Any recommendations on a good offensive rit builds to go up against destroyers? I sighed audibly yesterday as my [skill=text]essence strike[/skill] hit a destroyer of sinew for a pidley 16 damage while [skill=text]spirit boon strike[/skill] did like 30 or 40 something. I ended up most just recasting nightmare weapon on myself as it outdamaged most of my skills.
I used to love spirit spamming, but now everything seems to die so fast (tho spirits still pwn 1v1 like against Magni). So I switched to channeling. And now I fear I'm going to have to switch to Resto because I simply can't bring the damage...
On a side note:
This lead me to do some experimenting on Isle of the Nameless. I know that spells aren't best compared in dps, but I nonetheless measured damage and divided by recharge+cast time to see which spells would hurt the most if spammed. I did not include elite spells. Against 100 armor, no spell had more dps than nightmare weapon, with 4 out of 9 doing less than half the dps. At 80 armor, only channeled strike beat out nightmare weapon, and only by 1.88 dps. Renewing Surge is the exception to this test because of it's instant recharge, it can beat out nightmare weapon, but it is more costly.
I fear I better start devising a healing build...
Anti-destroyer build?
smilingscar
kaldak
Well, when comparing spells dont forget to include the fact that a few can hit multiple targets.
As for the destroyers, spirits seem like a good solution. The offensive ones are all armor ignoring. Just place them at longbow range and use summon spirits to move them if any enemies get too interested in them. Very few things in the game can match the dps of 4 or 5 attack spirits + painful bonds.
As for the destroyers, spirits seem like a good solution. The offensive ones are all armor ignoring. Just place them at longbow range and use summon spirits to move them if any enemies get too interested in them. Very few things in the game can match the dps of 4 or 5 attack spirits + painful bonds.
BigDave
Yup, i agree. I used an offensive spirit build with painful bond against the destroyers. They go down very fast indeed and if you throw in Shadowsong and/or Wanderlust you'll shut some down aswell saving damage to your party.
I used:
Anguish
Pain
Shadowsong
Wanderlust [E]
Bloodsong
Painful Bond
Mighty Was Vorizun
Boon of Creation
Think my attributes were 16 Communing, 12 Channeling and the rest in Spawning.
Works out at 206 armour ignoring damage per volley + blind + KD. 3-4 volleys (about 5-7 secs) and you have yourself a dead destroyer, assuming they all hit the same one.
You might need to drop the ashes and wand something to get the spirits to attack properly but that's not much of a problem.
Worked a treat for me.
I used:
Anguish
Pain
Shadowsong
Wanderlust [E]
Bloodsong
Painful Bond
Mighty Was Vorizun
Boon of Creation
Think my attributes were 16 Communing, 12 Channeling and the rest in Spawning.
Works out at 206 armour ignoring damage per volley + blind + KD. 3-4 volleys (about 5-7 secs) and you have yourself a dead destroyer, assuming they all hit the same one.
You might need to drop the ashes and wand something to get the spirits to attack properly but that's not much of a problem.
Worked a treat for me.
Dr Strangelove
Spirit spam is.... bad. By that point in the game my bar consisted was pretty much just a bunch of fun toys. I run this in glint's challenge:
[skill]ancestors' rage[/skill][skill]splinter weapon[/skill][skill]nightmare weapon[/skill]Alkar's Alchemical Acid, Great Dwarf Armor, Pain Inverter[skill]offering of spirit[/skill][skill]death pact signet[/skill]
Swapping out nightmare weapon for life depending on my mood.
[skill]ancestors' rage[/skill][skill]splinter weapon[/skill][skill]nightmare weapon[/skill]Alkar's Alchemical Acid, Great Dwarf Armor, Pain Inverter[skill]offering of spirit[/skill][skill]death pact signet[/skill]
Swapping out nightmare weapon for life depending on my mood.
Magikarp
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove
Spirit spam is.... bad. By that point in the game my bar consisted was pretty much just a bunch of fun toys. I run this in glint's challenge:
[skill]ancestors' rage[/skill][skill]splinter weapon[/skill][skill]nightmare weapon[/skill]Alkar's Alchemical Acid, Great Dwarf Armor, Pain Inverter[skill]offering of spirit[/skill][skill]death pact signet[/skill]
Swapping out nightmare weapon for life depending on my mood. while i agree that splinter is almost pro in pve, and ancestors on a warrior deep in battle+splinter=doom.
but by no means are battlebox spirit masters bad. painful bond+a battlebox of spirits... if you walk the line right.. thats a mean little wall you have there.
[skill]ancestors' rage[/skill][skill]splinter weapon[/skill][skill]nightmare weapon[/skill]Alkar's Alchemical Acid, Great Dwarf Armor, Pain Inverter[skill]offering of spirit[/skill][skill]death pact signet[/skill]
Swapping out nightmare weapon for life depending on my mood. while i agree that splinter is almost pro in pve, and ancestors on a warrior deep in battle+splinter=doom.
but by no means are battlebox spirit masters bad. painful bond+a battlebox of spirits... if you walk the line right.. thats a mean little wall you have there.
Dr Strangelove
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magikarp
but by no means are battlebox spirit masters bad. painful bond+a battlebox of spirits... if you walk the line right.. thats a mean little wall you have there.
If the rest of your group is willing to wait the 4 hours for you to set up before every mob, then sure.
Magikarp
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove
If the rest of your group is willing to wait the 4 hours for you to set up before every mob, then sure.
if you take that long getting a wall together, you dont know how to play effective ritualist.
when i still played rit in pve, i could get full battle sets, cycled as much as needed, in less than 12 seconds. if you cant wait that long, maybe you just have no patience. thats under 12 seconds mid fight, you'd never notice me doing it, and thats if i had no spirits cast before hand. you forget that pve rits can drag all spirits with them now.
when i still played rit in pve, i could get full battle sets, cycled as much as needed, in less than 12 seconds. if you cant wait that long, maybe you just have no patience. thats under 12 seconds mid fight, you'd never notice me doing it, and thats if i had no spirits cast before hand. you forget that pve rits can drag all spirits with them now.
TGgold
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove
If the rest of your group is willing to wait the 4 hours for you to set up before every mob, then sure.
Did you miss the PvE Skill updates? Summon Spirits ftw =)
Dr Strangelove
Quote:
Originally Posted by TGgold
Did you miss the PvE Skill updates? Summon Spirits ftw =)
It speeds you up, but it's still slow enough that PuGs will leave you in the dust. If you're hero/henching, go ahead and crap spirits all over the place, it'll work well enough.
I'm biased against spirit builds though, as they have a very boring playstyle. You press 12345, then stand around and hope everything turns out alright. Advanced players can mash the painful bond button on recharge, but that's about as far as the active play goes.
I'm biased against spirit builds though, as they have a very boring playstyle. You press 12345, then stand around and hope everything turns out alright. Advanced players can mash the painful bond button on recharge, but that's about as far as the active play goes.
BigDave
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove
It speeds you up, but it's still slow enough that PuGs will leave you in the dust. If you're hero/henching, go ahead and crap spirits all over the place, it'll work well enough.
I'm biased against spirit builds though, as they have a very boring playstyle. You press 12345, then stand around and hope everything turns out alright. Advanced players can mash the painful bond button on recharge, but that's about as far as the active play goes. The reason i posted a spirit build is because, quite frankly, against the destroyers it's the best Rit build there is. Destroyers usually come at you in groups of 2-4 and don't bunch up so the Rit's AoE dmg (splinter, ancestors, etc...) doesn't work very well. Added to the fact that almost all destroyers have very high armour vs elemental dmg and you'll see that a channeling build won't work very well.
You usually get several seconds warning of an incomming group during which time you can crap out at least 2-3 spirits and let them come to you. The melee will walk straight into volley after volley of spirit fire and die shortly after. Alternatively for a stationary group just have the rest of your party aggro, set up shadowsong first, then the rest and after maybe 10-15 secs your spirits will be doing more damage than most of the rest of your group combined. There's no need to wait for the Rit to set their wall up first, they can do it as the rest of the group engages. So long as you place the spirits slightly behind the rest of your group they should be safe. Don't forget that spirits have a long range to their attacks and don't need to be right near the front.
Usually i'd not bother with a spirit build but in this case it works. Alone your spirits will deal enough damage to kill a destroyer in only a few secs, not forgetting that the rest of your party are attacking aswell. They also shut down a good portion of the melee/ranged destroyers when you use shadowsong/wanderlust preventing a lot of damage from happening.
I'm biased against spirit builds though, as they have a very boring playstyle. You press 12345, then stand around and hope everything turns out alright. Advanced players can mash the painful bond button on recharge, but that's about as far as the active play goes. The reason i posted a spirit build is because, quite frankly, against the destroyers it's the best Rit build there is. Destroyers usually come at you in groups of 2-4 and don't bunch up so the Rit's AoE dmg (splinter, ancestors, etc...) doesn't work very well. Added to the fact that almost all destroyers have very high armour vs elemental dmg and you'll see that a channeling build won't work very well.
You usually get several seconds warning of an incomming group during which time you can crap out at least 2-3 spirits and let them come to you. The melee will walk straight into volley after volley of spirit fire and die shortly after. Alternatively for a stationary group just have the rest of your party aggro, set up shadowsong first, then the rest and after maybe 10-15 secs your spirits will be doing more damage than most of the rest of your group combined. There's no need to wait for the Rit to set their wall up first, they can do it as the rest of the group engages. So long as you place the spirits slightly behind the rest of your group they should be safe. Don't forget that spirits have a long range to their attacks and don't need to be right near the front.
Usually i'd not bother with a spirit build but in this case it works. Alone your spirits will deal enough damage to kill a destroyer in only a few secs, not forgetting that the rest of your party are attacking aswell. They also shut down a good portion of the melee/ranged destroyers when you use shadowsong/wanderlust preventing a lot of damage from happening.
Dr Strangelove
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDave
The reason i posted a spirit build is because, quite frankly, against the destroyers it's the best Rit build there is.
Not really, destroyers have banishing strike and spiritual pain, both of which tend to rape spirit spam pretty hard.
BigDave
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove
Not really, destroyers have banishing strike and spiritual pain, both of which tend to rape spirit spam pretty hard.
Funny how the only place you seem to find those two skills in any significant numbers is Glints. For everywhere else keep your spirits behind your group, as i said, and you should (and will) be fine. The destroyer casters throughout the normal run through of the game are not the main threat. Their melee is where the vast majority of the damage comes from and a spirit build both shuts them down and rips them apart. Their casters are easy prey for everyone else and can pretty safely be ignored until their melee is dealt with.
But then you always know best don't you.
But then you always know best don't you.
smilingscar
Thanks, I'll give spirits another go and see how I do. I have always liked spirit armies because the builds are generally lag resistant. I guess I kinda gave up on them after getting stomped on repeatedly by jotun, but hopefully they'll do okay now (though I'm gonna need 40,000 faction before I can get summon spirits).
However, now I really really really wish Togo's skill from the BMP, call to the spirit realm, was a playable elite.
However, now I really really really wish Togo's skill from the BMP, call to the spirit realm, was a playable elite.