Curse

swordfisher · May 26, 2006, 05:26 AM // 05:26

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Discord Novabomber
Discord*
Rotting Flesh
Deep Freeze
Blurred Vision
Animate Bone Minions
Taste of Death
Death Nova
Blood Ritual

Hex Degen
Conjure Phantasm
Images of Remorse
Shared Burden*
Mantra of Persistence
Spirit of Failure
Price of Failure
Drain Enchantment
Parasitic Bond

Tactics Thumper
Irresistible Blow
Mighty Blow
Hammer Bash
Crushing Blow
Tiger's Fury
"Charge!"*
"Retreat!"
Apply Poison

Standard Boon Prot
Reversal of Fortune
Guardian
Mend Ailment
Inspired Hex
Boon Signet*
Divine Boon
Channeling
Contemplation of Purity

Due to the nature of Alliance Battles, mobility is worked deeply into this build. The Thumper brings Charge! and Retreat!, moving the team (and allies in the area) at sprint speed roughly half the time, while Retreat! gives an additional speedboost if there are dead allies in the area. The Mesmer packs Shared Burden (which lasts for 30 seconds with Mantra of Persistence on) for a Deep Freeze style AoE snare. The Discord Necro carries Deep Freeze for a Deep Freeze style AoE snare.

The offensive abilities of this build are strong. Between the hexes, disease and poison (from Apply Poison and Death Nova), an enemy team should be pretty stongly degened. In addition to this, Discord packs a 79 pt hit against anyone suffering from a condition and under the effects of a hex or enchantment. It provides a very spammable source of significant damage at 5e and 2 second recharge. Dead players are turned into Bone Minions for Nova Bombing, another source of big damage and conditions. By raising minions from just two corpses, the team can hit the next target with four death novas in short order, blitzing them. The Thumper applies a constant pressure, and can deep wound for the kill. As an alternate to Retreat! the Thumper can carry To The Limit! to up rate at which it spikes (charging mighty blow and hammer bash).

The build's active defenses target melee and rangers, reducing their ability to hit. Blurred Vision is a hex with a small AoE, reducing the ability to hit by 50%. Price of Failure and Spirit of Failure build on this, feeding the mesmer energy and damaging the hexed foe when he misses (stacking all three should cause misses at least 3/4 of the time). The main defense this build has is the ability to outmaneuver the foe, while trusting in a strong offense to take out threats.

I can't think of any neat tricks to pull with the monk- I just put Boon Signet in because it's how I monked last time in an AB and it worked all right. There aren't many enchantments in the build- death nova and blood ritual are really about it, aside from the standard boon bar. However, Death Nova, as an easily spammed enchant that lasts 30 seconds can be kept on the Boon Prot to almost always get the full 6e from Boon Sig (boon, channeling, death nova). Blood Ritual is mainly for the Hexer, to keep the hexes coming til Price and Spirit start bringing in the E. You can also blood rit for basically nothing right before Tasting minions to death- 10 soulreap pays off the blood rit's cost, and the 420 health from Taste of Death cancels the 17% sacrifice (and probably topping off your bar).

Depending on how well the energy machine works on the Mesmer, you might switch out Drain Enchantment for Accumulated Pain or Enfeeble. Accumulated Pain allows for a sort of 3 2 1 minispike on a target as a second source of Deep Wounding (A-Pain and Discord at once hit for a reliable 112 with ~100 in virtual damage, similar stats to Eviscerate)

Tell me what you think!