Curse

Veraticus · Sep 26, 2006, 01:53 PM // 13:53

This build is located under the "Duo Paragons" post below, so unfortunately I can't take any credit for it at all. (Damn you, Zinger!

) However, I did play this Motivation Paragon extensively during the PvP weekend and found it to be extremely fun, so I wanted to repost it to draw some attention to it and also give my reactions on Paragons in general and the healing Paragon in particular.

The build:

Quote:

P/W

Motivation: 16
Command: 9
Spear Mastery: 9
Leadership: 8
Tactics: 0 (This is very important)

#1 - Signet of Synergy -Heals target other ally for 104, and if you are not under an enchantment, heals you for 104. 1s 10r
#2 - Mending Refrain - Target Ally gets +4 HP Regen for 20 seconds. This re-applies when a shout or Chant ends. 1s 8r
#3 - Finale of Restoration - For 37 Seconds, Target ally is healed 79 when a shout or chant ends on them. 5e 1s 10r
#4 - "Watch Yourself!" - All allies in Earshot gain +20 armor for 5 seconds. 4a
#5 - Anthem of Flame - For 10 seconds, allies in earshot's next attack skill causes burning for 2 seconds. 5e 1s 10r
#6 - Ballad of Restoration - For 10 seconds, when an ally in earshot is it with an attack, that ally is healed for 94. 10e 1s 20r
#7 - "Incoming!" (Elite) - For 4 seconds, allies in earshot recieve 32% less damage. - 5e 20r
#8 - Ressurection Signet

Your primary recourse is Mending Refrain (Echo Mending FTW), which can give everyone a +4 Regen. With Anthem of Flame (only Anthem where duration = recharge), you can keep Mending Refrain up indefinately, which alone is very powerful. However, Finale of Restoration, combined with short-duration shouts such as "Incoming!" and "Watch Yourself!" (hence the reason for the 0 Tactics,) you can end up healing a LOT of damage very quickly. Ballad of Restoration and Signet of Synergy are more specific, yet powerful heals.

In my builds, I tried reducing Spear to 3 or so, and increasing Leadership to 12 (which, if I remember, is the breakpoint for Anthem of Flame turning from 2 to 3 seconds). Considering I did pretty inconsequential damage with Spear 9 anyway, I think the additional second of Burning may have been worth it, though doing actual damage with spears allowed me to keep more pressure on my opponents.

At the start of battle, I'd start twisting Anthem of Flame and Mending Refrain on everyone in my team -- if I joined at exactly 24 seconds to match start, I could have +4 regen on everybody when we were just out the door. Before we engage the other team I'd stick Finale of Restoration on the squishiest person, pick my target (someone who I think is unlikely to move), and start building adrenaline. If there are lots of Ele's I might even blow Incoming to absorb an alpha.

I found the survivability I brought to my team to be truly amazing. Against degen and melee builds particularly I felt godlike. My quickly expiring shouts caused Finale of Restoration to heal huge amounts of damage, on top of the mitigation those shouts already provide. Anthem of Flame caused healing AND set my teams' targets aflame! And if someone was getting really messed up, Ballad of Restoration guaranteed a 173-point heal on a target, combined with Signet of Synergy, which was pretty sure to keep them alive against constant streams of damage.

Even more impressive was my personal survivability. I would NEVER die before any member of my team and I felt almost impossible to kill. With +20 armor most of the time, and 32% damage reduction 1/5 of the time, AND with tons of shouts constantly expiring on myself to heal me, I'd feel comfortable with an assassin and two warriors pounding away on me ineffectually. I was particularly pleased -- coming from a monk -- to note how well this build deals with knockdown, since you can still shout while on the ground. (At least, it seemed to me that way.)

And finally, energy was never a concern for me. With a leadership of at least 8, I'd get 4 energy back on every shout I did, which made "Incoming!" and Anthem of Flame cost a measely 1 energy... and on top of that, "Watch Yourself!" actually netted me energy, which was handy since I was spamming it anyway. I sort of wish I had more energy dumps, since I was constantly full at all times. Energy denial was irrelevent to me, and even Blackout wasn't that terrible, much to the frustration of opposing mesmers.

Anyway, those are the upsides: excellent healing, wonderful survivability, tons of utility, great energy management, and also you get to plink away with a spear! Unfortunately, even this build is not without its weaknesses, however.

People getting out of range pissed me off. Since I can't see who has an echo on them (WTB arrows for echoes and anthems) if someone left my white circle I couldn't tell if Mending Refrain had expired on them or not. Since Refrain is such a big part of my healing ability having it expire makes me work overtime to heal. Generally if one member of my team ran off to do their own thing I'd be forced to let them die in order to keep the rest of my team up, and if I noticed them coming back closer to me I had to stick Mending Refrain on them again, which was a waste of time and energy.

That new Hex that prevents you from chatning or shouting more or less turned off every skill on my bar and made me utterly worthless. It was very, very frustrating.

I had problems protecting others against dedicated spike builds, especially if the spikee was a squishy low-armor caster. Generally, I could keep someone up for awhile, but if the pressure on them mounted too rapidly I had few tools to relieve it. Signet of Synergy has a fairly long recharge, and for "Watch Yourself!", "Incoming!" and Anthem of Fire, you have to wait for the shout to expire to receive a heal, which might be too long for a clothy to live. Mending refrain really helps with this, but even it can't save a poor Mo/Me from being utterly ganked right out the door if the other team stacks tons of degen and proceeds to focus fire.

A lot of my matches turned into kind of arduous waiting games. Since I could keep my team up almost indefinitely but had no offensive skills personally, I was totally reliant on them to win the match, which frequently just didn't seem to happen. I thought this was weird, since before the event, when playing my Mo/N, generally in a random arena match one team would just roll the other really quickly. The new Nightfall classes certainly have a lot more survivability, both Dervishes and Paragons, and they bring a lot of that to their teams.

Well this post turned out to be pretty long. I had a really good time as a Motivation Paragon, though, and I hope they aren't changed too much. I think they provide a really interesting support alternative to teams while still having weaknesses that are very unique. Definitely the most fun class of the preview event, in my opinion.

Spura · Sep 26, 2006, 03:57 PM // 15:57

Incoming was changed. Watch yourself now only affects party members not allies(so you can forget about using it to protect NPCs in Fort Aspenwood and in PvE). Mending refrain now costs 10 energy and recharge is 10 not 8 IIRC.

Vocal Minority hex is really lame IMO. With 16 curses it can be kept up all the time and in things like random arena, where you can't count on hex removal from a monk, it can really be the end of you.

Here's what I'd suggest you do. Go P/Me. Take out Incoming and Watch Yourself. Put command points(no you have no command skills) into inspiration. Put in Mantra of signets and Expel Hexes. Expel hexes will protect you from their Vocal Minority and it will also be a great support against those hex stackers that are very popular in arena(illusion mesmer and curses necros). Especially if you have a warrior, spiteful spirit can produce pressure you can't heal or if warrior stops attacking, reduce your damage so much that you can't kill anything.
Mantra is there for Signet of Synergy. Or alternatively you can take Aria of Restoration to heal spell users and yourself when using Expel Hexes.

Veraticus · Sep 26, 2006, 05:29 PM // 17:29

Incoming didn't seem significantly different from what I just posted. Maybe the percent damage reduction was wrong, but I was just playing with this build yesterday, and I think it works mostly as advertised. And Mending Refrain is 8 seconds recharge, I'm sure of it, as it recharged faster than Anthem of Flame (10 second recharge).

Taking out Incoming and Watch Yourself would castrate this build. The 5-second Watch Yourself helps refresh Mending Refrain, AND causes crazy healing when stacked with Finale of Restoration. If this build is supposed to have any chance of keeping a group up, I think it's vitally important to include both those shouts. And they also give you energy -- I don't see why you'd want to take them out.

I have considered switching the secondary to Mesmer for this, for the hex protection, but I don't think Vocal Minority will become so popular as to necessitate it, and additionally the build loses so much synergy and utility that I think it wouldn't work nearly as well. Your mileage might vary, of course.

Lenox · Sep 26, 2006, 06:39 PM // 18:39

You should switch to Signet Of Return instead of Rez Sig.

Zinger314 · Sep 26, 2006, 08:29 PM // 20:29

I had posted my version on GuildWiki, but was too lazy to post. (next time, PM me!)

Basically, the only change from the original build is the switch of Elites. However, I'm not sure it makes a significant difference, since Incoming does quickly cast Finale of Restoration. I couldn't get enough testing in. Stupid Balthazar Faction.

It appears Veraticus did significantly more testing than I did.

But fortunally, it survived the nerf-bat, at the least.

Also, in response to comments: You need Watch Yourself, or you will die of lack of energy Also, Signet of Return is crap. 6 Second casting time FTL.

The Exodus · Oct 11, 2006, 03:00 AM // 03:00

great minds think alike me thinks....

i had also tried out a very similar build that worked fairly well in RA.

instead of finale, i used "never surrender" and had less in spear mastery for more command. 8 regen on every party member below 75% health ftw. only problems i ran into was "never surrenders" fairly long recharge time, 10 e cost, and the fact that the shout doesnt even register witht them if they arent hurt. besides taht, worked pretty well.

and i too got REALLY tired of having to tell ppl not to leave my aggro bubble, and watching them die as they did

Spura · Oct 11, 2006, 07:57 PM // 19:57

Yep that is annoying about echoes, especially refrains. You never know if they have them on after they get back into aggro bubble.