User:Samir/ArenaMeta

Monk
Zealous Benediction builds are popular in 4 on 4 Arena PvP settings because of their ability to provide large heals on small teams. Being Protection Prayers based it is often used in tandem with protective enchatments. Glyph of Lesser Energy is often used with an Elementalist secondary, making ZB a 0 energy 190-point heal. If the target is under 50% health the monk can actually see a net gain of 7 energy (2 energy if you count the 5 energy from the glyph).

An Assassin secondary is often used for the self-defense of Shadow Arts. Because melee attackers are common in arenas, Return can be used to kite instantly, crippling your would-be attacker as well. Nothing is more annoying than building up just enough adrendaline to unload your spike when your target teleports away and leaves you crippled.

Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond are also often used in ZB builds. Usually Spirit Bond is preferred because it heals for damage taken, if the damage is high enough. Being able to reduce damage taken from say, an elementalist, from potentially 100+ damage to around 50 relieves the user of much pressure.

See http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2672.0 and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/A_Shadow_Arts_Zealous_Healer.

After the buff to Healing Prayers, Word of Healing and Glimmer of Light are becoming more common. These are often used in hybrid builds that utilize protective enchantments as well.

See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/A_WoH_Arena_Monk, http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/any_WoH_Monk , http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/A_Shadow_Arts_Glimmer_Monk, and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/Me_Glimmer_Prot.

To a lesser extent, Shield of Regeneration and Shield of Deflection are also used. Because the protection line lacks straight heals (with the exception of AB, an elite), Gift of Health is often used with these. No penalty to the caster occurs because it is never used with any other Healing Prayers.

Mesmer
In 4 on 4 arena settings, Mesmers often run shutdown builds, pressure builds, and to a lesser extent, spike builds.

A popular spike build used in RA is the Enchanter's Conundrum Spiker. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Me/A_Conundrum_Spiker and http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=4389.0.

Shutdown builds are also popular. Before the nerf to Mantra of Recovery, MoR mesmers were common. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Me/Mo_MoR_Domination_Mesmer. By decreasing recharge times, shutdown skills could be used more often. The build still works, only MoR has been changed from a 50% recharge time reduction to a 33% recharge time reduction.

From the Illusion line, Migraine builds are popular. A Migraine build, while not possessing the energy-draining abilities of a domination setup, provides additional pressure through health degeneration, increased casting times, and interrupts. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Me/Mo_Migraine_Mesmer.

Ranger
Rangers often pressure opposing teams by spreading several conditions over an entire team in short amounts of time or by interrupting heals and res sigs. The two most common ranger builds in RA are probably the Burning Arrow Ranger and Broad Head Arrow Ranger. Burning Arrow Rangers can stack poison and burning (some bring Screaming Shot for bleeding as well) on multiple targets. Heavy degeneration eats through heals and leaves monks spamming condition removal spells, allowing other team members to pick apart the opposition. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:R/Mo_Burning_Arrow_Ranger, http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=3133.0 , and http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2862.0. Often these rangers bring Mending Touch to remove blindness.

Broad Head Arrow rangers are also popular, dazing monks and also stacking bleeding and poison to cover daze. Because Broad Head Arrow can be avoided by simply strafing with the Q and E keys (many a time have I seen a target accidentally dodge a BHA), Shadow Walk is often taken with an Assassin secondary to shadow step in, hit your target with BHA at point-blank range, and then jump out by cancelling Shadow Walk with Dash or Natural Stride. However, this leaves the ranger with no Mending Touch as condition removal. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:R/Mo_Broad_Head_Arrow_Ranger.

Warrior
In arenas, the most common warrior build is the W/Mo Healing Breeze warrior. This is the epitome of what should not be run in RA, despite its recurring appearace. As for most common and most effective builds, there is at least one for each weapon attribute.

Axes are common because they provide deep wound most readily and least conditionally. However, axe builds often require an elite skill from the Axe Mastery line.

Swords provide consistent damage and often can work without an elite skill from the Swordsmanship line.

Hammers provide long knockdown durations. For instance, with Backbreaker builds, your target is at your mercy for 4 seconds.

The most common axe build uses Eviscerate and Executioner's Strike. Bull's Strike is commonly used for taking down kiting targets. Frenzy is the favored skill for increasing attack speeds and Rush is the favored cancel stance for Frenzy. Shock is used as an interrupt and knockdown with an elementalist secondary, keeping a target on the floor while you pick them apart. A Warrior/Dervish can bring Rending Touch to remove enchantments such as Shield of Regeneration, Shield of Deflection, and Guardian. These enchantments are, quite frankly, a pain in the ass to deal with, and having a means of removing them is beneficial.

See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/E_Shock_Axe, http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/D_Harrier%27s_Axe , and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/D_Rending_Touch_Axe.

A while back the Conjure Cripslash warrior was common, but after nerfs to the Conjure line they are not seen as much. Dragon Slash provides substantial pressure as well, but is not as common. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/any_Dragon_Slash_Warrior.

From the hammer line, Backbreaker is by far the most effective. A 4 second knockdown followed by a deep wound and Hammer Bash can kill most targets. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/any_Backbreaker and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/A_Death%27s_Charge_Hammer_Spiker.

Elementalist
I don't know much about elementalists nor do I play them often. Below is my limited knowledge of common elementalist builds. These are probably outdated.

Blinding Surge Elementalists can shut down the opposition's melee and are common for that reason. Gale is often brought as well to interrupt res sigs or to knock down kiting targets. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/any_B-Surge_Ele.

Mind Blast provides energy management for high-energy spiking skills such as Rodgort's Invocation. Because Fire Attuunement and other enchantments are often maintained, Mystic Regeneration adds to survivability. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/D_Mind_Blast_Elementalist and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/D_Invocation_Elementalist.

Augury of Death is also used often with Starburst to teleport in and unleash a chain of devastating point-blank-area-of-effect skills. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/D_Invocation_Elementalist.

Necromancer
Prior to changes to its recharge time, Reaper's Mark was often used to spread pressure. Nowadays most necromancers run anti-melee builds with Price of Failure and Insidious Parasite. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:N/E_Spiteful_Hexer.

Corrupt Enchantment used to be a popular skill amongst necromancers but I have not seen anyone using that in awhile now.

Augury of Death is used with Death Magic Spells to stack dconditions and health degeneration while providing a light spike towards the end with Signet of Toxic Shock. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:N/A_Toxic_Chill_Spiker.

Assassin
The 'new' Shadow Prison build uses cripple-based knockdowns and is seen often. Though the whole spike can be stopped if cripple is removed, it is great for killing stuff really fast. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/W_Trampling_SP. The "You're All Alone!" variant is more reliable bu mroe conditional. It uses a similar if not identical attack chain. See http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=4285.0.

A similar variant uses an enchantment base rather than a hex: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/D_Grenth%27s_Grasp_Assassin

Aura of Displacement Assassins also can be effective, the most common being a variant of this: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/E_AoD_Shock_Sin

Often there are those gimmicky Dancing Daggers spammers that run around, but are less common after changes to Deadly Paradox.

Shattering Assault is becoming a more used elite. The attack chain is unblockable and can remove defensive stances and enchantments. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/any_Shattering_Assault.

Ritualist
In arenas, ritualists often use either spirit builds (less so more recently after spirit nerfs) or Restoration-based builds. Defensive Weapon Spells cannot be removed, and, while they cannot stack, have substantial durations and somewhat potent effects. The most common healing ritualist builds now use Spirit Light Weapon (http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Rt/Mo_SLW_RA_Healer) and Weapon of Remedy (http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Rt/any_Alternative_Restorer). While the healing provided by ritualists is not as strong as the healing provided by a monk, it is harder to work around.

Spirits prove to be more of a constant annoyance than anything, blinding melee attackers, removing enchantments, knocking down casters, and interrupting spells. However, spirits are more vulnerable than ever to AoE damage, burning, and damage in general.

Paragon
Paragons are better in set teams rather than random ones. It is usually helpful to know what you will be supporting before setting up your bar. Motivation Paragons are beneficial in almost any situation, so those are seen in RA from time to time. Leadership is said to be one of the most imbalanced primary attributes in Guild Wars, so that is often exploited in Paragon builds.

Dervish
The most common Dervish builds in RA are by far Avatar of Melandru builds.

Avatar of Melandru gives a heft health bonus as well as immunity to conditions, allowing a Dervish to use Wearying Strike and Draw Conditions without penalty. Immunity to conditions also means invincibility against the aforementioned cripple-based Assassin chains. Many Dervishes also choose to bring Wild Blow with a Warrior Secondary, landing a critical hit with their scythes. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:D/W_AoM_Dervish.

Avatar of Lyssa Dervishes are also common. Avatar of Lyssa grants a damage bonus against foes activating skills. Dervish/Assassins often use Avatar of Lyssa and hard-hitting assassin chains to spike for large amounts of damage (in theory).

Final
Ok, here it is. I hope it works out for you. As you can probably tell some professions have really long entries and some don't--that is mostly because I don't know what goes on with that profession or because that profession is not popular in arenas. Oh, that said, the following is a list of what is popular in the Random Areanas and Team Arenas, and only the Random Arenas and Team Arenas (I am too much of a noob to know what works anywhere else).

Ok, here we go:

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[b]Monk[/b]

Zealous Benediction builds are popular because of their ability to provide large heals on small teams. Being Protection Prayers based they are used in tandem with protective enchatments, most commonly Protective Spirit, Spirit Bond, Guardian, or Reversal of Fortune (a staple in most monk bars). Glyph of Lesser Energy is often used with an Elementalist secondary, making ZB a 0 energy ~170-point heal. If the target is under 50% health the monk can actually see a net gain of 7 energy (2 energy if you count the 5 energy from the glyph).

An Assassin secondary is often used for the self-defense of Shadow Arts. Because melee attackers are common in arenas, Return can be used to kite instantly, crippling your would-be attacker as well. Nothing is more annoying than building up just enough adrendaline to unload your spike when your target teleports away and leaves you crippled.

See http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2672.0 and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/A_Shadow_Arts_Zealous_Healer.

After the buff to Healing Prayers, Word of Healing and Glimmer of Light are becoming more common. These are often used in hybrid builds that utilize protective enchantments as well.

See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/A_WoH_Arena_Monk, http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/any_WoH_Monk , http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/A_Shadow_Arts_Glimmer_Monk, and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Mo/Me_Glimmer_Prot.

To a lesser extent, Shield of Regeneration and Shield of Deflection are also used. Because the protection line lacks straight heals (with the exception of ZB, an elite), Gift of Health is often used with these. No penalty to the caster occurs because it is never used with any other Healing Prayers.

[b]Mesmer[/b]

A popular spike build used in RA is the Enchanter's Conundrum Spiker. All damage dealt from the spike is armor-ignoring, so it is effective against all classes. Augury of Death with an Assassin secondary applies deep wound, making the spike even more deadly. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Me/A_Conundrum_Spiker and http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=4389.0.

Shutdown builds are also popular. Before the nerf to Mantra of Recovery, MoR mesmers were common. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Me/Mo_MoR_Domination_Mesmer. By decreasing recharge times, shutdown skills could be used more often. In theory the build still works, only MoR has been changed from a 50% recharge time reduction to a 33% recharge time reduction.

From the Illusion line, Migraine builds are popular. A Migraine build, while not possessing the energy-draining abilities of a domination setup, provides additional pressure through health degeneration, increased casting times, and interrupts. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Me/Mo_Migraine_Mesmer.

[b]Ranger[/b]

Rangers often pressure opposing teams by spreading several conditions over an entire team in short amounts of time or by interrupting heals and res sigs. The two most common ranger builds in RA are probably the Burning Arrow Ranger and Broad Head Arrow Ranger. Burning Arrow Rangers can stack poison and burning (some bring Screaming Shot for bleeding as well) on multiple targets. Heavy degeneration eats through heals and leaves monks spamming condition removal spells, allowing other team members to pick apart the opposition. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:R/Mo_Burning_Arrow_Ranger, http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=3133.0 , and http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2862.0. Often these rangers bring Mending Touch to remove blindness.

Broad Head Arrow rangers are also popular, dazing monks and also stacking bleeding and poison to cover daze. Because Broad Head Arrow can be avoided by simply strafing with the Q and E keys (many a time have I seen a target accidentally dodge a BHA), Shadow Walk is often taken with an Assassin secondary to shadow step in, hit your target with BHA at point-blank range, and then jump out by cancelling Shadow Walk with Dash or Natural Stride. However, this leaves the ranger with no Mending Touch as condition removal. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:R/Mo_Broad_Head_Arrow_Ranger.

Of course in RA you will always see your occaisional RaO Thumper. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:R/W_Bunny_Thumper.

[b]Warrior[/b]

Axes are common because they provide deep wound most readily and least conditionally. However, axe builds often require an elite skill from the Axe Mastery line.

Swords provide consistent damage and often can work without an elite skill from the Swordsmanship line.

Hammers provide long knockdown durations. For instance, with Backbreaker builds, your target is at your mercy for 4 seconds.

The most common axe build uses Eviscerate and Executioner's Strike. Bull's Strike is commonly used for taking down kiting targets. Frenzy is the favored skill for increasing attack speeds and Rush is the favored cancel stance for Frenzy. Shock is used as an interrupt and knockdown with an elementalist secondary, keeping a target on the floor while you pick them apart. A Warrior/Dervish can bring Rending Touch to remove enchantments such as Shield of Regeneration, Shield of Deflection, and Guardian. These enchantments are, quite frankly, a pain in the ass to deal with, and having a means of removing them is beneficial.

See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/E_Shock_Axe, http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/D_Harrier%27s_Axe , and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/D_Rending_Touch_Axe.

From the sword line, Dragon Slash provides substantial pressure as well, but is not as common. Constant adrendaline gain allows the user to spam adrenal skills one after another. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/any_Dragon_Slash_Warrior.

From the hammer line, Backbreaker is by far the most effective. A 4 second knockdown followed by a deep wound and Hammer Bash provides a high damage output. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/any_Backbreaker and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:W/A_Death%27s_Charge_Hammer_Spiker.

[b]Elementalist[/b]

I don't know much about elementalists nor do I play them often. Below is my limited knowledge of common elementalist builds. These are probably outdated.

Blinding Surge Elementalists can shut down the opposition's melee and are common for that reason. Gale is often brought as well to interrupt res sigs or to knock down kiting targets. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/any_B-Surge_Ele.

Mind Blast provides energy management for high-energy spiking skills such as Rodgort's Invocation. Because Fire Attuunement and other enchantments are often maintained, Mystic Regeneration adds to survivability. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/D_Mind_Blast_Elementalist and http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/D_Invocation_Elementalist.

Augury of Death is also used often with Starburst to teleport in and unleash a chain of devastating point-blank-area-of-effect skills. I would not say it is the best way to go but it is popular. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/D_Invocation_Elementalist.

[b]Necromancer[/b]

Because of the high number of melee attackers found in RA, many necromancers choose to use anti-melee bars. Parasitic Bond is the favored cover hex. Commonly used skills are Insidious Parasite, Price of Failure, Faintheartedness, and Reckless Haste. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:N/E_Spiteful_Hexer.

Toxic Chill is often used with Augury of Death and other hexes to cause high amounts of health degeneration and trigger Signet of Toxic Shock. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:N/A_Toxic_Chill_Spiker.

[b]Assassin[/b]

The 'new' Shadow Prison build uses cripple-based knockdowns and is seen often. Though the whole spike can be stopped if cripple is removed, it is great for killing stuff really fast. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/W_Trampling_SP. The "You're All Alone!" variant is more reliable bu more conditional. It uses a similar if not identical attack chain. See http://www.guildcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=4285.0.

A similar variant uses an enchantment base rather than a hex: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/D_Grenth%27s_Grasp_Assassin

Aura of Displacement Assassins also can be effective, the most common being a variant of this: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/E_AoD_Shock_Sin

Often there are those gimmicky Dancing Daggers spammers that run around, but are less common after changes to Deadly Paradox.

Shattering Assault is becoming a more used elite. The attack chain is unblockable and can remove defensive stances and enchantments. Impale is often used for a deep wound at the end. They whole chain recharges in 4 seconds so it can be spammed as energy allows. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:A/any_Shattering_Assault.

[b]Ritualist[/b]

After nerfs to spirits, the most common arena builds for the Ritualist are Restoration-based. Unlike a monk's enchantments, defensive Weapon Spells cannot be removed, and, while they cannot stack, they usually have substantial durations and somewhat potent effects. The most common healing ritualist builds now use Spirit Light Weapon (http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Rt/Mo_SLW_RA_Healer) and Weapon of Remedy (http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Rt/any_Alternative_Restorer). While the protection provided by ritualists is not as strong as the protection provided by a monk, it is harder to work around.

[b]Paragon[/b]

Paragons are more beneficial in set teams rather than random ones, so are not common in the Random Arenas.

[b]Dervish[/b]

The most common Dervish builds in RA are by far Avatar of Melandru builds.

Avatar of Melandru gives a hefty health bonus as well as immunity to conditions, allowing a Dervish to use Wearying Strike and Draw Conditions without penalty. Immunity to conditions also means invincibility against the previously mentioned cripple-based Assassin chains. Many Dervishes also choose to bring Wild Blow with a Warrior Secondary, landing a critical hit with their scythes. See http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:D/W_AoM_Dervish.

Avatar of Lyssa Dervishes are also common. Avatar of Lyssa grants a damage bonus against foes activating skills. Dervish/Assassins often use Avatar of Lyssa and high-damage assassin chains to spike for large amounts of damage (in theory) to targets activating skills.

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