arredondo
14-05-2006, 02:19
How does 40s of near invulnerability sound?
This build is actually working out better than I first thought it would. Use the base template to setup the kind of build you want, then add the filler skills to farm faction in PVP, or to farm XP and loot in PvE. My first team I was with in TA after making it was on a 16 game streak until GW kicked me out with an error message (I think it said "err=19: uber elite builds not allowed" :tongue: ).
While I made this a Me/As build for max Illu/Dom damage (no more than 12 SA points are needed), it could work as an As/Me also. Adjust it to your own needs. Here we go:
======================================
Shadow Form Farmer (Me/As)
Illusion/Dominaton/Dagger Mastery: 16
Shadow Arts: 12
Fast Cast: 4
Arcane Echo: Copies any spell for 20s
Shadow Form {E}: All spells or attacks against you fail for 17s, drop to 41 HP when it ends
Shadow Refuge: +9 regen for 4s, +68 health if it ends while you attack
Heart of Shadow: Teleport nearby and recieve +75HP if you take damage in next 60s
Recall/Return -or- Rez: Shadow Step to ally, depending on skill used
(examples for choices of offense)
Illusion
Conjure Phantom: -5 degen for 15s
Images of Remorse: -4 degen for 10s and -55 damage if foe attacks
Accumulated Pain: -37 damage and Deep Wound if foe has two Hexes
Domination
Wastrel's Worry: -68 damage after 3s if doe uses no skills
Shatter Delusions: -79 damage for shattering a Mesmer Hex
Overload: -21 damage, an additional -53 damage if foe is casting spell (-74 total)
Dagger Mastery
Disrupting Stab: Lead attack interrupts action, if it was a spell it's disabled for 9s
Golden Phoenix Strike: counts as Off-hand attack, will connect if enchanted for -26 damage
Exhausting Assault: Dual Attack that interrupts action, causes exhaustion on spells.
Wear Enchanter armor for max mana. Bring two Illusion Staffs... one with dual +30HP mods, the other with a 30 HP head and a +20% enchant wrapping. In the game, add a third and fourth weapon slot from the inventory window. You want a weapon or focus that gives energy but NOT extra health. I have the Factions pre-order Spiritbinder staff in the slot for +15E. You'll need Daggers for the third setup above... I have my pre-order Dragon Fangs in the fourth slot for this.
======================================
Start with Arcane Echo, let it naturally recharge your energy for a few seconds. Cast Shadow Form, then Heart of Shadow for a cover from Chilblains or something like that. No attack or spell can target you for 20 seconds because of your enchant mod... that's PERFECT for the timer on the A.Echo'd SF you have waiting. Feel free to aggro your enemy, CPU or human. I run right unto the middle of the enemy camp and let them waste their casts/attacks on me as my team comes up from behind me.
Now go into your offense. When the 20s is almost over, you'll see Shadow Form flashing, simply cast your second copy before it ends and you have another 20s of near-invulnerability. Your original Shadow Form will still be recharging, so it and Arcane Echo will recharge together to be ready 15s or so after your second SF ends.
When SF nearly ends a second time, make sure Heart of Shadow is still up. Run/Shadow Step (Recall or Return if you have it) towards your healers, or kite away from battle if there are no healers around. Switch to your empty weapon slot (or one with no bonus HP like my Spiritbinder) and cast Shadow Refuge the moment SF ends. You'll be at +9 degen but your health is at 41. While kiting, switch to your +60 HP staff to jump to 100+ HP.
If you wish, spam a wand blast as SR ends to get its +68 HP bonus (you don't need to be in melee range for wand casts to get the bonus). Otherwise, continue kiting and SR'ing as needed, but try to recharge mana if you can for the next assault. If an enemy is on you, their first attack will trigger +75 HP from HoS like Reversal of Fortune. Immediately cast HoS to teleport away a bit as well as heal you for +75 HP again if attacked. This is while SR is up of course. You only need to kite and stay alive until your enchants are ready again.
If not attacked, you'll get to at least 50% health in no time, even with regular regen, and your Archane Echo and Shadow Form elite will be nearly recharged. Cast them both as soon as your energy is in good shape (health level doesn't matter much), then go back to your evil doings. Be sure you switch back to the +20% enchant staff before you use Shadow Form!
Here are some quick comments on the three sample offensive setups I came up with for this build idea:
- My Domination setup is done with WW->Shatter Delusions->WW. I then use WW every 3s and Overload to punish spell casts of a least 1s. WW->SD is done when the skills recharge. It does nice damage overall, especially vs. casters, and it ignores armor.
- For the Illusion skills, you can get some nice pressure damage with degen, especially against melee. If you can, catch them as they attack for the 55 damage bonus with Images of Remorse and they are under -4 degen. Lay down CP for -5 degen. immediately cast AP for the Deep Wound and a 37 damage hit. Wand spam to add DPS. Refresh the degen only when necessary, but keep casting AP and IoR whenever you know the bonus damage will connect.
- With the Dagger Mastery setup, you have two main strats. Interrupt and disable spells with Disrupting Attack when it recharges (10s recharge) and interrupt with exhaustion from the GPS->EA combo whenever they recharge (both are ready every 8s). Considering you don't need to worry too much about outside interference, just keep harassing youur target with these skills for 40s to keep them off-banlance. Remember, after GPS you have 5s or so to input EA. This way you don't need to worry too much about guessing when a cast is coming too often.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you have some other skill combos that work with this awesome template, post 'em up. Everyone should try out at least one of hte ones I suggested first to get a feel for how to play the build... it's kind of tricky at first but is easy to master. Go on the Nameless Isle and you should be able to take out the two Warriors, the Air Ele, and the Hex master with ease if your'e using the Illusion setup (click, click, click... I love that sound). Once you get the tactics down, you'll be able to come up with your own combos from there for whatever gameplay setup you are playing in.
For experienced PvE farmers out there, be sure to let me know the pros and cons of this setup in the dangerous sections of the game (I don't PvE much, but love farming faction in Arenas). Is the 40s enough time to do some good damage? Can you use the Shadow Step skills with this build to aggro the mobs for battle and then safely return to your distant teammate after the 40s?
Enjoy! :wave:
This build is actually working out better than I first thought it would. Use the base template to setup the kind of build you want, then add the filler skills to farm faction in PVP, or to farm XP and loot in PvE. My first team I was with in TA after making it was on a 16 game streak until GW kicked me out with an error message (I think it said "err=19: uber elite builds not allowed" :tongue: ).
While I made this a Me/As build for max Illu/Dom damage (no more than 12 SA points are needed), it could work as an As/Me also. Adjust it to your own needs. Here we go:
======================================
Shadow Form Farmer (Me/As)
Illusion/Dominaton/Dagger Mastery: 16
Shadow Arts: 12
Fast Cast: 4
Arcane Echo: Copies any spell for 20s
Shadow Form {E}: All spells or attacks against you fail for 17s, drop to 41 HP when it ends
Shadow Refuge: +9 regen for 4s, +68 health if it ends while you attack
Heart of Shadow: Teleport nearby and recieve +75HP if you take damage in next 60s
Recall/Return -or- Rez: Shadow Step to ally, depending on skill used
(examples for choices of offense)
Illusion
Conjure Phantom: -5 degen for 15s
Images of Remorse: -4 degen for 10s and -55 damage if foe attacks
Accumulated Pain: -37 damage and Deep Wound if foe has two Hexes
Domination
Wastrel's Worry: -68 damage after 3s if doe uses no skills
Shatter Delusions: -79 damage for shattering a Mesmer Hex
Overload: -21 damage, an additional -53 damage if foe is casting spell (-74 total)
Dagger Mastery
Disrupting Stab: Lead attack interrupts action, if it was a spell it's disabled for 9s
Golden Phoenix Strike: counts as Off-hand attack, will connect if enchanted for -26 damage
Exhausting Assault: Dual Attack that interrupts action, causes exhaustion on spells.
Wear Enchanter armor for max mana. Bring two Illusion Staffs... one with dual +30HP mods, the other with a 30 HP head and a +20% enchant wrapping. In the game, add a third and fourth weapon slot from the inventory window. You want a weapon or focus that gives energy but NOT extra health. I have the Factions pre-order Spiritbinder staff in the slot for +15E. You'll need Daggers for the third setup above... I have my pre-order Dragon Fangs in the fourth slot for this.
======================================
Start with Arcane Echo, let it naturally recharge your energy for a few seconds. Cast Shadow Form, then Heart of Shadow for a cover from Chilblains or something like that. No attack or spell can target you for 20 seconds because of your enchant mod... that's PERFECT for the timer on the A.Echo'd SF you have waiting. Feel free to aggro your enemy, CPU or human. I run right unto the middle of the enemy camp and let them waste their casts/attacks on me as my team comes up from behind me.
Now go into your offense. When the 20s is almost over, you'll see Shadow Form flashing, simply cast your second copy before it ends and you have another 20s of near-invulnerability. Your original Shadow Form will still be recharging, so it and Arcane Echo will recharge together to be ready 15s or so after your second SF ends.
When SF nearly ends a second time, make sure Heart of Shadow is still up. Run/Shadow Step (Recall or Return if you have it) towards your healers, or kite away from battle if there are no healers around. Switch to your empty weapon slot (or one with no bonus HP like my Spiritbinder) and cast Shadow Refuge the moment SF ends. You'll be at +9 degen but your health is at 41. While kiting, switch to your +60 HP staff to jump to 100+ HP.
If you wish, spam a wand blast as SR ends to get its +68 HP bonus (you don't need to be in melee range for wand casts to get the bonus). Otherwise, continue kiting and SR'ing as needed, but try to recharge mana if you can for the next assault. If an enemy is on you, their first attack will trigger +75 HP from HoS like Reversal of Fortune. Immediately cast HoS to teleport away a bit as well as heal you for +75 HP again if attacked. This is while SR is up of course. You only need to kite and stay alive until your enchants are ready again.
If not attacked, you'll get to at least 50% health in no time, even with regular regen, and your Archane Echo and Shadow Form elite will be nearly recharged. Cast them both as soon as your energy is in good shape (health level doesn't matter much), then go back to your evil doings. Be sure you switch back to the +20% enchant staff before you use Shadow Form!
Here are some quick comments on the three sample offensive setups I came up with for this build idea:
- My Domination setup is done with WW->Shatter Delusions->WW. I then use WW every 3s and Overload to punish spell casts of a least 1s. WW->SD is done when the skills recharge. It does nice damage overall, especially vs. casters, and it ignores armor.
- For the Illusion skills, you can get some nice pressure damage with degen, especially against melee. If you can, catch them as they attack for the 55 damage bonus with Images of Remorse and they are under -4 degen. Lay down CP for -5 degen. immediately cast AP for the Deep Wound and a 37 damage hit. Wand spam to add DPS. Refresh the degen only when necessary, but keep casting AP and IoR whenever you know the bonus damage will connect.
- With the Dagger Mastery setup, you have two main strats. Interrupt and disable spells with Disrupting Attack when it recharges (10s recharge) and interrupt with exhaustion from the GPS->EA combo whenever they recharge (both are ready every 8s). Considering you don't need to worry too much about outside interference, just keep harassing youur target with these skills for 40s to keep them off-banlance. Remember, after GPS you have 5s or so to input EA. This way you don't need to worry too much about guessing when a cast is coming too often.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you have some other skill combos that work with this awesome template, post 'em up. Everyone should try out at least one of hte ones I suggested first to get a feel for how to play the build... it's kind of tricky at first but is easy to master. Go on the Nameless Isle and you should be able to take out the two Warriors, the Air Ele, and the Hex master with ease if your'e using the Illusion setup (click, click, click... I love that sound). Once you get the tactics down, you'll be able to come up with your own combos from there for whatever gameplay setup you are playing in.
For experienced PvE farmers out there, be sure to let me know the pros and cons of this setup in the dangerous sections of the game (I don't PvE much, but love farming faction in Arenas). Is the 40s enough time to do some good damage? Can you use the Shadow Step skills with this build to aggro the mobs for battle and then safely return to your distant teammate after the 40s?
Enjoy! :wave: