Curse

Maxiemonster · Apr 01, 2006, 10:06 PM // 22:06

*I'm always open for questions, and tips are highly appreciated.*

Skills:

1. Protective Spirit
2. Healing Breeze
3. Aura of the Lich
4. Mark of Subversion
5. Blessed Signet
6. Balthazar's Spirit
7. Essence Bond
8. Mending

Attributes:
Protection Prayers - 12 (9+3)
Healing Prayers - 14 (10+3+1)
Divine Favor - 10 (7+3)
Smiting Prayers - 4 (3+1)
Death Magic - 10
Blood Magic - 1

Equipement:
Weapon set 1:
Fiery Flame Spitter (click here to see how to get to the collector that has this item) with X% Enchantments mod.
-50 Health Cesta.

Weapon set 2:
11-22 Wand. Meeting the damage requirements is a must (the Smiting Rod from the collector in Droknar's Forge is the one I got).
-50 Health Cesta.

Armor:
A Servent's Scalp Design (+1 Healing Prayers). Tattoo's are the only Armor set that give you a small advantage, but it's small enough to ignore, it's not needed at all. Also, getting the Tattoos from Lion's Arch for example, work just as fine. The Armor Level doesn't matter in this type of build. Make sure every armor has a Superior Monk Rune, and that you have every type of Superior Monk Rune at least once

The Guide:
The basics.
This build is made for "Smite runs", runs that kills the Bladed Aaxtes near the starting point, does the quest of the Lost Soul, and enters the area filled with Smite Crawlers. Why just these? They don't tend to cast annoying spells that much, making it possible to complete this without having Spellbreaker on you non-stop.
Cast Balthazar's Spirit, Essence Bond and Mending when you just enter the Underworld, don't ever take them off. Protective Spirit (PS) Healing Breeze (HB) and Aura of the Lich (AotL) should be recast during every single battle. One second before they end (when they start to flicker fast), recast them.
The second person in your party is most likely a N/Me with Spiteful Spirit (SS) with Archane Echo as there main damage output, and Sympathic Visage (SV) to drain the enemy's Adrenaline and Energy. More information about the SS/SV N/Me build can be found in this great build, made by cerb.

Dying Nigtmares.
Most people counter these with Spellbreaker, which is a complete waste in my opinion, giving up an Elite skill just to counter these a bit easier? Mark of Subversion does the trick as well! When you hear the sound these Dying Nightmares make when they pop up, select him immidiatly, and use either Mark of Subversion to interupt his Rend Enchantment. If you cast Mark of Subversion if the Dying Nightmare is already been casting his Rend Enchantment more then 1 second, you're dead, so try to be quick.

Bladed Aaxtes.
The most annoying about these is their interupting skill Savage Slash, but with a little bit of timing, you'll be fine. Try casting AotL and HB during the time all or most Aaxtes are waiting untill they can hit you again. That way, they'll either be too late to interupt you, or don't even try. Luring bigger groups (6-8) is very possible. Most of the time, some of the Aaxtes won't be attacking, because they don't move because other Aaxtes are "blocking them" (*cough*improveAIplease*cough*), but luckily, SS is AoE damage, and even the Aaxtes not attacking will be damage greatly. Just making sure the Necro doesn't use SS on the ones not attacking, which should be rather obvious.

Grasping Darknesses.
Ai.. Distracting Blow AND "Fear Me!", two very annoying skills. Your companion should be using SV on you though, so the Grasping Darknesses won't be using these skills too much. They die rather fast, so that's a nice thing. If they get to use Skull Crack (which shouldn't happen), you're screwed, getting Dazed really sucks. If you get Dazed though, keep in mind that you have to cast AotL, HB and especially PS 2 seconds before it ends.

Smite Crawlers.
Not that strong, you shouldn't have too much trouble with these. They might take long if your companion doesn't know what he's doing, but if he does, these shouldn't be a problem at all. You can get a big group of these without dying, (~10). Look out for aggro'ing both Smite Crawlers and Colfire Nights, this can be quite tricky.

Coldfire Nights.
These guys switch targets pretty soon compared to other enemies, which sucks. They also cast Maelstrom, which you should really look out for. You could try clicking on the Colfire Nights that you aggro'd, so you know when you're about to get a Maelstrom in your face. Try not to be stuck, if you're stuck and a Colfire Night casts a Maelstrom on you, you're defenceless, and you will most likely die.

Thanks for reading,
Max.

cerb · Apr 01, 2006, 11:13 PM // 23:13

The thing is, bad monks will use sb only to prevent nightmares, however on a higher level, you may want to mix coldfires and smites to speed up the run, do Ice King, Unwanted Guests, Escort of Souls, the Forgotten Vale...

You cannot deal with nightmares without SB (well at least, with Bane Signet) if they are mixed with darknesses (which happens in Unwanted Guests and in the Forgotten Vale).

Of course, using aotl you could take on insane amounts of smites, but if you consider the quests, the bad luck factor (2 nightmares++), etc, SB is more useful, in my opinion : )

Good job for writing this tho, at least you try and think outside the box

Maxiemonster · Apr 01, 2006, 11:19 PM // 23:19

True, that's why this is mainly a Smite run build

Too bad it's quite limited, but it's fun, and very effective when fighting Smites.

I'll post screenshots soon if I can, the ones with 15 Smites will be quite cool. I'm going to bed now, without having had favor for quite some time (damn Europe!).

Bloodied Blade · Apr 02, 2006, 07:36 PM // 19:36

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Mark of Subversion interrupts the next spell they cast...

Maxie, I bow to your mental might.

sno · Apr 02, 2006, 07:51 PM // 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodied Blade

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Mark of Subversion interrupts the next spell they cast...

This applies to the next spell they actually CAST. Being in the process of preparing the spell when they're hexed makes no difference, because they're already hexed when the spell actually gets "cast" (although it doesn't.)

This doesn't solve how you would deal with more than one nightmare, however. Saying that spellbreaker is a waste is interesting, as with your build if 2 nightmares pop you're dead regardless (or at least will have to reenchant.) With spellbreaker, up to 4 nightmares can pop (and sometimes do in the first room) and you can still survive

Senator Tom · Apr 03, 2006, 03:08 AM // 03:08

so which is right, the skillbar picture or the skillbar listing?

sno · Apr 03, 2006, 04:00 AM // 04:00

The picture is the skillbar, it's just missing mark of sub

cerb · Apr 03, 2006, 11:12 AM // 11:12

What about Smite/Banish? (Never tried em)

Avarre · Apr 03, 2006, 01:08 PM // 13:08

Since you have 10 death, would 1 Deathly Chill be enough to kill 1 nm?

Maxiemonster · Apr 03, 2006, 01:33 PM // 13:33

A Dying Nighmare has ~90 Health though, and even with 12 points in Death Magic, you can't get close to 90 Damage With Deathly Chill.

And I tried Bane Signet, but apperiantly, the knockdown doesn't interupt the skill :/ That's also why the skillbar picture is incorrect.

And indeed, when I pop up 2 Dying Nightmares, I'm srewed, but that can't be helped unless you bring SB/OF, and I just wanted something different, those skills make this quite boring.