Curse

Nexus Icon · Jul 07, 2006, 02:47 PM // 14:47

AHA! Time to start Arcane-Echoing Shatter Storm!
MWAHAHAHAHA!
And the beauty of those 2 skills? Both are no-attribute skills

Playing as a mesmer 99% of the time in Aspenwood, you bloody bonders constantly ruin my ineptitude spamming fun. Bloody good tactic and I'll make ye pay ye filthy land-lubbers!

MercenaryKnight · Jul 07, 2006, 07:57 PM // 19:57

Sorry I am a newb to aspenwood, for kurzicks which gate= which side? I think purple is right and orange is left but I am not sure since the gate keepers I think are opposite. Or maybe I am just stupid lol.

Hanego Ategeh · Jul 07, 2006, 08:27 PM // 20:27

I used a slightly different build which leverages the bonds a little differently.

It's not so great when you have to fall back and be a normal monk, but it's very strong on the green gate.

Mo/R

Life Bond
Life Barrier
Vital Blessing
Essence Bond
Symbiosis
RoF
Divine Boon
Bless Sig.

I don't remember my attribute spread but the obvious strategy is to bond an NPC (I like Kurzick Eles, Necros, and the Jugg because the first two self-enchant for more total HP and the last is a beast) with the four bonds, then cast Symbiosis somewhere where it is hard to kill. Symbiosis should be at a level where it will yield 100-130ish HPs per every enchantment.

Congratulations, your NPC now has something close to 1300-1500 HP. Degen tends not be a big problem, because even with max degen, every time you heal with RoF, you give the NPC +130 or so HP to total plus the heal, plus DB and DF bonus ... you get the picture.

You tend to spend most of the game trying not to be noticed and casting bless sig over and over. I didn't win every time with this, but I did win enough to get bored and move on pretty quickly.

Enjoy.

AW Lore · Jul 07, 2006, 11:19 PM // 23:19

Hanego, try dwayna kiss instead of RoF. but if you use RoF as self heal, dwayna is not that good at self heals.

MercenaryKnight, orange is the right gate, purple is the left gate (being this when you teleport to the center through the first teleporter.

Queto · Jul 11, 2006, 04:35 PM // 16:35

Hi,

I've been using the build by the OP for a while now (I use Mend Ailment, not Soul Feast. Never met a Necro with Well of the Profane yet!).
I use this attributes

Protection Prayers: 12+4 (while putting Life Barrier and Bond on target) // 12+1 (battle)
Healing Prayers: 11+4 (battle) // 11 (I don't have a minor Healing rune, but it's not needed while putting up bonds.)
Divine Favor: 6+1

I get screwed by Fire ele's sometimes, and then my health gets below 50% and Life Barrier stops... That's the point where I get owned

AW Lore · Jul 12, 2006, 02:26 AM // 02:26

anything that can attack you (read, casters) through the walls will kinda screw you (as well as me) bonding is not to completely stop the enemy on their tracks (though sometimes you can

), but rather to slow them down.

Amadei · Jul 22, 2006, 07:52 AM // 07:52

(This thread really oughta be a sticky

)

Bumping to chatter some more about bonding -- I went out and finally capped Life Barrier last night so, I, too, could be a l33t bonder monkeh. I had some mixed results, actually, but when I lost, it was either because I went up against Well of the Profane (boo /fistshake) or because my teammates didn't close gates or refused to kill Nature's Renewal (I hope and pray it's because they don't know what it does and thus consider it no threat, but seriously, I'm not yelling at you because I like it. Go kill it! It's turning my measly little energy regen into energy degen and woops, there goes the gate. We lost. Shoulda killed NR there!)

My build, after some tweaking and switching skills: (still not entirely satisfied with it, but it held strong against your average Luxon team)

1. Life Barrier [E]
2. Life Bond
3. Essence Bond (Essence Bond vs minions = fun times)
4. Protective Spirit
5. Signet of Devotion/Orison of Healing/Reversal of Fortune (tried all, currently with Orison for 1s cast that isn't an enchant)
6. Dwayna's Kiss (and thank you, mesmers and necros, for hexing the crap out of my little ele -- it made Dwayna's all the more powerful!)
7. Mantra of Inscriptions
8. Blessed Signet

Never ran into energy problems (except when NR was up) and enchant stripping is hands down the biggest threat. I had a guildie who said she wanted to run Soul Feast, but I had to leave and I haven't spoken with her yet, so I don't know how that worked out for her. We synced our entrances a few times and usually managed to at least slow the Luxons waaaayyyy down. I like our increased chances at actually winning this way

. The team still needs to do some work (run amber, grab mines, be a PITA to the Luxons), but bonding is a fairly solid build, and a lot of fun to play as well.

Oh, and single-clicking one of the little bond indicators selects your target, which is far easier than trying to target him through the door (careful not to double-click and dismiss the bond!)

AW Lore · Jul 22, 2006, 06:11 PM // 18:11

i really tried with the bonding setup, but its not good for me, it lacks flexibility (at least for me) so far the build i have been using is very good, and sometimes even surpassed the barrier-bond build, as a matter of fact yesterday while playing with my monk a ritualist/ranger dropped nature renewal at the gate i was protecting, and im sure he was surprised that the gate didnt fall, as he and other 3 luxon players +turtle were pounding on my ele without killing him, one maintained enchant ftw

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Oh, and single-clicking one of the little bond indicators selects your target, which is far easier than trying to target him through the door (careful not to double-click and dismiss the bond!)

yeah, i like that option, though i dont mind hitting alt to locate my ele (and sometimes i find an amber running under turtle fire and save his butt (as well as the amber

)

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We synced our entrances a few times and usually managed to at least slow the Luxons waaaayyyy down.

i have done this with a guildie too, out of the 5 times we played together, only 1 time we lost the game.

in two of the fights we found a... clever necro... trying to use profane, but i beat his profane with my well of weariness

.
during most of the matches i had to go to help the other side while my guildie held the gate.

Queto · Aug 04, 2006, 11:08 AM // 11:08

So I was defending outer orange and was running back and forth to avoid ele's whole the time, I want to select my bondee and accidentally click my Life Barrier twice =(
Now I learned it is best to select your bondee with Essence Bond, when you double-click that, at least he won't die fast.

I teamed up with 4 other monks once, Luxons were SOOOO pissed ^^

Yakumo · Aug 04, 2006, 02:09 PM // 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus Icon

AHA! Time to start Arcane-Echoing Shatter Storm!
MWAHAHAHAHA!
And the beauty of those 2 skills? Both are no-attribute skills

Playing as a mesmer 99% of the time in Aspenwood, you bloody bonders constantly ruin my ineptitude spamming fun. Bloody good tactic and I'll make ye pay ye filthy land-lubbers!

LOL... Glad you think so, as most Luxons hate it when there's a bonder at the gates.

We won a game once when all the Luxons left before the countdown timer even got half way. They all kinda suddenly left... erm... right after I did a flex emote. I'm not entirely sure if it's because they recognised my name from the previous match (which we won) as I recognised most of theirs.

But now, I just keep quiet and let them find out that there's a bonder... when they start attacking the gate.

Hmmm... yes, Nature's Renewal is quite a problem for the Life Barrier {E}, Life Bond, Essence Bond setup. I also use Divine Boon, so I usually end up with 4 pips of degen. The bonds and gate doesn't stay up for long.

When I find out that Nature's Renewal and/or heavy enchantment stripping are in play, I tend to ditch bonding altogether and switch to the role of a healer.

PS. The clicking on the bond indicators is a nice tip, it's so much faster than trying to hunt around for the bondee.

Amadei · Aug 04, 2006, 05:34 PM // 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yakumo

Hmmm... yes, Nature's Renewal is quite a problem for the Life Barrier {E}, Life Bond, Essence Bond setup. I also use Divine Boon, so I usually end up with 4 pips of degen. The bonds and gate doesn't stay up for long.

I deal with Nature's Renewal by yelling at my teammates and giving them dire warnings that with NR or EoE (or both!) up, we certainly won't win. I'm probably annoying the hell out of everyone else, but at least they're properly grateful when we win *g*.

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The clicking on the bond indicators is a nice tip, it's so much faster than trying to hunt around for the bondee.

Yeah, I also found that by selecting your target through the door, you run up to him, which is not good when you have Luxon casters pressed up against the outer gate waiting for you to get in range

What I also do now, when I'm forced back to the Green gate, is not only bonding the green gate ele, but also throwing Life Barrier on the master architect already. There's usually enough time to fully regen your energy before the Luxons start pounding the green gate, and it's nice to have it up already on Gunther should your little ele die.

I do wish it was easier to tell when Protective Spirit has ended. I usually notice it's no longer up when my ele takes a load of damage -.-

Terrible · Aug 04, 2006, 09:44 PM // 21:44

Most of the time when I bond the gate I run this:

Life Barrier(E)
Life Bond
Life Attunement - I just want to save them, who cares if they kill people :P
Mending - combats poison and some degen(most characters wont take regen into account
Essence Bond - energy regen is nice
Healing Seed - good to throw on when you need to cast blessed sig :P
Rof
Blessed Sig

Works fairly well for me provided I dont go below 50% - and I usually dont.

Queto · Aug 05, 2006, 12:02 AM // 00:02

I teamed up with another bonder today and we were pushed back to the green gate, where my fellow bonder bonded the ele and I bonded the bonder. Now THAT was fun, enemy ele trying to kill the bonder, who was in our ele's range, but me, standing out of their range, having no probs keeping him alive

Yakumo · Aug 08, 2006, 01:34 PM // 13:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amadei

I deal with Nature's Renewal by yelling at my teammates and giving them dire warnings that with NR or EoE (or both!) up, we certainly won't win. I'm probably annoying the hell out of everyone else, but at least they're properly grateful when we win *g*.

I guess I better start doing that. Annoy the team by pinging the NR like if it's going out of fashion.

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What I also do now, when I'm forced back to the Green gate, is not only bonding the green gate ele, but also throwing Life Barrier on the master architect already.

Good call. I don't do that... but I will now.

Hmmm... Strange, not sure why I don't do that, as when I'm moving from inner to outer after its been repaired, I leave the bonds on the inner ele, and remove them as the outer ele gets bonded. So if anything happens on my approach to outer, I can fallback to a semi/fully bonded ele. It's really the same idea with Gunther, but it didn't occur to me.

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I do wish it was easier to tell when Protective Spirit has ended. I usually notice it's no longer up when my ele takes a load of damage -.-

This I do as well. I did count seconds, but found that I'm too easily distracted. I tend to cast PS whenever I feel I need to... when the ele takes a lot of damage, when the turtle does the ping before it fires, when I may need to move away from the gate for awhile, when I'm hexed (one cast before I sit it out), when I'm being degen'ed (one cast before I save the energy to heal myself)... etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terrible

Life Attunement - I just want to save them, who cares if they kill people :P

That's true, anyone they kill will be rez'ed anyway. As long as they live, the gate stands. Also, you're forcing the Luxons to the other gate. You're effectively controlling them and the map.

@ Queto: LOL... I bet that annoyed the hell out of them, or simply confused them alot.

That's a really good tactic and it works well when you have to fall back to bond Gunther. One monk standing in range of Gunther and the other by the res point out of harms way.

I was playing on the Luxon side last night, and was fortunate enough to go against a team with a bonder. I wanted to know what it was like, after knowing what I know now... and it was extremely difficult to take down the gate (acutally, I didn't take it down at all). The game was forced right to the end. We managed to kill the two gatekeepers and just needed one more strike to kill Gunther... but it was not to be.

My only thought was that the bonder should have fallen back much earlier, and not let the green gate fall. But he was too busy toying with me, as I was toying with him when green fell. It was a very close game, just one more second, and anyone of us could have killed Gunthar.

This is really to recap the importance of 'live updating' and falling back voluntarily, covered in the guide. If he knew the full situation inside, then I doubt he would have wasted his time trying to stop an assassin from getting in.

Amadei · Aug 08, 2006, 05:01 PM // 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yakumo

I guess I better start doing that. Annoy the team by pinging the NR like if it's going out of fashion.

Note that it has ticked people off before :P.

Random guy: "Stop spamming!"
Me: "I will stop spamming when someone goes out there and does something about it."

Yeah, I'm probably no fun to play with <g>

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I leave the bonds on the inner ele, and remove them as the outer ele gets bonded.

Oh, yeah, I do that too. My old bonding target only gets his bond removed when I'm safely behind the new gate and in range of my new bonding target and not a moment earlier. Sometimes, when moving from outer orange to Green (I've had to do that a lot of times, as usually my teammates can't even prevent the inner purple gate from falling, or simply aren't repairing -- oh how I wish I could bring both my mesmer and my monk into a match, and play them simultaneously... anyway) the bonds will fall on their own as the distance is too great to maintain them.

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It's really the same idea with Gunther, but it didn't occur to me.

Yeah, it just dawned on me during a match

. Saves time, effort and energy in case the Luxons are smart and have brought enchant removal, meaning you probably can't keep your ele alive indefinitely, as is the case when they have no enchant removal (a fellow monk and I both went in with bonder builds one time. She was on purple, I was on orange. Luxons couldn't breach a single gate. That was fun; they also called us "B*tch kurz monks", a badge I personally wear with pride).

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then I doubt he would have wasted his time trying to stop an assassin from getting in.

Randomly, I love assassins attacking my ele. They give me so much energy through Essence Bond

. If I have an assassin and a couple of warriors pounding my ele, I don't even need Blessed Signet to happily spam Dwayna's and Ethereal Light to keep my ele alive.

Yakumo · Aug 09, 2006, 01:44 PM // 13:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amadei

Note that it has ticked people off before :P.

Random guy: "Stop spamming!"
Me: "I will stop spamming when someone goes out there and does something about it."

Yeah, I'm probably no fun to play with <g>

Awww... At least they're talking to you.

I usually don't get any 'useful' feedback, even when I'm asking about the situation on the other side. I just get to know what weapons they wielding. Erm... Gee thanks, that's nice to know.

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Sometimes, when moving from outer orange to Green (I've had to do that a lot of times, as usually my teammates can't even prevent the inner purple gate from falling, or simply aren't repairing -- oh how I wish I could bring both my mesmer and my monk into a match, and play them simultaneously... anyway) the bonds will fall on their own as the distance is too great to maintain them.

There are times when I feel like that too (although my mesmer is still lacking experience here), just glad that it's not too often. It's all quiet at the bonded gate, none of your teammates are around, so you assume that they're all defending the other gates, running amber and such. Yet, the other gates fall and no repairs take place, so you're left wondering what everyone else is doing.

And likewise on the outer orange to green movement. I leave the bonds on, heal the ele and slap on a final Protective Spirit before making my mad dash to green. Just helps to hold them back a little longer.

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(a fellow monk and I both went in with bonder builds one time. She was on purple, I was on orange. Luxons couldn't breach a single gate. That was fun; they also called us "B*tch kurz monks", a badge I personally wear with pride).

LOL... Did that last night as well. A guildie and I entered as bonders. Three players left and the team remaining was made up of one ranger, two mesmers, and two monks. The Luxons couldn't take down any of the gates (although there were a couple of close calls). We won, but it was a very long game as no one was able to run amber. I was surprised that none of the Luxons left early... guess they just got a kick out of ganking the mesmers (was alot of mesmer hating going on there, poor mesmers).

We didn't get called any names, even though we were taunting them with emotes. Guess I'm still not good enough. >_<

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Randomly, I love assassins attacking my ele. They give me so much energy through Essence Bond.

I like MMs and their minions. I end up with so much energy that I don't know what to do with it.... with one less skill to spam, I get bored and spam emotes.

Cebe · Aug 09, 2006, 02:24 PM // 14:24

My strategy for playing Defent Fort Aspenwood is to stand in the "room" with Master Architect Gunther and a monk. I play as my Mesmer so I can hex people from behind the wall quite easily and I am rarely noticed, while the monk is protecting the elementalists. If someone does get in I've usually degenned their health enough for the rest of my team to take them out, or for me and monkey to wand them to death! I love mesmers...

Caged Fury · Aug 09, 2006, 03:31 PM // 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yakumo

I usually don't get any 'useful' feedback, even when I'm asking about the situation on the other side. I just get to know what weapons they wielding. Erm... Gee thanks, that's nice to know.

Yeah, that is kinda annoying along with constant pings of full health and energy.

I always give some sort of useful info, like if my gates are holding, whether there are no enemies outside my gate, if it's a clear run to the mines near me, etc.

I tend to try and keep my chat to a minimum these days. Got in a bit of mess once. I was bonding the orange gate and got chatting with the bonder on the purple and other team mates. Purple bonder was bored as no Luxons at purple. I was busy keeping my ele friend alive, and chatting. Purple bonder asked if I needed help, to which I said 'no' and started to reply to someone else. Then my gate fell....Oops! As I was running back to bond inner, I typed an apology/explanation and asking people not to talk to me as I'm not too good at multi-tasking. People laughed and as we started to exchange some banter, inner gate fell.....double Oops! I told everyone off for keeping me talking and not bonding. When the Luxons were pushed out by the team and the gates were repaired, Purple bonder who came over to heal people then went to bond busy orange gate and I was demoted to bonding the quieter purple gate.

Bonders and Emotes FTW!

/roar

Amadei · Aug 09, 2006, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yakumo

I usually don't get any 'useful' feedback, even when I'm asking about the situation on the other side.

Yeah, that's a bit frustrating, having to repeat "Do I need to fall back to Green?" four or five times, even after I've explained (using small words) that I'm a bonder (and what a bonder does).

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Yet, the other gates fall and no repairs take place, so you're left wondering what everyone else is doing.

It is at this point you get a chill... and you take a look... and there are Luxons beating on your Green gate guards... and you go, "Oh @^@$@!!!" and then you get that message: "The Kurzick have taken the Orange Command Point".

At least, that's always how it goes in my matches.

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I like MMs and their minions. I end up with so much energy that I don't know what to do with it.... with one less skill to spam, I get bored and spam emotes.

Oh yeah, MMs are awesome too. And as the OP mentioned, minions vs the ele's Sliver Armor = comedy gold.

Paperfly · Aug 10, 2006, 10:22 AM // 10:22

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I tend to try and keep my chat to a minimum these days.

Sooo painfully true. The number of gates I've lost due to some ill-timed typing is of the same magnitude as the number of gates I've lost to mesmers.

Yes, I am still reading... Haven't had much of a chance to bond recently, but I've been spamming Nature's Renewal on the Luxon side with my 'sin to see if that leads to any insights on how to beat that particular pernicious ranger spirit.

...So far, the already mentioned "scream in frustration at the rest of the team" technique is about as insightful as I've gotten!

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MMs are awesome too.

They bring with them the additional joy of guaranteeing that there'll be no corpses for a Well of the Profane!