my KD/AS build...

if this is the wrong forum..feel free to move it..

i've been playing around with this build in team arenas/competition arenas, and i've killed people quite easily with it..mind you thats the point of a build

16 hammer mastery (12+1+3)
10 tactics (9+1)
9 Earth

backbreaker
crushing blow
mighty blow
irresistable bow
aftershock
healing signet
(IAS speed or adrenal builder skill of your choice)
res signet

anywho, its quite basic what you do..get your adrenal up for backbreaker with your IAS/adrenal builder skill (10 adrenaline required..ouch) then crushing, then aftershock, then mighty, and irresistable if needed..they should be dead unless theres 2 monks on the team..in which case, hope your other party members do some damage to back you up if it doesn't kill..

suggestions/comments?

Hammer bash

Drop healing signet for hammer bash, move tactics into strength. Devastating hammer is also a great knockdown skill, you'll be able to use it more often than backbreaker and with stoneskin gauntlets it is a 3 second knockdown.

Quote: Originally Posted by Banebow

I would say devastating hammer, is a must have just for the knockdown ability... being able to disrupt a healing spell or sig would be dynomite!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Kassad

...backbreaker is a 4 second knockdown..that gives me enough time to use crushing and aftershock and mighty blow before they get up, and as i have said, that is a ton of damage as i have killed monks/mesmers/necros/elementalists with it just in the small combo, so although devasting recharges faster, it can't be used to the same effect..

grim, the suggestion was made to add in hammer bash as an additional kd to your combo. that extra second provided by backbreaker might not be worth the extra 3 hits you need to charge it up when compared to devastating hammer, but that choice is yours to make. either way, you should add in hammer bash as an extra knockdown.

Quote: Originally Posted by Draeco_Smash

you do lose all of your adrenaline, but it shouldn't matter so much if you use it at the end of your combo. you would have already used up the adrenaline for backbreaker and mighty blow anyway.

aftershock is overrated
this seems to be what the best knockdown spikers use:

16 hammer
* str
*open attribute line*

zealous and stoneskin

frenzy
sprint/rush (i use rush for energy management)
irresistable
devastating
crushing
heavy hammer
res
*open skill*

just frenzy up with irresitable (which does some very nasty dps)
when you do your knockdown without frenzy go irresistable->crushing->heavy
if you set it up right you can go devastating->crushing->irresistable->heavy while using frenzy which can kill a fully healed monk
btw if you dont add an extra hit in between crushing and heavy, be it irresistable or anything else, your target will still be getting up and therefore heavy wont knock them down a second time

Adding conditional things to knockdowns (such as the target needing weakness) is a good way to find yourself wasting the skill. Again, hammer bash is generally better because A) You only have to hit, it does not matter if the target is weakend or not, B) "losing all adrenaline" matters not one bit when it is the last skill in your adrenaline chain, and C) You can use it on someone else if your target is dead after devastating but before heavy blow (say, an air ele was helping you)

uh here it goes again....
the possibility of weakness getting removed before you hit devastating (which RARELY happens in 4v4, .1% probability), the ability to randomly knock someone else down with hammer bash (not that important), are not enough reason to replace heavy hammer which gives your hammer build an extremely lethal boost for hammer bash in 4v4.

And if dev. hammer misses? If that 32 extra damage is enough for you to kill someone, you can get that just as easily by calling your target rather than trying to solo-kill.

who cares if dev hammer misses, you simply start over. Not like hammer bash is going to make or break any thing.
and yes extra +32 matters (if +damage is not important, them why do ppl use attack skills ;/) it can easily be the difference between killing even the most skilled monks or having them rehealing themselves