Curse

Sinful Doom · Feb 02, 2007, 12:27 AM // 00:27

CYA spike builds.

Vital Weapon
5 energy
1 sec cast
2 sec recharge

at 16 communing here is the description.

Weapon spell. For 47 seconds, target ally has a Vital Weapon and has +184 maximum Health.

I could basically maintain this on everything including the frog as I run past it.

Discuss?

Wasteland Squidget · Feb 02, 2007, 12:34 AM // 00:34

+ that much health on key targets is definitely nice against spikes. Now give me a reason to run a guy with 16 Communing.

Vermilion · Feb 02, 2007, 12:40 AM // 00:40

2 sec recharge seems too good, but I don't know. At 7 or so communing, its +100 which is a decent buff. Then you can run it on say a restorit or something. .

kvndoom · Feb 02, 2007, 12:51 AM // 00:51

Ha, it's like Vital Blessing that can't be removed and doesn't cost an energy pip. Rits got a serious boost today. Anet wants them to be a vital (no pun intended) part of the meta again, but not as "spirit shitters" as Ensign so eloquently put it.

I kinda like Bloodsong in Channeling now, I can see it fitting into some really good offensive combos. In fact, I really like Channeling as it is now. Since my thumper is all but dead (unless I revert to old-skool thumpin), I may well dust off my rit for killing fools.

Sinful Doom · Feb 02, 2007, 12:59 AM // 00:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasteland Squidget

+ that much health on key targets is definitely nice against spikes. Now give me a reason to run a guy with 16 Communing.

Think a little more outside the box, I know I am.

Wasteland Squidget · Feb 02, 2007, 02:20 AM // 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinful Doom

Think a little more outside the box, I know I am.

If you have an idea to post, then post it. Comments like this are really pointless.

I haven't had a chance to look over the Communing buffs seriously yet - it's quite possible there's a viable character somewhere in there, so my comment wasn't made sarcastically. If you think you have a character that can run this effectively at 16 Communing, feel free to post it.

It still works pretty well at lower spec though, which makes it quite viable on an Rt secondary. The energy required to maintain it on more than a few targets is nothing to sneeze at though, especially if your spec is lower.

Racthoh · Feb 02, 2007, 02:54 AM // 02:54

Sight Beyond Sight, Extend Enchantments, Avatar of Grenth, Vital Weapon.

Overextend as you please?

Wasteland Squidget · Feb 02, 2007, 03:02 AM // 03:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

Sight Beyond Sight, Extend Enchantments, Avatar of Grenth, Vital Weapon.

Overextend as you please?

Does Vital Weapon really pull its weight if you bring it to only use it on yourself?

*lemming* · Feb 02, 2007, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

Sight Beyond Sight, Extend Enchantments, Avatar of Grenth, Vital Weapon.

Overextend as you please?

Tight attribute point spread much?

Vermilion · Feb 02, 2007, 04:51 AM // 04:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by tehlemming

Tight attribute point spread much?

There are 2 lines listed you would have to invest in. Beyond that..

scythe + Myst + Com + Wind/Earth

Would probably work. Vital works at low levels, and so do a lot of the good wind skills that are seeing play.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasteland Squidget

Does Vital Weapon really pull its weight if you bring it to only use it on yourself?

Imo, it doesnt. With such a long uptime and low recharge, it seems meant to be spammed on multiple people. (obviously I guess) A backline rit specced some into comm for a spirit/s might get some use out of it. Or rest, since spirit spamming might be harder if you need to keep using Vital..but probably not.

Patccmoi · Feb 02, 2007, 06:00 AM // 06:00

We ran it last weekend on a Rt at 11 Communing, which gave +147 health, imo more than enough of a buff.

As for Communing at 16, maybe not 16 but you can go 15 with something like this:

15 Communing
14 Channeling
3 Spawning (cause you got leftovers. Who cares for Spawning)

Weapon of Quickening
Vital Weapon
Pain
Bloodsong
Shadowsong
Essence Strike
Spirit Burn
Rez Sig / Flesh

Can keep 3 offensive spirits up, assist in spike pressure, has a lot of energy with Essence Strike spam (5s recharge in WoQ), and can keep WoQ on 2-3 offensive casters and Vital on melee + backline. Ofc this can all be modified depending on what your build consists in, but it's an example of what high Communing is good at... mostly WoQ which is now an INSANE buff. Think of Rts as Hybrid all the time now. Their 3 lines are extremely viable (Communing likely the least in there, but there's still 4-5 good skills to make good hybrids), and they don't need any point in their primary attribute in most cases so they can run everything at high efficiency.

I think that Rt will become extremely popular midline characters because this hybrid part of them can allow them to serve many roles efficiently on one bar and decide which to put more emphasis on depending on the other team and how the game is going.

As for Thumpers being dead, Rts got the 1 skill that can still make Thumpers very viable (actually more threatening than they ever were), with Weapon of Fury. 4 hits recharge Hammer Bash + new 'block only' mechanic making IB much more powerful and more than enough energy to keep RaO up with Zealous Hammer cause you'll be gaining +2E every hit. And with its current stats you can easily keep WoFury on 2 people at all time with 1 Rt and still have that Rt assist in nukes and healing/prot support, or add spirits, etc.

Wasteland Squidget · Feb 02, 2007, 06:27 AM // 06:27

I think a spirit guy like that can be kind of attractive in some builds, but only if you mix him with a paragon. Paragon shouts trigger on spirit attacks, so you get some pretty crazy stacking effects when you have a lot of spirits throwing the shout effects around.

Thomas.knbk · Feb 02, 2007, 05:07 PM // 17:07

Don't forget weapons don't stack. If you want to run this, you will need to make a rit without vengeful/remedy, and tbh I haven't seen any viable rit build without those 2 skills.

Patccmoi · Feb 02, 2007, 06:24 PM // 18:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas.knbk

Don't forget weapons don't stack. If you want to run this, you will need to make a rit without vengeful/remedy, and tbh I haven't seen any viable rit build without those 2 skills.

Maybe you should look at the fact that about 30 Rt skills got a major buff. You can make tons of VERY viable Rt builds now that don't have anything to do with Vengeful or Remedy. Honestly with the current buff i expect Rts to become one of the most popular midline char because of their hybrid abilities. And i'm not talking about purely spirit spammer Rt.

And Squidget, Paragons are definitely nice but it's also incredible support for any kind of casters. Weapon of Quickening is a HUGE HUGE buff to an offensive caster. Think of things like Mesmers with 20s recharge Shame, 7s recharge Diversion, and you're free to use whatever elite you want (no MoR required really) so you can even go for something fun like Power Block (at 13s recharge it can be really fun) or something more commong like ESurge-EBurn (at 13s recharge, they can do some heavy edenial pressure + damage). Or you can see it on Eles too, with WoQ you can actually have Eles as serious damage dealers because the recharge of their skills are seriously lowered. 2s recharge -> 1s recharge (Searing Flames can be interesting, though you'd need some emanagement support even though Glowing Gaze drops back to 5s recharge), 5s -> 3s, 8s -> 5s... it can increase the efficiency of some builds by huge amounts. Hell, you could have a Master of Magic smiter with permanent MoM and 1s recharge RoF...

Weapon of Quickening is imo in the top 5 caster buffs in the game atm considering you can keep it on 3-4 people at a time.

To be honest on that Spirit Rt guy i wouldn't use Vital Weapon though. I'd go for Warmonger instead and keep that on a warrior. It's about the meanest offensive weapon spell there is.

Thomas.knbk · Feb 02, 2007, 07:07 PM // 19:07

Might be, but weapon of quickening is a weapon as well, so you can't use that with Vital either (or you could use it on different targets. Vital on Warriors and monks, Quickening on midline casters).
I must admit I hadn't really looked at the other buffs though.

TheOneMephisto · Feb 04, 2007, 05:30 PM // 17:30

Rits got a huge buff, and I'm actually starting to like them.

If you use a channeling/communing rit, you can get a bunch of great skills now:
vital weapon to throw on monks/softies with DP
weapon of quickening to help power your casters
warmonger's weapon to throw on your melee
essence strike for some energy and damage
a spirit or two for powering essence strike/whatever they do
some great spike assists

You'd be basically maintaining various weapon spells on your entire team while dropping some DPS possibly helping defensively (depending on spirits).

bungusmaximus · Feb 14, 2007, 10:53 AM // 10:53

Maybe a bit off-topic, but is there a nice combo in Attuned was Songkai + renewing surge? In theory it sounds pretty much like a very cheap machinegun.

TheOneMephisto · Feb 14, 2007, 02:02 PM // 14:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by bungusmaximus

Maybe a bit off-topic, but is there a nice combo in Attuned was Songkai + renewing surge? In theory it sounds pretty much like a very cheap machinegun.

There's a reason why you don't see eles going around spamming flare.