User:Defiant Elements/Saving Vetted PvE Warrior Builds

= W/Rt AoE Splinter = The W/Rt AoE Splinter is a PvE build geared towards dealing large amounts of AoE damage.

Equipment

 * A Vampiric Axe, like Dragoncrest Axe
 * A Zealous Axe, like Wing's Axe
 * Any Max Shield Linked to Strength
 * Radiant Armor

Usage

 * Use Flail (Recast as necessary)
 * Cast Splinter Weapon (Recast whenever possible)
 * Use Triple Chop, Cyclone Axe, and Executioner's Strike whenever possible
 * Use Lion's Comfort and Rush as necessary

Counters

 * General Anti-Melee
 * General Anti-Spam

Variants

 * Disrupting Chop
 * Flail can be replaced by a different IAS
 * Dismember
 * Wild Blow
 * Wielder's Strike

Sword Variant
= W/R Melandru's Resilience Totem Axe Farmer = This is a simple method to farm the Root Behemoths in The Falls to obtain the unique item, the Totem Axe.

Equipment
Any armor set will do as long as it is the maximum armor level (such as found in Droknar's Forge and Kaineng Center). Most commonly used would be Gladiator's Armor. Any Sword/Shield combination should do, as long as you meet the requirement for the Sword (you have 15 attributes into it) and the Shield (10 into Tactics).

Usage

 * Ventari's Refuge
 * Start in Ventari's Refuge which is south from Quarrel Falls through Silverwood and Ettin's Back. Exit and head south towards the Reed Bog. Along the way you will encounter the conditions Bleeding and Burning. Use Troll Unguent or Melandru’s Resilience to counter this. Sprint when Melandru’s is recharging. Don’t use them together as they are both Stances and will cancel each other out. This is an easy run and won’t cause too much trouble.


 * Reed Bog
 * When you enter the Reed Bog there are two ways you can go. If you decide to go south west you will find this much easier than if you head directly south as you won’t encounter as many creatures along the way. In this area you will only get conditions such as bleeding, poison and cripple. Use your Troll Unguent or Melandru’s when needed and watch out for Moss Scarabs. You can basically sprint through this area with minimal trouble. Head south to find the portal into The Falls.


 * The Falls
 * You will meet all conditions, explained in the Enemy notes, here. When conditioned use Melandru's Resilience or Troll Unguent. When you come accross Jungle Trolls just Sprint past them making sure you have enough space to get past. The Jungle Skales drop Gold and Blue items quite often so you might want to kill them. Use your Healing Signet in an emergency or when attacking the Life Pods. Sever Artery and Gash help speed the process up. When you come accross Wind Riders just alternate between Sprint and Melandru's to get past them. If you want to attack them then kill 3 at a time and run to regen health. The Wind Riders also drop a green item named Forgotten Fan.

Enemy Notes



 * Jungle Skales
 * Jungle Skale use the skill Rotting Flesh which gives you a health degen of -4. Using Melandru's Resilience nearly negates this and gives you +1 energy, so they shouldn’t cause any damage to you.


 * Jungle Trolls
 * Stay away from these creatures as they are dangerous in large groups. They use the skill Power Attack which causes a lot of damage and patrol the area in large numbers. You will be passing by these groups on the way and using sprint is the best way to avoid them. Be careful when running around them as a few of the pathways are quite narrow and getting trapped is not an option.


 * Life Pods
 * These creatures are nothing but an annoyance in this area. The only thing they have that causes damage to you is the skill Holy Wrath. The best way to deal with these creatures is to draw them away from the Root Behemoths and try to kill them one at a time. It’s possible to kill them in groups of three but it takes a while. Even when they are drawn away, they still tend to run around in circles (if there is more than one) to avoid you and heal themselves or to be healed by another pod. Notice they run around in Clockwise direction, if you manage to body-block them against a wall on your right hand side, it will speed up the killing by a lot.


 * Maguuma Hunter
 * The Maguuma Hunter uses a skill called Hunter's Shot to inflict Bleeding. They also lay down flame traps to inflict Burning which is also a Condition. The Burning Condition doesn’t last very long and the Bleeding can be negated with Melandru's Resilience.


 * Maguuma Spiders
 * The Maguuma Spider uses the skills Pin Down and Apply Poison to slow you down on the run towards The Falls. Using Melandru's Resilience will negate this and followed up with Troll Unguent you shouldn’t have a problem with them.


 * Redwood Shepherds
 * These creatures are in the same location as the Maguuma Spiders and prevent you from using your Healing Signet by using the skills Primal Echoes and Debilitating Shot. Using Troll Unguent works well in this area.


 * Root Behemoths


 * Root Behemoths are easy enough to kill as long as you clear out the Life Pods first.


 * Wind Riders


 * The Wind Riders are dangerous in large groups and inflict health degen of -5 by using the skill Conjure Phantasm. Melandru's Resilience will reduce this to -2 and give you energy +1 but the Wind Riders interrupt your skills which also includes Healing Signet and Troll Unguent. From experience you can kill up to 3 or 4 in a row and then run away to regenerate health. In smaller groups of Wind riders it is possible to get them to "use up" their interrupts. Simply cast skills multiple times to get the Wind Riders to use their interrupts. Then you will have a safe amount of time to activate Troll Unguent and Healing Signet.

Counters
While this build is generally quite effective and safe, it will have a hard time against monsters, such as the Wind Rider, which use Cry of Frustration to interrupt the healing skills.

Variants

 * The wildcards in this build are Sever Artery, Gash, and "Shields Up!". Therefore, it is possible to change the other skills, depending on your choice of weaponry in order to fit your specific needs.
 * A wise move to add is in the 'optional' slot is "I Will Survive!" which makes you gain Health regeneration of 3 for each condition you are suffering for 5-10 seconds. This, combined with Melandru's Resilience works very well for resisting health degeneration.
 * Replacing "Shields Up!" and the 'optional' slot with Riposte and Deadly Riposte allows you to make quick work of any Root Behemoth with fewer than 3 Life Pods by attacking one of the Pods while letting the Behemoth kill itself attacking you.
 * Predatory Season can be used right before attacking a group of Wind Riders. This gives a +5 health every time you hit with an attack and reduces your healing by 20%. This does not affect Troll Unguent's regeneration effect. Your Healing Signets will be interrupted anyway. This can also be useful against the Life Pods as it reduces their healing by 20%.
 * This Build can easily be used by a R/W by changing Sprint for any ranger running skill, such as Storm Chaser.
 * With the high Wilderness survival, Apply Poison makes dispatching groups of life pods an easy task. They love to spam Mend Condition and will soon exhaust their energy. Just be mindful of your own energy.
 * Adding Final Thrust for the spike helps on Life Pods - pull one at a time by barely touching your aggro circle to the behemoth and quickly backing away.

= W/R Craw Stonereap Farmer = This build uses Melandru's Resilience and high damage sword attacks to farm Craw Stonereap outside Altrumm Ruins for The Stonereaper.

Equipment

 * Any max armor will do.
 * Any sword with a 15% while hexed mod and a fortitude suffix is preferred.
 * +60hp While Hexed Shield
 * Major or Sup Vigor

Usage

 * Run down to the shrine and get a blessing from the priest if your region has favor.
 * Turn left and up the ramp. Continue going straight.
 * Soon you'll meet a group of wardens. Run through them.
 * If you set off any traps, use Melandru's Resilience as healing. If you're still losing health, start using Troll Unguent.
 * When your conditions are about to end, use Sprint to break aggro.
 * Go back near the warden and start going towards Craw Stonereap.
 * Start charging your adreline.
 * Use Melandru's Resilience.
 * Use Standing Slash, followed by Silverwing Slash, Galrath Slash and finish it with Final Thrust. By the time you have enough adrenaline for Standing Slash again, you should be able to use it again as Melandru's Resilience should still be up.
 * Dolyak Signet should be used as often as possible.

Counters

 * Unable to break aggro with the first group of wardens. This will force you either to fight, or continue running towards the second group at the end of the passage.

Variants
Replace Troll Unguent with Melee Attack or another attacking of your choice if your region has favor or once you're comfortable with only Melandru's Resilience as your only source of healing.

Equipment

 * Vampiric swords of Fortitude are preferable.

Usage

 * Upon entering battle, begin building adrenaline.
 * Don't stay on a target if he gets enchanted by skills like Protective Spirit or Guardian.
 * Use Quivering Blade, Sever Artery and Gash.
 * Use Plague Touch to transfer any conditions you receive, including the possible dazed from Quivering Blade.
 * Weapons:
 * Use your Vampiric weapon for general use.
 * Use your Ebon weapon to bypass enemy warriors' resistance to physical damage.
 * Use your Zealous weapon when there are lots of incoming conditions to keep up energy.
 * Of course, use Resurrection Signet to resurrect dead party members.

Variants

 * For the optional slot use:
 * Sprint for chasing kiters.
 * Flail for building adrenaline faster.
 * Tiger Stance for building adrenaline faster, without loss of hit strength.

= W/N Sskai's Sword Farmer = This build is a Warrior/Necromancer designed to solo Sskai, Dragon's Birth.

Equipment
Any armor can be used. Weapon choice does not matter, as long as you have a sword and a long-range bow (meaning a longbow or flatbow). It is recommended to use an energy +5 sword with zealous upgrade.

Getting to Sskai
Start outside Zos Shivros Channel. Run forward and stay to the far right of the grounded ship, being careful not to pull aggro. Once you have made it past the mob, head towards the lone Kraken Spawn. Do not engage it. Attempt to squeeze between it and the large group of enemies on your left, while heading towards the area Sskai occupies. Make sure to not trigger the Oni spawn to the north. At this point, you should be by a wall opposite Sskai and his mob. Take note on to which side of the mob he is on. Also you might want to dispose of the kraken spawn on the way to him since that could get in your way.

Pulling Sskai
Equip your bow and head to either the left or right of the wall depending on where Sskai is. If he is to the right of the wall, be careful not to go too far right and trigger the Oni spawn. Attack him with your bow and quickly run back around the wall the way you came. If all goes well, aggro will trigger for Sskai, but not the rest of the group. Lure him to a point where other interference is unlikely. [NOTE] If you wish to eliminate the Kraken Spawn aggro it and lead it southwest to a fighting group of Outcasts and Naga. Run straight through the group, then turn back the way you came (the two groups are fighting each other and will ignore you, but are more than eager to kill the Kraken Spawn). Should you take any damage target nearest enemy and use Grenths Balance. Eliminating the Spawn will clear a large area to draw Sskai to and will also make it possible to pull him easily from either side.

Fighting Sskai
Spam Riposte, Deadly Riposte and Dolyak Signet. When your health drops to about 100, use Grenth's Balance, followed by ripostes. Repeat this until Sskai's health gets to about one-quarter of its maximum. Do not use Grenth's Balance if your health is higher than his, as it will swap effects, he will heal and you will take that damage. When Sskai's health is too low for you to use Grenth's Balance, you may need to use Healing Signet (cover with Bonetti's). You may also need to use Endure Pain to give yourself a bigger margin for error, This should give you enough time to Riposte him to death. Use Final Thrust when Deadly Riposte is charged: you will need the cover time to charge Riposte.

Note
It is worth noting that you only need Riposte, Deadly Riposte, Dolyak Signet, Grenth's Balance, and Endure Pain for this build.

This build will also work on:
 * Geoffer Pain Bringer (Boreas Seabed (explorable))
 * Jacqui The Reaver (Gyala Hatchery (explorable))
 * Reefclaw Ragebound (Gyala Hatchery (explorable))
 * Chkkr Locust Lord (Melandru's Hope)
 * Mahto Sharptooth (Sunward Marches)
 * and also the desert griffons in the crystal desert
 * When fighting Geoffer Pain Bringer it may be necessary to help him kill the nearby Naga.  A useful technique is to lure him back near the Zos Shivros exit where there is a monk that will heal you as you fight him.
 * When going after Jacqui The Reaver you will need to wait until most of his escort is dead from fighting other monsters.
 * You do not need to use Grenth's Balance on Reefclaw Ragebound. Auspicious Parry is a much better choice for elite skill.
 * When fighting Chkkr Locust Lord its better to use Gladiator's Defense when around 200-250 health use bonneti defense and healing signet to keep your health up. Just keep Gladiator defense as much up as you can.
 * When fighting Mahto Sharptooth its better to use "Shields Up!" to avoid taking some of the damage from the Blood Cowl Heket.

Variants

 * Final Thrust can be replaced with Gash for its Deep Wound effect.
 * Final Thrust can also be replaced with Shield Bash to help defend yourself.
 * Final Thrust can also be replaced with Distracting Blow to interrupt his Healing Signet
 * Proper use of your defensive skills should mean that Healing Signet is not needed, and its armor penalty can often mean that it does not net you health. Replacing Healing Signet and Final Thrust with Gash and Galrath Slash allows a quick, devastating series of Deadly Riposte, Gash, Galrath Slash, Riposte to deal the last 250 or so damage after the final Grenth's Balance.

= W/Mo Wamo Hydra Farmer DNK = This build makes use of protection prayers and swordsmanship to overcome Hydras outside Augury Rock. This build is based on the skill "Shield of Regeneration" because of its relatively good healing and protection effect, fast activation time and quick recharge.

Attributes and Skills
There is no need for healing prayers because the Shield works really well. You can replace Gash for Endure pain if you see you would need more health.

People probably noticed before but this is a Prophecies build that requires but 185 att. points, which means that people who have just finished the dragon lair mission can get a nice income.

Equipment
Sentinel%27s armor is ideal but Dreadnought armor can be used as well. Strength shield with "Sleep Now in the Fire" inscription and Shield handle of Devotion
 * Armor

Zealous Sword +15% while Health is above 50% or while enchanted. of Warding
 * Weapons

Another weapon set with a non-zealous weapon of any kind-> to regenerate energy between runs.

Usage
When you enter Skyward Reach, use Essence Bond. Then wait for energy to recharge. When you have about 26 energy again use Balthazar's Spirit. You will now have around 16 energy. Run up to the first pack of hydras (I recommend you engage a pack of 2 when you solo for the first time, then move on to larger packs.) Killing 1 hydra is the hardest because of lack in energy and adrenaline. I managed to kill 5 hydras with endure pain but just barely, anything above 4 hydras with this build is usually suicide.

Another way of using this build is to enter Skyward Reach, use Essence Bond or Balthazar's Spirit first. The order doesn't matter because both use the same amount of magic either way. Use either of those first, wait for your magic to restore to full and use the other enchantment. When dealing with only 1 or 2 hydra, use Dolyak Signet so you don't get knocked down, and use Shield of Regeneration to keep your health up. When it comes to attacking, use Sever Artery and Gash in that same exact pattern over and over. Finish off the hydra with Final Thrust. When dealing with more than 2, use Dolyak Signet, Shield of Regeneration, then use Endure Pain. Keep putting Shield of Regen when it nearly runs out and always try to keep Dolyak Signet and Endure Pain on to survive. Use the attack pattern above to make easy work of the hydras.

Counters
Note: the above doesn't apply to hydras.
 * Enchantment removal
 * Interrupts

AVOID STORMS KINS AT ALL COSTS'' Their hex spells will render the build completely useless.

Variants
Replace Gash or Sprint with Endure Pain for a health boost, or with "You Will Die!" for faster adrenaline gain.


 * Ultimate Variant

Attributes and Skills
This build utilizes nearly all 200 attribute points and has a giant damage output, adrenalin gain and health regeneration. This build also uses skills from more than one campaign.

Equipment
Sentinel%27s armor is ideal but Dreadnought armor can be used as well. Strength shield with "Sleep Now in the Fire" inscription and Shield handle of Devotion
 * Armor

Zealous Sword +15% while Health is above 50% or while enchanted. of Warding
 * Weapons

Another weapon set with a non-zealous weapon of any kind-> to regenerate energy between runs.


 * Axe Variant:

Attributes and Skills
If you don't use a Zealous Axe then Shielding Hands must be replaced with Essence Bond.

A good non-nightfall way to make this build is to replace Flail with Bonetti's Defense. It seems to get you more energy if the need strikes.

Equipment
Sentinel%27s armor is ideal but Dreadnought armor can be used as well. Strength shield with "Sleep Now in the Fire" inscription and Shield handle of Devotion
 * Armor

Zealous Axe +15% while Health is above 50% or while enchanted. of Warding
 * Weapons

Another weapon set with a non-zealous weapon of any kind-> to regenerate energy between runs.

Attributes and Skills
This is one of many possible variations. Many people have many different preferences and this farm can be done with a weapon other than axe, but this is the general consensus as to the most widely-used build. The skills may not be exactly the same for most people with the exception of only a couple (Dolyak Signet, Cyclone Axe, Vigorous Spirit) and many different types of variation are definitely possible.


 * The optional slot is for an energy management skill such as Bonetti's Defense or Balthazar's Spirit if you choose not to bring a zealous weapon. If you choose to bring a zealous weapon, this skill slot can be used for pretty much anything (Bringing Balanced Stance or Flail is very effective).

Equipment

 * Gladiator's Armor (suggested but not required). Knight's Armor is another good choice, as you will only lose health through degen.
 * Best Vigor Rune available.
 * Superior Absorption.
 * Zealous Axe (Wing's Axe works wonderfully) suggested, however isn't necessary. Any kind of axe will do.
 * If you decide to go without a zealous weapon, the Totem Axe, Victo's Battle Axe and Chaklin's Axe are also very good choices.

Usage
The whole backbone of this build is Dolyak Signet, Vigorous Spirit, Triple Chop, and Cyclone Axe. The rest is almost all just noise. To start a fight, aggro as many vermin as you think you can round up. Once you have them all aggro'd, throw on Dolyak Signet, hit Vigorous Spirit, and start spamming Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop when all the mobs move in close enough. If you're using a zealous axe, you shouldn't have any problems whatsoever with energy management. If you don't normally like to use zealous weapons, fear not. Bonetti's Defense and Balthazar's Spirit are there for you. If using Bonetti's, when Dolyak Signet goes down and your energy reserves are a little low, hit Cyclone Axe (if you have enough energy) and then hit Bonetti's. This should instantly resupply all your energy (keep in mind that Bonetti's Defense ends as soon as you use a skill). Refresh Dolyak Signet as soon as it recharges and Vigorous Spirit whenever necessary.

Fighting Shreader Sharptongue's Group'''
When you get to this assassin boss, make sure you target him first. Make sure all your attacks hit him and try to kill him first. DO NOT kill all the other Vermin before him. Doing so will result in you not having enough healing power to keep yourself alive in the final fight with him. During the process of fighting him, you will aggro a HUGE group of vermin. This will help keep you alive. After this boss and his group, there is another group across the bridge behind his area that contains three more spawns of vermin.

After those final spawns, it is the end of the farming run. Simply warp to Senji's Corner, sell, restock, and repeat. OR, you can walk through the portal to Wajjun Bazaar and then back again into Xaquang Skyway and do the run backwards before warping back to Senji's Corner.

Variants

 * Replace Triple Chop with either Hundred Blades (if using a sword) or Gladiator's Defense (if you decide to put points into Tactics).
 * Gladiator's Defense is unadvised though as it will cause the vermin to run away more often making it take longer to kill groups.
 * Replace Dismember and Executioner's Strike with different weapon skills if you decide to use a weapon other than axe.
 * If deciding to take an elementalist secondary, Sliver Armor could also be an option if you're only interested in killing Shreader Sharptongue.
 * If you have access to the Nightfall campaign, you may wish to use the skill Flail in the optional slot, the increased attack speed will help keep your health up while waiting for Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop to recharge.

Equipment

 * Warrior Wyvern Armor (any armor that gives +10 AL vs Elemental attacks)
 * Running Set: Non-vampiric, non-zealous sword (preferably with a sword pommel of Defense) and Stalwart Carapace Shield
 * Fighting Set: Any non-vampiric, non-zealous sword. (A sword pommel of Defense or of Warding is nice. A sword pommel of Enchanting is nice but not necessary.) and Stalwart Carapace Shield.  A fiery sword hilt is optional for killing Siege Ice Golems more quickly, since Bleeding does not affect them.  A furious hilt is also nice for charging Sever Artery and Gash more quickly.
 * Superior Vigor and two (even three, if you take out Minor Swordsmanship) Runes of Vitae are strongly suggested.

Usage
Make sure that the Running Set is equipped. Run until the Ice Imp cave, so do not stop to fight anything but Siege Ice Golems and Ice Imps that may be encountered on the North path in Mineral Springs.

Getting to the Imp Cave
If you have Defend Droknar's Forge in your quest log, you MUST abandon it, or Ice Imps will not spawn.

Due to the availability of heroes from Nightfall and the ability to flag heroes and henchmen, it may be better to attempt this build with a full group of eight for when there is a poor spawn. Run/Fight through Tasca's Demise to Mineral Springs, then fight your way to the Ice Imp cave. While soloing the imps, make sure that your henchmen/heroes names are grayed out, to increase the chances of picking up the drop. Or, the run could be restarted.

Make sure to watch the path of the Avicara, if you can. There are many times that the group will gather in one area and easily be run around.

Tasca's Demise



Start at The Granite Citadel and take the lower path through Tasca's Demise. If you're bringing along a hero/hench team, flag them near the back of the resurrection shrine.



Run through Tasca's Demise from the southern path. If you were quick enough, you will be able to beat a patrol of Stone Summit, usually with a variety of Dolyak Masters, Summit Beastmasters, and Stone Summit Rangers. If not, run past the bridge and wait until the patrol comes around. Be careful not to aggro anything. When they've passed you by, sneak around the edge an across the bridge.



Carefully move forward, until you see another patrol with a Siege Ice Golem and smaller Stone Summit. Back up along the wall to your right, until you are behind the branch in the path. Wait for them to pass and run forward.



There's another patrol that will be on your right. Avoid these, if possible. If the spawn to your left is in front of you near the center and not all to the left, you'll need to attempt to run through. You will have Crippling Anguish casted on you. If you did not bring henchman/heroes, try to get as close to Mineral Springs portal as possible. If you did, unset the flag to cause them to follow you. If all of them die, get as close to the portal as possible. If some are alive, send them ahead and into the mob before you attempt a run to the portal. In any case, if you don't survive, you should be resurrected near the portal, so just run there.

Mineral Springs

Cast Balthazar's Spirit.

There are two paths to the Ice Imp cave. Note that if you encounter Hyl Thunderwing and have Iron Mist cast on you, immediately stop and use Dolyak Signet, Shield of Regeneration, and Shielding Hands. Make sure to use Shielding Hands last to cover Shield of Regeneration. Avicara Guile can strip your enchantments, so be careful. Once Iron Mist and Dolyak Signet have worn off, immediately start running with Sprint.



N1: Ice Imps and Siege Ice Golems N2a: first bridge, should be able to run through easily N2b: second bridge, if you see several Avicara Braves, aggro then run backwards before running past S1: Avicara Fierce patrol, run past, they move slowly S2: Pinesouls, try to run opposite of where most of them are to avoid Barbed Trap S3: Tundra Giants, aggro and use Dolyak Signet, Shield of Regeneration, and Shielding Hands when available

The north path is considerably shorter, but it's also more dangerous if the Avicara spawn too close to a group (or two!) of Ice Imps and a Siege Ice Golem. You will need to stop and fight these, as their water hexes will constantly be slowing you down. The way to fight them is covered below in Ice Imp Cave. If you're fighting your way to the Ice Imp cave with heroes/henchmen, this is the best path.



If you find yourself body blocked on a bridge, just run back from the bridge and run around the mob.

The south path is longer but usually easier to run through. Also, you will pass by another resurrection portal, so if your attempts at running to the Ice Imp cave/soloing imps is unsuccessful, you will be closer to the cave and can lower your DP by killing the nearby Tundra Giants. Soon after the entrance and some trees, you'll encounter a large patrol of Avicara Fierce that have a long patrol path, so don't wait for them, just run path them early on. You will then encounter an area with a few Pinesouls that will cripple you with Barbed Trap and further slow you down with Muddy Terrain. The Juniper Bark that pop up can be ignored (only Level 7 Monks!) if you need to heal, after losing the aggro of the Pinesouls.

When you see that you're near the second resurrection shrine, stay closer to your left, other than when you see an Avicara boss and group. It is crucial that you lose their aggro before encountering the Tundra Giants. You will need to kill these, but that can easily be done by keeping Dolyak Signet on you. Use Shield of Regeneration and Shielding Hands when possible. Try to kill only the ones in the group blocking your path to the narrow passageway. The others can be left for DP reduction later on.

Run up the narrow path, being careful not to be body blocked. When you're past the narrow passageway, be careful with your aggro. You must lose aggro before encountering the Ice Imps. If you see that there are Avicara with the group of Ice Imps and you're running solo, you will need to restart from The Granite Citadel. It's possible that you'll see Mountain Trolls and Siege Ice Golems, but these should not be no problem. If you brought along henchmen/heroes, run in to kill the Avicara before flagging the henchmen/heroes away.

Ice Imp Cave
Before encountering the imps, make sure that you have both Watchful Spirit and Balthazar's Spirit on you. Once you see that the imps are about to attack, quickly use Dolyak Signet, then cast Shield of Regneration and Shielding Hands. Keep hitting the monsters to charge your adrenaline. If there are Mountain Trolls, kill those first, since they can interrupt you. After that, you killing the Siege Ice Golems is advisable, since they can knock you down, if you don't use Dolyak Signet quickly enough.

Since you have Balthazar's Spirit on you, energy is of little concern, so spam Shield of Regeneration and Shielding Hands when possible. If you notice that you're lacking energy, stay in Maelstrom for a quick way to charge your energy. Use Dolyak Signet once it recharges. If you only have a few casts of Maelstrom on you, you can time it by casting immediately after a hit. Otherwise, simply move sideways or backwards out of them.

If your region has favor, kneel at the statue of Lyssa, and pay 50 gold for Holy Blessing (To Conquest). Note that this isn't needed much, since you already have quite a bit of regeneration from Shield of Regeneration and Watchful Spirit, but it doesn't hurt.

When you've cleared the cave, make your way up the ramp. Once that is cleared, slowly move forward towards Ice Beast, if you see more imps outside of the cave. The Ice Beast can be ignored and cannot be killed solo with this build. Azure Shadow will popup. Run back immediately after you aggro one. You can only take on one or two alone, so do not rush ahead. If you do aggro too many, just resign or map travel somewhere else. If you have henchmen/heroes, cancel the flag and aggro the Azure Shadow before running back down the ramp. Wait for the henchmen/heroes and kill the Ice Beast and Azure Shadows. Flag them away again and repeat the process, until the imps are dead. Infuse your armor with the Seer if you need to, and/or finish the run. A quick way to restart the run, if you took the northern path is to die on purpose, zone to Tasca's Demise, and rezone. Wintergreen Candy Canes are good for removing DP encountered by this.

Counters
Interrupts, enchantment stripping, damage based on having enchantments, and/or adrenaline denial would greatly hinder this build or render this build useless.

Variants
Axe Use: Redistribute points in Swordsmanship to Axe Mastery. Replace Sever Artery and Gash with Dismember and another adrenaline axe skill of your choice. Executioner's Strike and Penetrating Blow both work well, depending on how you want to use adrenaline.
 * Sprint can be exchanged for Enraging Charge for a longer duration and adrenaline gain.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Any Max AL Armor.
 * Rune of Superior Absorption.
 * Any Rune of Vigor.
 * Weapons
 * Malinon's Shield or any shield with equivalent stats.
 * The green Exalted Aegis (Either version) or any shield with equivalent stats.
 * Sword of Fortitude
 * Longbow
 * Any Focus Item that gives additional energy

Preparations

 * Put Malinon's Shield and the sword as weapon set #1.


 * Put Exalted Aegis and the sword as weapon set #2.


 * Put the Focus Item and the sword as weapon set #3.

The Run


''Rajazan is at [3], the other end of Unwaking Waters (explorable), near the Kurzick exit. Therefore, you must run to him.''

Start at the outpost Harvest Temple. Equip the Weapon set #1 and cast Mending on yourself.

Start running, following the map. The Shiro'ken Rangers will try stopping you by draining your energy with Debilitating Shot. Once the Shiro'ken patrols get into your aggro circle, use Sprint and run. Don't get surrounded or trapped.

Your Sprint will last 12 seconds. When Sprint starts blinking quickly cover it up with Enraging Charge, which will last 11 seconds. Once you reach [1], Resurrection Shrine, you will be safe. Recover until full hit points and energy.

Creeping Carps await you. Lure them back to the Luxon/Kurzick guards and kill them, the Priest will heal you regardless of your allegiance. If you don't kill the carps, they will cast Siphon Speed on you and hunt you down. Furthermore, there will be patrols of Kraken Spawns and Outcasts – avoid these, especially the Krakens.



Your road lies to the left, and when you head into this road, three Outcast Assassins will pop out – get past them. If the Krakens have cast hexes on you, quickly turn to the right path run to the safe area [2] with boosted speed. Cast Healing Breeze to counter the degens and spam Healing Signet. Once the hexes have worn off, re-cast Mending (if removed) and head towards the Shiro'kens.

Use Sprint when the first group of Shiro'kens gets into your aggro-circle. Then use Enraging Charge.

Saltspray Dragons kill you, so hug the wall and stay away from them at all cost. If you are damaged, use your Healing Signet. When you are nearing [3] you will see Rajazan's outcast group, a group of Kraken Spawns and a group of Creeping Carps.

You can either carefully sneak through or just use Sprint to get past them to [4], the safe area. If your enemies are still chasing you, run around until they lose aggro - or equip weapon set #2 and kill them. When you are ready to deal with Rajazan, turn off all enchantments.

Defeating the Outcasts
Rajazan and his outcasts will be fighting another group of outcasts. His group:
 * Outcast Warrior
 * Outcast Deathhand
 * Outcast Ritualist
 * Outcast Assassin
 * Cultist Rajazan

If the Creeping Carps were lured in here, they will also start fighting with the group of Outcast that are standing on the cliffs. The melee-fighters will stand still doing nothing while casters will try killing the Outcast on the cliffs with spells.

Now you have two choices:
 * Wait and pull Cultist Rajazan.
 * Go and attack.

Wait and pull Rajazan
Get your bow out. Wait until Cultist Rajazan has defeated the other outcasts. The Creeping Carps will retreat and Cultist Rajazan will start wandering around again. Shoot him. Pull him out of his group and kill him alone. If the rest of his group is aggroed, Sprint back to [4] and shake them off. Repeat until you succeed in separating Cultist Rajazan from his group. This may take a few (or more) tries. Once you have Cultist Rajazan lured back, kill him and pick up the loot. Repeat the run until you get the Rajazan's Fervor.

Go and attack
You can run forth when Cultist Rajazan is busy and start attacking him. After a few swings with your sword he will change his target and attack you. If this happens, pull him back from the rest of the group and kill him. It is very often that you aggro the whole group of outcasts, and if you do, retreat to [4] and retry.

If you want to kill off Rajazan's party members, do it in this order:


 * The lured Creeping Carps (easy to separate from Outcast-group)
 * Outcast Assassin. Enchantment removes, can interrupt skills and cause cripple.
 * Outcast Warrior. Can cause cripple, is equipped with Disrupting Chop.
 * Outcast Deathhand. Plague Touch and enchantment remove.
 * Cultist Rajazan. Plague Touch and enchantment remove.

Pick up the loot. Repeat the run until you get the Rajazan's Fervor.

How to win


The build is centred on Auspicious Parry, Riposte and Deadly Riposte. You kill them by spamming these skills in the order:

1. Deadly Riposte 2. Auspicious Parry 3. Riposte

The following enemies will remove your enchantments:


 * Creeping Carp
 * Outcast Assassin
 * Outcast Deathhand
 * Cultist Rajazan

Survival
Some enemies are equipped with interrupting skills - Outcast Assassin and Outcast Warrior. They will try disabling your Healing Signet.

Therefore when you use your signet, make sure you have the ripostes and parries ready. Ripostes and parries can be used even while casting Healing Signet. Recommended order of healing/spamming skills:

1. Healing Signet + Deadly Riposte 2. Auspicious Parry 3. Riposte

Make sure they had triggered the first parry/riposte before using the next.

Variants
Healing Breeze can be dumped once you've learned how to avoid Krakens. In that case, replace Mending with Watchful Spirit and spend the rest of the attribute points on something else. Healing Breeze can be replaced with a useful sword skill or a condition-removal for survival.

Equipment
Any max Sword with Sword Pommel Of Enchanting and a strength requirement shield with Enchanted mods. A bow. If you are using full Sentinal's Armor you can make do with almost any max sword and strength req shield. Victo's Blade has been proven to work effectively against Ghial, but not against any mobs, so if you have Victo's Blade, equip it, but do not use it until you face Ghial.

Usage

 * 1) Dolyak Signet, Healing Hands and Flail should be kept up as often as possible.
 * 2) Charge adrenaline through attacks in Flail, and use Sever Artery followed by Gash.
 * 3) Use Final Thrust when enemy is below 50% Health (only exception is Ghial, where it should be spammed as often as possible).

Getting to Ghial
-alternate: after aggroing Orosen run over the bridge and turn left on the roofs, walk to the back so you're out of range. after killing the 2 guards Orosen and his followers will kill a few other guards moving out of range, now you can slip past them. this route is slightly longer but safer because sometimes Orosen decides its more fun to kill you.
 * TIP* If your region has favor, /kneel by the shrine outside Senji's Corner to buy some nice benefits like 3 life steal.
 * Upon leaving Senji's Corner, cast Mending on yourself. Sprint to the right, past the pair of Canthan guards, over the bridge. You will see a Jade Brotherhood Ritualist boss, Orosen, Tranquil Acolyte.
 * Upon approaching Orosen, he will suddenly come towards you, along with one or two Jade Brotherhood groups. Run back to the Canthan guards, allowing the guards to aggro Orosen instead. Run back over the bridge while the Jade are engaged with the two Guards. Use Enraging Charge when you are about to engage the group of Jade Brotherhood in front of the bridge.
 * Pause on the bridge (after breaking aggro) to regenerate health.
 * At the end of the bridge, you will see 2-3 groups of Jade Brotherhood. Run past them, and activate Enraging Charge and Healing Hands when you aggro the last group. Pause at the area with the Tengu (should have broken aggro by now).
 * Follow the map, taking a left at the Tengu. Engage the first group of Jade Brotherhood you see and eliminate them (the Ritualist should be killed first).
 * Engage the two Knights on the bridge, and          as well.
 * Using your Ranged weapon, lure the two Knights at the end of the bridge and         . If they are accompanied by a Ritualist, be sure to pull the Ritualist back, out of aggro range of any other Jade Brotherhood.
 * Wait until the corpses have disappeared before pulling Ghial. If you see that Ghial is accompanied by a Ritualist, pull only the Ritualist until Ghial breaks aggro. Kill the Ritualist.
 * Do a quick count of how many enemies are aggroed when Ghial is pulled. If there is only one (or perhaps none), then follow these steps:
 * Break aggro from Ghial with Enraging Charge.
 * Go backwards on the bridge. You will see a group of Jade Brotherhood on a ledge.
 * Kill all of them except for one or two Jade Brotherhood Mages (should only have two non-boss enemies when fighting Ghial). Break aggro and wait for corpses to disappear.
 * Now Lure Ghial and the one or two Mages together so they are all attacking you.
 * Kill Ghial.
 * ADDED**- If you are using full Sentinel's Armor then you can take down Ghial with up to 3 other non-ritualist casters.
 * If you should choose to Solo ghial with no one around:
 * Lure Ghial out alone, this can be done by killing the 4 knights and any Ritualists accompanying them.
 * Make sure you have Vigorous spirit equipped as Healing Hands will not be enough with only him attacking you.
 * Wait until all corpses have dissapeared
 * Lure him out he usually comes out with a mesmer or a mage but he will go ahead of them.
 * Because he comes out ahead of them you can further aggro him across the bridge run until you reach the rooftop.
 * Now keep Dolyak Signet up as much as possible Flail is not needed and should not be equipped and replaced with Vigorous spirit.
 * Keep Vigorous Spirit on as it is your main healing factor when HH is not active.
 * Use HH as much as possible.
 * If a Jade Brotherhood member comes out right beside Ghial simply kill the member first than Ghial, unless it is a mage than you can directly aim for Ghial.

Recommended setup for Sword

 * Text String: AxMCFHhN64XAM/lATfxw6PEAA

Alternate setup for Axe

 * Take Resurrection Chant (or Rebirth for difficult areas).
 * Text String: AxMRTjokHwnSBOCViKdF/xVB

Equipment

 * Chose either a furious weapon haft for faster Adrenaline generation or a vampiric weapon haft to increase the inflicted damage. For the Axe version, a zealous mod is necessary to spam Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop.
 * Choose the best (while enchanted) gear available.
 * Wing's Axe or Sskai's Sword with a Exalted Aegis (unique item) (Strength) are good weapon sets to use.

Usage

 * Cast Vigorous Spirit on yourself (and team mates with high casting/attack rate) right before your party engages the enemy.
 * After casting Vigorous Spirit simply use each Skill when it becomes charged. Always be sure to use Sever Artery before using Gash. You should chain these skills.

Variations

 * If you do not trust your healers, take Healing Hands instead of your chosen Elite skill.
 * Exchange Triple Chop for Eviscerate and Dismember for Penetrating Blow for more focused damage.
 * Swap Penetrating Chop for Axe Rake to stop enemy healers from running or Axe Twist to weaken enemy Warriors, etc.
 * Taking Live Vicariously instead of a damage skill nearly doubles your self-healing.
 * If you find yourself short on Adrenaline all the time, swap Rush for Sprint and vice versa for Energy.
 * Take Shield of Absorption instead of your running skill when expecting to encounter large mobs to take some more pressure off your healer[s].
 * If you want to save your adrenaline, use Sun and Moon Slash instead of Final Thrust, if you are using sword. It also gives more chances of Vigorous Spirit to heal you more than the standard slash.

= W/Mo Dead Sword Solo = This build is designed for farming dead swords (and other rare skinned weapons as well) in The Shattered Ravines while Destroy the Ungrateful Slaves quest is active. This is solo w/mo farming build.

Equipment

 * Armor - Glads armor for energy with all the runes of superior vigor (or major will suffice) and superior absorption.
 * Weapons - An axe is required for this build. I use Victo's Battle Axe for added damage, but any max axe with 15^50 will do, just might take longer.  Have a max shield with +45/-2 while enchanted AND requires strength. Arrahhsh's Aegis may also work since it is a stance shield and fairly easy to farm.

Usage
First get to The Shattered Ravines from Bone Palace. Let the king die in order to repeat the quest. Cast Balthazar's Spirit on yourself and let the energy recharge to full before casting Live Vicariously. Once the king is dead, wait until the slave spirits settle, and then get close to aggro and cast Vigorous Spirit BEFORE aggro. Be sure to charge for the monks slave spirits first as they are the ones that can shoot you from a distance. Get within the mob so that your cyclone axe will be able to hit everything. Once positioned, hit Dolyak Signet to reduce melee damage. Start cycloning using both cyclone axe followed by triple chop. After the first cyclone axe, you should be able to use flail to increase attacking speed. Alternate cyclone axe and triple chop (by continuously spamming whichever becomes available first) and use executioner's strike whenever it becomes charged. With live vicariously and vigorous spirit up, you should be able to stay alive while causing massive AOE damage to all surrounding targets. Make sure flail stays up at all times to increase attack speed and to increase the rate you benefit from live vicariously and vigorous spirit. You will get interrupted by Savage Slash frequently when trying to cast vigorous spirit, but just keep trying and eventually they won't be able to interrupt. Use the same method for all 5 mobs. When finished, rezone and repeat.

Counters
The slave mobs consist of monks and warriors but their ratio is not fixed in proportion. The more monks, the more dificult it will be to kill and more Reversal of Damage's to worry about.

Variants
Replace Executioner's Strike with Bonetti's Defense if you are having difficulty keeping vigorous spirit up. That is, have Bonetti's Defense active before you cancel it with Vigorous Spirit to prevent interrupts.

Armor

 * Full Gladiator's Armor for maximum energy.
 * Helm alternative: Lieutenant's Helm for shortened Hex duration at the expense of one less point of Tactics (13), 1 Energy, and only 60 AL compared to the Gladiator's head gear.

Runes

 * Rune of Superior or Major Vigor
 * Rune of Superior Absorption

Weapons

 * Any one-handed weapon that increases health, and/or energy:
 * 1) Katana of Fortitude (from Factions - Divine Path) - plus 5 Energy always and plus modification of your choice (preferrably + Health).
 * 2) Any sword and an "I Have the Power!" inscription. (If you have Nightfall)

Note: Of course, you are free to use the collectors' shield versions instead of the Green ones.
 * A shield with maximum armor (+16) with attribute requirement in Tactics:
 * 1) Grognar's Defender [Green Item; Received Dmg: -2 (In Stance); +45 HP (In Stance)] - The Runner's Best Stance Shield Choice.
 * 2) Emboldened Carapace Shield from Hagnon Warblade [Health +60 (while hexed), Received damage -3 (while hexed)] - For hex passages of the run.

Core Running Sequence
Note: Balanced Stance cancels Sprint, for they are both stances. Never use them simultaneously if you don't want to lose either of them. Balanced Stance should be used with "Charge!" instead. Balanced Stance will outlast "Charge!" by 8 secs. Use Balanced Stance, wait 4-8 secs and activate "Charge!". It is better to be quicker in escape than in approach due to aggro/ deaggro behavior of the NPCs.
 * Use Sprint, and Charge for running. It's the sequence which you can use without any gaps.
 * Use Balanced Stance to counter knockdowns by Frost Worms, Ice Golems, Tundra Giants, and Azure Shadows.

Healing
Note: Be aware of the fact that "runners run, and healers heal." Only heal yourself if it is really necessary.
 * Use Healing Signet in safe spots for healing.
 * Use Endure Pain for extra health boost in passages of the run where you encounter much damage.

Hex-Countering Mechanism
Note #1: Always use Smite Hex for removing a Hex before canceling Holy Veil. By not canceling Holy Veil first you make sure that the enemies still need twice as long to cast for their hexes.
 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself as major hex-protecting mechanism.
 * Use Smite Hex as major hex-remover.

Note #2: For an extra hex remover cast Holy Veil and wait for it to recharge. By canceling it, recasting, and canceling it again, you can remove up to two hexes only with Holy Veil.

Conditions
Note: Beware traps set by Pinesouls that cripple you for quite a long time. It is not unlikely that two traps are behind each other. Go on running crippled to check whether a second trap is about to ignite; only then use Purge Conditions to reduce the chance of getting trapped twice to a minimum. Alternatively, Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multi-traps.
 * Use Purge Conditions for an all-in-one conditions clean-up.

Ice Imps

 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself before encountering them. Either outstand the first Mind Freeze on you or remove it with Smite Hex while Holy Veil is still being on you.

Worm Tunnel
Note: Sprint cancels Balanced Stance, for they are both stances. Never use them simultaneously if you don't want to lose either of them.
 * On entering the worm tunnel do not aggro the Ice Imp patrol.
 * Run into the tunnel with Sprint as long as possible until Frost Worms pop up. Activate Balanced Stance, jog for some seconds, and escape with "Charge!".
 * In some of the spawns, the tree behind the tunnel is a safe spot for regeneration.
 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself before encountering the Ice Golems behind the tunnel. Use Smite Hex for removing their Deep Freeze. Cancel Holy Veil only if it is really necessary. Refrain from using Holy Veil if there are Avicara Guile between your current location and the Ice Golems, as Avicara Guile can and will remove your Holy Veil immediatly.

Troll Cave

 * In most spawns and due to lag it is highly advisable to lure the Mountain Trolls either out of the cave, or around the Icicles in the cave.

Wurm Path

 * Use Sprint for covering the first meters of the Wurm Path (beginning right behind the bridge of the Troll Cave).
 * Try to run at the right-hand side.
 * Use Balanced Stance when getting knocked down for the first time.
 * Use "Charge!" when you get in aggro range of the Grawl Patrol.
 * Jog with Balanced Stance, or Sprint all along the path.
 * Use Healing Signet after a Wurm popped up, when you escaped him and it is outside your aggro circle.

Ice Golem Path
Note: If a Muddy Terrain Spirit was already cast (e.g. due to another runner in your group or by accident), wait for it to die before attempting the run-through.
 * Encounter them only with fully recharged Balanced Stance and Holy Veil being already up.
 * Use the shortest and therefor quickest path available avoiding as many Pinesouls, and Ice Golems as possible. Be fond of running through Grawls rather than through Pinesouls, and Ice Golems.
 * Beware of more than one trap set by Pinesouls.
 * Avoid Stone Summit Heretic at any cost.

Dreadnought's Drift
Attention: Survivor Title Hunters can survive here. Therefore, they just stand in the lower right corner when entering the Drift. It may need some spawns, for the patrols always tend to use a slightly different path depending on other NPC groups. Millimeter work!


 * Go to the right immediately, and if there is anyone you are running that is not going for survivor title, tell them to run into the patrol there as well.

Snake Dance
Note #1: Beware of lag in the Troll Tunnel. It is advisable to lure some Mountain Trolls or even Ice Golems out to guarantee a secure run-through. Cast Holy Veil on yourself to avoid a minor slow-down by the Ice Golems when running through the tunnel.
 * Efficiently use Balanced Stance and "Charge!" here against groups of Tundra Giants, and Azure Shadows.

Note #2: It is not necessary to use Balanced Stance for these low-level Ice Golems that do not knock you down.

Talus Chute

 * Before encountering the first Azure Shadows cast and recharge Holy Veil.
 * Activate Balanced Stance when the first Signet of Judgments are about to hit you.
 * Use "Charge!" in the first corner near the Azure Shadow Boss.
 * Use Endure Pain when running through the groups of Avicara.

Variants

 * Mending Touch can replace Purge Conditions to counter more than one Barbed Trap. It has a faster regeneration time and heals the runner slightly. (This is a Nightfall skill)
 * Signet of Stamina can be used for a permanent health boost so long as the runner never attacks. (This is a Nightfall skill)
 * Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions to counter more than one Barbed Trap. Crippled will always hit you last.
 * Defensive Stance can replace Healing Signet for running from Copperhammer Mines -> Iron Mines of Moladune. Activate "Charge!", then Defensive Stance when running through large aggro groups of Avicara. Wait for natural health regeneration to take effect in safe spots. Be sure to activate "Charge!" before Defensive Stance, or else Defensive Stance will end immediately.
 * Deflect Arrows can replace Healing Signet for running from Copperhammer Mines -> Iron Mines of Moladune.
 * Contemplation of Purity, and Mending can replace Smite Hex, and/or Purge Conditions. Use CoP for removing Hexes and Conditions while Holy Veil and/or Mending is active. It is recommended to increase Healing Prayers to 8 to gain 3 pips of health regeneration from Mending.  This variant, however, since it uses Healing Prayers, goes against the general theory of the "Bold Forge Runner" which uses no Healing Prayers.
 * Shielding Hands can replace Endure Pain for damage limitation although Endure Pain can be useful if a player is overwhelmed by monsters at a single time.
 * Replace Smite Hex with Signet of Stamina for extra health (just don't attack)
 * Swap Endure pain for Signet of Stamina which should boost your health to around 700 which makes it really easy to run past mobs.

Endure Pain Bug
After Endure Pain ends your Health may drop to 1. Due to the Endure Pain Bug do not activate Healing Signet after having 1 Health - this would kill you immediately due to negative health and positive signet healing. Wait for your Health bar to gain pips and regaining above 1 Health again before using Healing Signet.

Possible Routes
Listed below are the possible high-level routes that this build and its variants can be run with:

Prophecies

 * 1) Beacon's Perch -> Camp Rankor -> Droknar's Forge
 * 2) Camp Rankor -> Deldrimor War Camp
 * 3) Copperhammer Mines -> Iron Mines of Moladune -> Marhan's Grotto -> Thunderhead Keep

= W/Mo Arrahssh Farmer = This build is designed to farm Arrahhsh Mountainclub to get his unique shield, Arrahhsh's Aegis.

Equipment

 * Any armor that reduces Physical Damage.
 * Any sword with a Furious Hilt and Pommel of Shelter.

Usage

 * Start from Boreas Seabed.
 * Try not to aggro the Wallows, if you do, just break aggro by Sprinting away
 * Cast Balthazar's Spirit
 * Run to the place where Arrahhsh is.
 * There will be 2 groups of Yeti blocking the entrance
 * Wait until they break apart before sprinting through and stopping on the bridge
 * When on the bridge, wait until all the Yetis are not in a position to body block you
 * Once they are far from the next bridge, aggro them and break aggro by Sprinting onto the bridge closer to where Arrahhsh is
 * If the other Warrior Yeti attacks you first, concentrate on him
 * Cast Scourge Healing on Arrahhsh to prevent him from receiving a good heal from Healing Signet, keep it up as much as possible
 * Cast Dolyak Signet
 * Spam Riposte, Deadly Riposte and Gladiator's Defense whenever possible
 * Healing Signet to keep yourself alive

Counters

 * Careful of the traps the Ranger Yetis set up, they might cripple you and hinder your progress.

Variants

 * You may like to replace Gladiator's Defense with Auspicious Parry.

= W/Me UW Solo = This build uses dual visages, physical resistance, and warrior adrenaline attacks to farm the Smite Crawlers in the Underworld.

Equipment

 * Full Knight's Armor
 * Axe Helm of Superior Axe Mastery (for fighting)
 * Strength Helm of Superior Strength (for running)
 * Elemental Axe of Enchanting (for Grasping Darknesses)
 * Zealous Axe of Enchanting (for Smites)

Usage

 * Take Clearing the Chamber immediately and lure one group of Graspings. Make sure you have a visage up when luring them. Sprint to the middle of the chamber to lose the Bladed Aatxes. Kill the Graspings one at a time with your attacks. Lure another group and repeat.
 * Once you have completed the quest, run along the right side of the room and through the open gate.
 * Stop as soon as you have broken aggro in order to heal and/or recharge. Continue running along the path until you reach the Smites.
 * Now kill the Smites the same way you did the Graspings. You have to give them a couple seconds of hitting you before attacking so they can't put up Shield of Judgment.

Counters

 * Bladed Aatxes
 * Coldfire Nights

Variants

 * Remove the axe attacks for Sever Artery, Gash, and Dragon Slash.
 * Exchange Cleave with Triple Chop for some AoE damage.
 * Exchange Healing Signet with another attack skill such as Penetrating Chop or Furious Axe.
 * Change Penetrating Blow to Bonetti's Defense for better energy management (Recommended).

= W/Me Sanctum Cay Runner = The Sanctum Cay Runner build is designed specifically to run the Sanctum Cay mission.

Items and Equipment

 * Rune of Superior or Major Vigor.
 * Rune of Superior or Major Absorption.
 * Crimson Carapace Shield from Lord Dorn Lendrigen.
 * A low requirement axe or sword with a + health mod; for example, the Ascalon Axe from Ouran Odwin.
 * A double adrenaline axe or shield with hp mod is useful but not needed.
 * Armour Vs element,(Dreadnought armor or the Insignia).

Run to the end
The entire mission can be run using "Charge!", Sprint, and Healing Signet, except for the defense of Vizier Khilbron.

About half of the way through the run you will enter a swamp area with poisonous water. Right before this area there are two groups of Hellhounds that can push you against a wall and surround you. If you wait at the bend in the path, it should be simple to dodge them by getting them to run in one direction, then sprinting off in the other. You could even pull the hellhounds away from the narrow path to make sure you get past them.

However, lag can render this technique useless, and get you stuck while it looks like you are several paces in front of them. If you are getting hit but after moving you are "teleported" back to the same location, you are trapped even though you appear to be in front. If possible, run back; you may only be blocked in the front. This will give you another chance to dodge them. If you are completely surrounded, equip your sword and fight the one that appears to be blocking your path. Their attacks will not hurt you, but they will cause bleeding, so you will need to use Healing Signet several times. Once you are free, start running again. Don't forget to pick up the Scepter of Orr before you dash off!

Hug the right wall when running through the swamp. Open the gate as quickly as possible as the Bone Dragon boss will be following you closely. (Use Endure Pain if you need it) After opening the gate, run to the clearing on the right and heal up. The run from here to the dock is trivial.

Just before reaching the dock there will be a group of enemies with a boss. Run past them and do not allow them to follow you to the beach. If they do, the build's defensive skills will not be sufficient to keep you alive. If you are running other players, make sure they do not follow you at this point. They may bring the boss down to the beach, or cause the White Mantle to attack the Vizier if they run around on the beach enough.

Run to the end W/Mo style
keep spaming sprint and heal with low health.

Defending the Vizier
When the Vizier begins to summon the ship stand a few yards off of the dock. Make sure you are far enough away that none of the White Mantle see the Vizier; the success of the run depends on you being able to keep enemy focus on yourself and off of him. Begin attacking the first enemy that is in range, and immediately use Mantra of Flame,"Shields Up!", which will counter the White Mantle Seekers' arrows; and Dolyak Signet, which will dramatically increase your armor. Use "Watch Yourself!" whenever it becomes available. Continue attacking and using these four skills whenever any of them recharges. Remember to ALWAYS keep up your four defensive skills. Using Mantra of flame keeps your energy at max so energy won't be a problem.

When all four of these skills are up, only the White Mantle Savants will inflict noticable damage, via Searing Heat. Use Healing Signet whenever you sustain any damage; after several groups of White Mantle move in, you will need to use it almost constantly. However, you should prefer using the four defensive skills over Healing Signet unless you are below 50% health.

When the ship surfaces, wait for the dock ramp to drop. Then use "Charge!", Sprint, and Endure Pain and run onto the deck. (Dolyak Signet may slow your movement here, but it is of no consequence, you'll need to wait it out, when it ends run to the dock.)

It is very likely that the Vizier will die after the cut scene begins. However, this does not seem to affect the mission outcome; he will simply disappear when he dies and will still be present in the rest of the scene.

Defending the Vizier For W/Mo
When they come at you, you have to keep spamming Dolyak Signet, Shielding Hands, Defensive Stance, Healing Signet, and Shield of Regeneration. Remember to have Watchful Spirit, and Balthazar's Spirit on at all times.

Variants

 * "I Will Survive!" can be used instead of Mantra of Flame to strengthen you against conditions.
 * Healing Hands instead of "Charge" (and 10 points in Healing Prayers) make it easier to tank at the Vizier.
 * Signet of Stamina can be used in place of Endure Pain(Recommended).
 * Charging Strike (low recharge time and can use again before it expires) can replace "Charge!" and Sprint, it will keep you running at 33% faster and leaves one skill slot for a stance.
 * Protector's Defense is a good addition if you decide to replace "Charge" and Sprint.

= W/Me Raging IDS Farmer = This build is designed to run from The Granite Citadel, through Tasca's Demise to the Ice Imp cave in Mineral Springs, and farm the imps for the Icy Dragon Sword. This build relies heavily on adrenaline and the Nightfall elite Rage of the Ntouka to supply some of it. The healing provided by Lion's Comfort is not affected by Rust cast by Siege Ice Golems and heals more than Healing Signet without decreasing your armor level.

Equipment

 * Warrior Wyvern Armor (any armor that gives +10 AL vs Elemental attacks)
 * Sentinel's Armor (Armor that gives +20 AL vs Elemental attacks when Strength is greater than or equal to 13 works well too)
 * Running Set: Non-vampiric, non-zealous axe (preferably with an axe grip of Defense) and Stalwart Carapace Shield
 * Fighting Set: Wing's Axe (Any zealous axe works. An axe grip of Defense or of Warding could also help.) and Stalwart Carapace Shield.

Usage
Make sure that the Running Set is equipped. Run until the Ice Imp cave, so do not stop to fight anything but Siege Ice Golems and Ice Imps that may be encountered on the North path in Mineral Springs.

Getting to the Imp Cave
If you have Defend Droknar's Forge in your quest log, you MUST abandon it, or Ice Imps will not spawn.

Due to the availability of heroes from Nightfall and the ability to flag heroes and henchmen, it may be better to attempt this build with a full group of eight for when there is a poor spawn. Run/Fight through Tasca's Demise to Mineral Springs, then fight your way to the Ice Imp cave. While soloing the imps, make sure that your henchmen/heroes names are grayed out, to increase the chances of picking up the drop. Or, the run could be restarted.

All of the running is done by using Rage of the Ntouka then Rush. Do not use Rush again until it starts rapidly flashing. Use Rage of the Ntouka to maintain adrenaline.

Make sure to watch the path of the Avicara, if you can. There are many times that the group will gather in one area and easily be run around.

Tasca's Demise



Start at The Granite Citadel and take the lower path through Tasca's Demise. If you're bringing along a hero/hench team, flag them near the back of the resurrection shrine.



Run through Tasca's Demise from the southern path. If you were quick enough, you will be able to beat a patrol of Stone Summit, usually with a variety of Dolyak Masters, Summit Beastmasters, and Stone Summit Rangers. If not, run past the bridge and wait until the patrol comes around. Be careful not to aggro anything. When they've passed you by, sneak around the edge an across the bridge.



Carefully move forward, until you see another patrol with a Siege Ice Golem and smaller Stone Summit. Back up along the wall to your right, until you are behind the branch in the path. Wait for them to pass and run forward.



There's another patrol that will be on your right. Avoid these, if possible. If the spawn to your left is in front of you near the center and not all to the left, you'll need to attempt to run through. You will have Crippling Anguish casted on you. If you did not bring henchman/heroes, try to get as close to Mineral Springs portal as possible. If you did, unset the flag to cause them to follow you. If all of them die, get as close to the portal as possible. If some are alive, send them ahead and into the mob before you attempt a run to the portal. In any case, if you don't survive, you should be resurrected near the portal, so just run there.

Mineral Springs

There are two paths to the Ice Imp cave. Note that if you encounter Hyl Thunderwing and have Iron Mist cast on you, immediately stop and use Dolyak Signet, Rage of the Ntouka, and Lion's Comfort. Once Iron Mist and Dolyak Signet have worn off, immediately start running.



N1: Ice Imps and Siege Ice Golems N2a: first bridge, should be able to run through easily N2b: second bridge, if you see several Avicara Braves, aggro then run backwards before running past S1: Avicara Fierce patrol, run past, they move slowly S2: Pinesouls, try to run opposite of where most of them are to avoid Barbed Trap S3: Tundra Giants, aggro and use Dolyak Signet and "Watch Yourself!" when available

The north path is considerably shorter, but it's also more dangerous if the Avicara spawn too close to a group (or two!) of Ice Imps and a Siege Ice Golem. You will need to stop and fight these, as their water hexes will constantly be slowing you down. The way to fight them is covered below in Ice Imp Cave. If you're fighting your way to the Ice Imp cave with heroes/henchmen, this is the best path.



If you find yourself body blocked on a bridge, just run back from the bridge and run around the mob.

The south path is longer but usually easier to run through. Also, you will pass by another resurrection portal, so if your attempts at running to the Ice Imp cave/soloing imps is unsuccessful, you will be closer to the cave and can lower your DP by killing the nearby Tundra Giants. Soon after the entrance and some trees, you'll encounter a large patrol of Avicara Fierce that have a long patrol path, so don't wait for them, just run path them early on. You will then encounter an area with a few Pinesouls that will cripple you with Barbed Trap and further slow you down with Muddy Terrain. The Juniper Bark that pop up can be ignored (only Level 7 Monks!) if you need to heal, after losing the aggro of the Pinesouls.

When you see that you're near the second resurrection shrine, stay closer to your left, other than when you see an Avicara boss and group. It is crucial that you lose their aggro before encountering the Tundra Giants. You will need to solo these, but that can easily be done by keeping Dolyak Signet on you. Using "Watch Yourself!" also helps, but do NOT use Elemental Resistance, since it reduces your physical resistance. Try to kill only the ones in the group blocking your path to the narrow passageway. The others can be left for DP reduction later on.

Run up the narrow path, being careful not to be body blocked. When you're past the narrow passageway, be careful with your aggro. You must lose aggro before encountering the Ice Imps. If you see that there are Avicara with the group of Ice Imps and you're running solo, you will need to restart from The Granite Citadel. It's possible that you'll see Mountain Trolls and Siege Ice Golems, but these should not be no problem. If you brought along henchmen/heroes, run in to kill the Avicara before flagging the henchmen/heroes away.

Ice Imp Cave
Before encountering the imps, you can boost your adrenaline by using Rage of the Ntouka. By using it at least once, you can encounter the imps with Dolyak Signet, Elemental Resistance, and "Watch Yourself!". Once your energy is full, switch to the weapon set for fighting.

Always keep Dolyak Signet and Elemental Resistance up. Use "Watch Yourself!" when possible. Make sure that if you want to heal, use Lion's Comfort BEFORE the recharge on Dolyak Signet reaches the lower right hand corner of the skill icon, or it will be left recharging for 12 seconds. Don't use Rage of the Ntouka too often, or you may not have enough energy left to use Elemental Resistance. If there are trolls in the cave, make sure to kill those first, since they can interrupt you with Disrupting Chop. Siege Ice Golems can be killed after them, so that you aren't knocked down if Dolyak Signet isn't reused in time. Try to aggro smaller groups at a time, since you will usually be taking damage, though smaller amounts. You can also backup so that some of the ice imps aren't casting spells at you.

If your region has favor, kneel at the statue of Lyssa, and pay 50 gold for Holy Blessing (To Conquest).

When you've cleared the cave, make your way up the ramp. Once that is cleared, slowly move forward towards Ice Beast, if you see more imps outside of the cave. The Ice Beast can be ignored and cannot be killed solo with this build. Azure Shadow will popup. Run back immediately after you aggro one. You can only take on one or two alone, so do not rush ahead. If you do aggro too many, just resign or map travel somewhere else. If you have henchmen/heroes, cancel the flag and aggro the Azure Shadow before running back down the ramp. Wait for the henchmen/heroes and kill the Ice Beast and Azure Shadows. Flag them away again and repeat the process, until the imps are dead. Infuse your armor with the Seer if you need to, and/or finish the run. A quick way to restart the run, if you took the northern path is to die on purpose, zone to Tasca's Demise, and rezone. Wintergreen Candy Canes are good for removing DP encountered by this.

Counters
Interrupts, stance removal, and/or adrenaline denial would pretty much render this build useless.

Variants
Sword Use: Redistribute points in Axe Mastery to Swordsmanship. Replace Executioner's Strike with Standing Slash or replace Desperation Blow and Executioner's Strike with Sever Artery and Gash.

Attributes and Skills

 * * Weapon mastery will be either Axe Mastery or Swordsmanship.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Knight's Insignias.
 * Runes of Superior Strength, Major or Superior Vigor, Superior Absorption, Minor Tactics, and Minor Axe Mastery.
 * Weapons
 * A Zealous Axe or Sword of Enchanting with "Strength and Honor" or "Dance with Death" inscription. Since you have no weapon based attacks, Sword and Axe work equally well.
 * A Shield of Endurance (Requiring Strength) with a "Run for your Life!" Inscription, or any shield with equivalent stats. Arrahhsh's Aegis is ideal. For those with the money, a shield with both -2 Physical Damage while in a Stance and while Enchanted is even better.
 * Any type of Longbow or Flatbow. Since it will only be used for pulling, the stats do not matter.  Flatbow is preferred, since you will be obstructed less frequently.

The Entrance

 * Take Clear the Chamber as soon as you can without being seen by any Aatxes.
 * Grasping Darknesses has a natural speed boost of around 33%.
 * This means that any time you aggro both Aatxes and Grasping Darknesses, the Grasping Darknesses will get to your first.
 * First, turn your back to the mob of Grasping Darknesses you want to pull, and wait till it moves near a group of Aatxes.
 * Hit either "F" or "C" so that you don't cast spells on the Lost Soul.
 * Just before aggroing, cast Ancestor's Visage on yourself.
 * Back up, aggroing the Aatxes. Instantly hit Enraging Charge and rush for the wall in front of you.
 * When the Aatxes aggro, the Grasping Darknesses will come along with.
 * The Aatxes will give up very quickly, but the Grasping Darknesses will keep coming.
 * As soon as you think you've lost the Aatxes, hit Dolyak Signet.
 * Turn around and start attacking the Grasping Darknesses. You should get enough energy from your Zealous Axe to use Sympathetic Visage when Ancestor's Visage runs out.
 * As soon as you get 5 energy, use Warrior's Endurance.
 * Hit Ancestor's Visage again when Sympathetic Visage runs out.

Notes:
 * If you aggro a Dying Nightmare while either getting the quest or luring Grasping Darknesses, run like heck for the far wall and hope the Aatxes with them break aggro before you get there.
 * If they don't break, you will probably die. Just keep running around using your Enraging Charge and hope they give up.

To Kill Grasping Darknesses

 * Use Warrior's Endurance, followed by spamming Power Attack and Counterattack every time they recharge. Maintain Dolyak Signet and at your Visages.
 * They do almost no damage, and their interrupts are non-existent with Visages. These should be easy, if boring, kills.
 * Once you've killed one group, lure the next and repeat.

Notes:
 * Sometimes the third group will get itself stuck on the stairs to the right. If this happens, kill the other two groups first, then hit Enraging Charge and run past the right side Aatxes.  Aggro the Grasping Darknesses, then run to the right, straight into the closed door.  You should have lost the Aatxes, but the Grasping Darknesses will follow you, and can now be killed alone.

To Kill Dying Nightmares

 * Since you couldn't care less if they strip your enchants, these enemies pose no threat to you whatsoever after they have spawned (except possibly around Smite Crawlers) and can either by killed or ignored at your leisure.

Notes:
 * The threat Dying Nightmares do pose is in spawning.
 * All Dying Nightmares in the starting room have Aatxes mobs associated with them. Aggroing them is considered a bad idea.

To Kill Bladed Aatxes

 * Just don't. Try to avoid them at all costs.  If you do manage to aggro some, just keep running away until they leave you alone.
 * Unlike some builds, you will not die in one hit from an Aatxe, it usually takes five or six.

The Run

 * Once you have completed the quest, run along the right side to the open gate, being sure to break aggro with the three or four nearby Aatxes.
 * If there are enemies in the passageway, this is a (mostly) safe point to stop and wait. Be careful of the patrols nearby.
 * As soon as the passageway is clear, run through it. Try to time your run so that you will not be seen by the Grasping Darkness patrol, as even with Enraging Charge you cannot outrun them and will be forced to fight. Use Enraging Charge just as you leave the passage, and head to the left.
 * If you can, try to run all the way past both groups of Aatxes in one shot. If you can't, break aggro and wait in the big room (avoiding patrols) until Enraging Charge has recharged, then run past the last pair of Aatxes.
 * Be careful, as you may have to wait till Enraging Charge recharges to break their aggro. If this happens, you will end up directly in the middle of the Smite Crawler group, and will be forced to fight.

The Run: Alternative Method

 * Watch the Grasping Darkness patrol in the room to the right, at the end of the passage.
 * As soon as you see them circle around and move away from the end of the passage, hit Enraging Charge and run along the right side of the room straight to them. The Aatxes behind you will break aggro fairly quickly.
 * As you reach the door, take note of where the Aatxes are.
 * If they're in the Passage or coming towards it, run past them as fast as you can. This is the hardest part, as it is far too easy to be trapped against the wall.  They will only get two or three hits off at most if you make it past.  Run to your left.
 * If they're still in the room, just keep running. Hug the left-side wall. Enraging Charge will wear off about now.
 * Keep running to your left. Just as the Aatxes behind you catch up, hit your recharged Enraging Charge.
 * the Aatxes behind you will break aggro just as you run into the pair in front.
 * Run straight through them, towards the Smite Crawlers on the other side. In this method, the Aatxes normally break aggro before you reach the Smites Crawlers.

Notes:
 * Lag is extremly dangerous when running through the narrow passage with the Aataxes. It's very easy to get body blocked without you knowing it. Your character will keep running but infact he is stuck between the Aataxes, if this happens, your run will most likely end here. The best thing you can do is just wait until they are far away from the Passage

To Kill Smite Crawlers

 * Pull one group of Smite Crawlers with your bow to a place where you can fight them alone. When fighting multiple groups, a mistake often leads to death.
 * Once you've gotten to the spot you want to fight at, hit Dolyak Signet and switch weapons.
 * As soon as they start to reach you, hit Ancestor's Visage and Warrior's Endurance.
 * Wait a few seconds until you think they've been sufficiently drain of energy, then start attacking.
 * When Ancestor's Visage is halfway recharged, cast Sympathetic Visage.
 * Handle them just like Grasping Darknesses, but here Visages are required to stop their healing. Warrior's Endurance will provide you with plenty of energy to maintain them.

Notes:
 * If you start taking damage from Shield of Judgment, it means you have not fully drained their energy. Cast your next Visage and switch targets.
 * Once you get down to the last Smite Crawler, the energy drain is much slower. It can out heal you easily though, so make sure to keep your Visages up.
 * Occasionally, for unknown reasons, a Smite Crawler group will become hostile to all other Smite and Coldfire groups in the area. Just let them die, it's not worth running in for the loot.
 * You should be able to handle up to five Smite Crawlers at once, which is the largest that most groups contain.

To Kill Coldfire Nights

 * First, identify their patrol route. Stand in front of their path, so they they're walking towards you when they see you.
 * Hit Enraging Charge just before getting in their range, you should be able to reach them before they can cast Shard Storm or Maelstrom.
 * As soon as you get in melee range, hit Dolyak Signet, Lion's Comfort, and Warrior's Endurance.
 * Fire off both your attack skills. Keep attacking as often as you can with your attack skills, using Warrior's Endurance and Dolyak Signet when they recharge.
 * You can use Lion's Comfort twice per Dolyak Signet, once just after it's used, and once about 9 seconds later. The rest of the time, just keep the adrenaline stored.
 * You will be at around 100-200 health the whole time, but if done properly, you should survive.
 * As they cast Shard Storm often, running away is unlikely to succeed.

Notes:
 * Coldfires have no valuable drops, and thus it is often better to skip them altogether then to kill them, unless they are blocking a mob of Smite Crawlers.
 * Killing groups of two is fairly easy, but groups of three are not recommended.
 * If you do need to kill a group of three, try to find a barrier that you can pull them to. Hide behind it to block Shard Storm until you see them cast at least two of their Maelstroms, then engage.

Safety Spots
This is a map of the path taken by this build:


 * The Green line is the path you should be taking.
 * The Red dots are the Safety Spots.
 * If you need to take a break or recharge, go to the closest Safety Spot you've cleared, and stay there.
 * All enemies can be pulled to at least one of the marked safety spots and fought there.
 * Two of the Safety Spots are not on the path. These spots are only used when a group of Smite Crawlers spawns in a bad location nearby.
 * All of these spots (except the ones in the middle of The Run) are free of Patrols.

Survival Tips

 * When trying to run around Aatxes, always try to go past on the most open side. They like to trap you by forcing you to run to one side, then cutting you off. Running past them close to walls is a good way to dig an early grave, as is running past them without Enraging Charge activated.


 * If you accidentally use Lion's Comfort just before Dolyak Signet recharges, just hit Enraging Charge and run. You can't tank more then 4 Smite Crawlers or Grasping Darknesses safely without it.


 * If the Grasping Darknesses itterupt one of your Visages and drain all your energy, just keep Dolyak Signet up and keep hitting them. Eventually either you'll get up to 5 energy and you can use Warrior's Endurance to gain more, or they'll just die.  They can't kill you as long as Dolyak Signet is up.


 * If you hit Dolyak Signet when you didn't mean to, just stop running. You can't escape anywhere, so stand back and tank for 21 seconds if there are any enemies in the area.


 * Use Enraging Charge while Warrior's Endurance is recharging, followed by Lion's Comfort for a quick heal. Remember to do this only after you've activated Dolyak Signet.

Variants

 * Counterattack can be replaced by any other quick recharging 5 Energy Attack Skill. Be warned of energy problems if you do change it. Not Recommended.
 * For experienced players, Final Thrust or Dismember can replace Lion's Comfort.
 * The only variant for the attribute distribution is 10+1+3 Strength, 8+1 Weapon Mastery, 2+1 Tactics, and 12 Illusion Magic. This variant is slightly more effective against Smite Crawlers, but is a good deal slower.  Only Recommended if you have no Axe Grip of Enchanting.
 * There are many variants to the strategies proposed for pulling, running, and tanking. None were considered common enough to include here, but if it works for you, use it.

Counters

 * Bladed Aatxes.
 * Attacking Smite Crawlers with Shield of Judgment on them.
 * Lag

= W/E The Deep Soloer =

Equipment

 * Full Gladiators Armor with Ascalon Helm
 * Zealous sword of Defense
 * Longbow (for pulling)

Usage
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5
 * Get into The Deep and take the right portal. Now lure the 2 Ripper Carps with your bow. Kill them using your Riposte, Gladiator's Defense and Desperation Blow. Make sure Dolyak Signet is always on. Start with Gladiator's Defense, Shield Stance, Gladiator's Defense, Dolyak Signet, Shield Stance etc. If the Darkened Irukadjis follow you, hug the left wall as you pull the carps and go around the corner, if properly positioned you will be able to block the Spirit's attacks. There is a small chance that you get blinded, if this happens do not panic. Just repeatedly use your healing signet and stances to block damage.
 * When you've killed the 2 Ripper Carps, head to the Darkened Irukandji's. Watch the Restoration and disrupt the Darkened Irukandji's when they attempt to cast the spirit. (They will cast it when the spirit is gone.) If you are having trouble interrupting the Spirit of Restoration you can reduce one Irukandji to just a few health and wait for the spirit to disapear. Then quickly hit it with Desperation Blow to kill it. The same works for the second one but you should have an easier time when there is only one. Don't spam it, but if you need to you can use Gale as a backup interrupt.
 * Kanaxai Aspect of Soothing Kill him with your attack skills. When he's taking 0 damage, use Gale to knock him down. This should happen 3-4 times. If you are taking an excess of damage you can gale him and use your Healing Signet while he is on the ground.
 * Run forward and you'll see a enormous group of mobs. Lure the group with no Smiting Monks in it and lure them back to the Gate. First kill the Ripper Carps. Make sure to disrupt their Shadow Refuge. After that, take out the 2 Darkened Irukandji's.
 * Now take the second group with 3-4 Ripper Carps and 2 Smiting Monks. When they casted Balthazar's Aura on the Rippers, spam Healing Signet and you should survive.
 * Continue killing the rest of the chamber with the same tactics

= W/E Sliver Vermin = This build is used to farm vermins, but in a completely different way then the other builds. It uses the power of Sliver Armor to quickly kill a lot of vermins instead of Triple Chop and Cyclone Axe, which now causes the vermins to run away very often.

Equipment

 * Knight's Armor for the damage absorption
 * Any sword will do, but Rajazan's Fervor is preferred for the “of enchanting” upgrade and the extra energy
 * Any maxed shield will do, particularly those with absorption upgrades
 * Use runes of superior vigor, absorption and some attunement runes on your armor

Usage

 * Aggro 2-3 groups of vermin at a time (see image),
 * Use skill in the following order:
 * Dolyak Signet
 * Glyph of Renewal
 * Sliver armor
 * Healing signet 2 or 3 times
 * Repeat


 * Bonetti's defense is for the energy upkeep, I will survive if the health degeneration becomes to much to handle and riposte and deadly riposte to kill the last few vermins

Counters

 * The elite skill of the vermin boss causes more health degen then you can heal without "I will survive!", so it's best to kill him as soon as possible.
 * Getting knocked down while activating Sliver Armor
 * When using this build in any other area, enchantment removals are the greatest counters, because your main attack is an enchantment

Variants

 * Replace the ripostes for any strength or tactics based attack skill for some more damage. Do NOT choose any swordsmanship skills, because you only have 2 swordsmanship
 * Replace glyph of renewal with gladiators defense as silver armor and gladiators defense working at the same time will deal out almost double the damage in the same period of time. The vermin will have less time to shadow step and thus could all be dead in a period of 4 seconds.

Attributes and Skills

 * Optional skill slot can be replaced by:
 * Resurrection Signet
 * Lightbringer's Gaze
 * Lion's Comfort (timing is important when using with dolyak signet)
 * Bonetti's Defense
 * "None Shall Pass!"
 * Sliver Armor
 * Magnetic Aura
 * Glyph of Concentration
 * Glyph of Lesser Energy

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Gladiator's or Radiant Armor, with a Rune of Superior Vigor and Rune of Superior Absorption.
 * The last two armor upgrade slots can be taken by Runes of Attunement or Vitae.
 * Weapons
 * A +5 energy axe/sword of Enchanting.
 * A Strength Shield with a "Sheltered by Faith" inscription and a Shield Handle of Devotion.
 * An Earth Focus with a "Sheltered by Faith" or "Faith is My Shield" inscription and a Focus Core of Devotion. Both availible from Kehjim in The Kodash Bazaar or Grif Ebonmane in Command Post.

Usage
Fairly straight forward. Use Signet of Stamina when first entering an area, and never attack anything (unless you need to pull with a bow). Run in and aggro the group of mobs when your team is ready, while under Endure Pain and with your shield equipped to help against the initial spike of damage.

Once in the middle of the group of enemies, use Dolyak Signet and switch to your Earth Focus to start putting up your enchantments. Start with Obsidian Flesh, followed by Armor of Earth, and then Stoneflesh Aura. Use Grasping Earth to slow the movement of the nearby enemies, and switch back to your shield.

Maintain your enchantments as needed, using Stoneflesh Aura, Obsidian Flesh, and Dolyak Signet whenever they become available. Armor of Earth only needs to be reapplied every 30 seconds. Grasping Earth can be used every 15 seconds or so, whenever a group shifts, or when your allies start a nuke cycle. Stay with your Shield equipped as much as possible for the armor, equipping the Earth Focus only when you need the energy to cast an enchantment. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Counters

 * Any interruption skills
 * Skills that cause longer cast times (Migraine)
 * Dazed
 * Heavy enchantment removal (Obsidian Flesh will guard against most)

Variants
Replace Grasping Earth with Ward Against Foes when facing enemies that have lots of hex removal.

= W/D Zealous Decapitater = The Zealous Decapitater is a build that focuses on the use of the Elite Skill Decapitate to deal high damage, in conjunction with the energy management skills of the Dervish.

Attributes and Skills
Depending on the situation, Vital Boon can be replaced with:


 * Aura of Thorns as a snare
 * Lightbringer's Gaze for use in high-level PvE

If you find yourself getting enough energy from Zealous Renewal without Flail, swap it for Conviction. If you don't own the Factions campaign, replace Furious Axe with the energy-based attack skill of your choice.

Equipment

 * Armor with Radiant Insignia to give a base Energy pool of at least 25.
 * A Rune of Superior Absorption, the best Vigor Rune available and one rune of Vitae.
 * A Zealous Axe Of Fortitude. Wing's Axe is a good choice.
 * A Strength requirement Shield with +30 Health and 20% chance of -5 physical damage (Factions end game Exalted Aegis being a good choice).

Usage

 * Approach your target, and once you are in melee range use Vital Boon and Zealous Renewal.
 * Attack your chosen target and build up Adrenaline. Activate and maintain Flail.
 * Use the two energy-based attack skills as necessary. Furious Axe while your target is under a blocking stance or Guardian can be beneficial.
 * Once you have sufficient Adrenaline and your target is at approximately 75% health, use Decapitate.
 * Use Signet of Pious Light to end Zealous Renewal and gain back Energy.
 * Once you have Energy, use Furious Axe and Counterattack in quick succession on your target.
 * Recast Zealous Renewal and repeat on a different target if the first is not already dead.


 * Should you need healing at any time, use Vital Boon followed by Signet of Pious Light

Counters

 * Wild Blow and other Stance counters will remove your IAS, which results in less Energy gain after removing Zealous Renewal.
 * Be especially wary of enemies removing Zealous Renewal before you have used Decapitate. On the other hand, enemies removing the enchantment after you use Decapitate can be beneficial.
 * Blind, Weakness, etc.
 * Life Sheath can render a large portion of your damage useless.

Variants
A variant using different attack skills is below.

Same usage as the main build, but after using Decapitate and Signet of Pious Light, follow instead with Vital Boon followed by Twin Moon Sweep for a double-strike and additional healing. Note that Twin Moon Sweep can be used with an Axe, as it is a Melee Attack rather than a Scythe Attack. Any spare attribute points should be placed into Scythe Mastery for this variant. Cyclone Axe is useful for increasing the return from Zealous Renewal and also for building adrenaline.

= W/Rt Crude Earth = This Build uses the Warrior's Hammer Skills and the Ritualists Weapon Spells.

Equipment

 * Stonefist Insignia on Helm
 * Radiant Insignia's on Rest
 * Runes in the Correct Place
 * Zealous Hammer of Fortitude with a 15^50 modification.

Usage

 * Build up Adrenaline so your skills light up,
 * Target a Foe with some adjacent allies, cast Splinter Weapon on yourself,
 * Attack target foe and Activate Flail followed by Earth Shaker, Crude Swing and Yeti Smash
 * Use Healing Signet to regain some health and Flesh of My Flesh to revive fallen allies.

Variants

 * Swap Crude Swing or Yeti Smash out for Belly Smash for Blind
 * Take Natural Stride for a speed boost
 * Take Antidote Signet to remove Poison, Disease and Blindness

In AB consider taking "For Great Justice!" instead of Flesh of My Flesh And Taking Enraging Charge for a quicker adrenaline gain. Go Warrior/Ranger with Wilderness at set at Nine.
 * Also consider removing Flail and replace with Flurry or Tiger's Fury,
 * Skill Bar

= W/Rt Resilient Tank = This Tank build uses Resilient Weapon, and other Ritualist Restoration skills.

Equipment

 * Gladiator's Armor is recommended for the energy bonus.
 * A Zealous weapon mod would help with energy recovery as well.

Usage

 * While running into the fray, use Resilient Weapon, it will give you a nice health and armor bonus when you get smacked with the first wave of hexes and conditions.
 * Weapon of warding is a nice healing boost that is nonconditional
 * Bear in mind that Triple Chop MUST follow vengeful weapon
 * Keep yourself alive by casting Resilient Weapon and Wielder's Boon (which gives you bonus healing while wielding a spirit weapon.)
 * Use the different skills when necessary, keep in mind that you get health regeneration and an armor boost from Resilient Weapon when you are under the effects of a condition or hexed (which is basically all the time when you are a warrior.)

Variants
Flesh of My Flesh is the optional slot
 * For the optional slot:
 * Resurrection Signet is always an excellent choice for team play.
 * Through testing, it has been discovered that energy is an issue for this build. A recommendation for the optional skill slot is cheap healing or an energy boost.

= W/Rt UW solo = A Vengeful Farmer is a Ritualist that employs the elite Vengeful Was Khanhei (VWK). When a foe attacks you through melee or ranged attacks, they lose health for each attack and you gain that lost health. Using dolyak signet a warrior can alternate between these for farming Smite Crawlers in the underworld.

Equipment

 * Armor: Warrior Gladiator's Armor is best, although not vital.
 * Weapons: A +5 energy sword/axe/spear with a +30hp or +7 armor mod. A shield with +30hp always and damage -5 (chance: 20%). Also shields with stance bonuses are advisable for the running portion.

Usage
Carefully approach, and take the quest from the Lost Soul who should be in front of you.

If you accidentally aggro anything hit Sprint and run straight to the cliff wall behind you, this should break any aggro. If you attract a Dying Nightmare, use Vengeful Weapon until you kill it.

Once the quest was taken, you should have noticed some monsters appear on your mini-map. They are Grasping Darknesses, so we need to lure and kill them to escape from the chamber.

So aggro the closest group, usually of about 4 Grasping’s. This will normally also aggro the Bladed Aatxe, so we hit sprint, and run straight to the back wall. Only the Graspings should follow. You could also use a longbow for luring the Graspings, that way you can save out 5 energy not having to use sprint.

Once lured, use Dolyak Signet, attack them with your sword (or axe) until Bonetti’s is charged, once charged use Bonetti’s, then Vengeful was Khanhei.

Repeat until they are dead. The main problem with Grasping's are their interrupts and energy drain, both of which can be tackled with Bonetti’s. Use it as a cover when casting VWK.

Once you have killed the 3 Groups of Graspings required for the quest, you can escape the chamber.

After escape you have to aim for smites. On reaching the Smites, just spam all the skills except the running ones.

Counters
Aatxes.

The standard set-up of this build cannot handle, Coldfire Nights. However, Resilient Weapon can replace Sprint if you intend to farm them. Even with Resilient Weapon, they are very difficult to kill. Otherwise they should be avoided because once aggroed their spell Shard Storm will make it very hard to escape them, but its still possible if you evade their attacks and run to the beginning of smites.

Variants
Quick Note/Tip, replace both Healing Signet and "Watch Yourself!" with the health buffs shown and use one of them when heath gets low right before using VWS as it recharges. (Health will be about 130hp after using Bonetti's Defense then use Stamina or Endure, then dolyak, then VWS. VWS will bring hp to maximum, enabling you to repeat.
 * Resilient Weapon can replace Sprint if you intend to farm other areas of the underworld.
 * "To the Limit!" can replace "Watch Yourself!" when you want some faster Adrenaline reload.
 * Soothing Memories or Mend Body and Soul Can replace Healing Signet so you don't have the -40 Armor.
 * Signet of Stamina can replace Healing Signet for running to smites and tanking them.
 * Endure Pain can replace watch yourself,or healing signet.

Note that you can farm a lot of creatures with this build. The only requirements are that they don't do more then about 25 damage per hit, don't have a extreme way of healing themselves or each other and don't do massive AoE damage. For regular farming you can even replace Sprint and Enraging Charge with Resilient Weapon and/or "To the Limit!" for some extra health regeneration, armor, and Adrenaline.

= W/Rt Unnatural Fury = The W/Rt Unnatural Fury uses the elite skill Weapon of Fury to quickly build and maintain adrenaline.

Attributes and Skills

 * Possible skills for the optional slot:
 * Penetrating Blow for additional damage.
 * Soldier's Strike for an unblockable attack.
 * Flail for an IAS. Note that if you choose this option, "Watch Yourself!" should be swapped with a cancel stance.
 * Wielder's Strike for additional damage at the cost of energy.
 * Cruel Was Daoshen for a quick first-strike. Cast it before you enter the battle and drop it as soon as you are in range.
 * Bull's Strike to further punish fleeing foes.
 * "To the Limit!" for a quick adrenal boost. Note that Weapon of Fury DOES affect adrenaline gained in this way.
 * "None Shall Pass!" to prevent fleeing.

Equipment

 * Most armor will do. Gladiator's Armor tends to be unnecessary. Armor with a Brawler's Insignia is a good choice.
 * A 15>50 Axe with a Sundering or Furious mod depending on personal preference, and a Tactics-linked shield.
 * The runes should include a Superior Axe Mastery, a Minor Tactics, the best Vigor available, the best Absorption available, and a Rune of Clarity.

Usage
This build is designed more for continued pressure than for spiking. Maintain Weapon of Fury on yourself at all times and follow standard Warrior tactics. Penetrating Chop (or Penetrating Blow, if desired) is a useful attack skill as it ignores your low Strength and can be used frequently with your boosted adrenaline. Always cover Dismember with Axe Rake to prevent fleeing and to cover the Deep Wound. Due to its long duration and relatively quick recharge, you can choose to maintain Weapon of Fury on both yourself and another warrior in your party with only a minimal downtime, but this should be low on your list of priorities.

Counters

 * Standard anti-warrior counters such as kiting, Blindness, and blocking.

Variants

 * When kiting is not an issue, such as in PvE, replace Axe Rake with Penetrating Blow for more damage.
 * For a more offensive build, replace "Watch Yourself!" with "Fear Me!"
 * Deep Wound is less effective in PvE than in PvP. When in PvE, Dismember may be replaced with another, more damaging attack skill, such as Executioner's Strike or Furious Axe.

Equipment

 * Superior Rune of Axe Mastery - increases Axe Mastery by 3
 * Executioner's Helm - increases Axe Mastery by 1
 * Minor Rune of Strength - increases Strength by 1
 * Minor Rune of Tactics - increases Tactics by 1 (2nd version only)

Usage

 * Disrupting Chop is used to counter Gypsie Ettins, who use Healing Signet. You can use Distracting Blow here, as well.
 * Dolyak Signet should be activated right before the ettins attack you.
 * Cyclone Axe is to be used to build up adrenaline so that you can interrupt the healing signet much more often.
 * This version doesn't require any monk skills. You almost don't even need Healing Signet, as there is only a 3 second time period when you don't have Dolyak Signet on.

Variant
Replace Eviscerate with Triple Chop and drop Disrupting Chop for Dismember. Regardless of the Ettin's healing, a level 20 warrior will kill the Ettins easily and Triple Chop is easier to get, if you have Factions.

= W/any Basic PvE Hammer = A Warrior build primarily designed for use in PvE. Using the Hammer Mastery line, you gain the ability to constantly interrupt the enemy and disable them through knockdowns, as well as deal tremedous damage through your combination of attack skills. Using it with skills from the Tactics line, you also gain defensive abilities that helps protect you and your party from enemy attacks and spells.

Equipment

 * Gladiator's Armor for the extra Energy.
 * Stonefist Gauntlets to lengthen knockdowns.
 * A Hammer, such as Victo's Maul

Usage

 * Use "For Great Justice!" at the beginning of the battle for a quick start of adrenaline.
 * Spam Irresistible Blow when Energy permits, aiming for enemies that Block attacks.
 * Knock down foes with Devastating Hammer followed by Crushing Blow, and then a second knockdown with Heavy Blow.
 * Apply "Watch Yourself!" as needed, to make up for the lost armor without a shield.

Counters

 * Blind and Weakness
 * Degeneration

Variants

 * Replace Healing Signet or "For Great Justice!" with condition removal, such as Mend Ailment or Purge Conditions.
 * Replace Devastating Hammer with Forceful Blow for additional conditions and damage.
 * Replace Crushing Blow with Counter Blow for an additional knock-down.
 * Replace "For Great Justice!" with Berserker Stance for an attack speed bonus while charging adrenaline, sacrificing the ability to use skills if you wish to recharge.
 * Irresistible Blow can be replaced by another fast-recharging attack, such as Power Attack.
 * Replacing "Watch Yourself!" with Endure Pain allows for more health in place of armor.
 * You may also want to replace Irresistible Blow or Heavy Blow with Fierce Blow.
 * Auspicious Blow can be used for energy gain.
 * With an open secondary profession, consider taking Plague Touch, Remedy Signet, or Mending Touch for condition removal.

= W/any Cleave PvE Soldier = This is a fast-paced PvE Build that uses Cleave as a low Adrenaline Attack Skill to change targets more quickly, killing single targets at fast rates. Combined with Cyclone Axe and "For Great Justice!", it is recharged at an astounding rate, increasing the ability to deal high damage attacks more frequent, resulting in more kills.

Equipment

 * A mix of Gladiator's Armor and Berserker's Armor is a good combination, or you could go for Dreadnought armor for some more Armor vs Elemental damage.
 * Choose either a Furious or Zealous Axe of Fortitude (Zealous is your energy upkeep for Cyclone Axe).
 * The best Rune of Vigor and Absorption you can get.

Usage
When you encounter enemies, engage them and start building up some adrenaline using "For Great Justice!" and Cyclone Axe. As soon as you have enough adrenaline, use your attack skills (primarily Cleave). If your health is going down use Healing Signet to heal. Use "For Great Justice!" to help regain adrenaline.

Counters

 * Common tank counters:
 * Ward Against Melee
 * Reduced attack speed hexes like Shadow of Fear and Faintheartedness
 * Blindness
 * Damage-on-attack hexes such as Spiteful Spirit and Empathy

Variants

 * Change "Watch Yourself!" for a speed increasing skill such as Rush and Sprint.
 * Switch "For Great Justice!" for an IAS such as Frenzy.

Attributes and Skills

 * If playing defensive to take heat off squishy party members, think about Dolyak Signet.
 * Use Endure Pain for an emergency boost in health.
 * If you need a more solid heal bring Lion's Comfort.

Equipment

 * Sentinel's Armor and Stonefist Gauntlets.
 * The highest Vigor rune, and three Vitae runes.
 * A Kanaxai's Mallet or similar Hammer.

Usage

 * 1) Activate Signet of Strength before and after battles to boost your DPS.
 * 2) With no adrenaline start off using Dwarven Battle Stance before your first hit.
 * 3) * If you use any skill while DBS is active it will end.
 * 4) When DBS wears off use Renewing Smash.
 * 5) Combo with Staggering Blow, Auspicious Blow and Hammer Bash to finish the target off.
 * Don't waste your time with mobs that are enchanted to block melee attacks, focus on another target.

Counters

 * Anti-Melee hexes and conditions.
 * Enchantments that cause the target to block or evade.

Variants

 * Add Wild Blow to end defensive stances.

= W/any Fissure Spider Farmer = This article portraits a build designed to solo-farm the Fissure Shore and the Spider Cave areas in the Fissure of Woe as a primary Warrior. Note that there is not one single way to do it right, but multiple approaches, so this article will show different options, as well as one working example.

General
Many monsters in the area you will farm have very strong anti- spell caster skills. Do not bring any spells! (including hexes and enchantments)

Defense
The first thing to consider when setting up a build for such a dangerous area as the Fissure is obviously how to survive. Fortunately, the Warrior-class offers high armor, as well as skills to increase it even further. Possible options are "Watch Yourself!" and Dolyak Signet. With those two skills together, and high enough attributes in Tactics and Strength, you can constantly boost your armor level by 60 points. Adding the right equipment (see below) will render you nearly invulnerable to a large number of foes. Although this is no requirement for this build to function, it is beneficial to set your secondary profession to Mesmer, because with Physical Resistance you will have an even stronger defensive skill at your disposal.

Any combination of two of those skills will allow you to survive just fine. Although for starters you may want to bring all three.

Offense
Both swords and axes work, but better refrain from using a hammer, since the loss of a shield will really hurt. Skills that cause conditions, especially Deep Wounds, can be very effective, but also counterproductive (see enemy notes below), depending on usage. It is usually best just to bring some straight forward attack skills. Options that come into mind are:

Axe Skills
 * Cleave *Elite*
 * Cyclone Axe
 * Executioner's Strike
 * Penetrating Blow

Sword Skills Strength Skill
 * Hundred Blades *Elite*
 * Final Thrust
 * Galrath Slash
 * Power Attack

Tactics Skill
 * Thrill of Victory

Factions Only
 * Triple Chop *Elite*
 * Dragon Slash *Elite*
 * Standing Slash
 * Silverwing Slash
 * Quivering Blade *Elite*

Pick three or four skills of your liking, but consider adrenaline and energy costs (don't bring only skills that need adrenaline, since you will need it for "Watch Yourself!" also. Likewise, don't bring too many energy consuming skills when using Physical Resistance). Cyclone Axe and Hundred Blades are very useful to build up adrenaline. For the same reason, consider bringing Flurry, Flail or Auspicious Parry (but only if you don't use Physical Resistance, since you can only have one stance active).

Healing
Despite your high armor, you will still be taking damage from spells, conditions and the occasional lucky hit, so you need to be able to heal yourself. The only real option you have for this is the Healing Signet, unless you have access to Nightfall then Lion's Comfort is better.

Utility
The shore and the spider cave are quite close to the starting point, but unfortunately there are some very strong groups of Shadow Army creatures in between. You cannot kill those with this build. To get to the shore, you will need a skill that increases your movement speed. Sprint is the best option for this.

Attributes
Your attributes depend, of course, on the skills you chose to bring. Normally you will want a very high Tactics, so Healing Signet and "Watch Yourself!" (if you decide to use it) are as effective as possible. Likewise, if using Dolyak Signet you should try to raise your Strength to 15. With that, the signet can be kept up constantly. Also, the armor penetration granted by Strength helps a lot. Of course, your weapon attribute should be at least 12.

Example
You may wish to start off with only minor runes until you get some experience, then build up to using 1, or more superior runes. Consider using minor runes for running then switch to superior (weapon) and tactics when fighting. This will allow you to use Healing Signet less and attack more. Because there is a steady flow of damage, high health is not required.

Armor
All sorts of armor work. Depending on your need for energy, Gladiator's Armor can be advantageous. Otherwise, Knight's Armor would be optimal, because of the additional damage reduction. Use a helmet that complements your choice of skills and attributes. Knight's Armor is advisable if you decide to go with only Physical Resistance and "Watch Yourself!" as armor skills

Runes
Depending on your need of attribute points, and if you're willing to take the risk, consider using superior runes for both Strength and Tactics. A minor rune for your weapon attribute should suffice. You should use at least major runes of Vigor and especially Absorption.

Weaponry
As mentioned above, both axes and swords are feasible. A weapon with a damage bonus while using a stance is best for this build, since you don't use enchantments and it is likely that your health will drop below 50% often. This is best, of course, if you use Physical Resistance. The weapon should have a suffix "of Defense" or better "of Shelter", with an as high armor bonus as you can get. As tempting as it may be, do not use an upgrade "of Fortitude". You will be taking huge numbers of hits, and as such every single point of damage you don't take due to higher armor will add up to impressive amounts of health you don't have to heal on the long term. If you feel like you are not taking too much damage, an upgrade with +1 Axe Mastery/Swordsmanship is advisable. For the prefix do not use an upgrade that converts your weapon damage to elemental damage (most monsters you encounter have increased armor vs. elemental damage). A Zealous upgrade can help with energy management. A Sundering is also advisable though you will need to be careful with energy

Likewise, your shield should offer a damage reduction of -2 while in a stance. Optimal would be an additional armor bonus vs. piercing damage, other than that, a health bonus (while in a stance) is always helpful.

Important: Do not forget to bring either a Longbow, Storm Bow or Flatbow for luring. The stats of this weapon don't matter at all, all you need is the long range.

Example

 * Gladiator's Helmet of Major Vigor
 * Gladiator's Hauberk of Superior Absorption
 * Gladiator's Gauntlets of Minor Axe Mastery
 * Gladiator's Leggings of Major Tactics
 * Gladiator's Boots of Minor Strength


 * Either Battle Axe from the collectors Nord Stonegrimm, Sir Pohl Sanbert, or Pietro, upgraded with a Zealous Axe Haft and an Axe Grip of Shelter +7.
 * The Crimson Carapace Shield from Lord Dorn Lendrigen.

Fighting
A typical encounter will start by you using either Physical Resistance or Dolyak Signet. Due to its slowdown effect you may want to wait to use the Signet until you are in melee range of your opponent. Physical Resistance can be used right away, so that it also covers ranged attacks while you are approaching. Once you have closed in on your enemy, use Flurry, Cyclone Axe, Triple Chop or Hundred Blades to build up adrenaline and activate "Watch Yourself!". Now just cycle through your attack skills, reapply the defense skills when they run out and heal whenever necessary. Only use Healing Signet if both your defensive skills are active!

Take heed of the enemy notes below.

Getting There
From the starting point in the Fissure head south, hugging the wall to your right. A group of several Shadow creatures will be in your way. With luck, you can slip past them without aggroing them. If not just keep running till you are right in the middle of them, then use Sprint. Continue up the ledge roughly to the southeast. A group of Shadow Warriors and Shadow Monks will approach from the front. If you didn't aggro the first group or have already broken aggro, you can wait in a small recess in the wall to the southwest until the second group has come to a halt on the ledge above the path. You can use this pause to heal, if necessary. If there is still something chasing you, just sprint on.

As you pass the second group, a hidden Shadow Beast will pop from the ground. This will also aggro the second group, even if you already cleared it. If you didn't take a break earlier, after clearing the first group, Sprint will run out about now and you will have several mobs following you. Do not panic, just keep running straight to the west until Sprint is recharged. Now you should be far enough so that just activating Sprint will instantly break aggro with anything that is still behind you and the mobs will return to their initial position.

You should be in a relatively wide, open area now, with a small mountain south of you. Further from the south, beyond this mountain, three groups of shadow creatures will approach from a pass in the mountainside. Wait behind the mountain for them to clear the pass, but do not wait too long, as one of those groups will circle around the mountain and come at you from the east. The other two groups should disappear roughly to the northwest.

As soon as the way is open, use Sprint to run down the passage in the mountainside, which will lead you to the shore.

First Contact
On the pass down to the beach, a group of three Snarling Driftwoods will approach from the front. Run towards them as quickly as possible, but beware of the Doubter's Dryder and even more so of the Ancient Skales behind them. You should dispatch the Driftwoods quickly and move on to the Dryder, because soon two of the Shadow patrols that you passed on your way here will come back. There is a safe spot between where the Shadows stop and the area where the Scales are. You should be about on it when you are fighting the Dryder, but watch your radar!

After clearing the pass, wait for another patrol of Driftwoods to approach from the beach. Unfortunately it will stop right in the middle of the Skale's area. This is why you brought a bow. Lure them up to your position and always be careful to stay well away from the Skales.

A Day at the Beach
Now you should take your time to take a look at the beach, as far as you can see it from there. You will see multiple groups of Skales, one more group of Driftwoods and a few lonely Dryders. You should plot your course across the beach so that you aggro as few Skales as possible and also, if possible, so that you fight the Dryders one by one. It is often not possible to get past the first group of Skales, without aggroing them, so use Sprint to get past them and break their aggro quickly. After that you have two options: Keep close to the cliff to the north or go straight south to the waterline. Consider which one to use depending on the locations of the Skales (usually it is better to keep north). Wait for the Driftwoods to come to you, or lure them and if you want, also take out the Dryders.

Continue to the east, again using sprint to get past the Skales, if necessary. You will find yourself in an relatively wide area (to the south you'll see Admiral Saidon the Eternal, usually surrounded by Skales). Kill any Dryders in this area, because you may need a little space to maneuver later. To the east, behind some rocks, is the entrance of the Spider Cave, behind a waterfall and guarded by more Dryders.

Itzy Bitzy Spiders
Lure the first two Dryders away from the cave entrance with your bow, and fight them so that your aggro bubble does not touch their initial position. After you have dispatched them, get a few steps closer to the third Dryder and watch your radar for red dots appearing. Immediately retreat to the wider area to the west (which you have cleared before). Now several groups of three Armored Cave Spiders each will come out of their hiding, one after another, and exit the cave. Wait for them to spread out a little, then engage. Due to the large number of opponents, this is going to be a quite long fight, but you can always break away to the west, using Sprint. During this fight take special care not to aggro any Skales, which may be nearby to the east.

Once this fight in done, the easy part starts. Just enter the cave and kill any Dryders and Spiders you will find. You will not encounter any other creatures in the cave, so you can advance relatively easily. But beware of Shadow Beasts, which may be hidden close to the other end of the cave. If you happen to aggro them when approaching the last Dryder, just sprint back into the cave and wait till the Spiders have taken care of the Shadows.

Now you should have killed 51 Armored Cave Spiders, 12 Snarling Driftwoods and up to 15 Doubter's Dryders, which is about all you can hope to achieve with this build. Of course, you can try to continue further to use any Obsidian Keys you may have found or brought. However, there usually is at least one chest in the area you cleared.

Shadow Creatures
As described above, there is a multitude of Shadow creatures, which you have to pass on your way to the beach. Most dangerous are the Shadow Elementals close to the starting point, as this build is not designed to withstand huge amounts of elemental damage. Also beware Empathy and Spiteful Spirit from Shadow Mesmers and Shadow Beasts. All types of shadow creatures are hostile to all other inhabitants of the Fissure and will engage them on sight. This may especially happen at the pass down towards the beach, where a Shadow patrol may steal your kills of some Snarling Driftwoods.

Note that you can use the Shadow beast popping up for your own good. Make it cast Spiteful Spirit and Mark of Pain on you, or just Mark of Pain, for that's what you are going to use. Immediately after it has cast Mark of Pain on you, use sprint and run into the Snarling Driftwoods, breaking its aggro. Now the only thing you need to do is to stand there and use your defensive skills, because they are enemies of the shadow army as well as yourself and will take huge amounts of damage due to beating on you. You will take no damage from it as it only damages adjacent allies of targeted foe.

Snarling Driftwood
These warriors are just pathetic. Once you have your defenses up, they will not be able to damage you at all. There is, however, one possible danger: If you are engaged in a fight with Driftwoods and want to break away, because you happened to aggro some Ancient Skales, for example, you will probably be crippled and you will find that Protector's Strike is very well capable of penetrating even your high armor level.

Note that you can use the Shadow beast popping up for your own good. Make it cast Spiteful Spirit and Mark of Pain on you, or just Mark of Pain, for that's what you are going to use. Immediately after it has cast Mark of Pain on you, use sprint and run into the snarling driftwoods, breaking its aggro. Now the only thing you need to do is to stand there and use your defensive skills, because they are enemies of the shadow army as well as yourself and will take huge amounts of damage due to beating on you. You will take no damage from it as it only damages adjacent allies of targeted foe.

Doubter's Dryder
As you are no spell caster, the only way for these Dryders to damage you is Wastrel's Worry. Which they will spam. Of course you can easily counter it by spamming skills yourself. Just do not use your attacks as soon as they are recharged, but wait for the Dryder to cast Wastrel's Worry. You will not need your defensive skills in a fight with a Doubter's Dryder, but they can of course be used to end Wastrel's, too. Keep in mind that every Dryder in the cave will spawn six Armored Cave Spiders.

Ancient Skale
Immediately after aggroing them, they will hit you with Life Transfer and Life Siphon for -10 health degeneraton. Once damaged, they will use Grenth's Balance. You will have a very hard time to outperform this with both healing and damage. This is why you should flee them. If you find it hard to get past them, consider boosting your health by swapping armor parts with major or superior runes for parts with minor runes only (don't forget to swap back after you clear the Skales) or using a shield with additional health while hexed. Also, skills like Endure Pain can be helpful.

Armored Cave Spider
They always come in groups of three, although at the cave entrance it will be next to impossible (but also irrelevant) to spot which ones belong together. Once you have your defenses up, their attacks should deal next to no damage. You will still be poisoned, though, and will have to heal yourself frequently. The spiders have the nasty habit of healing each other with Healing Springs. One possibility to overcome this is to wait outside the aggro radius for the spiders to spread out far enough so that they are out of each other's healing radius. However, this time consuming tactic often is unnecessary, as the spiders will stop using Healing Spring as soon you are stand immediately adjacent to them (Note: You know you are within range if your non-AoE melee attack can hit them. Being able to hit them with AoE weapon skills such as Cyclone Axe or Hundred Blades is not necessarily close enough). So when engaging a group of Spiders, position yourself so that you are standing right in the middle of them.

Note that if you use conditions on them, you grant them a relatively potent self-heal (Melandru's Resilience), and they will try to use Healing Spring even if you are in melee range.

Alternatives

 * A W/Rt can use Resilient Weapon for negating the poison and some extra armor.

= W/any Flailing Dragon = The Flailing Dragon is a PvE build designed for sustained damage output. It uses adrenaline-control skills from the Factions and Nightfall campaigns to maintain a steady flow of damaging attacks, and is fairly self-sufficient thanks to reliable condition removal and self-healing.

Attributes and Skills

 * The optional slot is for an area-specific utility skill. For example, use Plague Touch or Mending Touch for condition removal, Distracting Blow for an interrupt, or "Shields Up!" for a party-wide buff.
 * Use any Swordsmanship rune, but do not reduce Swordsmanship below 14, as this upsets the build's adrenaline management.

Equipment

 * Legionnaire's Armor (Factions) or Sentry's Armor (Nightfall) with Superior Vigor and Absorption runes.
 * A sword and shield of your choice; "while stanced" shields are particularly useful.

Usage

 * As you near the enemy, activate Enraging Charge to quickly close to melee range. This will give you an initial burst of adrenaline as you enter the fray. Try to set yourself up near multiple enemies so you can switch quickly from foe to foe in mid-battle.
 * The adrenaline gained from Enraging Charge allows you to activate Flail as soon as you strike your first target.
 * Chain your attacks, using Dragon Slash to maintain adrenaline.
 * While within easy reach of enemies, maintain Flail and use Lion's Comfort to heal yourself when needed.
 * When there are no more targets in your immediate area, you can use Enraging Charge to cancel Flail and quickly move to the next target. If you are engaged in a protracted melee, Enraging Charge can be used to gain a few extra strikes of adrenaline instead.

Counters

 * On-attack hexes, stances that allow a target to block or evade.
 * This build's major weakness is adrenaline denial, which is fairly rare in PvE.

Variants

 * In high-level Nightfall PVE areas, consider adding Lightbringer's Gaze.
 * For improved damage, replace Lion's Comfort or your optional skill with "For Great Justice!" -- this will give you a 20-second window in which you can spam attack skills nonstop.

Equipment

 * Any armor will do, but Gladiator's Armor is not needed as you only have 1 energy skill.
 * Victo's Maul or a similar hammer will do well.

Usage

 * Use Enraging Charge to run into battle and help build adrenaline.
 * Activate Flail as soon as it's charged to speed up adrenaline gain and increase dps.
 * Once your attacks are charged, use Forceful Blow on your enemy. Don't use Forceful Blow if they use blocking stances or enchantments.
 * Follow up with Fierce Blow for more damage.
 * Use Heavy Blow as a finishing move, or if you need a knockdown.
 * Rinse and repeat.

Counters

 * Blindness and Weakness.
 * Anti-Warrior hexes such as Spiteful Spirit and Empathy.

Variants

 * Flail and Enraging Charge could be replaced by Sprint and "Watch Yourself!" for a Factions only build.
 * Counter Blow can be used instead of Heavy Blow for a cheap knockdown.
 * Irresistible Blow could be used to punish blocking.

= W/any Prophecies Tanker = The build is for General PVE, Sorrow's Furnace farm and other things. This build is mainly for those wanna-be tankers that have only Prophecies, but not only for them. This build uses a sword with Zealous prefix and Hundred Blades, to hold aggro and quickly gain Energy and Adrenaline to maintain defensive skills and party buffs.

Equipment

 * Any armor will do fine.
 * Any good shield.
 * Any good sword with Zealous prefix on it, like Shak-Jarin's Sword
 * Any headgear that boosts one of the three attributes. If you don't use Tactics headgear then you can change Minor Tactics rune to Major.

Usage

 * With 14 to Tactics, Defensive Stance and Disciplined Stance can be use continually with 1 second gap between them. %22Watch Yourself%21%22 between the stances.
 * Defensive Stance ends if you use a skill, so you can only use Healing Signet while its off. Use Hundred Blades, Deadly Riposte and %22Shields Up%21%22 only while Disciplined Stance is on.

Counters

 * blindness, ward against melee.

Variants

 * Healing Signet can be replaced with riposte for some more attacking power. NOTE - you can only use riposte between the stances with Watch Yourself!.

Equipment

 * Sundering Axe of Axe Mastery or fortitude
 * Radiant Insignia on all the armor
 * Superior Vigor,Superior Absortion, and a Rune of Attunement

Usage
Steady Stance--> Drunken Blow or Desperation Blow--> Soldier's Strike--> "Watch Yourself!" (While Soldier's Strike is Activating, because shouts can be used while other skills are activating)--> "Fear Me!"
 * The best combo to use is...
 * By that time, Steady stance should be recharged (the whole combo takes 5 seconds), and you can go at it again

Even if you miss with desperation blow or drunken blow with Steady Stance active, you will still get the adrenaline and energy gain, so that can still be used without fear of wasting energy, and to keep up energy management
 * If you run low on energy (You get rezzed, or just have low energy), a good way to regain it is to take Soldier's Strike out of the rotation until you can get your energy back up with steady stance

Another decent combo is to use "Fear Me!" to drain lots of energy from enemy troops. Use "Fear Me!" then while shouting use the steady stance combo, once you strike "Fear Me!" would have been recharged and shout it again, then use Soldier's Strike to recharge "Fear Me!". Within five seconds every nearby enemy just lost 12 energy which can be quite devastating to elementals because of some of the large energy requirements.

Variants

 * Use a hammer for more spike damage
 * Use a Sword and switch out a skill for Riposte
 * Switch healing signet for Lion's Comfort
 * If using a sword, you could switch out a skill for Final Thrust since you build adrenaline so fast
 * If you know you will be healed, then switch healing signet out for an attack skill. this build gains lots of adreniline fast, so choose an adrenal skill
 * Sun and Moon Slash can be used
 * Assassin secondaries can use Signet of Malice. With all the conditions you are spreading, you will remove many from yourself if this is used right
 * If using an axe, you can use Critical Chop
 * If using an axe, Disrupting Chop is a good, spammable interrupt.
 * Change to W/D and use a scythe instead. Scythes will condition all foes hit with the AoE of the scythe.

Counters

 * Standard Warrior counters (eg Mesmers, Crippling)
 * Knockdowns can delay the combo, but not by much
 * Energy denial can be easy, because 2 pips of energy can easily be taken away, and if the warriors' energy is constantly below 5, they can't use steady stance and Drunken Blow or Desperation Blow for energy management

= W/any Triple Chop PvE Tank = This build utilizes the Warrior's Axe Mastery line to deal tremendous damage to adjacent foes, through the use of the elite skill Triple Chop, and its non-elite counterpart, Cyclone Axe. Through these two skills, the user is able to strike multiple foes at once with high damage, resulting in very high adrenaline gain. In combination with skills from the Tactics and Strength line, the user is able to strike quickly, as well as gaining adequate defense for such environments.

Equipment

 * A Zealous Axe should be used to maintain Energy at a suitable level.
 * Runes of Superior Axe Mastery, Superior Vigor, Minor Tactics, Superior Absorption, Minor Strength.
 * Max AL armor with any Insignia can be used, but you may want to use Radiant armor for the extra energy boost.
 * A +1 to Axe Mastery headpiece.

Usage

 * When fighting, be sure to use Triple Chop and Cyclone Axe constantly to maintain a high DPS.
 * Try to fight in the center of a mob, rather than chasing down lone targets, providing that there is no target with very high priority.
 * Avoid chasing targets too far, as it can result in aggroing other, nearby groups, which puts the entire party at risk.
 * Activate Flail for an attack speed boost.
 * "Watch Yourself!" should be spammed constantly to give your entire party an armor boost.
 * Remove enemy Stances with Wild Blow, or for fighting single targets.
 * Disrupting Chop should be used to interrupt long-casting, crucial spells such as Meteor Shower.
 * It should also be used against enemies spamming certain spells, or on enemy healers.
 * Use Healing Signet as a secondary source of healing. Note that you have an Armor penalty while activating this skill, so avoid using it in high-pressure situations.

Counters

 * Blind can be troublesome, if not removed properly.
 * Hexes which deal damage on attacking or on hitting can be devastating, since you're constantly striking multiple targets.
 * Diversion can greatly reduce your damage capability if not avoided.

Variants

 * Other types of IAS such as Tiger Stance and Burst of Aggression may be used in place of Flail, if you think the speed penalty is a problem.
 * Bonetti's Defense can be useful for tanking, and is quickly charged through your attacks.
 * You may want to replace Disrupting Chop with Distracting Blow for a faster interrupt, at the expense of an adrenaline-based interrupt.
 * "Retreat!" can be useful for cases where the party gets overwhelmed.
 * In places where stance removal or interrupts aren't entirely necessary, fit in an attack such as Executioner's Strike or Dismember.
 * Replace Healing Signet with Lion's Comfort for a faster heal, at the expense of recharge time and Adrenaline cost.
 * If you think you'll need a speed-enhancing stance, or a cancel for Flail, consider taking Rush or Enraging Charge.
 * With a monk secondary vigorous spirit can be used for a good heal when sufficient aggro is taken.