User:Tadjinar/Hero-Hench

The Builds

Mo/E Zealous Benediction

• 12 Healing Prayers, 3 Protection Prayers, 12 Divine Favor

Mo/X Light of Deliverance

• 8 Healing Prayers, 12 Protection Prayers, 10 Divine Favor

Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards

• 9 Soul Reaping, 12 Curses, 9 Earth Magic
• Wards can be micromanaged for best placement, although this is not vital.

Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master

• 3 Blood Magic, 12 Death Magic, 12 Soul Reaping

Hero: Me/Mo Inspiration/Illusion Disrupter

• 6 Fast Casting, 11 Illusion Magic, 12 Inspiration Magic

Hero: Mo/Me Interrupt/Protection Hybrid

• 9 Inspiration Magic, 12 Protection Prayers, 9 Divine Favor
• Disable Life Barrier and manually maintain it on key NPCs.

Hero: R/X Broad Head Arrow

• 10 Expertise, 10 Wilderness Survival, 11 Marskmanship

Fort Ranik

Party

• Monk: Mo/E Zealous Benediction; replace Zealous Benediction with Divert Hexes; Seed of Life with Dismiss Condition
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: Me/Mo Inspiration/Illusion Disrupter

Strategies/usage notes

• Divert Hexes is useful both for removing the Charr Ash Walkers' Lingering Curse and healing heavily hexed party members.

Ruins of Surmia / Nolani Academy

Party

• Monk: Mo/E Zealous Benediction; replace Seed of Life with Convert Hexes
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: Mo/Me Interrupt/Protection Hybrid

Strategies/usage notes

• In groups with only one Charr Martyr, it is sometimes effective to attack other targets and switch to the Martyr after it has used Infuse Health a few times (but before it can self-heal).
• After Rurik uses Stormcaller in Nolani Academy, you can rush down and pull one or two groups of Charr before Rurik comes. By taking out a few groups in advance, you can make sure that when Rurik comes down you only have to fight a manageable number of enemies.
• Use Convert Hexes primarily to remove Lingering Curse when fighting Charr Ash Walkers; check your hero bars to see who it has been cast on (if it has not been cast on a minion).
• Maintain Life Barrier on Prince Rurik.

Possible improvements

• Defile Flesh and Inspired Enchantment assist in defeating mobs with 2+ healers; however, this alone may be ineffective. I was barely able to take down a group of 2 Charr Martyrs and a Charr Shaman in Ruins of Surmia. Additional anti-monk skills may be optimal.

Borlis Pass

Party

• Monk: Mo/E Zealous Benediction; replace Seed of Life with Convert Hexes
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: Mo/Me Interrupt/Protection Hybrid
• Dunham
• Little Thom

Strategies/usage notes

I did Borlis Pass using the same build as for Ruins of Surmia/Nolani Academy (I forgot to change out Convert Hexes >_>) It turned out alright anyway; Convert Hexes nicely took care of the Frostfire Dryders in the bonus area. There were a few deaths, but overall the mission was not a significant threat using the build.

D'Alessio Seaboard

Party

• Monk: Mo/E Zealous Benediction
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: Me/Mo Inspiration/Illusion Disrupter
• Hero: Mo/Me rofl i am teh smite: 10 Inspiration Magic, 12 Smiting Prayers, 8 Divine Favor

• Dunham
• Orion

Strategies/usage notes

• Saving Benji Makala is easy enough: hug the wall south while killing mobs to avoid spawning him as long as possible. Once he does spawn, immediately run to him and protect him; kill the boss attacking him AFTER taking care of any nearby mobs, so that he does not aggro more.
• Approaching Confessor Dorian is a little tricky. There are two groups of Grasping Ghouls (4 per group) that run in his direction. I aggroed the closer one as soon as possible, killed three, and started running for Dorian as my party cleaned up the fourth. By that time the second group had killed the NPC before Dorian, and we chased them up to Dorian- he was still over half health when we got there. After killing that group and the first wave, we had enough time for Dorian to make it to the Mending Shrine, which makes matters much easier.
• Defending Confessor Dorian is by far the hardest part of the mission. The only advice I can give is to make sure that (1) you kill all enemy Monks before anything else, and (2) you kill all waves before the next wave spawns. If it takes too long to kill a wave, then you will quickly become overwhelmed. With a smiter in the party, you should be able to throw out enough holy damage to overcome each wave before the next one hits.

Divinity Coast

Party

• Monk: Mo/E Zealous Benediction
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: Mo/Me Interrupt/Protection Hybrid
• Dunham
• Little Thom

Strategies/usage notes

• There are a few villagers under attack that you have to save; run up to them (Thom might use Charge) and manually cast Life Barrier on them, as well as Seed of Life and Protective Spirit. This should keep them up with no problem; maybe use a heal or two.
• In particular, the villager in the middle of the merchant area with the several Tengu groups will probably come under threat before you have killed the previous group. I let my party aggro the previous group and rushed ahead to prot the villager; the Tengu remained aggroed onto him, so I was not at risk. I continued to support my party with Aegis, although they didn't really need it. By the time I was able to recast Seed of Life on the villager, my party had already taken care of the previous group and I was able to take the second group with no problems. I managed to do exactly this twice in a row, so I believe it is a reliable strategy.
• Get the villager near the ettins after the previous villager by the merchants; both times I did this they had not aggroed the villager, which I imagine would have made matters more difficult.
• Probably the most dangerous part of this mission is the poison bog at the end. Be VERY careful not to let your party get pulled into the poison; this happened to me the first time when I was trying to kill the group with two monks (the Ranger boss also spawned there, which was EXTREMELY unfortunate). I think this part relies heavily on your boss spawns.

Possible improvements

• I don't think that Convert Hexes is necessary on the Mo/Me hero; replacing it with Dismiss Condition would probably be better.

Riverside Province

Party

• Monk: Mo/E Zealous Benediction
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: Mo/Me Interrupt/Protection Hybrid (or not; see possible improvements)
• Dunham
• Orion

Strategies/usage notes

• Regarding pulling: it is CRITICAL that you have an inhuman amount of patience in pulling enemies here. You want to make sure that you pull enemies literally as far as they can stretch-- not just to pull them away from other enemies, although that is vital, but to ensure that if another group gets caught that you can immediately pull out. It is NOT safe to fight more than three enemies at a single time, and fighting both Monks (White Mantle Abbots) and Elementalists (White Mantle Savants) simultaneously is a sure recipe for a wipe.
• Attack towers at all possible angles. In particular, I find that the fourth tower is extremely difficult to attack from the first direction you come to it. I pulled as many enemies as I could from it, then moved onto the fifth tower north of it. Then I pulled as many enemies from the fourth as I could -again-, and moved to the sixth tower. After clearing that, I moved back to the fourth from yet a third angle and was able to clear it out.

Possible improvements

• It would probably be better to take the Mesmer hero than the Monk/Mesmer hero.

The Dragon's Lair

Party

• Monk: Mo/X Light of Deliverance
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: Me/Mo Inspiration/Illusion Disrupter
• Hero: R/X Broad Head Arrow
• Dunham
• Lina
• Claude
• Little Thom

Ring of Fire

• Monk: Mo/X Light of Deliverance
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: R/X Broad Head Arrow
• Dunham
• Lina
• Little Thom
• Devona

Abaddon's Mouth

Party

• Monk: Mo/X Light of Deliverance
• Hero: N/E Spiteful with Wards
• Hero: N/Rt Jagged Minion Master
• Hero: Me/Mo Insp/Dom Disrupter: 6 Fast Casting, 12 Domination Magic, 11 Inspiration Magic

Strategies/usage notes:

• This mission is REALLY hit or miss with the Mursaat bosses. The success or failure of the mission can easily hinge on which bosses spawn together. If the Monk and Necromancer bosses spawn together, it's practically game over already.
• When I succeeded, my spawns were: Necromancer+Ranger, Warrior+Mesmer, Monk+Elementalist. I barely squeaked by on the Necro and Monk bosses; the rest were fairly easy to kill. In fact, this may be one of the optimal spawns for this build.

Useful sources

• http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10159982 "Successful HM hero builds", Racthoh
• http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10161174 "Soloing Guardian of Tyria with Heroes", Melody Cross