User:Entropy/test

R/any Degen Pressure
14 Expertise, 13 Marksmanship

HIGHLY recommended that you take a party member who can easily cause Cracked Armor, because going R/E for Shell Shock really slows you down. R/Rt for Sundering Weapon is also not so great. Typical Curses Necro can take Weaken Armor, Aeromancer should always have Lightning Orb anyway.

However, at 14 Expertise you shouldn't have any real energy problems except for very drawn-out battles, spamming of interrupts constantly, or using Concussion Shot more than once in the same battle.

Basically, the usage is self explanatory. Use a Shortbow obviously. Screaming Shot gives decent damage and -3 degen for 6 damage per second, and that lasts 18 seconds for a total of 108 extra damage over time. Signet of Infections gives free Disease, for -4 "AoE" degen for 15 seconds or so; another 120 damage over time. Burning Arrow is good damage and gives -7 degen for 6 seconds, so 84 bonus damage over time to the target. This also stacks past the degen cap and you can almost maintain it like that too, so even a Healing Breeze can be overcome. In PvE, spreading Disease is often effective as mobs tend to clump up, and you can even renew it infinitely as Signet of Infection recharges (as long as they are still bleeding). Since it will spread to almost all the monsters, it's good pressure on whatever healers they have to either spam condition removals or heals. This sets them up very nicely for a well-placed Distracting Shot or Concussion Shot.

This works quite nicely with an Extend Conditions Mesmer, as you can then make all the conditions AoE, for enormous pressure. Works especially nicely in Echovald Forest, as Wardens usually have Lacerate up which basically gets you to the degen cap before Burning Arrow. That Curses necro can also take Ulcerous Lungs for more fun...

Best weapon for IW?

 * 1) Sword - Riposte (take domages), Deadly Riposte, Whirlwind Attack. Can use offhand or shield
 * 2) Axe - Cyclone Axe, Whirlwind Attack (charge with Furious Axe?). Can use offhand or shield
 * 3) Hammer - no advantage
 * 4) Daggers - Double Strike. Can't use offhand or shield
 * 5) Scythe - free AoE damage, Twin Moon Sweep for up to six hits. Slower, can't use offhand or shield

Best IAS by far is Drunken Master while Drunk, as it takes no attribute. After that, Tiger's Fury or Heket's Rampage, Flurry, Frenzy, Whirling Charge...

Enchanting and +5 energy mods, maybe Barbed for Sword.

A primary Dervish could use IW and Mysticism, then Heart of Fury for IAS.

Doppleganger < 2:00 in HM
Assassin - Perma Sin using Deadly Arts

The Doppleganger won't use Shadow Form until it is nearly dead, and at that point you can just let the poison kill it. If you have problems, you can also take Signet of Toxic Shock to hit through Shadow Form; replace Impale, I guess. It's also possible that you don't even need permanent Shadow Form, though that is a gamble for Hard Mode...

Dervish - Ebon Dust Aura and an Ebon weapon is all you need. (That actually applies to EVERY class.) If you don't have that...

The Doppleganger will continue to cycle through enchantments, end them with SoPR, and also fail to meet the condition for VoS at the same time. You should have no problem killing it.

A third highly amusing tactic is:

Take seven Spirits. Let the Doppleganger cast them all, and then use Banishing Strike twice. You get nearly 300 AoE holy damage with each use, and that should be enough to kill the Doppleganger. (note, not personally tested, based on Icy Stalagmite theory)

Elementalist - Aeromancer with distractions

Take any skills with long activation times that you can - preferably ones like Winds that are useless in the battle. Pre-cast your Enchantments before stepping on the last stone and starting the cutscene. Pummel the Doppleganger with Lightning Orb and Lightning Hammer. You only have a slim window of opportunity, but with a little luck you will buy enough time to be able to kill the Doppleganger before it kills you.

Mesmer - anti-melee

The idea here is to let the Doppleganger kill itself through its actions while you do nothing. Start with Phantom Pain, of course. The rest should be obvious. By the time Phantom Pain ends, the Deep Wound should be enough for the kill. You can also try adding in Backfire, but if the Doppleganger casts it before you, you lose.

If you can go Me/W and get Frenzy or Flurry or other IAS, that is also useful, if the Doppleganger uses it. Me/N can also take some Curses from the Necromancer build below.

Monk - Smite

Although you can sometimes kill the Doppleganger with just this setup, it actually depends on how many Critical Hits it gets. So, you will want to invest some points for Empathy, Insidious Parasite, etc. for insurance.

Pre-cast your maintained Enchantments. The Doppleganger will probably start off doing the same. Once it begins to attack, cast Shield of Judgment and your Hexes.

You can also drop Holy Wrath for Healing Breeze and Scourge Enchantment. Make sure you use Breeze before Scourge is up.

Necromancer - Curses anti-melee

Cast skills from left to right, but stop after Reckless Haste. Enfeebling Blood, Meekness, and Defile Flesh are all useless skills, but they also have a sacrifice cost, so if you're lucky the Doppleganger will help to kill itself with those. The Doppleganger will usually only use them if you go in wielding a martial weapon.

Paragon - out-damage

Before stepping on the last stone, use Enduring Harmony, Aggressive Refrain, and FGJ. Then start attacking as soon as you go in. You get a very small time advantage with this setup. Spam Blazing Spear and Cruel Spear, and use GftE to recharge Aggressive Refrain if you need to. The Doppleganger hopefully wastes its Adrenaline on Song of Concentration, Hexbreaker Aria, and spamming GftE. It will be a close fight but you should be able to win.

Ranger - Petway

Standard tactic. If for some reason you don't have a high enough level pet...

The Doppleganger will spam spirits while you go Medeival on him with huge degen and damage. Use Apply Poison before stepping on the final stone, as always. The listed Spirits are actually preferable since they aid you (except Tranquility).

Ritualist - Spirit Spam

Cast Anguished Was Lingwah and wait for your energy to recharge. Then cast Boon of Creation and wait again. Now, step on the final stone. As soon as you enter, drop the Ashes to start off with Pain and then summon Wanderlust. If you are quick, you can get up Wanderlust before the Doppleganger, and you can then keep it locked down while you summon the rest. Cast Mighty Was Vorizun before you start any more summoning, though, as you'll need the Energy.

Warrior - Tactician

You'll need a Tactics shield, any Sword, and any Wand or Spear. When you start, turn on Gladiator's Defense and Deadly Riposte. Then switch to the Wand/Spear and Shield, and attack the Doppleganger. You should be able to charge up Riposte after awhile. Anytime Deadly Riposte or Riposte is ready to use, switch back to the Sword and Shield and use them. Never attack the Doppleganger with the Sword. Once Gladiator's Defense is down, keep one of the other stances up whenever you can to minimize damage. Don't use Frenzied Defense - if you are lucky the Doppleganger will use it and take double damage from one of the Ripostes. This is actually one of the easiest battles with the Doppleganger, though it sounds somewhat hard.

PvE Assassin
Vampiric daggers make this a lot of fun. An ally with Great Dwarf Weapon does, too. Has major problems against blocking. Switch targets or get a Necro with Rigor Mortis.

Shadow Form PvE farming

 * 16 Shadow Arts, 12 Earth Magic, 3 Critical Strikes
 * A Poisonous weapon
 * A Zealous Sword/Axe or Scythe of Enchanting, with an Energy +5 mod
 * Something like Joffs' Focus is ideal
 * Radiant armor with Runes of Attunement


 * Maintain Shadow Form at all times with Glyph of Swiftness and Deadly Paradox.
 * When you can get a big group, aggro as many enemies as you can hold, then use EBSoH -> Intensity -> "By Ural's Hammer!" -> Sliver Armor to kill them off quickly.
 * Hit foes to regain Energy through Zealous weapon, while waiting for Sliver Armor to recharge.
 * If you can't get a big group of foes, switch to Poisonous weapon and use Viper's Defense. You can kill any foe without healing through simple degen.

Shadow Form PvP

 * Recharge time can be lowered to 30 seconds max
 * Deadly Paradox
 * Weapon of Quickening from ally
 * Quickening Zephyr from ally
 * Glyph of Swiftness for A/E
 * Including aftercast, cast time is ~2 seconds (due to Deadly Paradox)
 * Glyph of Essence, A/E assuming unlimited energy
 * Copy it, A/Me
 * Arcane Echo
 * Arcane Mimicry
 * Lasts 16 + 3 = 19 seconds at 16 Shadow Arts

Tabulation of Required Items

 * Universal: Tahlkora, Dunkoro, Koss, Melonni, Acolyte Jin / Acolyte Sousuke, Olias, Zenmai, Vekk, Ogden Stonehealer, Jora, Pyre Fierceshot, Anton, Hayda, Livia, Gwen, Xandra, Kahmu, M.O.X.
 * On some: Margrid the Sly, Master of Whispers, Norgu / Goren, Zhed Shadowhoof, General Morgahn, Razah
 * Will need: Bows, Hammers/Axes, Spears, and corresponding mods


 * All Heroes armed with appropriate weapons
 * All weapons customized
 * Still Need:
 * 1) Warrior shields - Health +30, Luck of the Draw, Strength (use Serrated Shield for Tactics)
 * 2) Paragon shields - Health +30, Luck of the Draw, either attribute
 * 3) Dagger Tangs
 * 4) Scythe Snathes and Scythe Grips
 * 5) All Runes and Insignia for most heroes

Skuld's Para Build
Leaving this here for later reference. I can almost run it, just need a few more Lux/Kurz faction...(thanks Auron for the AB day) (T/C) 05:04, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

[[Image:Assassin-icon.png]]Gale of Darkness[[Image:Assassin-icon.png]]
Author--- (T/C) 20:17, 6 May 2008 (UTC) 10

1

15


 * The Enchantment will not end until you hit with an Off-hand and a Dual attack, or until the time expires. Each bonus only works once while it is active.
 * Bonus to Dual attacks applies twice, naturally.

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E/Any Ebon Vanguard Aeromancer (EVA)
This Elementalist uses the skills of the Ebon Vanguard to augment the power of Air Magic.


 * An Adept Air Staff of Enchanting, with an "Aptitude Not Attitude" inscription
 * You'll want Radiant insignias and Runes of Attunement for more energy.


 * Keep up Attunements; Elemental goes first.
 * Combo from left to right: Cracked Armor, Bleeding, Disease, KD...repeat.
 * Spam Lightning Hammer and Lightning Orb while waiting for the chain to recharge.
 * Replace Lightning Orb with Blinding Flash or Enervating Charge if Blind or Weakness conditions are needed for utility.
 * Aura of Restoration may also be used instead of Lightning Orb if a cover enchantment will be needed. Use it last.

D/Any Mystic Condition Spammer
This is a PBAoE Condition spammer Dervish.


 * Insightful Staff of Enchanting, Energy +5 while Enchanted inscription ("Have Faith"). There are no staves linked to the Dervish attributes, so the damage type and other stuff is irrelevant as long as it has the inherent +10 Energy.
 * The Windwalker Insignia would be a good idea since you have loads of enchantments and are at melee range.


 * Use skills from left to right at point-blank range.
 * Note that Pious Renewal can also be used; activate it right before Mystic Sandstorm. This results in a net gain of 9 Energy at 12 Mysticism, while Arcane Zeal has a net gain of 11 at 12 Mysticism. However, Pious Renewal recharges faster, costs less initial energy, gives back some Healing, and is harder to interrupt; it may be preferable in some situations.


 * To turn this into a more resilient build, switch Heart of Holy Flame for Armor of Sanctity and cast Aura of Thorns first.
 * Radiation Field, Ebon Battle Standard of Wisdom, and Signet of Corruption would also be nice additions if they fit in the Skill bar.
 * Combines well with a Fragility Mesmer who also uses Epidemic, Hypochondria, Fevered Dreams, and/or Extend Conditions.

D/A Mystic Ninja

 * The Dervish base energy of 25 is not enough to pull off the entire combo unless you can hit three foes immediately with Zealous Sweep. For this reason, it's a good idea to use any Radiant insignias and Runes of Attunement that are available.
 * Zealous Scythe of Fortitude, Damage +15% while Enchanted ("Guided by Fate")
 * Blessed Insignias for any slots still open after Radiants.


 * Pre-cast Faithful Invervention. Wait for Energy to regenerate.
 * Cast Heart of Fury just as you get into spellcasting range.
 * Shadow Step in with Aura of Displacement and use your Attack skills from left to right.
 * Twin Moon Sweep will end AoD and teleport you back to safety.


 * Note that Faithful Intervention is not necessary, but it is useful in case you're facing hard-hitting foes. It could be replaced with another Attack like Mystic Sweep or some PvE-only skill like Aura of Holy Might.
 * Won't work at all if you're facing Enchantment removal, since AoD will teleport you back, it won't have recharged yet, and you'll be basically useless.

A/Any The Staff-sassin
This Assassin does not fight with daggers. Instead, they use a Staff for +20 Energy and rely only on Skills and Spells to damage foes.


 * Insightful Staff of Fortitude, Energy +5 while Health^50% inscription ("Hale and Hearty"). There are no staves linked to the Assassin attributes, so the damage type and other stuff is irrelevant as long as it has the inherent +10 Energy.
 * Full Radiant Insignias and Runes of Attunement.


 * Shadow Step, Daze, Cripple, Blind, Poison
 * Knockdown
 * Mostly armor-ignoring damage
 * Hilarious in RA!


 * Combines well with a Fragility Mesmer who also uses Epidemic, Hypochondria, Fevered Dreams, and/or Extend Conditions.

D/R Avatar of Lyssa Special Ops Archer
This is a build that aims to utilize Avatar of Lyssa with a Bow, rather than the usual Scythe or even Daggers.


 * A Shortbow or Recurve Bow would work best, since you're not using Read the Wind. Zealous is good, and the Inscription should be "I Have The Power!" for +5 Energy, and a Defense or Fortitude mod. 15^50 or whatever isn't terribly useful here since most damage comes from the +bonus damage of Avatar of Lyssa, which is unaffected by 15^50 mods.
 * You'll also want Radiant Insignias and Runes of Attunement.


 * This build depends entirely upon Avatar of Lyssa for any sort of damage-dealing capacity. If you are in an area where foes use fast-activating skills, this is an ineffective build. The idea here is that you can use multi-shot attacks to hit a foe activating a skill twice or three times. This will trigger the bonus damage from Avatar of Lyssa more than once, so at only 12 Mysticism you end up dealing +82...123 damage. This is huge armor-ignoring bonus damage, and doesn't even factor in the damage of the bow, Critical hits, etc. Even without doing anything, you still get +41 damage at only 12 Mysticism, and under IAS this isn't hard.
 * Obviously, if you already have a good Condition-removing Monk in the party, drop Antidote Signet.
 * Body Shot can serve as all the Energy management you need, if you can get some other party member to constantly supply the Cracked Armor condition. It may even make the Zeaous bowstring overkill.
 * Remember that you need to be Drunk before using Drunken Master!
 * Stance removal will destroy you since your IAS has a 60-second recharge. Consider using Rapid Fire as a replacement in situations like this.
 * Forked Arrow does not work when Enchanted or Hexed; in a Hex-heavy area, replace it with something else. Also, unlike the usual usage, don't cast Zealous Renewal until you're getting near the bottom of your Energy pool.
 * Attacker's Insight at 4 Wind Prayers might work well as a replacement for Forked Arrow.
 * Sloth Hunter's Shot is another good substitute, Energy permitting.

R/Rt Point Blank Glass
This is a simple but effective damage-dealing Ranger. Most of the damage ignores armor so it punches through most targets with ease. It lacks defense, but most things tend to die fast anyways.


 * Get Expertise as high as possible.


 * You'll want a 15^50 Shortbow or Recurve Bow since you don't have Read the Wind for accuracy. Use a Fiery, Icy, Shocking, or Ebon mod if they will boost your damage. Otherwise, a Zealous mod helps with energy if Needling Shot can be used often. Use a Bow Grip of Fortitude or Defense.
 * Works best with Druid's armor set, aka. Radiant Insignias. Runes of Attunement are useful too. This isn't strictly necessary, but in longer battles the extra energy endurance comes in handy.


 * Put down Vampirism before battle. You will get to close range so it won't usually get attacked. It provides a bit of healing and extra offense for you while also giving a distraction should some monster make it to the backline.
 * Prep with Glass Arrows, then spam Zojun's and Point Blank shot.
 * Followup immediately with Needling Shot. At this point, Zojun's is recharged exactly, so repeat this 3-skill cycle.
 * When the target is below 50%, spam Needling Shot only.
 * Use interrupts as necessary.
 * If a target is Blocking: Shoot it once so that you cause Bleeding through Glass Arrows, then change targets.


 * Optional skills: Gaze of Fury when you need to get rid of things like Quickening Zephyr fast, Body Shot if someone can apply Cracked Armor, Drunken Master for long-term IAS (not too useful), Lightbringer's Gaze against Torment demons, "Dodge This!" to make use of Adrenaline, Antidote Signet to counter Blind, Mental Block to help with defense at close range, Air of Superiority for general goodness, etc....

Touchers
This duo can solo most any boss in Prophecies and some in Factions and Nightfall as well; however, it has trouble versus Monks that are specced to Healing Prayers, as well as those damnable Elementalist bosses with their 2x damage...More than just farming, though, they also make decent teammates for high-level areas. The Ranger Heroes play this build reasonably well, though they sometimes stay back and focus on BR'ing the casters instead of Touching.


 * An Insightful Staff of Enchanting, Energy +5 while Health^50% ("Hale and Hearty"). It's best if the staff is linked to Blood Magic.
 * If you can't afford that, the Bonus items Soul Shrieker and Hourglass Staff work great for this build and are effortless to obtain, as well as free!
 * Full Radiant Insignias and Runes of Attunement.


 * Throw Dirt disables any weapon-using foes and can be kept up almost indefinitely with two people and ~15 Expertise.
 * Blood Ritual helps out the party's casters during non-farming parts of a run, as well as supplying nearly limitless energy during the solo fights - the two Touchers keep casting it on each other.
 * The rest of the skills are self-explanatory; Whirling Defense lasts for a quite long time and is effective against foes when Throw Dirt is down.


 * Consider adding Barbed Signet if Throw Dirt/Whirling Defense are unnecessary (caster foes for example).


 * So far, this team has been able to do Lunto Sharpfoot, Bubahl Icehands, Chor the Bladed, Kepkhet Marrowfeast, Gargash Thornbeard, Gorrel Rockmolder, Thorgall Bludgeonhammer, Flint Fleshcleaver, and Morgriff Shadestone. It failed against Wroth Yakslapper because he has nearly limitless Energy, massive Health, and spams Orison of Healing forever...so, most Monk bosses can outheal. Adding in a third player who does shutdown through Dazed or whatever can work, but then that is three people...

Unlinked Melee Attacks
The following skills can be used with any Weapon.

Scythe Mastery
 * Banishing Strike - AoE Holy damage
 * Eremite's Attack - attack faster
 * Irresistible Sweep - unblockable if Enchant self
 * Mystic Sweep - attack faster
 * Pious Assault - instant recharge if Enchant self
 * Reap Impurities - heal on Conditions foe
 * Rending Sweep - removes Enchantments
 * Twin Moon Sweep - hits twice
 * Victorious Sweep - heal on higher health

Strength
 * Body Blow - Deep Wound if Cracked Armor
 * Bull's Strike - KD
 * Counterattack - regain Energy if foe attacking
 * Griffon's Sweep - KD
 * Leviathan's Sweep - KD
 * Magehunter Strike - attack faster, unblockable if foe Enchant
 * Power Attack - +damage
 * Protector's Strike - attack faster

Tactics
 * Desperation Blow - cause Condition, self KD
 * Drunken Blow - cause Condition, self KD
 * Soldier's Strike - unblockable if Shout self
 * Thrill of Victory - +damage if higher health

Warrior Unlinked
 * Distracting Blow - AoE interrupt
 * Distracting Strike - interrupt, disable if Cracked Armor
 * Skull Crack - interrupt and Daze on spells
 * Symbolic Strike - based on Signets
 * Wild Blow - unblockable critical hit, remove stances

Spear Mastery
 * Chest Thumper - Deep Wound if Cracked Armor
 * Holy Spear - Burning and AoE Holy damage

Critical Strikes
 * Malicious Strike - Critical Hit if Condition

PvE Only
 * Club of a Thousand Bears - KD if nonhuman
 * Sneak Attack - Blindness
 * Whirlwind Attack - AoE attack

One-Shot Wonder?
If you focus entirely on Armor penetration and the most damage for a single attack, then the max you can achieve is...
 * Constant 10% from a Hornbow-type bow
 * +20% from Judge's Insight
 * Chance of +20% with a Sundering upgrade

Total so far: 30-50% AP (added)


 * Penetrating Attack or Sundering Attack for +20%

Total so far: 50-70% AP (base+added)

The Sundering mod is a wildcard, since it can only work 20% of the time. Overall this results in a base armor reduction of -1AL or something, iirc. But we're assuming luck is on our side, so...yeah.

Finally, if you happened to score a Critical hit, you would also deal damage*(sqrt(2)) rather than just the total damage.

70% AP max means that you could hit a target that has up to 280 AL and it would still behave as if the target was a squishy caster with 60 AL. If you hit a squishy caster, then they would be reduced to 12 AL, which is only slightly better than Pre-Searing armor.

Penetrating/Sundering Attack at 20 Marksmanship deal +23 damage. You'd want a Sundering Hornbow of Marksmanship, headgear, sup rune, Golden Egg, Lunar Fortune, and Blessing to achieve this.

Ranger using Penetrating/Sundering Attack

On a 60-AL target, assuming your Sundering and of Marksmanship upgrades did not kick in and you did not get a critical hit and you dealt the Minimum Damage for a bow (6), you would deal...

On a 60-AL target, assuming your Sundering and of Marksmanship upgrades did kick in and you did get a critical hit and you dealt the Maximum Damage for a bow (28), you would deal...

On a 300-AL target, assuming your Sundering and of Marksmanship upgrades did not kick in and you did not get a critical hit and you dealt the Minimum Damage for a bow (6), you would deal...

On a 300-AL target, assuming your Sundering and of Marksmanship upgrades did kick in and you did get a critical hit and you dealt the Maximum Damage for a bow (28), you would deal...

Final notes: a Warrior with Strength or Primal Rage can do a similar thing. However that gets more complicated since that will work with other weapons and other attack skills...Also, there are a lot of other skills that can be used to increase base damage, such as Shadowy Burden, Signet of Strength, Anthem of Envy...etc. But I am not even going to go there since that gets too complicated. So I'll just stick with Ranger.