User:Gelbrekt/Heroic Refrain Team/General Team Suggestions

• As always, just COPY the builds as they are here; Generally avoid any tweaks here; they should be made on the respective build pages.

First Draft - AoD Minion Team + PI Fragility/Wastrel Mesmers

General comments on first draft

• I think it looks very promising overall, but some stuff to consider are:
  • Heroes might not be good at using Verata's
  • I am not sure about the overall energy management of the heroes, this includes BOTH the ritualists and the mesmers (is it too high or too low?).

SUGGESTION - Increase the amount of conditions

• TO TEST:
• At the time of writing, the builds are missing several conditions. This can be fixed using:
  • The mesmer has 8 attribute ranks and 1 skill slot (Verata's) to spare for a condition.
  • Blind/Disease on the Rit: Drop Malign OR Putrid Bile and use Rotting Flesh / Weapon of Shadow
  • Cripple on the derv: Add Caltrops (8 seconds every 10 seconds even at 0 shadow arts)
• ALTERNATIVELY: Use Verata's on the BiP, since he is a necro and has prot spells (so he switches targets faster and might be more likely to find minions)

General list of synergies

Minions

• The two Ritualists have massively discounted spells due to AwK's percentage reduction scaling with HR. While this is not as good as soul reaping, their spawning power makes their minions have way more (+60%) health (as well as increasing the duration of weapon spells).
• One ritualist uses Malign Intervention, summoning high level minions with boosted health (WITHOUT consuming the corpse of its target), that can be taken over through Verata's Gaze, increasing the minion cap of the team.
• The Contation necromancer has space to summon minions as well, despite mainly focusing on damage through contagion.
• With 3 minion masters and 1 support minion master, the team can summon a very large amount of minions. The resulting minion army is buffed in many respects.
  • The minions are constantly healed (and as a result maintained) by the Dervish spamming derv enchantments that trigger AoD.
  • Also, the minion damage is increased by "Go for the Eyes", Ebon Ward of Honor, Cracked Armor and Mark of Pain.
  • The minions are also healed by Life and Blood Bond. Blood Bond likely heals Bone Horrors the most, but Bone Fiends also benefit from it due to their higher attack speed (blood bond triggers on attacks).
  • AoE conditions line Blindness, Weakness or Burning are less effective against the minions, due to condition durations being significantly reduced by Recovery (which is disprop).

Main Offensive abilities

• Huge, Boosted minion army (see above)
• The Mesmers benefit disprop from HR, having massively reduced recharge times, which are reduced further by Ebon Ward of Wisdom
  • At the same time, the BiP Necro AI knows when they run out of energy, and fill them up.
• The Necromancer's Contagion is disprop, since the percentage sacrifice is reduced.
  • At the same time, the damage he deals to himself is quickly mitigated by he benefits from the constant AoE healing from AoD (and life) as well as the healing from Vampiric Horror. While the vampiric horror normally isn't very impressive, it is higher level due to HR and has several damage boosters as mentioned before.
• The mesmer's Fragility synergizes with the many conditions applied by the party:
  • Especially the Contagion Necro inflicts AoE conditions with Contagion (which is also triggered more frequently due to Foul Feast) and Plague Sending.
  • Party can inflict Weaknesses, Blindness, Burning, Deep Wound and Cracked Armor and Poison [Poison is inflicted when Foul Feast is used on the BiP after the Bip poisoned himself with Chilblains].
• The party has both Deep Wound and Malign intervention to reduce healing on a target by 40% (cap).

Defense

• Counting the dervish as a healer (see justification below), the party has 3 healers and 1 protector.
  • The Dervish can - while simultaniously being a below-average damage dealer - be considered a healer, since he has MASSIVE AoE heals, which is very good at dealing with AoE damage skills when using heroes.
• The BiP also makes the healers stronger.
• A massive minion wall, with boosted health and constant AoE heals.
• The paragon supports with "They're on Fire" which works due to Blazing Finale being triggered frequently through "Go for the Eyes". The paragon also has Angelic Protection, which basically makes a target invincible for 10 seconds every 30s.
• The Dervish can tank to a degree, having: (1) Two blocking skills (which reduced recharge times), (2) Constant hex removal from self with Banishing Strike.
• Multiple teammembers have skills that can weaken enemies
  • The mesmers knockdown, disable attacks/spells and can blind.
  • The necro can inflict conditions with Contagion, especially if he can pull them from enemies inflicting them on the party.

Utility

• The party has strong defense against conditions:
  • Recovery reduces duration by around 50% (assuming 16 restoration Magic)
  • The Necro pulls conditions with Foul Feast; Note that while this reduces the condition duration that he applies, this might be a GOOD thing since this triggers fragility.
  • The Rit can remove 2 conditions frequently with Mend Body & Soul.
• The party has multiple Hex removals:
  • The dervish spams Banishing Strike, rapidly removing hexes from self through AoD.
  • The mesmer has Shatter Hex, which he has much energy for due to bip, while having its cast and recharge time significantly reduced by fast casting.
  • The Paragon has Hexbreaker Hexbreaker Aria which can be used more frequently than usual due to IAS (Pumpkin cake) and "For great Justice.
• The BiP Necro has a strong AOE enchantment removal.

Builds

(R) 1. Main Paragon

Minimum attributes (After ARMOR bonuses)

• 9 Leadership
• 4 Command -> "Go for the Eyes" is effectively maxed out at 13 (confirmed by testing) [This might change if the build uses other skills though.]
• 3 Spear Mastery (Add 1 extra to cover for weakness OR if grail isn't used)
• Other attributes:
  • 12 Death Magic is OK (since max increase from cons is 8)
  • Max 13 Motivation [due to +7]

	Elite

	Elite

• CONSIDER: - Use "There is nothing to Fear" over ebon Wisdom ward because: (1) Recharge time is already cut by Gear and by Essence of Celerity. (2) "TintF" is ALMOST maintainable [duration 14 seconds, cd 16 seconds if using Essence]. (3) It helps triggering echoes.

(R) 2. Melee AoD Healer

Attributes

• NOTE: This distribution is good for several reasons (1) It maximizes all points (just 1 point remains) (2) it gives 3 scythe mastery, which is boosted to 9 by HR+Grail+rune.
• 11+2 Mysticism
• 9+1 Earth Prayers
• 9+1 Wind Prayers
• 3+1 Scythe Mastery
• 6 Command

Gear

• Scythe: Vampiric, "Let the Memory Live Again", +30 hp.
• Armor: Windwalker insignias are a no-brainer (the build uses many enchantments, and the insignias are bugged).

	Elite

• Warning - Heroes tend to use Mirage Cloak ineffectively, since they will not use it while targeted by attacks. At least for this party, the necro appears to soak up more attention, causing the derv to VERY RARELY use this skill. Skills to use instead:
  • Burning Speed -> To trigger Fragility and "They're on Fire", which would be nice since it frees up a skill slot for the paragon, and possibly inflicts burning more effectively.
  • "Go for the Eyes" - Minion Damage. Nice because it synergizes with Scythes (hitting multiple targets).

(R) 3. Melee Contagion Nec

• 11+2 Death Magic
• 9+1 Soul Reaping
• 10 Earth Prayers

Gear

• Minion Master Insigninas [Good because: (1) The necro needs armor due to being on the front line, (2) The necro does not need high max health due to the percentage sacrifice.]
  • WARNING: It is likely NOT a good idea to bring the Bloodstain Insignia on this hero, because I have noticed this can cause the hero to steal too many corpses from other heroes (in this case, the ritualists)!
• Sword: +33% poison OR Armor Penetration, +5 Armor, "Don't Think Twice"
• Shield: +30 Health, "Shielded by Faith

• GEAR: Suggestion - Focus with:
  • HCT for spells (10%)
  • (Any source granting 5 armor, e.g Hail the King or Faith is my Shield)

	Elite

• ANALYSIS:
  • This build is EPIC: It has 25% of the party DPS [57k damage] during a run i made in slaver's exile [8 people] which is quite alot considering that the Panic Mesmer got 47k (which is much considering that interrupts from panic counnts as damage!)

(R) 4. Rit Minion Master & Healer 1

Attributes

• 11 Death Magic
• 10+2 Spawning Power
• 10+1 Restoration Magic

Gear

• (Has often limited relevance since they have AwS most of the time; HOWEVER it is relevant if this skill gets interrupted).
• Staff [since it has 20% recharge reduction, which is great for AwS to allow it to recharge faster]: 10/10 cast reduction is good.
• Insignias: Most likely Surviviors is best (doesn't likely play a huge role though).

	Elite

• Issue to address: This build currently has MORE restoration magic skills than the other rit, but a lower resto rank.

(R) 5. Rit Minion Master & Healer 2

Attributes

• 11 Death Magic
• 10+2 Spawning Power
• 9+1 Restoration Magic -> The rit can handle lower resto, since Life & Mend Body and soul are not particularly affected, and Spirit Transfer heals 250 at 15 resto.
• 4 Curses -> Ends up at 9 curses, causing MoP to deal 28 damage, which is pretty decent.

Gear

• SAME as the other rit.

	Elite

6. Illusion Mesmer

Attributes

• 12+2 Fast Casting -> At 19 fast casting, PI lasts for 5 seconds.
• 10+2 Illusion Magic -> NOTE: Most skills here don't scale super well with Illusion Magic (although they're powerful, none of the skills are directly disprop, and they scale pretty poorly with the ranks).
• 8 Motivation
• WORTH CONSIDERING: Considering the fact that the mesmr has 19 fast casting (AND can afford a casting-reduction mod), Death Nova could be really useful for the mesmer, since he could spam it on the minions very fast.
  • This WOULD have been a complete no-brainer if it weren't for the fact that the team uses mostly bone fiends, but even just using Shambling Horrors, Death nova would likely do good damage.
  • IF doing this: Consider moving Epidemic / Hypochondria to the other mesmer, since he has more space (can remove e.g Cry of Frustration).

Gear

• Remember RADIANT runes due to the energy spike from Arcane Conondrum.

	Elite

• Optional: use Shatter Hex instead of Aria of Zeal.

7. Domination Mesmer

Attribute Suggestions (Reasons why are discussed on the mesmer page)

• 10+2 Fast Casting [Use Major rune]
• 12+2 Domination Magic [Use Domination Mask. Using a Major rune isn't terrible, but not super important]
• 9 Inspiration Magic
• [Remainder] Restoration Magic

Gear

• Radiant runes to increase the time until energy runs out (giving more time for DD and BiP to grant energy); This is important since the mesmer is the main damage dealer.
• Weapon: Modifiers increasing casting time is likely NOT needed due to the extreme fast casting attribute.

	Elite

8. Bip Prot Support

Attribute Suggestions [Reasons why are discussed on the HR necro page]

• 12 Protection Prayers
• 9+1 Blood Magic
• 9+2 Soul Reaping
• 3+1 Curses

Gear

• Staff: Of Enchanting, Increase Max energy
  • Reasons for the staff to increase energy Cap: (1) Casting time is not useful to increase, since most skills have quick activation. (2) Health is not interesting due to sactifice. (3) Energy is interesting due to 2 very energy-intense skills.

	Elite

Old builds

Ineptitude Mesmer (likely inferior to PI, and VERY likely inferior assuming that the team has enough conditions).

	Elite

Second Draft - ST, no Minions

Team overview

• Uses no minions, so ST can be used (which is a great build that is also disprop).
• At the time of writing, it applies all 10 conditions; 7 from the derv, 2 from the Ranger (weakness & poison), 1 From the Paragon (daze). Synergizes with the mesmer's Fragility + Epidemic & Hypochondria
• All teammembers have builds that are disprop (e.g Expertise, BiP, ST, Fast Casting, Mysticism)

Builds

0. Overview of stuff to COVER in the builds

Overview of conditions (Relevant due to Fragility)

• Bleeding -> Aura of Thorns [Dervish]
• Poison -> Oppressive Gaze [Ranger]
• Disease -> Dervish
• Burning -> Paragon
• Cracked Armor -> Weaken Armor [Used by BiP]
• Cripple -> Aura of Thorns [Dervish]
• Weakness -> Oppressive Gaze [Ranger]
• Deep Wound -> Accumulated Pain [Mesmer]
• Daze -> Technobabble [Paragon]
• Blindness -> Dust Cloak [Dervish]

Utility

• Hex Removal -> Mesmer, optionally ele.
• Condition Removal -> This one is a bit tricky. '
  • Maybe the ST use Mend Body and Soul?
  • Might also use Avatar of Melandru instead of Dwayna (Not sure about this though; this removes a good source of AoE healing in addition to hex removal on the derv).
  • Might also use Plague Touch on the ranger, but this reqquires Foul Feast which isn't great for a Ranger.
• Enchantment Removal -> Consider using on BiP?

1. Main Paragon

• Strongly consider Technobabble, since it is the most convenient way to apply daze, and if it is used, the team inflicts all 10 conditions.
• Strongly Consider Aria of Zeal since (1) Go for The Eyes is not needed (2) All teammates has at least 1 spell and most are in need of energy from the outside.

2. Ranger Beast Master & Vampiric Toucher

• Heavy investment in Expertise, Blood Magic and Beast Mastery, while being enchanted by BiP, allowing for heavy beast mastery attacks in addition to constant touches.
• Can also inflict conditions for fragility mes.
• Use Whirling Defense for AoE.
• NO-BRAINER: Use Oppressive Gaze since (1) It inflicts poison and weakness with just a single slot, which are 2 conditions that the Derv can't apply (2) It is a spell, so it triggers [[ Aria of Zeal]].

3. BiP

• Optionally use restoration magic on this guy, since the ST rit already takes care of protection.
  • Also, Mend body & soul synergizes with ST rit.

4. Illusion Mes

• Mostly the same as first draft.

5. Domination Mes

• Mostly the same as first draft.

6. ST Rit

• Standard ST Rit.
• Simply use this build: https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:Rt/any_Soul_Twisting_Prot_Hero

7. Mysticism Derv condition spammer

• Dervishes can inflict a LOT of conditions and have massive discount with mysticism.
  • The build below inflicts 7 conditions (Not Poison, Weakness & Daze)
• NOTE: According to wiki, necros don't use BiP on martial professions, so the paragon likely has to use at least 1 motivation skill.
• NOTE: While the derv can inflict Daze with Test of Faith, this is a very big investment for several reasons (1) Would be the only wind prayers skill, (2) Requires non-enchanted target (3) Short duration, and long effective recharge time.

	Elite

8. Ether Renewal ele

• A ni-brainer since
  • ER is one of the most disprop skills
  • Can provide extreme healing, synergizing with ST
  • Allows the rest of the team to go all in on offense, for example the BIP can drop restoration magic.

General =

• << LOOK THROUGH all professions from the main page to identify interesting candidates and list them somewhere.

Ether Renewal Healer

• STRONGLY CONSIDER this, since this is one of the most disprop-affected builds.

Channel Rit

• Use Splinter Weapon since it is disprop.
• Suggestion Focus all-in on Resto + Channel.

Healing Prayers Monk

• The team is currently missing a healer. Maybe use Healer's Covenant since it is disprop?

Images

CONCLUSIONS from the image

• TIME:
  • Considering that Life was used 66 times (and is used constantly), it can be assumed that this was active for 66*20/60 = 22 minutes.
  • Combat Duration: The dervish is likely the best indicator for this, as he has unlimited energy and spams his skills.
    • Banishing Strike (his only attack). It was used 131 times, and since the party uses Essence of Celerity, it has a 2 second recharge time [3*0.8 = 2.4 -> rounded to 2]. It also has a 1 second activation time, so MOX was in melee range roughly 131*3/60 = 6.55 minutes.
    • Whirling Charge: Has a 5 second duration with EoC, and 3 if adding Lyssa's Aura on top of it. Assuming 4 seconds on average (very rough approximation), the total duration becomes 4*95/60 = 6.33 minutes of combat.
    • Meditation: It can be assumed that Mox appleis this skill continiously as it expires. It is also fairly unlikely that it gets removed, since he has a ton of cover enchantments. With a duration of 20 seconds, 51 uses means: 51*20/60 = 17 minutes. This seems very high, strongly indicating he uses it outside of combat.
    • Necro: Aegis: It can be assumed that Aegis is used continiously during combat. With 24 sec recharge, this means 33*24/60 = 13.2 minutes of combat.

• Dark Pact: It is very strange that this skill is used 87 times while Dark Aura is used 98 times. Indicates AI isn't using it properly.

• Epidemic & Hypochondria: While these skills in theory deal massive extra damage, Epidemic was only used 20 times, indicating that the hero doesn't use them particularly often. It seems likely that a skill like Clumsiness + soome other illusion skills could work better (Remember that Fragility will still deal significant damage).

• Wielder's Boon - Odd that this skill is used 149 times, while Mend Body and Soul is used 189 times. This could be due to energy management issues, since the ritualist with WB uses Animate Bond Fiend.

• Weaken Armor: Used on 2 heroes here. Wasted.