Easier with a warrior?

Okay, this may just be a ME thing, but I'm just wondering...

Are the Ascalon/North Shiverpeaks/Kryta missions just easier to beat with a warrior?

I currently have one "primary" character (ie, at level 20), and three "secondary" characters that I've been trying to work through the missions.

The primary is a warrior/necro specializing in Hammer, and I pretty much blew through the above mentioned missions.

My three secondaries are N/Me, R/Mo, and W/E.

I still haven't been able to get my Necro through Borlis Pass.

I got my Ranger through Borlis on the third try, but got slaughtered when I tried Frost Gate.

In contrast...

My W/E specializing in swordsmanship blew through Ascalon, the Shiverpeaks, Gates of Kryta, and D'Alessio Seaboard.


Is this just because I'm better at employing the traits and abilities of a warrior, or does it have to do with the profession setup?

Once you hit Crystal Desert, it tough for Warriors, namely, finding groups.

I'm only using henchies, and intend to continue with the practice until I hit a point at which it is literally impossible to continue with just them.

Does "armor" mean something to you?

General play is indeed easier with a warrior. PvE play is ultimately pressure versus pressure, and in that context high armour is king... Plus it helps that your damage output is better than most classes'.

Also, being a warrior is that much less build-dependent than being a caster. The requirements to graduate from "beginner" to "intermediate" are just a res sig, a longbow (for pulling) and some way of inflicting a Deep Wound... Which is a piece of cake when compared even with the almighty Necromancers, who have to use a lot of specific skills and sometimes whole builds to get enough benefit from their class.

Finally, there's fewer hench-control issues if you're a warrior. You're going to be out the front, and you're going to be attacking the primary target - compare that to a poor monk who has to keep switching back and forwards from party to monsters in order to keep the aggro running smoothly.

With henchies - yes it's easier.
With party - it doesn't matter.

Paperfly is exactly right. I found the whole game a bit harder with my squishy characters than with my warrior. Granted, I took the squishies through first, so maybe that had something to do with it. Taking my warrior through now, I know what to expect.

Try Minion Mastering at low levels with your Necro. You'll be able to blow through everything even at low levels with a minion master, if you know how to do it.

As for your Ranger, try to output as much damage as you can by bringing Judge's Insight and some sort of Preparation that increases your damage, like Ignite Arrows. Then, once you make it out of the shiverpeaks, grab a signet of capture and go outside Lion's arch and cap Tiger's fury from the Ranger Tengu Boss in North Kryta Provence. You'll be able to blow thru those areas fairly well.

1) How do I go about Minion Mastering? I barely have enough energy to cast Animate Bone Fiend once (maybe twice) in a single sitting.


2) I've been using Ignite Arrows till the "6" on my keyboard started complaining of abuse, but that didn't help much on Frost Gate.

Can Judge's Insight be used on myself? ...the henchies aren't exactly reliable when it comes to amp-up enchantments.

sometimes they just leave be bleed to death, those damn henchies. happened on all of my chars.

Earlier in the game, yes.
Later in the game, no.

As soon as you hit the official max level areas (starting at sothern shiverpeaks) its gets a lot harder. You need to pull, what happens when you pull? The henchs go rushing foward. From that point on it is extensively difficult to hench with a warrior. You can't rely on your higher level over the enemies, as well as having 80 AL droks when you should have 50 AL lion's arch. Generally, later it is easy to hench with Necro (MM/SS) or Ele (ether prodigy blind/heal party and wards)

Put points into Soul Reaping. When I use my N/Mo as MM, I have 16 Death, 10 Soul Reaping, and 9 Healing Prayers.

You should be able to do everything in Tyria (Edit : except some of the titan quests), including Grandmaster Cartographer if you've a mind to, with henchies. The only really problematic parts are :

Bloodstone Fen secondary - Henchies like to attack the protectors, do that part seperately and only bring healer and minimal caster compliment.

Aroura Glade secondary - It's a PITA to do with henchies, but possible.

Dunes of Despair secondary - Doable, but another PITA.

Thirsty River Primary/Secondary -- Without a good interupter, at least in my experience, it's darn near impossible to get the monk boss, and henchies don't interrupt. Your ranger should do fine, but for my necros I've usually had to have a friend help.

Glint secondary -- Same as above. With a good interupt, easy. Without? Good bloody luck.

For what it's worth, I've never really liked Bone Fiends much. Bone Horrors are much cheaper, have better armour, and, most important when one is henching, they tank. A group of Bone Horrors can keep a group of enemy fighters busy whilst you and your caster henchies are busy making more bodies. Once you can afford them, energy-wise, my personal feeling is that Vampirics mixed with Bone Horrors are a good combination for henching.

As for energy, Soul Reaping FTW, as they say. I generally try and get Soul Reaping up to around 10 as early as possible. As long as things are dying on the battlefield, I have energy. If things aren't dying, well I've probably got bigger problems than just my low energy level.


I've never played a ranger, but my best friend does. She suggests that you go with a short bow for anything but pulling, it has a higher fire rate, thus higher DPS. Until you can get Tiger's Fury, she suggests using Lightning Reflexes as much as you can to up your fire rate. Also, she always goes with a pet. Mostly that's a matter of RPing for her, but a pet also acts as another tank, which can be very helpful. The downside to the pet is the skillbar can get awfully tight.

As long as it says "target ally" and not "target other ally" (and Judge's Insight does), you should be able to.

Lastly, a couple of general 'henching it' suggestions, for whatever they're worth --

1) Always call your target. You wouldn't think it would matter with henchies, but it does.

2) Only bring one warrior henchie -- I usually bring Stefan, but I doubt it much matters. Bringing both warriors seems to dramatically increase the chances that Alesia will decide to tank and, overall, substantially decreases your group's survivability.

3) Whenever possible, always bring Claude. His throwing Blood Ritual on all and sundry can make or break a bad situation.


FWIW, YMMV, and all that.

tbh, my monk was the easiest for me.

Do not use Ignite Arrows. It has an AOE affect on mobs and they will scatter then focus on your casters and/or monk. Kindle Arrows is much better: no scattering, and the damage is roughly the same.

I did one mission with other people, and one of the rangers used Ignite Arrows. I spent more time running around, chasing the enemies than I did actually beating on them. It was a friggin' nightmare.

With henchies, yes it is easier to play a warrior. All the aggro is on you most of the time in a full hench group because it takes some really inventing manuvering to get the hencies to aggro and stay there without pulling the whole Charr army...which most players can't/won't do. Other alternatives are to bring lots of self buff skills. This problem will be fixed with Nightfall and the introduction of flag controlls.

from Cantha its realy hard to use only hench

I found it almost impossible to play a Warrior with henchies. I attribute this to henchman severely hating me. I have had Alesia blatently refuse to heal my characters regardless of me being the only one taking damage, regardless of the amount of damage I'm taking.

In fact, my Warrior in PvE, has never died of a direct hit or skill. It was always from degen. What the crap Alesia. I hate you.

Though in comparison to most other classes, henching sure takes a bit longer to beat missions >_>

I actually found it easier with my Ranger and Ele than I did my Warrior. This could be down to a number of things. My Warrior was my 1st and still is my main. Being my first character, I was largely inexperienced and suffered as a result. I had little cash to play with and crappy weapons. With my Ranger and Ele, I found it easier (and more fun to burn everyone! ), mainly because I had access to more powerful weapons that my Warrior came across. I had more cash (although this is largely down to Cantha's generous rewards), and I knew the missions well. First time I did Frost Gate with my War, it was agony. Too many idiots. With my Ranger and Ele, I blasted through it in one go, the attempt with my Ele largely down to a couple of Assassins in it for their Protector title

I think it could be a me thing. It could also be that you just can't bring yourself to go through all that effort multiple times as well.