Nudists Save Tyria

[KingOfPain]

If mobs actually stayed in choke points instead of running amongst our backline we wouldn't be having problems anyway.

There are the choke points as most people know them which work fine for a normal team or even hero/hench 5 men team, and less... We have done, many challenged configurations and win the bonus since mid 2005 when WarBlade and I (separately) were out to break the final frontier. Of course nothing as challenged as Nudists.

The key to the THK mission, and bonus, is aggro management. It is doubly more important for a crippled team such as the Nudists in this case. The problem is, the choke points as most people see them is not where they should be for a crippled team. This might be counter intuitive to most people, but the choke points should be set futher out, maybe another half of an aggro bubble to the left at the bridge, and near the bottom of the steps in the center. The tanks plays an important role here, they have to know when to just stay put, or when it's safe/best to run out to grap and hold aggro of the mob(s) and bring them back to the killing field.


KoP

[KingOfPain]

I thought as much. But it was turned down when I suggested I would Channel her.

KoP

[KingOfPain]

Anyway, can we all post our builds and see what we can workout before the game and try to cut down on the hour+ prep talk

Please post the build that you just used last week.
As well, changes you might want to try, or what others can do to help your build.

My build has been posted a few times, but I would put more thoughts into variations and put up a new (complete) one after work.

KoP

[FoxBat]

Yes, choke points are a problem. If you "camp the king", there are actually four paths of entry, the two stairs plus the two balconies. The balconies are accessed by a staircase on the far side. In order to reduce those choke points to two, your tanks basically have to sit in front of the entry gates, which puts the rest of the team somwhere in the center of the courtyard. There will be a critical point where our bonus buddy jades die and we have to capitalize on it to get into position fast. If our tanks can fit assassin secondary, it may be possible for them to man the ballistae while maintaining recall, and use that to quickly get back into position once enemies draw near their gate.


Another way of handling choke points I'm looking into is camping the spawn point, with the bonus jades in the base handling stragglers, but this is tricky. In the first part of the mission, the spawns show up in different spots. Giants are on either side, the white mantle spawn directly north of the keep tower with pairs of jade spawning further NW/NE from there. Once that mess is taken care of, then the rest of the spawns are easily handled in the northern corridor with the portal; it's getting to that point that is the tricky part. The only way this method actually gets any easier is if you can afford to let some more slide by and the bonus jades clean them up; I need to experiment more to see what can be gotten away with. (sigh, why must this mission be so looong...)

[FoxBat]

E/Me Tanks

12 Earth
5 Air
9 Energy Storage
8 Inspiration

Earth Attunement
Aftershock / (Arcane Echo)
Shockwave / (Sandstorm)
Glyph of Swiftness
Stoneflesh Aura
Stone Striker
Mantra of Earth
Storm Djinn's Haste

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If our tanks are forced to spread out, I'm not as sold on the effectiveness on Searing Flames. Although it is still -7 degen I suppose. Anyway the important addition is Storm Djinns over armor of earth, which helps you get to and from the ballistae, and serves as a cover enchantment to keep your important ones safe.


The following three are an interlocking team build:

N/Rt Minions

12 Death
10 Soul Reaping
8 Communing

Jagged Bones
Animate Bone Minions
Death Nova
Blood of the Master
Masochism
Vital Weapon
Mighty Was Vorizun
Flesh of my Flesh

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N/Rt Curses

12 Curses
10 Soul Reaping
8 Communing
2 Restoration

Spiteful Spirit
Barbs
Enfeebling Blood
Weaken Armor
Mark of Pain
Rigor Mortis / ( Suffering)
Mighty Was Vorizun
Flesh of my Flesh

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Turret Ranger (Proph + EotN)

12 Expertise
12 Marksmanship

Expert's Focus
Quick Shot
Hunter's Shot
Penetrating Attack
Savage Shot
Body Shot
Throw Dirt
Vengeance/Flesh of my Flesh/Res Sig

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I know there's been grumbling about minions and aggro, but once you take the center, they aren't a liability there anymore, and only help contain enemies breaking away from the tank. They also contribute alot of damage when ganging up on a barbsed target, or nuking themselves with death novas. Both necros are running Vorizun to take full advantage of soul reaping energy burts, which there will be plenty of with the minions dying.

The above ranger build works closely with the curses necro. They churn out a ton of focused damage with barbs/mark of pain, and get the energy to keep doing it off of cracked armor. There's also plenty of slow-casting enemies to hit with savage shot, though you can also use savage shot as a damage skill in this sort of build. If there's a rit around they can also apply splinter to this kind of character with good effect, as they will fire off 5 attacks before the skill is recharged. Rigor Mortis is there to combat whirling defense on jade bows, especially a boss. Wild Blow/Strike/Throw would probably be better if we can get that kind of character to come along.

This also offloads quick hard-rezes off the healers, who can continue healing those still alive while others do the rezing. Everyone on the team should weild a spear/bow so they can help trigger barbs when not casting. (I['ll bet it will confuse the mantle mesmers too...)

Camping the center may also make an offensive spirit spammer more viable, as this gives a definite anchor point that the team can work around. This assumes we have such a character come along that night though.

[KingOfPain]

The Necros should be running no higher than 8 Soul Reaping
N/Rt Minions
12 Death
8 Soul Reaping
10 Communing

N/Rt Curse
12 Curse
8 12 Death
8 Soul Reaping
10 Communing

I would even run lower Soul Reaping on both Necros down to 6, and pump Communing to 11. Leftover points can go to Restoration. I would feel comfy running 3 Soul Reaping and 12 Communing with a Bone/Jagged MM around.

Or even
12 Curse
3 Soul Reaping and split Rit into
9 Communing
9 Channeling or Restoration

KoP

[FoxBat]

3 Soul Reaping? You have been playing since the timer nerf right?

8 communing just makes MwV easy to upkeep, there isn't much benefit to that skill beyond that. You could push a few more over from soul reaping for a slightly better vital weapon. (Hey if you have that much excess, go and maintain vital on half the party. )

One thing I forgot though is how effective ballistae firing may be. We may not be left with many corpses in the courtyard to raise from! I should test this but I'll need one other person. (Good time to try out storm djinn's too...) Also depending on how many can be nailed with the ballistae, it may be easier to just kill the bonus jades, so that we are all in position and under control, instead of having to scramble for that later.

[KingOfPain]

Yes I have played a necro to Legendary Survivor with 2 mil exp since the timer nerf I logged more time than people give me credit for - not sure that's something to be proud of, tho

Keeping Vital up for half the team isn't an energy problem (as I have kept it up for 3-4 last run) as much as having enough time between casting curses on monsters.

*snip half a page of explantions* Yes, it's counter intuitive, one would think nudist with low regen - pump Soul Reaping. If you have played a necro nudist you would know running high Soul Reaping is quite a waste for a nudist, mostly because our killing rate is too low to capitalize its usefulness. Lower SR means more points for
1/ making skills more powerful
2/ skills and energy usage are both more effective due to kill power and less casting
3/ more skills to chose from because you can afford to run 2-3 skill trees at meaningful lvls.

When there is a Bone Minion and Jagged Bones MM around, SR essentailly gets a boost of an additional 400% return; and more importantly, at a constant stream.

KoP

[Zed-F]

Just for reference, what my Rt was using last time:

Restoration 12, Blood Magic 10, Communing 8

Soothing Memories
Spirit Light
Mend Body & Soul
Offering of Blood (elite)
Mighty was Vorizun
Recuperation
Life
Flesh of my Flesh

If we need a bit more offense I can sub out Sundering Weapon for Recuperation (for instance) or by substituting in an offensive spirit or two.

I can't easily spec into channeling without sacrificing either energy (blood -> channeling means I use OoS instead of OoB, which gives lower energy return), energy max (communing -> channeling means losing Mighty was Vorizun, which is a problem) or healing power (by taking some out of restoration.) Of course if we really want offense out of me then I need to be running one of my non-healing builds anyway.

[Seijin]

Yes I have played a necro to Legendary Survivor with 2 mil exp since the timer nerf I logged more time than people give me credit for - not sure that's something to be proud of, tho
When there is a Bone Minion and Jagged Bones MM around, SR essentailly gets a boost of an additional 400% return; and more importantly, at a constant stream.

I don't know what's scarier, that you actually went to 2mil xp on a necro without me even noticing and getting legendary survivor or the fact that you actually calculate returns on skills....all I would want to do is play for the most part