Talk:Duel of the Houses

Only took me and the henchies 30+ deaths to complete this. Why can't they give henchies these sort's of skills or AI? --SK 18:59, 19 May 2006 (CDT)


 * It can be very easy or very hard with henchies. Easy if YOU have the right skills, hard if you don't. :) I can farm this quest with my ele (as a fire nuker) and completely wipe out the whole party in 20 seconds, and I died like 5 times and gave up on it with my monk (being a fourth healer to Danika, Karl and the good Professor). The main problem is the Kurzick Elementalist casting Unsteady Ground which (like most AoE) totally owns the henchies. If they can get it off (more than one possibly) then hecnhies will most likely die because you can't tell them to spread out.
 * Unless you have strong AoE stuff yourself, I'd suggest you run around and make it a long battle. The drawback of course is that it would no longer be good for faction farming, would it? :) --Karlos 19:46, 19 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Taking a page from the farmers, traps or stuff like Bed of Coals (which you can precast while the enemies are still friendly to you) will do a lot for you - this is all fighting dirty, of course. Breaking their Res Signets is paramount, as it saves a lot of time and effort. I've also seen massive damage done by a smiter.
 * The nearby Wardens will fight the Kurzick duelists, at least as long as they're green, so one way to potentially do this mission with minimal resources (though not minimal time) would be to attract a whole gang of Wardens and pull them into the duelists (Duel Master Vaughn is conveniently impervious to attacks, as far as I can tell). &mdash; 130.58 (talk) ( 20:05, 19 May 2006 (CDT) )


 * Heh, with the new update it is absolutely impossible with henchies. They appear to have given the opponents unlimited rezes. Even the Vasburgs will own you now. 212.202.233.2 23:06, 19 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Even faster than before with a real party, however. And more fun! Just don't take the quest right away: have one member hang back. Everyone else does all the necessary setup work (e.g. spirits, wide-area trapping, &c.) and then the straggler triggers the quest and hoofs it over there to help out. It's a bit more challenging and a bit more fun, but still clockwork: I managed to get it to under 3 minutes today. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) ( 01:20, 20 May 2006 (CDT) )


 * Depending on which enemies you get, it can be a bit harder, but even as a monk it is henchable. You need to take the right henchies and (most important) attack the correct enemies yourself, usually the healers. --Xeeron 05:42, 20 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Might I suggest Frozen_Soil, works a treat for me and the luxon arena mission.--Dwiea


 * The "formula" as I perceive it: 3-4 rangers with traps (preferrably hybrid builds like barrager/trapper, spiker/trapper, or interruptor/trapper), 2 ritualists or monks for healing (can be henchies), 1 fast character with high damage input to trigger the quest and then run in and mop up; 1-2 tanks or AE-nukers are also helpful, and there's definitely enough "give" in the team build to make any class playing any build viable. But, in general, it's most effective to bring a bevy of traps, which the rangers spread across a rather wide area, as well as two characters with Frozen Soil (one casts right before the battle starts, the other is kept in reserve in case the Kurzicks take down the first one - they really like to attack it sometimes). Your designated runner waits by Vaughn until the rangers lay a full set of traps and spirits, then takes the quest on a pre-aranged signal. Duelists spawn, take heavy damage / conditions from traps, rangers &c. hit them hard to mop them up; the runner sprints as fast as possible to the target area and hits the enemies with big spikes if the initial attempt doesn't work out. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) ( 12:06, 26 May 2006 (CDT) )


 * I farm it for faction and experience. My character is a FoC Necro with either Mantra of Resolve (max curses, 9 in inspiration magic, 9 blood magic, rest in SR) or Glyph of Concentration ( max curses, 9 blood magic, rest in SR) and I bring 2 Elementalist heroes with Meteor Shower, Searing Flames, and any other AoE I feel like having in their skillbar and a Ranger with (most important) Frozen Soil.  Henchmen are Lukas, Devona, Danika, and Karl.  Precast Frozen Soil off to the side while they are still friendly.  Trigger the battle and call a target, any target.  Once the battle is going, tab around looking for the monk and then call that target and hit the monk hard.  Once the monk is down and Frozen Soil is up, the battle is easy.  Game over in a minute or less.  This technique will work on 3 of the 4 houses you will encounter -- House Vasberg, House Durheim, and House Lutgardis.  House Brauer is all Mesmers and Elementalists and they will take you down in under a minute so if I see them, I just rezone and try again for a more favorable matchup. Wajones67 07:04, 19 March 2007 (CDT)

Is there a map to show where the quest is? i can't seem to find the quest giver. Yoshi 01:45, 22 August 2006 (CDT)
 * see Duel Master Vaughn. --Vortexsam 01:53, 22 August 2006 (CDT)