Curse

Fury Incarnate · Nov 14, 2007, 03:45 AM // 03:45

So I was running people through "A Time For Heroes" with an interrupt/Pain Inverter party build, and somebody who was also doing runs asked if he could come along and watch. After the run, he said he was impressed, but he doubted I could figure out how to do the job without the help of the rest of the party. Needless to say, now that the gauntlet had been thrown down I had to find a way, and so I have. I give you now my Solo Ranger (Plus Dual Monk Heroes) Great Destroyer Build!
(This build works for both NM and HM.)

(Please Note - this build is still in the development phase. However, I have successfully run it through both hardnesses a couple of dozen times. Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I will also be periodically updating this thread as I discover ways to improve the build or strategies to make the run easier.)

Ranger:
Required:
(12+3+1 Expertise, 12 Blood Magic, wielding a Flatbow)
[skill]Vampiric Touch[/skill][skill]Vampiric Bite[/skill][skill]Vampiric Gaze[/skill][skill]Angorodon's Gaze[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Dual Shot[/skill][skill]Marksman's Wager[/skill][skill]"You Move Like A Dwarf!"[/skill]

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Monk Hero 1:
Required:
(12+3+1 Protection, 12+1 Divine Favor)
[skill]Life Barrier[/skill][skill]Life Bond[/skill][skill]Protective Bond[/skill][skill]Essence Bond[/skill][skill]Blessed Signet[/skill]

Recommended fills:
(3 Inspiration Magic)
[skill]Signet of Devotion[/skill] <-- Free healing
[skill]Ether Signet[/skill] <-- Just in case
[skill]Pacifism[/skill] <-- If the monks are attacked, it can buy you a few extra seconds to kill the Great Destroyer. (Remember to make them "Avoid Combat")

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Monk Hero 2:
Required:
(12+3+1 Healing, 12+1 Divine Favor)
[skill]Mending[/skill][skill]Balthazar's Spirit[/skill][skill]Peace and Harmony[/skill][skill]Blessed Signet[/skill]

Recommended fills:
(3 Smiting)
[skill]Retribution[/skill] <-- Free extra damage
[skill]Healing Touch[/skill] \\
[skill]Words of Comfort[/skill] || <--- In case you need a rez
[skill]Rebirth[/skill] //

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Phase 1: Set-up
This phase is fairly simple. Monk 1 uses all of his enchants on the player. Monk 2 uses all of his enchants on the player, and Balth's Aura on Monk 1.

Notes:
-Remember to disable the heroes' enchantments on their skills bars so they'll sustain them on you.
-Flag your monks back a bit inside the passage before you reach the open area in front of the lava. Otherwise they may aggro the Destroyers that the Great Destroyer spawns when you attack it. If they do, they die, and all your enchants go away.
-Make sure that one of the monks uses Balth's Aura on you and one uses it on Monk 1. It doesn't matter which one does which.
-You should cast Monk 1's enchantments first, in the order Life Barrier, Life Bond, Protective Bond, Essence Bond. Monk 2's enchantments should be cast in the order Mending, Balth's Aura, Retribution AFTER Monk 1's enchants. The Great Destroyer can spawn Destroyers of Thoughts once you aggro him, and they carry Shatter Enchantment. This way, they'll destroy your least valuable enchantments first, and will get to Life Barrier, Life Bond, and Protective Bond (the ones keeping you alive) last.
-Make sure to wear your Delver Title during this run. The added damage and healing help a lot.
-You MUST use Life Barrier before either of the Bonds. Otherwise the Bonds will trigger before Life Barrier, so damage to you is capped at 5% of your health, then divided by 2, then reduced by 54%. This is bad because depending on how you cast the bonds, either the monk will lose all his energy (and then your enchants will all drop when Peace and Harmony wears off and the monk has 0 energy and -1 degen) or the monk will take half of all the damage dealt to you (albeit -32), quickly dropping him below 50% and cancelling Life Barrier, then killing him and the rest of your enchantments along with him. Instead you want to ave your damage reduced by 54% first. If Life Barrier is the first spell cast, Protective Bond will always trigger next. The difference is that now the attack had to initially deal at least 10.87% of your health in damage (instead of 5%) to trigger Protective Bond, so the monk's energy stays comfortably high. Now half the damage you've been dealt is dealt to you and half to the monk. This means that the most you can be dealt is 2.5% of your total health, and the most the monk can be dealt is 2.5% of your total health minus 32. Assuming that you have 640 health or less, that means that the monk can't take damage through Life Bond. Note that this also means the maximum damage you can do through retribution is 0.833% of your total health. With 0 Smiting the damage is maxed out for anyone with less than 601 health; With 3 points, it's maxed for anyone with less than 961 health.

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Phase 2: Minions
This phase is a bit trickier. You have to kill the two immobile Elementalist Destroyers between you and your target and the two Destroyers that spawn with the Great Destroyer. The Great Destroyer can spawn several types of minions, but they're all warrior types except for the Destroyers of Deeds. Those ones are interrupt rangers. If you run in to touch the first Elementalist, it will aggro the nearer Great Destroyer spawn and probably the second one as well. It also puts you in casting range of both of the Elementalists. In NM you can tank this, but in HM you might not be able to.
If you're fighting Warrior GD spawns, do as much damage to the Ele as you can before the Warrior(s) get to you. Once the Warrior(s) get to you, pull back out of range of the farther Ele. This will cause the farther GD spawn to fall back. Touch the Warrior that stays with you to death. Then touch the closer Ele to death, followed by the second Warrior and the farther Ele. Use Whirling Def if the warriors are hitting you too hard, and "YMLAD!" if you need time to recover from being knocked down.

If one of the spawns is a Destroyer of Deeds, things are a bit trickier. Begin by Gazing the nearer Ele to death - you can do this without aggroing either of the spawns. Run in and use a Gaze on the farther Ele. This will aggro the spawns. If the Deeds is the farther spawn, use Whirling Def and pull the warrior back with you until the Deeds falls back to the GD. Touch the Warrior to death. Gaze the Ele as many times as you can before the Deeds starts attacking you, fall back until he does the same; repeat until the Ele is dead. The Deeds won't move far from the GD and will run if you come close to it until you're just outside the GD's range. Use "YMLAD!" to knock it down as far from the GD as you can and attack it as it fall back. Once it stops running, touch/gaze it to death however you can. Distracting Shot makes this tricky, but it can be done. Whirling Defense is helpful here, as well as timing your skills between his attacks. Note that he can Daze you, which makes it all but impossible to cast one of your Gazes on him.

If the Deeds is the closer one, do exactly the same thing, but don't kill the warrior before you kill the second Ele. Rush in and tank the Warrior while you kill the Deeds, then touch it to death. This is not easy, as the interrupts play havoc with your self-healing and you're fighting two enemies, but it's doable.

Notes:
-Use Marksman's Wager and Dual Shot when you need energy - I've yet to find a faster and more reliable way to get it. Also note that Destroyers of Deeds can block - be prepared for the possibility (and watch for them to use Lightning Reflexes).
-This is the part where you're most likely to die. Its also why the second monk carries a hard rez and self-healing on his bar.
-There's no shame in retreating back to dry land and letting your monks Signet-of-Devotion you.
-I can't emphasize enough the value of good timing when fighting Destroyers of Deeds. Get close to them - this may seem counter-intuitive, but it makes timing his, and thus your, attacks MUCH easier. (Try to use one of your skills just after you're hit by one of his arrows.) You can reliably hit them from a distance with gazes or up close with touch skills with some practice.
-Remember to try to use Ang's Gaze when you're on fire. Against the first Ele, you can gaze from dry land. If you can do it without aggroing anything else, stand in the lava anyway. 3 Degen is no big deal.
-If you have Warrior spawns, you can still use the Gaze tactic on the Eles. It's easier, but slower.
-Destroyers of Deeds WILL disable your skills. They'll also Daze you. This can potentially render 3 of your healing skills useless and/or destroy your energy base. Use "YMLAD!" and Whirling Defense as shields to recharge your skills, cast without being interrupted, or give you time to regenerate energy.
-The Great Destroyer will knock you down while you fight his minions. This can be annoying or even life-threatening, especially if it happens while you're casting Marksman's Wager. Be aware of this possibility.

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Phase 3: The Great Destroyer
After everything else, this part is cake (almost). If any of your skills are disabled and you're not about to die from degen, wait for them to recharge. If you're low on energy, cast Marksman's Wager. Then shoot the Great Destroyer (your flatbow has enough range to hit him outside of spell range.) He'll cast a bunch of spells that your enchants will protect you from, then walk closer to you and cast more spells. He'll now be in your spell range, so start Gazing. He'll then walk over to melee-attack you, so start touching. (Note that you're right on the edge of the sustainable range for monk enchantments, which is why you don't walk up to him.) Keep on touching, no matter what else happens. He'll have minions come help him, but for the most part you can ignore them. None of them have any skills that will impede your build. If he has more than one ofr two of them, use Whirling Defense. In the case of the Destroyers of Hope and Hordes, you get the added bonus of extra damage. Touch, use Marksman's for energy, touch some more. Note that Marksman's will give you energy and touching will still steal health even when he goes into his defensive stance. So yeah, touch for the kill!

Notes:
-Interrupt Call of Destruction and Lava Wave with "YMLAD!" The Great Destroyer really doesn't need more minions. This is where the Destroyers that will attack your Monks come from if you don't flag them back far enough. Also, this is how the Great Destroyer spawns Destroyers of Thoughts, which as mentioned above have Shatter Enchantment. A minor flesh wound and a KD are a small price to pay for not dying. The Great Destroyer doesn't deal damage as quickly as his minions, so you can afford to take the time to keep your energy full so you can use YMLAD! whenever you need to.
-If somehow your monks do aggro some of the Destroyers the Great Destroyer spawns, you have two choices. Kill him before Monk 1 dies, or die yourself.
-If the Great Destroyer spawns Destroyers of Thoughts, you're left with much the same choice as above. Finish him off before they chew through your enchants and hit Life Bond and Life Barrier, or you die.

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So there you have it. This isn't the easiest build to run, but it's more than doable for an experienced Ranger. It'll take some practice to get the aggroing, the Monk hero controlling, and the strategies for fighting the different enemies right, but once you do this build is very solid. If you'd care for a demonstration (or just need a run through A Time for Heroes), PM me in-game and I'd be happy to accommodate you. Happy Hunting, folks!

Linteo · Nov 14, 2007, 09:13 AM // 09:13

very nice guide, i will try this as soon as possible

*claps and bows to Fury Incarnate

Mr None · Nov 14, 2007, 11:40 AM // 11:40

Just one question - why don't you use Offering of Blood as your elite? Is wager really more effective in terms of energy?

Cobalt · Nov 14, 2007, 12:59 PM // 12:59

Looks real good my only suggestion when doing the Great Destroyer would be to work "Extinguish" in to one of your monks builds.

natural sugar · Nov 14, 2007, 06:08 PM // 18:08

Never mind, disregard this post.

MisterB · Nov 14, 2007, 06:24 PM // 18:24

Nice idea. Triple Shot would be great here for players with access to the Allegiange skills.

Fury Incarnate · Nov 14, 2007, 09:36 PM // 21:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr None

Just one question - why don't you use Offering of Blood as your elite? Is wager really more effective in terms of energy?

I originally tried it with OoB - Marksman's Wager is much better. It gives you more energy faster, and unlike OoB stays on you as a stance, so you can keep gaining energy for the entire 18-second duration. The reason OoB is used for PvP touchies is because you can cast it almost instantaneously and there's no real downside other than the health sacrifice; For this you can afford the 2 seconds to cast Wager and your enemies don't move, so you're essentially guaranteed to hit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobalt

Looks real good my only suggestion when doing the Great Destroyer would be to work "Extinguish" in to one of your monks builds.

I tried running Extinguish and Heal Party when I first developed the build - The Monks won't cast them because they have so little energy regen. You're also on the very edge of the radar once you reach the Great Destroyer, so the spells may or may not affect you. However, I've found that with Mending you can deal with the Burning, as long as you don't stand around doing nothing for several minutes.

Hott Bill · Nov 14, 2007, 09:38 PM // 21:38

I've ran this faster, 3 touch Rangers OoB, and 3 LoD Extinguish Monks

Silly Warrior · Nov 14, 2007, 11:20 PM // 23:20

Very cool

therangereminem · Nov 15, 2007, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hott Bill

I've ran this faster, 3 touch Rangers OoB, and 3 LoD Extinguish Monks

did you not read he is doign it 3 man thast 6 man you can make more money running this build in stead