Curse

- Tain - · Mar 09, 2007, 08:18 PM // 20:18

This is a fun Rt/A build for ABing, another (deadlier) variant of the common Spirit's Strength Rt/x builds:

:: Skills/Attributes/Equipment ::

Siphon Speed
Iron Palm
Fox Fangs
Nine Tail Strike
Impale
Vital Weapon
Spirit's Strength [E]
Sight Beyond Sight

Spawning: 16 (12+3+1)
Communing: 7 (6+1)
Dagger: 10
Deadly Arts: 6

Weapon: +15% (while enchanted) Zealous daggers of Enchanting
Armor: Ghost Forge insignia (aka Emissary's armor)

:: Pre-cast ::

Spirit's Strength -> Vital Weapon -> Sight Beyond Sight

*Spirit's Strength: adds big damage to all attacks
*Vital Weapon: adds not only 103 health, but also 15 armor from Ghost Forge insignia
*Sight Beyond Sight: prevents blindness, also acts as a cover enchantment

:: Spike Chain ::

Siphon Speed -> Iron Palm -> Fox Fangs -> Nine Tail Strike -> Impale

*Siphon Speed: slows target, boosts speed, and allows Iron Palm to KD
*Iron Palm: unblockable damage - use immediately; while target is hexed it will KD
*Fox Fangs: unblockable damage
*Nine Tail Strike: unblockable damage
*Impale: unblockable damage, and inflicts Deep Wound

:: Spike Downtime ::

It is possible to maintain Vital Weapon and both enchantments constantly, but the skill chain has a significant downtime (20 seconds on Iron Palm). However, even with its spike recharing, this build retains serious DPS due to the large damage boost from Spirit's Strength. Using daggers, the fast attack speed and chance of double-striking (not to mention immunity to blind, a common anti-melee) deals a weighty amount of pressure damage.

:: Counters ::

*Melee-hate other than blindness
*Multiple enchantment stripping
*"Can't Touch This" prevents Iron Palm, preventing the chain

:: Other Notes ::

No self-heal, flame away... I always AB with guildies (I never liked RA, and want some people I can rely on), and we run with 3 wicked damage dealers and 1 helluva monk. Vital weapon is unstrippable and provides +103 hp and +15 armor with Ghost Forge insignia. Makes me much less squishy, and my monk has no problem keeping me up. And not much lives to hurt me, anyway.

Other than that, this build is mean - enjoy!

EDIT: Switched out Dark Prison for Siphon Speed. It lacks the shadow step and has 1 sec cast vs 1/4 sec, but more than makes up for it. 5 energy and 5 sec recharge makes it infinitely better for repeated use, and the 33% speed boost as well as the target's 33% slowdown makes it one of the most effective skills for kiting available.

- Tain - · Mar 10, 2007, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Anyone try this, or any comments? Still my fav build for ABing atm...

Perfected Shadow · Mar 11, 2007, 03:27 AM // 03:27

I've seen a variant, yes the dps is good, but not many ppl always play with guildies to ensure having a monk to keep them alive.

Jeff Highwind · Mar 14, 2007, 03:39 AM // 03:39

10 in dagger mastery makes for very weak sauce attacks. If you are focusing on daggers 12 is a must to keep damage high. Other than that it's pretty nice, especially with the use of Impale.

Horseman Of War · Mar 14, 2007, 03:49 AM // 03:49

personally I prefer spears with spirit strength. Ive been experimenting with daggers too... but like this build, I seem to have to spread my skills too thin

also the points gained back from dropping your spawning to 15 will be a boon.

honestly though, spirits strength is so good and definately fun- that as long as it works for you thats all that matters. Ive been so scared of a nerf but no one seems to be complaining yet. Spirit Strength is the new iW.

- Tain - · Mar 14, 2007, 03:52 PM // 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Highwind

10 in dagger mastery makes for very weak sauce attacks. If you are focusing on daggers 12 is a must to keep damage high. Other than that it's pretty nice, especially with the use of Impale.

Yeah, 12 daggers would increase damage a bit, but the main source of damage is from Spirit's Strength. The dagger skills key point is that they're unblockable - the extra damage is just another plus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horseman Of War

personally I prefer spears with spirit strength. Ive been experimenting with daggers too... but like this build, I seem to have to spread my skills too thin

also the points gained back from dropping your spawning to 15 will be a boon.

I like daggers over spears for this - although you lose range you gain a MUCH faster attack speed (thus higher DPS), especially once you include double strikes. Also, having a Para secondary doesn't add much imo, whereas Sin gives you a lot of unblockable spike damage and conditions without requiring the adrenaline that spear attacks do. As for dropping spawning to 15 - drops your DPS slightly for a lot of attributes, but where would you put them? A boost to Daggers, maybe, but I'm not sure if that would really increase damage due to the recharge on the skill chain. There's more plain attacking with Spirit's Strength up, so I'd keep that as high as possible. Give me a few more skill slots and I'll add some Resto or Shadow skills for survivability, but ANet only gives me 8

TheOneMephisto · Mar 14, 2007, 09:07 PM // 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horseman Of War

honestly though, spirits strength is so good and definately fun- that as long as it works for you thats all that matters. Ive been so scared of a nerf but no one seems to be complaining yet. Spirit Strength is the new iW.

So your scared of Spirit's Strength getting a nerf because it's the new version of a crappy skill? Okay.

- Tain - · Mar 14, 2007, 09:41 PM // 21:41

Yeah, definitely no nerf on the horizon.. it's a fun skill, but still just a gimmick.