Curse

Cash · Feb 19, 2012, 10:39 AM // 10:39

I decided on a 7 hero caster build to run, and I'm looking to throw some weapons on them. As it stands, I have way too many characters to try and buy a set for each character's heroes. So I decided to just craft a generic set to pass from char to char as I please.

Here are my options:

A) Staff for each one. Insightful head, +5e/50 inscription, +30 health. Total effect: +20e, +30hp, %20HSR

B) Spear + Focus. +5e inscription and +30 on spear, +30 health and +5ar/50 (Bison Cups b/c they're cheap and decent...unless someone can sway my opinion here). Total effect: +17e, +60hp, +5armor

C) Spear + Shield. +5e inscription and +30 on spear, +30 and either -2ench, -5/20%, or +10ar vs something depending on build. Total effect: +5e, +60hp, 8armor (at least) + other shield effect

Keep in mind....I like high health pools. I carry a 40/40 set on my player characters to swap to from time to time, but I don't like them on my heroes. Same goes for +30 vs +5 armor. I know that over time armor works out to be a better stat than health vs everything but degen. But I think for short fights, health is better and usually my heroes kill quickly.

So which option do you guys think is best? I think "A" would be the cheapest and easiest to work with. With "B" the health pool grows without losing much energy. With "C" I take a big hit in energy loss, but will proper e-mgmt make that a non-issue? Also with "B" and "C" I lose the weapon damage from auto-attacks. It may not seem like much, but 7x 11-22 staves pecking away would definitely add up.

Anyway, I know this is probably not as big a deal as I'm making it look like. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your opinions!

Gabs88 · Feb 19, 2012, 10:44 AM // 10:44

Hero behavior is largely determined by the weapon they wear. So I use 40\40 sets or 60 HP staves mostly. Some chars have 20% ench staves

drkn · Feb 19, 2012, 06:35 PM // 18:35

It depends on your heroes' classes and builds. In general, i run a staff (keep in mind, you can use ANY max staff, the attribute required doesn't matter when going with those mods) with +5e inscription and +60hp. Prot hero has 20% ench instead of one hp mod, and you might want an insightful head if the build is really heavy on energy to make it rolling (~40e is really enough for nearly every build, since you actually need a proper energy management, not high energy pool).

Cash · Feb 19, 2012, 10:09 PM // 22:09

Thanks for the replies so far. I guess I should have noted that the 7 heroes were: UA monk, AotL MM, Curse necro, Panic mes, E-surge mes, SoS rit, SoGM rit. I've always run staves on my casters, but lately have read about several people decking heroes out in spear+shield so I just was curious.

Gabs, could you explain in a bit more detail how behavior is affected by weapons? I tried googling but didn't get any hits. How exactly would my Gwen (panic build) act differently with a spear/shield as opposed to a staff?

drkn, I think I'll try the 60hp staves instead of the +5/+30. Back in the day, before inscriptions, I always ran the insightful heads, but now I'm thinking the 15e per staff should be plenty (as I always pack some e-mgmt into every build). I also agree with the 20% ench mods for prot heroes (and I run that on my AotL MM as well).

Voodoo Rage · Feb 20, 2012, 04:38 PM // 16:38

Weapon mods are pretty overrated when it comes to heroes. I wouldn't stress to much about things like specific staff mods other than using a +20 enchanting when appropriate. Here's a post I made in another thread covering some weapons that I commonly use on my heroes:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...97&postcount=3

Otherwise if you are playing melee, I would avoid giving your heroes spears since they will end up hogging the casts of Splinter Weapon. Also, spears are going to bring your heroes closer to the action than you may really want them to be (they are closer range than staffs, putting them in the "danger zone"). I tend to be cheap with my heroes since I play across many many toons on multiple accounts so I do target a lot of those greens that I mentioned in that other thread on the double drop green weekends. It also seems that when I do buy an expensive weapon and give it to a hero, it tends to get "lost" as I move on to other toons and forget who has what.

Axel Zinfandel · Feb 20, 2012, 10:48 PM // 22:48

I am curious as well as to AI behavior with martial caster weapons. I've heard people here say it is different, but i've otherwise seen nothing to prove such.. Wiki has nothing either.

EDIT: didn't see the previous post. If that's all then that is totally not what i thought. I'm currenty working on a paragon heavy hero build that utilizes casters running caster spears and GTFE to trigger certain skills and refrains

Gabs88 · Feb 21, 2012, 12:30 AM // 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cash

Gabs, could you explain in a bit more detail how behavior is affected by weapons? I tried googling but didn't get any hits. How exactly would my Gwen (panic build) act differently with a spear/shield as opposed to a staff?

Explaining it in detail is kinda hard, and tbh i don't even know all the details. So just gonna give a couple of examples.

http://www.gwpvx.com/Build

/N_Dwayna%27s_Orders_Hero
Havent tested the current version of this build, but tested the old one with a scythe and a sword of enchanting and a spear. It simply put didnt play or prioritize right. Give it a staff and voila, it works.

Also, a hero with a staff will not have splinter weapon cast on it. Instead of SoS casting on a minion or your EVAS.

http://www.gwpvx.com/Build_talk:Rt/a...ensive_Spirits
This is another example, scroll down to EFGJack's Variant

Simply put, I'm finding that Anguished Was Lingwah makes a monumental difference is how well that hero performs as a ST Prot ritualist. And that EFGJack's build variant is simply put absolutely fantastic compared to the normal hero variant. Which I find to be utter crap because it often doesn't cast spirits when needed and such.

I'm not actually sure how it works, but there are certain builds that are played incorrectly with the wrong weapon.

Quote:

UA monk, AotL MM, Curse necro, Panic mes, E-surge mes, SoS rit, SoGM rit

Since you added this:
UA Monk = Staff just staff, I'd go with +60 HP and 5e simply because that's what i do.
AoTL = Double edged sword, if you choose 20% enchanting mod it will cast AoTL more rarely unless you micro it (has to run out before recast) but if you don't other enchantments such as prots will last for a shorter amount of time. Actually a 40 HSR prot magic +30 HP 5^50 wand set is a good choice.
Curse Nec: Honestly not sure why youre using this but if it's curse resto a staff or 40\40 curse set is good.
Dom Mesmers 40\40 is always preferred
Both rits I just simply go with +60 HP staves on. Don't see any reason to choose anything else

Squishy ftw · Feb 21, 2012, 09:36 AM // 09:36

I pretty much always go with a stave with +10 AL for all my caster heros, don't care much about the other stats on it.

Swingline · Feb 21, 2012, 10:17 AM // 10:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy ftw

I pretty much always go with a stave with +10 AL for all my caster heros, don't care much about the other stats on it.

Problem with armor on weapons, besides insc shields, is they suffer from the armor cap along with skills.

In most situations a 40/40 set for casters is optimal. The faster your spells cast and recharge the better. Some people like +60 hp on a staff but I have moved away from that philosophy, mainly because I use a ST shelter rit, therefore its less healing.

mortenya · Feb 21, 2012, 04:44 PM // 16:44

i personally like 20/20 offhand with a spear that has 10% HSR on most of my casters. if you're running orders, or MoP, having spears is even better.

the reason for the spears is that if they're wielding a spear, then they won't be targets for caster hexes or chaos storm. all my heroes seem to perform fine with spears. my MM and Rt usually have staves though.