User:Gelbrekt/Heroic Refrain Team/Main Team - Rework

• Interesting Page to keep: Order_of_damage_modifiers

Page summary

• The content on this page is closely related to the first/main build i made with a HR-team composition, but with some changes.
  • BASICALLY: Not much additional commentary should be necessary here (aside from just listing the builds and optionals, since:
  • HOWEVER it is relevant to include the discussion about OPTIONALS on this page (Rather than the actual profession pages) since the optionals here will depend on which OTHER skills are chosen by the team.

• For an OVERVIEW: See this page: User:Gelbrekt/Heroic Refrain Team/Main Team - Rework/Overview

Main Changes

Change the team Composition to include 2 "Dark Aura"-Necros instead of 1

• This replaces one of the Ritualists from the previous team, since it is overkill to otherwise have 4 minion masters. At the same time, the previous rit builds can basically be handles by 1 rit that has the most important Disprop-skills [E.g Weapon of Warding, Shambling Horror, Life, Recuperation]

• Advantages:
  • They have extreme damage output (through spamming Dark Aura as well as summoning 12 boosted bone fiends); Previous analysis suggest the necro is by far the strongest damage-dealer; even more so than the Panic Messer [Which effectively deals very high dmg according to GwToolbox as INTERRUPTS are counted as dmg].
  • They can *pull conditions between each other*, triggering contagion.
  • They can survive through EARTH PRAYERS (Which was something I DIDN'T THINK OF previously when trying 2 necros.
  • *NOTE*: Dark Aura can be skipped since only 1 necro needs to cast it
  • This should increase the damage of the entire team radically since the current Necro (Bip) is not really doing that much, and the team already has SUBSTANTIAL support (2 healers + AoD + Paragon)
• NOTE: to make this simple, add everything Here to a new wiki page and worry about storing the individual builds profession-specific pages later

No Condition Removal

• Issue: Condition removal (and Recovery) has bad synergy with the necros pulling conditions between each other. Having no condition removal should be fine [since the more conditions they have, the more damage the deal]. This potentially presents an issue if the necromancers are Dazed since this has a significant disabling effect on casters. NO, ACTUALLY NOT. Remember that the blocking/blinding Effects [Mirage Cloak, weapon of warding, Ineptitude + potentially other effects] prevents ATTACKS; which are the only sources that interrupt when daze is active. Additionally, being Dazed is a GOOD THING as this also dazes all enemies through Contagion.

Drop the BiP-necromancer and replace with something else

• At the time of writing, An Ether Renewal elementalist seems perfect for this, having multiple advantages:
  • Ether Renewal and Protective Bond are VERY DISPROP [Especially if using a player, since a player can boost Protection Prayers to 18, causing Protective Bond's energy loss to be even lower]
  • The team as a whole lacks a dedicated healer [The rit does not have space for more than 1-2 healing skills]
  • The necromancers deal considerable damage to themselves, especially if having lots of conditions [as this causes them to lose more health from both Dark Aura and Contagion when pulling conditions from each other].

Secondary Changes

Tweak the builds to be a little less energy intensive (now that bip is removed).

• E.g Ritualists Drop "Spirit Transfer". Mesmers get 1 more energy management skill.

Dervish - Experiment with removing Meditation.

• LOGIC (Not tested yet): While meditation is an extremely effective energy-management skill, the dervis could potentially do better without it, considering:
  • With 20 Mysticism, Energy cost of Derv Enchantments are reduced by 80%.
  • Aside from Banishing Strike (which might be skipped), the dervish has no non-derv-enchantment skills that are energy intensive.
  • Due to the removal of BiP, the team has at least 2 players with Aria of Zeal, granting more energy.
  • If needed, there might be an alternative dervishskill that can be used to get more energy; because remember that removing Meditation opens up for TEARDOWNS.

Team Comp 1 - With MoP Necro

Insights after EXPERIMENTING with the builds below

• TODO: Add These insights on Gdrive for now since it is too messy to update it regularly. Here. Drop them on Gdrive later.

Overview - Suggestion 1

TODO

• Just put this build order together and THEN experiment with the following:
• Energy Management for all builds; Both if any build is LOW on energy or have a huge supply.
• Dark Aura self-damage. NOTE: a potential issue if only using DA on one necro is that that nec will take all damage from DA (since he sacrifices health even if the other necro triggers DA).
• Test if the mes.er uses shame intelligently ( I think they actually switch from their main target)
• How often skills are used: Start toolbox and monitor the amount of times each skill is used to detect if any particular skill is not used.
• Experiments with MoP:
  • Try Aura of Faith (see build below). I assume this could be better.
  • Try Martyr and drop WoH (risky), but could potentially have a huge payoff.

CONCLUSIONS after first test-run (Todo - Monitor these skills next time)

• Skills that were used significantly fewer times than expected:
  • [For reference on skill use: AoD=9, Ebon_Standard=26, BoneFiend = 72 & 79 respectively]
  • Most Critical: Burning Speed was only used 10 times.:
    • This might have been an ENERGY ISSUE considering the amount of minions that were summoned; Monitor the energy bar next time to verify. (This is important considering the importance of Burning Speed)

• Below are all REALLY BAD NUMBERS considering that Mark of Pain was used 40 times (having a 20 second default recharge, which is higher than all skills below except Armor of Earth [which is only slightly higher]).
  • Armor of Earth [only 3 times]
  • Crystal Wave [only 9 times]
  • Signet of Agony [15 and 12 times respectively]'
  • Shatter Hex [Just 3 times]
  • Hexbreaker Aria [Just 1 time]

Suggestion 1- VERY LIKELY BEST

• NOTE: Attributes here are not crucial since the paragon can get 20 in basically everythign anyway due to cons].
• 11 Leadership [19 is n eeded for HR+4. Sources of attribute increases: 2 [minoir runes], 3 [HR], 3 [Cons; Corn, Gold Egg, GoM]
• 11 Motivation
• 10 Spear Mastery

	Elite

2. Standard Spirit Bond - LIKELY BEST

• Following distribution has 0 unused points.
• 12+3 Mysticism
• 3+1 Scythe Mastery
• 5+1 Wind Prayers [NOTE: despite using several wind prayers skills, having more than 11 Wind Prayers [AFTER +5 BUFF] here is NOT a good idea, see reasons below - There is actually an argument to go even lower, to reduce the durqtion of Attackers Insight]
• 6+1 Earth Prayers (to reach thresholds for 3 and 4 attacks respectively).
• 10 Protection Prayers

	Elite

3. Dark Aura Necromancer 1

• 11+3 Death Magic after runes [14 is enough to boosted to 20 by CoG, HR and Masochism but NOT if weakened, thereby 14, Use RUNES]
• 12 Earth Prayers
• 6+2 Soul Reaping
• ? Blood Magic [No Critical Threshold]

Gear

• [Just copy from PREVIOUS BUILD - add here]
• Consider using "Master of My Domain" instead of a defensive focus item. This allows the necro to summon level 23. I doubt any real difference will be made from this; i.e having a 20% chance of boosting minion (and DA) health will not have a significant different impact compared to +5 armor [while above 50% health], but it will make the build more interesting.

	Elite

4. Dark Aura Necromancer 2

• 10 Earth Magic is Sufficient [UNLIKE the other nec, there is no critical threshold at rank 12]
• 12+3 Death Magic [Higher needed than the other nec due to lacking Masochism]
• ? Soul Reaping [No critical Threshold. Drop most points here]
• ? Blood Magic [At least 1 needed to get the HR boost]
• ? Fire Magic [At least 1 needed to get the HR boost]

	Elite

5. Attuned Was Songkai Ritualist

• 11+3 Restoration Magic [Boosted 14+5=19, this means that Recuperation grants +4 health regen, and life heals for 180!]
• 10 Death Magic [Boosted to 15, this means that level 17 Shambling horrors - with +60% health from spawning power - are summoned]
• 9+1 Spawning Power [Boosted to 15, AWS reduces energy by 50%, lowering 5e -> 2e. This secures energy management completely considering that Signet of Creation is also used].

	Elite

6. Panic Mesmer

• 15 Domination Magic
• 11+1 Fast Casting
• 6 Command [is sufficient; At rank 6+5=11, the duration of Stand Your Ground is 16 seconds, which is equal to the recharge time if using EoC. Additional Command can increase the health and energy from the res, but this is not crucial.]

	Elite

7. Ineptitude Mesmer

• 12+3 Illusion Magic
• 6 Motivation [9 if using Lyric of Zeal]
• [Rest] Fast Casting
• [Optionally 4 Spear Mastery if using spear, but this is not important]

	Elite

8. MoP Necromancer

• Option 2 (Prot)
  • 11 Protection Prayers
  • 10 Healing Prayers
  • ~9 Curses
  • ~8 Soul Reaping

	Elite

1. Paragon

• [Attributes]

	Elite

Optionals

• Highest Prio:
  • Source of burning:
    • Blazing Finale - Very good and is likely the only source of burning unless someone else uses Burning Speed. --> REMEMBER that this does NOT have to be maintained at all 3 melee allies since they will typically be clumped up anyway.
    • Burning Speed - Great because the Paragon SHOULD have enough energy for this
  • Holy Spear - ASSUMING that the paragon only has 2 main attributes [Leadership and Motivation], he can due to the extreme amount of global attribute bonuses [HR, Runes and Cons] gain 20 in 3 attributes, allowing 20 Spear Mastery. At this rank, holy spear deals over 100 armor-ignoring AREA damage PLUS burning. It is true that it must hit a summoned creature, but this is fairly common in MANY areas [Spirits (Ranger and Ritualists) and undead minions].
  • Hexbreaker Aria - Very Solid Hex removal, especially considering that the entire team largely lacks hex removal and all players use spells (triggering this effect).
  • Angelic Protection - Cheap skill that offers GREAT protection now that Leadership is at 20. According to the page, it doesn't trigger for direct sacrifice, but it likely triggers from other sources such as Masochism, Dark Aura, and condition damage (which the necros frequently inflict on themselves).
  • Lyric of Zeal - Great skill, but might be QUESTIONABLE since the mesmer already uses this on top of a second copy of Aria of Zeal. The team might already have enough energy.

• Optional 3:
• Third PvE skill slot:
  • Pain Inverter - Multiple good reasons to use: (1) It is massively improved due to the large amount of minions. (2) It provides the paragon with a strong offensive skill, which it is otherwise largely lacking; Even if "There's nothing to fear" ultemately makes victory more LIKELY, this skill allows you to win battles FASTER. (3) It is overall a really solid skill.
  • "There's Nothing to Fear!" - Solid Skill. Almost maintinable due to EoC and high Leadership. Also helps since the team lacks a dedicated prot.
  • Spear of Fury - Great in order to grant energy for skills like Hexbreaker Aria ocr Lyric of Zeal. However, if the mesmer already uses this, other skills are most likely better.

• Lightbringer - REMINDER - Remember that other profession skills are potentially interesting since the paragon has not used up its secondary profession.
  • "For Great Justice!"
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• Other optionals:
  • Signet of Aggression - Allows the paragon to quickly gain adrenaline while also TRIGGERING Lyric of Zea. Only 4 sec cooldown due to EoC.
  • File:.jpg [[]]
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Suggestions

Suggestion 1- VERY LIKELY BEST

• NOTE: Attributes here are not crucial since the paragon can get 20 in basically everythign anyway due to cons].
• 11 Leadership [19 is n eeded for HR+4. Sources of attribute increases: 2 [minoir runes], 3 [HR], 3 [Cons; Corn, Gold Egg, GoM]
• 11 Motivation
• 10 Spear Mastery

	Elite

LOGIC

At the time if writing, I strongly believe that all skills here are VERY SUITABLE, the only exception being that Pain Inverter might be worth swapping for "There's Nothing to Fear!" considering that the team might be a bit lacking in protection/damage reduction.

• Skills 1-4 are no-brainers given earlier discussions.
  • Note that Blazing Finale was replaced by Hexbreaker Aria here, since the burning application is handled by the Necros [Burning Speed + Contagion].
• Angelic Protection is very nice considering several arguments listed elsewhere.
• Lyric of Zeal and Aria of Zeal are very convenient considering that (1) The build can now MAX OUT Motivation if using additional "single-player" cons.
  • Hexbreaker Aira is definitely a good choice, but THIS CAN BE USED BY THE MESMER since the mesmer has Multiple skills that are not crucial (unlike this paragon build).
• Regarding Burning Speed:
• While the Area from Contagion (Triggered indirectly by Burning speed) is greater than Blazing Finale, Burning Speed Is much more energy intensive than Blazing Finale - it has not just double energy cost but also applies burning for a WAY shorter duration, even if the necromancer AI uses it ideally.
• The AI might not be smart enough to pull the Burning fro Burning Speed, since they will frequently have other allies to pull from (Chilblains from the Necro, as well as conditions from the other DA necromancer).

Suggestion 2 - Burning speed

	Elite

• Inconveninet that there is no space for a signet, but there SHOULD be enough energy to use these skills if used properly considering that:
  • The team has 2 Aria of Zeal (which this build easily can trigger due to haveing 3 spells)
  • Hexbreakker Aria and Lyric of Zeal are both adrenaline chants, granting energy through leadership

2. Dervish

• [Attributes]

General Considerations

Should the Dervish drop Meditation for a signet, to make use of the team's "Zeal"? (Answer - No)

• If both Paragon and Mesmer use both energy skills, A derv with a Signet (triggering LoC) will have enough energy for Spirit Bond WITHOUT meditation. The best Signet here is most likely SoPL EVEN with low earth Prayers. However after some investigation and this seems like a BAD idea since the derv HAS to use

1. Spirit Bond [Otherwise the team has insufficient protection AND there is no point in gaining more energy from the Motivation skilld] 2. Avatar of Dwayna 3. Signet [to trigger LoC] 4. Melee attack (e.g Banishing Strike, to remove hexes through AoD) This means that IF the player drops Meditation for a Signet, there can only be 4 more spaces for enchantments, so the derv cannot trigger AoD more frequently as a result of this change.

Bar 1 - Standard Bar with Meditation

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Optionals

• Most Interesting
  • Spirit Bond / Protective Spirit - MOST LIKLEY CHOICES since the team does not use a BiP/ER Prot and therefore has few direct dedicated protection skills.
  • Mystic Regeneration - Substitute for Sand Shards if not using Earth Prayers. Good because it's not a flash enchantment, allowing more frequent triggers of AoD.
  • Reap Impurities - Can deal good area damage on top of triggering Fragility 2 times (one for removing, one for reapplying)

• Less interesting
  • "Go for the Eyes!" - Boosts minion damage and helps to maintain HR.
  • Sand Shards - Great skill, but does less damage if using Protection Prayers due to the many attributes. However it can still deal decent damage and trigger AoD.

Bar 2 - Skipping Meditataion

• NOTE: Skipping Meditation opens up for using teardowns.
• ALSO SEE OTHER COMMENTS FROM THE MAIN DOC.

	Elite	File:.jpg	File:.jpg				File:.jpg	File:.jpg

• Attack Skills / Teardowns
  • Eremite's Attack - Interesting because of its powerful effect (e.g synergy with Sand Shards) and ability to teardown for Avatar of Lyssa
  • Signet of Pious Light - Very interesting since: (1) It is a signet, helping with energy management due to Aria of Zeal (which otherwise would be wasted for the dervish. (2) It is a teardown, helping to trigger Avatar of Dwayna. (3) It's a decent heal useable on injured allies.
  • File:.jpg [[]]

• Enchantments (Remember now that enchantments the require teardown are potentially viable)
  • Mystic Regeneration - Decent not just because of it's effect but because it's not a flash enchantment, tereby not restricted by the flash enchantments' disabling effect.
  • Sand Shards
  • Eremite's Zeal - Remember that while it gives WAY less energy than meditation, it Has shorter duration and recharge time (triggering AoD more often), while being POSITIVELY instead of negatively affected by teardowns.
  • Harrier's Haste - Decent because of its short duration, triggering AoD.
  • I DOUBT any other candidates are good here since - such as Conviction, Guiding Hands and Contemplation of Purity - since the AI will not be smart enough to use these at the proper time [e.g it will ignore using guiding hands if it doesn't need the blind removal or block-preventation]

SUGGESTIONS

Standard Spirit Bond - LIKELY BEST

• Following distribution has 0 unused points.
• 12+3 Mysticism
• 3+1 Scythe Mastery
• 5+1 Wind Prayers [NOTE: despite using several wind prayers skills, having more than 11 Wind Prayers [AFTER +5 BUFF] here is NOT a good idea, see reasons below - There is actually an argument to go even lower, to reduce the durqtion of Attackers Insight]
• 6+1 Earth Prayers (to reach thresholds for 3 and 4 attacks respectively).
• 10 Protection Prayers

• Why is no more than 11 wind prayers good (after buffs)? Answer: Since at this stage:
  • Lyssas Haste lasts 12 seconds, which is the same as itsrecharge time when affected by EoC
  • Attacker's Insight is already lasting much longer than its recharge time ASSUMING that both LH and EoC are active, which they usually will.
  • Whirling Charge will only deal maginally increased damage if the attribute rank is increased further.

	Elite

• SUGGESTION: Use Sand Shards with LOW earth Prayers (causing it to expire faster, allowing more triggers of AoD). Other options are:
• Mystic Regeneration - Not likely to be better than low EP Sand Shards tho.
• Use Reap Impurities for large AoE and fragility triggering.

No Meditation - 2 Teardowns

	Elite

• LOGIC: This build should have plenty of energy due to the Mysticism energy reduction + the nergy from Lyric of Zeal AND Aria of Zeal. It also has sufficient enchantments for the teardowns, allowing extreme triggering of AoD. It also has a non-adrenaline melee attack, triggering the hex removal from AoD.

3. Dark Aura Necromancer 1

Attributes (rough)

• IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • The necros will often be affected by weakness due to Foul Feast. As such, it might be wise to put one extra attribute point on critical tresholdes (e.g 14 death magic instead of 13).
  • The necro benefits from using health-reducing runes since this lowers the health sacrifice.

• 11+3 Death Magic after runes [14 is enough to boosted to 20 by CoG, HR and Masochism but NOT if weakened, thereby 14, Use RUNES]
• 12 Earth Prayers
• 6+2 Soul Reaping
• ? Blood Magic [No Critical Threshold]

Gear

• [Just copy from PREVIOUS BUILD - add here]
• Consider using "Master of My Domain" instead of a defensive focus item. This allows the necro to summon level 23. I doubt any real difference will be made from this; i.e having a 20% chance of boosting minion (and DA) health will not have a significant different impact compared to +5 armor [while above 50% health], but it will make the build more interesting.

	Elite

Optionals

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General Considerations

Should the necromancers get 12 Earth Prayers? (Answer - YES)

It might be worth getting 12+7 Earth Prayers, since this will put cause Mirage Cloak to last for 8+2 seconds [due to +20% enchant rounted upwards]. Suggestion: 12 Earth Prayers, 10+3 Death Magic, 8+1 Soul Reaping [Should work].

• Reasons FOR doing it:
  • This should be relatively easily achievable since max 13 DM is needed and something like 7+1+5 soul reaping should definitely suffice.
  • High Earth Magic also increases block chance and dmg reduction from Veil of Thorns; It causes mirage cloak to give 85% block for 10 seconds, while causing veil of thorns to reduce spell dmg by 39%.
  • Regarding Energy management, this problem can be mitigated by Lyric & Aria of Zeal.
• Reasons AGAINST doing it:
  • Esence of Celerity already increases the recharge time of Mirage Cloak to 8 seconds, making it maintainable at 7+1 seconds.
  • There could be problem with energy management due to soul reaping. Answer: NO; not considering that the team uses several copies of Lyric of Zeal and Aria of Zeal.

Should Scythe Mastery be used? (Answer, No - see below)

• Since there is a surprising ABUNDANCE of attribute points (see below), there could be an argument for getting 5 Scythe Mastery (5 would be ideal since this will allow rank 9 even while weakened).
• Advantages:
  • The necromancer can deal full damage with melee attacks.
• Disadvantages:
  • Cannot use Inscriptions such as "Master of My Domain"
  • The vast majority of the damage comes from other sources.
  • Considering that the necro will pull conditions to himself, he will often be weakened and as a result deal 66% less weapon damage, even if meeting the attribute req.
  • Using an axe instead means that you trigger MoP more frequently.

General Description

Surprising ABUNDANCE of attribute points

• Despite the fact that the build uses skills from FOUR attributes, there is an ABUNDANCE of attribute points, due to the reasons below. As such, it MAY be interesting to experiment with other attributes:
  • 13 Death Magic is sufficient to boost to 20.
  • 7 soul reaping is enough for energy management since (1) It's boosted to 15 from runes, HR, CoG and Masochism. (2) The team uses at least a few copies of Lyric of Zeal and Aria of Zeal. (3) Animate Bone Fiend is the only energy-intensive using.
  • RUNES can and should be used to reduce max health, since (1) Lower health means lower sacrifice costs. (2) Chalice of glory increases health.
  • Blood Magic only has 1 skill in the build, and its primary purpose is just to trigger death magic.

Impressively covers 3 roles

• I think it's quite impressive that this build is able to very nicely cover 3 roles simultaniously.
  • Damage Dealer - By triggering dark Aura
  • Tank - Due to having 2 vert strony [disprop] defensive skills (with rank 17) and 15+5 extra armor from insignias + weapon. While they do lots of self-inflicted damage from pulling conditions to themselves, Foul Feast is able to mitigate much of this damage.
  • Minion Master - Despite the very large amount of potential damage that can be dealt by Dark Aura and the defensive "Tank"-skills, the necros have enough energy left to spam minions.

4. Dark Aura Necromancer 2

Earth Prayers version

• This is almost a DIRECT COPY of the previous build - see the other build for all the details.

	Elite

Optionals

• REMEMBER; the nec must have at least 1 skill that sacrifice health, otherwise it will not be a target for Dark Aura by the AI.
  • Signet of Agony - Even though the other nec uses it, it's nice because (1) It triggers DA twice, (2) it triggers Lyric of Zeal, helping with energy management. (3) Has 6s recharge time due to EoC.
  • Dark Pact - Questionable since (1) It's affected by daze unlike Signet of Agony. (2) The AI doesn't use it frequently.
• Dark Aura (Convenient but not strictly required since the other necro has it)
• Armor of Sanctity - EPIC since the enemies are very likely to have conditions.
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Earth MAGIC Version

ADVANTAGES

• Earth Magic has many cool skills that fit very nicely into this team comp.
• Being Eelementalist unlocks Burning Speed, which is VERY convenient to use on the necros themselves for MANY reasons:
  • 1. Triggers "They're on fire", massively reducing damage; it is better than Blazing Finale since it has a much larger area ["In the area" instead of ADJACENT!]
  • 2. This also frees up a slot for the Paragon to use.
  • 3. While Earth Prayers is better for defence, Earth Magic does include a few nice defensive skills.
  • 4. Burning Speed Triggers DA twice (if using Masochism)

DISADVANTAGES

• The damage reduction from Veil of Thorns and Mirage Cloak is very significant.

	Elite

Optionals 1

• Basically no-brainers (but not 100% sure)
  • Signet of Agony - MOST LIKELY NEEDED since: (1) The Hero AI must know that it has actual sacrifice-skills. (2) Epic help with energy management.
  • Crystal Wave - Definitely worth experimenting with considering its potential for massive damage spike. The removal of conditions is also a GOOD thing for conditions that are applied repeatedly; in particular the ones that the team can inflict on itself (allowing the necros to apply with Contagion by pulling them between each other with Foul Feast) [Poison, Bleeding, Burning]

• Necro skills
  • Dark Aura - Not a bad choice, but not required assuming that we're using it on the other necro.
  • Masochism - For triggering Dark Aura. Also NEEDED for boosting Death Magic to 20 (if not using runes).

• Earth Magic
  • Ward Against Melee - Likely superior to Sliver Armor since: (1) Longer duration. (2) Cannot be removed. (3) Affects minions and Dervish (which has less defense). A disadvantage is that it doesn't protect from ranged attacks, but all things considered, it should still be better.
  • Sliver Armor - Nice for blocking and some extra damage. Far inferior to Mirage Cloak though since it isn't maintainable, can be interrupted and has a lower block chance. However, IF this necro is the prime target of attacks, it can deal some decent damage unlike mirage cloak.
  • Stoneflesh Aura - Strong protection, but has a relatively short duration and long activation time.
  • Armor of Earth - Worth Experimenting with since this might cause enemy Ai to target this necro less, as AI typically focuses low-armor targets.

• • File:.jpg [[]]
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SUGGESTION 1

• 10 Earth Magic is Sufficient [UNLIKE the other nec, there is no critical threshold at rank 12]
• 12+3 Death Magic [Higher needed than the other nec due to lacking Masochism]
• ? Soul Reaping [No critical Threshold. Drop most points here]
• ? Blood Magic [At least 1 needed to get the HR boost]
• ? Fire Magic [At least 1 needed to get the HR boost]

	Elite

• LOGIC:
  • Ward Against Melee is Better than Masochism since (1) The team should already deal substantial damage, so the extra DA-triggers from Masochism isn't crucial. (2) Energy isn't needed (i.e from Masochism soul reaping, since Lyric of Zeal + SoA is used)
• Crystal Wave & SoA are both epic as per above.
• Armor of EARTH is worth EXPERIMENTING WITH before drawing any conclusions with it. I suspect it is BETTER than Stoneflesh aura because (1) It discourages AI to attack this necro. (2) It has a longer duration and shorter activation time than Stoneflesh Aura.

SUGGESTION 1 - UPDATE

• 10+4 Death Magic
• 12+2 Soul Reaping [At 14+5=19 Soul Reaping, Foul Feast grants 3 energy]
• 2 Blood Magic
• 8 Fire Magic [Not sure if this is needed, but i suspect it makes the AI more likely to spam Burning Speed; Technically rank 1 is sufficient (otherwise it doesn't benefit from HR)]

	Elite

LOGIC

• Signet of Agony wasn't used by the Ai very frequently. By using Signet of Lost souls, the necro has more energy for burning speed.
• IMPORTANT: I tried experimenting with Signet of Lost Souls instead of Signet of Agony since the Ai didn't appear to use it frequently, but this was NOT a good idea; the damage output dropped significantly.
• CURRENT UNDERSTANDING of AI USEAGE OF BURNING SPEED - It likely works to use it, but it needs to be activated manually for best effect.

5. Attuned Was Songkai Ritualist

	Elite

Optionals

• The optional stands between these two:
  • Spirit Transfer - Likely better than Wielder's Boon if there is enough mana, which there most likely is due to the Signet, 2 Aria of Zeal and Lyric of Zeal.
  • Wielder's Boon - HOWEVER, Wielder's Boon is a strong candidate because it g ets reduced from 5e -> 2e by attuned was songkai, mening it has very short recharge time. It also provides good healing assuming that the target has a weapon spell, which the rit in theory can maintain on almost THREE targets simultaniously [Duration: 13 seconds, while Weapon of warding has a recharge of 4 seconds due to EoC]
• Resilient Weapon While looking promising at first sight [the necromancers always have conditions on them, they are the prime targets and this skill lasts longer than weapon of warding] this is NOT a good idea because: (1) Weapon of Warding can already be maintained on the necros. (2) If extra armor is needed, "Stand Your Ground" is superior.

General Speculations

What are the energy changes when going from Spawning Power 15 [50% reduction] to 16 [53% reduction] for Attuned Was Songkai?

50%: 5e -> 2e, 10e -> 5e, 15e -> 8e

53%: 5e -> 2e, 10e -> 5e, 15e -> 7e

CONCLUSION: 5e skills are SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER than 10e skills, since already at rank 15, they are reduced by SIXTY percent!

Is there a better Signet-alternative to Signet of Creation?

• Nope. Rits only have 3 signets, and all good necro signets are Soul Reaping.

Should the Ritualist Drop AwK if the team uses 4 "Zeal" skills?

• A clear insight is that a player rit with "Weaken of 3 forges" is clearly superior due to the large amount of minions.
• Aside from WotF, I see no serious alternatives among Spwning power / death magic / Restoration Magic here, but maybe other attributes: [However; don't experiment with this unless first trying out AwK since this is a niece build]
  • Weapon of Quickening
    • Quite interesting since: (1) The build can afford 4 attributes at around rank 13-15 due to HR, where WoQ lasts about 25 seconds PLUS spawning power. (2). It is WAY better than AwK assuming that the energy lasts.
    • ISSUES: (1) Soothing memories requires an item to hold of AwK is removed. (2) Weapon of Quickening disables Weapon of Warding.

Suggestion 1

• 11+3 Restoration Magic [Boosted 14+5=19, this means that Recuperation grants +4 health regen, and life heals for 180!]
• 10 Death Magic [Boosted to 15, this means that level 17 Shambling horrors - with +60% health from spawning power - are summoned]
• 9+1 Spawning Power [Boosted to 15, AWS reduces energy by 50%, lowering 5e -> 2e. This secures energy management completely considering that Signet of Creation is also used].

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EXPLAINATION

• With 19 Restoration and 15 Spawning, the ritualist:
  • Summons level 17 spirits, with a boosted health to 533 (This means that there is much spirit health available for Spirit Transfer)
  • Casts Weapon of Warding with a 14 second duration.
  • As mentioned; Life and Recuperation gives very high heals.
• AwS and SoC gives (through the high spawning power rank) extremely good energy management, on top of the fact that additional energy is provided by the team.
• As mentioned: Summons level 17 Shambling horros [420+252=672 health] which spawns a level 15 Jagged Horror [380+228=608 health] upon death.

Suggestion 1 - UPDATE after testing

• It seems that Animate Bone Fiend might be more effective; some testing indicates that that skill has CONSIDERABLY better damage output.

6. Panic Mesmer

• [Attributes]

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Optionals

• NOTE: IF we have 4 Zeal-skills, drain enchantment might not be needed; e.g use a damage skill instead. Spiritual Pain OR Shatter Delusions are likely the best candidates here. Shatter delusions seem questionable since its likely to remove Wastrel, wasting energy.
• Spiritual Pain - Could potentially be better than Unnatural signet if NOT using Lyric of Zeal, since it is affected by fast casting. HOWEVER remember that it does NOT disable Flesh of my Flesh; it is the PvP-version of unnatural signet that does that. Also Spiritual Pain only deals single target dmg to regular enemies unlike Unnatural Signet.
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• SUGGESTION: Go paragon secondary instead; Main reason being that "Stand Your Ground", which is a great skill that the build has space for, can be used and the resurrection can be covered by WSR
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• "We Shall Return!"

Less Interesting

• Drain Delusions - Seems great at first, but has multiple disadvantages - see below.
• Wastrel's Worry - While this DOES have a nice advantage in that it expires in a single second on bosses, it is INFERIOR to Wastrel's Demise for many reasons (1) It is arguably redundant since the team already has extreme damage being dealt to single-targets through the many minions. (2) Wastrel's Demise does not cause enemy scatter.

Suggestion 1 (Likley Best)

• 15 Domination Magic
• 11+1 Fast Casting
• 6 Command [is sufficient; At rank 6+5=11, the duration of Stand Your Ground is 16 seconds, which is equal to the recharge time if using EoC. Additional Command can increase the health and energy from the res, but this is not crucial.]

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Suggestion 2

• 2 Command is sufficient if attribute points are scarce.

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7. Ineptitude Mesmer

• [Attributes]

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Optionals

• • Frustration (Cool to experiment with due to its synergy with Panic)
  • Mirror of Disenchantment (Fast, potentially very effective) enchantment removal.
  • "Go for the Eyes!" - Considering that both Frustration and MoD are likely BAD; "Go for the eyes" actually makes alot of sense considering the amount of minions present (this skill is effective even at low [boosted] command).
• Arcane Conundrum - Excellent skill; Grants energy and synergizes with Wastrel'S worry and is effective vs single targets (that can't be interrupted with Panic).
• Hexbreaker Aria - Despite being an adrenaline skill, this is almost a no-brainer considering that the paragon is more suited for paragon attributes given his higher attributes (coming from runes and player-cons).
• Lyric of Zeal (Since the mes has no inspiration magic)
• Epidemic - To spread the deep wound from AP.
• Leader's Zeal - Decent energy management but CLEARLY not better than Lyric of Zeal even through the mes doesn't have fast attack speed and even though there might be some overlap

Suggestion 1

• Same attributes as tweaked version below

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TWEAKED VERSION

• 12+3 Illusion Magic
• 6 Motivation [9 if using Lyric of Zeal]
• [Rest] Fast Casting
• [Optionally 4 Spear Mastery if using spear, but this is not important]

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• LOGIC: Assuming the necros are using burning speed, the paragon frees up a slot [from Blazing Finale] allowing the paragon to take HOLY SPEAR. The mesmer can take Hexbreaker Aria despite low attack speed because Holy Spear (at allmost rank 20 due to extreme attribute buffs) is way better.

Suggestion 2 (Drop Arcane Conondrum)

• LOGIC: Lyric of Zeal helps with the energy management while also helping allies. However, the Paragon might be able to spam LoZ frequently enough anyway.
• Same attributes as other build.
• Consider using a SPEAR here to build adrenaline faster (with focus item). A spear also triggers MoP

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8. MoP Necromancer

Version - Prot [Likely BETTER than WoH, explaination below]

• Option 2 (Prot)
  • 11 Protection Prayers
  • 10 Healing Prayers
  • ~9 Curses
  • ~8 Soul Reaping

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Reason why WoH is NOT USED

• There are multiple reasons why WoH (which seems like the best choice initially) is a pretty terrible choice.
  • The derv and Rit having party-wide heals means that the party will not be below 50% health much of the time.
  • Dwayna's Kiss heals WELL ABOVE WoH provided that the target has 3+ enchantments and is above 50% hp, which will be the case MOST OF THE TIME:
  • Dwayna's Kiss will have a recharge time of just 2 seconds when affected by EoC, and the AI cannot spam skills very fast, so it will not heal significantly more if adding WoH considering that there are also other skills to use.
  • Aura of Faith fits in nicely since it boosts many different sources of healing while also reducing damage.
    • AoE Heals: Avatar of Dwayna and Life
    • Heals from Spirit Bond; reaching almost as high as 200!
    • It DOES increase the healing from Foul Feast which can be quite significant! [due to a BUG which makes FF cause Healing and not Health Gain]!
    • Direct heals, e.g Soothing Memories & Dwayna's Kiss.

Explaination of CHOSEN skills.

• Dwayna's Kiss - Since all of the front-line uses heavy enchantment, you can expect this skill to target an ally with 4 enchantments or more. Effective even if LOW healing prayers due to the buff.
• Aura of Faith - Likely better tha

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• Strongest choices:
  • Martyr - Excellent if multiple conditions are spread on the party, since this lumps them all up into a single player, which potentially gives huge help for the necros
  • Aura of Faith - Strong since it is Exp Disprop. Maintainable 4 out of 6 seconds if using Ench and EoC.
• Icy Veins - Decent additional AoE. The team already has huge amounts of that though, and I strongly believe Martyr is better if not going for a heal.

Optionals

• STRONGEST OPTIONALS:
  • Patient Spirit - There are 2 arguments to use this over fuse: (1) Can self target [the nec has otherwise very limited self-heals]. (2) With Aura of Faith, fuse will heal even more, very likely overhealing, whereas patient spirit does not.
  • Infuse Health - Advantages over Patient Spirit: (1) Able to spike-heal allies that are in need of quick heals; it doesn't have the delay of Patient Spirit or the requirement of enchantments which Dwayna's Kiss hass. (2) The 50% health loss can quickly and automatically be healed back again from the many AoE heals that the team has. (3) Effective even at low Healing Prayers
• Signet of Rejuvenation - Could be better for triggering Lyric of Zeal instead of Signet of Lost Souls. HOWEVER this skill has slower casting time and doesnt grant energy. Also, Dwayna's kiss should be spammed instead since it is much more potent.
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Healing Prayers version [BAD; only used for reference]

• Option 1 (WoH OR Martyr)
  • 12 Healing Prayers
  • 11 Curses
  • 6 Soul Reaping

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• Healing Light - NOT better than WoH BECAUSE: (1) It has a 4s cooldown, meaning that it gets reduced to 3 seconds by EoC while WoH gets down to 2 seconds! (2) Energy management is already strong; no additional needed.

8. Ether Renewal (Instead of MoP necro)

Build

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EXPLANATION + SUMMARY

• Already written in other doc

Explanation of chosen skills

• Aegis - Practically a no-brainer; When using EoC, Enchant staff, and 17 Protection Prayers, it lasts 14 out of 24 seconds. This is of course far from maintainable, but provides a strong effect for the team as well as an enchantment for Ether Renewal.
• Enchantments to use is listed elsewhere.

Optionals

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Suggestion 1

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