Mending is the ultimate healing skill. Inspired by this thread and by the popular premade which many players nickname "paladin", I felt compelled to push the survival strategy to its extreme. I am hereby delivering the "state of the art" mending build for PvE (and possibly for CA). This build is a combination of Iron Man's armor, and of Wolverine's healing factor. You just can't pass up such a l33t combo.
Are you playing a W/Mo? Do you like mending for its ability to heal you for free? Do you love to be the last man standing and to be the hero who resurrects everybody else? Great! You'll love this build.
First of all, never forget that you want to be a HERO. Not a tank, not a friendly team mate, not a team player, or even a useful solo-warrior, or a damage dealer. Just a lonely hero. You want to outlive your group, to run away and to resurrect your team. They'll thank you for saving the mission, and you'll be their hero.
Now let's examine the build. The core is obviously the best healing skill of the game: Mending. You want 3 pips of free regeneration. 6hp/sec and it's gratis. Of course, most experienced paladins know it's not enough to survive frantic fights, so you need more. You'll also use Watchful Spirit for an extra 2pips. Clever minded readers will realize it's not as good as the ultimate mending. But it's still a free healing. As a hero you'll need these extra regeneration pips.
Now here's a tricky part. To go above this 5pip limit, you need help from the outside, more precisely from an ally. Of course, you'll remain the main hero, and this ally will be your sidekick. You're batman, he's robin. The combo revolves around Succor (another fabulous skill). Your sidekick must be a monk (either primary or secondary, it doesn't matter). Use succor on your robin, and ask him to use succor on you. Result? You both lose one energy pip to maintain Succor, but you also gain one energy pip *and* 1hp pip from succor. Total gain 1 hp pip on both of you, and it's free!
Now that you've reached a grand total of 6 hp pip (12 hp/sec!!! always!!!), you need to be smart. First of all, a good hero has a great armor. So you need skills to enhance your armor level. You'll be using Watch Yourself and Dolyak Signet for more than 50 extra AL! That's a grand total of 130AL vs elemental and more than 150 vs physical, which translates into a measly 20% of normal damage. Add to that damage absorption from rune, knight armor and shield. With such a defense, the incoming damage will be almost negligible. Of course you cannot be too cautious, so you'll equip Bonetti's Defense to gain an extra 75% dodge as well as a great energy engine (for your resurrect spells obviously).
Stupid players could argue that in some areas, you'll encounter armor ignoring damage or even DoT. So what? Who's afraid of weak mesmers anyway? If you really want to be spell and condition proof, just equip Healing Breeze to counter them. If your enchantments are removed, blame your team mates for not being able to stop that. And always remember to blame the monk if you die.
Anyway, now that you are nearly invulnerable, you need to round up the build with your hero skillset. Everybody knows a good hero is someone able to run away and rez his team. So you'll equip a sprint and a resurrect spell. Rebirth is your best option if stupid team mates die in the middle of an enemy group.
So the final build is
- Mending
- Watchful Spirit
- Succor
- Watch Yourself
- Dolyak Signet
- Bonetti's Defense (or Healing Breeze)
- Sprint
- Rebirth
As for attributes:
- High Strength (13 max)
- High Tactics
- Healing (enough to get 3 pips from mending)
- The rest in your weapon (you don't need to deal damage anyway)
Equipment doesn't really matter but a real hero looks cool and unique. Buy a FoW armor with globs of ectoplasm or gold from ebay, and don't forget to dye your armor black. For your weapon, you want something insanely expensive and rare. Stats don't really matter, but take a good weapon just in case you meet an expert. Everybody knows the best option is a perfect sundering crystalline sword of fortitude (don't worry if someone says sundering is useless or that crystalline is ugly, it's the price that counts!). For your shield, you could either take an expensive green one, or a perfect gold eternal shield (this 80s plastic toy assuredly fits your hero build).
How do you play this build? It's pretty straightforward. First of all, you need a pick up group (PuG) with bad monk(s). The worst your monk, the better. Don't pick henchmen monks as they are good enough to save your allies. Preferably pick the worst random players, or players who are so desperate to pass a mission they'll accept any invite. The more chaotic and the less coordinated your group, the better your chances to save the day. Of course, you want to avoid other W/Mo as they may try to compete with you for the hero badge.
Wait until your group gets near a big fat mob. You don't want to be an obvious leeroy (or your hero cover will be blown), so wait until your group has engaged the enemy and *then* aggro nearby patrols and have your party killed. Your allies will be busy killing the first group so you can safely aggro unnoticed.
Switch on armor enhancers and breeze/bonetti as soon as possible. Try to fuel your adrenaline by attacking the nearest opponent (you don't have to kill them). If your team mates start to flee, follow them but DON'T USE SPRINT. Be sure to hit monsters from time to time, and keep the aggro and to bring them with you. You want to attract monsters with you to ensure the death of your allies.
Once you're the only one left alive, your succor will be broken. Get ready to flee when your dolyak signet ends. Activate sprint and run away. Let your party believe you may not have a resurrect spell (they'll be relieved when you tell them you do have one). Come back and rebirth from a distance. Rinse and repeat a few times (it gets easier as your team gets Death Penalty). And voilà! You're the group hero!
Enjoy your new friends!
If you have a better secret PvE build, please share it with us. Comments and suggestions (or even criticisms) are welcome. Just keep them light-hearted.
like LoLz omg, I'm gonna be the most uber-l33t PvE W/Mo hero!!
