User:CurinDerwin

The W/Me Enduring Visage UW Solo uses both Visages, Dolyak Signet, and Warrior's Endurance combined with Energy based attacks to farm the Smite Crawlers in the Underworld. Because it does not use Healing Signet, it can also kill Coldfire Nights. It has a very high survival rate and is possibly the safest Underworld Solo Build around for its speed, finishing a run in under 30 minutes.

Attributes and Skills

 * * Weapon mastery will be either Axe Mastery or Swordsmanship.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Knight's Insignias.
 * Runes of Superior Strength, Major or Superior Vigor, Superior Absorption, Minor Tactics, and Minor Weapon Mastery.
 * Weapons
 * A Zealous Axe or Sword of Enchanting with a "Strength and Honor" or a "Dance with Death" inscription. Since you have no weapon based attacks, Swords and Axes work equally well.
 * A Shield of Endurance (Requiring Strength) with a "Run for your Life!" Inscription, or any shield with equivalent stats. Arrahhsh's Aegis is ideal.
 * For those with the money, a Shield with both -2 Physical Damage while in a Stance and while Enchanted is greatly superior. There are no Green Items with these stats and they cannot be created with Inscriptions and Upgrades.
 * Any type of Longbow or Flatbow. Since it will only be used for pulling, the stats do not matter.  Flatbow is preferred, since you will be obstructed less frequently.

The Entrance

 * Take the quest Clear the Chamber as soon as you can without being seen by any Aatxes.
 * Grasping Darknesses have a natural speed boost of around 33%.
 * Aatxes have a natural speed boost of around 10%.
 * This means that any time you aggro both Aatxes and Grasping Darknesses, the Grasping Darknesses will get to your first.
 * Turn your back to the mob of Grasping Darknesses you want to pull, and wait till it moves near a group of Aatxes.
 * Hit either "F" or "C" so that you don't cast spells on the Lost Soul.
 * Just before aggroing, cast Ancestor's Visage on yourself.
 * Back up, aggroing the Aatxes. Instantly hit Enraging Charge and rush for the wall in front of you.
 * When the Aatxes aggro, the Grasping Darknesses will come along with.
 * The Aatxes will give up very quickly, but the Grasping Darknesses will keep coming.
 * As soon as you think you've lost the Aatxes, hit Dolyak Signet.
 * Turn around and start attacking the Grasping Darknesses. You should get enough energy from your Zealous Axe to use Sympathetic Visage when Ancestor's Visage runs out.
 * As soon as you get 5 energy, use Warrior's Endurance.
 * Hit Ancestor's Visage again when Sympathetic Visage runs out.

Notes:
 * If you aggro a Dying Nightmare either while getting the quest or while luring Grasping Darknesses, run like heck for the far wall and hope the Aatxes with it break aggro before you get there.
 * If they don't break, you will probably die. Just keep running around using your Enraging Charge and hope they give up.

To Kill Grasping Darknesses

 * Use Warrior's Endurance, followed by spamming Power Attack and Counterattack every time they recharge. Maintain Dolyak Signet and your Visages.
 * They do almost no damage, and their interrupts are non-existent with Visages. These should be easy, if boring, kills.
 * Once you've killed one group, lure the next and repeat.

Notes:
 * Sometimes the third group will get itself stuck on the stairs to the right. If this happens, kill the other two groups first, then hit Enraging Charge and run past the right side Aatxes.  Aggro the Grasping Darknesses, then run to the right, straight into the closed door.  You should have lost the Aatxes, but the Grasping Darknesses will follow you, and can now be killed alone.

To Kill Dying Nightmares

 * Since you couldn't care less if they strip your enchants, these enemies pose no threat to you whatsoever after they have spawned (except possibly around Smite Crawlers) and can either by killed or ignored at your leisure.

Notes:
 * The threat Dying Nightmares do pose is in spawning.
 * All Dying Nightmares in the starting room have Aatxes mobs associated with them. Aggroing them is considered a bad idea.

To Kill Bladed Aatxes

 * Just don't. Try to avoid them at all costs.  If you do manage to aggro some, just keep running away until they leave you alone.
 * Unlike some builds, you will not die in one hit from an Aatxe, it usually takes five or six.

The Run

 * Once you have completed the quest, run along the right side to the open gate, being sure to break aggro with the three or four nearby Aatxes.
 * If there are enemies in the passageway, this is a (mostly) safe point to stop and wait. Be careful of the patrols nearby.
 * As soon as the passageway is clear, run through it. Try to time your run so that you will not be seen by the Grasping Darkness patrol, as even with Enraging Charge you cannot outrun them and will be forced to fight. Use Enraging Charge just as you leave the passage, and head to the left.
 * If you can, try to run all the way past both groups of Aatxes in one shot. If you can't, break aggro and wait in the big room (avoiding patrols) until Enraging Charge has recharged, then run past the last pair of Aatxes.
 * Be careful, as you may have to wait till Enraging Charge recharges to break their aggro. If this happens, you will end up directly in the middle of the Smite Crawler group, and will be forced to fight.

The Run: Alternative Method

 * Watch the Grasping Darkness patrol in the room to the right, at the end of the passage.
 * As soon as you see them circle around and move away from the end of the passage, hit Enraging Charge and run along the right side of the room straight to them. The Aatxes behind you will break aggro fairly quickly.
 * As you reach the door, take note of where the Aatxes are.
 * If they're in the Passage or coming towards it, run past them as fast as you can. This is the hardest part, as it is far too easy to be trapped against the wall.  They will only get two or three hits off at most if you make it past.  Run to your left.
 * If they're still in the room, just keep running. Hug the left-side wall. Enraging Charge will wear off about now.
 * Keep running to your left. Just as the Aatxes behind you catch up, hit your recharged Enraging Charge.
 * the Aatxes behind you will break aggro just as you run into the pair in front.
 * Run straight through them, towards the Smite Crawlers on the other side. In this method, the Aatxes normally break aggro before you reach the Smites Crawlers.

Notes:
 * Lag is extremly dangerous when running through the narrow passage with the Aatxes. It's very easy to get body blocked without you knowing it. Your character will keep running but infact he is stuck between the Aatxes, if this happens, your run will most likely end here. The best thing you can do is just wait until they are far away from the Passage

To Kill Smite Crawlers

 * Pull one group of Smite Crawlers with your bow to a place where you can fight them alone. When fighting multiple groups, a mistake often leads to death.
 * Once you've gotten to the spot you want to fight at, hit Dolyak Signet and switch weapons.
 * As soon as they start to reach you, hit Ancestor's Visage and Warrior's Endurance.
 * Wait a few seconds until you think they've been sufficiently drain of energy, then start attacking.
 * When Ancestor's Visage is halfway recharged, cast Sympathetic Visage.
 * Handle them just like Grasping Darknesses, but here Visages are required to stop their healing. Warrior's Endurance will provide you with plenty of energy to maintain them.

Notes:
 * If you start taking damage from Shield of Judgment, it means you have not fully drained their energy. Cast your next Visage and switch targets.
 * Once you get down to the last Smite Crawler, the energy drain is much slower. It can out heal you easily though, so make sure to keep your Visages up.
 * Occasionally, for unknown reasons, a Smite Crawler group will become hostile to all other Smite and Coldfire groups in the area. Just let them die, it's not worth running in for the loot.
 * You should be able to handle up to five Smite Crawlers at once, which is the largest that most groups contain.

To Kill Coldfire Nights

 * First, identify their patrol route. Stand in front of their path, so they they're walking towards you when they see you.
 * Hit Enraging Charge just before getting in their range, you should be able to reach them before they can cast Shard Storm or Maelstrom.
 * As soon as you get in melee range, hit Dolyak Signet, Lion's Comfort, and Warrior's Endurance.
 * Fire off both your attack skills. Keep attacking as often as you can with your attack skills, using Warrior's Endurance and Dolyak Signet when they recharge.
 * You can use Lion's Comfort twice per Dolyak Signet, once just after it's used, and once about 9 seconds later. The rest of the time, just keep the adrenaline stored.
 * You will be at around 100-200 health the whole time, but if done properly, you should survive.
 * As they cast Shard Storm often, running away is unlikely to succeed.

Notes:
 * Coldfires have no valuable drops, and thus it is often better to skip them altogether then to kill them, unless they are blocking a mob of Smite Crawlers.
 * Killing groups of two is fairly easy, but groups of three are not recommended.
 * If you do need to kill a group of three, try to find a barrier that you can pull them to. Hide behind it to block Shard Storm until you see them cast at least two of their Maelstroms, then engage.

Safety Spots
This is a map of the path taken by this build:


 * The Green line is the path you should be taking.
 * The Red dots are the Safety Spots.
 * If you need to take a break or recharge, go to the closest Safety Spot you've cleared, and stay there.
 * All enemies can be pulled to at least one of the marked safety spots and fought there.
 * Two of the Safety Spots are not on the path. These spots are only used when a group of Smite Crawlers spawns in a bad location nearby.
 * All of these spots (except the ones in the middle of The Run) are free of Patrols.

Survival Tips

 * When trying to run around Aatxes, always try to go past on the most open side. They like to trap you by forcing you to run to one side, then cutting you off. Running past them close to walls is a good way to dig an early grave, as is running past them without Enraging Charge activated.


 * If you accidentally use Lion's Comfort just before Dolyak Signet recharges, just hit Enraging Charge and run. You can't tank more then 4 Smite Crawlers or Grasping Darknesses safely without it.


 * If the Grasping Darknesses interrupt one of your Visages and drain all your energy, just keep Dolyak Signet up and keep hitting them. Eventually either you'll get up to 5 energy and you can use Warrior's Endurance to gain more, or they'll just die.  They can't kill you as long as Dolyak Signet is up.


 * If you hit Dolyak Signet when you didn't mean to, just stop running. You can't escape anything while slowed, so stand still and tank if there are any enemies in the area.


 * Use Enraging Charge while Warrior's Endurance is recharging, followed by Lion's Comfort for a quick heal. Remember to do this only after you've activated Dolyak Signet.

Variants

 * Counterattack can be replaced by any other 5 Energy attack skill with a quick recharge. Be warned of energy problems if you do change it. This is not recommended unless you do not have access to Counterattack.
 * For experienced players, Final Thrust or Dismember can replace Lion's Comfort. Be warned that this will make aggroing large groups of Smite Crawlers and/or Coldfires much more dangerous.
 * The only variant for the attribute distribution is 10+1+3 Strength, 8+1 Weapon Mastery, 2+1 Tactics, and 12 Illusion Magic. This variant is slightly more effective against Smite Crawlers, but kills slower.  Only recommended if you have no Grip of Enchanting for your sword or axe.
 * There are many variants to the strategies proposed for pulling, running, and tanking. None were considered effective enough to include here, but if it works for you, use it.

Counters

 * Bladed Aatxes.
 * Attacking Smite Crawlers with Shield of Judgment on them.

Skills Template
For Axe

For Sword

Equipment

 * Player's Choice.(Radiant or Survivor armor is preferred)
 * Sword with +5 energy and 20% enchant mod (or a Fortitude modification) and a max armor Shield, +30 health. Since you have balanced stance, try to get a shield with a -2 while in a stance.
 * Focus swapping items for energy when needed.

Usage
Use Zealous Benediction on targets with low health. Use Infuse Health on targets getting spiked (this requires a fast reaction time). Use Reversal of Fortune and Shield of Absorption on allies about to be taking heavy damage. Use Dismiss condition for condition removal. Use Shield Bash and Balanced Stance when you think you are getting spiked, or if you know you are about to be. Otherwise, don't spam those skills. Try to keep your energy up, casting a spell maybe once every 3-4 seconds.

Counters

 * General spellcasting counters, such Backfire and Diversion.
 * Knockdowns while Balanced Stance isn't up.

Variants

 * Use Deadly Riposte or Riposte instead of Shield Bash. Be sure to bring a sword should you do so.

Attributes and Skills

 * Signet of Rejuvenation can be used for better energy management
 * A Hex Removal such as Smite Hex can be brought if some or multiple "critical" hexes are being used in the area

Equipment

 * Any armor is usable, though for PvE Radiant armor may be best
 * A 20/20 +5energy +30hp healing staff is recommended

Usage

 * Cast Holy Haste and recast it whenever necessary
 * Cast Dwayna's Kiss and Ethereal Light whenever needed
 * If multiple allies take damage, use Light of Deliverance
 * Use Light of Deliverance whenever you can't reach an ally in need of healing
 * Healing Touch and Light of Deliverance are your self heals, though the easily interruptable Ethereal Light can be used as one as well
 * Dismiss Condition whenever a "critical" condition appears on an ally such as Blind on a warrior or Dazed on an elementalist
 * Smite Hex whenever a "critical" hex appears on an ally such as Backfire on a caster, Empathy on a warrior or Vocal Minority on a paragon. Of course Scourge Healing is lethal when using Light of Deliverance and therefore this should have high priority when removing hexes
 * Use Restore Life on a fallen ally, however don't do this until you are sure you can spend some free seconds where no allies need healing. The last thing you want is more deaths because of a resurrection

Counters

 * Any spell caster counters (daze, backfire, etc.)
 * Scourge Healing can do major damage when being careless with Light of Deliverance

Variants

 * Orison of Healing can be used instead of Ethereal Light if you get interrupted a lot while using Ethereal Light
 * Words of Comfort can be useful instead of Ethereal Light if many conditions are used in that area
 * Mend Condition can be used instead of Dismiss Condition if you think you don't get conditions yourself or if few enchantments are being used
 * If no conditions are being used in a certain area, consider bringing another healing skill or another hex removal instead of Dismiss Condition
 * Any other hex removal skill such as Remove Hex or Inspired Hex (must become /Me) can be used instead of Smite Hex
 * If no hexes are being used in a certain area, consider bringing another healing skill instead of Smite Hex
 * Signet of Rejuvenation and possibly Signet of Devotion can be used for a better energy management in this build. Replace Dismiss Condition or Smite Hex by one of these signets, depending on what you need most, anti condition or anti hex
 * Resurrection Chant instead of Restore Life for a resurrect from some distance

RC bonder is a Monk build focused on Random Arena matches. It is extremely powerful here because random groups very rarely deal with it appropriately.

Equipment
Armor set can be chosen according to philosophy, with Ascetic's Armor possibly being the most useful for the higher energy pool. However, if surviving is a problem, Acolyte's Armor provides its benefit continually with this build.

Any weapon combination that lowers casting and recharge times of Protection Prayers will work well with this build. A couple of suggestions are:
 * Jayne's Staff.
 * Kepkhet's Refuge.
 * A Holy Staff from Nord Stonegrimm fitted with a perfect Insightful or Hale staff head and wrapping of Enchanting.

Usage
Maintain Balthazar's Spirit and Divine Boon at all times. In addition, keep Life Bond on the other 3 party members. Before battle or during lulls, Blessed Signet will more than offset the energy drain. In battle, Balthazar's Spirit will provide energy. Healing is not as necessary because of the damage reduction, so Divine Boon on top of Reversal of Fortune or Restore Condition is enough to maintain healing. The quick recharge and low energy cost of these spells keeps the energy demands low.

In the Random Arena, you encounter one of a few types of attackers. Most anti-monk Mesmers focus on anti-casting spells such as Blackout and Backfire, which do little to a monk maintaining enchantments. Warriors that target you early are easy to notice and avoid. Usually, just running is an easy enough tactic. Your enchantments are still contributing to the effort, and if you have one or two chasers, the rest of your team will have little difficulty in taking out the remaining players with Life Bond on them.

Counters
If you get the focus of more than one enemy and they're good with snares, you can die very quickly. This is rare in the Random Arenas, but it does happen. After death, your efficacy is greatly diminished because you don't have the time or energy pool to recast your enchantments. Life Bond (and therefore Balthazar's Spirit) are not worth recasting, so you turn into a reduced Boon Healer at that point.

High damage casters such as Necromancers with Vampiric Touch/Vampiric Gaze or Elementalists that are not getting interrupted can be a nuisance. Fortunately, such targets get killed very quickly in random games, particularly if you warn your group beforehand.

The biggest obvious weakness is getting your enchantments stripped. Mass enchantment removal is very rare in Random Arenas. Sometimes, Life Bond will get stripped off your allies, but you can easily recast it. It is important to order your enchantments such that your most important ones are deepest and the cheaper/less important ones are used as cover.

Variants
A major variation is to drop the Boon Healer part of the build. Replace Divine Boon and Restore Condition with Bonetti's Defense and Shield of Regeneration. Maintaining one fewer Enchantment makes a big difference in your energy regeneration. You're also better off not running from melee attackers, as Guardian+Bonetti's Defense will quickly refill your energy bar. In situations where a Warrior or Pet or Spirits target you and continually attacks you, you end up with an endless energy pool and your team will be nearly invincible. You can also replace RC and Divine Boon with mend ailment (for conditions) and ZB for healing, when a target is subject to heave damage, becouse of the conditional energy gain on ZB you should be ok with maintaining your energy.

Equipment

 * A -5 energy set
 * A 30/-2 energy set
 * An enchanting weapon
 * Select weapons to preference.

Usage

 * Maintain Hex Breaker.
 * Precast Holy Veil on your self, and/or your melee (these are the prime targets for hexes, it allows for fast removal of Faintheartedness etc. from your melee, and otherwise unremovable debuffs such as Shame or Diversion from your self.).
 * Use Reversal of Fortune to react to damage.
 * Gift of Health is your main heal, use it whenever possible.
 * Spirit Bond should be used to protect against heavy hitters such as hammer warriors, dervishes and elementalists.
 * Use Dismiss Condition to strip dangerous conditions from allies.
 * Zealous Benediction can be used for a massive, cheap heal once an ally drops below 50% health. Don't get in to the habit of waiting for them to drop though, make use of Reversal of Fortune and Gift of Health to keep them alive - if an ally is below 50% health, faced with a pumped-up warrior or an assassin, the ally could be dead before you complete casting of ZB.
 * Don't make red bars go up - prevent damage.

Counters

 * Daze/Interruption
 * Knockdown
 * Signet of Humility
 * Energy Denial

Variants

 * Dismiss Condition can be replaced with Mend Condition or Mend Ailment.
 * Shield of Absorption can be replaced with Shielding Hands.

Equipment

 * Full Ascetic's armor for a maximal energy pool.
 * 5 Superior runes, at least 1 Superior Protection Prayers and 1 Superior Divine Favor.
 * A Scythe with a 20% enchantment mod with the "I Have The Power" +5 energy inscription or similar bonus.

Usage
This build uses SOA and PS to tank and the Scythe's ability to attack more than one target, even with Illusionary Weaponry.
 * Use the maintained enchantments first. Switch to a +1 Divine Favor head gear when using Blessed Aura and keep using the +1 Protection Prayers head gear for fighting/tanking.
 * Before aggroing, cast PS>AV>SOA (Keep a Visage up at ALL times during an aggro).
 * Take the aggro and watch out for the nightmare. use power return to interrupt the spell cast by it and wand it with a backup staff/wand.
 * If a second nightmare pops, interrupt one and wand the second. if you die from the second nightmare, bad luck and try again.
 * When the aggro is under control and the mob has 0 energy and no adrenaline, cast IW and begin to slash away with the scythe. Make sure you attack the monster in the middle of the mob to hit the two beside it.
 * When dealing with mobs of 4+, just attack the same target until it is dead and the scythe will take care of the surrounding mob. If smites break, they will spam Reversal of Fortune, but DON'T WORRY, they won't be able to keep spamming it long enough to fully heal another smite.
 * If one smite won't die, switch to another smite.
 * Avoid coldfires at all times, this build has no way to kill them as interruption and slow is a pain.
 * You can counter the Dying Nightmares by just aggroing the Aatxe's and running behind the dead spirits the Aatxe won't hit you any more but the Dying Nightmares will use Rend Enchantments so you won't need to worry because the Aatxe's won't be hitting and you will just need to reenchant yourself and kill.

Counters

 * Death is a stand out counter.
 * A second nightmare popping up without you noticing, resulting in death.
 * Miscasting SOA, resulting in a death.
 * Bleeding at the beginning as it may degenerate your health quickly at 105 hp, resulting in death.
 * The recent changes to the skills Rend Enchantments and Shield of Absorption may have a significant effect on this builds stability. SoA is now fair game for Bladed Aatxe's interrupts, and Dying Nightmares are even more of a threat now with a 1 second cast time to Rend. More testing will be needed.(I suggest switching soa for Shielding Hands) resulting in death.

Equipment

 * A insightful staff of enchanting with a HSR 20% mod such as Kepkhet's Refuge or The Yakslapper
 * A negative energy set for focus swapping will help against energy denial.
 * A one handed weapon with a crippling mod may also be a legitimate choice to increase the cripple duration from Return

Usage

 * Dismiss Condition used upon enchanted allies serves as a good cheap healing spell even if that ally has no conditions on them, but Reversal of Fortune should be used as a primary heal on allies being attacked.
 * Use Signet of Devotion whenever you can safely do so. This will help keep your energy reserves up.
 * Try to only use Zealous Benediction on allies that have health below 50% in order to take advantage of the energy gain bonus from the skill.
 * Protective Spirit should be used on any allies that are taking large amounts of damage per hit.
 * Use Dark Escape when you are being attacked or are being knocked down to reduce damage taken by 50%. Since it is a stance it can be used at any time. The speed bonus will help you get out of the way and prevent being knocked down again.
 * Return is to be used when you expect a spike from warriors in order to cripple them and quickly get out of harms way.
 * If an enemy is using a shutdown hex on you such as Backfire or Mark of Subversion, cast Holy Veil on yourself and leave it on until that hex is cast on you, then cancel Holy Veil to remove the hex without triggering it. Otherwise simply cast Holy Veil  on an ally with a hex on them and remove it immediately afterwards to utilize the skill as a normal hex remover.

Counters

 * Energy denial on this build, just as any monk build, can cause problems. Since it is necessary to have 10 energy in order to cast Zealous Benediction and gain the 10 energy back, having less than 10 energy can be dangerous.  Hiding energy with focus swapping is the best way to protect yourself from this.
 * Mesmer shutdown spells, such as Signet of Humility and Diversion as well as the assassin skill Shadow Shroud can also be dangerous to this build. The best way to combat this is to watch enemies and cast Holy Veil on yourself if you expect to be hexed with something like this and release the enchantment once hexed.

Variants

 * Replace Protective Spirit with Spirit Bond or Shield of Absorption.
 * Replace Return for Shadow of Haste. Once Shadow of Haste has been used, Dark Escape can be activated to cause you to teleport to where Shadow of Haste was initially cast.  Since there are no cast times involved in this process, it holds a bit of an advantage if you expect to suffer from a lot of knockdowns.
 * A minor Protection Prayers rune may be used instead of a major to give the player more health.

Equipment

 * Full Radiant Insignias
 * Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor or equivalent weapon.
 * Divine Favor off-hand with health +30 core, and energy +5 while enchanted inscription.
 * If preferred, a halves skill recharge inscription (Forget Me Not) could be used to increase usage of Spell Breaker.

Usage
The power of this build comes from the long-lasting preventative action of Spell Breaker. At rest points, allow Spell Breaker to recharge while you heal yourself. Successful usage of this build is facilitated by smart gameplay; only use Spell Breaker when you (forsee you will) need it - do not try to keep it active all the time.
 * Begin your run by casting Blessed Aura. This constantly maintained enchantment will help to fuel your Enchanted Haste.
 * If desired, pre-cast Watchful Spirit so you may cancel it in the event of an emergency for a quick heal boost after taking damage. Although you do not need to stop to cancel Watchful Spirit, you will need to stop to recast for future uses.
 * Use Spell Breaker when passing through areas with casters. Even with an enchanting weapon and Blessed Aura, you cannot maintain this enchantment indefinitely.  It should last around 25 seconds, so know your area and plan ahead for the 20 second downtime.
 * Use Enchanted Haste and then Harrier's Haste immediately after Enchanted Haste expires. With 9 points in Wind Prayers, you can run constantly and with no energy downtime while cycling through these skills.  Note that both of these skills are stances and, as such, one will cancel the other.
 * Use Fleeting Stability just before entering a knockdown area. This is an enchantment and, as such, it will not interfere with your running stances. Beware of the self-knockdown effect after Fleeting ends.
 * Use Smite Hex as needed.
 * Use Mending Touch as needed.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal and hexes can be devastating. Avoid running through dense enchantment removal and hex areas without Spell Breaker active.
 * Excessive physical attacks can prove fatal as well. Taking a wrong turn or getting boxed in/body blocked can end your run.  Know the geography and spawn locations of enemies so that you can plan to circumvent them accordingly.

Variants
The build can be customized to conform to specific runs, enemies, and user preferences:
 * If knockdowns are not a concern, consider bringing Healing Touch instead of Fleeting Stability, lower your attribute rank in Earth Prayers to 0 and increase your attribute rank in Healing Prayers to 9. With your high rank in Divine Favor you will get 144 heal for 5 energy.
 * If knockdowns are not a concern, consider bringing Conviction for added armor.
 * If you choose to use conviction with this build, consider bringing Featherfoot Grace, as it is an enchantment running spell and will not conflict with your Conviction stance.
 * Watchful Healing can be used instead of Watchful Spirit, as a cheaper regen spell. Additionally, bring a "lose enchantment" skill to cancel Watchful Healing and gain its healing bonus.
 * Pious Restoration or Signet of Pious Light can be used to cancel Fleeting and Watchful Healing if you choose that skill as well.
 * If you're running with a team, consider using Dismiss Condition to assist your allies if needed.
 * If you are not concerned with hexes, replace Smite Hex with Signet of Devotion for self healing, ideally at rest stops or after breaking aggro.

Attributes and Skills

 * Some nice skills for the Optional Slot are Featherfoot Grace or Vow of Piety. Lyssa's Haste may also work.

Equipment

 * Any Staff or Wand/Offhand combination will work as long as they are tied to Protection Prayers and have a 20% Enchantment Modifier. A perfect example is Sadi's Benediction.
 * Ascetic's Armor or armor fully equipped with Radiant insignias is recommended for the additional energy, but Acolyte's Armor or armor equipped with Blessed insignias will also work nicely for the additional armor.

Usage

 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself at the start of the match.
 * Cast Shield of Absorption and your other protective Enchantments on yourself if you come under attack, but continue to use Mystic Healing.
 * When you have an opportunity, you can also cast other Enchantments on yourself to make Mystic Healing more powerful
 * Try to only use Zealous Benediction on allies that have health below 50% in order to take advantage of the energy gain bonus from the skill.
 * Dismiss Condition can be used both as cheap condition removal on enchanted allies as well as a cheap heal
 * Reversal of Fortune should be spammed on allies. This should be your primary heal on allies under attack
 * Protective Spirit should be used on allies under heavy fire.

Counters

 * Enchantment Removal
 * Energy Denial (Focus Swapping can help negate this problem)
 * Anti-Spam Skills (Such as Diversion)

Variants
Skills to Consider:
 * Gift of Health
 * Guardian
 * Blessed Aura

= MONK VERMIN FARMER =

This build was designed to farm the Vermin outside Senji's Corner in Xaquang Skyway. With the use of the Monk's armor-ignoring damage skills from the Smiting Prayers line, you are able to deal damage to multiple foes simultaneously. Protection Prayers and Earth Prayers skills are used to defend yourself from the enemy attacks.

Equipment

 * Max Radiant Armor with the above mentioned runes. Basically your normal prot gear, the minor smiting rune isn't even needed.
 * Whatever you want of enchanting. I prefer a staff of enchanting so I can do some additional damage myself. Another weapon of enchanting will also work but does less damage.

Usage

 * Maintain Blessed Aura, Balthazar's Spirit, and Essence Bond at all times.
 * Gather as many vermin as you feel like, you can tank an infinite number if used right.
 * Keep Fleeting Stability and Shield of Absorption up at all times, I find it smart to follow SoA with FS.
 * Use Mystic Regeneration to counter the health degen of the vermin.
 * Use Shield of Judgment to damage the vermin, follow it up with Balthazar's Aura. The knockdown for SoJ will allow BA to deal lots of damage without scattering the vermin. attack a vermin at all times so it keeps attacking you. Shreader should always be taken down first.

Counters

 * No real threats from Vermin, but Jade Brotherhood may be able to kill you.

Armor

 * Acolyte's Armor for its +10 armor (while enchanted) bonus - you will be under enchantments almost 100% of the time of your run.

Runes

 * Rune of Major or Superior Vigor

Weapons
Two weapon sets are optimal for this run, so that you can switch while running. This, of course, depends more or less on your personal style of running. One set for high energy, and faster recharge, and one for running through groups of Tundra Giants.

Weapon Set #1

 * Gardock's Staff

Weapon Set #2

 * Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor


 * Grognar's Defender

Note: The 20% longer enchantment mod helps to keep up the life-saving skill Divine Intervention longer which can be helpful when running through groups having this skill up.

General
The Running Sequence provides an almost constant speed boost. It is not gap-less, that is to say, there is a short pause between one Sprint and "Charge!" cycle. The Divine Favor Cycle provides the best quick-healing, and the Hex-Countering Mechanism the best anti-hex measurements.

Running Sequence

 * Use Sprint, and "Charge!" for a speed boost of 25%. Sprint and "Charge!" together do stack for a total boost of 33%.
 * Use Balanced Stance to counter knockdowns by Frost Wurms, Ice Golems, Tundra Giants, and Azure Shadows.

Note: Balanced Stance cancels Sprint and vice versa, for they are both stances. Never use them simultaneously if you don't want to lose either of them. Balanced Stance should be used with "Charge!" instead. Balanced Stance will outlast "Charge!" by 8 secs. Use Balanced Stance, wait 4-8 secs and activate "Charge!". It is better to be quicker in escape than in approach due to the aggro/ deaggro behavior of the NPCs.

Divine Favor Cycle

 * Activate Watchful Spirit (WS) when entering a new area.
 * Cancel Watchful Spirit whenever instant healing is necessary. Try to recast Watchful Spirit after that.
 * Use Divine Intervention (DI) as backup healing.

Note #1: Depending on your running abilities it is advised to use DI first before canceling WS in order to be still under the effect of the +2 health pips by WS.

Note #2 Your high Divine Favor attribute allows you to heal you from spells like Purge Conditions, and Smite Hex, too. Though, it might not be much healing but in case of little healing it is much better than canceling Watchful Spirit

Hex-Countering Mechanism
Note #1: Always use Smite Hex for removing a Hex before canceling Holy Veil. By not canceling Holy Veil first you make sure that the enemies still need twice as long to cast for their hexes.
 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself first as major hex-protecting mechanism.
 * Use Smite Hex as major hex-remover.

Note #2: For an extra hex remover cast Holy Veil and wait for it to recharge. By canceling it, recasting, and canceling it again, you can remove up to two hexes only with Holy Veil.

Conditions

 * Use Purge Conditions for an all-in-one conditions clean-up.

Note: Beware traps set by Pinesouls that cripple you for quite a long time. It is not unlikely that two traps are behind each other. Go on running crippled to check whether a second trap is about to ignite; only then use Purge Conditions to reduce the chance of getting trapped twice to a minimum. Alternatively, Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multi-traps.

Variants

 * Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multiple Barbed Traps.

Talus Chute
Due to the high damage output by the groups of Avicara, and the knockdowns by Azure Shadows, it is advised to modify the build for the final stage of the Droknar run. However, this is not needed if you have henchmen or real players as meatshields. Do not forget to put some attributes into Healing Prayers.
 * Activate Mending, Watchful Spirit, and Holy Veil (in this order).
 * Before encountering the first Azure Shadows cast Healing Breeze.
 * Activate Balanced Stance when the first Signet of Judgments are about to hit you.
 * Use "Charge!" in the first corner (left hand) near the Azure Shadow Boss.
 * Cancel Watchful Spirit whenever healing is required. Try to reapply it immediately.
 * Activate Divine Intervention as final life-saver skill when running through the groups of Avicara.

= 55hp MONKIE = 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.

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

 * Enchantment removal
 * Interrupting
 * The dazed condition
 * Life stealing
 * Degeneration

Equipment
((+3-Scythe Mastery Rune)) ((+3-Earth Prayer Rune)) ((+3-Mysticism Rune)) ((+3-Rune(Your Choice)) ((+3-Rune(Your Choice))
 * Rune's

((Radiant Insignia (x5) for more energy (*But not necessary*))
 * Insignia's


 * Any kind of armor other than armor with the survivor insignia or health boosting runes will do, as long as it has a total of 5 superior runes on. Note that armor level does not matter for this build, so a set of armor purchased in Kamadan will serve this builds purposes just fine.
 * A customized Scythe with a "Guided by Fate"/"Strength and Honor"/"To the Pain!" inscription. A scythe grip of Enchanting and a Sundering or Zealous scythe snathe can make things easier.
 * A Zealous scythe is recommended while facing only one foe; if you don't use one you may not gain enough energy to recast all 3 enchantments. Note that energy mangement when facing a single foe may become easier by dropping Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond.
 * Dwayna's Grace, Lyssa's Bedlam, Scythe of Corruption, or Suli's Scythe would work well for this build. The Soulbreaker also works.

Usage
Whenever you enter an explorable area cast Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond and wait for your energy to regen. Before approaching the monster(s) you want to kill, cast the first 3 skills on your bar. Aggro the monster(s) and keep your enchantments up while spamming your attack skills. If you're having trouble staying alive, consider deliberately getting yourself killed; the resultant Death Penalty will lower your health and therefore make the build more effective.

Mystic Regeneration is quite effective at keeping your health up, however enemies with fast attack speed or powerful health degen spells can render it useless. Try not to face your target alone, make sure he has company. When you aggro a group, make sure they are more or less mobbed up. With the help of Mystic Vigor, you will gain about 25 health each hit; with 3 targets in one hit you will gain 75 health per hit. With fast attacks and the assistance of Mystic Regeneration, you should survive quite easily.

Mystic Vigor is your anti-spike skill. When you get spiked, it should only take one hit from you while enchanted with Mystic Vigor to bring your health back up.

When there are only 1 or 2 enemies left, it's useful to just use Mystic Vigor instead of Mystic Regeneration, to conserve energy.

For some bosses, it is more effective to insert Mirage Cloak into the build instead of Eremite's Attack, to help counter the onslaught of melee attackers. This variation can often be used without having to harvest Death Penalty first, and also gives nice AoE damage. Note, however, that Mirage Cloak will lower the effectiveness of Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond, so don't attempt to use it unless you have a zealous scythe equipped.

Counters

 * Blind
 * Weakness
 * Blurred Vision
 * Enchantment removal
 * Avatar of Grenth
 * Health Degeneration exceeding 20 pips
 * Health Stealing
 * Energy Denial (Spirit Shackles)
 * Chilblains this skill can ruin many of your farming runs

Variants
Replace Reaper's Sweep with Wounding Strike.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with Arcane Zeal if you are having trouble with energy management.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with Mystic Twister.

Replace Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep for Fleeting Stability to counter knock down.

Replace Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep for Heart of Holy Flame when fighting undead for double damage.

Replace Reaper's Sweep with any form except for Avatar of Melandru, which gives +100 health boost. Avatar of Balthazar and Avatar of Dwayna are particularly useful here; the former with its armor boost(doesn't matter due to Protective Spirit) and armor-penetrating damage; the latter with its hex removal and healing, which can negate the need for Mystic Vigor. Avatar of Lyssa works wonders against Mage Bosses, as they are constantly casting spells on you, you dish out +38 damage on a target that is casting a spell.(Remember you will only have about a minute to kill each group, however, if you rely on a form to make the build work.)

Replace Mystic Regeneration with Healing Breeze and take healing prayers instead of earth prayers. Not as effective, but works if you haven't come far enough in the Nightfall campaign to get Mystic Regeneration, unlock Mystic Regeneration with Balthazar Faction, then buy it off the skill trainer.

Equipment

 * Armor:
 * Two major attribute runes.
 * One superior rune of Vigor.
 * Two runes of Attunement (+ energy).
 * Radiant insignias (+ energy).
 * Weapons:
 * Sundering Scythe of Enchanting, with a "Guided by Fate" inscription.
 * Vampiric Scythe as well, switching out as you need them.
 * A staff in case of Dealth Penalty, as DP will reduce your max energy below that required for your Avatar.

Usage

 * Before the upcoming confrontation and while clearly out of a ranger interruption range, activate Avatar of Melandru. Your HP should be at an impressive 685. Use Victorious Sweep upon targets with lower HP than yourself. Use Wearying Strike every 10 seconds to keep a Deep Wound upon your target. Since conditions do not affect you, you won’t suffer weakness from Wearying Strike. Always put Zealous Renewal back up once it drops while being careful not to use it prematurely.
 * Helping teammates: If you have the energy to spare, and you should, use draw condition to totally wipe out all conditions when it really matters. You won’t have to worry about them affecting you due to Avatar of Melandru. Use Imbue Health to give other party members a potent 300 HP heal (which you should easily be able to grant with your large HP pool), esp. when allied healer is unable to heal at the right moment.

Variants

 * You may want to swap out a skill for Mystic Vigor.
 * You may want to swap out a skill for Crippling Sweep, to prevent kiting.
 * You may want to swap out a skill for Watchful Intervention, for even more anti-spike protection.

Counters

 * Anti-Melee hexes can cause problems with attacking.
 * While Avatar of Melandru is down, like all Avatar builds, the build will lose some functionality. Mainly, you cannot use Draw Conditions unless in extreme situations, Wearying Strike is mostly out of the question, and Imbue Health will take a slight hit.
 * If you happen to get totally destroyed, your Imbue Health won't be too much help to your allies. Plus, healing yourself with Victorious Sweep will be harder to manage.
 * Fragility will decimate you. Since Avatar of Melandru applies conditions and then instantly removes them, the damage from fragility can be fatal. Be extremely wary of this hex!

= D/A Dark Silence Runner =

This build allows for a Dervish/Assassin to complete the Droknar's Forge run with a higher success rate than any other build yet. With the use of Vow of Silence and Dark Escape you can easily run past enemies while taking little damage. This build also combines the use of Fleeting Stability, Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention to create a safe versatile run. This build can also run most of the entire game with no change at all.

Equipment

 * Armor: The Windwalker Insignia should be used for this build since you will be under multiple enchantments for most of the run. Apply a Rune of Major Vigor or a Rune of Superior Vigor and Rune of Attunement for extra energy.
 * Weapons: A Staff with an enchantment lengthening mod and at least +15 energy since you will need energy more than armor. An inscribeable Insightful Staff with a "Have Faith" inscription will give you +20 energy while you're enchanted.  A Shield can be used but you will often find yourself lacking energy.
 * A sword of enchanting with a shield that lowers damage taken while enchanted and HP +45 while enchanted.

Before 1 Feb. Update Usage

 * Start: Cast Faithful Intervention at start and whilst not under attack if it is not currently on.
 * Or you can just run through them with either Dark Escape or Dash.
 * Lornar's Pass
 * Wurm Tunnel: Cast Fleeting Stability -> Mystic Regeneration -> Vow of Silence -> Deadly Paradox -> Dark Escape. As soon as Vow of Silence ends, cast Fleeting Stability -> Vow of Silence before reaching the Siege Ice Golems.  Then use Deadly Paradox -> Dark Escape to outrun them.
 * Grawl zones: Vow of Silence is not required to run past the Grawl unless there are Siege Ice Golems located close by. As long as you maintain Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention and avoid the Grawl Crones you'll be fine.
 * Snake Dance
 * Make sure you maintain Fleeting Stability and Mystic Regeneration when running past Tundra Giants and Azure Shadows.
 * Always use Deadly Paradox before Dark Escape.

Counters

 * Grawl Crones can strip you of Vow of Silence and other enchantments with Chilblains and can cause almost certain death if Siege Ice Golems are nearby. Just stay out of their range and you'll be fine.

Variants
You can switch Dash for Signet of Pious Light for ending Fleeting Stability for extra health and can combine with Vital Boon for a quick health boost when needed.

There are many assassin skills which can be used instead, though they may leave you more exposed.


 * Earth Prayers | 12 + 2


 * Mysticism | 12 + 1 + 2


 * Shadow Arts | 3

Pious Haste provides a fast alternative aswell as lets you skip investing anything in Wind Prayers, giving you longer duration on all your skills, higher max health, better energymanagement though it has a downside of removing an enchantment when it ends but if timed right you may even use it to your advantage (Vital Boon).

Template
= D/any Forge Runner = Dervish Forge Runner for Beacon's Perch to Droknar's Forge run.

Equipment

 * Maximum level armor with Radiant or Windwalker insignias.
 * The runes you will need are as follows: Major Mysticism, minor Wind Prayers, Minor Earth Prayers, Rune of Attunement, and a Superior Rune of Vigor (if you can afford it).
 * Any weapon with an enchantments last 20% longer mod and +5 energy inscription and a shield or a staff with similiar mods.
 * Totem Axe and a Wooden Buckler from Luci
 * Kepkhet's Refuge

Usage
Keep Faithful Intervention on at all times, and use Watchful Intervention for emergency heals. Vow of Silence will keep you going through the grawl, ice imps, and ice golems safely.Featherfoot Grace reduces poison, bleeding, and cripple when running through the Grawl. Harrier's Haste and Enchanted Haste are stances to increase your speed. Try to keep Mystic Regeneration up. Fleeting Stability will get you through the worms and other knockdowns you may encounter.

Watch your enchantment expirations. If they are about to go out, go ahead and recharge them whenever you can.

Variations
Using a D/A, take out Watchful Intervention and Enchanted Haste and replace them with Dark Escape and Dash. Attributes should be aligned as 14 Mysticism (With Hood+Superior Rune), 11 Earth Prayers, 10 Wind Prays, and 9 Shadow Arts.

Attributes and Skills
The code for this build is: "OgFTkYGXnBVsM4hLR+SpgWYKAA"

Equipment

 * Tempest Armor
 * Something along the lines of Galigord's Stone Staff will be perfect.

Usage

 * Upon entering the Underworld, check in front of you to see if there are three Bladed Aatxes in the mob. If there is, and the third isn’t moving, it means there is a Dying Nightmare spawn to the right.
 * If there is, cast Kinetic Armor and maintain it with, Aura of Restoration.
 * Pull the first mob and run to the NPC Benton. As long as you hide behind him the Bladed Aatxes cannot get to you, however keep your enchantments up for convenience.
 * By now, the Dying Nightmare would have spawned and you can now wand him without worrying about the Bladed Aatxes.
 * If there is no third Bladed Aatxe, then you are safe and you are free to pull the mob.
 * After taking out the Dying Nightmare, or if there were none, take the Clear the Chamber quest. Then cast Armor of Earth and tank the mob.
 * Cast Glyph of Renewal to keep up Magnetic Aura, and use Sliver Armor for damage.
 * Keep Teinai's Crystals or Crystal Wave if you are using only Prophecies skills, as a finisher. This way, the Grasping Darkness’ will be able to contribute to Sliver Armor’s triggering and the Bladed Aatxes will die faster. Bladed Aatxes have the higher armor so you will want to target them first.
 * As of the October 25th AoE update, the monsters will run when they take too much damage. Don’t worry, just wand them and they will come right back. You will be wanding anyways to charge up Bonetti's Defense.
 * When low on health, cast more, and if you are Dazed just use Aura of Restoration and Magnetic Aura to keep Kinetic Armor up. Wait for it to finish and continue to kill the mob.
 * When low on energy, use Bonetti's Defense, you will be almost guaranteed to block everything for the full 6 seconds it is active. Be cautious as casting to keep Kinetic Armor alive will disengage Bonetti's Defense.
 * After killing the first mob, move on to the next in a clockwise rotation.
 * First, pull any Dying Nightmares that might be hiding, if you aggro the Bladed Aatxes run back to NPC Benton and hide.
 * Wand the Dying Nightmare and carry on killing the mob.
 * Rinse and repeat until all Grasping Darkness’ and Bladed Aatxes are dead. Move on to the Ice Wastes.
 * Facing Smite Crawlers is the easy part as they attack fast, have lower armor and deal less damage.
 * Be careful when running to Smite Crawler nests as Dying Nightmares could pop up. They will likely be alone, so take it slow.
 * Do not engage the Coldfire Nights as they can interrupt you and they don’t drop any Globs of Ectoplasm anyway.

Counters

 * Enchantment stripping
 * Interrupts

Equipment

 * Cruel Scythe of Enchanting with "Guided by Fate" Inscription
 * Sundering Scythe of Enchanting with "Guided by Fate" Inscription
 * Sundering Scythe of Enchanting with "Strength and Honor" Inscription
 * Full Radiant armor
 * Superior Vigor Rune
 * Attunement Rune

Usage

 * Select a target, preferably a squishy one.
 * Cast the three enchantments as you approach your target, beginning with Mystic Regeneration.
 * Use Crippling Sweep to prevent kiting.
 * Begin attacking with Wounding Strike, followed by Mystic Sweep.
 * Continue spamming Mystic Sweep, reapplying conditions as necessary.
 * Alternatively, attack with Wounding Strike when not enchanted and your target has a good amount of health, then once they drop below 50%, use it to inflict Deep Wound right before Mystic Sweep for a bigger spike.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal
 * Anti-melee Hexes such as Spirit of Failure
 * Energy denial
 * Dazed

Variants

 * Resurrection Signet should be replaced with another, non-resurrection skill for Alliance Battles.  Some suggestions:
 * Pious Assault, for more spiking ability and a controlled way to end Enchantments.
 * A low-cost Hex removal skill, such as Remove Hex.
 * Mystic Vigor, for additional healing and damage.
 * Eremite's Attack, also a quick scythe attack for spiking
 * Replace Wounding Strike with Reaper's Sweep for more raw damage at the expense of condition versatility.
 * Conviction can be used to boost defense.

Equipment

 * Any weapon with lengthening 20% enchantment time will work but I recommend Kepkhet’s Refuge for the extra energy given.
 * All pieces of armor must have a superior rune on them bringing your health down to 105hp which is a variation of the 55 Monk build.

Usage
Cast the last 2 enchantments when loaded into the area and take the Anguish Hunt and Quest. Cast Protective Spirit, Spell Breaker, and then Shield of Absorption once Quickening Zephyr is up. Gather all mobs into one central area and stand very close to all spell casters and start on a cycle of casting Ancestor's Visage and Sympathetic Visage. Note that these 2 only work when being hit with melee attacks so do not continue to keep up if there are no melee attacks on you. Maintain Protective Spirit, Spell Breaker, and Shield of Absorption at all times. Stay close to the monks 1º, then spellcasters, necros and mesmers. After finishing them go for the melee enemies. If any non-melee targets manage to stay alive attack them with your wand, wait for their Healing skills (Troll Unguent, Leader's Comfort) and interrupt them using Lightbringer's Gaze or/and ask for the ranger's help with Apply Poison.

Counters and Problems

 * Casting Spell Breaker when Quickening Zephyr is not up will result in it not recharging in time which then can lead to enchantment stripping and death.
 * Not having all the spell casters in adjacent range to be hit by Visages.
 * Healing spikes from Margonite Anur Ki
 * Being interrupted by an Anur Vu's Magehunter's Smash (which only happens if you cast your Visages too late.)
 * Due to Shield of Absorption nerf you now need to spam Shield of Absorption to keep yourself alive

Equipment

 * Radiant Armor with Superior Wilderness Survival rune and runes of attunement for any other slots available is recommended.
 * A Staff with 15 or more energy.
 * Any type of Bow (Longbow or Flatbow is recomended).

Usage
Cast last 2 enchantments on Monk when done loading and take Anguish Hunt and Quest. Use Serpent’s Quickness followed by Quickening Zephyr when Monk is ready. Cast Famine and keep Quickening Zephyr and Famine up at all times. Cast Edge Of Extinction when Margonites are close to death.

Variants

 * Replace Apply Poison with Lightbringer's Gaze (depending on Lightbringer Rank) for different ways to deal with stragglers.
 * Some people like to carry Succor in place of Balthazar's Spirit.
 * Replace Serpent's Quickness with Lightbringer's Gaze. Cast Quickening Zephyr only while under the effects of Quickening Zephyr. The Margonite Anur Tuk will cast the initial one for you.

Build Concept
While there are a lot of differences that affect tactics, this team works in a very similar way to Build:Team - 55/SS;
 * The 55 monk attracts a group of enemies, and tanks them.
 * The ranger deals damage with the elite Nature Ritual - Famine, which hurts anyone whose energy reaches 0, and cast Sympathetic Visage and its duplicate Ancestor's Visage on the monk, to get the melee mobs attacking him down to 0 energy over and over again.

A major advantage of this build, is that it lets rangers, a profession which is less wanted as farmer, take a part in duo UW farming, make some money and gain xp. It could also be a nice way for a ranger to cap a Black Widow himself, with help from only one other player. Note that with groups bigger than 3, an AoE effect triggers, making some of the group to spread, while 3 will remain still fighting.

Famine now causes enemies to scatter, with careful aggro-management an SS is faster.

Famine-AV-SV Ranger
Usage:
 * Patience and good timing are the most important aspects of success. Give the 55 monk room to operate and round up and gather aggro. Following closely will only result in breaking up aggro and making fights longer.
 * Lay down Famine.
 * While the monk is gathering the mobs, wield a bow and be ready to kill or interrupt any Dying Nightmares.
 * Once the enemies are gathered around the monk, cast Sympathetic Visage on the monk. Once SV is half way through its recharge cycle, cast AV, and so on.
 * While waiting, you can use Apply Poison, and fire an arrow at each enemy.
 * As long as you have a group of enemies, do not hurt any of them in any way except through Famine and even poison spreading, since they all contribute to each other's downfall, and losing one will slow the killing of the rest.
 * Casters can be carefully taken care of with Images of Remorse and poison.

Equipment:
 * A sword or axe Of Enchanting. The Totem Axe and Rajazan's Fervor are ideal. Another option is Vokur's Cane for the fast recharge.
 * a 20/20 Jeweled Chakram from Arliss Vaughn or Dauv Merishahl.
 * A fast-shooting bow for Savage Shot and Apply Poison.
 * Druid's Armor.

Variations:
 * Replace one of the interrupts with EoE, Conjure Phantasm, or Charm Animal in case you plan to charm a pet spider.

The Invincible Monk (55)
Usage:
 * Cast the 4 enchantments on the right of the skill bar at the beginning. Note that you will have 0 energy regeneration. Use Blessed Signet to recharge to at least above 25 so you can cast Protective Spirit and then Spell Breaker before Bladed Aatxes interrupt.
 * In situations where there are no enemy mesmers, the approach is to put Protective Spirit on and engage. With 4 pips of health regeneration from Mending, you should not need Healing Breeze until you are tanking a lot of foes or are bleeding from the Bladed Aatxes.
 * The Energy from Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit should be more than enough for all situations; use Blessed Signet to gain energy if needed.
 * Use Spell Breaker to deflect enchantment removal, or prevent initial spells while you approach.
 * The bigger the aggro (the rounded up enemy group) the better. If the monk is a secondary warrior, they can take up to 14/15 foes at a time.
 * If there are ranged spell-casters (Terrorweb Dryders or Coldfire Nights), try and find a nearby group of melee attackers to take to them. This is much faster (and safer energy-wise) than having the ranger try to kill them off with just poison and degen.

Equipment:
 * A sword or axe Of Enchanting. The Totem Axe and Rajazan's Fervor are ideal.
 * A longbow/flatbow to pull Smite Crawlers from groups of Coldfire Nights.
 * The Cities of Ascalon -50 Cesta.
 * Any AL Ascetic's Armor, with 5 monk superior runes (one of each kind plus any other).

Variations:
 * Replace Blessed Aura with "Fear Me!" to speed up the process or keep Blessed Aura for extra safety.
 * Replace Essence bond with Bonetti's Defense (Balthazar's Spirit gives you adrenaline, or you can attack too)

Variations

 * Change the 55 monk in ways described in Invincible Monk.
 * Replace the R/Me with a Me/R. this would probably go a bit slower, but, as noted under Build Concept, it might be a good way for mesmers to take part in UW farming, and get XP and skillpoints.
 * If the Mo/Me has an available slot on their skill bar, Spirit Shackles can be used to take down groups of Coldfire Nights without bunching a group of Smite Crawlers around them.

= R/Me Underwould SpeedTrap Solo =

This build is designed to farm the Underworld as a solo ranger trapper. The build uses the skill recharge bonus and energy given by the Nature Rituals and Serpent's Quickness to spam as many Dust Traps as much as possible.

Equipment

 * Full Druid's Armor or equivalent in function
 * Two Runes of Attunement
 * The best Rune of Vigor you can afford (but at least a major)
 * Any staff with 15 or 20 energy bonus with + 7 armor against physical damage
 * For extra protection when pulling you could take a replacement armor piece for one of those with a superior rune in it and a staff with +60hp. This will allow you to survive two hits from a Bladed Aatxe.

Usage
This build is for experienced trappers who want more challenge and get all the loot for themselves. It is hard at first but with practice, becomes pretty easy to handle. The idea of the build is to keep the mobs on the Dust Traps for their full activation time. This is difficult as AoE damage causes the enemy mobs to flee.
 * First, choose your trapping spot near an angle or any small confined space (e.g. in the Chamber, just under the stairs, close to the walls). You will want the mobs to be blocked by the walls when they try to flee the AoE damages. Once you've got the trapping spot, put down Energizing Wind and Quickening Zephyr just around the corner/angle, not too close to the wall (about the distance of activation of a trap).
 * Start Arcane Echo and during its activation use Serpent's Quickness so that you have the stance before the casting of Arcane Echo finishes. Then use Echo, Dust Trap, Echo (copied with Arcane Echo), Dust Trap (copied with Echo), and Dust Trap (copied with Echo copied with Arcane Echo).
 * Walk backwards a couple of steps, keeping clear from the wall(always about the distance of activation of a trap) and put down Barbed Trap. As soon as the Dust Traps have recharged, lay them down and keep SQ up (usually wears off at the end of the 5th Dust Trap, so recast) and spam Barbed Trap when possible.
 * After the 7th Dust Trap, the spirits will end. Wait a couple of seconds for EW to recharge, put down EW and renew SQ. Then use Echo, Dust Trap, and the echoed Dust Trap. Keep the Barbed Trap that has recharged unused for your own safety.
 * Now you can go pull the mobs. Hit Whirling Defense during aggro and run towards the spirit and stay put behind it. Usually Aaxtes will focus on it instead of you. Meanwhile they will take all the damage waves from the 9 Dust Traps as they try to flee through the walls.
 * The usage of the build can be summed up with the following sequences (skills numbered from 1 to 8 from left to right):
 * Laying down the spirits, the 3 Dust Traps and 1 Barbed Trap: 1, 2, 7, 4 + 3, 5, 6, 4, 5, 4 (3 is to be cast during activation time of 4)
 * Laying down 4 other Dust Traps and 2 Barbed Traps: 7, 6, 5, 4 + 3, 7, 6 (with good timing you can renew SQ when 4 starts)
 * Laying down a spirit and 2 Dust Traps and Barbed before pulling: 1 + 3, 7, 5, 6, 5

Counters

 * The main flaw of the build is lack of self healing. Surviving in emergency situations and during pulling is possible with Whirling Defense, Barbed Trap, and clever movement.
 * Whirling Defense will prevent most of the hits from foes. However Aatxes hit hard, so don't try to pull them from too far away or you'll have a greater risk to get hit and the traps set might start to go off on their own.
 * When the enemy mob survives the initial traps, run away, put down Barbed Trap, lure the surviving enemies into it, and run far away from them. They should lose aggro.
 * When Smites or Coldfire Nights survive, just run away from them until they break aggro.
 * Coldfire Nights are the hardest mob to kill with this build. Avoiding them is the best tactic. If you can't, lay down your spirits far behind the trapping spot, and trap in multiple spots. 3 Dust Traps, step back a bit, Barbed Trap, step back, Dust Traps, etc... This is to ensure that when the Coldfires run after you they will activate all the traps on the way. To keep them in the traps, you can hit Whirling Defense and come into aggro distance so that the survivors focus on you and stay in the traps.

Variants

 * You could replace Serpent's Quickness with Trapper's Speed. However, it seems that the benefit of SQ is much better as it can also be maintained during the whole trapping process.
 * Replacing Whirling Defense with Flame Trap allows for quicker takedowns, and results in health degeneration on the Aatxes. The only drawback is its harder to pull, so use this variant at your own risk.
 * Replacing Whirling Defense with Dryder's Defenses helps a lot when going against Terrorweb Dryders and Coldfire Nights. You can also echo it if you want to make a big pull.

Templates
= R/Me Solo Echo Energy Trapper =

Use traps to damage enemies. Can be used to add damage to characters attacking monks.

Attributes and Skills

 * you can replace the resurrection signet with Whirling Defense if your not too sure with luring.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * as long as you have armour of 70 you will be ok. (i like to use drakescale).
 * 1 major Rune of Wilderness survival
 * 4 Runes of Attunement ( the more enrgy the better)


 * Weapons
 * Any staff with 15 or 20 energy bonus

Usage
This build can be used for either SOLO Rangers in the underword or Elona Reach and for the more experienced trappers that want more of a challenge.

Counters
General Interrupters.

The main flaw of the build is lack of self healing. Barbed Trap and clever movement. Whirling Defense will prevent most of the hits from foes. However Aatxes hit hard so don't try to pull them from too far away or you'll have a greater risk to get hit and the traps set might start to go off on their own. When the enemy mob survives the initial traps, run away, put down Barbed Trap, lure the surviving enemies into it and run far away from them. They should lose aggro. When Smites or Coldfire Nights survive, just run away from them until they break aggro. Coldfire Nights are the hardest mob to kill with this build. Avoiding them is the best tactic. If you can't, lay down your spirits far behind the trapping spot, and trap in multiple spots. 3 Dust Traps, step back a bit, Barbed Trap, step back, Dust Traps, etc... This is to ensure that when the Coldfires run after you they will activate all the traps on the way. To keep them in the traps, you can hit Whirling Defense and come into aggro distance so that the survivors focus on you and stay in the traps.

Variants
See notes

Overview
This build utilizes the synergy between Barrage, Favorable Winds, and Winnowing to inflict high damage on multiple foes, with a wall of pets and minions to defend the party. This build requires only loose coordination between players, and a large spectrum of variants are viable. Barrage/pet builds are resilient to dropped players, as only two roles, the monk and the minion master, can be said to be essential.

The most common barrage/pet team consists of:
 * 5 Barrage rangers
 * 1 Minion Master
 * 1 Orders Necromancer
 * 1 healing Monk

Membership
This is one of many possible variations. The builds noted below are suitable for pick up groups, but it is by no means definitive. A more complex alternative can be found here.

Barrage Rangers
Variations: The purpose of the pets is to tank for the group (at least until the minion master raises a sizable army) and to provide an endless source of corpses for the minion factory. A dead pet with an exploited corpse serves no purpose, so it is important for the rangers to raise their pets at every opportunity.
 * At least one ranger must carry Favorable Winds (FW). A FW Barrager should replace Troll Unguent with Favorable Winds, and move all points from Wilderness Survival into Expertise.
 * At least one ranger must carry Winnowing (WW/Winn). A Winnowing Barrager should replace Troll Unguent with Winnowing and can lessen ranks in Beast Mastery for higher ranks in Wilderness Survival if they desire a longer lasting spirit with more health.
 * Winter can be used against Terrorweb Dryders and Mark of Rodgort, efficiently preventing it from triggering.
 * Consider using Paragon as a secondary profession. Paragons suffer no ill effects when struck by a foe using Fingers of Chaos, and can carry Signet of Return, a repeatable resurrection skill.
 * Consider using Ritualist as a secondary profession. Splinter Weapon can increase damage significantly without sacrificing orders damage, and Flesh of My Flesh is an effective combat resurrection.

Note: Skill bar blackout time from pet death is reduced by higher ranks in Beast Mastery.

For additional information, see Build:R/any General Barrager.

Minion Master
The purpose of the minion master is to raise a large undead army and keep the attention of the foes. Unlike many other minion builds, the minions here are not intended for pure damage, but rather to body-block the Grasps of Insanity from reaching the ranger line.

Note that this build is not set in stone, and there are nearly as many variants as there are Minion Masters. Keeping this in mind, some minor variants include swapping the skills Rotting Flesh for Dark Bond for a more durable build, swapping Animate Flesh Golem for Jagged Bones for "free" minions, and changing any of the animate skills.

For additional information please see the general minion mastery guide.

Orders Necromancer
The Orders Necromancer doesn't deal direct damage, but drastically increases the effectiveness of the barrage team due to the guaranteed damage of the Order skills. This character should stay well clear of combat; their low health and reliance on enchantments makes them vulnerable targets.

''Note: Well of Blood should only be used in the rare cases where the minion master disconnects. This maybe so rare that you may want to switch out Well of Blood for another skill/spell.''

''Be careful of enchantments. Casting these to try to 'help' the monk out in a pinch can harm a recipent who is down in HP if he is close enough to a Banished Rider with Shatter Enchantment.''

''For additional information please see N/Mo Tombs OoV."

Healing Monk
Any pure healing Monk. Use of enchantments is generally discouraged, due largely to the prevalence of Fingers of Chaos and Shatter Enchantment.

Critical Barrager
In this variant, any number of Rangers can be replaced by Assassin/Rangers, as they can deal greater damage using Sharpen Daggers to cause bleeding and the increased critical hits.

For additional information, See Build:A/R Critical Barrager.

Six Barragers Variant
In this variant, the Orders Necromancer is replaced with a sixth Barrager. All Barragers either use elemental bowstrings, or one Ranger brings Greater Conflagration instead of Barrage. The foes in the Tomb Ruins, being mostly of the Warrior and Mesmer classes, have no additional defenses against elemental damage.

Analysis: An Orders Necromancer with maximum Blood Magic gives a guaranteed damage bonus of 17 (or 19 if aided by Awaken the Blood) per arrow that hits. In the worst case, with each of the five barragers hitting just one target each, this translates to an additional damage output of 85 (or 95) for the team. A sixth Barrager with maximum Marksmanship will do around 40 damage per arrow with an elemental string; he will thus have to hit at least three targets every time to outperform the Orders Necromancer's worst case damage output. In even a slightly better case, where each barrager hits three targets each, the damage output of the Orders Necromancer is 255 (or 285), which is more than the sixth barrager can achieve even if all his six arrows connect. Without an orders necromancer, the team is free to use elemental bowstrings, which increases the damage output of every arrow by around 5-10 points.

It should be noted that Order of the Vampire offsets some of the healing pressure from the Monk, and the Orders Necromancer doubles as a battery for the Monk.

Fevered Dreams Variant
In this variant, either a Ranger or the Monk brings Fevered Dreams and coordinates with the conditioners in the team to spread conditions around using very effective combinations. One possible combination is Fevered Dreams + Enfeeble + Virulence: all foes in the area become weakened, poisoned and diseased. Another possible combination is a ranger/mesmer using Fevered Dreams on a target, and then adding conditions with Pin Down, Apply Poison and Throw Dirt.

Analysis: While potent, this build takes some coordination between the players, and so is most likely not suitable for loosely organized PUGs.

Minionless Variant
In this variant, the minion master is replaced with a different Death Necromancer build. The plethora of corpses are used for Wells of Suffering and Putrid Explosions instead of the minion factory. This variant depends more heavily on the pets forming a sturdy front line, so it is common to have all Barragers have 8 or 9 in Beast Mastery and bring skills to aid the pets such as Otyugh's Cry, Call of Protection and Symbiosis. The Monk in this variant also tries to keep the pets alive for as long as possible.

Analysis: This variant requires very careful aggro management, and is therefore most likely unusable by PUGs.

Monkless Variant
This variant replaces the healing Monk with a sixth damage dealing character. All healing in the build is done by Predatory Season and the Orders Necromancer who brings Heal Other and Heal Party for emergency healing. Predatory Season makes minions more durable. This variant is essentially a 100% damage-dealing build.

Analysis: This variant is risky, but when correctly executed, can be among the speediest Barrage/Pet variants. Clearing times of 40 minutes or lower are not unheard of.

Paragon Variant
In this variant, a paragon replaces the orders necromancer. Anthem of Flame when combined "They're on Fire!" can both increase damage output and reduce incomming damage. "Incoming!" can further reduce spike damage common at the begining of an engagement, and Song of Restoration can provide some additional healing. "Go for the Eyes!" and "Find Their Weakness!" are especially effective with Critical Barragers.

Historical notes
Historically, the six barrager variant was one of the earliest barrage/pet team compositions. Before Order of the Vampire was modified to make it ineffective together with Order of Pain, the Orders Necromancer was always the clear winner in terms of raw damage output, so the six barrager variant fell into disuse. Its popularity has resurged after a March 2nd 2006 update changed Order of the Vampire, because a well managed six barrager team can match or outperform an Orders Necromancer.

It's well known that one can level his/her pet to Dire either around Ice Tooth Cave or Gates of Kryta. To do so, builds are not hard to come by. A bit armor or evasion, and healing via Predatory Bond is enough. The main thing here is to get builds together that are capable tanking foes with at least lvl18 somewhere around Tyria or Cantha.

Discuss each build on this page, as this is a 'Creative Corner'. Please also sign your comments.

Equipment

 * A staff with maximum energy and health bonuses. Wenslauss' Faith or Flint's Fleshcleaver are ideal.  The use of a staff ensures that you will do minimal damage when you attack.
 * Maximum Gladiator Armor.

Notes/Ideas

 * The leveling of your pet is best done by killing the minotaurs around the Ice Tooth Cave, as they are level 10 and only do physical damage. Avoid all other monsters in the area.
 * As soon as you enter the explorable area, use Symbiotic Bond, Call of Protection, Call of Haste, and Predatory Bond. When you have a group of minotaurs surrounding you, use Enraged Lunge and Healing Signet repeatedly.
 * Constantly attack the minotaur closest to your pet with your staff. While only doing a minimum amount of damage, it will direct your pet and build up adrenaline.
 * When you have adequate adrenaline,stop using other skills and use Bonetti's Defense. Your energy will rapidly increase to its maximum (with the equipment listed, that maximum should be 43).  When it reaches its maximum, continue using Enraged Lunge and Healing Signet.  Repeat as necessary.
 * --Token Cleric 21:38, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

Equipment

 * any hammer

Notes/Ideas
This should work to tank at least some minos HJT (talk) 01:19, 6 September 2006 (CDT)

R/any
Variation of the farming build designed to solo the Desert Griffons at The Scar near the east exit of Destiny's Gorge (Desert Griffon Farmer build). Depends on constant defensive stances to tank while the pet kills the enemies and evolves to Dire.

Equipment

 * Explorer's to increase max health.
 * Your damage doesn't matter, any staff will do, +10 energy and health upgrades are a good idea.

Usage

 * Step out of Destiny's Gorge, walk north until you reach the Resurrection Shrine nearby, then go east to the open area. Try to avoid Devourers and Scarabs, you can kill them slowly but it's a waste of time.
 * Aggro a group of griffons, remember to always step ahead so they attack you and ignore your pet. If your pet gets attacked, zone out immediately, come back and start again, it's not far so you won't lose much time (that's why Comfort Animal is not needed).
 * Stances sequence is the following: Whirling Defense - Escape - Lightning Reflexes - Escape - start again. Wait one or two seconds between each one to keep timing holes from merging. If by mistake you find yourself stanceless, use Throw Dirt to gain some time.
 * The pet will deal most damage troughout Predator's Pounce and Disrupting Lunge, chosen for their damage bonus, low cost and low recharge. Healing and disrupting are leftovers.
 * Use Troll Unguent when damaged. Don't let you health drop below 50%, or their Final Thrust can get you in trouble.

Counters
Making a mistake with the stances sequence or letting your health drop below 50%, will mean a quick death if you don't react fast.

Notes/Ideas
I used a previous version (similar to the original farming build) of this build to evolve mi Dire Lizard after reaching lvl 15 traditionaly, by killing Minotaurs outside Ice Tooth Cave. Then it was more like solo farming Griffons with the pet by your side, it got attacked a few times but it still came out Dire at lvl 20. I haven't tried this version, but theorically could be use to evolve the pet even from low levels (including newly charmeds). Good luck, Ereanor

Previous Article
see Build:R/any Tank Master.

Equipment

 * No Weapon is required, but a Melee weapon will help keep aggro off of your pet. When starting combat hit the first enemy coming at your with your melee weapon then activate Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit. This will not eliminate aggro on your pet but it will significantly reduce it, especially on Mountain Trolls.
 * A +12 off-hand with optional enhancements to either Smiting Prayers (to increase damage) or Protection Prayers (to make sure you stay alive). Shen's Censure works nicely for this build. The extra energy this provides makes staying alive easier.
 * Starter Armor...the lower the armor the better. As a Ranger's Default Armor is AR 10 it's the best. I don't know how well the basic armor sold at the the Shing Jea Monestary will work. Wear only the Vest for the extra energy and the leggings for extra energy recovery.
 * Superior Rune of Beast Mastery - Apply to one of the two peices of armor you are wearing. This is soley to increase the amount of energy you get with Ferocious Strike.

Notes and Ideas

 * This can be used to tank any of the well known high level Warrior Spawns, such as the Mountain Trolls (avoid Avicara in the area) outside of Droks or the Minotaurs in Elona Reach.
 * When you first enter the instance (whichever one you choose) start by casting Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit. Wait for your energy to regen to at least 30, though I recommend waiting until your energy is fully charged though. Cast Retribution. After casting this you will have no energy regen except what is provided by Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit.
 * Before entering battle make sure you have 20 energy to cast both Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit on yourself, you will die quickly if you do not.
 * When entering combat immediately cast Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit and keep these two spells up all the time while you are in combat otherwise you will die in a short period of time.
 * Ferocious Strike is used when low on energy (usually when you are facing low numbers of enemies) or when you want to speed things up.
 * This build works because as the enemies hit you you deal damage back to them via Retribution. It's only a small amount (14 or 15 damage) but it adds up over time and due to Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit you can tank as many enemies as you can aggro. The reason this build is faster than others is because you are doing the damage to all enemies that are attacking instead of relying on your pet to kill each one, one at a time. I have leveled up 3 pets to dire using this method, it works as long as you don't let your pet take too much damage or die too many times (I've had my pet die up to 8 times from 5-15 and still got dire).
 * This build can be used to level a pet from when you charm them all the way up to level 20...slow down in leveling is mitigated by the fact that you are facing high level enemies
 * The opposite build (Mo/R) with the same skills is even more effective due to more Retribution damage and better energy management.
 * --Thor79[[Image:Ranger-icon-small.png]] 13:49, 8 September 2006 (CDT)


 * If your pet dies just keep killing with Retribution but stop attacking your pet will still level up and has still done most of the registered damage so will still turn dire, do not use Comfort Animal to rez else your pet will take more damage. --Heurist 14:44, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

Equipment
Any Staff that provides maximum energy and life. A maximized Insightful Staff of Fortitude does well. It is preferable to use a staff that does not have a monk-based prerequisite for damage so that damage actually dealt by the monk is minimized. Wenslauss' Faith is a good choice.

Strategy

 * 1) The leveling of your pet is best done by killing the minotaurs around the Ice Tooth Cave, as they are level 10 and only do physical damage. Avoid all other monsters in the area.
 * 2) As soon as you enter the explorable area, use Essense Bond, Balthazar's Spirit, Symbiotic Bond, Call of Protection, and Predatory Bond. When you have a group of minotaurs surrounding you, use Enraged Lunge and Orison of Healing repeatedly.  Do not get a group of more than 5 minotaurs at a time.
 * 3) Do not attack the minotaurs.  Run to the front and allow them to attack you.  Repeated use of Orison of Healing should be enough to keep you alive.

Equipment
please add

Notes/Ideas
hm, this may work, but probably not :\ pretty sure still too much damage, but... maybe someone else has an idea? HJT 08:36, 23 August 2006 (CDT)

hmhm, i started mino leveling as R/Me only tanking 2 or 3 at a time, with only predatory bond and physical resistance... so... that may work too, just not superfast :\ HJT 04:27, 30 August 2006 (CDT)

Physical Resistance? You sure? Greater Conflagration will make all physical damage elemental so Physical Resistance is counter productive, replace with Elemental Resistance and this may work. --Heurist 00:20, 21 September 2006 (CDT)

Well, what happens when GC wears out? dying is not the best idea, so... first have GC/MoF on, then PR... HJT (talk) 01:54, 22 September 2006 (CDT)


 * When GC dies 110 seconds later? Put up another one. But yes you are right, have some contingency plan. --Heurist 03:53, 22 September 2006 (CDT)

- Why not replace Physical Resistance with Winter and Mantra of Flame with Mantra of Frost? I know you're thinking it doesn't work that way but it does. A friend and I have tested it.

Equipment

 * Any weapon with an Of Enchanting upgrade. Galigord's Stone Staff works well.
 * Geomancer's Armor

Notes/Ideas
Problably is more reliable for getting a dire pet than the old version, as now only your pet deals damage. It is possible to just keep using all the enchantments (except Aura of Restoration), Ward Against Melee and Ferocious Strike when they recharge without running out of engergy. --Curse You 20:34, 1 December 2006 (CST)

Equipment
Zealous Shortbow of Warding. Damage is not important, mods should be perfect.

Usage

 * Use Call of Protection
 * Use Critical Eye and Way of Perfection.
 * Run into the enemies.
 * Attack with the bow to make your pet attack.
 * Use Tiger's Fury/Bestial Fury followed by Enraged Lunge for damage.
 * Reapply Critical Eye as needed for energy.

Notes/Ideas
This works well for killing Mergoyle Wavebreakers outside Gates of Kryta (Location). Best with a level 20 that has max armor (70).

You may wish to remove Way of Perfection and put the points from Shadow arts into Critical Strikes. However, it helps to have some healing for the damage you take.

The marksmanship is intentionally lower than any requirement for a max damage bow. At first you deal slightly more than your pet with normal attacks, but as it levels, it should deal much more than you.


 * Moved the discussion to the discussion page -Thor79 13:34, 13 September 2006 (CDT)

Equipment

 * A Zealous Sword or Axe of Defense and a shield.

Usage

 * Gather some Minotaurs by walking backwards with Dark Escape on.
 * Make sure they are all bunched up then use Deadly Paradox, Palm Strike and Blinding Powder to blind them all.
 * Attack with your weapon to make your pet attack, and use pet attacks to take down your target. Your pet will deal more damage, and the energy for each hit will help.
 * Re-use Blinding Powder after about 14 seconds, making sure that Deadly Paradox is up when you use it.
 * If you start taking too much damage, use Dark Escape to reduce the damage and Shadow Refuge to regain health.

Notes/Ideas
Made changes to improve build. It needs to be tested on the minotaurs, unfortunately, I don't have the Desert on my assassin. --Curse You 01:54, 14 December 2006 (CST)
 * With Deadly Paradox, you can keep the minotaurs blinded perpetually.
 * Energy can be a problem if you use the skills more than you need to.

Equipment

 * A spear of Shelter with an "I have the power!" Inscription
 * A motivation shield of Fortitude with a "Luck of the Draw" Inscription

Usage

 * Use "They're on Fire!", Blazing Finale, Mending Refrain and Anthem of Flame
 * Aggro
 * Use Fericous Strike and keep using it whenever it recharges
 * Maintain "They're on Fire!", Blazing Finale and Anthem of Flame
 * Use Signet of Synergy on your pet if health drops too low

Notes/Ideas

 * Initial testing shows that this build can keep up energy while maintaining the shouts. Needs testing on a group of foes. --Curse You 19:19, 3 March 2007 (CST)

Equipment

 * An Insightful Staff with an enchanting mod, Galigord's Stone Staff should do.
 * Any armor, Radiant is best

Usage

 * Use Armor of Sanctity, Veil of Thorns and Call of Protection
 * Aggro
 * Use Fericous Strike and keep using it whenever it recharges
 * Maintain Armor of Sanctity and Veil of Thorns
 * Use Mystic Regeneration if health drops too low

Notes/Ideas

 * Might not even need Mystic Regeneration --Curse You 19:19, 3 March 2007 (CST)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ = BREAK = +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

= ELITE SKILLZ! =

{| width="100%" style="background: transparent;"


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[[Image:Warrior-icon.png]] Warrior
Strength

Axe Mastery

Hammer Mastery

Swordsmanship

Tactics

No Attribute


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[[Image:Ranger-icon.png]] Ranger
Expertise

Beast Mastery

Marksmanship

Wilderness Survival

No Attribute


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[[Image:Monk-icon.png]] Monk
Divine Favor

Healing Prayers

Protection Prayers

Smiting Prayers

No Attribute




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[[Image:Necromancer-icon.png]] Necromancer
Soul Reaping

Blood Magic

Curses

Death Magic

No Attribute


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[[Image:Mesmer-icon.png]] Mesmer
Fast Casting

Domination Magic

Illusion Magic

Inspiration Magic

No Attribute


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[[Image:Elementalist-icon.png]] Elementalist
Energy Storage

Fire Magic

Air Magic

Water Magic

Earth Magic

No Attribute




 * valign="top" style="background: ; border: 1px solid ; padding: .5em .5em; margin: 1em;"|

[[Image:Assassin-icon.png]] Assassin
Critical Strikes

Dagger Mastery

Deadly Arts

Shadow Arts

No Attribute


 * valign="top" style="background: ; border: 1px solid ; padding: .5em .5em; margin: 1em;"|

[[Image:Ritualist-icon.png]] Ritualist
Spawning Power

Channeling Magic

Communing

Restoration Magic

No Attribute




 * valign="top" width=25% style="background: ; border: 1px solid ; padding: .5em .5em; margin: 1em;"|

[[Image:Paragon-icon.png]] Paragon
Leadership

Command

Motivation

Spear Mastery

No Attribute


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[[Image:Dervish-icon.png]] Dervish
Mysticism

Earth Prayers

Scythe Mastery

Wind Prayers


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No Profession
No Attribute


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(stolen from Elite Skills lists)