Curse

FrogDevourer · Dec 02, 2005, 05:52 PM // 17:52

Mending is the ultimate healing skill. Inspired by this thread and by the popular premade which many players nickname "paladin", I felt compelled to push the survival strategy to its extreme. I am hereby delivering the "state of the art" mending build for PvE (and possibly for CA). This build is a combination of Iron Man's armor, and of Wolverine's healing factor. You just can't pass up such a l33t combo.

Are you playing a W/Mo? Do you like mending for its ability to heal you for free? Do you love to be the last man standing and to be the hero who resurrects everybody else? Great! You'll love this build.

First of all, never forget that you want to be a HERO. Not a tank, not a friendly team mate, not a team player, or even a useful solo-warrior, or a damage dealer. Just a lonely hero. You want to outlive your group, to run away and to resurrect your team. They'll thank you for saving the mission, and you'll be their hero.

Now let's examine the build. The core is obviously the best healing skill of the game: Mending. You want 3 pips of free regeneration. 6hp/sec and it's gratis. Of course, most experienced paladins know it's not enough to survive frantic fights, so you need more. You'll also use Watchful Spirit for an extra 2pips. Clever minded readers will realize it's not as good as the ultimate mending. But it's still a free healing. As a hero you'll need these extra regeneration pips.

Now here's a tricky part. To go above this 5pip limit, you need help from the outside, more precisely from an ally. Of course, you'll remain the main hero, and this ally will be your sidekick. You're batman, he's robin. The combo revolves around Succor (another fabulous skill). Your sidekick must be a monk (either primary or secondary, it doesn't matter). Use succor on your robin, and ask him to use succor on you. Result? You both lose one energy pip to maintain Succor, but you also gain one energy pip *and* 1hp pip from succor. Total gain 1 hp pip on both of you, and it's free!

Now that you've reached a grand total of 6 hp pip (12 hp/sec!!! always!!!), you need to be smart. First of all, a good hero has a great armor. So you need skills to enhance your armor level. You'll be using Watch Yourself and Dolyak Signet for more than 50 extra AL! That's a grand total of 130AL vs elemental and more than 150 vs physical, which translates into a measly 20% of normal damage. Add to that damage absorption from rune, knight armor and shield. With such a defense, the incoming damage will be almost negligible. Of course you cannot be too cautious, so you'll equip Bonetti's Defense to gain an extra 75% dodge as well as a great energy engine (for your resurrect spells obviously).

Stupid players could argue that in some areas, you'll encounter armor ignoring damage or even DoT. So what? Who's afraid of weak mesmers anyway? If you really want to be spell and condition proof, just equip Healing Breeze to counter them. If your enchantments are removed, blame your team mates for not being able to stop that. And always remember to blame the monk if you die.

Anyway, now that you are nearly invulnerable, you need to round up the build with your hero skillset. Everybody knows a good hero is someone able to run away and rez his team. So you'll equip a sprint and a resurrect spell. Rebirth is your best option if stupid team mates die in the middle of an enemy group.

So the final build is
- Mending
- Watchful Spirit
- Succor
- Watch Yourself
- Dolyak Signet
- Bonetti's Defense (or Healing Breeze)
- Sprint
- Rebirth

As for attributes:
- High Strength (13 max)
- High Tactics
- Healing (enough to get 3 pips from mending)
- The rest in your weapon (you don't need to deal damage anyway)

Equipment doesn't really matter but a real hero looks cool and unique. Buy a FoW armor with globs of ectoplasm or gold from ebay, and don't forget to dye your armor black. For your weapon, you want something insanely expensive and rare. Stats don't really matter, but take a good weapon just in case you meet an expert. Everybody knows the best option is a perfect sundering crystalline sword of fortitude (don't worry if someone says sundering is useless or that crystalline is ugly, it's the price that counts!). For your shield, you could either take an expensive green one, or a perfect gold eternal shield (this 80s plastic toy assuredly fits your hero build).

How do you play this build? It's pretty straightforward. First of all, you need a pick up group (PuG) with bad monk(s). The worst your monk, the better. Don't pick henchmen monks as they are good enough to save your allies. Preferably pick the worst random players, or players who are so desperate to pass a mission they'll accept any invite. The more chaotic and the less coordinated your group, the better your chances to save the day. Of course, you want to avoid other W/Mo as they may try to compete with you for the hero badge.

Wait until your group gets near a big fat mob. You don't want to be an obvious leeroy (or your hero cover will be blown), so wait until your group has engaged the enemy and *then* aggro nearby patrols and have your party killed. Your allies will be busy killing the first group so you can safely aggro unnoticed.

Switch on armor enhancers and breeze/bonetti as soon as possible. Try to fuel your adrenaline by attacking the nearest opponent (you don't have to kill them). If your team mates start to flee, follow them but DON'T USE SPRINT. Be sure to hit monsters from time to time, and keep the aggro and to bring them with you. You want to attract monsters with you to ensure the death of your allies.

Once you're the only one left alive, your succor will be broken. Get ready to flee when your dolyak signet ends. Activate sprint and run away. Let your party believe you may not have a resurrect spell (they'll be relieved when you tell them you do have one). Come back and rebirth from a distance. Rinse and repeat a few times (it gets easier as your team gets Death Penalty). And voilà! You're the group hero!

Enjoy your new friends!

If you have a better secret PvE build, please share it with us. Comments and suggestions (or even criticisms) are welcome. Just keep them light-hearted.

Mesmerized · Dec 02, 2005, 05:59 PM // 17:59

Sweet mother of God. My prayers have been finally answered! You sir, deserve a sticky, a cookie, and a piece of homeade apple pie.

QUESTION: Would it be possible to use a rare max Sundering Sephis Axe of Fort?

Banebow · Dec 02, 2005, 06:02 PM // 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrogDevourer

Come back and rebirth from a distance. Rinse and repeat a few times (it gets easier as your team gets Death Penalty). And voilà! You're the group hero!

Ohhhhhh boy.

Thanks for the laugh FrogDevourer

Please excuse me while I go try out this brilliant build. My team mates will forever thank me!

striderkaaru · Dec 02, 2005, 06:04 PM // 18:04

mending needs to be nerfed. it's clearly overpowered, and i've been saying that all of this time.

just look at all of the solo mo/w uw farmers, solo w/mo griffon farmers, and the invincible paladins. what do they all have in common? that's right: MENDING.

the prot bond nerf was uncalled for. even the aoe nerf was wrong. anet needs to realize where the heart of the problem lies, and that's with mending, which gives a godly 3 pips of hp regen at only 8 healing. nerf mending already!

Wolfie · Dec 02, 2005, 06:27 PM // 18:27

like LoLz omg, I'm gonna be the most uber-l33t PvE W/Mo hero!!
Funny post dude. I can't wait to try it out!

Dmitri3 · Dec 02, 2005, 06:29 PM // 18:29

Lol, funny build. Too bad it doesn't work: Succor drains 1 energy when target ally casts a spell.

Your energy will be always at zero until your monk dies.

_________

Ok, I've finished reading the thread. Grats for funny story. :P

a cadet · Dec 02, 2005, 06:34 PM // 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dmitri3

Lol, funny build. Too bad it doesn't work: Succor drains 1 energy when target ally casts a spell.

Your energy will be always at zero until your monk dies.

Better make sure Robin isnt casting spells then.

Too Hot Fo You · Dec 02, 2005, 07:15 PM // 19:15

I got a really funny one that I used in CA:

1) Healing Signet
2) Gladiators Defence
3) Defensive Stance
4) Shield Stance
5) I Will Avenge You
6) I Will Survive
7) Dolyak Signet
8) Res Sig/Rebirth/Vengeance

You can stack the defense skills, while your primary one is Gladiators Defence.
This is one variation I can remember, there are so many. You can also use some more strength attack skills, that's a variation of it I used and called it "Pressure Defence" (I like the name

)

Generally Spamming Healing Signet will keep you alive. but IWAY is nice too to use, especially when you dont ress. Anyways I like the fact with the defensive stances. I don't know if I'm all right, could be that you need one more of them. Ages ago that I played it.

EDIT: Make sure you have: 16 Tactics; 13Strength

striderkaaru · Dec 02, 2005, 07:21 PM // 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Too Hot Fo You

...

did you read the OP? you don't have mending, so i doubt how good your build is.

Batou of Nine · Dec 02, 2005, 07:28 PM // 19:28

the sarcaasm in this thread oozes outta my monitor!!

i love it!! lmao lol HAHAhahahahahhahaha

Vincent Ritz · Dec 02, 2005, 07:44 PM // 19:44

And you know, I wouldn't be surprised if the first noob who actually USES the search button finds and uses this build... it's BOUND to happen. -_-

But yeah WONDERFUL build for faction farming ^_^

BBoy_Manchild · Dec 02, 2005, 07:59 PM // 19:59

oh jeez, i know people are gonna take this thread seriously and start using this build, you have unleashed a monster that will be remembered throughtout GW history, and we will look back and think "how did everything go so wrong", and someone will answer "sarcasm is lost on some people"

FrogDevourer · Dec 02, 2005, 08:11 PM // 20:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesmerized

QUESTION: Would it be possible to use a rare max Sundering Sephis Axe of Fort?

Hmm... That's a good question. Personally I'm a fan of swords since my early Fiery Dragon Sword days, and especially for hero builds (everybody knows sword is the best warrior weapon), but I guess you could use an axe. Sephis is a good choice even if I would use a Gold Sickle (max damage, of course) because it's more valuable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dmitri3

Your energy will be always at zero until your monk dies.

What would you use energy for? As long as your enchantments hold you don't need energy, and Bonetti can fuel Succor quite easily. It's a bit irrelevant anyway since you can often find a spellcaster who uses only slow spells or even a ranger/monk who never casts spells.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batou of Nine

the sarcaasm in this thread oozes outta my monitor!!

That's such an unfair statement, Batou! This build is actually good for what it's supposed to do, and it's been battle tested. In my opinion it's better than some poor defensive paladin builds. I trust that once you've played with this build you better understand why the concept of a survival mending warrior is flawed, even in PvE. So it's not sarcasm, it's a good tutorial build, albeit based on a negative experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by striderkaaru

did you read the OP? you don't have mending, so i doubt how good your build is.

Quoted for truth. Unfortunately, I can't even begin to imagine how THFY's build can match a build with 6 permanent regeneration pips.

Monica Angelina · Dec 02, 2005, 08:12 PM // 20:12

You know, this is a good keg/gear/book tank build!

Racthoh · Dec 02, 2005, 08:22 PM // 20:22

The Secret Society of Paladins has been trying to keep this build under wraps. However, we prefer to use Restore Life instead. Afterall, any team worth having our mighty hero can wait 8 seconds. Don't forgot that one of the early quests in the game gives you a longsword that LOOKS like a crystalline. Its damage is awful... but look at it!

Slade xTekno · Dec 02, 2005, 09:04 PM // 21:04

Aha! This is SoF's super-secret submission to ANet's contest!

Savio · Dec 02, 2005, 09:18 PM // 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slade xTekno

Aha! This is SoF's super-secret submission to ANet's contest!

I just knew someone would submit a Mending build...

Frog, by knight's armor I'm assuming you mean a full set, right? Because even though it's not the best setup, it looks good. And the Hero always has to look good.

Sharpe_116 · Dec 02, 2005, 09:53 PM // 21:53

how do u counter the -2 pips of energy......

DeanBB · Dec 02, 2005, 10:12 PM // 22:12

You don't. You have no energy to work with other than what you gain from Bonetti's Defense. That all just adds to the legend and mystique of the hero though as another obstacle that he has overcome.

Makkert · Dec 02, 2005, 10:23 PM // 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slade xTekno

Aha! This is SoF's super-secret submission to ANet's contest!

Crap.
I'm disappointed in FrogDevourer. This was supposed to be a secret. And worse: he didn't even notify us on guildforum that he was going to post this!
I had to find out by reading on iQ forums about it, where it currently is heavily discussed.

~ makkert