone minions and death nova which provide AoE damage, poison damage over time, and vast numbers. As an added bonus minions spawn in pairs and die fairly quickly and will provided both necromancers with additional energy via soul reaping. Another perk of this build is that enemies will often cast rend enchantments or shatter enchantment on bone minions enchanted with death nova which means there are fewer bonds for the bonder to replace.

In other areas popular minion builds focus on fiends but these are a poor choice in this area as they afford the team no body blocking and are difficult to keep alive due to massive AoE spikes common in this area. By designing your minions to die you exploit this fact and in many cases the minion master can take out entire groups at once from a single enemy cast of energy surge, wurm siege, meteor shower, or fireball.

During combat the minion master will be animating bone minions and enchanting them with death nova non-stop so soul reaping of 10 is a near must. Mantra of resolve is also a near must due to the large number of interrupters present in this area; nothing is more annoying than watching 25 energy disappear when an animate spell is interrupted. Minion heals are used primarily at the onset of combat to help insure minions reach their targets alive and following combat to ensure they survive the trip to the next group of potential corpses.

The only draw back to this build is it contains no direct combat damage and when there are no bodies there is little the minion master can do to help the team. To help cover this weakness and to add a useful elite skill blood is power is added so that when no bodies are available the minion master can provided the spiteful spirit necromancer, healing monk, and bonder with energy. This can also be used mid-combat when not enough minions are dying to sustain the spiteful spirit necromancers energy reserves. Finally this skill also decreases the down time for the bonder when reapplying bonds between levels.

Spiteful Spirit Necromancer
The spiteful spirit necromancer is the group's main damage source and as such should have curses at 16 and use arcane echo with spiteful spirit followed by desecrate enchantments for AoE damage and extra damage boosts on the Terrorweb Dryders who use enchantments. Soul reaping is also essential but, due to the specific minion master build in use, 10 is enough. It can be adjusted to 11 or 12 depending on preference. It is essential that enough attribute points be left over to use awaken the blood and blood ritual with reasonable durations as well as mantra of resolve with a reasonable duration and manageable energy loss, probably 4 or 5 energy.

In addition to dealing direct damage the spiteful spirit necromancer provides defense and combat support. Enfeebling blood can be used to great effect against the mobs of grasps of insanity making them much easier to handle. Blood ritual is for use exclusively on the minion master immediately following combat. This helps insure that the minion army stays sizable and that no corpses go unused. If the monk requires energy mid combat it should be supplied by the minion master, not the spiteful spirit necromancer. There are a few reasons for this, blood is power makes for a much better mid combat energy boost than blood ritual, the spiteful spirit necromancer is likely to have awaken the blood active, and the minion master is better able to self heal via taste of death.

Common spiteful spirit builds include spinal shivers for interruption but this is largely unnecessary here. Spinal shivers is arguably the best single target shutdown in the game interrupting everything whenever cold damage is used. In this area, however, there are no monk bosses, or monks of any kind for that matter, and therefore shutting down a single target completely is not necessary. The only reason to consider it is to shutdown Chaos wurms and this can be done more efficiently by a warrior with distracting blow freeing up skill bar space for tasks that can only be accomplished by the necromancer.

On a side note, you should Arcane Echo Desecrate Enchantments while fighting the Siege Wurms, as they won't take any damage from Spiteful Spirit, since they shouldn't be attacking due to interruption.

Bonder
The bonding monk's primary job is to protect the party. Life Barrier, Life Bond, Balthazar's Spirit, Mantra of Inscriptions and Blessed Signet make up the core of the build and some variations exist on what additional skills to bring.

Playing a bonder is relatively simple, apply bonds, put the mantra on up, cast blessed signet every time it recharges, and repeat. While playing the most important thing to watch for is fallen bonds but determining which bond was removed can be difficult. Fortunately with practice it becomes easier and easier to determine whose bond was removed. Reapplying bonds can be risky mid-battle, approaching enemies has a funny way of making them attack you, so watch your step. Most of the bonder’s time will be spent on the extreme back line of the party, as far away from combat as possible, while still providing the healing monk with whatever healing support you can muster while maintaining bonds.

Life Barrier should be applied to the entire party to halve damage from Fireball spikes and Balthazar's Spirit should be used on the bonder. Life Bond should be applied with the following priority, tank, spiteful spirit necromancer, minion master, and finally healing monk until the bonders upkeep limit is reached, which will vary depending on the exact attribute set up and equipment in use.

If the bonder can keep more than these 9 enchantments up, which is entirely possible, other upkeep enchantments can be added to help provide healing for the group and as cover enchantments. Some options include using Balthazar's Spirit on the warrior as well as the bonder and adding Watchful Spirit on top of the other enchants to as many party members as possible. Life Attunement is also a possibility for the warrior as they will be dealing little to no damage in combat and for the monk for the same reason. Vital Blessing is another possibility and can provide team members with an extra 200+ hp in emergencies but Watchful Spirit provides a similar level of healing without the added complication of characters dying if the enchantment is stripped, rent, or simply removed.

Tactics Overview
In a 5 man group there is often little to no room for error which means that miscommunications between group members can often prove fatal. This may sound daunting but in practice this is easily accomplished, even in PUG's, with a few simple rules which I will outline here:

Rule #1
The warrior, and only the warrior, will engage groups with one exception, noted below. All other party members are to remain outside the warrior's aggro circle while the warrior moves into position and pulls enemy groups to the desired location. Once all monsters are targeting the warrior the rest of the party can move in and begin working, typically the minion master will move in next followed by the spiteful spirit necromancer with the healing monk coming in last. While pulling groups the warrior is left alone, during this critical stage Watchful Spirit is probably the best way to keep the warrior alive as it provides +2 regeneration as well as the opportunity to spike heal, should the need arise, and does this while safely outside of range.

Rule #2
The spiteful spirit echo iteration is extremely energy intensive which is why the minion master has been outfitted with Blood is Power. Typically the casting iteration will be Awaken the Blood and Mantra of Resolve right before combat, Enfeebling Blood first on the grasps that have formed around the warrior, then Arcane Echo, Spiteful Spirit x4. Arcane Echo should be ctrl cast to 'call' announce it to the rest of the party and the minion master should immediately hit the Spiteful Spirit necromancer with Blood is Power. This allows the Spiteful Spirit necromancer to complete this loop.

Rule #3
Whenever combat ends and there are unexploited corpses around the spiteful spirit necromancer should immediately use Blood Ritual on the minion master and continue to cast it until all corpses have been exploited or disappear. This ensures the party has a healthy group of minions with low degeneration and good HP levels

Rule #4
At the beginning of each level the minion master will have no corpses available to him, and for the first group in each area, should be standing with the bonder at the extreme backline of the group. This allows the minion master to keep Blood is Power up on the spiteful spirit necromancer and both monks without having to be terribly concerned with sacrifice loss. For the first groups of each level it is best to wait for all but one enemy in the group to fall and then begin animating minions. This ensures that at least 4 minions are available for the next group.

Exception to Rule #1
The only exception to Rule #1 is when approaching a group consisting only of casters, which only happens twice in the entire run. For these two groups the best strategy is to have the minion master prep the minions with death nova and then use the minions to aggro the group by standing just outside of aggro range. After a brief pause the minion army will break ranks and form a circle around the minion master which will put them just inside aggro range, while the master remains safely outside, and the minions will run off. At this point the master should take a few steps back, the warrior should move in followed by the spiteful spirit necromancer, and the rest of combat will proceed as normal.

Special Circumstances #1: Level #2 'The Hall'
'The Hall' is a section of the second level of the run where Terrorweb Dryders line all sides of a 'T' shaped valley formation. This area requires a unique approach and should be assaulted in the following manner

Step 1: Pull Pop-Up Groups
First, watch for the chained soul at the end of the hall to die. Then, have the warrior run in alone, attract some Grasps, and back up just past the arch. The rest of the group can move in at this point and eliminate this group fairly easily with no real danger. Repeat until all pop ups have been removed from the corridor.

Step 2: Kill Terrorweb Dryders on Either Side
Have the warrior approach, favoring one side, and drop a Ward Against Elements. The spiteful spirit necromancer can now move in and pick out a target to eliminate. Since the Terrorweb Dryders here are too far apart for the AoE Spiteful Spirit damage to work only one Spiteful Spirit should be used at a time here. Echo Desecrate Enchantments instead. The minion master should stay behind with the monks so the minions don't run off and attract any monsters. After the first Terrorweb dies the minion master can move in and spawn a pair of minions from the corpse, apply Death Nova, and then use Taste of Death on both to help take out the second Terroweb Dryder. Repeat this process for both sides.

Step 3: Pull Remaining Groups
At this point there will be a trio of Terrorweb Dryders left on the ridge at the end of the hall and two patrols moving around behind them. The warrior should move in again, pulling the group of Scythes and Grasps first. The group of Riders and Terrorweb Dryders should be pulled next after the minion master has formed an army from the bodies of the Grasps. After both groups have been eliminated all that remains is the trio of Terrorweb Dryders

Step 4: Take the Ridge
At this point the party can take the ridge on the left (west) side and begin assaulting the entrenched Terrorweb Dryders; the warrior can move into melee range now and begin using Distracting Blow to shut down meteor showers. This group should fall easily at this point just keep up the pressure until it does. The minion master should try and save at least four minions for the next group.

Special Circumstances #2: Level #4 at the Beginning
At this point you will have no minions what so ever and there are no less than four groups, three patrols and a group of Grasps hiding under the surface of the depression immediately in front of the group. Pull the pop up group back the stairs when the patrols are gone, and take them out. Eliminate each patrol one at a time and you should not have a problem.

Special Circumstances #3: Level #4 'The Stairs'
After taking out the Siege Wurms at the top of the narrow corridor immediately following the first bridge there is a long stair case with a huge group of enemies at the bottom. Pull as many as possible, no really, go ahead and pull them all at once. The group will get choked up on the stairs and even with only four minions, and a good minion master will have around sixteen at this point, the stairs will be completely clogged and no monster will be able to make it through. With all the Grasps and Scythes at such a close proximity to each other Death Nova and Spiteful Spirit will easily take out this whole group in record time. In fact with a large enough starting army completely prepared with Death Nova the minion master can take out this entire group by themselves with only some help pulling from the tank.

Special Circumstances #4: Chaos Wurms
With bond and barrier active no Chaos Wurm, or even pair of Chaos Wurms, be they the siege or tunneling variants, will pose much of a threat to the party. They can, however, take some time to eliminate. When encountering a Chaos Wurm the easiest way to kill them is to stand still, preferably under a bridge or on a ridge. The Chaos Wurm will surface and stay up as long as you remain stationary and if the Chaos Wurm surfaces under a bridge or on a ridge they will not attack at all. For Siege Wurms encountered in pairs the warrior should interrupt the Siege Wurm you are not trying to kill. This will allow Spiteful Spirit to trigger making killing the Siege Wurm much easier. Whenever possible kill a Siege Wurm at range without engaging the foes around them. This can be difficult in practice, however, especially on level #3 so if this is not possible clear the area around the Siege Wurm first by pulling groups away from the Siege Wurm and then move in to attack the Siege Wurm directly.

Tanking Warrior
One warrior/elementalist with the following build.

A fairly standard Strength and Earth Magic based defensive warrior. Take note that Dolyak Signet can be exachanged for Armor of Earth for extra defense. Armor of Earth is harder to keep active due to its energy cost, however, and is also easier to interrupt due to its cast time. Pre-cast the glyph before battle and use it to drop down a Ward Against Melee after the grasps of insanity approach. Next use Dolyak Signet and wait for Defy Pain to charge. Do your best to keep these three skills active at all times and try to time activiation so that you are never without at least two of them at any given moment. "I Will Survive!" is an awesome self heal in this area due to fingers of chaos, which causes random conditions on warriors. With the number of condition typically active on a warrior in this area this skill acts as a cheap 6-12 net regeneration. Against the Terrorweb Dryders use Ward Against Elements instead of Ward Against Melee.

Equipment Suggestion: A strength based shield is a must for this build, ideally one with -2 damage and hp +45, while enchanted is better than in a stance. The ideal primary weapon is a one-hand weapon with a perfect Furious hilt or haft, a number of grips and pommels are useful for this build including of Defense, of Warding, of Shelter, and of Fortitude. A secondary weapon should be held in reserve as well, an Earth Magic wand with "halves recharge time of earth magic spells (chance 20%)" which can be obtained from Collectors William Pennington, Cember Goreaxe, and John Verado. Switch to the wand to drop wards and back to the weapon to charge Defy Pain.

Healing Monk
This is a fairly standard spot healer build with a lot of room for customization. The only skills that can be said to be essential are Dwayna's Kiss and Restore Life. Restore Life is definitely the preferred resurrection skill for the healing monk and it can be used on the party's necromancers in case of death mid combat without disabling the resurrected player or the monk for any longer than the spell's cast time. The bonder monk should be carrying Rebirth in case of total party wipes so equipping it on the healer as well is unecessary. Infuse Health will easily counter the occasional spike and can help cover party member if they lose one or more bonds. Healing Breeze and Dwayna's Kiss make for a very effective combination in any situation and the addition of two or more bonds triggering the extra healing from Dwayna's Kiss as well makes for some cheap heals that rival Heal Other in size. Mantra of Resolve is by no means essential and can be switched out for another healing skill if desired, simply be aware that you will be occasionally interrupted without it so positioning yourself properly will become much more essential.

Equipment Suggestions: This build works poorly with any item equipped that lengthens enchantment durations as this will increase the time that Mantra of Recall is active and, as a result, diminish its energy gain over time. The ideal off hand item for this build, and any spot healer, is probably The Stonehart, although this can be exchanged for a Collector healing ankh from Radamon or Mourn Drakespur. For the main weapon it would be ideal to have a holy rod with +5 energy while hp is above 50% or while enchanted and halves skill recharge of spells (chance 10%), this recharge chance will stack with the chance of fast recharge from the focus item. A cheap replacement for a +5 energy holy rod, which can be difficult to find, would be the quest reward holy rod that has +3 energy while health is above 50% and halves skill recharge of spells (chance: 10%). Another weapon option would be the Holy Staff available from Mag Ironwall upgraded with a perfect insightful staff head and a staff wrap of healing with +1 to healing prayers (chance: 20%).

Minion Master
Death Nova should be used on all minions immediately before battle or as soon as they spawn in battle. It is useful to note that if you are casting death nova on one minion you can queue another casting of death nova after it by selecting a different minion and activating the skill again before the first has completed casting, just like you can when using two differnt skills in a row. Use Taste of Death to trigger Death Nova as soon as several monsters are in its range to deal damage and to start the poison damage. Taste of death does not require target selection to be used so once a large group of minions is in place just start spamming it and watch the group fall.

Equipment Suggestion: Lengthens enchantment duration is by far the best mod for this build as it increases the duration of death nova and blood is power. A Bone Staff obtained from: Collector Luven Underwood in Diviner's Ascent, or Collector Merin Trollsbane in Snake Dance upgraded with a perfect insightful staff head and staff wrapping of Enchanting would make for an effective weapon for this build.

The ideal weapon set is a Perfect Poisonous sword or axe Of Enchanting and either Bortak's Bone Cesta or Armind's Focus.

Spiteful Spirit Necromancer
Pre-cast Awaken the Blood before battle. Once a group of enemies has formed around the warrior and/or minions, cast Enfeebling Blood then use Arcane Echo with Spiteful Spirit, recast Spiteful Spirit as soon as it recharges, and toss in a Desecrate Enchantments whenever additional damage is necessary. Bear in mind that the minions will be exploding right next to melee enemies so the primary target should be casters and ranged units.

Equipment Suggestion: The ideal weapon for this build would be a wicked staff available from the Collectors Hoknil the Lesser and Mourn Drakespur upgraded with a +5 energy insightful staff head and either a staff wrap of enchanting with lengthens enchantment duration 20% or of Curses with +1 Curses (Chance: 20%).

Bonding Monk
This is a near exact copy of the standard Build:Mo/Me Barrier Bond Monk build. A few of these skills are not essential and the build should be tailored to suit the bonder’s tastes and play style. The focus should obviously be on maintaining as many bonds as possible and replacing any that happen to fall.

Equipment suggestion: The build shown here is designed for use with The Soulstone or a similar item with +1 to divine favor skills which provides the opportunity for 27 energy from blessed signet instead of 25. Any wand that adds energy will be good for this build, +5 energy while enchanted would be ideal. Items that decrease spell recharge or spell casting times will be of little use to this build as they will not effect blessed signet.

Dedicated Interrupter Variant
In this variant, a mesmer or ranger is added that specializes in skill and spell interrupts for a total of 6 people. While useful this addition is largely unnecessary and does little, if anything, to cut down on the length of the total run. This group is arguably safer since it has a much more reliable source of meteor shower and wurm siege interrupts. The addition of a 6 man, however, adds bonding requirements for the bonder that, had they been used else where, would have covered whatever damage the interrupter would have prevented. Adding another party member also reduces the chance that each person will receive ectoplasms or unique items. This build is helpful as a 'training wheels' version of the 5 man build as it provides the group a greater margin for error but the interrupter can easily be dropped if each group member is fairly familiar with their role.

Nuker Variant
In this variant, an elementalist is added to the group for a total of 6 people. This is probably the best version for loosely organized PUG's as it provides a source of damage when the minion master is without corpses. The increase in damage and kill speed is offset here by the addition of another party member who, as in the dedicated interrupter variant, require additional bonding and also factors into drops. In general this variant is the easier to work with in PUG's than the dedicated interrupter variant because interrupting can require a degree of finesse not typically present in PUG members.

4 Man Variant
A pair of variants, actually, in this variant the healing monk or the minion master is dropped from the group entirely. Each of these situations provides its own set of challenges to the remaining members of the party and therefore the group is more susceptible to party wipes than the standard 5 man version. Dropping the minion master will result in a significant damage reduction and dropping the monk will require the group to pull enemies in smaller groups and be much more efficient. In practice both situations require much more time be spent on a run, in some cases as much as doubling the clearing time. Since the build started as the interrupter variant and experimentation was done to drop the interrupter from the group successfully these builds represent an extension of this experimentation on what is needed and what isn't. Considering the clearing time this variant is useful only to provide group members with one of the harder PvE challenges available at the moment. As a build focused on maximizing drops it is inferior to the standard 5 man version even if you factor in the increased drop chances.