Curse

moriz · Sep 07, 2006, 05:20 PM // 17:20

http://gwshack.us/6575d

it's based on fast ganking with many split combinations, while maintaining a defensive/shutdown battle at the flagstand. the first assassin and the first mesmer, if used on a gank, should be strong enough together to require 3 people to drive off. but that's just one of the split combinations. it can also be the two assassins, or even the assassin and the runner. if timed correctly, this build can shutdown a character for (potentially) 21 seconds (gale, blackout1, gale, blackout2, gale), or two character for 9 seconds each (gale, blackout2 and AoD-->blackout1, gale) simutaneously. other than the shutdown, it has pretty good utility, 5 potential runners, and two mass-slowdowns.

problem is, i'm not all that sure if it works. it appears to hold together in theory, but i'm not sure if it works in practice. there's also the very real possibility that my guild simply is not good enough to run it. or any guild, for that matter.

Muppet87 · Sep 08, 2006, 04:47 PM // 16:47

The only thing that I see that could be changed in this build are the mesmers.

Guilt and Shame is nice but keep in mind you have no energy management on your Aura of D. mesmer other than Shame.

Shame!
Why might this cause problems? CoP general ownz Shame unless covered instantly with Diverson, even then a simple Expel can screw over that effect, therefore screwing your energy management on one character and its effectiveness. Even if there are no Expels in the opponents build we go back to CoP. Generally any monk in top100 will recognize Shame immediately(unless u catch him in the middle of a long cast or just get lucky) and either call it or CoP it off. If you are doing somthing called "Shame Spike" (both mesmers place Shame on opposite monks and then do a "rainbow spike") shame is alot more effective and practical(keep in mind Shame Spike takes alot of communication and good cordination).

Guilt!
I can understand why you would put Guilt on both mesmers considering your shutting down the team at flag stand. The damagers will hurt because of Guilt if they're careless about they're play. Guilt could be used to interupt adren spikes but thats about it. Good communication would basicly negate Guilt. Unless your flag stand team is doing hex stack I would seriously considering switching out Guilt and Shame for somthing more direct.

My suggestion:
AoD mes: Take out AoD! its nice but not that nice

How about this bar: Shatter, Drain Enchant, Shadow Shroud, Diverson, Energy Burn, Dark Escape, Blackout, Res Signet.
This bar has split potential(given you have decent assasins who watch your ass) and also has spike potential at the flag stand. Use Shadow Shroud covered with Diverson(from other mes) then blackout other monk OR shatter/drain + eburn on spikes and save your Blackout for warriors coming through your front line to attack your midline or backline casters.

Expel Mes:
Shatter, Drain / Power Drain, Expel Hexes, Diverson, Energy Burn, Draw Conditions, Distortion or Complicate, Res Chant.
This bar is extremely focused on support! With only 6 at flag stand this is almost a must. Expel Hexes in case you come across the generic hex stack builds. Draw Conditions for your lonely warrior..this keeps the pressure of condition removal off your monks so that they can focus on catching spikes and other important occurances at flagstand. Diverson cover for Shadow Shroud(communication is key for this build). Distortion for added survivablity considering you only have one warrior in your front line instead of two. You can swatch Distortion out for Complicate if you want an extra interupt, depends on what you feel is more important..an extra int. or added defense? Res Chant ofc to res dead allies.

Warrior:
I would seriously consider taking out Deaths Charge for Shock. You only have one knockdown that is conditional(Bullstrike: strike moving target, target is knocked down). I would switch Bullstrike for Distrupting Chop(no attribute, 1/4 cast, very effective if your warrior knows what he is doing) since you are focusing on shutdown.

Elementalist:
Try this bar: Blinding flash, Lightning Orb, Ward Against Melee, Ward Against Foes / Stability, Heal Party, Ether Prodigy, Glyph of Sacrafice, Res Chant.

Blinding flash for warriors that are coming through your front line to attack midline and backline casters. Lightning Orb for spike. Ward Against Melee and Ward Against Foes or Stability will give your monks that extra protection against Melee heavy / Knockdown heavy builds(this is essential to keep pressure off monks for some period of time considering you only have 6 at flag stand). Heal Party for support. Ether Prodigy for your energy management. Glyph of Sacrafice + Res Chant = Instant hard res every 30 seconds.

You do not want to have only 5 at flag stand. You have no defense against warriors or rangers if your Ele is running flags every min or so. You have pure offense with some support but no snares and no damage negation or blinds half of the time, you also loose the spike potential of 122+ damage of lightning orb witch is very important.

Flag Running Suggestion:
Play it like EviL! Your build is essentialy EviL or WM. Learn from the best and play what they play and mod it to your group's style of play.

Flagging: One of your Assasins, most likely the caltrops assasin, will have to come back every now and again to cap flag stand.

Why this would work:
You have 2-3 people in the enemy base holding up the flag runner of the opposite team.
Essentialy what your trying to cause is a forced morale boost for your team, take out as many NPCS as possible before VoD, and last but not least DP the flag runner and/or any other characters who come back to deal with your assasins.

Forced Morale Boost: This is a term that I use to describe killing a flag runner with the flag which results in a morale boost for your team(important for VoD). It dosent matter how much DP your flagstand team gets as long as they have sigs to res they're fallen to continue the battle. As long as flag stand team has sigs your in buisness.

NPC gank: Body guards are the most important thing to take out while ganking. AoE damage combined with archers also combined with a team of 8 is very deadly.

NPC hold up: Say for instance the other team guards they're base very heavily and your assasins can only manage to take out a few archers. Its VoD and your assasins are in the enemy base, the NPCs start walking out.
Your assasins are now going to do somthing called "NPC hold up." It speaks for its self. The assasins will argo(draw attention) of passing NPCs for as long as possible with or without dieing. What does this do? This gives your team at flag stand a significant advantage over the opposing team. You have your NPCS with you but they dont. This will cause 1 of 2 two things to happen. 1) The opposing team will run in like idiots and die before they're supporting NPCs can make it to flag stand or 2) They will fall back from flagstand to take care of the NPC hold up. If the opposing team falls from flag stand to deal with the assasins holding the npcs then you automaticaly gain an advantage in positioning. Another plus is there is no flag runner to contest flag stand and interupt your morale boosts. The more morale you get the better, the less the other team gets the better especially when VoD is concerened.

I hope I could be of some use.

If you have any questions about what Ive suggested or just want to discuss overall game play and tactics msg me IN-Game at Twisted Complex. I'm on from 2pm EST until 2am EST.

moriz · Sep 08, 2006, 05:52 PM // 17:52

you play for TWELVE HOURS??!! holy nuts man

anyways, i understand your suggestions. however, alot of them require me to spread the attributes so widely that i won't get a worthwhile use out of anything.

Muppet87 · Sep 14, 2006, 02:36 PM // 14:36

The Me/A? and/or the Ele/Mo atts too spread out?

Hardly.

Take one point from fast casting(which will put you at 9, u wont notice a difference between 9 and 10) and put it into shadow arts along with your left overs...you should get a 6-7 second shadow shroud which is plenty of time to do a spike(spike is usualy 2-3 seconds..if u dont haveit by then u most likely wont get the kill)

The warder emo is going to be your main defense..you can still have a 14-15 second ward, a 54+hp, a 9 second blinding flash, and a hard res and still be very effective. Your ele is utility + spike.

Its all been done before with maximum effectiveness

I usualy play from 2pm EST until 3am EST ftw