Curse

gotloot · Mar 29, 2008, 06:23 AM // 06:23

Every time I get on my monk for old-fashioned UW 55/ss 2-man farming, I seem to get stuck with a necro that doesn't understand Sympathetic Visage timing when killing Smites. The key is chaining the Visages back-to-back with minimal gap between them, to prevent the Smites from recovering any energy and shattering SS. Here's how I do it on my necro.

Build:
Curses 12+3+1
Soul Reaping 12+1
Blood 3+1
1 Arcane Echo
2 Spiteful Spirit [Elite]
3 Reckless Haste
4 Signet of Lost Souls
5 Sympathetic Visage
6 Ancestor's Visage
7 Blood Ritual
8 Sunspear Rebirth Signet

You need at least 55 energy for this (my necro has 56-57 and it's barely enough), and a weapon set with a +20% enchantment modifier.

Give the 55 room to aggro and to group the Smites. Wait until all the Smites are actually hitting the 55, and the 55 has grouped the Smites close together. Then:
1. Sympathetic Visage (on the 55 monk, not yourself).
2. Arcane Echo.
3. Wait 5 seconds.
4. Spiteful Spirit on the nearest Smite.
5. Ancestor's Visage (on the 55 monk) immediately after Spiteful Spirit.
6. Echoed Spiteful Spirit on a different Smite.
7. Reckless Haste on any Smite as soon as you have enough energy. This covers SS and speeds the kills.
8. Signet of Lost Souls on a dying Smite for quick energy.

That's it. One more time, abbreviated for easy memorization:
SV
Arcane
Wait 5 seconds
SS
AV
SS
Reckless
SoLS

If you don't have at least 55 energy, you can also do something like the following; this is almost as fast.
SV
Wait 7 sec
SS
AV
Reckless
SS when it recharges
SoLS

Some people like to bring Desecrate/Defile Enchantments, but IMO they're a waste of energy and a skill slot -- they don't do that much damage, and I can always wait a few seconds for SS to recharge and spam it again. Your Mileage May Vary.

Zidane Ortef · Mar 29, 2008, 07:25 AM // 07:25

1. Your missing one of the most important skills in the SS bar. Awaken The Blood, more dmg you do the faster they die and with the bonus from "The Soulreaper" you can hit maximum dmg.
2. There is no reason for you to cast SS twice and RH, I SS all the time for 55 monks and this is how it goes

1. Cast Arcane Echo
2. Cast SV count to your self what ever number your SV is at
3. After that time has passed (8 seconds for me) cast the echoed SV
4. Cast SS what about 5 seconds
5. Cast AV
6. And if they are still alive you can cast anohter SS if you have the nrg

thats the effective way to chain the SV and AV so they never remove you hexes

royal mercenary · Mar 29, 2008, 08:00 AM // 08:00

great thinking, hope a lot of people read this topic ;-)
best thing is to bring a 55hp mesmer who calls when using sv.
This only works in nm though

the_doode · Mar 29, 2008, 09:00 AM // 09:00

Not sure if it's correct that Desecrate/Defile doesn't deal much damage.. :/
Order I use:
1. Mindbender
2. Auspicious Incantation
3. Visage (yes,there's only one)
4. Arcane Echo
5. Spiteful Spirit
6. Spiteful Spirit {echoed}
7. Desecrate Enchantments
8. Defile Enchantments (but not needed in most of cases since smites will already be dead)

Mindbender lets you cast all spells you need within 9.2 secs or whatever visage lasts,under assumption that your 55 will aggro more then 3 smites (duh :P). If you really need a ress signet (wich you shouldn't need) bring a scroll. GG

The.D0pefish · Mar 29, 2008, 10:43 AM // 10:43

well i see that a lot of necros have a prob with their energy while fighting the smites

So i really think n/mo with essence bond and using a cover hex for ss is also a valid option.

MisterB · Mar 29, 2008, 10:52 AM // 10:52

You could always take +15, -1 gear on a spare weapon slot for extra energy, and let Soul Reaping and SoLS do their job of topping up your bar after the fight. Air of Superiority might help, too. It's probably not worth the slot for Superiority, to be honest.

Boogz · Mar 29, 2008, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Sympaethic and Ancestor's Visage with no points on illusion?

Avarre · Mar 29, 2008, 01:47 PM // 13:47

AtB and SoLS really aren't needed. You're not speccing into blood anyway - I guess you could use it to add a tiny bit of extra damage on the Spitefuls but it seems a little clumsier to use.

I'd go with desecrate just to add a little more DPS into the hex damage. Use a +30/-2 energy set (around 80 energy with radiants) for the hex chain so there's no possibility you run low. In the time the monk rounds up another pack of smites and colds, you can regen enough energy on a different set.

Obviously you don't have to use desecrate but you really don't need anything else on the bar. I'd rather take it than AtB since you're doing a decent amount on smites/terrorwebs/coldfires which might need a bit of spike damage to finish off if you mess up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zidane Ortef

thats the effective way to chain the SV and AV so they never remove you hexes

With 2 SS they'll be dead before the first SV/AV cast wears off and they get the energy to smite.

jiggles · Mar 30, 2008, 11:24 AM // 11:24

SV, count to seven AV, arcane ss right away, descrete enchants, they should all be dead, if some live either wand them to death or cast SV again and another descrete wanding session, takes about 23seconds to kill 5 smites...