User:Entropy/builds

=Entropy's Builds Page=

Feel free to comment or make suggestions. I created these builds with no reference materials, so they are in that sense "original". These builds will be updated with Factions and Nightfall skills, eventually...

Energy Storage Mesmer
Used by Rayne Brunel to fight the Mursaat throughout the Southern Shiverpeaks and beyond, though it has proved to be a good general-purpose build as well.

Equipment

 * Anything except Geomancer's Armor, which is useless in Prophecies PvE.
 * Max Domination-linked staff. HCT/HSR mods preferred.

Usage

 * Pretty self-explanatory, use each skill when appropriate.
 * Spam Wastrel's Worry on bosses for high DPS.

Counters

 * To date, Stone Summit and Mursaat are unable to counter this build effectively except by massive ganking.

Variants

 * PUG-friendly - Swap out something for Resurrection Signet. This is mainly to avoid embarrassing situations and hate mail.
 * Perdition Rock - Replace Wastrel's Worry with Maelstrom. Hydras are notorious for standing in it, as are Flesh Golems.
 * If you insist on having a self-healing skill, swap in Aura of Restoration.

Energy Storage Necromancer
Used by Rayne Brunel in parts of the game where being a nuker just didn't cut it, most notably in the Crystal Desert. It is a decent support character in other situations as well.

Attributes and Skills
The same pattern follows for Curses and Blood - 14 ES, 12 main, and 3 to some other attribute.

Death Magic variant

Curses Variant

Blood Magic Variant

Equipment

 * Anything except Geomancer's Armor.
 * Max staff linked to your chosen attribute, HCT/HSR is nice. If going Curses, the weapon must deal Cold Damage to be able to trigger Spinal Shivers.

Usage

 * Death: Initiate battles with Rotting Flesh and replace when necessary, then pester foes with your offensive skills until they die. Once an exploitable corpse is free, use one of your corpse exploits - Well of Suffering for long-term degeneration, Putrid Explosion for spike damage, and Soul Feast for self-healing.
 * Only use Vile Touch if a target moves into touch range and/or you are facing a very small number of foes.
 * It's generally best to hit a target with Virulence just before Disease from Rotting Flesh is about to wear off.


 * Curses: Start off by hexing every foe with Parasitic Bond, and then cast Suffering. Use Insidious Parasite, Faintheartedness, and Enfeeble to weaken any non-caster enemies. Cast Desecrate Enchantments when opportunate.
 * Use Spinal Shivers against casters and then simply attack them for continued interruption.
 * Cast Parasitic Bond on foes about to die (if it's not already on them) to achieve some quick and cheap healing.
 * Save Grenth's Balance for when you really need it.


 * Blood: Begin by casting Life Siphon on all foes. Then use Shadow Strike (if foes are above 50% health) and Vampiric Gaze. Use Strip Enchantment when necessary.
 * Use Vampiric Touch if target(s) move into touch range and/or you are facing a very small number of foes. Beware the high energy cost.
 * Cast Blood Renewal only when you are not under heavy fire, otherwise the health sacrifice could kill you.
 * When corpses start to appear, create a Well of Blood.
 * Grenth's Balance should only be used as a last resort, due to all your other self-healing skills available.

Counters

 * Death Variant relies on corpses and fleshy foes being available and is thus useless versus Spirits, Undead, etc.
 * These builds do not have any hex or condition removal.

Variants

 * PUG-friendly - Swap out something for Resurrection Signet. This is mainly to avoid embarrassing situations and hate mail.
 * Death Variant can be made into a pseudo-MM or Minion Bomber build, though it is far inferior to anything a primary Necromancer could cobble together. In lower-level areas, however, Bone Minions can still prove useful due to their numbers.

Winter Ranger
This build is often run by Elena Gracewood in Hell's Precipice. Very effective, though damage could be a bit higher.

Equipment

 * Druid's Armor or Frostbound Armor.
 * A Longbow and a Shortbow.

Usage

 * Before engaging any enemies, set your Spirits. Active Serpent's Quickness and remember to set Winter before Greater Conflagration - it is more important, and it has a longer recharge. Spirits should be set at about a Longbow's range from enemies, for safety.
 * If facing Spark of the Titans in numbers greater than 1, have the party pull back a bit and advance by yourself. Just before grabbing aggro, activate Troll Unguent and Dryder's Defenses. This will greatly lower the damage of Mind Burn. At this point, have the party's Warriors rush in, while the casters stay a bit behind you. This is a critical step when using Henchmen - try to gather all the aggro on you before unsetting the movement flag.
 * During battle, switch to your Shortbow and keep up Kindle Arrows; interrupt anything you can with Distracting Shot and Savage Shot.
 * Watch your spirits. Replace them as soon as you can if they are killed.
 * Use Troll Unguent liberally. Your Monks will thank you for it.

Counters
The spirits are key. If the AI repeatedly kills them off you won't get far. Learn to place them where they won't be harmed.

Variants
The build is /any, so several skills can possibly be subbed in - the most common replacement would be Dryder's Defenses, since Rangers do have a naturally higher elemental AL anyways. Rebirth is a popular choice, especially among PUGs.

R/any Solo Desert Trapper
This is the build Elena Gracewood uses to farm for collectables in the Crystal Desert.

Equipment

 * Druid's Armor.
 * A Recurve or Composite bow works best, as they are accurate and have longer range than a Shortbow.

Usage
The following can be farmed in Diviner's Ascent, leave from Elona Reach:


 * Sand Drakes (Topaz Crest) - Approach these and stop just short of aggro range. Activate Serpent's Quickness and lay double sets of traps, Dust - Barbed - Flame. By the time you're done Serpent's Quickness will have expired. Now, shoot off a Poison Arrow to each Drake and back up - let the Drakes run over your traps. They should be dead, if not, the degen will soon kill them.


 * Rockshot Devourers (Bleached Carapace) - These are annoying, because they are also trappers and they carry Distracting Shot. Follow a similar procedure as with Drakes, but keep a farther distance between you and the Devourers so as to avoid accidentally aggroing them prematurely. Once your traps are set, hit them with Poison Arrow and run slowly back to your traps. Devourers are less pull-friendly than Drakes so you'll have to give them more time. Do not try to set any more traps unless you are sure the Devourers are blind. It often takes two or more rounds of traps to kill Devourers, so you may wish to simply pick them off with hit-and-run Poison Arrows.

The following can be farmed in Skyward Reach, leave from Augury Rock:


 * Hydra (Dessicated Hydra Claw) - They are very dangerous to farm with this build, but it can still be done. Lay traps safely away from them and then use Poison Arrow. They will always use Meteor or Fireball, so immediately use Storm Chaser and run away. They should still follow. Lead them over the traps - this will cause Crippled. Now it's just a matter of waiting for degen and dodging Fireballs. Don't try to take on more than two at once.


 * Storm Kin (Shriveled Eye) - More dangerous than most but safer than Hydras. Follow the usual procedures, and you should be fine. Counter Conjure Phantasm with Troll Unguent.

The following can be farmed in The Scar, leave from Thirsty River:


 * Dune Burrower (Dune Burrower Jaw) - These are stationary, so with a max-range bow you can sometimes take them out without any opposition. Otherwise, just hit them with Poison Arrow and move outside their range. They will try to counter with Healing Spring, just shoot them to disrupt it.


 * Jade Scarab and Rock-Eater Scarab (Jade Mandible) - These are more fragile than the other monsters and are often killed with the first volley of traps, so treat them like Sand Drakes. Remember that Jade Scarab carry Plague Touch, so try to not let them get within melee range. If they do, though, use Troll Unguent to counter the degeneration.


 * Sand Giant (Massive Jawbone) - These have Plague Touch and are more sturdy than Jade Scarab, so they are a bit tough. They also knockdown with Giant Stomp. However they are fairly slow so you can generally use hit-and-run tactics after the first wave of traps.

The following can be farmed in Prophet's Path, leave from Augury Rock:


 * Desert Griffon (Iridescent Griffon Wing)- Requires a lot of patience, they use "I Will Survive!" to counter your Conditions. They are often more trouble than they are worth, but if you really need those Griffon Wings this build is a surefire way to get them...eventually. There are of course much more effective Tanking builds that have been made for Griffons especially, but this build can still do them.


 * Minotaur (Minotaur Horn) - These are easy. Follow the same procedure as Drakes, but remember that Minotaurs often run in a patrol route rather than lazing around in one spot.


 * Marrow Scarab and Scarab Nest Builder - for some reason neither of these drop any Collectible Drop, don't bother trying to kill them if you don't have to. They are hard to kill, anyways...Marrow Scarab will use Plague Touch and Virulence to devastating effect, and Scarab Nest Builder have Distracting Shot ready to interrupt Troll Unguent, as well as being Trappers themselves.


 * Salving Cactus (Spiny Seed) - While it can be hard to find them, they are very easy to farm. They don't move much and always cast Holy Wrath first - so start off with Dust Trap to blind them. After that you can finish them off any way you choose. Note, there are always one or two of these outside Heroes' Audience, beware the Sand Elementals though.

Notes on other creatures:


 * Sand Wurm (Bleached Shell) - Good luck finding one, and good luck soloing it. Not recommended, but it could be done.


 * Enchanted (Forgotten Seal) - They are immune to Poison and Bleeding and can't be farmed with this build.


 * Sand Elemental (Encrusted Lodestone) - Like Enchanted, these are immune to Poison and Bleeding and thus can't be farmed. Besides that, they are very dangerous.

Counters

 * Blind to some extent, though with Antidote Signet this is no problem.
 * Sudden spike damage.

Variants

 * Sometimes Oath Shot or Spike Trap are used instead of Poison Arrow, for a pure Trapping Build.

=Hero Builds= You can run almost anything on your Heroes. These are what I like to use.

Mo/P RC Tahlkora
This is the build I run on all of my Tahlkora heroes. It's an extreme RC monk with a few minor prot skills thrown in. Very effective throughout Nightfall due to the large amount of condition-causing enemies everywhere...less so in Prophecies and Factions.

Equipment

 * Kepkhet's Refuge is ideal.

Usage

 * Leave it to Tahlkora.

Counters

 * Much less useful in areas with no Conditions, obviously.
 * Standard Anti-Caster.

Variants

 * As with any Prot monk, consider using Aegis instead of Shielding Hands.

Mo/E WoH Dunkoro
This is the build I currently run on Dunkoro. It has emphasis on cheap, small heals rather than costly spells like Heal Other. Probably I'll change the build once I have access to better Healing elites, but maybe not...WoH is an excellent all-around healing spell, and a great save from sudden damage spikes.

Equipment

 * Any max Healing staff. HCT/HSR is nice.

Usage

 * Leave it to Dunkoro.

Counters

 * Typical anti-caster stuff.

Variants

 * When not used in conjunction with RC Tahlkora, replace Orison of Healing with Words of Comfort.
 * Consider replacing Divine Intervention with Divine Healing or Heal Party, though you will probably need to trigger them manually.

N/Mo Support Caster Olias
This is what I run on my Olias. He's a support caster more than anything else.

Equipment

 * Any max Death-linked staff. HCT/HSR are nice.

Usage

 * Leave it to Olias.
 * Sometimes it's best for you to manually trigger Putrid Explosion, as Olias does not always seem to target the corpse closest to the enemy.
 * Be very careful with Rotting Flesh. Turn it off entirely if you're going to be facing human enemies. Consider replacing it with Verata's Gaze if you are going into an area with enemy Minion Masters.

Counters
Anti-caster stuff, lack of exploitable corpses.

Variants

 * Consider swapping Resurrect for Vengeance. I like Vengeance better because it now provides a damage buff, and also because the target won't suffer more DP if they die while under its effects. Very useful in PvE - someone dies because of a sudden unexpected spike; Olias resurrects them with Vengeance, the battle ends, they die, your monk casts Restore Life. Good skill. If it had a shorter recharge time it would be even better.

The generic build template
Left here so I don't have to copy&paste all the time from the GuildWiki Formatting: Builds page. Describe the build.

Attributes and Skills

 * Suggest a few optional skill(s) if you included an Optional slot in the skill bar.
 * "Generic resurrect" works like an Optional slot. Replace it if necessary.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Weapons

Usage
Describe how to use the build.

Counters
Describe important counters.

Variants
List the major variants.