Team Arenas

[Lurker Wyrm]

Hey, I warned you guys I would probably go a little nuts with sub-forums.

I think it would be a good idea for everyone who's interested in TA runs every now and then to say so. Since it only needs 4 people we don't have to worry about scheduling matches like we do with GvG, we just need to find out who's interested so we can put together ad-hoc teams. It's also relatively easy to put together a build so that's not a real issue either.

Battling TA is great practice for GvG (hint hint) since most GvG (char) builds will work (unlike in RA where you pretty much have to be self-sufficient) and it gives you a chance to practice your skillbar. It's also a pretty decent way to get Bal faction for skill unlocking.

Anyways, I'm interested, who else?

[FoxBat]

Me!

If we *really* want GvG practice, maybe we can form a team based on whatever GvG build we are using at the moment. The "balanced" forumla seems to be a pure damage char, a melee shutdown with half-decent damage, a caster shutdown with usually less damage and condition removal, and monk.

From the current build, we might draw:

Steady Stance war
N/E or W/E (maybe drop rotting flesh)
Me/E
Mo/A -> change to Mo/W perhaps... possibly ZB in place of RC.

Fitting in draw conditions is a bit tough with the GoLE powering some expensive hexes.... but it's advisable to give your monk that extra protection and not have that monk waste energy on blind removal.

[ajaxfetish]

I'd be happy to TA on an ad hoc basis. If I'm in the middle of an involved mission or quest, you might have to wait a few for me, and with a grand total of one TA experience behind me I'll be hoping to receive plenty of orders.

Ajax

[theGrimm]

TA will probably suit me better than GvG, softcore PvP'er that I am, and although it wasn't in direct response to this thread, I did enjoy the TA experience I just had. I forget who was involved (too many names to get my head around!), but it was great.

I probably need a more focussed build (playing necro), and it's probably a good idea to create a dedicated PVP necro for the experience (carrying over my 400hp pve necro was probably a disadvantage )

If someone can suggest a role, I can probably put a build toegther, although I am limited mostly to prophecies skilles at the moment (and skills I can unlock with Faction, obviously).

Fox, what where you thinking of in terms of the Ne/E?

[DamadmOO]

Grimm: If you do have both the other campaigns (factions and nightfall) then i can always take you on a ride thru the Zaishen Elite which will give you 6k factions a day (if things go well :D). A full skill bar with 1 elite and 7 normal skills is 10k factions max and it should always be possible to buy a few of the normal skills. This would mean that in 1 day you should be able to run any specific build (as long as you have a PvP character slot where you can use the unlocked skills.)

[soul]

So yesterday evening Fox and I sat in the guildhall for a bit to come up with a TA build that was somewhat based on something he saw on the AB boards.

Moebius Strike Assassin [A/E]
Air Magic: 6, Dagger Mastery: 13 (11 +1 +1), Critical Strike: 13 (10 +3), Shadow Arts: 9 (8 +1)
Leaping Mantis Sting, Jungle Strike, Death Blossom, Moebius Strike, Critical Strike, Unseen Fury, Storm Djinn's Haste, Res Sig
(Critical Strike and Horns of the Ox can be changed on preference, you should never hit 0 energy with critical strike, but the knockdown from horns may be better than that. Alternate skill set involves removing Leaping Mantis and Jungle Strike and replacing them with Golden Pheonix Strike and Death's Retreat/Feigned Neutrality/Dark Escape for some self defense.)
Equipment: Vampiric and Zealous daggers either 15^50 or 15/stance. Radiant Insignias on Chest and Legs and survivor on the rest. Optional rune of vitae or attunement.
AnRCi1tf4oO/v+3Brht/igaVBAA

Ebon Dust Paragon [P/D]
Spear Mastery: 15 (11 +3 +1), Command: 9 (8 +1), Leadership: 8, Earth Prayers: 9
Barbed Spear, Ebon Dust, Vicious Spear, Aggressive Refrain, Anthem of Flame, "Go for the Eyes!", Swift Spear, Res Sig
Equipment: Ebon Spear, 15^50. Radiant Insignias on all armor, and attunement runes in the open rune slots.
ApSS5aio4aOA5gsFGcjvrwubBAA

Nature's Renewal Interrupter [R/Mo]
Marksmanship: 14 (11 +2 +1), Wilderness Survival: 11-12 (10 +1/2), Expertise: 11 (10 +1), Protection Prayers: 1
Broad Head Arrow, Distracting Shot, Savage Shot, Apply Poison, Serpent's Quickness, Nature's Renewal, Mending Touch, Res Sig
(Possible skill swap is SQ for Natural Stride. We originally had Punishing Shot over BHA, but BHA looks to be the better option.)
Equipment: Poisonous Recurve bow. When using SQ Stalwart Insignias on chest and legs, and survivor on others. When using NS use radiant insignias.)
AyQxLuKWz7MbclPGVTeF5wdEAA

Zealous Benediction Monk [Mo/A]
Shadow Arts: 4, Protection Prayers: 13 (12+1), Divine Favor: 11 (10 +1), Healing: 8 (7 +1)
Zealous Benediction, Reversal of Fortune, Gift of Health, Spirit Bond, Smite Hex, Dismiss Condition, Shielding Hands, Dark Escape
(Mend Ailment and Dismiss condition are interchangeable, Dismiss has a shorter cooldown, but chances of getting the heal from it are lower than mend.)
Equipment: PvP protection monk standard
AyQxTuIWz8kZeMqGAwve2wdEAA


The purpose of each character should be pretty apparent by their skills, and basically the build was aimed at decreasing the effectiveness of the popular hex-heavy teams, and putting a lot of pressure onto the enemy.

Enchantments beyond 1/4s cast time were avoided so we wouldn't be hindering ourselves too much with Nature's Renewal up.

After finally getting a group together to try this (Fox as Ranger, Vort as monk, Seijin as Paragon and myself as the Assassin). While the build went through some minor changes to get to where it is now, we found even the first setup we made fairly effective. Never made it to 10 consecutive wins, but we made it to 8 (or nearly) a few times.

Ill keep updating as we keep adding to the build. I'd post the play style for this, but I'm too tired to at the moment, so unless Fox, Seijin or Vort want to do it, I'll get around to it... "later".

[Seijin]

Here's the paragon skill and equipment templates

Skills: ApSS5aio4aOA5gsFGcjvrwubBAA

Equipment: RmV70ckeaB1ckgly0dknr+0ckg1A1ckWDA

I don't have the skills listed in the same order as SF's post.

For equipment I have two sets:
First set:
Ebon PvP Spear of Fortitude (15^50)
PvP Command Shield of Fortitude (reduced blind)

Second set:
Ebon PvP Spear of Enchanting (15 while enchanted)
PvP Command Shield of Devotion (+45hp enchanted + reduced blind)

If you're not worried about enchant strips you can use the Second set and swap whatever weapons you want or create new ones.

[Seijin]

I only really know what I was trying to do. Before the para was support and blinding with added damage to spike a target. It looks like its been changed to do dmg support and add to spikes as well as defense at the same time vs physical attackers.

Basically aggressive refrain initially and use anthem of flame before the fight starts to keep it up active. During the fight you'll end up using anthem of flame and "go for the eyes!" to keep aggressive up. Energy really isn't an issue unless you start spamming a lot of attack skills. Blind targets, but don't spam the skills on the same target.

The sin will occasionally target someone with a block enchant or stance up or is standing in a ward. Make sure Ebon Dust is up and use Swift Javelin (cannot be blocked while enchanted) to blind the target so the sin can spike him. Also to aid in the spike use "go for the eyes!" and Vicious Attack to try and land a crit hit to add deep wound.

I don't know what else I was doing.

[FoxBat]

Paragon: ApSS5aio4aOgbgsFOITkrwubBAA

Ranger: AyQxLuKWz7MbclPGVTeF5wdEAA

[mucco]

I would like to participate, too. I'm enjoying PvP a lot, actually, even if I only really played in Random Arena up to now. Guess I'll need to unlock a load of skills...

*Goes to earn more faction*