User:Entropy/AB

So I've been playing AB with Felix and Co., Salad, Wizard, Euros, anyone I can find tbh, and I've run a variety of builds, some good and some bad.

Sorted in order of preference within each profession.

Assassin
A/Any Shattering Assault

This bar is more pressure-oriented as opposed to typical spiking sin bars. You constantly remove stances and enchantments and cannot be blocked, so the only real counter is Blind, or having all of your enchantments removed. Sharpen Daggers is useful as a low-threat enchantment which people rarely bother to remove or interrupt; it also counters Weapon of Shadow etc. perfectly because you can Signet of Malice afterwards to remove, and your hit still goes through. Critical Defenses is an iffy skill; AB is usually too fast for it to be of major use, but it is another enchant to use anyway.

A/W Double Falling

Palm Strike is OP and gimmicky, but you can't doubt its effectiveness. This build uses Flurry to execute both Falling attacks with one KD. Fast and deadly. Note: It's possible to swap Twisting Fangs for Blades of Steel to max out damage, and then drop Signet of Malice for Impale. I do not like this, though, since it's slower to DW (which is often the kill), and Signet of Malice is just a good skill. Unless your Monk is running RC or LS, you *will* be under conditions they can't/don't want to remove. Signet of Malice lets you drop them with ease, for free. I am especially fond of Crippling foes with Palm Strike and then using Signet of Malice to remove Blind.

A/W Palm Strike Knocklock

This bar purposely doesn't use an IAS so it's easier to knocklock. It is much easier to stop the chain, though, whether with rupts or failing the condition of HotO.

Dervish
D/E Wounding Strike Conjureway

16 Scythe Mastery, 8 Water Magic, 9 Mysticism, 10 Wind Prayers (or something like that)

This is a GvG/HA-level build, but also owns face anywhere else. It's purely offense so having some sort of Monk etc. is nice. The Optional slot would normally be res sig, but that is of course useless in AB. Harrier's Grasp might be an option for bonus damages, or perhaps Meditation for minor self-heal and enarjee. GoLE could even be used for further energy management. Victorious Sweep or Chilling Victory for more domages...Banishing Strike in case of MMs...lots of options.

D/W Earth Prayers Derv

This is a build which I actually take on my Dervish heroes. It works decently enough. Conviction is a good stance; it boosts base armor to 94, and that's without Windwalker insignia. If I get disenchanted, it gives +3 regen instead, which is totally free. Veil of Thorns + Armor of Sanctity is an old gimmick, but it's still effective and very obnoxious. Vital Boon is useful as a self-heal of sorts and just in general for guarding against spike. Heart of Fury is still a good IAS, although I never liked its ~50% downtime. Wounding Strike does not need to be explained. I take Mystic Sweep over Eremite's Attack here, because under normal circumstances it would deal more damage. Wild Blow is not usually necessary in PvE, but in PvP where stances are pretty common, it would be foolish not to take it.

What's missing out: IMS, Bull's Strike. Neither are strictly necessary but both are strong and useful. Vital Boon is probably the skill to drop, for...I dunno...Sprint maybe. I don't want to drop Mystic Sweep for Bull's Strike, because it's wtfgood and important for triggering that deep wound. But I dunno.

D/A Mystic Ninja

This bar is enormously fun and completely unexpected - I am pretty sure no one has ever used it before, either. The only D/A bar I am familiar with is Avatar of Lyssa + daggers, which is so-so but not spectacular. The idea here is to teleport in, spike down a target before they know what happened, and then teleport back out. It probably works much better in places like RA, where a kill makes a much bigger difference, but I dunno. One issue is that you can't trigger the Deep Wound yourself, and Deep Wounds can never kill by themselves. But, it's an ideal Deep Wound because it finishes the chain and teleports you out. Wearying Strike couldn't work without Assassin's Remedy, and that is pretty bad on a non-primary sin. Finally, this bar has considerable downtime, high energy demands, and is very vulnerable to anti-melee such as blocking. So it relies heavily on the element of surprise.

Elementalist
E/Rt Freezing Raine

This is an amazingly good Water bar that a friend showed me. It works exceptionally well, and is quite likely GvG/HA quality with a few changes. 8 Restoration Magic is the ideal breakpoint for WoWarding. Armor of Mist is a solid armor buff and also an IMS; enchanting mods help mitigate the downtime. GoI is the setup skill for all of the chains - Glyph -> Shatterstone -> Gust/Ice -> Steam. This deals very strong damage, nearly lethal on 60AL at the "usual" 480 health. It will also kill most shrine NPCs. Freezing Gust by itself is a very annoying snare, because few people take hex removal on themselves. Glyph + Steam is highly annoying to martials, because it's an unstoppable, maintainable blind that also causes painful domages.

WoW got nerfed, so I may or may not be taking Resilient Weapon instead in the future.

E/A Savannah Nuker

Typical mindless nuker for capping shrines. A single cast of Savannah Heat will usually wipe any shrine in one go. Glyph sac is an old gimmick but it's still useful to pull Meteor Shower out of nowhere almost instantly. I don't like Flame Djinn's Haste, especially after they nerfed it, so I use Dash instead.

Mesmer
Me/A Generic Mesmer

Meh. It's useful enough. I hate VoR and don't ever want to play it, because unlike Pimpslap it's not even funny or remotely skillful. I'm better playing on Ranger for spammable rupts, but I don't totally suck at mes either. Shatter is a tad expensive for AB, but still nice to finish off Monks etc. Diversion is funny on pimpslappers.

Me/E Water Magic is for Mesmers

This has a lot of snares/anti-kiting. It's more oriented towards GvG/HA, but can be just as obnoxious in AB too.

Monk
Mo/Me Jesus Beam

16 Smiting Prayers, 10 Divine Favor, 9 Inspiration Magic

Slightly degenerate bar... well ... Let's admit it, RoJ is an OK skill, it is just the refusal of shrine NPCs to kite from it that makes it lolwtf good in AB, FA, and JQ. Power Drain helps keep energy up after dropping echoed RoJ; most of the caster NPCs will start up a spell which is easily interrupted, and of course you can use it on players too. Ether Feast is a pretty decent self-heal, giving around 120 health. The rest is standard smite skills which have been proven effective. I run 10 DF because that gives exactly +32 health for each spell; the next breakpoint (to round up) would be at 13 DF, I think.

This bar doesn't have an IMS or a true self-defense skill, which is one of its downsides. It works best in FA and JQ where the maps are smaller and often there is turtling/not much movement anyway. But it can solo all shrines in AB etc.

I like to run this with full Radiants and Attunement runes in the extra spots; having ~66 max energy is quite useful for always throwing spells around, and you're pretty much a glass cannon anyway. Besides, taking larger damage packets is good for Reversal. ;)

Mo/A Monking - Hybrid Redbar

Somewhat typical Monk bar. Dismiss and Veil aren't usually enough anti-hex/anti-condition in today's spam-happy climate, but they are still about the best you can get. Mtouch + Draw is also good but takes an additional skill slot.

Warrior stances got nerfed, and it's questionable to use it anymore, or at least to spend so many attribute points for it. Back to Return and Dash. I'll miss Shield Bash, but on the other hand, IMS are very useful.

Mo/A Monking - Hybrid Protting (don't run this without a second monk for WoH, not enough heals / too much energy strain by itself)

I haven't actually played this yet, as it's unusual to get two Monks for AB, but I know SoD is a very strong prot that screws with everyone. Not that many people take enchantment removal, anyway.

Necromancer
N/Any Lingering Curse

Nasty bar which is very common in PvP these days. Weaken Armor isn't that great but it never hurts to have yet another spammable AoE condition. I don't enjoy playing this, but one of its beauties is that it's universally useful. Faintheartedness and Enfeebling Blood shut down any martial, and Lingering Curse is a massive blow to any healing, even moreso than spammable Deep Wound. Against purely casters this is less useful, but that's quite rare in AB. There's always shrine NPCs anyway.

N/Any Curses

Typical mindless Curses bar, hates hard on the martials. Insidious is enough to keep oneself alive against all but the highest DPS, so it's fine to solo a martial. Defile Defenses is a handy spike assist. Parasitic Bond is to be spammed on as many targets as possible for free massive healing. Rip Enchantment is a fast-recharging and cheap enchantment removal. Lastly, Foul Feast + Plague Signet really lets you mess with enemies by throwing all their conditions back at them. It also means that your Monk or Ritualist (if you have one) can drop condition removal more or less.

N/Any Tainted MM

I was going through Blacktide Den and it hit me - Tainted Flesh would be great in AB. No one takes (serious) enchantment removal, let alone Mirror of Disenchantment. There is almost always some martial class, like sins or something. Permanent Disease on the enemy, the shrine NPCs, and permanent immunity on your team - perfect. Vile Miasma to spike down a single target with damage and strong degen. Animate Bone Minions because it's always useful. Infuse Condition so you can't be dazed or anything, Blood Ritual (if I know there will be a Monk - otherwise, Blood Renewal), Dark Bond to extend my lifeline. Signet of Lost Souls because it's wtfgood, Foul Feast because it's great along with Infuse.

The only drawback here is having to constantly recast Tainted on people - if it gets interrupted or disabled, it's GG. Also, other teams would probably get mad, if I don't cast it on them. Also, if there is another MM, I will be interfering with them. Finally, after some tests, the biggest problem is really just staying with the team. Aftercast kills, so without an "Incoming!" + "Fall Back!" + Vocal Was Sogolon rit, I usually lag way behind the party. And that is bad.

N/Me Lichway

There are many ways to run pure MM bars in AB; this is what I do. You can have four minions before engaging any enemies if you load quickly enough. Aura of the Lich is used for the attribute boost, and also to mass exploit corpses while/after a shrine is capped. Shambling Horrors and Bone Minions keep the numbers up while AotL is down. Infuse and Foul Feast lets you rip conditions all day. The basic idea is just to have as many minions as possible at all times. You use them to help bodyblock during fights, or you sic them on a suicide target to delay e.g. solo cappers. A very boring and gimmicky build, but effective.

Paragon
P/Mo Judge and Awe (courtesy of Felix)

Dual daze with a Silencing spear is hawt. This covers most of your party's anti-spellcaster needs, so it helps if someone else can take anti-melee like blind/block. "Lead the Way!" is especially useful after picking up a powder keg, repair kit, or resurrection orb - there's usually three other NPCs in earshot so you get the full duration.

Ranger
R/Mo Melandru's Shot

This does a bit less pew-pew damage than Burning Arrow, but it's better general harassment. Mel's and Hunter's have one-second activations, so you can quickly fire them one after another on the same target for decent domages, or shoot two different moving targets. For either of them, if a moving target is hit, it's strong damage, because it's basically Burning for ~12 seconds, and that hurts. Mel's and Hunter's are also good when being chased; quickly stop to shoot a moving foe, then keep running. Overall just a fun bar, which reaches a good balance between Burning Arrow and Cripshot.

R/W RaO Sword/Axe

10 Swordsmanship/Axe Mastery, 9 Tactics, 9+1 Expertise, 9+1 Beast Mastery

VERY fun melee ranger build. You can average around 50 DPS, perhaps more (Master of Damage isn't perfect on numbers). Very weak against any anti melee etc. of course. But really, it's much fun. Recommend to take a Zealous mod, though.

R/Mo Cripshot

Standard cripshot bar. Cripshot is sometimes thought to be outdated, but one should never underestimate the power of an unblockable attack with zero recharge. Barbed Arrows + Poison Tip basically gives Burning on one target for like 12 seconds, which is rather painful. It also cuts down on your energy use a bit, which is helpful if you're gonna spam Crippling Shot on the entire enemy team.

R/Mo Burning Arrow

Pew pew for more domages. Burning Arrow does a ton of damage, and with Apply it maxes out degen for huge pain. Technically one could use Barbed Arrows and still max out degen, but, meh. Pin Down and Apply on the same bar is rather expensive, but it actually gives a decent cripple length now, and cripple is good any time.

Ritualist
Rt/P Perma IMS

This is a gimmick bar for maintaining partywide IMS all the time. It has some minor heals/prots too. Death Pact Signet in AB may seem unusual, but it is really obnoxious to spike-based enemies to res someone with basically full health and energy when they are not expecting it. (same reason UA is annoying in PvE)

Resilient Weapon can also be powerful, but it's always a gamble to drop either WoW or WoS.

Warrior
W/E Shock Axe

A staple bar since forever. (I don't actually know the standard build, this is what I *think* it is...naturally Agonizing Chop didn't exist back then, so I am missing one skill. Dunno what it is though.)

W/E Shockslash

I'm overly fond of Shock and Bull's Strike. The thing with Swords is that you just don't run them for damages. This is mostly used to harass opponents and put Deep Wound/Bleeding/Cripple on them. Probably there are better skills for it, though.

W/A Devhammer

Another perennially popular bar, for knocklocks. I prefer Dash over Sprint for a cancel stance and general IMS. I am not fond of Shadow Steps, though, so I don't have Death's Charge in there. Recharge also makes it kinda blah for AB, where a single kill is meaningless, especially on shrine NPCs. Iron Palm is used for a 3rd (4th) knockdown. I prefer Heavy Blow over Hammer Bash because it has non-negligible bonus damage, takes one less strike of adrenaline than Hammer Bash, and because it just goes so well with Devhammer.

W/A Erf Shakuur

Erf Shakuur's alright in PvP, especially if you are in a perfect position to use it again and again on bunched-up foes (hint: res shrine).

W/E BROOKLYN RAGE

R.I.P. Primal Rage. We knew thee well.