Curse

Belonah15 · Apr 21, 2008, 11:47 AM // 11:47

Been trying a few things while running around in EotN with H/H (not using Sabway). Take a look at this build and give some comments please.

[Ritualist/Any channeling=15;OACjEyiM5Q0gGbOOeT+glTiTTMA]

Last slot is one of the weapon spells depending on the circumstances, or DPS.

Antithesis · Apr 21, 2008, 12:02 PM // 12:02

I think most of us would agree offensive Spirits in PvE is meh.
Not sure about your energy management, the build doesn't look very efficient if you're aiming to make the most of Spirit Rift / Ancestor's Rage with the occasional Resilient Weapon cast.

Overall, i think there are better Channel/Resto options.

Panais · Apr 21, 2008, 12:53 PM // 12:53

^^^ what he said

itsvictor · Apr 21, 2008, 02:04 PM // 14:04

Needs more splinter weapon, there's going to be energy problems if you want to do anything, no direct heals is bad.

Bargamer · Apr 21, 2008, 05:54 PM // 17:54

This is a very slow and unorganized build. Your only offensive skills have a delay, are AOE, and are not complemented by any skill that will ensure a hit, like GwK. Your only real offensive spirit is the sacrifice-a-useful spirit skill for the Fury spirit, which is very inefficient. With Summon Spirits, Vampirism and Bloodsong, you and your spirits will be healthy, or as much as they can be with only 3 Spawning Power, until you sacrifice them, leaving the healing burden for the rest of your party on your two Resto spells: Preservation is a horrible Resto skill, much less elite, and there are better Resto weapon skills out there.

Furthermore, despite having 3(4?) Spirits, you don't have any of the usual skills that take advantage of having spirits: Painful Bond, Spirit to Flesh, Mend Body and Soul, Spirit Light, Attuned, Rit Lord, or Weapon of Quickening. You don't have any energy management or synergy.

Except for the presence of Summon Spirits, I would say this was some sort of bad "turtling" build: Summon all your spirits, wait for them to come to you, then slowly chip away at them while you struggle to survive. It would be a struggle, because between targeting spirits for Gaze of Fury and Summon Spirits, AND targeting party members for Resilient Weapon, you're also casting Ancestor's Rage/Spirit Rift at random, hoping they hit. By the end of the battle, most likely you and a Hero Monk are the only ones left standing, probably because he got a Resilient Weapon tossed onto him at some point, and since you don't have any Rez, the Monk has to do it.

Against any Fire Nukers, you would probably be very screwed. A single Meteor Shower would just ruin your day. You would have to run away, Flag Heroes, Summon Spirits, recast spirits, then chip away at the Fire Nuker, all within 60 seconds, or he drops Meteor Shower on top of you, again.

I encourage you to rethink your strategy, or revisit SABway, or take one of the builds in Beaver's Stickied thread. You have much to learn about how to make an effective build.

DDL · Apr 21, 2008, 07:01 PM // 19:01

Well, the only time he has to really worry about meteor showers etc is when he's been using summon spirits, which ultimately is just a way of slightly reducing the downtime between spiritspamming anyway: as soon as spirit skills recharge you can whack em down again, spacing out to prevent AoE pwnage.

I don't think summon spirits needs a target (I've never tried it, tbh, but I don't see why it should), and gaze of fury can probably just be stuck on preservation as soon as the skill recharges, since you can then keep up both pretty effectively. Ancestor's is easy to target, you just stick it on whichever warrior is currently doing his/her thing (or a pet, if you can: hector is great for this). After that you're just looking out for someone in trouble to stick resilient on (personally I'd probably go with nightmare instead, especially if henching (where even monks can be guaranteed to autoattack)) and spamming spirit rift at any tempting cluster.

E-management is admittedly tricky, but otherwise it's not half as bad as you make out.

Belonah15 · Apr 21, 2008, 08:48 PM // 20:48

When giving criticisms it is usually appropriate to offer alternatives.
It is helpful to show the problems, but I do not see many solutions or alternatives mentioned.

Agreed I have much to learn to play a Ritualist - the point of this thread actually..

Keira Nightgale · Apr 21, 2008, 09:33 PM // 21:33

Let's start from the elite, Preservation is probably the crappiest elite in the resto line, it heals a random target (meaning it could heal someone with low health with the same probability of healing someone with a full bar). If u really want to run an elite from the restoration line either run spirit light weapon or weapon of remedy.

2 You have 4 spirits and nothing to gain advantage from them, usually offensive spirits are really bad in pve unless you run a build focused on them. In the time you will lay your spirits the mobs will be already dead thus making you will just cripple your the team. Take out bloodsong, vampirism and gaze of fury and add a single spirit, Life, or if you really want to run two spirits bring Recuperation as well.

3 Damage skill: while I got nothing against Ancestor Rage (probably the best skill avaibale to ritus) you should reconsider spirit rift, the 2 seconds of casting (interrupt anyone) and the 3 seconds needed for it take effect make this skill really slow especially with better alternatives, run it only if u want to play a echo rift nuker , all in all splinter weapon is a better alternative.

4 Your build totally lacks of energy management, as a ritu you won't be spamming spells most of the time, but energy management should be in any build, since preservation is a crappy elite, bring Signet of spirit or Offering of spirits.

5 Lack of condition removal and of any direct heal. If u add life you might have some heal power but you still need a direct heal/condition removal that's why mend body and soul should be on your bar, add to this protective was kaolai wich is always handy. The last touch would be a ress, or another weapon spell, either resilient for areas with heavy contion/hexes or Weapon of warding.

horseradish · Apr 21, 2008, 10:34 PM // 22:34

[build prof=Rt/ Cha=12+1+1 Res=12+1 Spa=2+1][splinter weapon][ancestors' rage][protective was kaolai][life][weapon of warding][offering of spirit][/build]

It's, hands down, the best skill bar Rits have. Try it out, and build off of that.

The optional slots can be filled with [build res=12+1][wielder's boon] or [mend body and soul][/build] and [build res=12+1][Flesh of my Flesh] or [Death Pact Signet][/build]

Snow Bunny · Apr 21, 2008, 10:38 PM // 22:38

Warmonger's Weapon and Splinter Weapon are good additions to the bar, offensive spirits are seriously useless.

Bargamer · Apr 22, 2008, 01:43 AM // 01:43

Horseradish has the typical Channeling/Resto bar, with an emphasis on Resto healing, and a bit of Channeling damage. It's a support build, with only one spirit. Bel, if you want to stay Channeling/Resto, that's pretty much the build to go with, and you have two optional slots to play with.

If you want to be more of a spirit spammer, since your original build had 4 spirits, Celestial Beaver's Stickied thread in the Ritualist forum has builds, so does http://www.pvxwiki.com

In my post, I rattled off any number of potential skills you could take. It all comes down to: What do you like to do, and what skills best help you do this?

Belonah15 · Apr 22, 2008, 05:49 AM // 05:49

I seem to do OK with playing melee for DPS or tank. I have been playing mostly Warrior and Elementalist so I am used to that style of play. One of my goals in the game is to learn to play every character type, and take each through at least the Nightfall campaign in NM and HM (H/H only)... and when I know how to play it take it to the Arenas.

So the open question is where would the Rt fit best in above scenario, and so far it seems as a support character buffing damage and healing (?).

horseradish · Apr 22, 2008, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Belonah15

So the open question is where would the Rt fit best in above scenario, and so far it seems as a support character buffing damage and healing (?).

Yes. Rits are the ultimate support character. The skill bar I posted above has some of the most powerful AoE skills in Guild Wars, the best party heal in PwK (and sometimes Life), excellent energy management, and two open slots for whatever else you'd like. (though my above suggestions are generally the best, PvE skills are perfectly viable. [Pain Inverter] for example)

Keep in mind that it's a very different playstyle compared to Warriors and Elementalists, so it could take a while to adjust. If you find that you don't like playing a Rit, that's perfectly fine. PvE is supposed to be fun.

spirit of defeat · Apr 22, 2008, 08:13 AM // 08:13

don't try to do everything at once,
go 100% attack spirits
or go 100% resto
or go 50/50 resto/chaneling- this doesn't include more then 2 spirits at max.

Belonah15 · Apr 22, 2008, 10:38 AM // 10:38

My preferred team setup for Factions NM missions:

1) Myself - Rt/N or Rt/R
2) Hero E/Me Searing Flames build
3) Hero E/Me Searing Flames build
4) Hero Mo/E Hybrid Heal & Prot
5) Warrior Hench
6) Necro Hench for BiP
7) Optional depending on mission
8) Optional depending on mission

I really do like using [Gaze of Fury] and [Summon Spirits] - With Gaze I turn enemy spirits against them, and Summon allows me to bring all the turned spirits close to the fight. Especially in the Factions campaign I find a lot of Ritualists, or Rangers. Perhaps those skills will not be as useful in the other campaigns.

So perhaps this build will be better:
[build prof=Rt/N][Summon Spirits][Gaze of Fury][Ancestor's Rage][Splinter Weapon][Mend Body and Soul][Death Pact Signet][Life][Pain Inverter][/build]. I would swap [Pain Inverter] with [Grenth's Balance] or whatever is useful for the mission/area.

Antithesis · Apr 22, 2008, 01:57 PM // 13:57

Still needs energy management.

I prefer pushing reds bars up and doing direct damage as opposed to using Weapon Spells...that's one too many things for my feeble mind to concentrate on. Ancestor's Rage / Splinter Weapon is always on a Hero's bar, they're better at using it than I am.

I run a lazy man's build like this -

[offering of spirit][spirit rift][essence strike][mend body and soul][spirit light][protective was kaolai][life][death pact signet]

Ancestor's Rage and Splinter Weapon can be swapped for Spirit Rift and Essence Strike for a more traditional bar. If you're in an area with a high concentration of Spirits, consider [[spiritual pain] instead of Gaze of Fury/Summon Spirits.

My Rit is accompanied by a N/Rt Weapon of Quickening Restorer to buff caster recharge rates and protect the backline with Blind -

[weapon of quickening][shadowsong][mend body and soul][spirit light][protective was kaolai][weapon of warding][signet of lost souls][death pact signet]

...spammity spam spam spam all day long.

zling · Apr 22, 2008, 02:06 PM // 14:06

if you want to go Spirit Spammer your best bet is to take the Ritual Lord+Boon of Creation path. add 3 offensive spirits of choice, vampirism, bloodsong and shadowsong/dissonance seem to be the best. add Painful Bond, Summon Spirits and Death Pact Signet/Flesh of My Flesh and you're set.

street peddler · Apr 22, 2008, 04:55 PM // 16:55

attack spirits are fine in pve, you just absolutely need [skill]painful bond[/skill] and [skill]summon spirits[/skill].

MasterSasori · Apr 27, 2008, 04:07 AM // 04:07

I'd drop resilient weapon for [skill]mend body and soul[/skill]. To be honest, just drop preservation for a more useful elite.

ReZDoGG · Apr 27, 2008, 07:19 PM // 19:19

I personally use Channeling builds for my PvE questing and missions...

I like being able to hit skills as much as I want and have no problems with energy, and still spike some good damage. These are the few builds I usually use:

[build= prof=rt cha=12+3+1 spa=12+1 box ][Offering of Spirit][essence strike][ancestor's rage][spirit rift][splinter weapon][warmonger's weapon][agony][bloodsong][/build]

[build= prof=rt cha=12+3+1 spa=12+1 box ][Offering of Spirit][essence strike][ancestor's rage][spirit rift][splinter weapon][pain inverter][agony][bloodsong][/build]

Skill slot 6 and 7 are optional, but those are the skills I usually take. Aslong as you have one spirit for your elite, your all set.

[build= prof=rt cha=12+3+1 com=12+1 spa=3+1 box ][Offering of Spirit][essence strike][ancestor's rage][spirit rift][painful bond][pain][vampirism][bloodsong][/build]

You can also go 16 channelin, 13 com, and rest spawning... so you can have some support for team, such as Union. They ain't the best builds, but its all I need for me. You can also throw in some useful PvE skills.

I also put this build together for Rit hero. Its decent on spamming heals, and managing energy, along with removing a bit of conditions and hexes. You can also throw in Spotless Mind or Soul for more condition/hex removal. These are some decent builds for Hero's, and possibly yourself if you want. I am sure there are better builds for hero rit, but these are just some i threw together.

[build= prof=rt/mo res=12+2+1 spa=8+1 hea=10 box][attuned was songkai][spirit light][mend body and soul][soothing memories][healing ribbon][cure hex][life][flesh of my flesh][/build]

[build= prof=rt res=12+2+1 com=10+1 spa=8+1 box][attuned was songkai][spirit light][mend body and soul][soothing memories][vital weapon][union][life][flesh of my flesh][/build]