Duncan NM help and build discussion

EDIT: Search yields mostly seeking for services and I couldn't find any real tactics on killing duncan. The wiki hasn;t really been too helpful in this case either.

Here is the build I used to do all of slavers with and 90%of NM dungeons with no problems at all. I was just cleaning up things I hadn't done for legendary master of the north. I use a water ele because I generally play with a friend who plays either water or fire, and water works better for snaring with roj. Stolen speed is a recent thing but it's been working wonders and I love it in combo with Roj. That too would be used by a friend if he was online or we both needed the same things. I've done a few vanq's with this build and it works well, and really thats all I have left to do besides WoC(both hm and nm) which this has also fair quite well in. However, after breezing through most of Slavers(forgeweight is always a bitch) I cleared all the way up to Duncan, only to find I couldn't kill him worth a shit. I used to SC Dungeons and Elite areas so all HM was done and I used to just sliver tank him to nothing. I'd never tried killing him otherwise. So here is my question, how can I change my build to make the fight against Duncan easier?



P.S. - In the event that I feel I'm being overwhelmed by mobs or something while Vanqing, hasn't happened yet but I have a lot to go, should I drop the Water ele? I can put shared burdens instead of inept for snare and the water ele could be a UA or another RoJ or even another Mesmer. Good Idea?

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Duncan_the_Black
Really, the information is all there.

Swapping is the easiest probably. Also, at the very least take Anguish and Spirit Siphon on the player and Maelstrom on the water necro.

I really don't ever need SS on my rit bar. Would you swap out vamprisim for anguish?

Duncan's talk page has a bunch of strategies

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/talkuncan_the_Black

I haven't done duncan in a while, but as far as I know there haven't been any chances to the strategies for beating him. One really easy way to do it is to first swap out all the spirits (this is best done with an assassin secondary, unless you have a human sin in your group). After you've swapped out the spirits, what I usually do is to flag a single necro hero in his range. The hero should have spoil victor (and pretty much whatever else you want). Have another hero keep prot spirit on the necro at all times, and heal the necro as needed. It will take a few minutes, since he has so much health, but after a while Duncan will be down to the point where S.V. doesn't dmg him anymore. After that, simply blitz him with the full team and he'll go down. Its pretty easy, you just have to micro a few skills.

Note: this strategy also works in HM. Also, you might find a lot of slavers gets easier if you bring the ranger spirit that prevents rezzing (though depending on how much your team mates die, this may hurt you too... beware!)

Good hunting!

Quote: Originally Posted by Net The Nabi

I really don't ever need SS on my rit bar. Would you swap out vamprisim for anguish? No, I'd swap out the rez. Though I suppose you'd run out of energy then. Don't even know how you manage now as you can't even spam Painful Bond and Summon Spirits alone without running out of energy.

@Tess - I run radiant attunement with a high energy staff. I usually have 60+ energy and it regens more than fast enough.

@Captain - Thanks for the advice, I think swap really is gonna be the only way I can do it, and seeing as i'm a sin primary fitting it in isnt a problem, swapping itself can just be a bitch, it was the hardest part of the speed clear.

As you've already said, using Swap would be the easiest way. You can do it without swap; it just takes longer. But since you are talking about NM, it shouldn't be bad. But upon looking at your skill bars, you don't have much sustainable single target damage against Duncan himself, which is probably the main problem you were having.

Since he has an "permanent" PI, id suggest not taking skills that does dmg back to the source;
Hero casts RoD> you get hit by duncans skills(dmg1)>duncans defence goes off>dmg2.

Casting PI on duncan in HM is fun, but instakill.
NM might not hurt that much, but it Will do more harm than good.

Quote: Originally Posted by Olle

Since he has an "permanent" PI, id suggest not taking skills that does dmg back to the source;
Hero casts RoD> you get hit by duncans skills(dmg1)>duncans defence goes off>dmg2.

Casting PI on duncan in HM is fun, but instakill.
NM might not hurt that much, but it Will do more harm than good. That's why you should have prot spirit if you go anywhere near Duncon ,or HM in general... or well... anywhere.

Why not take a real spirit spammer and you play a sin with your sin btw?
Unless you like to spirit spam of course but just asking.

Quote: Originally Posted by Captain Bulldozer That's why you should have prot spirit if you go anywhere near Duncon ,or HM in general... or well... anywhere. With Shelter it's really unneeded, however I do love the skill when I'm looking for more mobility, I never micro an emo but often micro soul twisters.

I can tell you, from first hand, that with PvX's 7hero player support and any melee you're perfectly able to Duncan both in NM and HM; beware when pulling with the dwarves, in duncan's map kill everything laying around, then Swap the spirits away, flag your heroes outside Duncan's range and in casting range of you, and nuke him (make sure the ST got Shelter and Union on before you fight, otherwise you can forget it).

If you got flagging skillz you can also have the heroes fight with you, but that requires you to pay very careful attention to Spirit Rifts (also, flag the ST away from the casting range of Duncan; he's not adding anything, and those spirits are necessary, so you can't afford them being blown apart in a Rift).

I was able to do it very simply with swap, and yes I flagged out of rifts.