Guide to defeating Magni the Bison

Magni the Bison
Magni the Bison is a level 24 warrior boss, with all that being a boss entails: a very long lifeline (you have to take about 1300 HP off him to win), double damage, +3 health regeneration, and half skill activation time. If you don't have any defensive skills but try to trade hits, you'll probably die within ten seconds. As such, any strategy to beat the tournament must start with a way to beat him. There are at least five basic approaches that can usually work:


 * Keep him blinded so he rarely hits you.
 * Keep him crippled and kill him from a distance.
 * Keep him weakened to limit damage and bring copious healing.
 * Bring myriad blocking skills to block most of his attacks.
 * Keep Protective Spirit on yourself to limit his damage.

Bison has two knockdown skills, so even some skills will be interrupted if he hits you. He also has a third skill which will knock you down if you block it, so blocking skills don't reduce his knockdowns by much. This means that relatively few builds can invariably beat him, though many can beat him most of the time, if you don't get knocked down to interrupt a cast at exactly the wrong time.

Further, Bison has Purge Signet, which will remove all hexes and conditions from him. He won't use it just to remove crippled or bleeding, but will use it as often as the cooldown allows to remove blindness, weakness, burning, dazed, or poison. As such, if you're relying on kiting him, it may be best to avoid using conditions other than crippled and bleeding, so that you don't push him to use purge signet to remove crippled.

As he is a warrior, if you use a martial weapon, switching to one that does elemental damage can make the battle go faster. This is rarely the difference between winning and losing, but can substantially shorten some long battles.

Assembling a build
As you must beat five other opponents in order to reach Bison, any build that can beat him but not preceding opponents is useless. The way to fill out your build after bringing skills that can beat Bison in particular is to add other skills in the remaining slots to make a well-rounded build.

Skills that affect multiple opponents or multiple allies tend to be less useful here, as there is usually only one opponent and only one ally (namely, you). Skills that incapacitate just one opponent can be highly useful, as that's usually everyone that you have to face.

The polar opposite of Bison's massive damage with no healing approach is the opponents who have little interest in killing you, but will spam self-heals to try for a stalemate. You'll have to bring skills to either cause a substantial damage spike of 200+ HP within several seconds, or else bring interrupts or some other way to stop their healing.

It is also vital that you bring self-healing skills. Many mobs cannot be finished off before they'll do enough damage to kill you if you can't heal yourself. For several opponents, it is necessary to wait until they are low on energy before you can do much damage, and you'll have to spend a lot of time healing before that.

Health degeneration hexes and conditions are useful, as unlike a lot of PvE combat where you put a 20 second condition on a mob and it dies 5 seconds later, you often get the full duration of health degeneration on the opponent--and if you don't, it usually means you won.

Opponents with interrupts can pretty reliably interrupt a skill they don't like with an activation time of 1 second or more if you don't have a way to prevent it. Skills with a 3/4 second activation time are only infrequently interrupted. Skills that activate faster than that are pretty safe to cast, and generally interrupted only by dumb luck when an opponent knocks you down without trying to interrupt anything in particular. If you need to get a longer cast off, doing so while your opponent is using a different skill can prevent him from using an interrupt at the same time.

A simple trick to increase your maximum health at least a little, is to activate your Norn Title. Even a rank of 1 will provide you with an additional 53 HP. 55-HP monks and similar builds should NOT activate this title, because it would probably screw those builds.

Single class builds
If you don't have all of the campaigns, that may make some skills in the builds listed unavailable to you. Some skills are easily swapped out for others (e.g., if you don't have Prophecies, replace disciplined stance by some other blocking stance) but some are essential to the build (e.g., the mesmer build completely fails without signet of midnight). It is too much work to create builds that work for every class and every combination of campaigns available, so you're on your own to fix up a build.

The builds here have all been extensively tested, and can certify that they all beat Bison most of the time if used properly. They handily defeat most of the earlier opponents,

Warrior
The core of this build revolves around:

With maxed Tactics and a solid investment into both Strength and Swordsmanship

The idea is to block most of Bison's attacks while hurting him as well. Since the ripostes are the skills that topple Magni, it leaves you plenty of room to tailor your bar.

Suggested skills are:
 * A healing skill, Healing Signet or Lion's Comfort should suffice.
 * A general multi-purpose elite, something like Ursan Blessing, Grenth's Balance or Auspicious Parry are all possible skills. This is because they all work against Magni but also against the other opponents (to varying degrees).
 * A interrupt. While not totally needed, if timed correctly can devastate many of the opponents you will face.
 * Some attack skills. Final Thrust and Sun and Moon Slash are both respectable skills to take as they can help finish off the last dreg's of your opponent's life

Ranger
The core of this build revolves around:

A solid split between Expertise and Wilderness Survival. Also try to reach the minimum level for your bow.

The approach here is to keep Bison perpetually crippled, so that you can avoid getting hit. If you avoid using poison, Bison won't use purge signet, which makes him easier to kite, though poison will finish him off faster.

Monk
13 Protection Prayers 11 Smiting Prayers 11 Divine Favor

Keep Protective Spirit and Retribution up at all times against Bison, and Defender's Zeal on him as much of the time as possible. Protective spirit ensures that he can't knock too much life off of you. Reversal of Fortune is your main healing spell, and you'll have to use it every several seconds. Retribution and Reversal of Damage are how you do the damage to kill Bison. Defender's Zeal and Castigation Signet are for energy management, and the latter should be used as often as possible.

This build cannot beat Razah or Devona, but can beat the rest of those I fought. Of the opponents I haven't faced, it would likely struggle with Danika and Mhenlo. Opponents that rely heavily on degeneration are typically difficult, but beatable. Those that like to start healing at about half life can usually be finished off with Bane Signet, Holy Strike, and Castigation Signet in that order, starting just above the threshold at which the character heals, and while the character is attacking so that bane signet will knock him down. This doesn't work with Devona because her lifeline is just too long.

Opponents not attempted: Alesia, Melonni, Danika, Ghostly Hero, Mhenlo

Necromancer
14 Blood magic 13 Curses

Sorry to use a pve-only skill here, but without a decent direct damage skill, it simply wasn't possible to do adequate damage against some opponents. Having a reasonably high Sunspear rank (I had rank 8) is only necessary against a couple opponents like Devona and Alesia that play for the stalemate, not the win.

You're going to get hit a lot, so you must keep Bison weakened at all times, and you'll still need massive healing. Enfeeble and enfeebling touch are both necessary to ensure that one is always available, as otherwise, Bison could get a few hits off right after purging weakness. Use blood renewal as often as available, and Grenth's balance right after blood renewal, to fully heal yourself after the substantial sacrifice. Use parasitic bond for additional healing as energy allows. You mainly damage Bison with Grenth's balance.

I was able to beat all the opponents I faced. Of those that I didn't face, only Old Mac and Danika look potentially troublesome.

Opponents not attempted: Melonni, Old Mac, Danika, Panaku, Kahmu, Nika

Mesmer
14 Domination Magic 12 Inspiration Magic 7 Fast Casting

Keep ignorance on Bison at all times, so that he can't purge blindness. Keep him perpetually blinded as well with signet of midnight. Spirit of failure is great energy management, as at 12 inspiration magic, it's +3 energy every time he misses, which is 92.5% of the time. Empathy is how you do damage, and use ether feast to heal as needed.

The only opponent I faced that I couldn't beat was Danika, though she may be beatable with alternate tactics. Razah is difficult, but beatable. This build handily destroys everyone else I faced. Potentially annoying enemy healing is blocked with either spirit shackles or ignorance, depending on the opponent. Of those I didn't fight, only Gwen looks like trouble.

Opponents not attempted: Koss, Gwen, Mhenlo, Nika

Elementalist
14 Air Magic 11 Energy Storage 9 Earth Magic

The idea is to spam blinding surge on Bison to keep him blinded most of the time. Kinetic armor reduces the damage you take when hit, and should be easy to cast once and keep up for the rest of the battle after that. Aura of restoration can outheal the damage that Bison does when he occasionally lands a hit. Air attunement and glyph of lesser energy are for energy management, and should be used as often as possible.

I beat everyone I faced with this build, and expect that it should destroy the opponents I didn't face. Mhenlo takes long enough that if you draw him as an opponent, it may be quicker to just give up. Beating Mhenlo requires interrupting two consecutive casts of healing breeze, which can take many tries, as you must start casting gale before he starts casting healing breeze in order to interrupt it.

Opponents not attempted: Orion, Danika, Razah, Nika

Assassin
12 Shadow Arts 12 Dagger Mastery 11 Critical Strikes

Start the fight by using smoke powder defense. When Bison first hits you, he'll be blinded, and immediately purge it. Be ready with temple strike immediately after he purges his blindness. Wait until right about when that wears off to hit him with blinding powder. If you wait long enough, he'll waste purge signet removing blindness right as it is about to wear off, at which point you hit him with temple strike again and repeat the process. If you wait too long, you'll have to use smoke powder defense to re-blind him in order to get him to waste purge signet. Shadow refuge is your healing skill. Jagged strike is recommended for its very quick recharge, low energy cost, and ability to do massive damage from bleeding since you can only use it infrequently due to energy constraints and the large energy cost of temple strike.

I was able to beat all the opponents I faced except Lukas, though Gwen and Razah can also be troublesome. Lukas is beatable with this build, too, though, as I twice came within a timely interrupt of healing signet of beating him. Among opponents I did not face, only Eve looks like a potential problem.

Opponents not attempted: Kilroy, Old Mac, Eve, Devona

Ritualist
13 Channeling 11 Communing 11 Spawning Power

Start by casting ritual lord and boon of creation before the battle starts, so that if something goes wrong, you can recast spirits later. Stand in the doorway before entering the arena and cast the four spirits in order. You should position yourself such that when the door closes, the spirits will be inside of it--and not behind it, or it will block their attacks. Cast painful bond on your opponent when he comes over, and the spirits will promptly destroy him. Vampirism can replace one of the spirits if you have it. Putting spirits inside the doorway strikes me as something of an exploit, so ArenaNet may fix it at some point and make the popular spirit spammer approach no longer work. If they do then you can use Summon Spirits to pull the spirits through the door (you must cast after you cross the threshhold but before the gate fully closes or they will remain outside).

The only opponent I didn't beat was Danika, though the game randomly minimized in the middle of the battle, so that fight probably wasn't very representative. Mhenlo, Norgu, and Razah have funky AI, so the battle proceeds a little differently, but they're quite beatable. Argo will destroy the spirits while taking minimal damage, making for a harder fight. The opponents I didn't draw should be easy unless they have unusual AI to not die in the normal manner.

Opponents not attempted: Sogolon, Old Mac, Nika

Dervish
Key (from left): Ebon Dust Aura, Mystic Regeneration, Vital Boon, Aura of Thorns, Signet of Pious Light, Mystic Sweep, Radiant Scythe and Conviction


 * 12 Mysticism
 * 12 Scythe Mastery
 * 11 Earth Prayers

It is absolutely essential to use an ebon scythe. If you don't have one, you can try to compensate with dust cloak or staggering force.

Stay enchanted with Ebon Dust Aura at all times, use scythe attack skills as often as necessary to keep Bison virtually always blinded. Mystic Regeneration, Vital Boon, and Signet of Pious Light are your healing skills to keep yourself alive. Scythe attacks do adequate damage to slowly wear Bison down, though the bleeding from Aura of Thorns would hasten it.

This build has not been tested against: Kilroy, Sogolon, Melonni, Warmaster Tydus

During testing, it was discovered that Mhenlo was only deflatable if he did not cast Mending early on in the battle.

Paragon
14 Spear mastery 13 Motivation 4 Leadership

Start by charging barbed spear, then use it, followed by maiming spear to cripple Bison. You can then run around to kite him, periodically stopping to use barbed spear and maiming spear again. Use mending refrain if you get hit, but maiming spear lasts long enough that you should rarely get hit other than his initial flurry. Avoid using stunning strike or blazing spear, as these will lead him to use purge signet, and thus remove both bleeding and crippled. You can use disrupting throw for its 1/2 second activation time as a quick extra attack to charge barbed spear a little faster if needed.

I beat all the opponents I faced, though Razah is hard if it opens with wanderlust or shadowsong, before you can apply a condition and interrupt it. Among those I haven't fought, Danika and the Ghostly Hero look troublesome, the latter because immunity to bleeding really messes up this build.

Opponents not attempted: Kilroy, Danika, Ghostly Hero, Headmaster Vhang, Nika

Other builds
This section is for the various other builds that others have posted on this page. GuildWiki can make no promises about their effectiveness, and only relabeled the headings for truth in advertising on which classes and title tracks are needed.

Assassin
15 Critical Strikes 12 Dagger Mastery 9 Shadow Arts

A standard Critical Strike assassin will also beat many opponents, including Magni. You may have to retry should you meet Gwen or some few others, however. Put the maximum you can in Critical Strikes, Daggers at 12 and enough Shadow Arts to get some decent healing from Way of Perfection. The build is straightforward to use; absolutely nothing fancy, mostly all-out attack. Keep the four first effects active at all time (Critical Defenses should take care of itself as it recharges at every critical you land) and everything should be fine: Critical Defenses will stay active throughout the fight, giving a constant 75% block chance, while Way of Perfection should be able to heal whatever gets through. Be aware that Critical Strike is a sure way to both heal you and recharge your energy. Be sure to land the Horns of the Ox/Falling Spider as often as you can.

Warrior/Necromancer/Norn/Deldrimor
12+1+1(14) Swordsmanship

12+1(13) Strength

(Also requires a stonefist insignia on a armor piece)

This build requires use of a sword.

This build uses a infinite KD lock to defeat opponents. At the start of the match, you should use enraging charge and go to the opposing fighter and use "You Move Like a Dwarf!" to their interrupt key skills (Ex: Interrupt Norgu's Visions of Regret or Eve's Insidious Parasite ) After, use "For Great Justice!" and Flail. If you use them fast enough, the foe will just be getting up. As soon as you hit the first time, you will gain enough adrenaline to use Brawling Headbutt. Use it, and quickly follow up by Steelfang Slash and Dragon Slash. Repeat the combo until the match is over. (Always keep up flail, and use Plague Touch to pass back any negative conditions.)

Opponents not attempted: Palawa Joko

Link to where the build originated

Warrior/Necromancer/Sunspear

 * Works very well against melee and OK against the others though you do need to be a bit more careful and watch your timing and bars. The only opponents where this possibly fails is Mhenlo and Argo. When you get to Magni the Bison the easiest approach is to run around until the bear form wears off then turn and face him.  You will be able to take him down well before he tries to re-cast.

Warrior/Any
13 Strength 11 Tactics 11 Swordsmanship

Use Summon Mursaat, then Assassin, Run in and Attack using defense skills until your energy is at 10 then use Ursan Blessing and finish the job.

Another build that works is using a riposte build, using skills such as Riposte and Deadly Riposte, allowing you to send damage back to Bison as he hits you, while cutting off actual damage too you (Be careful of his Irrisistible Blow, this will not be blocked, and will knock you down). All you have to do is either run around until Bison's bear form wears off, or interrupt it early.

A smart idea might be to bring consumables (Grail of Might, Armor of Salvation, Essence of Clarity, Powerstone of Courage) if you are having trouble fighting Bison. (Note, this can be expensive, and will require doing the correct quest and/or getting level three in the Delmidor, Ebon Vanguard, Asura, and Norn reputation tracks)

Warrior/Norn
Is a build which works against everyone.

With Bison (and some others eg Kahmu)target them as soon as possible and shout "You Move Like a Dwarf!" whilst running in with Enraging Charge, this interrupts bear form / elite form and enchantments.

With melee and melee caster opponents start by alternating Riposte and Deadly Riposte then cast Endure Pain and Dolyak Signet before switching to Ursan Blessing to finish them off.

Ursan will disable enchantments but Endure Pain and Dolyak Signet will remain active during your bear form so cast them just before switching and then pound away with bear attacks.

With pure casters, interrupt, buff and change form as soon as possible.

For the optional skill, either take a pet along for extra damage and the distraction factor, extra damage buffs, self heal skills eg Healing Signet / Lions Comfort or if you are lucky enough to be a necro secondary, a life stealing skill eg Vampiric Gaze for use against Mhenlo.

If you miss with "You Move Like a Dwarf!" first time and have Norn level 5 or greater don't dispair, the recast time is shorter than the duration allowing you to keep Bison crippled long enough to easily keep out of his way until his bear form wears off. If you are lower than 5 run round using Riposte and Deadly Riposte as above or trying to avoid his attacks until bear form runs out.

Ranger/Mesmer/Norn
I found that the build

Use Ursan Blessing for all the fights except Magni, whilst using it equip a melee weapon to help you stay in range whilst using Ursan Rage and Ursan Roar, spam the first two skills in the Ursan skillbar as often as possible (perhaps timing the knockdowns to interrupt healing). The other 7 skills are needed only to defeat Magni, although they will work on all of the melee opponents. Simply stand at the enterance, far enough out to so that the doors don't close but that if you step forward a little they will. Lay down the two spirits, then use Serpent's Quickness and spam the traps until Energizing Wind dies. Once it is dead recast it and lay down a couple more traps whilst keeping Serpent's Quickness up. Hopefully only ~15 seconds will have past since you recast Energizing Wind... that means you have about 15 seconds to lure Magni onto your traps (easily done). The essential bit here is that you'll need 25 energy spare for your next move. Simply step foward, let the doors close and he will come to you. Once he is within range cast Ignorance (to prevent him removing your lovely conditions) and then Ursan Blessing; using Ursan Strike as soon as you have done that. Once he gets within melee distance of you simply use Ursan Rage to knock him down and he will be helpless to your traps. If he survives your traps then using your Ursan skills will quickly bring him down the rest of the way. This sounds a hell of a lot more complicated than it really is, this was a guide for non-trappers though, it is actualy just really similar to R/Me Echo Trapping for those that have done it before, which I realise isn't everyone. Since you can use Ursan Blessing on any profession you can tailor your build to be anything that specifically does damage against Magni (without the use of an Elite)

Ranger/Norn
This ones a bit tricky to use:

Pretty much, this works, but might be tricky. If you do it right, it's easy.

First, use "IATS" because thats always the best to use at the beginning. Apply poison, lay Dust Trap, use "You Move Like a Dwarf!" to knock down and cripple him, and shoot Bison with Sloth Hunter's Shot as many times as you can. Keep Shooting him without using any other skills. When he hits the dust trap, he'll be blinded for about 5-12 seconds depending on your Wilderness Survival level. Don't panic if he hits you. You might think that he hits you because he is no longer blind. Wait and look at his eyes for the black dots coming out of them. If he really isn't blind anymore, use throw dirt until that wears off.

-NOTE- Beware that Bison can get rid of Blindness prematurely, so I don't recommend counting the seconds.

Now for the tricky bit. If "You Move Like a Dwarf!" has recharged, (Which I doubt) or you haven't used it yet, use it now to buy some time. Now you should start running and use Ursan Blessing. Use Ursan Rage along with Ursan Force to knock him down if you can't with YMLaD. Run, and whenever Ursan Rage recharges, use it. But make sure Bison is right behind you. If he is, by the time Rage activates, he will be right next to you and it will knock him down. Keep doing this. When you use Ursan Force, he will run to the opposite side of the arena if you are too far ahead. At this point, use Ursan Strike as much as possible until he comes back.

Ranger/Warrior/Norn
I was finally able to beat the Tournament using only skills from Prophecies and EOTN using the following setup:

Swordsmanship 10 Tactics 9 Expertise 9+3 Wilderness Survival 8+3

Run straight in shouting YMLaD as soon as I get in range. This interrupts his Bear form and saves a lot of pain later on. Then I just used Lightning Reflexes, Riposte, and Deadly Riposte to block most of his attacks while still dealing 50-60 damage. The Poison signet allowed me to degen (This comes in handy during the first 5 rounds) My armor is stacked to absorb loads of elemental damage. This allows me to use Greater Conflagration to lessen the amount of damage I was taking when he hit me. Antidote signet comes in handy for fighting people who use blinding attacks. Finally, use Healing signet as much as possible, when possible try to knock him down before using healing signet.

Monk/Mesmer/Asura
16 Smiting Prayers 10 Protection Prayers 10 Divine Favor 3 Inspiration

Don't bother trying to fight the monks with this. Most enemies can be easily managed with different tactic here.

Monk/Assassin
Smiting Prayers 16 Deadly Arts 9 Dagger Mastery 9

Against any enemy just use the chain, they should die before using iron palm. For Magni precast Reversal, and cast it once more after Holy Strike, then continue the chain and finish with reversal. Then Kite away and keep casting reversal on recharge. Rinse and repeat.

Necromancer/Mesmer/Norn/Ebon Vanguard
I used the following set to easily farm the tournament:

Blood Magic 16 Curses 12 Norn Rank 5 Ebon Vanguard Rank 5

Start each round with Signet of Agony and then Arcane Echo before the door even opens. The amazing power of Echoed Assassins should see you through the first six rounds, most fights taking less than ten seconds. Against Bison the most important skill is YMLAD, which will allow you to play keep away and attack with Echoed Angorodons. Grenth's Balance is there for emergencies; if you're feeling brave you can allow Bison to hit you once and then Balance him for a bunch of damage.

Faintheartedness is there so melee chars don't kill off your dual assassins too quickly, and Strip Enchantment is there specifically for Alesia. Before I used this build I couldn't even touch Bison; the night I started with this build I got my cup and crown in less than an hour. The only opponents that give me trouble are Alesia (too much healing, kills assassins quickly) and Gwen (OMG interrupts). -- Monthenor, 10:55 27Sep2007 (CDT)

Necromancer/Monk
Based on the 55 monk this build requires 55 gear.

When entering a new round, cast Mending. Approach the enemy and cast Protective Spirit. Cast Spoil Victor on foe and just wait until he/she dies. If necesary, finish foe with Necrosis. Use Healing Breeze to counter quick damage or health degeneration.

Notes:

-Mhenlo will only die using Vampiric Gaze. One single cast of that skill should be enough.

-Use Rend Enchantments on enemies such as dervishes or earth elementals to make them easier to kill.

-Razah doesn't attack so he'll only go down by spamming Necrosis.

-Mesmers are easy, just cast Spoil Victor before they can interrupt you. They`ll go down without having to cast any other spell. Use Healing Breeze as a cover enchantment if needed.

-For Magni, cast Parasitic Bond, wait until he removes it with Purge Signet, then cast Spoil Victor. Recast it when he uses Purge Signet again.

Mesmer/Norn/Ebon Vanguard
Right 4 skills are for round 1 to 5, and left 4 skills are for Bison. See also User:GTD for more details.

--

I finally beat him with this Me/N build that I modified from one I found in the PvX build site.

12 Death Magic 9 Fast Casting

Mesmer/Necromancer/Norn/Ebon Vanguard
For most enemies, hitting the first 4 skills in a row and spamming Necrosis kills almost all of them very quickly. With Bison, start with "You Move Like a Dwarf!" to interrupt bear form, then Fetid Ground, Vile Miasma and Necrosis. His purge signet will clear the conditions but they still do a good amount of damage. Kite until the energy is back and repeat. Use Grenth's balance when he gets a few hits in to heal and do damage to him. Ignorance is good if energy permits.

Mesmer
Fast Casting: 10+1 Domination: 12+3+1 Inspiration: 8

Getting there gets a problem with some opponents, such as Razah and Gwen, but almost any other opponent is manageable or quite easy. For Bison, just keep him blinded and under Ignorance and Empathy. Mantra of Inscriptions is used for keeping him blind. Whenever he hits you, start kiting and heal with Ether Feast until you're full health again. He'll eventually die from Empathy.

Skill code: OQBDAqwDO6ANwIgD8AAqoAoA

Elementalist/Necromancer/Sunspear
Seems like Air is the way to go for elementalists.

Given that you are inflicting a lot of conditions, Necrosis gives good damage every cast. Just keep him blind/weakened and apply cracked armor as often as you can. Javelin is handy for an interrupt.

The inclusion of shock or gale is beneficial vs the bison (substitute for javelin). It will give you enough time to re-blind him after purge (or as interrupt of course).

Elementalist/Necromancer
A standard Air build focusing on killing quickly. Before you aggro, cast your Enchantments. AoR is there as a cover, and for self-heal against a random hit from Bison. This build worked against most opponents. For Danika: Wear her out a bit, and when she gets BR'd by Brutus, spike Sheena with Lightning Hammer, Lightning Orb. For Bison: Begin with Enchantments and such. Open your attack chain with Blinding Flash. He will immediately remove it, but that won't matter. Once he is in melee range, your Blinding Flash should be recharged, and thus he won't score a hit. If your Flash is recharged, count to 4 and recast. If you see him casting Purge Signet, or know it's about to come, time a Flash so he had just casted Purge Signet, and is blinded again. If he manages to score a hit, just keep casting, the wounds will heal due to AoR.

Assassin/Dervish/Ebon Vanguard
Most important is blind, it helps greatly against Bison and other martial characters. I used

By far not a perfect build but was able to kill everyone, Mhenlo can be hard, but if you are fast enough with twisting fangs he to can be beaten. The rest is a question of spamming Sneak attack and keeping your hp regen skills up which will out-heal most damage.

Assassin/Dervish
Dagger Mastery 11+2 Critical Strikes 12+1 Earth Prayers 8

Mystic Regeneration, Critical Agility, and Critical Defenses will tear up melee opponents. The only tricky fights are Eve and Vhang. Argo flatly cannot be beaten with this build unless you substitute Expunge Enchantments for Fleeting Stability. Gwen can also not be beaten with this build unless you substitute condition removal for Fleeting Stability. For Bison, keep up Fleeting Stability and use Critical Strikes frequently to keep your energy up.

I did it cleanly (with only Eve and Norgu being impossible and Vhang and Kisai tricky)

Dagger Mastery 10+2 Shadow Arts 8+1 Critical Strikes 10+3 Earth Prayers 8

Ritualist
An effective ritualist strategy for winning the tournament is spirit-spamming. About five damage dealing spirits, and the Painful Bond hex on your opponent, will usually defeat most opponents in just two or three waves of spirit attacks. However, if you cast them before the door opens, when you enter the arena, the door closes behind you and your spirits are cut off and unable to attack. The trick here is to wait for the door to open, then stand in the doorway and cast your spirits there. As long as you're only halfway in, the door will not close and the round will not begin, but your spirits will be positioned such that they can attack once the round begins.

If you face Norgu, he will provide a bit of scare while you're doing this. Unlike most opponents, he doesn't wait on the other side of the arena for you to enter, but will instead run forward and cast Backfire on you while you're still standing in the doorway summoning spirits. Don't worry about it, it's harmless while you're just using rituals, and it will wear off by the time you're ready to enter the arena and cast Painful Bond on him, and he doesn't do anything else until you enter the arena.

When you enter the area, it's a good idea to run sideways a bit to put some space between you and the spirits. Several of your opponents may open with an AoE attack, and alas, spirits don't dodge. Best to draw fire away from them.

Two troublesome opponents you may face while getting to the final round are Razah and Danika. Razah is problematic because it is also running a spirit-spammer build, and it seems content to just stand at the other end of the arena summoning spirits while you stand at your end with yours, not coming into range of your spirits. You can try to lure it out, but you'll put yourself in range of its spirits in the process. Bringing Gaze of Fury will make Razah much easier to deal with.

Danika is problematic because she shows up with her two wallow friends, and your spirits probably won't stay concentrated on Danika. Combine that with her excellent healing skills, and she's a problem to take down. Interestingly, she doesn't appear at the opposite end of the arena like other opponents but often waits closer to the middle. If you're lucky, you can carefully edge up enough to get your spirits to start attacking her without having the doorway close behind you, in which case, she and her friends don't attack back. This makes things much easier.

Finally, you'll get to Bison himself. Bison's pretty easy as long as you do one important thing: wait for him to use his Purge Signet once before casting Painful Bond on him. If you cast it right away, he just purges the hex, and the damage output from your spirits alone will probably not take him out before Shadowsong expires, at which point it becomes much more difficult to defeat him. But if you wait, the hex will stay on him long enough so that you'll defeat him right about when the Shadowsong spirit finally gives up the ghost. You might have to dodge him for a few seconds, but victory and the Bison Cup (or more tokens) will be yours.

There's probably a million ways to make an effective spirit spammer, but for the record, here's what I used:

Cast the first five in the doorway, enter the arena, cast the sixth on your opponent, and wait for victory. Use the last two as needed.

Dervish/Assassin
Ebon Scythe Snathe is needed.

When he purges his blind Vital Boon, Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention, should keep you alive long enough for you to use sweep (IF you kept track of the purge recharge and didn't just use it) blind him again. Use Eternal Aura to Keep up Heart of Fury 3 times in a row.

Paragon/Warrior/Deldrimor/Norn
12 Tactics 12 Spear Mastery 10 Leadership

Keep casters Dazed with Awe and feel free to use both knockdown skills; for a better energy management, do not use attack skills (Alesia may be an exception), and they'll go down fast. Even faster will this do with melee fighters, including dervishes and Bison. Immediately knock him down with YMLAD to prevent his Bear Form.