Soloing early on..

Does anybody know of a good build (I don't care about the class combinations) that can handle a good chunk of the game with just itself and henchmen?

And, if possible, a build that doesn't rely on a skill I can't get until I'm level 20 and a third of the way through the game. Just something that will allow me to use henchies for quests without a huge leap in difficulty. I'd prefer if it wasn't a monk or mesmer primary, though..

Thanks in advance.

My first time through I didn't party with anyone but henchmen until I got to Lion's Arch. By then I just got annoyed with everything and just zipped through that whole part and decided to party up.

I was at the time a w/n, using blood magic and a sword. The only skills that I recall my guy using was Frenzy, Healing Signet, Res Signet, Sever Artery, Gash, Vampiric Gaze, Vampiric Touch, and I believe Watch Yourself. It may have been Power Attack, can't remember.

If you'd like to solo, as in without henchmen and party members alike, warriors in general do well in the beginning areas of the game, but you have to supply them with armor and weapons, something some classes don't depend on.

Pure soloing, without any henchmen, is best suited for a W/Mo earlier on and a Mo/Me or Mo/W later on. Playing with henchmen, any class works fine. Monks have a slightly easier time than the other classes.

I "soloed" pretty much everything with my Me/W with henchies. Got to crystal desert without partying iwth anyone but henchies (except for aurora glade mission, god I hate that one). Then I deleted him because he was boring. Soloing with henchies is boring, though, I sometimes prefer their company. Now I do it mostly with guildmates, or sometimes I go with the odd group. (With my monk, or with my necro). You can "solo" using any class really.

But if you want to "Solo-solo", then you would either have to have a mo/ or a /mo just to keep your life up.

I found it much easier to solo without henchmen as a necro. My other is a E/Mo and my new N/R can solo muuuuch easier in the begining to middle of the game. Just with bone horrors alone. Even in the undead areas, there are still "some" things that drop corpses. Im having a lot of fun with it.

*oh ya, and if you add blood magic into the mix you have your healing solved.*