Curse

Kenic Siannodel · Jan 28, 2010, 02:18 PM // 14:18

Ok, first post, so bear with me. I think I have a build that can tank better than the traditional 55 setup. It looks to be more reliable and dependable than the old build. I say I think because I only have prophecies, and thus don't have some of the better skills, and I don't have a high enough level ranger to test this yet.

Profession - Ranger/Monk

Attributes

Needed
Expertise - 12
Protection - 8
Healing - 8
Wilderness - 3

This leaves 23 attribute points left if you have level 20 character and completed both attribute quests.

I would suggest Smiting - 6 as well, but not required.

This leaves you with 2 attribute points left.

Equipped Items

Mask with a +1 Expertise bonus
At least one Superior Rune of Wilderness Survival and one Superior Rune of Expertise
Pyrebound insignias on every piece of armor

As for weapons, I'm not sure. High energy bonuses would be extremely beneficial. Enchantment increase isn't as necessary, but if you can get a staff or weapon with energy bonus and enchantment, goody. If you can't, I would say pick Energy. Also a bonus to armor against elemental damage is nice, once again, if possible. This is flexible though, since I haven't actually tried this build.

The Build
The first three are set, they are the heart and soul of the build. Middle two are traditional 55 Healing Skills, The last three are optional, with suggestions in parenthesis.

Greater Conflagration
Protective Bond
Storm Chaser
Mending
Healing Breeze
??? (Balthazar Spirit)
??? (Reversal of Damage)
??? (Edge of Extinction)

How It Works
With 55 health, Protective bond makes everything do 2 damage at the cost of 4 energy a hit. Storm Chaser, with 16 Expertise (12 Attribute + 1 Mask + 3 Sup Rune) Gives 5 energy per hit if receiving elemental damage. That's where Greater Conflagration comes in, all physical damage is converted to fire damage, which is elemental. Also, with 16 Expertise, Storm Chaser lasts 21 seconds, with a recharge time of 20, allowing you to keep it up permanently. Mending and Healing Breeze for obvious reasons.

Suggested Balthazar for extra energy, Reversal of Damage can be spammed when being attacked by large groups for damage dealing, Edge of Extinction can help with extra damage dealing in large groups of the same creature.

Now, why do I think this is better than traditional 55'ing?

First, taking only 2 damage instead of 5 makes healing much more manageable, and makes it possible to tank larger groups than traditional 55.

Protective Bond, while being a massive drain on energy, is also permanent. Never again will you be forced to anxiously wait for Protection Spirit to recharge because of interrupts.

Storm Chaser is a Stance, so it also isn't able to be interrupted. Also, there are very, VERY few skills that take down an enemies stance, unlike the massive number of enchantment removals.

And on the off chance you do get enchants removed. 70 base armor, + 30 vs elemental, +15 vs fire, for a grand total of 115 armor against most attacks against you. A lot better than the 60-70 armor a Monk gets, even better than a warrior could get. This greatly increases survival chances if enchantments get removed, like from those darned Nightmares in Underworld.

Basically, this build gives better survivability

Caveats

Less offensive abilities than traditional 55. Traditional 55'ing will definitely be better for farming most normal areas, but in situations where surviving is much more preferable to dealing damage, like tanking or 2-man Underworld runs, this build shines.

Spirits only last so long, and have insane cast time. What is nice is you can throw one down, then aggro a group across the way, and don't have to worry about it. In my experience most enemies should die before the spirit is near death. On the off chance that you keep getting groups patrolling into you, Greater Conflagration has the nice benefit of only costing 5 energy and 15 recharge time.

Less flexibility. Since a Monk can throw on any other secondary profession for skills and taste, they will always be more flexible than this build, which requires Ranger/Monk.

Holy Damage. Holy damage isn't considered as elemental or physical damage, according to Guild Wiki, and so won't trigger storm chaser. It will still be reduced, but against holy damage dealing enemies, your energy will quickly lower and Protective Bond will be lost.

The energy requirements. Storm Chaser, Healing Breeze, and Greater Conflagration cost 25 energy to set up the first time, and the two more expensive ones need to be maintained in most circumstances. Without Blessed Signet or a partner with Blood is Power a lot of time could be spent waiting for energy regeneration with only one pip.

Traditional 55 pitfalls still apply, enchantment removal, health stealing, high degen, Skeletons of Dhuul and their darned abilities will all destroy this build.

Uses

The best use I can think of for this build (and the reason I came up with it) was for Underworld tanking. With a Spiteful Spirit monk, or even a 16 Smite 16 Prot monk with tweaked build could be useful with this, Especially since a 16 ^ 16 Monk could switch out the Signet of Judgement with Spell Breaker and add in Blessed Signet. Using Blessed Signet, then Spell Breaker on the 55 Ranger and then staying back with the Greater Conflagration spirit while the 55 Ranger aggro's and kills would drastically increase survivability of both partners through the run.

Also, switching Balthazar's Spirit for Essence Bond and having a partner cast Balthazar's Spirit on the 55 Ranger would help with energy management.

Please, please, PLEASE note that more than half of this build is theoretical and based on conjecture and a very limited experience. I hope to have a Ranger to test this in a few days. Please comment CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, notes, ideas, and by all means test this out and post your results. Also I only have Prophecies and so might have missed a gemstone skill to use with this, so keep an eye out for synergies.

Luminarus · Jan 28, 2010, 11:34 PM // 23:34

What about when greater conflagration runs out?

Also in UW spell breaker is needed incase of the nightmares.

jackinthe · Jan 28, 2010, 11:37 PM // 23:37

greater conflag and storm chaser are wilderness survival
storm chaser + prot bond cancels energy out
add in mending and you have to maintain everything else with 1 energy regen.
balth gives you only 1 energy when you are hit, but no regen otherwise.

Kenic Siannodel · Jan 28, 2010, 11:39 PM // 23:39

Both of those concerns were noted under the caveats section.

However, Greater Conflag with 6 wilderness survival lasts longer than 60 seconds, giving you plenty of time. Plus it has low energy cost and quick refresh so you can spam it easier than other spirits.

The lack of Spellbreaker is a problem. But most solo 55 monks don't use Spellbreaker, they kill the nightmares quickly before they can get off the spell. So it's about equal on that concern.

Storm Chaser gives 5, Protection Bond uses 4, so you earn one energy that way. Throwing on Balthazar's Spirit gives you +2 per hit.

MisterB · Jan 28, 2010, 11:42 PM // 23:42

Storm Chaser is Wilderness Survival.
Spell Breaker is not needed for the Nightmares if you practice enough, but you'll want Protective Spirit instead of Bond for a faster cast. There are old builds buried in this forum, but they are before the UW change, so they may be even more difficult now.

Rangers can solo farm in UW using several different builds.

Charlotte the Harlot · Jan 29, 2010, 12:34 AM // 00:34

just bringing dshot or savage would be good enough for the nightmares

Ariena Najea · Jan 29, 2010, 12:39 AM // 00:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminarus

What about when greater conflagration runs out?

Also in UW spell breaker is needed incase of the nightmares.

Greater Conflagration will last 158 seconds at 16 Wilderness (attributes of build need to be fixed), which is plenty of time to take out several groups. The lack of Spell Breaker is a huge problem in many areas, but for many, the dangers are few, and can be handled with Distracting or Savage Shot (ie lone Dying Nightmares).

In any case, I would say this build is sub-par compared to the 55 Monk. This is for the following reasons:

55 Monks can maintain Shield of Absorption, mitigating damage more effectively than Protective Bond
55 Monks do not require a spirit to be up at all, and can tank groups indefinitely (even versus enchantment removal with Arcane Echo Spell Breaker)
As you mention, the 55 Ranger is somewhat more vulnerable to groups that deal non-physical or Elemental damage (ie Holy, Shadow, etc)

It's awesome that you found a way to counteract the energy loss from Protective Bond, but I do not think its application is here. It might be more viable on a Mo/R, since you can still upkeep Spell Breaker with Dwarven Stability and Serpent's Quickness at high enough Wilderness Survival.