Curse

Legendary Battousai · Aug 02, 2005, 03:37 AM // 03:37

My IGN for my invincimonk is Heart Of Sword. I created this build about 2 months ago... I think I was the first one around to use 105 or less hp but one really never knows... but back to the point. On these forums, I've founds quite a few guides that tell how to solo UW that can work, yet it isnt very effective or strong or weak in both areas. I play as a Mo/N so if I wanted I could use Aura of the Lich *I'll explain later; yet it is for pvp only*

Skills:
Prot Bond [Magumma Stade]
Balthazar's Spirit [Lion's Arch]
Mending [Yak's Bend]
Essence Bond [Beetletun]
Blessed Signet [Droknor's Forge]
Healing Breeze [Ascalon]
Balthazar's Aura [Droknor's Forge]
Shield of Judgement [Elite, Mineral Springs, "Myd Springclaw"]

Base Attributes:
Healing: 10
Smiting: 7
Protection: 12
Divine Favor: 4
Attributes after Runes:
Healing: 13
Smiting: 10
Protection: 15
Divine Favor: 7

Armor:
Defender's Scalp Design [+1 Protection Prayers]
Ascetic Scar Design for Chest, Legs, Feet, Arms
Runes:
Superior Healing
Superior Protection
Superior Smiting
Superior Divine Favor
And another superior monk rune [must be one of the 4 listed, and the -75hp does stack, thank you whoever told me that I didnt make this clear enough!]

Weapon Sets:
Always use the Smiting Rod from Droknor's Forge's collector and only change the focus. Your 2 focuses should be a +1 Protection Spells Focus found outside of Lion's Arch [a collector] and switch with a monk focus that subtracts 20hp.

Stragety:
When you reach the Underworld, you should cast your enchantments, use the +1 Prot Icon for your Protective Bond untill it only makes you lose 1 energy when hit. Then when you get the rest of your enchantments up, switch back to your -20hp focus and heres the important part...

--- Remove 5 points from Protection and put them into Smiting---

Fight the Aatxes 2-5 at a time, try and cast Shield of Judgement asap. To prevent from being interupted, cast your spells about 1/2 a second before they hit your with their regular attacks. Then when they are knocked down, cast Balthazar's Aura untill they die. Clear out the area this way. Cast breeze odviously when you start nearing towards 1/2 hp. Then the hard part comes next.
Take the quest from the Lost Soul. When the Grasping Darknesses arrive, go up to the steps and let only ONE group aggro into you. Right before they reach you, cast Shield of Judgement [must cast it before they interupt you]. When the 3-4 grasping darknesses have all used their Distracting Blow, cast Balthazar's Aura. Assuming you have 15 or more in smiting, it will kill them. If not, you must wand them to death [takes forever]. After that, the doors open. Head to Smites and try and kill the groups in as few of numbers as possible untill you reach smites.
When you reach smites, kill the first group by merely casting Breeze, Shield of Judgement and Balthazar's Aura whenever you can. They should be easier than Bladded Aatxes, assuming you take small groups. For the more advanced invincimonk user, you can take on serveral smite groups at a time but you must repetitivly cast Healing Breeze so the Divine Favor heals you, and Shield of Judgement to slow their attack rate. and to note...

--- DO NOT MIX COLDFIRES AND SMITES, THEY EAT YOU ALIVE IF YOU ARE TRAPPED!---

Something that I do and is a personal preferance, avoid all Coldfire Knights unless you are forced to fight them. They drop nothing, take forever to kill and are quite unfun.
Now you should of cleared Smites. If you want head to the reaper and collect your exp. After that, there is absolutly nothing you can really do without dying. Unwanted Guests require you kill Spirit Keepers which have Lingering Curse [Strips all enchants]; Restore the Monuments cant be done because of their odd locations and also the fact that Obsidian Behemoths have Nature's Renewals [another stripper of all enchants]. And Escort the souls are impossible because they die, even though you dont... unless the Mindblade Specters are too much for you then you might die

.

If you want a demonstration of my build, wisper me, Heart Of Sword, and pay the 1k entry fee by yourself, and when you get in there, kill yourself. I will be killing them so you arent... meaning you deserve no drops even though the game might desginate them to you.

Now about Aura of the Lich. It will make you 100% invincible to everything except degen. 50 non-mesmer/necro monsters can attack you and never touch you with this skill. What it does has 2 parts. 1, It lowers your hp by 50% So it should put you at 42 or 43 with my build. 2, It reduces damage by 1/2. With your health at 42, you would only take 2 damage. But the 2nd effect of Aura of the Lich makes it 1 damage. Then if you have Deep Wound on you, your take ZERO damage, thats right, 0. This means that you can focus all on attacking and not defence which is a major benefit! Hope you liked my guide.

Enjoy!

Also, doing the quests, Cities of Ascalon gives you a -50hp Icon. Try using that after you cast your enchantments. It makes aura of the lich make you take 0 damage w/o deep wound too

Racthoh · Aug 02, 2005, 06:33 AM // 06:33

Hey Heart of Sword, I was the warrior who renewed your faith in warriors that one time in the UW. Not sure if you remember, rest of the party was calling you arrogant and what not.

Anyway, the solo build has been posted before (in fact it has like 20k views, few hundred responses of angry players). The take on PvP though... oh my that is something else. I'll know to stay clear of Heart of Sword if I ever encounted him in the random arenas.

Anomaly · Aug 02, 2005, 07:44 AM // 07:44

Good post.

I found UW to be rather easy except the minos and their savage slash. I suppose I just need to work on timing.

I however did not think about the protection item in the hand to reduce protective bond to 1. Very clever.

wiz12268 · Aug 02, 2005, 07:56 AM // 07:56

I was using 105 HP awhile ago myself. I have tried a few combos in UW solo. They all have weaknesses here or there. It is all about timing and when you get that saving spell off. (Or don't) Also on how easy you can make one set of fights comapred to another.

As for getting lower and lower in hit points. I think it is all relative unless it is on exact break point, and I think that would be 69. Which is the max you can have and take 3 dmg per hit. 85 takes 4 and 105 take 5. SO even at 105 depending on how often they miss you that 105 isn't going to cause that much more damage to you. Because 105 is almost perfect to stay at 5. Not sure if they round up to 6 dmg at 5.5, but if they do, then break point is 109 to have 5 dmg

Because taking 2 damage with 52 points or 4 damage at 85 is basically the same thing. The only difference is with 42 HP you have less margin for error. So if you get interupted it can cost you. Not to mention deep wound will get you down to about 34. (switching back to 105 HP helps with deep wound actually since dam is factored with deep wound on you, not your original HP number. So with deep wound and 105 you are at 84, so basically where you are without it. But I noticed that at 85 deep wound gets you down to 66, when it should be 68. Not that 2 HP is important, but it can be sometimes.

Also you say you have Protect at 15, why not cast with 17 and then subtract and move point? Then you get your +1 pip per hit.

(deleted this section because it gave too much info)

I have tried runs with similar skills, but hard to get mana up without Balthazars spirit. Mending helps heal, but without mana fights go on forever. It is a better build than most for smites, but getting to smites is a little harder. And the margin for error is smaller.

There are many ways to do it, I bet 90% of the guys that read the builds don't know the secrets once you get to there. They see a build and a movie and think they can do it. Probably why superior runes went through the roof last week. But I also noticed they have dropped down a lot this weekend, so maybe not as easy as they thought.

Giving someone a blueprint isn't necessarilly going to make them succeed. There is still some skill (and luck) involved.

EF2NYD · Aug 02, 2005, 03:00 PM // 15:00

Can anyone come up with a build that gets past the door blocking Behemoths?

miteethor · Aug 02, 2005, 05:37 PM // 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiz12268

Because taking 2 damage with 52 points or 4 damage at 85 is basically the same thing. The only difference is with 42 HP you have less margin for error. So if you get interupted it can cost you. Not to mention deep wound will get you down to about 34. (switching back to 105 HP helps with deep wound actually since dam is factored with deep wound on you, not your original HP number. So with deep wound and 105 you are at 84, so basically where you are without it. But I noticed that at 85 deep wound gets you down to 66, when it should be 68. Not that 2 HP is important, but it can be sometimes.

They are most certainly NOT the same thing. If you are running with 55 hit points and Mending of 4 arrows, you will heal 8 hp per second. If each hit only does 2 per second then that means 4 hits per second are negated.

Conversely, if you take 5 damage with each hit with 105 hp, then the same 4 hits per second will do 20 damage to you, and you will only heal 8 of those points back, putting you at a health defecit of -12 points.

Now, if you use Mending of +4 and Watchful Spirit with +2 and drop your health to 55, you can now safely take a mob of 6 with no damage, a mob of 3 plus bleeding for no damage, or by using Bonetti's Defense and Shield of Judgement in opportune times, you can easily take larger mobs without even bringing a healing spell.

BTW, all of this information and more is in the UW Solo/Tutorial thread on this same website, and goes into much greater detail with multiple builds, many of which are more effective than the one listed here.

MiteeThoR

wiz12268 · Aug 02, 2005, 08:07 PM // 20:07

I dont use heal spells at all, or at least not anymore. That is why if you don't use mend the HP pips are neglible. I like it for bleeding, which pro bond doesnt effect.

Also have streered clear of SOJ, is basically only needed with Coldfires to help stop them from interupting you. I try not to aggro them at all if I can help it. Because with the build I am running interupts kill you quick, no matter how little dam you are taking. I think interupts kill any builds actually. Especially when you are low on HP. Even at 4 dam per hit 3 at a time is 12 so you basically have 4-5 shots to get a spell of to heal you some, and are still taking some damage. Bonettis doesn't help to evade cast interupts. It only really works with squid interupts.

Best plan is actually 2 man runs. 2 monks one pro/smite one heal/remover

I have someone I go with we can do smite runs in less than 18 minutes, sometimes 15 depending on if we aggro any coldfires.

Takes 45 minutes or more solo, and a failure rate. With him we have never failed clearing, and getting 3-4 runs in in and hour makes up for the drops you might lose.

Besides if you have guildies or friends you can agree to split the proceeds from all drops no matter who gets. So the greed of going solo is a non issue.

Because really what is it other than greed that makes people do things alone in this game?

esteede · Aug 02, 2005, 08:09 PM // 20:09

i have a question...from reading that it seems like you have 4 superior runes...having 4 doesn't bring your health down to 105? so is there a 5th rune involved?

Legendary Battousai · Aug 02, 2005, 08:15 PM // 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by miteethor

BTW, all of this information and more is in the UW Solo/Tutorial thread on this same website, and goes into much greater detail with multiple builds, many of which are more effective than the one listed here.

MiteeThoR

i have tested my build quite well. the only other better build i could possibly think of is using the attack skills of another profession, i.e. meteor shower with an elem or IW from mesmer [its quite fun except deadly riposte starts to eat away at you]. yet using bonneti requires some adrenolin which takes a little time to build up, but i perfer to instead use my setup due to speed, and the fact that it cant be easily countered. so far it is the most effecent at underworld that there is....

esteede, I said i used FIVE (5) superior runes, just 2 of the same type. and 5 brings it down to 105, 4 brings it down to 180... so you need to reread that section

Legendary Battousai · Aug 02, 2005, 08:21 PM // 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiz12268

I dont use heal spells at all, or at least not anymore. That is why if you don't use mend the HP pips are neglible. I like it for bleeding, which pro bond doesnt effect.

Also have streered clear of SOJ, is basically only needed with Coldfires to help stop them from interupting you. I try not to aggro them at all if I can help it. Because with the build I am running interupts kill you quick, no matter how little dam you are taking. I think interupts kill any builds actually. Especially when you are low on HP. Even at 4 dam per hit 3 at a time is 12 so you basically have 4-5 shots to get a spell of to heal you some, and are still taking some damage. Bonettis doesn't help to evade cast interupts. It only really works with squid interupts.

Best plan is actually 2 man runs. 2 monks one pro/smite one heal/remover

I have someone I go with we can do smite runs in less than 18 minutes, sometimes 15 depending on if we aggro any coldfires.

Takes 45 minutes or more solo, and a failure rate. With him we have never failed clearing, and getting 3-4 runs in in and hour makes up for the drops you might lose.

Besides if you have guildies or friends you can agree to split the proceeds from all drops no matter who gets. So the greed of going solo is a non issue.

Because really what is it other than greed that makes people do things alone in this game?

well you said it yourself, you dont go with heal and you die solo...

SoJ doesnt help protect from interupts from coldfires, they cast the spell Maelstrom, it isnt an attack so it wont be effected. I use SoJ for 2 reasons, to kill graspings with 2 spells and to take on groups of 15+ smites. I did duo runs for 3 runs in a row. Througout the 3 runs, 3 ectos dropped. they were all for the other guy. out of generosity I got one of them from him. yet if i do solo for 3 runs, I get 3 ecto per run, sometimes a ruby/sapphire, gold items (eternal shield and other things of that nature... and a purple max stormbow) and it takes me 15 minutes per run. Could go longer if i aggro coldfires, but they only take about 2 minutes to kill for a group of 3.

and my question for you is, why would a hardcore pvper like myself do underworld with other people when i hate every second of pve? i wouldnt and i dont. thats the reason.

and another thing, interupts block about 1/50 of my spells... EVER with the exception of maelstorm. the only time i have ever died in UW with my solo build is when i was litterally trapped by about 10 smites and maelstorms started coming in, so i was kinda fuxd there. its all a matter of learning how the monsters work. they go along a patroll path, go the same way, and rarely act different.
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sorry for the double post, i didnt want to have to type in the 2nd quote :P
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rofl Racthoh, i actually remember that xD

wiz12268 · Aug 02, 2005, 08:33 PM // 20:33

For opening poster:

Does aura of lich effect heal breeze regen? I know it halves healing. But does it count regen or just cast spell? With only 42 HP healing halved isnt that big a deal, but would seem that 15 MP cost with nothing gaining them back but sigil (that won't heal you when cast), and balth spirit (which requires you taking dam to work) is a high. Especially when you are suing breeze which cost 10 to cast, rather than spamming Divine Boom which is instant and only cost 5.(and does Zealots dam as well), along with the 25 you need to spend to cast balth aura.

It is just a lot of mana to spend when you aren't gaining without casting. That is why Bonettis is very nice (obviously not for nec secondary) but you gain massive mana (passively) and it can't be interupted. Plus the whole point is that they miss you, thus not causing damage to gain the energy.

But I like looking at builds and figuring out how they work. I might take a trip with you to see it.

All I know is that even with the lower damage taken, the lower your hit points, the less margin for error. Even hitting the wrong spell sequence can kill you.

But I always thought Mo/Nec or Nec/Mo were oxymoronic builds. Or would it be juxtaposed?

To above post. I don't always die. But I also don't think anyone has soloed without a couple deaths here or there. Divine boom is all the heal you need. Plus it is instant and only cost 5 mana, and can't be interupted. But against coldfires Bonettis doesn't work well enough to build mana to keep spamming boom, so interupt or lack of mana ends up the same...dead. If you can get the offensive ones off in between then great. But with 2 man that is no worry, your healer carries the shield for you, and no danger of death at all. Plus it is a lot faster.

There are many builds that can solo. I can solo with my ele/mo too. But why solo when you can go two man and do 3-5 times as much in the same amount of time? I don't want to highjack the thread. But there have been solo UW builds for quite a while now. Basically any protect monk with any secondary can do the attaxes/squids/smites. The main skills are all the same.

The ways people heal themselves are the main differences.
Breeze, mend, boom, I have even tried heal touch. They all work, and they can all fail. If it were that easy then any cookie cutter build would be cleaning up. Actually casting the skills in the right order is just as important as the skills themselves.

Darkrouge101 · Aug 02, 2005, 08:47 PM // 20:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

The take on PvP though... oh my that is something else. I'll know to stay clear of Heart of Sword if I ever encounted him in the random arenas.

That method wouldn't work in PvP. One nature's renewal and you will be left with next to no health, and any heavy spike and you are dead in one hit.

esteede · Aug 02, 2005, 08:50 PM // 20:50

yea i figured you had 5...but i read the base attributes...then attributes after runes and all go up by 3...10-13, 7-10, 12-15, 4-7, so what is the the rune that u have 2 of?

JackOften · Aug 02, 2005, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Honestly, this is half as practical as the interrupt immune Mo/W. But thats just me.

Moltov joss · Aug 03, 2005, 01:04 AM // 01:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legendary Battousai

My IGN for my invincimonk is Heart Of Sword. I created this build about 2 months ago... I think I was the first one around to use 105 or less hp but one really never knows... but back to the point. On these forums, I've founds quite a few guides that tell how to solo UW that can work, yet it isnt very effective or strong or weak in both areas. I play as a Mo/N so if I wanted I could use Aura of the Lich *I'll explain later; yet it is for pvp only*

Skills:
Prot Bond [Magumma Stade]
Balthazar's Spirit [Lion's Arch]
Mending [Yak's Bend]
Essence Bond [Beetletun]
Blessed Signet [Droknor's Forge]
Healing Breeze [Ascalon]
Balthazar's Aura [Droknor's Forge]
Shield of Judgement [Elite, Mineral Springs, "Myd Springclaw"]

Base Attributes:
Healing: 10
Smiting: 7
Protection: 12
Divine Favor: 4
Attributes after Runes:
Healing: 13
Smiting: 10
Protection: 15
Divine Favor: 7

Armor:
Defender's Scalp Design [+1 Protection Prayers]
Ascetic Scar Design for Chest, Legs, Feet, Arms
Runes:
Superior Healing
Superior Protection
Superior Smiting
Superior Divine Favor
Weapon Sets:
Always use the Smiting Rod from Droknor's Forge's collector and only change the focus. Your 2 focuses should be a +1 Protection Spells Focus found outside of Lion's Arch [a collector] and switch with a monk focus that subtracts 20hp.

Stragety:
When you reach the Underworld, you should cast your enchantments, use the +1 Prot Icon for your Protective Bond untill it only makes you lose 1 energy when hit. Then when you get the rest of your enchantments up, switch back to your -20hp focus and heres the important part...

--- Remove 5 points from Protection and put them into Smiting---

Fight the Aatxes 2-5 at a time, try and cast Shield of Judgement asap. To prevent from being interupted, cast your spells about 1/2 a second before they hit your with their regular attacks. Then when they are knocked down, cast Balthazar's Aura untill they die. Clear out the area this way. Cast breeze odviously when you start nearing towards 1/2 hp. Then the hard part comes next.
Take the quest from the Lost Soul. When the Grasping Darknesses arrive, go up to the steps and let only ONE group aggro into you. Right before they reach you, cast Shield of Judgement [must cast it before they interupt you]. When the 3-4 grasping darknesses have all used their Distracting Blow, cast Balthazar's Aura. Assuming you have 15 or more in smiting, it will kill them. If not, you must wand them to death [takes forever]. After that, the doors open. Head to Smites and try and kill the groups in as few of numbers as possible untill you reach smites.
When you reach smites, kill the first group by merely casting Breeze, Shield of Judgement and Balthazar's Aura whenever you can. They should be easier than Bladded Aatxes, assuming you take small groups. For the more advanced invincimonk user, you can take on serveral smite groups at a time but you must repetitivly cast Healing Breeze so the Divine Favor heals you, and Shield of Judgement to slow their attack rate. and to note...

--- DO NOT MIX COLDFIRES AND SMITES, THEY EAT YOU ALIVE IF YOU ARE TRAPPED!---

Something that I do and is a personal preferance, avoid all Coldfire Knights unless you are forced to fight them. They drop nothing, take forever to kill and are quite unfun.
Now you should of cleared Smites. If you want head to the reaper and collect your exp. After that, there is absolutly nothing you can really do without dying. Unwanted Guests require you kill Spirit Keepers which have Lingering Curse [Strips all enchants]; Restore the Monuments cant be done because of their odd locations and also the fact that Obsidian Behemoths have Nature's Renewals [another stripper of all enchants]. And Escort the souls are impossible because they die, even though you dont... unless the Mindblade Specters are too much for you then you might die

.

If you want a demonstration of my build, wisper me, Heart Of Sword, and pay the 1k entry fee by yourself, and when you get in there, kill yourself. I will be killing them so you arent... meaning you deserve no drops even though the game might desginate them to you.

Now about Aura of the Lich. It will make you 100% invincible to everything except degen. 50 non-mesmer/necro monsters can attack you and never touch you with this skill. What it does has 2 parts. 1, It lowers your hp by 50% So it should put you at 42 or 43 with my build. 2, It reduces damage by 1/2. With your health at 42, you would only take 2 damage. But the 2nd effect of Aura of the Lich makes it 1 damage. Then if you have Deep Wound on you, your take ZERO damage, thats right, 0. This means that you can focus all on attacking and not defence which is a major benefit! Hope you liked my guide.

Enjoy!

Ive done some farming in UW. Its entirely possible to take 7 grasping darknesses at once. Heres the tip. Before you approach cast healing breeze, then let them attack you. Thats right let them attack you, they will use distracting blow on you no matter what.So after that you are free to cast a few spells before they use skullcrack. This tactic makes it much easier.

Red Locust · Aug 03, 2005, 01:47 AM // 01:47

You could surround yourself with grasping darknesses and take them out no problem. All you need to do is activate shield of judgement successfully. That baby at 16 smiting will take care of them easily.

entropy · Aug 03, 2005, 03:49 AM // 03:49

I read it somewhere in thes forums but if you cast protective Bond and then Aura of the lich would it be able to reduce your dmg down to 1? I didnt finish the thread and now i cant find it lol. Prot bond makes the dmg around 5. then aura reduces your health by healf so if your health was at 105 it would go down to 52,53 and then the attack which can deal no more dmg then 5% would be around 2-3 i think but would aura halve that dmg? to 1?

Zenos · Aug 03, 2005, 04:34 AM // 04:34

I use a -50 off hand focus that puts me at 55hp. Aatxes, Greater Darknesses, smites do 2 points of damage. (except when Aatxes get deep wound on me) Watch for the bleed (if not using mending) or you will die fast. I would be a little skeptical about going with lower hp's than that.

entropy · Aug 03, 2005, 06:41 AM // 06:41

What i meant was without a focus would it go down to 1? Would the prot bond activate which is 2 dmg at around 50 some odd health and then aura of the lich cause it to halve to 1? thats what im asking?

twicky_kid · Aug 03, 2005, 06:45 AM // 06:45

no matter how many times i use bond or with what 2nd class it just doesn't seem to come out well. i prefer pro spirit over bond any day. because of my energy. i gain 2 energ per hit to me and have 2 ticks of energy regen. while i'm using bond after all my enchantments and boon i have 0 energy regen and only gaining 1 energy per hit to me.

spirit has a 1/4 casting so its not hard to stay alive with it. and you don't have to have breeze going to stay alive either where you can spam boon and just heal the dmg they do with each cast until you can get another breeze off. i combine the 2 energy with channeling to make and awsome run. even the interrupts aren't that bad. bleeding is the only real problem. besides that pretty simple.