Curse

Man With No Name · May 18, 2005, 03:57 AM // 03:57

As a level 10 Warrior/Monk -- I find myself in Old Ascalon. I seem to have completed most of the Missions that take place below the Great Wall -- without any difficulty...

I have the best armour that the crafter at Ascalon City can provide:

50 +20 Armour against Melee ( that's every piece not just the leggings )

With the Gladiator Helm ( 50 +20 +1 Energy +1 Tactics )

Also I have the Crimson Carapiece Shield ( 6 Armour +5 Whilst Attacking )

With my points divided as so:

Prayers ( Smiting, Healing, Protection ) -- 2 levels each
Strength -- 5th level
Swordmanship -- 5th level
Tactics -- 4th level

With quite a few Fighter and Monk skills including ( but not limited to ): Power Attack, Endure Pain, Sever Artery, Gash, Symbol Of Wrath

Weapon wise -- I've just got a Basic Longsword -- 7-10 ( Customised for 20% more damage )

Finally I tend to venture out with the CPU Henchmen to save time ( I've tried both the level 3 ones at Ascalon and level 6's at Frontier Gate )

Here's where the trouble starts....

As soon as I fight a party of Charr containing Magic Casters ( the big ones -- not the softies :P ) -- the entire party will usually get killed fairly quickly. They'll usually cast some form of Health Drain magic on each party member ( multiple times -- which seems to stack ) -- then the Blade Warriors will come in and finish off the party.

With no "Will Saves" I know of to stop magic attacks -- like other Roleplaying games -- the PVE game feels biased towards Magic Classes IMO. ( I can't comment on PVP atm )

I've not come across any object's that make me immune to certain effects -- meaning Draining magic always hits. When your fighting 5 or more Magic Casters that sap your health bar within a few seconds as a melee character -- what chance do I have..??

I'm now finding that certain areas definately feel too easy compared to others that are obscenely difficult....

Any suggestions to defeat the larger Charr Warriors...?? They seem mostly impossible when there's multiple magic casters with one or two blade warriors -- despite them being lower level... Am I perminantly stuck..??

Ginko · May 18, 2005, 04:09 AM // 04:09

Of course not, everyone else has gotten through it. So why shouldn't you?

The Charr aren't actually very hard at all, you probably aren't in a good party. Things will get much harder later and the standard of groups will raise to accomidate it.

--Ginko

PieXags · May 18, 2005, 04:11 AM // 04:11

You shouldn't really have a problem at lvl 10, I was lvl 9 when I went through the majority of Ascalon. You mentioned that the health draining abilities are a bother, yes, they can be, but with the health you've got at lvl 10 you'd need 3 or 4 of those hexes on you to put you in a serious position, otherwise they don't last insanely long and you usually get healed during that time by Alesia.

There are mesmer skills that allow them to remove hexes from their teammates, maybe team up with a mesmer? If you're using henchmen, try using some players. I don't honestly see why you're losing so much at lvl 10 against some Charr, they should be pretty easy unless you just run in every single time without looking and then get gang-raped by every Charr in a 500 meter radius. I've never had this problem, with a ranger, mesmer, necromancer, or warrior, all of which I've played through Ascalon. I suggest just watching your health more, letting the casters do their jobs, and think before rushing in. I mean, it's rare at that point in time to fight more than 3 or 4 charr at a time anyway unless you're sloppy and agro every charr around, and in that typical group of 3-4 you usually only have about 2 caster charr. The others are axe weilders or hunters or something.

I don't see how you're getting crapped by the casters, just be more careful and trust your henchies. If you're using players, get new ones, because the players you're with don't seem to know how to play their characters.

Just find a good party mate, and if all else fails I could come help you out with some of yer quests sometime.

Kershent · May 18, 2005, 04:44 AM // 04:44

Pie is right. Take a Mesmer with you, they'll take care of those casters, no problem.

Darc.Syde · May 18, 2005, 04:51 AM // 04:51

the caster charr have less armor, go for them first. you can out heal dot dmg, its quite simple, you can also bring in healing breeze or mending to stop the degen on yourself.

Acidhex · May 18, 2005, 05:02 AM // 05:02

The time it took to type this post you could have easily beaten the quest. You should not have any trouble with this quest at level 10, I didnt at lvl 6.

Linkie · May 18, 2005, 05:46 AM // 05:46

You're spreading your attributes too thin. You should concentrate on 3, perhaps 4, attributes. My advice would be concentrating on Swordsmanship, Strength and Healing Prayers. Take adrenaline skills for attack, and bring healing spells for self-healing. Make sure all of your attack skills cost adrenaline, you'll want your energy for the healing spells. Take healing breeze or mending to counter DOTs and take another self-heal like orison or so.

Dreamsmith · May 18, 2005, 06:05 AM // 06:05

I was just gonna say, Healing Breeze is the perfect "counterspell" for Conjure Phantasm (which is probably the biggest health draining spell you're getting hit with): with 4 points in Healing Prayers, it completely cancels it out. A couple more points and it actually heals you while you're still under the influence of Conjure Phantasm.

Slade xTekno · May 18, 2005, 06:30 AM // 06:30

The above poster made a mistake, but it probably wasn't intentional. Make sure none of you attack skills cost energy, as you need those for spells.

My advice is the following:
-Take all your points out of Smiting Prayers. As a Warrior, your damage output doesn't require energy. Next, pump just enough points into Healing so that the regen granted by Mending changes. Then, pour the rest into Protection.

-Reduce your Strength attribute to 3. Use the spare points to up Tactics by 1 and siphon the rest into the Monk attributes I mentioned.

-Trade around. A better sword will make a difference. My damage output rose significantly when I traded in my 7-10 sword for a 10-14 [req 3 Swordsmanship]. Remember that Swordsmanship increases the damage as a percentage, and, with the points you have in it, the difference should be substantial. A good shield is also a handy thing to have [no pun intended].

-After doing fixing your attributes, try the following build:
Sever Artery
Gash
Healing Signet
Sprint or Frenzy/For Great Justice!
Shielding Hands
Healing Breeze
Mending
Ressurection Signet
This is a tanking build that can also deal some passable damage.
Sever/Gash fuels the offense. Use these as often as possible.
Mending provides a good constant source of health.
Sprint helps you enter combat faster, initially drawing more aggro, which will help you keep it in the long run. If you feel that your damage is not good enough, replace it with Frenzy or For Great Justice! You could also replace Mending with these.
Healing Signet will be your main method of healing. However, do not use this if taking damage from more than three sources, as you'll probably break even.
If you are even stuck taking more damage that you wished for or are in a large mob, do the following in this order: Shielding Hands > Healing Breeze > Healing Signet > Healing Signet > Healing Signet. This can heal almost 2/3 of your health if done correctly. Keep attacking between Signets, though.

-If you are using henchmen, ally with Stephan [fighter], Orion [mage], and Alesia [healer]. The archer just runs around when people approach, which normally draws aggro to your casters. Stephan doesn't do much, but he is a hunk of meat that can take quite a bit of damage. Just remember to call your attacks with Ctrl+Attack.

A11Eur0 · May 18, 2005, 07:39 AM // 07:39

As a warrior monk, I put 4 levels into protection prayers, and the rest divided evenly into strength and axe mastery with cyclone axe and the best damage axe I could find. Took along shielding hands and rez, cast shielding hands on myself every battle which took care of 1/2 of the total damage in that battle done on me, and since I was the tank I stayed in front a ways to soak up the arrows from the stalkers, as well as the drains from the ash fiends. I had one monk who kept healing breeze on me full-time which was cool. It wasn't hard, just get rid of the martyrs/bosses first and it'll be cake.

Greentongue · May 18, 2005, 12:32 PM // 12:32

I agree, you are spread too thin on your Attributes.
Try to keep to 2 or 3 Attributes at the most.
You can do many things badly (and die) or a few things well (and win.)
Your choice.

smitty-gw · May 18, 2005, 01:26 PM // 13:26

Linkie and Dreamsmith said all you need to know.

Whew, thank goodness for refund points huh?