Curse

TStormsong · Sep 29, 2011, 03:18 AM // 03:18

Ok, I'm a very casual player. I almost never get into groups because of the possibility of being dragged away.
I use 7 Heroes exclusively.
I know this topic pops up every so often, so I'll apologise in advance, but I cannot find any information for players who are not A/?, W/?, E/?

Problem is Slaver's Exile. I'm having a heck of a time GETTING TO Duncan.
Seems no matter what builds I stack up, the first group wipes me.
I don't have this problem anywhere else. I can even manage UW fairly well with 7 Heroes. But I just can't seem to make any headway here, and since I cannot tank well as a Necro primary...
Any thoughts or experiences with this?

Thanks in advance.

Wenspire · Sep 29, 2011, 03:37 AM // 03:37

Are your bringing FrozenSoil to prevent enemies from rezzing? Also, you will want to be x/A so you can bring the skill Swap for the end part.

What you can try doing is flagging an SoS ahead, near the wall area, so the spirits can block for you while you work on taking down the enemy groups. Duncan is easier if you pull enemy groups to you rather than rush head-on into them, IMO.

Showtime · Sep 29, 2011, 04:35 AM // 04:35

You took the time to write down you are having a problem, but didn't provide details as to what you are and what builds you are running? I'm assuming discord or roj or something...

Start from scratch.

The problem with doing this with one human is you need Frozen Soil and Swap to make it easier. Frozen to keep them from rezing dwarves and swap to move spirits away from the stairs around duncan.

I did it with my war, nec and ranger. Ranger was lucky in that he could run AP with swap and FS. On the others I micro'd FS on a hero. I figured it would be far easier than microing swap.

Basic team build
You/Sin with Swap. AP build with EVAS is great.
SOS Rit ST Rit if youre SOS.
SOGM Rit or ST rit or not
Mesmer PI KDs interrupts etc
2-3 Monk ROJs with Prots if no ST.
Sabs Nec Healer etc. Cuz you probably have one if you ran discord etc.
or Necro for killin duncan.

That 1st patrol has always been a pita. When you enter his domain, flag heros back to avoid aggro. Set FS back towards where you spawn. Wait for patrol walk past set up spirits to front of wall. Try flag apart heros. So have individual flags for Rits and healer. Flag healer back and set to avoid. Get spirits up front. Aggro and nuke... Keep FS up a for all dwarf groups.

The rest of it is simply knowing where undead pop and the routes of patrols. So continue to set spirits and pull to bad guys towards spirits. Don't go to them. They will follow you a long ways. Flatbow is your friend.

Make your way to Duncan. Clear the areas you will be using and pop the pop ups. Check for the 2 or 3 patrols in area. After cleared, set heros to wall you face as looking down towards duncan and then swap all of his spirits back up hill so they dont interact with heros.

Ive used necros, Spriits, and rojed him to death. He's feisty so be careful.

Check threads for exact builds. Haven't done Duncan in a while and there could be better heros now.

Gl

Venganza · Sep 29, 2011, 05:45 AM // 05:45

Take spirit walk with swap, makes things easier and safer.

HM with heroes is pretty easy with FS, ST prot, few monks and 3x mesmer

HigherMinion · Sep 29, 2011, 06:58 AM // 06:58

Base all your builds around mark of pain can't go wrong. Overload defence and bring a trigger for MoP. Take Great Dwarf Weapon. spirits, mesmer (daze from FD is nicer than Panic imo) but I think minions are a no go there?

Angerus · Sep 29, 2011, 11:42 AM // 11:42

Is it possible to do all the quests/dungeons prior to duncan in normal mode and then do duncan in HM?

Xenomortis · Sep 29, 2011, 12:08 PM // 12:08

Are you having problems with Duncan's dungeon specifically or does this apply to all of Slaver's Exile? Are you in Hard Mode or Normal Mode? What have you tried running?

Minions are really good, spirits are really good. Protective Spirit or Shelter are almost necessary. Frozen Soil is recommended.
Regardless of what you run, remember to use the hero flags; flag your heroes apart before pulling a group.

As for Duncan himself; if you can get to him you can kill him. You don't need Swap.

SkyFallsInThunder · Sep 29, 2011, 02:01 PM // 14:01

Always bring fs with you in Slaver's. Always.

Spike the dwarves in this order: Defender>Warder>Priest>Summoner>rest. The Defender is the key to them, and once he is down they will sing to your tune.

Be mindful of the Warden and where he casts his massive AoE spells, and move from those areas, and move your heroes.

Pull the groups to you using the long or flat bows, do not run into them!! The restless dead pop everywhere and they sure don't make a nice addition when you're having your dance with the angry dwarves!

There are only 2 types of mobs you will be facing here: dwarves and restless dead. The dwarves you kill in the above-mentioned fashion. The restless dead are much easier to deal with if you bring the para skill Can't Touch This (or slap it on a hero). Besides making you look cool, it will make their necro touch skills pointless. They are not that tough to begin with, but this makes things a lot easier.

Use Mesmers! The 3 mesmer team of Keystone+Ineptitude+Panic is awesome! Especially if you run the Inept and Panics as Me/Rt healers, with half-half skills and good e-management. Other people use other elites - Energy Surge is very nice, too, but I had no problem with these ones. Where do you get your 3rd mesmer? Why, Razah will be glad to do that for you! There has been an update some time ago and now you can change his primary profession. Find him on the Isle of the Nameless, as you enter, to the left, and talk to him (he should be in other locations, too - see wiki for more intel). Be mindful that all runes increasing attributes will be lost from his armor when you change his main profession; regular runes and weapons stay where they are, though.

Bring a ST Rt. Those guys are awesome.

If you bring a monk, do not bring UA - it interacts poorly with FS.

Go */A and bring Swap. Move the spirits away from Duncan, then move in for the kill. It can be done without, but it can be painful. It takes longer with Swap, but probably worth it.

Good luck!

TStormsong · Sep 29, 2011, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Thanks for the responses.
I'm having issues with Duncan's dungeon. I've cruised through the other levels with little to no difficulty. Except Forgewight who required a large change in strategy from my current build.

I do bring FS with me. But it doesn't seem to help since for some reason I can't manage to kill anything. I've been focusing on the priest fist though, I'll try starting with the defenders.

I'll give it another try and let you know.

Xenomortis · Sep 29, 2011, 03:17 PM // 15:17

The first group in Duncan's dungeon is a pretty tough group, but it's not exceptional. I cannot fathom how you struggle so much with this one group but managed to cruise through Selvetarm and Thommis+Rand. The only thing I can think of is perhaps you're suffering from the lack of minions; the other dungeons (bar Forgewight) have easier early groups that allow you to raise some minions.
Post your builds; advice can be better focused then.

TStormsong · Sep 30, 2011, 08:22 PM // 20:22

So... using this build I got through the first group fairly easily.
I was out of time for the night though, and figured I'd just pick up later since it wasn't too bad.
Not the case. I must have just hit some lucky streak last time.

Me : OAVEI4YmeLJXGFwW2KKEkAsHkHA
H1 (Energy Drain Mes w/ FS) : OQJTAUBjR5EUBOoJ0gdw0vOA
H2 (Prot Rit) : OACjAyhG5OYzHXmLca9gmDzLGA
H3 (Healer Mo) : OwAT043B15j47qI+DvYXsegGBA
H4 (Keystone/Energy Drain Mes) : OQNCAswzPIPb64aYAVQMhnC
H5 (Panic/Energy Drain Mes) : OQNDAswzE0QDcIDNJmXQFA
H6 (SoS Rit) : OACjAOiMJPXzypwMabsTmeTnJA
H7 (Prot Mo) : OwAT0sHD3ZTLQqHoxZyd1h8RAA

Everything goes good at first, but before we can take out the Defender/Priest my Heroes start dropping...

I'm thinking maybe lock a mesmer on Def and one on Priest and try that...

Xenomortis · Sep 30, 2011, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Your Monks are running out of energy, you have 7 skills that don't do much on your bar and a lot of subpar skill choices on hero bars.
Fix the first problem; give your monks some ways to get energy back and cut back on expensive skills, you really should ditch the Prot guy completely. A Minion Master can take Prot stuff very easily.
Your bar would be improved by removing all Mesmer skills (Mantra of Lightning isn't good when nothing in Duncan's dungeon deals Lightning Damage) and taking almost anything else. FWIW, Mark of Pain is an excellent skill with a Minion Master.
Replace all copies of Resurrect with Death Pact Signet or Flesh Of My Flesh.
Just doing those three things will help and should be sufficient if you make good use of the hero flags. If you're still totally stuck, then just copy paste this.

Wenspire · Sep 30, 2011, 10:58 PM // 22:58

Just decoded the builds one at a time and I want to say that you are probably lacking in the damage area (AoE specifically). You also have too much defense (2 monks and an STprot rit).

On your bar, Mantra isn't really necessary. If anything, you'd want vs earth; but I'd suggest not bringing either. Spirit Shackles seems pretty useless since enemies have an enormous amount of EN and usually are not hindered by any form of EN-denial. Also, I wouldn't suggest taking on the role of any healing (Breath of Great Dwarf); leave that to your healer/prot characters.

On your Healer Mo, I'd drop all prot skills if you are going to use an STrit, and just focus on healing. May also want to add in some hex removal.

On your Keystone, replace Power Leak. As mentioned earlier, EN-denial doesn't really hinder enemies.

On your Panic, I want to say Backfire probably won't be too useful since the enemy probably won't be able to cast much. It's pretty useful if you can micro it onto a different enemy while your group works on a separate one, but that does take a bit of work.

On your SoS, I'd suggest just going pure spirit spammer with maybe Splinter Weapon and Armor of Unfeeling. Your current Anguish with such low Communing probably won't be useful.

Prot Mo, I'd drop if you are going to use an STrit. If you drop the STrit, I'd suggest changing your elite from Life Barrier to something else. Also, Aegis would be far more useful than Guardian for party-wide coverage. If you can get rid of the enemies quickly, you don't really have to worry about it's long recharge. Also, heal party at such a low Healing spec is a big EN-sink.

I don't want to tell you what to run, since a lot of the enjoyment in GW is coming up with builds and overcoming obstacles. I just wanted to point out what you may want to consider changing. Good luck.

PS- consider bringing Swap on your character. It will make the end part MUCH easier.

TStormsong · Oct 18, 2011, 10:20 PM // 22:20

So, I haven't had time to try Duncan for a while, but when I had time I was working on the team build. I found I was looking at the problem all wrong.
Here's what I came up with, and it made Duncan's level a cakewalk... not quite AFK cakewalk, but I had to check a couple of times to make sure I really was on HM.
Duncan himself was a easier than the dungeon, he was down in 3~4 minutes.
Disclaimer : this build worked for me and the way I play, actual results may vary.

Wenspire · Oct 18, 2011, 11:07 PM // 23:07

Was Earthbind really useful? I only see one skill that does Knockdown.

TStormsong · Oct 19, 2011, 12:17 AM // 00:17

Heh, actually, I'm not sure. I didn't do much with that hero, it's one of my stock protection Rits.
Once I pull groups, I always hit the Defenders/Priests with Ebon Vanguard Assasin and You Move Like a Dwarf, then Life Transfer.
I spam YMLaD up the yin-yang, so I can see how it was probably helpful for me... there may be a more efficient skill for that slot though.

Looking over the skillset, there are a few slots I think could be changed/removed based on style of play, but overall I was very pleased with the result.

Calista Blackblood · Oct 19, 2011, 04:02 AM // 04:02

Why have you got 2 SS's yet also carry Shadow Of Fear and Empathy,Slowing down attack speed is counterproductive. Not particularly sure about mind wrack either. What is the purpose of Suffering? It won't scratch the surface by itself in HM and if you need a cover hex, take Parasitic Bond.

Karei's Healing Circles on your bomber - you have Botm and Karei's actually heals foes too. <<--Prot goes here

Panic bar lacks Mistrust,Wastrels Worry and Unatural Signet. Mend,Convert,Dismiss and Shielding Hands aren't really doing much there,you have a domination mesmer going to waste when actual prot or perhaps "Stand Your Ground!"/"Fall Back" could be better used and put actual prot on the bomber bar

The hero healer bar is a major weak link and I won't even touch on your own bar. It's quite honestly, shockingly bad(except for EVAS)

TStormsong · Oct 19, 2011, 04:27 AM // 04:27

Wow... um... thanks for the constructive criticism.
The point of Shadow of Fear is to slow movement down. But I see your point, I could probably change that one up.
Not even sure where you got mind wrack... not part of the template.
I wasn't aware that Karei's Circle healed enemies too... good to know, I'll review that one too. I wanted a way to help keep my minions alive between battles during setup.

Panic mesmer is not really that, I kept panic as an AoE interrupt, but the mesmer is mostly for condition/hex removal.

I fail to see why my healer bar is a weak link, and my own bar... despite your opinion, I find it works rather well for me. With me being able to apply a -10 degen, knockdown, and spam life stealing attacks and throw EVAS into the mix, that "shockingly bad" bar takes down most mobs pretty damn quick.

Calista Blackblood · Oct 19, 2011, 04:57 AM // 04:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by TStormsong

Wow... um... thanks for the constructive criticism.
The point of Shadow of Fear is to slow movement down. But I see your point, I could probably change that one up.
Not even sure where you got mind wrack... not part of the template.
I wasn't aware that Karei's Circle healed enemies too... good to know, I'll review that one too. I wanted a way to help keep my minions alive between battles during setup.

Panic mesmer is not really that, I kept panic as an AoE interrupt, but the mesmer is mostly for condition/hex removal.

I fail to see why my healer bar is a weak link, and my own bar... despite your opinion, I find it works rather well for me. With me being able to apply a -10 degen, knockdown, and spam life stealing attacks and throw EVAS into the mix, that "shockingly bad" bar takes down most mobs pretty damn quick.

Apologies,Chaos Storm

Shadow of fear- doesnt slow movement speed,it slows attack speed which will in turn decrease damage from SS.Abuse the AI of mobs,dont help them.

Healing Breeze? Vigorous Spirit? Gift of health? Res chant on a monk??

Look at the team,then look at your own bar. Does the team synergise or get stronger off it? Does your bar help the team in any way that isnt single target and degen(you arent the first person to think degen is good and wont be the last)

Your answer is no therefore it is a weak link.

TStormsong · Oct 19, 2011, 06:19 AM // 06:19

You are right about Shadow of Fear... strange, when I was looking for that I was looking to slow the movement and somehow misread the description.

I'm not looking to argue, but I don't understand what the problem is with the healer. My thoughts were that enchantment type healing would allow the team to stay alive longer. Problems I was having in the past included other party members dying because the healer was too busy trying to heal someone else.

While working on this template I was trying to focus on slowing down the assault on my back line and still doing damage.

My play style has always been to use the H/H to protect and keep the mobs busy while I kill them. Might not be the best strategy, but it's worked for me this far.
I've been playing GW since it was in beta, off and on, but I've only really recently (within the last year) been following the forums, trying to creatively construct skill bars, and learning the overall strategy behind the game. Like I said at the top, I'm a very casual gamer.

I will take your advice and see about trying to make my bar take advantage of the group I've built.

The biggest problem I faced with Duncan was the variety of foes. The first group has hard hitting melee as well as healers, mesmers, minion masters.
Subsequent groups have elementalists in there too.
What would your advice be on creating a team that can manage the variety as well as synergize?

I thought I would share what worked for me, because every other build I tried (self made or found online) would just get me rolled over by the first group.