PvP Team Build discussion

T

Tsawdak

New Member
I realize that we want our discussions about build for our PvP team quite, but I was wondering if anyone has ever setup a group email discussion before. I got some things I would like to talk over about my characters, but I don't want to talk about builds openly. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've done a Yahoo group before.

My main question is about tactics within a team. Which skills are better for PvP as opposed to PvE.
 
First of all-- I think we might be a bit paranoid about posting our builds. I mean, we're probably not the most prominent Guild Wars group around (that would be The Fianna, and they do post their builds). However, your point is well taken.

I'm thinking we need to get a dedicated PvP team together (preferably 8, but we can start with 4) that would agree to meet at a certain time once a week for that purpose.

I'd very much like to see our PvP leaders arrange something like that . ;)

(Hint, hint.)

<elbow nudge>
 
[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff said:
First of all-- I think we might be a bit paranoid about posting our builds. I mean, we're probably not the most prominent Guild Wars group around
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I like your point. I don't mind posting my builds, especially after last night's fiasco regarding Tombs. I tried Tombs for the first time since launch. :eek: i was unprepared for the undead team. It usually takes me some time to size up what is going on. So it wasn't until the second try that I realized that the opposing Hero is probably the one I should have been targeting.

After the second humiliation, I left to try and get my monk to the actual ascension missions themselves. Needless to say I came close, but didn't actually get to any of the missions. :( Well there is always another night.

Now I am wondering if becoming a Mes/Protection Monk isn't that bad of an idea. I am seriously thinking about redoing my mes/monk, including changing secondary profession. I could use some experienced feedback.

Thanks. frustrated player.
 
I am a Monk/Warrior. I originally started out with several ranks in swordplay, but as I’ve approached the endgame (I just cleared dragon’s lair) I have recognized that my armor doesn’t fare as well on the front lines anymore, so I have altered my build somewhat

My current configuration: Mo/W 20

Healing: 9 + 1 rune = 10
Smiting: 9 + 1 rune = 10
Protection: 3 + 1 rune = 4
Divine Favor: 10 + 1 rune + 1 scalp = 12
Tactics: 3

Equipment:
Censor’s Armor (60 armor, +10 v. physical)
Rune of Minor Vigor
2 handed staff, +4 armor, +14 energy, 11-22 fire damage

Essentially I chose 3 primary attributes, then spent the leftovers on Protection and Tactics. I did fiddle with the numbers, and it does seem that Protection and Tactics are less affected by attribute for the skills I tend to carry.

Here is my typical PvE build

Word of Healing (elite) or Heal Other
Orison of Healing or Vigorous Spirit
Signet of Devotion
Aegis
“Watch Yourself!”
Balthazaar’s Aura or Signet of Judgement
Zealot’s Fire
Rebirth

In other words, usually 3 healing, 1 protect, 1 tactic, 2 smiting, and 1 resurrection

I have done only a small amount of PvP, and this was my “test-drive” PvP build

Word of Healing (elite)
Orison of Healing
Signet of Devotion
Aegis
“Watch Yourself!”
Zealot’s Fire
Balanced Stance
Resurrection Signet

I found balanced stance to be a bit less useful than I anticipated, and might consider something else, perhaps a smiting spell or maybe even Bonetti’s defense.
 
Tsawdak said:
I like your point. I don't mind posting my builds, especially after last night's fiasco regarding Tombs. I tried Tombs for the first time since launch. :eek: i was unprepared for the undead team. It usually takes me some time to size up what is going on. So it wasn't until the second try that I realized that the opposing Hero is probably the one I should have been targeting.

After the second humiliation, I left to try and get my monk to the actual ascension missions themselves. Needless to say I came close, but didn't actually get to any of the missions. :( Well there is always another night.

Now I am wondering if becoming a Mes/Protection Monk isn't that bad of an idea. I am seriously thinking about redoing my mes/monk, including changing secondary profession. I could use some experienced feedback.

Thanks. frustrated player.
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Having monk skills enhanced by fast casting is a nice build, especially with healing. Of course, your character is purely a support build, although I really like Empathy, Clumsiness, and some of the other Mesmer spells. They can really mess with people. If you failed to get to any of the actual missions, was it because of you or the rest of your party?

As a monk, I've experimented with being both a protection monk and a healing monk, and in general I found the healing monk to be more serviceable in the field, although there are a couple of protection skills I like.
 
Musings on the Anti-Caster Role

I enjoy playing a Mesmer and I've initially decided that a Mesmer look, but all Monk Spells isn't something I want to do. I've been musing about the Anti-Caster role. I really like that role for the Mesmer. Rather than looking at it from the Mesmer point of view I've tried to look at it from a generic point of view. I've broken Anti-Caster down to a few basic categories of operation. They are:


Interrupter - Keep the spell from going off.
Drainer - Keep the caster from casting spells.
Kaboom - Hurt the caster.
Stripper - Remove the effects of spells (Hexes, Enchantments)
Distracter - Make the caster focus on something else other than casting on others.

I am leaning toward Interrupter and Drainer. Up till now I'd say that my Mes/Monk was a Kaboom style with some Drainer. I am also reevaluating my secondary profession to see which one would fit best with the Interrupter and Drainer style of play.

I've also been thinking about who would be the target of my Anti-Casting. Is it the Monk or maybe the Mesmer. I've been thinking of becoming an Anti-Mesmer Mesmer. The idea is that if I can shutdown a Mesmer, then our Monks would have an easier time. Following the Naval idea of an Anti-Sub Sub. Taking out the enemy sub makes my fleet safe. So, taking down the Mesmer would make the Monk safer. This role means Fast Casting is a vital stat. I need to out duel the other Mes. Interrupt and drain them faster than they can cast. I don't know if any teams have multi Mesmers on them, but I do know of the Multi-Monk teams. I am still doing skill assessments and stuff. So what do you guys think of this idea of a Anti-Mesmer Mesmer?
 
The strongest PvP build I have right now is an interrupting archer one for Val. I've had it since I was about level 17 (three weeks ago, maybe?) and I've spent several hours refining it in the Arena. No Incendiary Arrows seems like an odd choice, but the way I have it set up you can spray interrupts much more regularly since Marksman's Wager gives you such a positive energy flow.

Here's what I've got:

Weapon
Icy Composite Bow of Marksmanship
Cold Dmg: 15-28 (req. 10 Marksmanship)
Damage +15% (while in a stance)
Marksmanship +1 (10% chance while using skills)
Damage +20%
Two-handed
Value: 248 gold
Customized for Val Paraiso

Armor
Archer's Mask and Droknar's Forge Druid Armor, with base stats:
Armor: 70
Armor +30 (v. elemental attacks)
Infused

Mask comes with Marksmanship +1.
Total, I have five runes on my armor:
Major Expertise
Minor Marksmanship
Minor Beast Mastery
Minor Wilderness Survival
Minor Vigor

Attributes

R/Mo20

Protection Prayers: 2
Beast Mastery: 3
Expertise: 10
Wilderness Survival: 8
Marksmanship: 14

Remaining Attribute points: 2

Health: 460
Energy: 31 (with +3 normal regeneration)


Skills
(the energy cost in parentheses is the actual energy cost due to Expertise)

1. Marksman's Wager [Energy: 5 (3)]
Elite Preparation. For 12 seconds, you gain 8 Energy whenever your arrows hit, but lose 10 Energy whenever your arrows fail to strike.

2. Serpent's Quickness [Energy: 5 (3)]
Stance. For 23 seconds, recharge times for your skills are reduced by 33%. Serpent's Quickness ends if your health drops below 50%.

3. Debilitating Shot [Energy: 10 (6)]
Bow Attack. If Debilitating Shot hits, your target loses 10 energy.

4. Distracting Shot [Energy: 5 (3)]
If Distracting Shot hits, it interrupts target foe's action but deals only 1-11 damage. If the interrupted action was a skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 20 seconds.

5. Savage Shot [Energy: 10 (6)]
If Savage Shot hits, your target's action is interrupted. If that action was a spell, you strike for 27 damage.

6. Whirling Defense [Energy: 10 (6)]
For 16 seconds, you have a 75% chance to "Block" attacks. Whenever you block a projectile this way, adjacent foes take 9 piercing damage.

7. Troll Unguent [Energy: 5 (3)]
Skill. For 10 seconds, you gain Health regeneration +7.

8. Rebirth [Energy: 10 (10)]
Spell. Resurrect target party member, teleporting him to your location. All of target's skills are disabled for 9 seconds. This spell consumes all of your remaining energy.

The goal here is to target a caster (Elementalists and Monks are my favorite) then, when within range, activate Serpent's Quickness and continuously hit them with 3, 4, and 5 as fast as possible. The high Expertise will let you use them continuously past when your Quickness fades, and once you do scrape the bottom of the energy barrel, use Marksman's Wager to get it back up just in time for the Quickness to return. And, since Wager is a "Preparation" and Quickness is a "Stance," you can actually have both running at the same time.

Whirling Defense can be replaced with Favorable Winds if you know that your party isn't going to move much. However, I like Whirling Defense better most of the time because, A., it's another Stance so I can get the damage bonus on my bow even when I don't have Quickness on me, and B., Warriors kill this build pretty easily, and the 16 seconds that Whirling buys you are just long enough for your party to notice that you're about to get bum rushed.

Rebirth may seem like an odd choice because it takes all your energy, but I like it because the place you're standing should be a safe hill on the edge of the battle, so it teleports people out of the heat, and also because instead of the usual 8-second cast time, Rebirth is only 6 seconds. Besides, with Marksman's Wager, you can start recovering energy super-fast after only 1.5 seconds (.5 seconds for you to obtain 3 energy, 1 second for the Wager cast time).

So altogether, I would estimate that you can spray about 35 interrupts per minute. With the long cast time of most Elementalist skills, that's incredibly frustrating.
 
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Tsawdak said:
II've also been thinking about who would be the target of my Anti-Casting. Is it the Monk or maybe the Mesmer. I've been thinking of becoming an Anti-Mesmer Mesmer. The idea is that if I can shutdown a Mesmer, then our Monks would have an easier time. Following the Naval idea of an Anti-Sub Sub. Taking out the enemy sub makes my fleet safe. So, taking down the Mesmer would make the Monk safer. This role means Fast Casting is a vital stat. I need to out duel the other Mes. Interrupt and drain them faster than they can cast. I don't know if any teams have multi Mesmers on them, but I do know of the Multi-Monk teams. I am still doing skill assessments and stuff. So what do you guys think of this idea of a Anti-Mesmer Mesmer?
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I like the idea. As a monk, I tend to get hit with backfire and other choice mesmer spells, which handicap my ability to heal. Rather than trying to put out fires by removing hexes, it would be nice if we could clear it out at the source.
 
I had thought about a team build built around at least 6 people with Monk as a main or a secondary, and having each of them carry Pacifism. Each person with that skill throws it on a different opponent (besides their monk(s)), giving us 12-14 free seconds to destroy their monk(s). It's in no way foolproof, but man would that be fun to try.
 
I don't think pacifism prevents offensive spells, but it would drive the warriors crazy, and that alone would be worth the price of admission.
 
I know it makes rangers fairly useless :p Hated getting pacified by those "weeds" in the mountains! I'll have to see if there is any skill I could use while pacified... I don't think I could use anything.
 
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