User:Discgolfer2000

Hello Page under construction =About Me=

=Builds= Builds I want to keep after the Builds Wipe

Attributes and Skills
Echo Nuker

 SS Nuker

 Minion Master

DoA Tank
 * See Variants for possible skills for the optional slot.
 * Karei's Healing Circle is the Factions equivalent skill for Heal Area.
 * The skill set presented here is an example. No claims are made to its supremacy.

PvP SF Ele

Renewal Nuker

Dual Attunement Air Spiker

E/Me Echoed Invoker

E/Mo Earth Tank/PBAoE
 * Glyph of Lesser Energy can be replaced with Aura of Restoration if entering an area with many Enchantment removing enemies although higher energy management is required - consider asking a Necromancer to bring Blood Ritual.
 * Switch Resurrection Signet for Blinding Flash when going into AB to blind your attackers.

N/any BiP Necro The BiP necromancer (also known as a battery) is a powerful source of energy for the party using the skill Blood is Power. The core of the build involves using BiP on party members, getting healed (or self-healing) and doing the same over and over.



  N/any Icy Blighter This is one of few builds that utilizes the Soul Reaping skill Icy Veins in order to deal massive area of effect damage and shut down heavy enchantment monks. This build is primarily aimed at PvE usage. 
 * Scar Pattern Armor is recommended for energy. Adding Superior Runes to reduce health is an option.
 * Any staff (or wand and focus item combination) that provides +5 Energy and fast recharge and cast time for Blood Magic is optimal. An item which reduces health or one that lengthens enchantments (for Blood Renewal and BiP) can help also.



Mo/any 55hp Solo Monk  The 55hp Monk is used to solo many popular farming locations containing Griffons, Hydras, Mountain Trolls, and Minotaurs. It is an enchantment heavy build, so it is not suitable for areas with disenchanting mesmers or necromancers.

This build is often called "55 Monk" because of its low health -- only 55 hp. The low health makes Protective Spirit, which limits damage to 10% of a character's maximum health, reduce all received damage to 5hp/hit, which is easily countered by the 8 pips of health regeneration granted by Healing Breeze (16 hp regained every second).

This build no longer works as described because of the Wednesday 25th of October monster AI update, whereby monsters that can be knocked down no longer kill themselves on Shield of Judgment (meaning Hydras can still be farmed with this build for they cannot be knocked down). If you run past the Mountain Trolls in the cave outside Droknar's Forge, use this build to farm the Tundra Giants, be sure to use a skill like Dolyak Signet against them so you can cast your healing skills and Shield of Judgment to prevent them from disrupting you with their stomps. This also works well with Sand Giants  in the Scar area of the Crystal Desert.

It does work in areas such as the zone with Hydras and Griffins outside of the Augury Rock. It is still effective only takes longer. In the Nightfall campaign of Guild wars the build works real well against the groups of  Tusked Hunters and Tusked Howlers outside Yohlon Haven

See the article Invincible Monk for a discussion of the concept of the build.  Mo/any Word of Healing Monk 

 Rt/any Ritual Lord  Through spamming protective spirits, the Ritual Lord is designed to greatly reduce damage dealt to the team.  W/Mo Full Vigor Paladin  This Paladin is designed for fast-pace PvE action and combines both high damage and powerful self-healing. In opposition to common Mending builds it is very economical concerning Energy. It has little to no downtime between fights and can also increase the self-healing of team mates. Both builds require Prophecies and the axe build requires Factions unless the Eviscerate variant is used (see Variations). 

Rt/N Explosive Creation 

<BR>

Variants

 * Use Bone Fiends, Vampiric Horrors, or Bone Horrors instead of minions for longer lasting undead followers.
 * Use Spirit Channeling to provide energy for creating a constant supply of Bone Fiends or Horrors and fund Blood of the Master.
 * Attuned Was Songkai may also be used for energy management when focusing on higher cost undead animations, but keep in mind it negates all weapons and off-hands while being held.
 * Add quickly recharging spirits such as Destruction and use Rupture Soul, possibly drawing them into position with Draw Spirit allowing you to deal damage on creation and destruction of the spirit.
 * Use Taste of Death instead of Signet of Creation to focus on killing off specific minions, specifically the Flesh Golem to create a new one, to trigger Death Nova when required, and to self-heal.
 * Use Generous Was Tsungrai with a few extra points towards Restoration when low on health and immediately drop to heal.
 * Reduce Spawning Power, increase Restoration, and add spirits such as Recuperation to help your teammates and minions last longer.
 * If a resurrection skill is necessary, leave out either Blood of the Master or Rotting Flesh. If you increase Restoration, take Flesh of My Flesh.
 * Switch out Rotting Flesh for Bitter Chill for spammable damage, Vile Miasma for damage and degen, or Deathly Swarm for groups of enemies.

Nightfall Variations

 * Swap out Blood of the Master for Spirit's Gift and Rotting Flesh for Putrid Flesh, for disease/degen on your foes and healing/condition removal for your minions.
 * Swap out Flesh Golem for Reclaim Essence for superior Energy management or areas with heavy Enchantment removal. Or, Jagged Bones makes every allied minion an "exploitable corpse", ensuring an infinite source of bomb material, another activation of Explosive Growth, and another source of degen via Bleeding.

<BR> Rt/Mo Burst Healer <BR>

<Br> Rt/any Attuned Channeler <BR>

Alternate setup for Axe

 * Take Resurrection Chant (or Rebirth for difficult areas).

Equipment
<BR>
 * Choose 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 an Exalted Aegis (unique item) (Strength) are good weapon sets to use.

Usage

 * Stand as far away from combat as your spirits can be and still affect allies.
 * Use Boon of Creation for Energy management. Cast it first, then begin casting Shelter.
 * Activate Ritual Lord during shelter. Like a stance, it has zero casting time so it can be cast during other skills.
 * Invoke Displacement then Union.
 * Be sure to constantly refresh Boon of Creation and Ritual Lord.
 * Typically, Displacement will run out fairly quickly, at which time Union will start eroding. Before Union runs out, your Displacement should be recharged and ready. Invoke it as soon as it becomes ready again.
 * For the duration of the battle, try to balance Union and Displacement so that at least one of them is in effect, while always maintaining Shelter. This will make healing extremely easy.

The end result of this build is that the party will almost always take no more than 30-38 Damage Per Hit and will avoid most attacks.
 * In Alliance Battles and certain missions (Amatz Basin, etc.), the effects are even better. All 3 spirits affect allies, as opposed to only party members. Thus, even 1 Ritual Lord can turn the tide of battle.

Counters

 * Removing Boon of Creation will greatly reduce the energy management within this build.
 * Likewise, any energy denial skills can greatly impact the build's effectiveness.
 * If targeted, the build will usually die quickly as it does not have attack or healing skills.
 * Interrupts while creating the spirits will force the player to wait the full length of recharge time.

Variants
There are two optional slots in the skill bar. These can be filled as follows:


 * Soothing
 * Suggested as a near must have for one of the optional slots. This is not a universal opinion, but should be considered. It will go a long way towards shutting down Adrenaline users.


 * Armor of Unfeeling
 * Pointless in PvE, excellent in PvP. A flat-out damage reduction to give more protection than any amount of Armor. Not always effective.


 * Mighty Was Vorizun
 * So-So in PvE, great in PvP. Can't go wrong with additional Armor and Energy, although you lose any Fast Casting/Recharge mods on your weapon.


 * Feast of Souls
 * Overpowered in PvE, excellent in PvP. This far outstrips Heal Party. Chances are, Shelter won't die before it recharges. Feast of Souls can therefore be cast to give the party a strong heal. Used early it will give the party a very strong Heal.


 * Signet of Creation
 * Good in PvE, good in PvP. Gives Union and Displacement a helping hand before they die.


 * Shadowsong
 * Protects caster and caster's spirits from melee attackers that try to bring them down.


 * Spirit Siphon
 * By using two Superior Runes, one each of Communing and Spawning Power, and a Minor Rune of Channeling Magic and putting Communing and Spawning Power at 14, you can put 11 into Channeling Magic and use this skill for much more efficient energy management. Great for PvE, if you stay out of aggro range. Dangerous in PvP because of much lower health.


 * Mantra of Resolve
 * If your secondary class is Mesmer, put 3 into Inspiration. Not needed in PvE, but you may want it for PvP. Binding Rituals are not spells, so there are less interrupting skills to affect them, but interruptions will not trigger Ritual Lord's Recharge reduction, thus, it's really bad to be interrupted. Don't worry about the low Rank: There will be Energy to spare if Boon of Creation is managed properly.


 * Mantra of Concentration
 * A longer lasting, cheaper variant of Mantra of Resolve. Only stops one interrupt per cast however.


 * Frozen Soil
 * Many teams (most notably IWAY) prefer to have one Frozen Soil-spirit carried by the Ritual Lord, to prevent enemies from reviving dead teammates. This requires Ranger as secondary profession.

<BR>

Attributes and Skills
<BR> 55 Monk <BR>

Equipment

 * Any 20% of Enchanting, preferably with extra energy. A Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor is ideal.
 * The off-hand item is the -50 Grim Cesta obtained via the Cities of Ascalon quest.
 * Ascetic's Armor offers the most energy which is beneficial to this build, all armor pieces have to have Monk superior runes: one of each with one extra to bring your health down to 105 (this doesn’t include health deduction with the -50 Grim Cesta). Keep in mind that you don't need high armor for the build, so any Ascetic's with maximum energy will do.

Usage

 * Cast the first 4 enchantments before the fight. You won't have any energy regeneration, so use Blessed Signet to regain energy out of combat.
 * Before aggroing mobs, cast Protective Spirit. You should not need Healing Breeze unless you have more than 3 foes that cannot be knocked down (such as hydras), or 5 that can be knocked down (such as forgotten).
 * The energy gained from Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit should be more than enough for all situations.
 * Blessed Aura and your weapon of Enchanting will prolong your Shield of Judgment, which is your core offensive spell.
 * The build is most successful against melee attackers and is least successful against spell casters (especially Mesmers). To use it for farming, find an area with a heavy concentration of melee attackers (such as the Blessed Griffons in Snake Dance or the Hydras in Skyward Reach) and take them on.

List of Soloable Bosses

Wajjun Bazaar Lian, Dragon's Petal - (aggro as many as possible for energy benefit)Instead of Essense Bond bring Zealot's Fire for additional damage.

Variants

 * Monk
 * Replace Essence Bond with Zealot's Fire for more damage output. See the notes on casting in succession to avoid breaking aggro.
 * Replace Blessed Aura with Smite for more firepower. Note that if you are used to Blessed Aura, then getting used to the decidedly shorter durations of Healing Breeze, Protective Spirit and Shield of Judgment will take some time.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Strength of Honor while using a melee weapon to do more Damage.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Symbol of Wrath and use it right after Shield of Judgment tends to kill Mountain Trolls with one round of Shield of Judgment.
 * Replace Healing Breeze with Shield of Absorption for 0 damage (With Totem Axe and Blessed Aura, Shield of Absorption will come back soon enough to recast before it ends.
 * Use Watchful Spirit for more regeneration
 * Warrior, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Bonetti's Defense for an excellent energy providing skill, though dodging will reduce the DPS average.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Balanced Stance to protect yourself against knockdowns, such as Meteor casted by Hydras. This will make Hydra-Farming a lot easier.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Dolyak Signet to securely eliminate knockdowns from monsters such as Tundra Giants
 * Elementalist, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Aftershock. This works fine with the knockdown provided by Shield of Judgment and does not break aggro like Zealot's Fire.
 * Replace Shield of Judgment with Glyph of Renewal and use Sliver Armor for damage.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Bed of Coals.
 * Necromancer, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Suffering. Use this after Shield of Judgment, when the enemy(s) are knocked down because of its 2 second cast time it's easier to interrupt. For large mobs, cast it into the center of the group.
 * Mesmer secondary, you could do one or more of the following:
 * Replace Essence Bond with Channeling to gain tons of energy from crowding foes (this works well in conjunction with Zealot's Fire).
 * Replace Blessed Aura with Arcane Echo to lengthen the effect of Shield of Judgment.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Mantra of Resolve against enemies with interrupts. This can be useful against Titans and Mountain Trolls.
 * Replace Balthazar's Spirit with Sympathetic Visage. This will deplete enemies' energy and cause spellcasting monsters such as Hydras to attack you more once they no longer have the energy to power their spells.
 * Ranger, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Serpent's Quickness for back to back Shield of Judgment casting.
 * Replace Blessed Signet with Brambles to add damage and inflict bleeding when enemies are knocked down by Shield of Judgment. Remember that Brambles is Factions only.
 * Dervish, secondary
 * Mystic Regeneration based:


 * Benefits - more points in Divine Favor and Smiting Prayers means Shield of Judgment does more damage for a longer time. Mystic Regeneration is far better than Healing Breeze (0.25 cast, up to +16 health regen for 24 sec).
 * Replace Watchful Spirit with Mending if you don't have WS.
 * Replace Watchful Spirit with Fleeting Stability if getting knocked down is a problem ("only" get max +14 health regen though). Suggested: Protection Prayers at 9 and Earth Prayers at 6 for longer Fleeting Stability.
 * Additional equipment: a wand + the Grim Cesta in another weapon set. If an enemy runs away, switch to wand, attack it then switch back to usual set. Unless the AI has changed, it should run back to attack you.
 * Mystic Regeneration for healing.

Counters
<BR> D/W Lyssa's Avatar <BR>
 * Enchantment removal
 * Interrupting
 * The dazed condition
 * Life stealing
 * Degeneration

Attributes and Skills
OR

Hero Skills
Jagged Nova Bomber

<BR> A/any Critical Fox <BR>


 * Your optional slot is normally reserved for Critical Eye, but there are a few other choices here:
 * In a full PvE party, Resurrection Signet is the best choice.
 * Way of Perfection is usable as a long-term heal, and can serve to keep Way of the Assassin active (the downside is the short duration and small heals at lower levels of Shadow Arts).
 * Another Dual Attack, such as Critical Strike, will provide more energy management and a critical hit on-demand.

<BR>
 * If kiting foes are a problem, Leaping Mantis Sting is a viable alternative to Golden Fox Strike.
 * When playing with a normal party, energy isn't a big deal for this build. It's probably a good idea to switch out Critical Eye in favor of a resurrection skill.
 * If survival is an issue, you can go A/D and switch Shadow Arts for Earth Prayers (see Variants, below).

Doa Team Blanced
<BR>

The DoA Balanced team build is a build designed to conquer all of the Domain of Anguish (DoA). It is a balanced build that relies on the tried and true formula of a warrior tank, elementalists nuking and monks keeping the team alive.

This build can complete all the 4 areas in the Domain of Anguish: City of Torc'qua, Stygian Veil, Ravenheart Gloom and The Foundry of Failed Creations. The same concept build can be used to defeat Mallyx the Unyielding in the Ebony Citadel of Mallyx with modifications to the damage dealers. The specific steps to use the build in each area are discussed below.

Conquering the DoA in sequence is done in the order: City -> Veil -> Gloom -> Foundry. This has the benefit that the chests at the end of each area would increasingly yield more gems. The City chest will yield one Margonite Gemstone for each party member, the Stygian Chest would yield two Stygian Gemstones, the Ravenheart Chest would yield three Torment Gemstones and finally, the Foundry Chest would yield four Titan Gemstones.

Build Concept
While there are different tactics for different situations (explained below, in the tactics section), the general outline of how this team works is as follows:
 * An Obsidian Flesh tank draws aggro and tries to hold it.
 * Three Searing Flames nukers take out the targets.
 * A Necromancer-Ranger provides an added punch with Spiteful Spirit and maintains two helpful ranger spirits.
 * Two healer monks keep the tank alive and catch any damage that strays towards the elementalists.
 * One bonder maintains all bonds on the tank and some bonds on the nukers to prevent massive spikes.

The Obsidian Flesh Tank
The Obsidian Flesh tank can be done in many ways. This includes a Warrior/Elementalist, Elementalist/Mesmer as well as other builds. The warrior provides the safest approach as their typical armor is 115 vs Physical and 95 vs Elemental damage without using a single skill. That being said, any of the other builds can be even more successful with enough skill and experience in the Domain of Anguish. Find other proposed tanking builds in the variants section.

Usage:
 * The tank will be heavily bonded. As such he/she will only be receiving partial damage at all times.
 * The tank will have Balthazar's Spirit on which will allow for constant casting of all Earth Magic spells.
 * When going into a group of foes, it is best not to use Obsidian Flesh or Dolyak Signet as they will slow down your approach. Instead ask for Spell Breaker from a monk.
 * When pulling a group of foes, it is actually useful to invoke Obsidian Flesh as you pull foes into the tanking spot as moving slower than computer controlled foes will make them follow you as far as they could as opposed to running at normal speed.
 * Use Stoneflesh Aura as often as possible. It will make you take zero damage from nearly all attacks and spells.
 * Use Dolyak Signet to buff up your armor when facing foes that deal large amounts of damage such as the Tortureweb Dryders and the Stygian Brutes.
 * Use Glyph of Concentration to avoid having any of your spells interrupted. Use Wary Stance to protect the glyph if you expect physical interrupts from attack skills such as Savage Shot from the Spirit Tormentors and Disrupting Throw from the Sanity Tormentors.
 * The optional slot can be:
 * Ward Against Foes or Grasping Earth when the elementalists start dropping their nukes to snare foes long enough to take them out before aggro breaks.
 * Lightbringer's Gaze: To add some offensive punch to this very defensive build and provide an interrupt.

Equipment:
 * A sword/axe with +5 Energy and a 20% "of Enchanting" grip. This will give you extra energy and make all the Earth spells last longer on you. Rajazan's Fervor or the Totem Axe make great weapons for this build.
 * A Shield with either +30 Health or +45 while Enchanted is optimal. Also, having a secondary set of Earth Magic based wand and Focus item is optimal for energy. It can also be a 15/-1 set to provide an extra energy boost in times of trouble.
 * Gladiator's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Searing Flames Nukers
The primary damage dealers of this build are two regular Searing Flames nukers and one Freezer:

The Regular Nukers
These elementalists take out foes by spamming Searing Flames and with tactical usage of Meteor Shower.

Usage: Equipment:
 * Wait until all enemy aggro has settled on the tank.
 * Maintain Fire Attunement during a fight.
 * If the foes contain casters you need to take out quickly (enemy monks, mesmers, necromancers and/or elementalists) then use Glyph of Sacrifice followed by Meteor Shower. Then proceed to spam Glyph of Lesser Energy, Searing Flames and Glowing Gaze as they become available.
 * If the foes are mostly melee foes (like all Titans) then inverse the combo. Spam the first four skills on your bar until foes are at half health, then use Meteor Shower to finish them off. In fact, against pure melee foes (Warriors, Dervishes and Assassins), try not to use Meteor Shower altogether.
 * If an ally is killed during battle, use Glyph of Sacrifice and then Resurrection Chant.
 * If the tank gets hexed in certain critical situations, then use Convert Hexes.
 * It's possible to replace Fire Attunement with Essence Bond maintained on the tank.
 * May be good for one (only one needed) of the nukers to replace Convert Hexes or Glyph of Sacrifice with Mark of Rodgort. So for 37 seconds all Searing Flames hits (except first one) will cause damage AND reapply burning at the same time, instead of one SF every 5 seconds doing no damage. Against spell casters, cast Meteor Shower first then Mark of Rodgort. The first and subsequent meteors will apply burning, synergizing with Searing Flames (but remember that meteor shower only has adjacent radius while SF and Mark of Rodgort are "nearby").
 * As elementalists have a large pool of energy, the only real upgrade this build really needs is 20% HSR preferably on both the wand and the focus item. This is to speed up the readiness of Meteor Shower. Using a 20% HCT+HSR wand and focus set will also significantly increase the DPS by speeding up the casting and recharge times of Searing Flames (normally 1 + 2 seconds).
 * A variety of armor choices make sense:
 * An armor set with Radiant Insignia will provide extra energy.
 * An armor set with Stalwart Insignia will provide extra protection against any melee aggro that comes your way.
 * Tempest Armor would provide extra protection as the elementalist will always have at least 2 enchantments on.

The Searing Flames Freezer
This elementalist freezes enemies piled around the tank so that they do not disperse before they are killed.

Usage:
 * Wait until all enemy aggro has settled on the tank.
 * Maintain Fire Attunement during a fight.
 * If the foes contain casters you need to take out quickly (enemy monks, mesmers, necromancers and/or elementalists) then use Glyph of Sacrifice followed by Meteor Shower. Then proceed to spam Glyph of Lesser Energy, Searing Flames and Glowing Gaze as they become available.
 * If the foes are mostly melee foes (like all Titans) then inverse the combo. Spam the first four skills on your bar until foes are at half health, then use Metoer Shower to finish them off. In fact, against pure melee foes (Warriors, Dervishes and Assassins), try not to use Meteor Shower altogether.
 * Cast Deep Freeze to hamper enemy movement until they are taken down. If you drop Meteor Shower on foes, Deep Freeze would be ideal immediately afterwards.
 * It's possible to replace Fire Attunement with Essence Bond maintained on the tank.

Equipment:
 * As elementalists have a large pool of energy, the only real upgrade this build really needs is 20% HSR preferably on both the wand and the focus item. This is to speed up the readiness of Meteor Shower.
 * A variety of armor choices make sense:
 * An armor set with Radiant Insignia will provide extra energy.
 * An armor set with Stalwart Insignia will provide extra protection against any melee aggro that comes your way.
 * Tempest Armor would provide extra protection as the elementalist will always have at least 2 enchantments on.

The Spiteful Spirit Spammer
This high utility necromancer provides pressure by casting Spiteful Spirit on enemies, maintianing useful spirits up during fights, providing other casters with energy and bringing a pet for the Foundry.

Usage:
 * Lay down Edge of Extinction at the start of every fight in a safe spot that keeps all foes in range.
 * Pick your spots... Lay Spiteful Spirit on the foes most likely to trigger it the most. Margonite Anur Vus, Fury Titans, Stygian Horrors and so forth are prime candidates while foes that activate skills slowly like Margonite Anur Tuks or Despair Titans would be poor targets.
 * Cover SS with Reckless Haste. It also enhances the triggering of SS.
 * Spam Desecrate Enchantments as it becomes available. Enemy Dervishes are the best targets for these.
 * Use Blood Ritual on teammates as they need energy.
 * Use Symbiosis only in the Stygian Veil when the tank is pulling groups that may contain Stygian Hungers. It is best when laying it down to put it in a spot to the side of where the tank will hold aggro, not behind. This way it will give the tank the furthest possible coverage.
 * In the Foundry, kill your pet (by moving around) before the entrance to each chamber, and then resurrect it after the chamber is cleared.

Equipment:
 * A Necromancer staff or wand and focus item that provide extra energy as well as halving the spell recharge on Spitefull Spirit are ideal.
 * Cabalist's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Healer's Boon Monk
Place spare points in death magic

Usage:
 * Maintain Healer's Boon on at all times during a battle.
 * Maintain Essence Bond on the tank.
 * Dwayna's Kiss and Ethereal Light are the primary healing skills.
 * Use Heal Party to heal the tank at a distance, or when the party is collectively moving and taking damage from Enduring Torment.
 * Use Healing Seed on the tank and alternate it with the other monk.
 * Use Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse to jump outside of rooms as a saftey measure in the Foundry, see the walkthrough below.

Equipment:
 * A perfect Insightful Staff of Enchanting with 20/20 HSR and HCT for Healing Prayers is optimal.
 * Ascetic's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Spell Breaker Monk
Usage:
 * Maintain Essence Bond on the tank and Blessed Aura on yourself.
 * Dwayna's Kiss is the primary healing skill.
 * Use Protective Spirit on any party member other than the tank who begins to draw the attention of foes.
 * Dismiss Condition is primarily for the Prisoners of the Foundry Breakout quest so that they do not become crippled, however, there is disease, Poison, Bleeding and Deep Wound along the way, so feel free to use it as needed. It is also useful as a moderate heal.
 * Cascade Healing Seed on the tank with the other monk.
 * Use Spell Breaker on the tank as he goes in to gather aggro. This will allow the tank to move freely without being slowed by Obsidian Flesh. In any fight that includes spell casters that can jeopardize the tank's enchantments (Margonites, Greater Dream Riders, Anguish Titans, ...) make sure to renew Spell Breaker on the tank every time it recharges.

Equipment:
 * A perfect Insightful Staff of Enchanting with 20/20 HSR and HCT for Healing Prayers is optimal.
 * Ascetic's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.

The Bonder
Usage:
 * Maintain all the bonds above on the tank in order from right (Life Barrier cast first) to left (Vital Blessing cast last).
 * Maintain Balthazar's Spirit on yourself as well.
 * Maintain Life Barrier on the elementalists and (depending on your skill and how comfortable you are with bonding) everyone else.
 * When the party gets to the Prisoners part in the Foundry (see below), you will need to maintain Life Barrier, Life Bond and Vital Blessing on each prisoner as he is being rescued. After the prisoner is taken to safety, you can remove those bonds. Since no fighting takes place during those sequences, you can drop the bonds on the elementalists if you need to.

Equipment:
 * A perfect Insightful Staff of Fortitude with +5 Energy while health is above 50% ("Hale and Hearty" inscription) is optimal.
 * Ascetic's Armor or an armor set fully equipped with Radiant Insignia (for the extra energy) is ideal for this build.
 * Two head pieces, a Defender's head piece with a superior Protection Prayers rune to cast the bonds and then a Prophet's head piece with a superior Divine Favor rune to maintain them.

Tactics
This is a detailed area by area walkthrough:

The City
During the city, there are no major hurdles to be wary of other than the annoying energy denial setting. The environmental effect Repressive Energy along with the skill set of the Margonites makes it harder than usual to manage one's energy. The bonder may need to drop bonds on one of the damage dealers (usually the necromancer).

Tanking and pulling in the City is straightforward and involves pulling and using corners to pile foes in preparation to nuke them. In general, after the tank has pulled foes to a spot, the elementalists should apply Searing Flames pressure on the closest foes until the Margonite Anur Ki steps up to heal them (they like to use Healing Whisper). As soon as that happens, the elementalists should unload a Meteor Shower or two on the Ki until he dies.

After the city has been cleared, the groups that come with Lord Jadoth can each be pulled to the city gate (with the party hiding inside) and then dispatched (while the tank prevents them from coming in by blocking the door way). If any of the groups that accompany Jadoth (Shaunur the Divine's group, Turep, Maker of Orphans' group or Jadoth's group itself) give the tank trouble while pulling them, an elementalist can aggro them through the wall by casting on them. This usually makes them want to go all the way into the city to get to the elementalist.

The Veil
Conquering the Stygian Veil involves four stages:
 * 1) Clearing the initial mobs of monsters at the start of the Breaching the Stygian Veil quest.
 * 2) Clearing the two hills north and south to defeat the two Stygian Underlords and complete the Breaching quest.
 * 3) Killing the four Stygian Lords to complete Brood Wars and cause the Dreadspawn Maw to appear.
 * 4) Destroying the Dreadspawn Maw.

The Initial Assault
For the first part of Breaching the Stygian Veil, the party should first clear the area south of the Acolyte who gives the quest. There is a small bend there that the tank can use for holding mobs. To use this spot, the party needs to clear any casters or rangers in the patrol moving below in the trench. Then they need to clear out the one patrol of Shadow Army that blocks the path leading to the Whispers Acolyte.

The tank should take the quest and back up till all the mobs reach the Acolyte. Spirits should be laid and then the tank should pull all the mobs (by aggroing using his/her bubble, not a bow). There will be three mobs jumbles up together, whenever you clear a mob, another will come from the same hill that the first mob came from, till you see a mixed group of foes. That will signal that there will be no more mobs coming from that hill. If the party is inexperienced, they may want to pull one group at a time using a bow.

Depending on the type of mobs, the party should react accordingly:
 * Groups of Stygian Hungers should be pulled to tank, they will pile themselves around him nicely. Nuke a middle target, freeze them and then finish them off with Searing Flames. Use Spell Breaker or Obsidian Flesh when they are below half health to prevent them from using Grenth's Balance on the tank.
 * Groups of Stygian Brutes or Stygian Horrors do not require Spell Breaker. However, the tank should buff himself up with the Dolyak Signet as soon as he/she gets to their spot as their Physical damage can trickle to the bonder.
 * Groups of Stygian Golems actually benefit from Symbiosis, but not as much as the tank. They are handled like the Horrors and Brutes.
 * Groups of Stygian Fiends are very dangerous. The tank should pull them back using a zig-zag motion till they form a tight ball for the nukers to nuke them. Also, if the tank goes to them in melee range and attacks, they will say on him.
 * Mixed groups will usually have one Fiend and then the rest will be melee. The melee foes should be nuked first and should the Fiend go for the party, containing it should not be a problem.

The Two Hills
Starting with the southern hill, the technique should be the same. Spirits get laid down, the tank goes in and gathers several enemies, then brings them back within spirit range and tanks them. The only thing to watch out for is that the Stygian Fiends can cripple the tank and the Horrors can knock him/her down with Bull's Strike. The Healer's Boon monk should use Heal Party to aid the tank at a distance. When pulling the Underlord's group with Water Tormentors, the tank should have Spell Breaker coverage.

The northern hill has pop-ups through out the first half of it. As such, the spirits should be laid outside the hill, the tank should go in till a group starts popping up (the tank should stand still till they all come out of the ground, there is usually 6 monsters). The group will be mixed with at least one Stygian Fiend. There are thre more pop-up groups past the first one. A group around each of the Torment Claws that will spawn near the middle of the hill.

Past those Torment Claws, there should be no hidden groups and the tank should proceed like the first hill, gathering groups and bringing them to spirit range until the other Underlord is killed. The spirits should be constantly moved as the party makes its way deeper into the hill.

The Stygian Lords
There are ways to skip over barriers and so on to get to the Sytgian Lords. This guide will simply tackle the problem straight on.

The party should choose one of the trenches to clear out, the best candidates would be the second trench to the north or south. Either of those trenches leads to a Stygian Lord, and from there on the party can move in a circle to get to the remaining three. The one to the north leads straight to the monk Lord and offers a quick passage to the Gloom.

Each trench will spawn two melee groups as soon as someone is half-way through it. The two groups will rush towards each other (and kill anyone stuck inside) and then will camp on the opposite end of where they spawned. In addition, some Tormentor demons will spawn up top on one or both sides of the hills sandwiching the trench. To avoid surprises, one party member can simply run into the trench to trigger its spawns and then die half way through. The party can then Rebirth that member from atop one of the two hill overlooking the trench. If dying is such a big deal, one Elementalist can go secondary Assassin and bring Recall and use it to leave the trench before the pop-up groups close in on him/her. Also, if the tank is skilled and familiar with the spawns, he/she can take SB, go into the trench and pop up all the pop-ups then go back and tank them at the start of the trench. Bonder must watch that the tank not lose bonds.

Once the trench's spawns are stationary the tank can tackle them under spirit range and the party can destroy the closer melee group then the further one as well as the spawns on top of the hills. Once the trench is clear, the party can proceed to the Stygian Lord, kill any patrols roaming around him, and destroy him. From that point on, the party will simply circle around to kill the other three lord (see the walkthrough for the quest Brood Wars for their locations).

Note the following:
 * The first Stygian Lord to the south is a necromancer, there is a patrol that comes in front of him from the east and another from the west. After clearing the eastern patrol, he can be pulled without the western patrol. He is guarded by Tormentor demons.
 * The next one to the east of him is a mesmer. There is a stationary group of Tormentors around him as well as two spawns of Torment Claws.
 * The next one to the northeast is an elementalist. There are two patrols on the way to him and then a large pop-up spawn inside the alcove he is found in. The tank should hold them around the entrance to the alcove so they cannot go around him to the rest of the party. Casters should watch out for Chain Lightning and Sandstorm from the Stygian Lord.
 * The final boss heading northwest from that spot is a smiting monk. Again he is found in an alcove which he can be pulled out of using a long bow. If anyone steps past the entrance of the alcove, a spawn of Stygian Hungers will appear at the entrance. The party should either pull carefully or trigger them on purpose and take them out first.

The Dreadspawn Maw
After the party returns and cashes in the quest Brood Wars, the Dreadspawn Maw will appear immediately behind them. Make sure everyone is out of the center area and safely next to the Acolyte before having ANY party member accept the reward. The Maw will be comprised of six Smothering Tendrils. The objective is to kill all six and their spawns.

For each Tendril, one elementalist should weaken it with Searing Flames and finish him with Meteor Shower, when it is at half health. This elementalist should have Protective Spirit on them by the Spell Breaker monk. Everyone else should move back north where the party originally killed the monsters of the initial assault.

As soon as the Tendril is about to die, the SB monk should leave and join the others. The elementalist should finish off the Tendril and then pull back slowly. As soon as the Tendril dies, numerous Torment Claws will spawn as will as several Stygian creatures. If the Stygian creatures DID see the elementalist, he/she should just pull back slowly and have them kill him/her midway to the party. They should NOT bring them back to the party otherwise the party can wipe after doing so much work. After they kill the elementalist, someone can rebirth him/her and then the tank can pull the spawned groups into spirit range and the party can destroy them.

The party can then proceed to kill all the Torment Claws that spawned (great wanding fun). The same steps should be repeated for each Smothering Tendril.

The Gloom
The Ravenheart Gloom is comprised of three quests plus the final fight against The Greater Darkness.

The Stand-off
The quest To the Rescue! invovles making a stand against a massive horde of demons in the little nook that the whispers followers will be located. The party can choose to run past the first mobs as well as the wandering patrols outside that little nook. Alternatively, the tank can round them up and bring them to corners and the elementalists can nuke from behind the tank.

Once the group gets to the nook (fighting or running), the tank should find the corner that leads outside the nook and hold aggro there. Everyone else should stay behind the tank and hug the wall so that foes need to go through him/her to get to them. The Spell Breaker monk must have Blessed Aura on in this part as well as a weapon of Enchanting. It is imperative that the monk and the tank be able to chain Spell Breaker and Obsidian Flesh to prevent the tank from being hexed. Currently, the skill Rending Sweep used by the Earth Tormentors is glitched and will strip the tank of ALL enchantments if the tank is hexed.

With careful and timely casting, constantly staying on the closest target and stepping away when foes try to cast on them, the party should be able to survive the onslaught. When the kills start piling up, EoE will kick in and help out a great deal.

The Rift
After the Rescue is completed, the next quest, The Rifts Between Us, invovles capturing a portal (a Chaos Rift guarded by two Torment Claws) northeast of that alcove. The party can head to the quest marker and find the ridge south and a little east of the quest marker. This ridge should be used by the tank to provide a corner that he/she can hold monsters behind (the party should be below the ridge not above it).

The tank should pull the roaming patrols around the rift and then the stationary group at the rift (without entering the rift's range). After they are cleared, the elementalists should take out the claws.

Once the area is clear, 4 or 5 party members should go in and capture the rift. As soon as they do, a group of Flesh Tormentors will spawn to the west of them and rush to them. They should stand fast until the rift is closed and the quest updates and then start running back south and below the ridge. Do NOT run above the ridge as a group of Earth Tormentors, who can cripple their foes, will spawn there. The Flesh Tormentors will not follow for long and the group can cash the quest and take the next one.

The next quest is trivial compared to this. The tank can simply walk up to the Deathbringer Company and the elementalists can nuke them and freeze them so they don't scatter. With EoE they should wipe fairly quickly.

The Greater Darkness
After the final quest, the Greater Darkness will spawn. The tank should approach with Spell Breaker. This will cause two more of the Darknesses to spawn. The tank should line them up and then the elementalists should take them out. After those three die, a spawn of five more Darknesses will appear. The party should back off and let the tank pile them up into one nice nukable bunch. If they aggroed on some party member in the back, it may be best to simply pull back collectively, break aggro and then send the tank back in anew. After they are piled up and nuked, all five must be killed at the same time, so EoE must be used here.

If the tank had any hexes before they died, this hex needs to be converted or the next spawn of Earth tormentors (30 in total) will destroy the tank. Again, the party should step back and let all the Earth Tormentors settle on the tank (with Buffs, the tank will take 0 damage from them). Once they are piled up, they should be nuked and frozen until EoE takes its course and the whole lot just dies.

1st Chamber
This is the easiest of the four chambers and should be completed without the party having to use the "Necrotic Traversal then Rebirth" trick. However, just to be safe, the necromancer should have his/her pet die outside the first gate. Everyone should take the quest from Captain Jerzah. As soon as everyone is sufficiently deep enough into the room, the gates will lock and a group of Margonite Anurs will spawn at the end of the room.

The Tank should be covered with Spell Breaker and should go in just as the spawn of Margonites is collapsing so as to form a nice ball for Meteor Shower. Remember not to cast anything on the tank while he/she is in their aggro range until all aggro settles on him/her (i.e. their melee attackers all start attacking). As soon as aggro is set, the elementalists should proceed to nuke with Meteor Shower first. When this group is about to die, make sure to save one last Margonite and pull him back to the gate where party came in, then finish him off there. This should ensure that the next spawn of Titans does not aggro the party, or at least aggro only on the tank. After the last Margonite dies, 3 Rage Titans and 3 Despair Titans will show up.

If those Titans spawn ouside of everyone's aggro, then the tank should take another Spell Breaker and go to them. If they spawn within aggro range of the tank then he/she should use Obsidian Flesh and walk to them (to ensure they do not walk to him/her and see other party members behind). Whenever the tank is setting aggro like this, Heal Party should be the only healing used.

These titans will not spawn more titans, however, because they cannot be knocked down, Meteor Shower acts like Fire Storm making them scatter rather quickly. So, try and stick with Searing Flames as much as possible. Finish off the Rage Titans first as they can wipe out the whole party with Earthquake followed by Churning Earth. If things look grim, the Healer's Boon monk should always have his/her finger on the Necrotic Traversal trigger. However, with experience, this group should be easy to take out with no deaths.

Revive the pet then move it to the door of the next chamber and then let it die.

2nd Chamber
This room is nigh impossible to fight in. It is very small and the spawn that appears after the door closes has three Tortureweb Dryders (which can wipe a tightly packed party in 2 spells). The party should hug the left wall and proceed slowly until the spawn appears. As soon as it does, the Spell Breaker monk should throw Spell Breaker followed by Protective Spirit on the Healer's Boon monk and that monk should Necrotic Traversal out of the room and move away from the casting range of the Dryders.

If the spawn did not see them, the party should retreat to the gate quickly, cast Spell Breaker on the tank and have him/her go in and pile aggro on the Margonite monk. If they've been seen, the party should try and take out the Margonite Anur Ki that spawns in this group before wiping as well as any Dryders they can, however, they should also try to die as close as they can to the gate. After the fight is over and all members in the chamber have died, the monk should proceed to rebirth them outside the room leaving the tank.

After the casters have all been resurrected and bonded, one of the elementalists should "Glyph-Sacc Rez" the tank inside the chamber. The tank should come as close as possible to the gate and the bonder should careully reapply bonds while the monk heal him/her. The elementalists should be able to nuke the enemy from across the gate and the wall. They should spread apart so that Searing Flames does not damage all of them at the same time.

Sometimes, a foe or two will run off and get stuck on the opposite side of the room. If the party waits for a few minutes, that foe will come back within casting range.

When the chamber is almost cleared, the Spell Breaker monk should cast Spell Breaker on the tank as the second spawn contains a Greater Dream Rider. The second spawn should be cleared in the same manner.

Revive the pet then move it to the door of the next chamber and then let it die.

3rd Chamber
This chamber will spawn all its creatures at the same time (there will be no secondary spawn after the first groups are wiped). There will be four patrols roaming the room (all of which come near the gate, but not all the way). A patrol of 4 Misery Titans, a patrol of 4 Anguish Titans, a patrol of 4 Rage Titans and a patrol of 3 Dryders along with one Rider.

The Titans in this room will exhibit the usual Titan behavior of spawning smaller Titans. There are two spawn chains:
 * Anguish Titan-> Despair Titan -> Fury Titan
 * Misery Titan-> Rage Titan -> Dementia Titan

The Healer's Boon monk should wait outside the gate using Necrotic Traversal. The Tank can try and pull the Misery titans (easiest to take out) and the party can wipe trying to finish them off. After the party is rebirthed on the outside, the tank can proceed to pull group after group, while the elementalists take them out.

Revive the pet then move it to the door of the next chamber and then let it die.

4th Chamber
This chamber will again give the party room to operate. A spawn of Dryders along with a Margonite Anur Ki will spawn at the middle or back of the room. They can be taken out by a frontal assault (tank charge in when they are balled up). Before the last foe dies, the party should pull that foe back to the beginning of the room and finish it off there to be safe. The next spawn will be a large group of Dementia Titans. At this point, the Healer's Boon monks should leave the room to be safe. The party can try and kill them while they are on the tank. If aggro breaks, a wipe + rebirth maybe necessary.

After this group there will be a mixed group with a Margonite Anur Ki, a few Titans and a Dryder. One of the Titans is a special Fury Titan that drops a unique item.

After this room is clear, you can proceed to take the quest reward and the next quest from Tekliss. The pet will no longer be needed.

The Great Hall
The name of the game in the Foundry is pulling and aggro control. Because the Foundry is spacious, kiting and breaking aggro if things go bad is quite possible, so there will be no more need for the pet.

As soon as the party goes in, they will see a large Vat to their right with a small gap between it and the wall. That gap will be the focus of all pulling and tanking till that part of the Foundry is cleared. The tank will simply aggro a group and tanks them at the gap so that they are unable to get through the gap and then the nukers can cast on them through the wall.

Past the gap, the party will see 4 large vates in the center of the hall, they should always use those vats for groups that do not pull all the way to the gap. The tank should pull the foes to the vat, the casters should be behind him/her so that the enemies need to go through the tank to get to them and then nuke. The Greater Dream Riders always like to camp on the right side of the tank, as such, if he/she pulls them around a corner where the wall is to the right, they will pile on the tank perfectly.

After all patrols are cleared, the party can attempt to complete the quest. For each prisoner, the bonder will place Life Bond and Life Barrier on that prisoner, and the SB monk will place Spell Breaker on the prisoner and immediately after that, the tank will speak to the prisoner and advance the quest). Then everyone needs to run far away and the prisoner will follow them. If the prisoner is crippled, Dismiss Condition should be used, Heal Party should be used for healing the party as they move. After aggro breaks, everyone should stand still, and the one elementalist (codenamed, the babysitter) should take the prisoner away till the names in the party are all grayed out. This will ensure the prisoner does not follow the party anymore.

The same procedure should be done with the other two prisoners. Captain Valkyss' group should be taken out as they are in the way of future fights. First, the party should run away till the mob stops following. The Captain should be taken away to safety and then the remaining party members should kill off the Dryders and Riders.

After all three prisoners are safe, the tank should advance to the gate to aggro the spawn of The Black Beast of Arrgh. With bonds, the tank should be able to tank him even with 0 attribute points. However, the Beast should first be pulled all the way to where his patrol will follow no more and then fought there so that they do not try and go for party members behind the tank.

After the Beast dies, the quest will be completed and the prisoners will be removed from the party list. The babysitter should cash in the quest to trigger the Fury and come help the party finish off the Black Beast's group. The party can then take on The Fury's group. The tank can keep pulling the Fury's Group back and forth until they find the spot beyond which they will not follow, and then nuke the monks from the side first then the Dryder guardians and the Riders. The Fury is actually less of a threat than those Dryders.

Variants

 * One of the Searing Flames nukers can be replaced with Necromancers using Feast of Corruption or a Mesmer using Spiritual Pain to spike. It's usually good to have at least two elementalists with Meteor Shower in the team.
 * The SS Necro can be replaced with a BiP necro carrying the same spirits if the party has energy issues.
 * The tank does not necessarily need to be an Obsidian Flesh warrior. Other tanking builds can be used, as well as non-warrior tanking builds like a continual Shadow Form assassin or an Obsidian Dervish. One such variety uses an elementalist as follows:

Elementalist Tank
This tank is more fragile in terms of vunerability to enchantment removal. However, they have longer more powerful Earth Magic enchantments as well as infinite energy.

Usage:
 * Generally keep up Stone Striker + Mantra of Earth at all times except in select situations. They will provide you with infinite energy.
 * Before a pull, invoke Stoneflesh Aura to take 0 damage from most attacks and go in with Spell Breaker on.
 * While pulling, if met by strong physical damage (such as from the Stygian Brutes), invoke Armor of Earth. because of the lower base armor, the bonder can take significantly more damage through Life Bond than is customary with warrior tanks.
 * If anticipating interruption, use Mantra of Resolve.
 * If dazed or facing heaving interruption, use Glyph of Concentration while under Mantra of Resolve and then cancel Mantra of Resolve with Mantra of Earth.
 * Use Obsidian Flesh when Spell Breaker is about to run out.
 * The optional slot can be:
 * Ward Against Foes or Grasping Earth when the elementalists start dropping their nukes to snare foes long enough to take them out before aggro breaks.
 * Lightbringer's Gaze: To add some offensive punch.
 * Sliver Armor: To help block physical interrupts as well as deal out considerable damage.

Equipment:
 * A sword/axe with +5 Energy and a 20% "of Enchanting" grip. This will give you extra energy and make all the Earth spells last longer on you. Rajazan's Fervor or the Totem Axe make great weapons for this build.
 * A Shield with either +30 Health or +45 while Enchanted helps. However, having an Earth Magic Focus item with 20% chance of halving skill recharge is optimal. It can also be a 15/-1 set to provide an extra energy boost in times of trouble.
 * Geomancer's Armor has great synergy with Stone Striker.