Curse

CyberDragon22 · May 23, 2007, 07:47 AM // 07:47

I created a ritualist quite awhile ago and played through factions with him. After that, I set him aside for a bit to play with my main character (a necromancer), and recently have decided to start my rit through Nightfall. Having played a spirit spammer for most of Factions, I was wondering if they were still up to par for things concerning the few topics and things of that nature that I have seen.

This is the build I have been running:

[card]Shelter[/card][card]Union[/card][card]Signet of Creation[/card][card]Signet of Binding[/card][card]Ritual Lord[/card][card]Vital Weapon[/card][card]Boon of Creation[/card][card]Flesh of My Flesh[/card]

Attributes: 16 Spawning, 15 Communing, 3 Restoration. (I realise this is 2 superiors, but for the most part you are well back beyond the back row, taking full advantage of Spirits' range.)

I was just wondering whether this still worked, or whether it was outdated.

Basically I was never really sure of Vital Weapon, but didn't seen anything really worth replacing it with.

Any suggestions to help my rit along would be great

Perfected Shadow · May 23, 2007, 08:48 AM // 08:48

Well even with Rit Lord you can bind only two spirits every 16.65 seconds. The rest of the time you're just equipping the party with Vital Weapons. So I gotta ask isn't that boring? Maybe [skill=text]Pain[/skill], [skill=text]Shadowsong[/skill], [skill=text]Disenchantment[/skill], [skill=text]Dissonance[/skill] could be worked in so there's more offense? However I don't know what skills should be replaced, need more skill slots ><.

Most monsters should die easily anyway so imo Channeling/Restoration are better lines to look into, with the exception of missions where you have to sit still and defend.

ArKaiN · May 23, 2007, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Soul Twisting> Lord if you're trying to keep up shelter and/or union.

pnumm · May 23, 2007, 07:05 PM // 19:05

When going pure defensive spirit spam, I take something like this:

[card]Boon of Creation[/card][card]Spirit's Gift[/card][card]Shelter[/card][card]Union[/card][card]Displacement[/card][card]Signet of Creation[/card][card]Ritual Lord[/card][card]Flesh of my Flesh[/card]

CyberDragon22 · May 24, 2007, 11:27 AM // 11:27

Thanks for the responses guys.

Arkain, Although Soul Twisting would be better for a constant Shelter, wouldn't it leave union down for long periods of time? I mean, both die quickly as it is...

pnumm, Spirit's Gift is what I'll probably use to replace Vital Weapon, though I've tried that build before, and that's what I used in the past. Problem with it was that the energy management became an issue when doing that, so I dropped Displacement to make sure I could keep the other two more vital spirits up.

Perfected Shadow, it can get boring sometimes, and I have tried an offensive build like that which is generally more fun. The reason I continue to run this build is that it ends up being more effective almost in terms of being useful to the party. I'd rather sacrifice a bit of enjoyment occasionally if it means that I get to help my party as best as I can :-)

That, and I frequently play monk, and I know how much having a ritualist doing this kind of things help damage migitation.

kaply · Jun 11, 2007, 04:38 PM // 16:38

Do those signets really help a shelter/union build? Those spirits die so fast extending their life by 200 hps is like 5 extra hits for shelter? 7 extra pips of health regen is probably 2 extra hit for shelter as well?
Wouldn't it be better to just have monk secondary and put points into protection to get protective spirit and shielding hands?

Also like Perfected Shadow mentions you only have two spirits to cast. Having boon of creation in the build is kind of odd since you don't create that many spirits overall anyway.

I wonder if putting in shadowsong might not be better than union. In a way it's also a defensive type spirit and it's easier to place it so that the people who really need the melee defense can benefit from it.

Marverick · Jun 12, 2007, 12:37 AM // 00:37

You can't use spells to target Spirits.

How high do you guys have your attributes at? I use 16 Communing and 14 Spawning right now. Is 15 Spawning that big of a difference?

Also what exactly was the Rit lord nerf?

Sazgo · Jun 12, 2007, 12:29 PM // 12:29

The signets help alot, they cost no energy. Binding will make shelter take 4 more hits before it dies at 16 communing, and the regen means it lasts alot longer at certain places.
A +1 communing (20%) focus item is worth taking as well.

I use this build sometimes if i just need to maintain shelter. The first shelter you cast in a new area and destroy with ST will have some downtime but after its recharged it works fine. Vital weapon is there just to give you more use in the group or if something went wrong with shelter etc.

[card]Serpent's Quickness[/card] [card]Boon of Creation[/card] [card]Soul Twisting[/card] [card]Shelter[/card] [card]Signet of Creation[/card] [card]Signet of Binding[/card] [card]Vital Weapon[/card] [card]Flesh of My Flesh[/card]

There are always times where your spirits will seem totally useless, the most common seems to be dervish mobs + minion master on HM. The minions get aoe'd so much that spirits seem to die as soon as they cast before you can even target them. Other times though a spirit rit can work well with a mm keeping the minions alive much longer.

and i usually take just 16 communing 13 spawning power but i guess i could use a different armor part with +3 sp and keep vital weapon on myself always will make it even better.

ArKaiN · Jun 12, 2007, 04:15 PM // 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sazgo

The signets help alot, they cost no energy. Binding will make shelter take 4 more hits before it dies at 16 communing, and the regen means it lasts alot longer at certain places.
A +1 communing (20%) focus item is worth taking as well.

I use this build sometimes if i just need to maintain shelter. The first shelter you cast in a new area and destroy with ST will have some downtime but after its recharged it works fine. Vital weapon is there just to give you more use in the group or if something went wrong with shelter etc.

[card]Serpent's Quickness[/card] [card]Boon of Creation[/card] [card]Soul Twisting[/card] [card]Shelter[/card] [card]Signet of Creation[/card] [card]Signet of Binding[/card] [card]Vital Weapon[/card] [card]Flesh of My Flesh[/card]

There are always times where your spirits will seem totally useless, the most common seems to be dervish mobs + minion master on HM. The minions get aoe'd so much that spirits seem to die as soon as they cast before you can even target them. Other times though a spirit rit can work well with a mm keeping the minions alive much longer.

and i usually take just 16 communing 13 spawning power but i guess i could use a different armor part with +3 sp and keep vital weapon on myself always will make it even better.

Lol that build does the following:
Maintain Shelter
Add some life
Res

Seems quite horrible.

Sazgo · Jun 12, 2007, 05:02 PM // 17:02

it can be more effective than the standard rit lord build in certain places, and ive found it more useful in some of the HM missions.

rit lord build is often like this:
cast shelter, cast union. shelter down during union casting. cast displacement dispalcement dead 3 sec later then union dies. be useless and wand for 30 sec until spirits are ready to be cast again.

Even on this build in places where you are taking huge aoe damage you get 2 shelters then a very small 6-12 sec downtime between the casting of next as soultwisting recharges.

Atleast with this one you have shelter up alot more. and shelter if its up prevents a great deal of damage. Its very hard for someone to die if they can only lose 10% hp per attack.

Its very easy to die from huge damage from certain bosses and enemys usually spellcasters. Protective spirit is nice but it has to be cast reactively and its very unlikely it is cast over the whole group to prevent big aoe damage. Meaning i have to of taken that 450 stoning from a boss first and then its often too late.

LifeInfusion · Jun 12, 2007, 09:24 PM // 21:24

I wouldn't run Shelter without Soul Twisting.

lennymon · Jun 12, 2007, 09:57 PM // 21:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

I wouldn't run Shelter without Soul Twisting.

QFT, that *and* something to make Soul Twisting recharge faster

, although sometimes you don't need it (like normal mode Dasha end mission bosses, Shelter comes in handy but you don't need it to live for long.)