User:Aquadrizzt/Sandbox/PvP Henchmen
Jade Quarry (JQ) and Fort Aspenwood (FA) are two game modes that I happen to quite enjoy (or at least, I enjoyed them in the past). Unfortunately, as the player base of this game dwindles, these two arenas seem to have been totally overtaken by bots. I would argue, in fact, that bots are unfortunately the only thing making it possible to ever find a match. 16 players (8 per side) is simply too much.
Dmitri Fatkin proposed in their short list of changes to improve GW PvP that AI companions be permitted for these game modes. I figured this idea would be far more amenable to developers if this was limited to henchmen, both because of the (justified) big push to remove heroes from PvP and because permitting hero builds opens up all sorts of problems about AI skill usage.
Jade Quarry[edit]
In JQ, a player may bring along one companion, effectively halving the player requirement (4 players per side).
As each player can only bring a single henchmen, I'd argue you only need an handful of henchmen (I've gone with 3-4) in order to provide flexibility. As JQ is at its core a rotation-based game mode (where usually single players will sneak objectives while larger groups fight over Yellow), I also thought it would be nice if there were some henchmen that could be flagged away (either to an objective or a location on the map) so that solo builds like necrobombers wouldn't be negatively affected by the reliance on henchmen to fill battles.
I have limited the skills available to these henchmen to only Core and Factions skills. Primarily, this is to lessen optimization to comparable player builds, and also give some attention to underappreciated Factions-only skills. I've tried to create each build with a specific application in mind and referencing the three core objectives of JQ (capture/intercept/defend).
Capture[edit]
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Intercept[edit]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This would be a solo henchmen that ideally could be flagged somewhere to intercept opposing players or harass carriers. This build is basically Errol Hyl's build but adjusted for JQ.
Rend Enchantments is included to provide hate for some of the most popular classes (Elementalists, Monks, Dervishes, and Necrobombers), but if that is too overbearing it could easily be replaced with any AI-compatible self heal.
There aren't any unique Kurzick rangers (the closest is Duke Holtz Lutgardis), so I'm not sure what model to use for this. For the Luxon side, this could be Daeman.
Protect[edit]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This would be a henchmen that could either follow the player around or be flagged at an objective to support and defend the NPCs there. This build provides a lot of utility (anti-burst, hex and condition removal, an intervention effect).
Boon Signet could be replaced with a number of other elites (Blessed Light or Healing Light).
This build could also be made into a healer by replacing Boon Signet with Healing Burst and replacing Gift of Health + Shielding Hands + Spirit Bond with Healing Seed + Healing Whisper + Signet of Rejuvenation.
Drain Enchantment serves two purposes in this build: energy management and enchantment stripping. If having a speed boost would be more important than either of those, this could be replaced with Dark Escape or Dash instead.
For the Kurzick side, this henchmen could be Danika or Redemptor Karl. For the Luxon side, this could be Seaguard Gita.
