User:Vortexsam/Team - Soul Barbs

The Soul Barbs spike team is focused around exactly that skill; Soul Barbs. Using a combination of Necromancers, Mesmers, and Elementalists, it primes a target with Soul Barbs and the rest of the offensive team immediately unloads a massive number of hexes in a short period of time to drastically impair the victim's ability to survive or deal life-threatening damage. Additionally, the commonly found Mo/Me Boon Prots will find it extremely hard to counter the spike when Soul Barbs begins to damage the victim because of protective enchantments they cast and cannot remove Soul Barbs because of the number of cover hexes. The team sports 16 various hexes, not including the Soul Barbs and is easily capable of inflicting more than 10 health degeneration. Backed by a Monk pair and an E/Mo Hybrid Support Flag runner, this team requires a bit of coordination, teamwork, and practice but can deal a serious blow, especially to an unsuspecting team.

Composition
An outline of each character build is given here.

Melee
There are no melee characters involved in this team at all. If anything, it makes the opposing team likely to consider this to be an easy battle.

The Judge

 * Discuss with the party about when to cast Soul Barb prior to the battle. Timing is key. Use Siphon Speed on the brave warrior to assist with kiting. Use Enduring Toxin to quickly cover the Defile Flesh and give some time for more hexes to land.
 * Afterwards, use Feast of Corruption as a finisher or to heal from the 20% max health sacrifice used in Defile Flesh. Use Expunge Enchantments only as a last resort and only if the Signet of Disenchantment fails or the caster dies.

The Jury

 * You are the secondary Soul Barb caster. If the first Soul Barbs is removed, an event in which the Judge should notify the team that hexes do not trigger damage, you must be quick to respond and follow up. Naturally, without a fast casting hex, it will be more difficult. You may also use Soul Barbs to continue spiking; due to it's long recharge, if the first victim is killed very quickly (typically under 25 seconds), then a second Soul Barbs will add pressure while the first finishes recharging. It also works to put immediate pressure on a recently ressurected enemy.
 * Meanwhile, work together with the Me/Mo; use Vile Miasma after she calls the Accumulated Pain. Before the foe is about to die, start casting the Well of Power to lower the chances of losing the corpse to another exploiter. Use Life Siphon to deal damage and counteract the sacrifice in Blood Ritual. Naturally, use Blood Ritual on various allies for energy management and denial mitigation, especially since the Judge has significantly higher energy costs.


 * Unload hexes after the Soul Barbs has been cast/called. Your major job is to be a cover hexer. Use Wastrel's Worry and Images of Remorse to use up their hex removal skills. Use Accumulated Pain to start a spike. Use Kitah's Burden to snare. Get in good positions for the Healing Circle. If energy is not a great concern, consider switching in Imagined Burden.

The Executioners

 * Lead your offensive with "Charge!" and keep it up to for a powerful mobile force. Incendiary Bonds and Smoldering Embers are your only hexes so be sure to use them first. Use the more high powered skills to cause panic, feign spikes, or to finish off difficult targets.


 * Remember that Shatter Delusions only removes Mesmer hexes, so try to use it when the target is near death, or else you may be reducing your Illusion Mesmer's degeneration output. Follow up with Energy Burn or Energy Surge. Since the elementalist can pack a larger punch than you can, concentrate on looking out for Ressurection Signets and complicating things.


 * The last skill is commonly used for Dwayna's Kiss. If your group asks you for it, bring Blessed Aura instead. Blessed Aura is used along with a 20% Enchanting staff to make SB last 25-30 seconds. In other cases, consider bringing Ressurection Signet or a reusable ressurection skill.


 * As the title implies, run the flag. However, if the group needs more push power to force a kill, use your Water hexes to help. Be prepared to fight one on one versus another flag runner. If you are overwhelmed while away from the main party, survive as long as possible; if the enemy has split, chances are the other part will soon be overwhelmed by your main party.

Strategy

 * Summaries of each player's duties, tasks, and pitfalls are located under each build.
 * If, by some unfortunate turn of events, both Soul Barbs are disabled, interrupted, or removed, try to concentrate the hexes on a single enemy to bring her down or spreading many hexes to cause widespread damage and thus reduce an opponent's momentum from capitalizing on your weak state of offense. Your team's skills in general do not require Soul Barbs to deal significant damage; however, it is unlikely they will be able to win a match without any use of Soul Barbs.

Counters

 * Hex removal skills. The most potent are monk skills like Convert Hexes and Withdraw Hexes. Others include Deny Hexes, Holy Veil, Empathic Removal, Reverse Hex, Blessed Light and to a lesser extent, Contemplation of Purity, Smite Hex, Inspired Hex/Revealed Hex, and Remove Hex. Also note that opponent mesmers are able to remove multiple hexes with Expel Hexes. Since many of these have various drawbacks, ranging from high energy cost to long recharge, it may be wise to feign a hex spike with fast casting and fast recharging hexes before actually making a spike.
 * New Nightfall skills may be able to completely contain the offensive power found in hexes.

Variations

 * For the Judge, consider using Parasitic Bond in place of Shameful Fear to help counteract sacrifice costs and less energy stress.
 * For the Blood Necro, also consider using Parasitic Bond in place of Life Siphon as an equally sufficient cover hex and the Curses attribute is adequately strong. It also may be more energy efficient.
 * For the Illusion Mesmer, if Karei's Healing Circle is not useful in battle, try using another party buff or bringing another hex to bring more offense to the table.
 * For the Domination Mesmer, if the energy demand is too high for the player, consider using Signet of Weariness instead of Energy Burn. Curses is not very necessary and may be reduced for another attribute. For more interrupting power, bring Power Spike or Power Leak in place of Power Return or Energy Burn. Use Power Drain for energy management.
 * The support and defense part of the team can be changed around for versatility and usability. If the SB/Infuser seems unwieldy, consider using another Blessed Light Hybrid or a Build:Mo/Me Boon Prot.
 * For the elementalist, consider other alternatives such as the or the  for heavier hex use. Also consider using a different Energy management elite skill.

 