Curse

Pariah Hellfire · Feb 29, 2008, 06:55 AM // 06:55

I hope you guys like this..

A while ago I said I'd try and 55 hero quest in the UW...

So before I begin laying out how to take "Terrorwebs" or "Mindblades" you should know how to SOLO a generous portion of the Underworld by yourself..If you cannot or do not know how to solo the Chamber,meaning Aatxes Nightmares and Graspings..learn to do that first.If you cannot next clear Smite Crawlers and Coldfires,go learn how to complete that.If you can't solo Behemoths or groups of 5 Graspings at once, you need to learn and practice that.There have been numerous guides on how to Solo 55 SS the Underworld.I am not prepared to beat that dead horse.

I have assumed any solo Necromancer entering the UW is looking to do a Smite run and that is why I say you should already know how to solo a good portion and know a basic layout of the Underworld and what I'm talking about.The MORE you clear BEFORE quests the better.

For this portion of the guide you should know at least how to solo the Forgotten Vale,before taking ANY quests..thats the area with the "Mayor"..I've outlined it in the previous guide..and slightly refreshed it here.I will direct you to my previous post regarding this..look it over..it can be found here on Guru:

soloing past smites:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10219346

This is to introduce you to completing more quests in the Underworld as a "solo Necromancer player".When you don't have a Guildie to Duo with or your Ursan button breaks..this may be a decent alternative and something new to try.Plus it's definitely a challenge and we all love a decent challenge.This first portion of the guide DOES NOT require you to clear Behemoths.

As a side note,before you do this I would HIGHLY suggest consumables,if you don't have EotN,maybe try and buy some or ask a Guildie to grab some for you.I would recommend bringing "Scrolls of Ressurection"(3-5) and "Essence of Clarity" (3-5 these last 30 minutes).

Scrolls are really a must,If your team dies you can ressurect everyone yourself,finish a quest and have all DP removed.If you already have items that removes "party DP" maybe bring some of those..I bring Candy Canes but rarely use them.

If YOU die it's game over unless you swap a skill from your monks skill bar for Rebirth..if you die as a 55 your'e toast.

My Heros are setup really bad..I realise this..weapons arent top of the line..Runes are all stupid..yet I'm able to pull this off..don't feel intimidated to pimp your heros to the max..because I haven't.

I would very very much like this to be a community effort if at all possible..like "hey I found this skill works better" or "heres how to do this quest"..that would be awesome people...

The quick Hero basics.

So here is a quick run through of what the Heros purposes are.

Koss and Jora serve a couple of purposes..to cover and kill.Normally I'll keep them seperated until I feel the need to toss both into the mix.I'll use one warriror as a puller/aggroer and pop up manager..doesn't matter which one I suppose but I'm fairly comfortable with the way Koss acts in his spellcasting or aggroing so I use him..I rarely have to cast anything or control their fighting..just target the enemy you want dead,let it get close and "OF" your tanks and send them in..as long as they both lock the same target you should be cool.

Dunkoro or any other monk in your hero selection should be setup to E-Drain and Spellbreak.Limited heals are also recommended.Your monk is there to Echo Spellbreaker to prevent bigtime damage from spells being directed towards you or your heros.I use Dunks to Spellbreak my warriors..do not totally rely on Obsidian Flesh to stay up long enough to kill everything.Your monk should do his job with a limited amount of control by you,other that setting up the Echo before you cast Spellbreaker..from there he/she will be able to determine who to heal or SV or dismiss a condition from probably faster than you can think of it.

Remember the heros only do so much,while youre fighting along side them you need to use the skills you have equiped as well to aid them,use Healing Breeze on Koss or Jora,use Orison and it is essential you use Spiteful Spirit and even Suffering you are also a healer and damage dealer in this role.Maintain your energy and limit your casting at this point.

Also I feel I should say that the Fight/Defend and Avoid Combat buttons controling your heros is another key part of making this work well.Always keep an eye on whos set to what before attacking anything..and just sending your heros into a corner with the "party flag" does not always guarantee they won't run around a little bit..always secure them with each hero flag as well.

Hero Koss

Koss is setup to be the complete tank.I will completely admit I'm not a big fan of the Warrior class,thus this build is what I know and what I've personally tried and found to work.

The "OF Tank" meaning Koss uses Obsidian Flesh to prevent enemies from casting spells on him,which in the Underworld tends to happen a great deal for his intended uses.

You'll also notice I did a few odd things.I pulled one point out of Strength and spread it out a little.You'll need 9 points in Earth to get the full 15 secs of Obsidian Flesh.Also you'll need the 8 points in Tactics to achieve -3 energy loss from "Fear Me".

Koss can only use "Sever Artery" on fleshy creatures,which is mainly intended for Terrorwebs and whatnot.While fighting Mindblades this skill can be cancelled out by holding "shift" and clicking it once in his skillbar,when you want him to start using it again,repeat.Basically I say this is because Heros tend to use skills sometimes when you don't want them to,this prevents a waste of adrenaline better used for Fear Me.

Rush..well with the use of Obsidian Flesh,you'll want to try and speed your movement up a little,Rush will increase your movement speed by 25%,also couple this with a consumable,an "Essence of Clarity" which lasts for 30 minutes.Lions Comfort is a heal,nuff said.

Savage Slash and Power Attack.Savage has it's uses for when you gap out and forget to refresh a spell like "Spellbreaker" or "OF".Trust me your warrior heros will use it often and well.

Koss I've setup with a +5 energy mod on his sword and I would highly recomend this on Jora as well.I gave him an Undead mod as well and the Icy should be changed and will be.I suggest equiping a better shield than what I have, I'm not rich,Koss needs to earn some cash.The bonus items you purchase through the online store include a nice "Serrated Shield"..

His Armor and Rune setup is probably way to loose..I have seriously given away and spent alot of cash recently so modding the armor has been a little difficult at this time,better Vigor would be nice but you play with what you have right?Sup Strength for sure Minor Swords for the Req.

As a side note on Koss:I wanted to pimp Koss out with the biggest badest weapons and runes,and ultimately I thought its very probable that many players are not able to afford that Sup Vigor or the Uber Sword of killing things..its a fairly reasonable setup that probably anyone can afford to do.

Hero Jora

Jora is setup almost identically to Koss.She serves the exact same purpose,to tank things that you cannot tank as a 55.She is an "OF Tank"

Jora will perform the exact same actions Koss will.I have only changed one skill in her bar.I took out Sever Artery and replaced it with Distracting Blow,the reason for this is because I use Koss to gather and group aggro alot,so when Koss has all the enemies gathered on him,I'll send In Jora to help,she uses it well and it really helps.

Same deal with Jora,the weapons I use on her are not pimped out and super elite,+26 hp mod on sword and one non max mod on the shield...I'm just sayin'...(thanks Ceasar for the sword by the way)..I was hurtin' for cash one day..moving on.

Pretty much a clone of Koss rune wise and the same skill uses with Obsidian Flesh.Also same attribute spread for the exact same purposes.

Hero Dunkoro

Dunkoros main job is to Echo Spellbreak.Spellbreaker will prevent enemies from casting spells on you or your heros while it is maintained.Its best function is when you enchant and gather your mobs using the Warriors and the "Obsidian Flesh" skill is wearing off , Dunkoro can jump in and double Spellbreak both Tanks..consequently just before the echo'd Spellbreaker wears off.."Obsidian Flesh" can be reapplied if timed nicely with very limited downtime.

Dunkoro is also equiped with BOTH Visages for maximum sustained energy depletion to your enemies.

I also figured he should be able to pop a few appropriate heals if need be so I fought a little with certain skills..trying Spirit Bond etc..and basically found that if I kept his Healing and Protection at a minimal I can have decent heals,coupled with a few spells from myself and with Lions Comfort it all worked decently.Signet of Devotion is a Divine Heal and 2 sec rchrg with zero energy cost so it's very spammable.While your Tanks will ultimately be hexed at some point,Dwaynas heals, with the added heal when under a Hex as well, with minimal energy cost to Dunks.Mend Condition is to relieve a condition, the added guarantee heal from a condition removal is a perk.

Spell Shield I keep on reserve..I have it disengaged for alot of the time and activate it only when Dunks becomes a target.You can read it's purpose and determine when you feel it's necessary for your monk hero to use it effectively.

As for Dunkoros Runes..well before I SS this whole thing I neglected to swap his runes for HP and Energy boosts..I have been working a few areas with Dunkoro in EotN to gain some Asura points and his armor was and is setup for that more..basically rune him out with a Sup Divine on the scalp with Radiants and Vitaes and a Vigor.Although the Wanderers on the scalp may be something to consider..Restoration really doesn't need to be on there.

You will need to control Dunkoros spellcasting at times.Mainly to bullseye Spellbreaker and Echo'd Spellbreaker.The other skills your Heros SHOULD be able to determine who needs them at the apropriate times.It seems keeping Dunkoro (or whoever your monk hero may be) set to avoid combat works the best.

Player Me or You

So doing the Underworld as a solo 55 and Hero Questing will require a few things on your part.First youre going to need armor and runes.Ok so I'm not the best judge of runes..

Your first set will be your 55 or "Solo" set..I have run this armor from day one,had it infused and never parted with it..the Canthan Scar was infused with a seperate set incidently.

Ok so you know to setup all Superior Runes and to use the Cesta to bring your HP to 55.Radiants and oh man is that a Stalwart rune?...anyways.

Your Second set should focus on HP and Energy..use a minor soul reap if you want..yea I know you can toss a Sup Soul Reap from your other armor but it really isnt worth it ultimately.

Your Curses Head Gear is the Constant..use it for both sets.

You should also bring a variety of weapons for yourself.I mean you can bring whatever you want..these are what I always run with.

20/20 Waling Wand,-50 Cesta,Fondalzs Artifact and the 20% Fiery Flame Spitter.

and theres the skills and atts.

So lets go!!

Before you aggro anything,enchant yourself normally.Now flag your heros beside the stairs that are shown in the screenshot.This is where they stay until it's time to take the quest.Make sure all 3 heros are set to "avoid combat".This will prevent your warriors from attacking anything.I also turn "Spell Shield" off by holding Shift and clicking the skill.Turn it back on the same way.

If by chance you have that ever popular Nightmare pop and you need to run to Benton, just go ahead and do that.You can rend the Nightmare and then reapply your enchants and squeeze out in front of Benton and kill the lone Aatxe easily.

Continue to clear the first room of everything..leaving your heros where they are.Once you have this done reset your heros to this following position..Koss and Jora behind Benton and Dunkoro just in front of him.You can them proceed to take the quest.

Take the Quest and run to the stairs..third or second stair up is fine..target the closest Grasp..cast PS and then SS..Dunkoro will then begin to automatically cast both Visages on you.No problem.Move over once the first group is down and target the second one..same deal.Run over to the other set of stairs and wait for the third group to come down and do the same with them.

Underworld open..flag your heros to your original spawn in point and leave them there.Go clear Smites and Coldfires..pull the rest of the Chamber as outlined in my linked guide then continue to clear the Forgotten Vale of Grasping and Coldfires.Here are a few screens of the progression taking the Graspings in the Vale.Don't worry about clearing the Behemoths at this point.I will update this later for that area..unless you feel like clearing it now..go ahead..refer to the other guide for tips on that.

Target one in the group and cast PS and HB..cast SS immediately after and stand still..alot of the time you can recast SS and PS/HB...rinse and repeat for the next group.The third group you will want to wait until a patrol of Coldfires comes from the back and circles the monument.Wait until they walk out and take the last group of Graspings...clear the rest of the area.

Next Post..moving on

Pariah Hellfire · Feb 29, 2008, 07:05 AM // 07:05

After you have cleared out the groups (refer to linked guide)..you can reset your Heros to follow you now.Set Koss and Jora to "Attack" and leave Dunkoro to "Avoid"..this will prevent Dunks from taking any aggro off the Tanks..hopefully..flag both Tanks to the top of the stairs just out of aggro..you can also see the PLACEMENT a little better in the other guide.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10219346

The Terrorwebs will do a clockwise patrol of the Monument..when they start on the path towards your tanks target the nearest one..time to throw on "Essence of Clarity"..cast "Obsidian Flesh" and click the "attack" icon on both Warriors..allow them to go in and gather aggro on themselves.

Cast "Arcane Echo" them click Koss and cast "Spellbreaker" on him..then cast the "Echo'd" Spelllbreaker on Jora..they should have no problems at this point.All you and Dunkoro need to do is stay back a little..cast SS and heal when needed.First Quest is done.Its very possible a Hero may die..if you can cope..just leave him dead..and rez with a scroll..all DP will be removed after the quest reward is taken..you can apply Mending to a warrior if you want but keep it to one.

Accept your reward.

Next..you may not want to waste to much time due to "EoC"..before you take another quest set Koss and Jora up on the stairs heading towards the lower room..I like them somewhere around the middle to lower bottom part..set Jora to "Defend" and Koss..Koss will be used to gather Mindblades and pulll them towards Jora.Set Dunkoro at the top of the stairs just out of aggro and leave him to "Avoid".You may consider allowing Dunks to start using "Spell Shield" in this battle..not entirely necessary but consider it.

Run back to the Monument and take the "Escort of Souls" quest.It is very likely a Hero will die..maybe all will die..maybe none.You have scrolls so no worries.If by any chance they all die..just run back to the monument and they will break aggro..return and rez.Basically the strategy is to have yourself stay out of aggro as much as you can..also Dunks..you need Spiteful Spirit on these guys.It's basically the same pattern as Terrorwebs..target the closest one..cast Obsidian Flesh and pull towards Jora..you will then need to cast for Jora and select the nearest Mindblades and have both Warriors set to "Attack".Use the "Attack" Icon on your Hero Skill bar.Echo Spellbreak with Dunkoro and get some Spitefuls off..You won't want to cast Mending or Healing Breeze on your Heros for fear of a shatter so rely on them to self heal ..you to use Orison and Dunks to help.

Dead...Scroll to Rez and proceed down the hall to the next set of stairs.Here just stay at the bottom of the stairs and flag Koss to the top.Cast Obsidian Flesh before doing this.Koss will pop 3 more Minblades at the top of the stairs.If you bring Koss back down they will break aggro and and you can recover.setup..get ready and OF..target..attack.stay back a little..Spellbreak..SS..

Dead.

Run up to the mayor and collect your reward..you did clear this area solo already right?

Go back to the first Monument and take the "Restoring the Monuments" Quest.Considering you have already cleared the Vale solo all you need to do is run back to the Mayor and you'll notice three Terrorwebs guarding the Monument...you've already cleared Terrorwebs once so its the exact same way here as it was the first time.

Now it's time for....it to BE CONTINUED!!!..will update soon..

Carboplatin · Feb 29, 2008, 07:10 AM // 07:10

very creative. good job.

Pariah Hellfire · Feb 29, 2008, 07:33 AM // 07:33

Thanks Langdon..just hoping this adds a little spice to the UW.Sometimes some of us aren't able to Duo or team up so this is a viable alternative..will be adding more soon I hope.

Hoping to hear some creative and constructive ideas on how to improve this!!

cerb · Feb 29, 2008, 08:13 AM // 08:13

Why Orison of Healing?

Qdq Swi · Feb 29, 2008, 08:17 AM // 08:17

O.o looks interesting... *looks at lvl 8 koss*... hmm.. I might have some work to do :S.

Pariah Hellfire · Feb 29, 2008, 08:17 AM // 08:17

Orison is just a skill I've always used when soloing UW..I'm just really comfortable using it I guess..plus when I take 5 Smites solo I have become accustomed to using it as a crutch heal.

Koning · Feb 29, 2008, 09:55 AM // 09:55

Looks great. But ye, I highly suggest taking spirit bond for orison (get low AL armor ofc). Even vigorous spirit is nicer IMO (maybe you can give it to dunkoro so you free up a slot on yourself, than you can take something like reckless haste or even rez if you're low on money for the scrolls).

Buddhaofwar · Feb 29, 2008, 10:14 AM // 10:14

major kudos for coming up with a creative solution to farm an area riddled with copy-pasta monks and ursans. Really, bravo. (not sarcastic)

How many tried before you got this to work?

cerb · Feb 29, 2008, 12:17 PM // 12:17

Or what about SoA? Guardian to tank more smites? Seriously you can pretty much close your eyes and pick anything and it'll work better than orison... I mean come on, 47 pts heal / 1 sec cast in solo build?

Still, good work nonetheless

Edit: Just a thought... If you are going with heroes, you could consider running a Prot Bond build... Two heroes run Prot Bond with Life Bond and Balts on themselves (you take Prot Bond and Balts as well,but no need for LB), you can get it to do -1 energy/hit for each. One hero could be arcane echo spellbreaker and the other a BiP (perhaps a bad idea) as you would gain very little energy against Dryders.

With such build you could easily do Unwanted Guests/Escort of Souls/Ice King (although you cannot tank this one, you can have your monk SB hero tank it with just constant spellbreaker and SoA)/Chaos Planes/Bone Pits (although it might be a little hard)/Spawning Pools

You could also do Four Horsemen in theory, but that would take some pretty good micro on your heroes

Abonai Laguna · Feb 29, 2008, 02:41 PM // 14:41

-.-'
You and Fuzzy Taco make me use my necro again, his guide convinced me to start playing it again... finished factions in one long breath, now working on nf.
This is very nice

thanks alot

Sharan · Feb 29, 2008, 03:14 PM // 15:14

nice good job

Smokestajdh · Feb 29, 2008, 04:54 PM // 16:54

Very nice this gives me an excuse to finally use heros, ive never liked heros in the past, not much i could rly do with them

but this looks pretty cool

Fuzzy Taco · Feb 29, 2008, 05:40 PM // 17:40

hot damn pariah! well timed!

i just added a little bit to my guide yesterday about duo-ing with a monk - this kind of kicks ass, though.

i'm definitely going to have to try this.

Pariah Hellfire · Feb 29, 2008, 07:14 PM // 19:14

Thanks for the positive feedback so far!

Cerb don't hate me please..lol..I run alot of different builds..(some I'm sure you'd say WTH are you thinking?!?!)..I have had suggestions from Levi Garett in other posts to swap out for the above mentioned skills and I'm sure he'd smack me for not implimenting them into my build more regularly..that said..my builds are definitely not written in stone..and please voice any suggestions that you feel would make this easier or safer for that matter.
I love that input on the Heros cerb..I'm just posting what I know to work for me.

My build doesn't not necessarily have to be your build or the Heros..I would really love suggestions and input on buffing this up.

Buddhaofwar:many many tries...mostly my fault and not the heros though.

Koning:yea SB and Vigorous Spirit and even SoA are great skills for sure.I'm trying..(hopefully for the positive) to think past the solo aspect and all around skills..and using SB or anything at the att level I'm at does not help my heros with higher HP the way I had hoped.

I'm just trying to think if I swap Orison for SoA or something..can it really help a Hero in a time of need the way I want it to..it works great for a solo farmer but all around does it help Koss when he's burning to death?..yay discuss!!!!..I know I can solo with the build I'm running but will skill swaps really help my Heros when I'm put in the other role.

It starts to get expensive after a while entering the Underworld to "try" new skills..but I'm happy to try anything suggested at least once.

I have tried using Dunkoro with Vital Blessing but for whatever reason he would not cast it on Koss..I've run Dunks with Spirit Bond and it worked decently..theres many variations to try!!!..this isn't the first and only build(s) I've tried..so far this hasn't failed me.

Fuzzy:I know and great job on the Duo UW..I felt a little bad seeing all these new UW threads popping up knowing I had said I'd work on soloing and Heroing the UW in that previous thread so I felt compelled to post..it's working great.Just saying that if you don't have someone to Duo with or whatever the reason..a 55 Necro w/heros can clear so much more in the UW.

As a side note..I've been revisiting Fissure of Woe with Heros as well..maybe the next road will take me in there..as I can solo a generous amount of that as well..think I'll finish UW first though...and yes cerb I don't use Orison there!!!..lol.

Nightmare Venom · Mar 02, 2008, 09:43 AM // 09:43

I might have to try that one day. I'm always looking for other areas I could farm on my Necro, so thanks for the guide

Moth the Mad · Mar 02, 2008, 02:15 PM // 14:15

Can you also do this whit a monk or you have to be a necro?

cerb · Mar 02, 2008, 05:34 PM // 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moth the Mad

Can you also do this whit a monk or you have to be a necro?

Looking at the skill list and the attribute points I can tell that it is strictly impossible to do this with a monk. How would you get 16 curses and 4 Soul Reaping otherwise? Please think before you post.

Abonai Laguna · Mar 02, 2008, 06:12 PM // 18:12

Pariah, I got one word for you.
Wauw!
--
This is just so awesome, you always seem to have another trick up your sleeve. I tried this and it is just so cool. I am wondering what you are coming with next. Thanks alot

Fuzzy Taco · Mar 02, 2008, 06:17 PM // 18:17

I think he meant can you run it with a Mo/N with 12 Curses and a similar build. if that's the case, i don't see why not - though you're better off as a necro primary.