solo tombs redux (Hard Mode)

DeviantTeknique

DeviantTeknique

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2006

Archons Ascendant

Mo/

First off don't expect anything earth shattering here this is just a small notation and a minor change to the original A/Me build to exploit it.

one of my favorite time sinks in Guildwars PvE History was the solo tombs a/me Sin. It was just fun and I spent an lot of time doing it, (i don't remember the OP and I can't find the original guide, if anyone remembers i want to make sure credit is given where credit is due) i recently decided to reload the template on my Sin and see what it was like in hard mode and I found something interesting, I was able to kill monsters twice as fast as in normal mode without it being any harder. Now to understand why that works you need to know the original build, if you already know it (and probably already understand what I'm going to say) skip this next chunk.

Remember I am NOT the creator of this build, I am just a fan of using it

Domination: 10
Shadow: 15 (11+4)
Dagger: 9 (6+3)
Critical: 9 (8+1)
This is just what I use, your results may vary

Shadow of Haste
Echo
Shadow Form
Dark Escape
Empathy
Black Lotus Strike
Spider Strike
Twisting Fangs

The basic idea was to use SoH, echo shadow form, cast empathy on your target and attack. The combined degen, attacks, and empathy damage would kill your target, use dark escape to end SoH and shadow step out of range, rinse and repeat. It's late so I won't go much more into it than that at this point.

Now here is what i've noticed, dark escape never seemed needed if planned well. With my attb levels I had about 40 seconds of Shadow Form, SoH lasts 40 seconds so if I used SoH at the right place, it would end before Shadow Form and return me to safety before shadow form ended. I kept it on there because there was nothing else to use, health regen wasn't needed since it's an invicisin and it saved me a few times when I needed the speed boost to get out of aggro if I messed up. But in HM the speed boost doesn't do anything so It was an empty spot while I went in to see what I might need. I realized quickly that the IAS of the monsters in HM made them die VERY quickly due to empathy's increased damage, so fast that in fact I could kill 2 enemies in one attack run instead of just 1, not every time but I was able to manage it well. I figured if I added another damage skill I could double the speed and make it fool proof. I weighed a few options and went with death blossom, using DB lets you deal damage to both targets at first and makes it almost flawless for just enough damage to both targets. Here is the order of skills

SoH
Arcane Echo
Shadow Form (Be sure to reuse when it starts blinking)
Empathy (target 1)
Black Lotus
Twisting Fangs
Black Spider
Death Blossom
Empathy (target 2)
Black Lotus
Twisting Fangs
Black Spider
Death Blossom

as long as you're fast enough and get them next to each other you'll get 2. If you aren't quite fast enough, you'll still kill 2 but you'll be to far away for a exp/drop (which still gets you past the level faster), or you'll get the normal one kill but thats actually the rarest happening. In general this is cutting the length of my runs down by about half with all the bonus' of harm mode. You do need 30+ energy to pull it off and get 2 kills, with practice you can get used to knowing when/where to cast SoH to get the longest amount of time to register your second kill for drops and exp. GL!

spun ducky

spun ducky

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

WTB: q8 bows

R/N

I have been using a E/A sliver armor build in hardmode there i can kill 3 mobs being 3 terrorwebs/dream riders at a time can get the run down to about 3 minutes each. I find that sliver armor far more abuses the attack speed than empathy which does as well just not quite as fast.

ACreator

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2006

Mo/

well I think its better to use something like recall.

at least if you only want to do the first level..

onerabbit

onerabbit

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Thanks to all the guru [mods]

Echo is an Elite.


i think you mean Arcane Echo

philo

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by DeviantTeknique
(i don't remember the OP and I can't find the original guide, if anyone remembers i want to make sure credit is given where credit is due) You may mean this thread.

At around the same time someone else posted a similar solo-sin tombs build, but that's the thread that I happen to have missed out in my bookmark collection ....

DeviantTeknique

DeviantTeknique

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2006

Archons Ascendant

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by onerabbit
Echo is an Elite.


i think you mean Arcane Echo
i swear I changed that when I edited it, thanks for clearing it up

Quote: Originally Posted by philo
You may mean this thread. Thats the one, thanks.

I do this for the satisfaction of getting all the way to the end by myself, I've only finished a few. E/A sounds like fun also, but my ele is far far away and I get bored doing the same old missions over and over, i'll check it out with A/E though see if I can put something together.