For those who haven't extensively played Ritualist, what do you view them as?

Meaning, if you're gathering a group for a mission and you see "Ritualist LFG" in chat, do you consider taking them? Do you see them as a poor man's healer?

Leveling both a Monk and Ritualist to 20 (and particularly focusing on and tricking out the Ritualist), I have realized that the Rit makes for a superb monk supporter. They're passable as primary healers, but if I want a primary healer I'd definitely give the edge to the monk. However, if I had the choice of two Monks in a group or a Monk and a Rit, I'd choose the later most definitely.

I did not realize how much pressure it takes off of me as a Monk having a "Ritual Lord" Rit there spamming Union and Shelter over and over until I played a Monk extensively myself.

Are there generally experienced players out there that basically see the Ritualist as a "well, we can't find a monk so lets just take the rit" class, or even as another kind of offensive casting class? How do non-rit players see rits?

The Ritualist can never be an offensive caster until they're Channeling magics also have Armor Penetration.

The amount of damage a 16 Channeling Ritualist can do to a Ranger/Warrior is absolutely pitiful.

I would take em, especially for sprit spam

Yeah, I'm the first to laugh at the Channeling tree like it's a complete joke, because it is I just wonder if others who don't really know a lot about the Ritualist assume that they can be an offensive caster if they just spec that way.

And they can spec that way, sort of. Except the damage would be comming from 4-5 Communing Spirits

One of if not the best solo farming characters in the game. Excellent for support in groups, and excellent as dmg dealers its just finding someone that knows how to use a rit properly is the problem.

Usually bashing on noobs is boring, but I must say, when I'm playing Random or Team Arena, and I set up Pain, Bloodsong, Shadowsong, and Dissonance all in a horizontal line against the enemy line, then an opposing Warrior decides to move in, I giggle every time.


Speaking of Dissonance, I'm surprised that skill isn't Elite.

Why the hell would you use elemental damage on a ranger?

Anyway, I see them as anti-pressure/damage mitigation. When I look for people, I ask for a healer and a prot monk or damage mitigation rit. Although I played a ritualist when I first got the game, I never played it for too long as it was definately not my play style and of course didn't learn too much about it.

Quote: Originally Posted by LumpOfCole

Rit is a major must imo when it comes to high dmg mobs such as in the elite missions... the ritualist spirits have the upper hand in mitigating dmg...

i good spirt rit can keep a party of 8 alive with a single healer... major leverage in Alliance battles...

all that dmg goes poof up to ritualist spirits... and they do have one heck of a solo farming build with many variations for adaptability...

yea i have a rit but i guess u cant view a rit the same unless youve played one... they seem to be able to do almost anything

Well, I guess they aren't very good for running

And soloing shrines in AB is quite fun as a Rit. It takes a few seconds to build up the spirits, but it's pretty nifty that I can cap a shrine by my lonesome. Being a support class, it usually isn't a good idea, but in a PUG on AB, it's hard to keep together as it is...

Quote: Originally Posted by LumpOfCole

I wouldnt take someone going "RIt LFG"

Because I know from my experience in PvE that they'd be some stupid Channeling Rit or something.

Quote: Originally Posted by Former Ruling

The Rt/N mm build works well too.

I dunno, I'll accept anyone into the group, but do answer my question when I ask what you're playing, it gives me a chance to add to the team as necessary. I'm not assuming you're a restoration ritulist, but if you are, tell me so we can get more damage. If you're playing communion, let me know, that way, i can add a prot monk.

I really haven't played a rit or looked at rit skills much, so you'll find that I'm not inclined to add a rit to a group of 7/8 when I'm looking for a monk, unless you can assure me I don't need a monk but a rit.

As long as they KNOW they're monk support, they're great. If they think they're some kind of mini-nuker it means trouble.
With a good rit, I don't have to worry about double-casting healing spells like I would with a second monk.
And a lot of those Canthan monsters do big damage. My healer can only try to keep up with it, but a rit can keep the damage to a reasonable level.

I'm not sure if I'd rather have a ritualist or a protect monk in my party, though. I've rarely seen a prot monk in a pug, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Ritualists unlike assassins are a versatile class that can solo places (vengeful), be an EXCELENT secondary class for a huge number of other classes (warriors with weapons, rangers with spirit skills, necros with communing...), be a descent primary healer with restoration, be THE ULTIMATE monk support with rit. lord (which btw, its NOT the only build in existence...it saddens me that 9 out of 10 ritualitst don’t know anything other then shelter + union combo...) and even deal MASSIVE dmg (not relying only on channeling spells since the "no ap" makes them useless in most cases, i actually meant spirit spam).

After playing one for a long while now on PVE, and a little bit on pvp (ab, ra, ta and gvg...never tried hoh with it) I find the class the best addiction factions gave to the franchise (I am seriously considering deleting my assassin like MANY other had simply because its such narrow minded class that have absolutely no diversity in game play...OOOOO yes, and it sucks a whole lot on PVE ^^).

Latter.

You people think Channeling Ritualists are a joke?

I beg to differ. A little more exploration into chaining skills might be of use to the doubters out there. A Channeling Ritualist in the right hands can dish out enough damage that it won't *matter* if their spells have no armour penetration.

When I see a rit in pvp, I'm annoyed, knowing that the battle will be stupidly drawn out.

I wish Anet never added them.

Personally I find rits to be not quite as good as monks, but for a hard mission, say thk id perfer 2 monks and a rit to just 2 monks. Rits are more versitile then monks, but monks are stronger at healing IMO