Starting A Ritualist

I'm possibly thinking about making a Ritualist sometime in the near future. I've played as a Ranger, Mesmer, Elementalist, Warrior and Necromancer before, so if there is anything I can relate with to the classes I just mentioned, I'd gladly like to know.

It relates mostly to .... maybe monk for healing/wep spells (some wep spells and spirit rituals act similar to prot line), or paragon in terms of some wep buff spells, necro for spirits and to add targets in pve, and elementalist for channeling spells.

So id have to say its most similar to Ranger, hahaha, as in a jack of all trades. When you start one up, it starts up a bit slow, but picks up as you get more skills.

Ritualists are pretty adaptable. I usually run a spirit based build consisting of Shelter, Union, Displacement, Dissonance, Attuned Was Songkai, Boon of Creation, Ghostly Haste, and Flesh of my Flesh.

Damaged based channeling spells don't work very well imo. After armor is calculated most of them don't deal much damage.

Ritualists can assist or replace a monk in some case using Restoration spells.

They can also be used for farming as either a Rt/Me or Rt/Mo.

Rt/Me Vengeful Farming

Rt/Mo 330 HP Vengeful Spirit Bonder

Hope this helps.

Jack of all trades:

• Direct damage
• Healing
• Team buffs
• Did I miss anything?

Also my favorite class to play, and I've played them all.

Pretty much what everone has said. Recharge time on ritual skills is pretty long. Average Casting/recharge ratio is 7.91 but there are skills that can improve that.

I really enjoy playing a ritualist and Arch Psyker is right about their being good at supporting monks. Because spirit affects have such range (I think the same range as Ranger rituals) the team buff are good.

They also have a pretty freaky dance emote.

Ritualists are very versatile, as has been pointed out already.

The biggest challenge you'll have with playing them is when and where to place down your spirits. They offer some very powerful effects over large areas, but they're extremely fragile and can't move of their own accord. As you've played as a Ranger and Mesmer before you'll probably be used to watching how enemies are moving and where they're attacking, so you can use that skill to work out the safest locations for your spirits to be.

I love playing my channeling rit (and yes they can do a good deal of damage...spirit rift, ancestors rage, channeled strike, etc along with a nice bloodsong or agony....nice damage).

anyways, rits are very able to do more than just heal, just weapon spells, just damage.....yes a jack of all trades is what they are.

good luck and hope to see a new rit soon!

I really enjoy my rit, and plenty above suggests their flexibility.
Short a monk? Restoration Rit with Recuperation, Shelter, Union, and some spot heals can cover that gap really nicely. Pick the 5-energy heals that require you to be holding an item or be near a spirit. Make sure you're holding an item near a spirit, and poof. Fast cheap heals that recharge really quickly. The spirits make your job easier, too.
Want a damage dealer? Bloodsong, Pain spirits, Essence Strike, then Spirit Rift, Spirit Burn, and Ancestor's Rage, in that order, make a significant spike in a small area. Make sure you target someone in the middle of the enemies for Ancestor's rage (took me a few tries to figure that out.)
Weapon spells and buffs can make a huge difference in a challenging area.
I think I relied on channeling and spirits until Zen Daijun, and then switched to Restoration throughout the mainland. (Was the 2nd monk on Nahpui quarter several times). You'll be most effective once you get to Kaineng and can talk to Michiko for lots of good skills.

when playing pve, you prob will end up using spirits at some point at least - A vital skill is the PvE only faction skill "summon spirits" tbh now PvE spirit bar should be without it