Rt/A - Kuurong's Travels

Profession: Rt/A or A/Rt ( preference Rt/A )
Name: Kuurong's Travels
Type: PvE/PvP respectfully.
Category: AoE Nuker / Spiker
Attributes:
12 Dagger / 12 Channeling ( base, can be modified )

Skill Bar:

Grasping Was Kuurong {E}
Falling Spider
Repeating Strike
XXX ( dual attack see below )
XXX ( weapon spell see below )
Spirit Rift / Ancestors' Rage / Wielders Strike ( see below )
Dash / Dark Escape ( see below )
Res Signet

Please note, shadow stepping while holding an item drops the item. Dash / Dark Escape is there for a reason.

Equipment
Radiant Armor. Energy is key.

The Engine

What I refer to as 'the engine' is the skills needed to make the build what it is. In this case, it leaves a lot of variation to be added. Or modified. This allows the user to modify it to suit his own purpose. The base build, as listed above, always begins quickly with a heavy spike. The optionals allow just about any form of weapon enchant to be used. Ranging from Wailing Weapon to Warmongers Weapon to whatever other small variations you would like to incorporate it to make it more to your tastes. The above is a stark base engine that makes this work.

The Optionals

I leave the optionals open to preference, adding only two at the moment to give some idea of the modifications I do to this build. I know people enjoy things like healing, energy management, and anti-kite. And I like to try and deal with all of it respectfully. However often this is not the case. And it is much easier to simply set up variations for different situations. Versatility is often the key to victory. In such a case I will add a few variations here. Other variations, warmongers weapon, wailing weapon, etc etc. I will leave to the user to decide.

Spinning Spiker Variation

Grasping Was Kuurong {E}
Falling Spider
Repeating Strike
Death Blossom
Splinter Weapon
Spirit Rift
Dash
Res Signet / Flesh of my Flesh

Variations dash can be replaced by Deaths Retreat for protection purposes. Res can be replaced with Recall or other escape ability suiting situational survival. Also, Spirit Rift may be changed to Ancestors' Rage for a more direct AOE opener / ender.

This build, one I often use in PvE, causes a very high amount of AOE Spike damage. Setting up your two skills Grasping Was Kuurong and Splinter Weapon before hand, allows you to easily gain enough energy to refill your bar to full. Before picking your target. In this situation you will often find yourself being the first to go in. You will require good healers ( normally prot henchmen are more than adequate ).

Open up by either casting Spirit Rift, before dashing and dropping Grasping Was Kuurong, or simply dash and drop Was Kuurong, then Falling Spider on your central target. I often prefer Ancestral Rage as a finisher. Not an opener. Repeating strike will continue the chain, by now two triggers of your splinter weapon have ended and everyone in the area has taken a LOT of damage. To finish the AoE damage end with Death Blossom. Alternatively against a boss you may choose to simply unleash repeating strike, renewing splinter weapon every 4 hits. This allows a potentially huge amount of AOE damage to surrounding targets. However again you need a good backup healer.

This build does a very very heavy amount of FAST AoE damage. Warning: Be careful using this build on afflicted.


Undying Nightmare Variation

Grasping Was Kuurong {E}
Falling Spider
Repeating Strike
Nine Tail Strike
Nightmare Weapon
Spirit Rift / Wielders Strike
Dash
Res Signet / Flesh of my Flesh


Variations dash can be replaced by Deaths Retreat for protection purposes. Res can be replaced with Recall or other escape ability suiting situational survival. Also, Spirit Rift may be changed to Ancestors' Rage for a more direct AOE opener / ender.

As above this variation does a much more direct spike. Focusing on keeping the RT alive more than anything. Its much more effective in the way of healing but gives up a little damage to nightmare weapon.

The spike itself allows for healing to occur during the time of the spike. I highly suggest that you use Spirit Rift for this build, casting it prior on your target then finishing with the rest of the actual spike itself.

Alternatively, you may wish to incorporate Wielders Strike in there instead of ancestral rage for excess damage to a single target. You may wish to open with it before dropping Was Kuurong.

Shadow Step Variation And why it doesn't work.

Deaths Charge / Shadow Walk
Grasping Was Kuurong {E}
Falling Spider
Repeating Strike
Nine Tail Strike
Impale
Nightmare Weapon
Res Signet / Flesh of my Flesh / Dash

*IF* you wish to shadow walk / step this build. You must understand that you will be near the opponent, before casting Kuurong. You *CAN* alter it slightly ( warning this variation is largely untested and I do not claim this is a good way to run this 'engine' ) in that you can shadow walk, cast kuurong, drop it immediatly and continue with a spike. However this is a very weak variation and I do not advise it. Again, if anyone can find a shadow step / walk that allows you to carry an item through, I'd love to hear it.


Energy Management:
This is likely the biggest issue most people will see in this build after simply reading it. I'd like to stamp this issue out before it can become one hundred posts of 'theres no energy management'.

The casting of Was Kuurong and Splinter Weapon are done before the assault, allowing your energy bar to return to its full. The continuing spike, in such a case drop Kuurong, Spirit Rift, Dash, Falling Spider, Repeating Strike, Death Blossom. Is a grand total of 30 energy. Even at base this is easy achieve. Dash is often recharged and ready to go for an escape with the standard energy regeneration by the time the combo has ended. For obvious reasons people may want to use Recall on the local monk instead of a res signet. That also can be prepped in advance. Also with the use of Zealous Daggers you can give yourself a large energy boost during the combo. For any escape purposes.

Why not A/Rt?
The answer to that is in itself very simple. Energy management and the options of having benefits of armor etc while under a weapon spell from Runes. There are other (obvious) options for gaining energy (+2 runes) that work well as alternatives. Obviously an A/Rt is very very viable in this situation also. Allowing points to go into critical strike, I believe it is not needed unless you are going for a form of survival spiker build. And the points would be better placed in Channeling.

I can't get falling spider to land!
The drop timing can be done together with that of falling spider. Pushing 'drop item' and falling spider afterwards should begin the combo happily.

-- please offer ideas and opinions freely, any criticism please explain why --

1) A sin has better energy management, from critical strikes.
2) Repeating strike sucks donkey balls
3) Radiant armor makes baby Gwen cry
4) Does nothing that a shovesin, destruction/rupture soul spike or barrage/splinter guy can't do beter.
5) At least you brought a rez. Thank god for small blessings.

I'm glad to see you tested it out. And actually attempted to use the build instead of simply putting it down and saying 'x build is better'. Thank the world for 'small blessings'.

Sorry, maybe I was a bit harsh.

1)As for energy, having a higher max energy from attunement runes and radiant insignias doesn't mean you have better energy management. It still takes the same amount of time for that energy to regen, resulting in the same downtime. I don't really see any obvious choices for energy here, other than going A/Rt for critical strikes. (Spawming power sucks anyway)

2) Grasping really isn't the best choice for a free kd to power falling spider. Shove, shock, or horns of the ox really are better. Grasping is useful for a kd/aftershock combo, or snaring things for an AoE spike, such as spirit rift+ancestor's rage

3) If you really want to run a dagger rit, I'd strongly suggest a spirit's strength guy. Check this thread for more on that http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10133566

I'm very, very hesitant of using this build in general PvE as well (because really, has it honestly been used effectively in PvP?)

Although it is a wonderful concept, I honestly believe that it relies too much on the competence of healers and supporting characters. While yes, Grasping was Kuurong (and Cruel was Daoshen) can do some fantastic damage, the reliance on healers to keep you up long enough to survive the initial spike is incredibly taxing, not to mention annoying to PC-controlled healers. Letting a Warrior rush in, however, and targetting him with an Ancestor's Rage will do roughly the same amount of damage as well as keeping you, a relative squishy, out of harm's way.

If you're running this build, note that Grasping was Kuurong can be held for MUCH longer than its cooldown! I actually find it more useful to allow it to first recharge its quick 20 sec cooldown, then do a double-drop (done by simply re-casting the spell...it automatically drops the ashes from before, allowing for a quick double-spike of the same ashes). The fact that Grasping's damage is armor-ignoring is significant; Cruel was Daoshen's damage can be negated, which often hinders its usefulness.

I said earlier that I thought that this style of play was a problem in general PvE. For parties, I believe it's true. However, a solo-style version of this style of play is completely viable. While it doesn't use Grasping, and it's not Rt/A, I'll list the skills below (many of you probably know this one already):
[skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill][skill]Cyclone Axe[/skill][skill]Ancestors' Rage[/skill][skill]Cruel was Daoshen[/skill][skill]Bonetti's Defense[/skill][skill]Gladiator's Defense[/skill][skill]Healing Signet[/skill][skill]Sprint[/skill]
While it may not be healer-friendly (I've often run this build as a joke with guildmates in PvE, thank goodness I'm still alive today), it's definitely a great build capable of soloing the Underworld. I think that if you really wanted to go this route, with the front-line AoE damage, the combination of Cruel was Daoshen and a Splintered-Cyclone Axe would be much more efficient than an Assassin combination with a single-target spike. Utilizing those pots (Cruel was Caoshen, Grasping was Kuurong) can be great solo-buils, however, and I think they're hysterical to play around with.

All in all, though, I personally believe that you can do just as much damage as a backline attacker through such skills as Spirit's Rift and Ancestor's Rage (focused on the tank). If you sub /Me, it's even easier, with the ability to Echo those such skills. It's easier to stay alive in the backline, it's less taxing on the healers to keep you alive. Coming from someone who would rather heal than nuke, I'd rather the spike damage be left to those who can really withstand it (the Warriors and occasional Dervish/Elementalist peoples).

I'll try out your build, though. It could certainly be fun in some of the easier areas that healers don't regularly get P'O'ed in.