Guide to the Norn Fighting Tournament

This is a guide to the Norn Fighting Tournament, accessed from Gunnar's Hold.

Tactics
First thing to do is to display your Norn rank title if not already. As the Norn Fighting Tournament takes place in Norn territory, this is an easy health bonus, even at rank 1.

There are many physical attackers, so your build must contain defense against them. You can either use skills that:
 * Give you a block chance, such as Guardian, Critical Defenses, Mirage Cloak, or the many warriors' and rangers' defense stances.
 * Shutdown the enemy by causing them to miss via Blind or hexes, such as Blurred Vision.

Next, you need to defend yourself against spellcasters.
 * You can use Protective Spirit, Spirit Bond, or Union to reduce damage you take and then equip healing skills to heal yourself again.
 * Make your enemy unable to cast spells through Daze or frequent/permanent knock down.

In both cases, offense can be the best defense. Kill your opponent quickly enough, for example with a strong Assassin attack chain, that they can't even react. Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support in combination with a pet can help you greatly. A Signet of Spirits-based Ritualist spirit lord build is also an easy method to win, even with a non-primary Ritualist spirit lord.

To make fights easier, you should be able to shutdown enemy defenses and healing. For Monks, this means you need to daze them or knock them down. Physical attackers have block stances sometimes, you can get around those by attacking with non-attack skills (such as signets and spells), using skills that bypass blocking, punish blocking or removes stances. Of course, depending on your profession and build, you will need to defend yourself, too. For example, as a physical attacker, you will need a skill to remove Blind from yourself.

Round 6
Now there's one last challenge: Magni the Bison, or in rare cases Palawa Joko.
 * For Magni, look at the melee counters. Protective Spirit is also a good choice. If using hexes or conditions to counter Magni's melee, keep in mind that he has Purge Signet; consider using a less important condition or hex to get him to use it early.
 * To defeat Palawa Joko, you will need a counter healing skill, like Scourge Healing.
 * It is also possible to defeat Magni simply by spamming "You Move Like A Dwarf!" (YMLAD) with at least Norn rank 3, whilst running from him and using Weaken Knees.
 * Another easy method to defeat Magni (and the rest of the tournament) is with a beast master build. A well buffed pet can easily withstand Magni's attacks with proper healing, and just as easily cut him down.
 * For Necromancers, or those with a Necromancer secondary, Grenth's Balance can be an excellent option due to his high health and damage output, and the fact that you don't actually need to kill him.
 * It's very easy to defeat Magni being Mesmer, you only need Ignorance and Crippling Anguish. Just keep both hexes on for the whole (short and easy) fight.
 * An easy method is to use this template: OANCc8vkN5N4uIAAAAAAAAAA. Use YMLAD followed by Necrosis and Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support after, keep using Necrosis and YMLAD, it's recommend to add Gaze of Contempt or Strip Enchantment to counter the 55 Monk. Against Magni, you just use YMLAD with Necrosis and Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support, kite him once he comes near to you and use YMLAD again to avoid him from attacking you.