Curse

CHUIU · Nov 08, 2006, 07:09 PM // 19:09

All you really have to do is disable the life bond/life barrier skill and use it on the people you want the hero to bond. When the skill is disabled (through shift-clicking on it) the hero won't even touch that skill, so forcing them to cast it means that they wont go to remove it automatically.

The henchmen will automatically take care of energy management with blessed signet. From here its a good idea to give them either boon signet or signet of removal so they don't spam away their energy supporting the team. Other good skills to use are Aegis, gift of health, condition removal, additional energy management.

I had my Tahlkora setup as bonder for Pogahn Passage and other than a couple times her energy dropped a bit low (because all she had was blessed signet) it worked out and I got masters with just hero/hench. She monked with Mhenlo and her only bonds were Life Barrier and Life Bond on the stupid level 16 you need to keep alive.

It would be a good idea to bring a hero or hench with blood rit also, they tend to give monks that are bonding blood rit when their energy is at about halfway instead of at 0.

Celain · Nov 08, 2006, 07:19 PM // 19:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHUIU

All you really have to do is disable the life bond/life barrier skill and use it on the people you want the hero to bond. When the skill is disabled (through shift-clicking on it) the hero won't even touch that skill, so forcing them to cast it means that they wont go to remove it automatically.

The henchmen will automatically take care of energy management with blessed signet. From here its a good idea to give them either boon signet or signet of removal so they don't spam away their energy supporting the team. Other good skills to use are Aegis, gift of health, condition removal, additional energy management.

I had my Tahlkora setup as bonder for Pogahn Passage and other than a couple times her energy dropped a bit low (because all she had was blessed signet) it worked out and I got masters with just hero/hench. She monked with Mhenlo and her only bonds were Life Barrier and Life Bond on the stupid level 16 you need to keep alive.

It would be a good idea to bring a hero or hench with blood rit also, they tend to give monks that are bonding blood rit when their energy is at about halfway instead of at 0.

NPC's with blood rit or BiP will use it on you regardless of current energy level if you start going into negative energy regeneration due to maintained enchantments.

~Vanilla~ · Nov 08, 2006, 07:22 PM // 19:22

Wow, I was already pretty pissed cause my monk stopped maintaining everything he had, thanks a lot for this hint!

CHUIU · Nov 08, 2006, 07:26 PM // 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celain

NPC's with blood rit or BiP will use it on you regardless of current energy level if you start going into negative energy regeneration due to maintained enchantments.

Eve was using it when Tahlkora was at half energy with 2 pips of regen, I only had her using 2 bonds on 1 person so she still had energy regen to work with.

Celain · Nov 08, 2006, 07:30 PM // 19:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHUIU

Eve was using it when Tahlkora was at half energy with 2 pips of regen, I only had her using 2 bonds on 1 person so she still had energy regen to work with.

Interesting, will have to test it again. Last time I ran my monk as a bonder with henches, Claude hit me with blood rit right as I had enough to start degening energy. It may be that it was just reaction delay in the NPC script, as I tend to put the bonds up fairly quickly.

CHUIU · Nov 08, 2006, 07:38 PM // 19:38

I just re-tested it myself, I'm working with Eve in Elona (don't know if ANET has different AI's for each game or not) and she seems to blood rit right at half energy regardless of whether or not the hero is bonding. I think the requirement is that it must have enough energy + health to blood rit and the target must be using skills.

SnipiousMax · Nov 08, 2006, 08:37 PM // 20:37

^ It might also have something to do with how fast you are burning through your energy, regardless of how much you have left. It seems I get BR thrown on me much more often when I use a few energy rich skills in a row, than when I'm using one or two five energy skills at a steady pace.

Dr Ripley · Nov 08, 2006, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Heh. It was Pogahn passage that turned me onto this the other day as well. That stupid NPC kept dying, but I finally figured out how get the hero's bonds to work correctly (got masters as well).

Son of Urza · Nov 09, 2006, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Man, I TRIED to hero-bond that mission.

Didn't work for me. Even though he was only bonding the npc, all the fire was focused on her, including the Strip Enchantments and Shatter Enchantments from the Kournan Oppressors and Seers.

rezabm · Nov 09, 2006, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Thanks a lot for the tips, CHUIU! I used your know-how yesterday to get bonus in the Dunes of Despair mission which was, again, totally empty outpost. I let one of monk heroes to bond Mr. Ghostly and went for those three bosses with rest of the henchies. Worked perfectly!

Tetris L · Nov 10, 2006, 02:10 PM // 14:10

The Sunspear Point Farming Machine Build

Make a team with 1 tank and 2 monk heroes:

Turn one monk hero into a protection/heal bonder:

[skill]Blessed Signet[/skill][skill]Mending[/skill][skill]Succor[/skill][skill]Watchful Spirit[/skill][skill]Life Barrier[/skill][skill]Life Bond[/skill][skill]Vital Blessing[/skill]

The other monk hero into a smite bonder:
[skill]Balthazar's Spirit[/skill][skill]Succor[/skill][skill]Holy Wrath[/skill][skill]Retribution[/skill][skill]Strength of Honor[/skill]
(Because of Holy Wrath the smite bonder's energy will be at zero most of the time. Don't bother to add energy management skills. It won't work, but it is also not necessary.)

The two monks maintain at least 11 enchantments on the tank at all times! Additionally, if the tank is a secondary monk it may cast [wiki]Essence Bond[/wiki] and [wiki]Live Vicariously[/wiki] on himself for additional enchants, energy and health supply.

The tank may be a hero or yourself. Dervish works best, with warrior a close second, but pretty much any profession that is able to deal AoE damage works.

With a dervish tank, for example Melonni, do NOT use any skills that drop enchantments. You don't need to drop enchants for energy supply, as Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond will provide you with plenty of energy. Instead, give the dervish tank skills that benefit from enchantments, like [wiki]Mystic Sweep[/wiki], [wiki]Mystic Corruption[/wiki], [wiki]Mystic Vigor[/wiki], [wiki]Crippling Sweep[/wiki], [wiki]Mystic Twister[/wiki], etc.

Now, find high level foes who don't disenchant and who deal mostly attack damage, for example Insects in Kourna, Wardens in the Echovald, Jade Brotherhood in Kaineng, Trolls/Minotaurs in Tyria, etc. Make the two monks cast their maintained enchants on the tank and then make the monks stay back at a safe distance. I tell you, Melonni is a frickin' killing machine with this build! She cuts through level 20+ foes like a hot knife through butter!

Plenty of drops, XP (not for the monks) and Sunspear points!

TheWatcher · Nov 11, 2006, 09:34 AM // 09:34

So all the trick is basically to "disable" the enchantment and "force cast" it.
And I was thinking ... ANet bashed yet another feature that can make players happy.