Curse

Mercury Angel · Jan 25, 2006, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Note: Not Elite Challenge, this is a mainly 'just-for-fun' guide to winning against 5 of the 6 Zaishen teams without other human or NPC allies.

IWAY-
The IWAY team's vulnerability is a lack of self-healing and reliance on melee attacks. Take them down almost simultaneously, and neither resurrection signets nor I Will Avenge You will matter.

For IWAY, I use:
Mesmer/Necromancer

Fast Casting: 9 (+1) (+3)
Inspiration: 9 (+3)
Death Magic: 12

Illusion of Haste
Plague Sending
Virulence {E}
Epidemic
Energy Tap
Ether Lord

Illusion of Haste prior to the battle, and when it ends, use Plague Sending to cripple all of the warriors. Follow up with Virulence->Epidemic, to spread 8 degeneration to all of the warriors. Recast Illusion of Haste and run to gain distance, and follow up with Energy Tap. Plague Sending->Virulence->Epidemic, though you may need to follow Virulence with Ether Lord to regain energy. One last Virulence+Epidemic, and the battle should end. If not, it's just a matter of continuing to kite them, and inflicting Degen on them.
I HIGHLY do not suggest attacking the enemies, as throwing off the degeneration may cause them to begin a chain resurrection, in which case, it'll either take longer, or you might end up dead.

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Victory Is Mine Trappers:
The Victory Is Mine Trappers are one of the most annoying and difficult to deal with teams. The only effective way I've been able to solo them is to massively spike them all over a few seconds through trapping.

Therefore, I suggest:
Ranger

Expertise: 12 (+3)
Wilderness Survival: 12 (+1) (+3)

Flame Trap
Spike Trap {E}
Barbed Trap
Dust Trap
Quickening Zephyr
Serpent's Quickness
Frozen Soil
Whirling Defence

Start the battle immediately with Quickening Zephyr and Serpent's Quickness, and then move to the closed entrance gateway and begin trapping. After the first round of traps, set a Frozen Soil while they recharge, and start the next round of traps. On the third round of traps, skip Spike Trap. When the enemies get nearby, begin setting Spike Trap, which should complete and activate shortly after the already set Spike Traps, knocking down the enemy party a second time, causing them to die in a chain of Dust+Flame trap pulses.

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Smiting Monks
The Smiting Monks are as equally annoying as Victory is Mine trappers. Fighting them in melee is suicide: They can heal fairly quickly, remove hexes, and turn conditions into healing, not to mention the mass Balthazar's Auras. Once again, I'd go with the trapper setup, as the only way you're putting out enough DPS alone to kill them is to spike it all at once. Same deal as before, you absolutely need to get them into a second knockdown.

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IW Mesmers
As with the other groups above, they attack in melee, which makes them ideal to take out with trappers. However, if for some reason you want to draw the fight out (Or just want to try something different), one of their other weaknesses is that they rely on Healing Signet for health.

Therefore, I suggest:
Elementalists/Ranger

Fire Magic: 12 (+1) (+3)
Water Magic: 8 (+3)
Wilderness Survival: 8

Fireball
Rodgort's Invocation
Lava Font
Flame Burst
Rust
Elemental Attunement
Fire Attunement
Frozen Soil

Set Frozen Soil up slightly before the battle, and follow up by using the 2 attunements. Cast Rust first thing on the enemies (though make sure you get them ALL), making their Healing Signets take 6 seconds to cast. Use Lava Font to send the enemies away, and your other spells to hit them for twice as much while they use Healing Signet.

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Obsidian Flame Spikers
Their high damage, defence-ignoring spikes will usually wipe anyone out. They also remove hexes and conditions with ease, can heal one another, and maintain constant Melee Wards. Their main weaknesses are that they only really have those spike hits, and their healing isn't really that great (Plus, they seem to use it more sparingly).

You could use:
Monk/Warrior
Divine Favour: 2 (+3) (+3: Non stacking, just for health penalty)
Smiting Prayers: 11 (+1) (+3)
Healing Prayers: 5 (+3)
Protection Prayers: 8 (+3)
Axe/Sword Mastery: 10

Frenzy
Protective Spirit
Vigorous Spirit
Live Vicariously
Mending
Balthazar's Spirit
Strength of Honour
Blessed Signet

Put on the maintained enchantments first thing and use blessed signet to replenish your energy. As you near the enemies, setup Vigorous Spirit, then Protective Spirit. NEVER let protective spirit drop. When you're in need of additional energy, use Blessed Signet. With so low max health and Protective Spirit, you can use Frenzy to increase your damage.
Simply keep your attacks and health up, and you'll wipe them out given time.

Edit: As a side note, from what I hear, if you use skills to raise your max health to a certain point, and remain that way, they won't use Obsidian Flame at all.

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Degeneration:
Unfortunately, I can't really figure this one out. The Warrior uses Gale, the archer has interrupts, the mesmer inflicts casting debuffs, the necromancer inflicts attack debuffs, both give degeneration, and it's all a bit too much to handle for any given build. The best I've managed is taking the warrior out before dying, without the use of traps.

Any suggestions for improvement, or comments are welcome. Especially if you've got a notion for the degen team.

skizdidlyidler · Feb 10, 2006, 05:02 AM // 05:02

wow dude. that's awesome! high-five

BBoy_Manchild · Feb 10, 2006, 10:03 AM // 10:03

an even easier way to beat the iway teams is to use a solo farming build

Dahnel · Feb 10, 2006, 06:31 PM // 18:31

i soloed the iway team quite a while ago ...just becuase i hate iway

The_Janitor · Feb 13, 2006, 01:02 AM // 01:02

Stupid question but..how exactly do you get to the challenges? I've been looking around for a while and can't find em.

Killin_Frenzy · Feb 13, 2006, 06:36 AM // 06:36

The Zaishan Challange is located at the battle isles and is shown as a mission icon.

ErikPSO · Feb 13, 2006, 02:32 PM // 14:32

At the Isle of the Nameless there is a npc (Can't remember his nate atm) that will ask if you wish to go to the training arenas. Complete the four training arenas and you will go to the Zaishen Challenge.