Curse

Arganon · Sep 21, 2009, 05:02 AM // 05:02

Hi there,

Reasonably new to the game, play mostly with heroes and henchmen, though now trying to more and more play with just my heroes.

I have the prophecies, nightfall and Eye of the North campaigns.

My first was a necro in prophecies and this my second a dervish.

Im still trying to finish EoTN campaign.

using an assortment of runes, need to sort these out properly, my stats essentially are Scythe 14, earth 8, myst 15 - I think that adds up.
insignia is the +10 armor when enchanted - Blessed I think it's called

Skill bar uses

Victorious sweep / wild blow / radiant sythe / (twin moon or zealous blow) / mystic regen / Heart of fury / eternal aura / avatar of lyssa

I've been toying with the idea of changing avatar to dwayna or Grenth to try and get rid of mystic regen. But still not skilled or brave enough to do so. Also probably gonna change the blessed insignia to radiant ones.

Sythe is the nightfall endgame one - zealous version, +15%dmg, +30 HP, energy regen +1 on hit.

My Bonder is Talhkora, I modified and skill captured to get her Life Barrier, Life Bond, Holy unveil, Balthazar's spirit and succor.

I've tried working just the two of us but can't seem to kill groups larger than 4 mobs fast enough. So most of the time take 2 DPS'rs with me.

I bond with life barrier, life bond and succor on me. life barrier on my 2 DPS'rs and leave Talhkora to manage with blessed signet out of range.

usual cycle is

avatar, HoF, EA when in range of mobs, then spam attack skills using mystic regen if health is needed, then just repeat HoF when it drops.

I just tried out FoW today, going alright but I was too slow but also want to look at trying to complete the last destroyers quests from Battledeep.

What do you think of my build? any immediate changes I could make?
Radiant over blessed what do you think? since my dmg mitigation is Bonder / regen based rather than armor based.

Finally I really want to get AoHM - Im not sure is there a way to get it without the factions game or do I need that? I can't figure how to get any kurzick faction points?

I'd really appreciate some help. Also once the game is complete whats fun / good places to farm for Dervish stuff ie alternate weapon plans. and nice challenges.

Thanks

subarucar · Sep 21, 2009, 07:22 AM // 07:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arganon

Hi there,

Reasonably new to the game, play mostly with heroes and henchmen, though now trying to more and more play with just my heroes.

Don't. There is no reason to unnecessarily gimp yourself by taking less that the maximum amount of party member allowed.

Yes you need factions to get Aura Of Holy Might.

I would also not recommend running a bonder as you should not be taking large enough amounts of damage to require that kind of reduction, making it a wasted skill slot and energy.
The closest thing I would run to a bonder would be one of these: http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:E/Mo_ER_Protter

That will give your party pleanty of defence and will also fuel your energy with enchantments constantly ending.

Since you don't have access to AoHM an orders necromancer mightbe worth looking into.

Another thing that works well with melee characters is a Smiting Monk. Smite Hex and Condition can keep you free of nasty anti-melee stuff while also dealing damage to foes around you. Strength Of Honour is a strong buff and can fit onto the smiter bar. Not sure what you would use an elite without RoJ from factions.

Sierraa · Sep 21, 2009, 07:26 AM // 07:26

Heroes and Henchmen are there for a reason, unless it's for a specific farming build or area, there's really no reason not to fill up your party.

For Runes/Insignia's: Blessed is a good choice, but I'd much rather bring the dervish insignia Windwalkers. I'd at least put it on Chest and Leggings, and use Survivor insignia's on the rest. You should buy the best vigor rune you can afford to (though I will always recommend buying a Superior Vigor) and you should stay away from having superior runes aside from your vigor. Other runes you should consider having, Rune of Clarity, and Rune of Vitae's.

Usually with any build I use I have a +1 headpiece (in your case it'd probably be Mysticism) with a minor rune (Mysticism again), and then I use a second minor of the other attribute I major in. (Scythe mastery)

I honestly would never really recommend Radiant unless you have some sort of farming build. Health and + armor is -ALWAYS- the way to go.

As for you heroes: Bonder really isn't practical. In area's where there's a lot of enchant removal you'll find you have a useless hero. Discordway is widely accepted by players, and in NM you're free to run whatever build you like. You don't need to be an AP Caller. Sabway is another good choice. You're free to really mod builds to better suit you. When I play my dervish I bring an Ether Renewal smiter and bring Strength of Honor.

I think your build is ok for normal mode, there's certainly no harm in playing something you enjoy. Though I if you're going through EoTN you should consider picking up Asuran Scan it's big damage for melee characters. You should also consider picking up Save Yourselves! (or SY!).

You can obtain kurzick/luxon skills from the Luxon Scavenger or the Kurzick Bureaucrat in your guild hall, based on what faction your guild is aligned to. http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kurzick/Luxon_skill That explains the requirements you need to obtain them.

After you complete the game, you can try doing it in Hard Mode, you can work on titles, finish other campaigns and do elite missions such as The Deep, Urgoz Warren, FoW, UW or DoA.

EDIT: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10244740 <-- read this if you haven't already. :]

Tommy's · Sep 21, 2009, 08:01 AM // 08:01

The only bond I would give the monk would be Strenght and Honor, to give you some nice dmg amount extra. Rest if fairly useless. Bonds are only usefull if you really try to tank everything on 1 person and then rest goes spiking in. And I can't imagine you play like that

~ Dan ~ · Sep 21, 2009, 08:41 AM // 08:41

Don't use a bonder for anything outside of duo farm builds, such as tombs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arganon

skill bar uses

Victorious sweep / wild blow / radiant sythe / (twin moon or zealous blow) / mystic regen / Heart of fury / eternal aura / avatar of lyssa

Firstly, 4 attack skills is too much, take 3 max. Secondly with lyssa, you need fast ones, like mystic/eremite's/protector's strike - to get a bigger chance of getting the damage bonus.

Quote:

I've been toying with the idea of changing avatar to dwayna or Grenth to try and get rid of mystic regen.

You don't need mystic regen at all, it's not your job to heal and you probably shouldn't be specced into earth prayers anyway, unless its for an EDA build. Dwayna is ok in the sense that you can heal yourself by attacking.

But for maximum damage i'd recommend using a scythe elite (reaper's/wounding) or a zealous vow build. Or even onslaught since it got buffed, it's pretty nice now. And as an above posted said, get yourself AoHM & asuran scan pve skills.

I'm also of the opinion that you need a rez on your bar. Whilst people will disagree that you have midliners for that, max rank sunspear rebirth sig is too good not to use.

subarucar · Sep 21, 2009, 10:23 AM // 10:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~ Dan ~

I'm also of the opinion that you need a rez on your bar. Whilst people will disagree that you have midliners for that, max rank sunspear rebirth sig is too good not to use.

To new players resses can be handy, go for Sunspear Rebirth Signet or Ressurection Signet rather than long cast time monk hard resses. They come in handy when your are inexperienced, without a great knowledge of the game it's easy to make mistakes, and being able to res someone means avoiding DP and need to go again from the res shrine.
Once you become more experienced, you should not need resses, as your party should not be dying.

~ Dan ~ · Sep 21, 2009, 12:01 PM // 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by subarucar

Once you become more experienced, you should not need resses, as your party should not be dying.

It sometimes happens in HM. Sometimes rezzing your primary healer to a location of your choice with 100% energy could save a wipe; but then again, the heroes normally get death pact off before i've even noticed someone has died.

subarucar · Sep 21, 2009, 01:02 PM // 13:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~ Dan ~

It sometimes happens in HM. Sometimes rezzing your primary healer to a location of your choice with 100% energy could save a wipe; but then again, the heroes normally get death pact off before i've even noticed someone has died.

Hench usually have enough sig's to make things work. Usually have DP sig or FC FoMF/Res Chant somewhere on my heroes as a backup, if I need to use that after sigs I would be going to wipe anyway. Resses are more important for missions as you can't just respawn at the shrine.

Arganon · Sep 23, 2009, 11:59 AM // 11:59

Thanks for advice,

I looked at my runes etc and changed some things around, I was carrying 2 major runes, so I dropped one of those for a rune of vigor. Got rid of earthprayers completely.

so now 15 myst, 13 sythe.

using

asuran scan, wild blow, radiant sycthe, victorious sweep

then zealous sweep, heart of holy flame / heart of fury (if not undead mobs) / EA / avatar of lyssa

I kept 4 attack skills but I try to use zealous sweep when i have lots around me to get energy.

seems to work good, aced the final missions in EoTN.
The great destroyer was peasy.

I still keep the bonder but broaden the skills, Im not sure but I seem to end up taking all the aggro even if I use koss. So if I don't have the bonds i tend to die, HH don't seem to manage using protector skills so well. Now gonna try some of these elite dungeon areas.

~ Dan ~ · Sep 23, 2009, 12:11 PM // 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by subarucar

Hench usually have enough sig's to make things work. Usually have DP sig or FC FoMF/Res Chant somewhere on my heroes as a backup, if I need to use that after sigs I would be going to wipe anyway. Resses are more important for missions as you can't just respawn at the shrine.

It all depends on personal setup really. I only have 1, sometimes 2, death pacts on my heroes. Then if i'm taking hench, I believe they don't have any incombat rezzes? Unless they carry rez sigs, but I haven't noticed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arganon

so now 15 myst, 13 sythe.

using

asuran scan, wild blow, radiant sycthe, victorious sweep

then zealous sweep, heart of holy flame / heart of fury (if not undead mobs) / EA / avatar of lyssa

As I said with avatar of Lyssa, if you look at the description you get massive bonus damage for hitting whilst the target is using a skill. So, to maximize the chance of this happening you want fast activating skills - eremite's attack, mystic sweep & protector's strike fit best.

Verene · Sep 23, 2009, 05:38 PM // 17:38

I'd definitely go with Mystic Sweep. Chances are very likely that between your monk heroes and yourself, you're always going to have multiple enchantments on, so you'll easily be able to hit the max damage you can get from it. Combine that with the +damage from Lyssa if you time your attacks correctly against casters, and you'll be mowing down the bad guys. AoL+Mystic was the basis of the build that carried me through all of Prophecies and Factions, and the majority of Nightfall (only changed when I capped Zealous Vow).

Eremite's is also good though is a bit spottier as it's for every adjacent foe, and sometimes bad guys just don't want to ball up properly. But even if you don't get the maximum +damage from it, it's worth bringing along anyway.

Victorious Sweep will always be a staple on my bar due to the fairly hefty +damage as well as the healing you get from it.

Quote:

Then if i'm taking hench, I believe they don't have any incombat rezzes? Unless they carry rez sigs, but I haven't noticed.

Henchies generally have res sigs, I believe.