Curse

TPike · Mar 17, 2008, 06:13 AM // 06:13

Sorry, sometimes my posts get a little long . . .

I've started playing a Paragon and wanted to get some suggestions on how to proceed in the most efficient manner.

Char is currently a lvl11 with no deaths playing only PvE.

Skill points split between Spear Mastery & Leadership (and 3 in earth magic) with +41 Health & Survivor runes. 1 minor motivation rune, spear mastery 1 + 2 -35 h and I think a Radient or two.

Weaps : Have 2 green spears, one life stealing the other with 20% armor pen which is better for general use?

I took ele as 2ndry thinking it would help with power mgt (yes I'm still a newbie).

I had no elite skills for the Paragon but elite ele tones from my primary char (lvl20 ele). I used a tome hoping to use Ether Prism as an elite until I got a decent Paragon one.

I though Ether Prism would be a great Elite skill. Problem is that skill is based on your energy storage so it's useless for my Paragon

Out of the ele Elite skills available (I don't have Prophecies) Obsidian Flesh seemed like the best choice. I have about 3 - 4 points in Earth magic now.

I'm at work so I don't have the build but it's close to:

Obsidian Flesh (Elite)
TNTF
Burning Anthym
An Echo casuses chants/shouts last 27%longer cant remember name
Lightning Spear
Adrenaline Signet
Adrenaline based Spear attack (Wild Throw I think)
leaders comfort

Since I created the char I realized I want to take him in the direction of "SY" + "TNTF" Imabagon type build.

Where do you suggest I go from here ?

I don't think I'm going to be able to cap any Paragon Elites for quite awhile yet if I follow the story line (Currently at Leaving a legacy IIRC).

I could take the char to EotN and level him quickly so I can unlock "Save Yourself" after switching secondaries but I only see that leading to problems down the road.

Other chars I've "power leveled" that way are really handi-capped when they go back to Nighftall because they don't get as many "Blessings" and it really screws with your Sunspear Title Track.

I'd like to see is this char get at least lvl1 Survivor and then play it by ear.

Any suggestions appreciated.

(BTW Lag spike while boxing got my last potential survivor killed)

Antithesis · Mar 17, 2008, 06:29 AM // 06:29

Your bar's a dog's breakfast. Keep TNTF, Spear of Lightning and Anthem of Flame. Dump the rest, it's rubbish. Wild Throw is useful but conditional (stance removal), there's better use for your adrenaline. Check out this thread for build advice.

Buy an elite Paragon tome to get a decent elite. Obs Flesh is completely unnecessary - you already have heavy armour and are never going to be the primary target, nor likely to be in melee range.

Stick with the Vamp weapon, swap to the other while idling or running.

It's dead easy to reach Survivor on a Paragon, but keep in mind any class can farm it within a day - don't put too much importance on the title.

The Sunspear blessing issue is going to hit you at rank 8. It doesn't take long to reach that level, nor does it take long to farm the SS/LB titles. Just play the storyline until you hit r8, then go after SY.

MercenaryKnight · Mar 17, 2008, 06:30 AM // 06:30

Well usually you'd want to use the weapon switch and only turn on vampiric spear when you are in combat. But for most lazy people it's easier to use a furious spear imo is better than sundering.

Should lose the enduring harmony skill and probably adrenaline signet. Add in anthem of flame most likely and you could probably go without an elite for a while, no point in using obsidian flesh at a low level stuff won't hurt that bad.

Also, if you want an absolute fool proof method of legendary survivor. Go through gw:en on another character to unlock hard mode. Get your paragon to the boreal station and go kill wurms outside until level 20, then do it in hard mode. Attack from range and they can't hit you.

Antithesis · Mar 17, 2008, 06:48 AM // 06:48

One more tip - if you haven't unlocked the Paragon skills to run a decent bar, use Hero points at a Hero skills trainer or do the PvP Zaishan challenges to unlock the skills. Then either buy the skills or use normal tomes to stick'em on your bar.

Kalta · Mar 17, 2008, 07:17 AM // 07:17

Weaps : Have 2 green spears, one life stealing the other with 20% armor pen which is better for general use?

Life stealing, sure, in a spear build. But swich with the other.
In a motivation build, i prefer 20/20 or 10% adre.

And stop think SY is the only good skill in paragon's builds.

Cebe · Mar 17, 2008, 08:57 AM // 08:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPike

Obsidian Flesh (Elite)
TNTF
Burning Anthym
An Echo casuses chants/shouts last 27%longer cant remember name
Lightning Spear
Adrenaline Signet
Adrenaline based Spear attack (Wild Throw I think)
leaders comfort

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

Your bar's a dog's breakfast.

For a beginner paragon I've seen much, much worse.

My words of advice would be:

to leave all Elementalist skills alone. THey do nothing for you, especially with 3 or 4 in the attribute line. About the only thing an Ele can offer a Paragon is the use of a conjure with an elemental spear.
Get rid of the Adrenaline Signet, it's trash. If you want better adrenaline gain either switch to Warrior secondary and get [wiki]"For great Justice!"[/wiki], or cap [wiki]Focused Anger[/wiki].
The echo you're using (Enduring Harmony?), would be much better off being replaced with [wiki]Aggressive Refrain[/wiki]. Don't let the cracked armor condition scare you off it, Aggressive Refrain is a fantastic IAS.
TNTF, Anthem of Flame are both good. Lightning Spear is good, though I prefer [wiki]VIcious Attack[/wiki] because of the deep wound, which triggers more often if you use [wiki]"Go For The Eyes!"[/wiki] with it. [wiki]Wild Throw[/wiki] is fine for places where you're likely to get blocked a lot, such as Kournan Bowmen, but where blocking is not a problem, you should consider another adrenaline attack such as [wiki]Blazing Spear[/wiki], or [wiki]Merciless Spear[/wiki] (if not using Vicious Attack). You have the ability to cause Deep Wound from range - make sure you use it.
I've never been a fan of Leader's Confort. If you need healing...leave it to the Monks is my view. You could replace Leader's Comfort with [wiki]Signet of Return[/wiki], or [wiki]"Go For The Eyes!"[/wiki].
Go Command. I assume from your rune setup you're currently using Motivation (so...a Motivation shield)? In my opinion there are much better skills in Command, at least for the time being.

Hope this helps a little.

Antithesis · Mar 17, 2008, 09:30 AM // 09:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

For a beginner paragon I've seen much, much worse.

Three skills out of eight does not a good bar make.

I agree with your suggestions, they're all good options.

TPike · Mar 17, 2008, 12:47 PM // 12:47

Thanks for all the great replies.

Even the dog's breakfast one made me LOL. (Waking up half my co-workers)

OQajkMlHaSaDAhVYmYPYwbFZwYA

3 Earth Damage

+3 Spear

+1 Leadership - feet

+1 Motivation - gloves

+ 41 Health on Chest

+15 Survivor on chest

Did I make a mistake putting both on the chest?

I also have at least 2 Viate (+10 health) and 2-3 Radiant and Survivor Insignias left

I have 3 sets of Elonian (50) robes & 1 set (50) shoes. Waiting to buy/collect the rest of the set. (have root for headpiece in storage. The rest is 15 sunspear armor.

I didn't want to go any further until I posted here.

I didn't even want to be at level 11 by the time I posted this

Cebe · Mar 17, 2008, 01:06 PM // 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

Three skills out of eight does not a good bar make.

Because you only deemed 3 skills to be worth having doesn't make the bar bad for a beginner (Checking how many attribute points he has leads me to believe he's still a pretty low level). Leader's Comfort is fine, to a point...but young Paragons need to learn when to let go of certain skills when better options come along, that's all. Wild Throw is also not a bad skill, it has it's uses, and should be useful in Kourna. Sure, the Obsidian Flesh makes you want to cry...

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPike

OQajkMlHaSaDAhVYmYPYwbFZwYA

Looks to me like you're still a fairly low level? Not many attribute points in total. Make sure you check to see if your shield has a requirement. Paragons shields come with Command or Motivation requirements, and I notice you have only 1 attribute point from your motivation rune. Don't cheat yourself out of extra armor by not using a shield, or not meeting it's requirements.

I assume you mean you're only getting collector armor for now? Well that should be ok. Remember to buy Max armor when you get to Consulate Docks.

Antithesis · Mar 17, 2008, 01:42 PM // 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Because you only deemed 3 skills to be worth having doesn't make the bar bad for a beginner

Take a chill pill Beaver, you came to pretty much the same conclusion in your own post. How many skills on that bar did you keep?

He may be new to Paragon, but honest feedback should not be withheld just because he is a beginner. He seems to have big boy pants on and can take it. There was no personal insult in my post - his bar was all over the place, hence, it IS a dog's breakfast. A Paragon has Paragon skills, weapons and shields for a reason. Be a Paragon, not an Obs Flesh tank who doesn't tank.

Like you i'm here to learn and to help. But i'll call a spade a spade...it'll save him time and money to learn the good from the bad.

TPike the best advice for a beginner is to browse these forums and read the build threads to understand why some skills are better than others. There are some smart folk around these parts, you'll soon sort the wheat from the chaff and quickly gain a rich knowledge of the game.

Head to www.pvxwiki.com, look at the Great rated PvE builds. They have pretty good explanations about the skills / weapons / armour and how to run the build. GWG'ers wouldn't necessarily agree with the opinions on that site, but it's a good place for a beginner to grab some build templates and start experimenting. You'll soon see which builds work and which ones don't.

Richardt · Mar 17, 2008, 05:17 PM // 17:17

TPike, I would also browse the Sticky on the paragon: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10151254

As for the Vamp vs. Sundering....what I do is use a Vamp 15^50 as my primary weapon, then when not fighting I have a Sundering +5 energy spear (I also switch to this in case things go south and my energy takes a hit from DP).

Once you gather some more heroes, I would run the heroes with something from here: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10254869

As for Command vs. Motivation, I don't run any skills from either line on my Imbagon build, so where you slot the points really just depends on what shield skins you like. I run Mot. as I love those shields (the command ones are just Fugly

).

naeilfang · Mar 18, 2008, 02:25 AM // 02:25

It isn't a bad build but oby has to go. If your primary is para stick with para skills. As for mot there aren't many skill worth much unless you want to be healer supprot.

If you are the major damage dealer with warriors then run this build.

spear of lightening
barbed spear
wild throw for stance removal
anthem of flame
they're on fire
there is nothing to fear
aggressive refrain or natural temper
and either sig of return or remedy sig

When you can get soldiers fury replace aggressive with it.

Paragons are not suppposed to be main damage but as AoF and ToF helps with damage control to warriors and other frontline damagers.Support paras are better left to heroes and not human paras.

Antithesis · Mar 18, 2008, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by naeilfang

Paragons are not suppposed to be main damage but as AoF and ToF helps with damage control to warriors and other frontline damagers.Support paras are better left to heroes and not human paras.

Sphincter says what now?!? Do you even play a Paragon?

A Paragon = ranged Warrior with better party support. Humans make the best support Paragons due to PvE skills. I'd rather a Paragon in my party than a Warrior any day.

Frontline PvE characters have been made obsolete with the exception of tank'n'spank, and Warriors aren't the ones tanking. And let's not forgot our new best pal Ursan Blessing. The Warrior is dead. Long live the Paragon.