URSANWAY - The Ultimate Guide (recreated)

Note from writer:
Before you start making comments how lame Ursanway is and why on earth people would need a guide to press 1, this is not the place. Go make a hate-thread about Ursanway. ANY-OMG-URSAN-IS-FOR-NOOBS reply will be deleted by mods.
Even so, I would encourage you to read this guide, so that even your holy l33tness might even learn some pointers which you undoubtly have overlooked.

This guide is meant for the people that are totally new at Ursanway, as well as the people that wish to enhance their Ursanway abilities to the maximum.
This guide will be posted at Guildwarsguru.com, but can be republished anywhere, as long as the credits are given for it.
I have made this guide about half a year ago, but due to some weird glitches it had been deleted. Because of multiple requests, I have decided to rewrite the guide completely.

This guide is far from ever finished, I welcome any tips to make the Ursan-experience even better. Also, my native language is not English, so 'bear' with me please.



Table of Contents:

1. What is Ursanway
__1.1 Ursan Blessing
__1.2 How to get Ursan Blessing
__1.3 Ursan Blessing Skills (W.I.P)
__1.4 Maximixing Norn Title

2. Equipment
__2.1 Armor
__2.2 Weapons and Offhands
__2.3 Consumables (W.I.P)

3. Character Profession Analysis (W.I.P)

4. Recommended Backline Characters
__4.1 Healer's Boon Monk
__4.2 LoD Mimic Monk
__4.3 N/Rt Healing variants
__4.4 Paragon Motivator (W.I.P)

5. Walkthrough by area (W.I.P)
__5.1 Underworld
__5.2 Fissure of Woe
__5.3 The Deep
__5.4 Urgoz Warren
__5.5 Domain of Anguish

6. Usefull Ursanway links and other threads: (W.I.P)

W.I.P = Work in Progress

1. What is Ursanway
Ursanway is a team set-up in which around 3/4 of the team play as "Ursans", using the skill Ursan Blessing (Eye of the North Elite Skill), while other players play as healers. It is a powerful combination because of the armor-ignoring damage from spamming Ursan Strike, AoE knockdowns from Ursan Rage, and the innate armor and health increase from Ursan Blessing. Ursanway can clear many difficult areas of PvE, such as the Underworld or Fissure of Woe. It is also effective in Hard Mode areas.

Ursanway is not an invincible team setup, you can still get overaggrod if all are not carefull enough. Ursan groups are just a very durable team setup that can dish out good very good damage. Another advantage is that it is not profession-based and everyone can play it. Although some professions are slightly weaker in Ursanmode then others, there is no reason not to take them, especially if they have followed the pointers in this guide.

Just to get you interested, this is what you can do with Ursan teams:
-UW clear in 1.5 hrs
-FoW clear in 49 mins (Johny Bravo and team recordholder)
-DoA: City clear in 25 mins
-DoA: Gloom clear in 25 mins
-DoA: Stygian clear in 50 mins
-DoA: Foundry clear in 90 mins
-DoA: Full clear in 3 hours (need a good team)
-DoA: Mallyx kill in 20 mins
-Deep 90 mins
-Warren 90 mins
-Any HM areas or dungeons without too many e-denial foes.

Since the entire team revolves around a single skill that can be easily acquired early in the Eye of the North campaign, it is not hard to find teammates. However, this build is very reliant on timing and the lack of any energy denial, as once a character reverts out of Ursan Blessing, they will most likely not be able to use any skills.

The success of Ursanway was damaged by a game update which changed the range of Ursan Strike from Spell to Touch. However, it is by no means a dead build, and continues to be used frequently.

As Ursan Blessing is a Eye of the North skill, it does not mean players who do not have access to this chapter cannot be in Ursanway teams, we will still need backline characters, mainly for healing purposes.


1.1 Ursan Blessing
Elite Norn Title Track skill (Eye of the North), become stronger when you raise your Norn Title.
It is somewhat similar to using a Wurm Spore and also an Avatar skill from NF. However, do not expect to take a bear-form . Using this skill in areas will transform your skillbar to this (you cannot use any of your own skills):


And you will have this Blessing upon you:


Visit http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Ursan_Blessing for more information about Ursan Blessing and the skills.


1.2 How to get Ursan Blessing
Get GW:Eye of the North, do the Nornbear quest from the Befriending the Norn primary. Do Blood washes Blood primary quest. Go to the southwest corner of Drakkar Lake (from Sifhalla possible, but from Olafstead north is faster). There is a Norn by his hut giving Blessing quests (also the Raven and Volfen ones), named Hogni Truthseeker. Take the one with Ursan Blessing as quest reward, A Hunters Pride. It is a pretty straight forward quest, also runnable if you are in a rush. Take some run skills, exit from Sifhalla, get the honeycomb and lure the Polar bear to the marker. Go back to Hogni Truthseeker and recieve the Blessing.

However, there is another method of getting Ursan Blessing on your skillbar. Mesmers or characters being secondary mesmers can aquire Ursan Blessing by means of [skill=text]Arcane Mimicry[/skill], which copies any elite from another team member, thus also Ursan Blessing. The advantage is that you do not need the quest to get Ursan Blessing and you can have your original Elite Skill (but you cannot use it while in Ursan Mode). The advantage of the latter will be explained more in detail later.


1.3 Ursan Blessing Skills
When to use them and how (W.I.P)


1.4 Maximizing Norn Title
Maximizing the Norn Title will increase the damage your Ursan will do, as well as making him more durable. There are several options to increase your reputation points fast.
First of all, by using books ofcourse. Filling in Hero's Handbooks partially is probably the fastest method. Some Quests just take too much time, but others, with some practice only have to take several minutes. 11-12 quests should be doable in 2-2.5 hrs time, which will net you 8-10k reputation points.
A full Master Dungeon Guide should only be turned in once, at 79k (or anything just below 80k) reputation points. It is a lot of trouble of getting one full, but should you have one, don't waste it too soon. After 80k rep points, you can only get more points by doing HM stuff. Using it at 79k jumps your character from R7 to R9 Norn. The rest could be maxed out by doing HM Hero's Handbooks, but the result might not be worth all the work, unless you are going for the title.

Another method to get Norn title points is by doing the 'The Path to Revelations'-Quest group farm. This can also be combined with the above book-method.
Often Ursanway groups for farming this particular quest are formed from Olafstead. Just enter the town and watch the chat-channel. The farm involves killing over 250 foes to get the maximum boost and then exploit the quest to kill 6 bosses in a small area for 450 points each. Added some random rank bonusses you can easily net over 6k reputation points. An experienced group can accomplish this in 30 mins, a less experienced group would take around 60 mins. But that will still be 6k reputation points per hour.


2. Equipment
You will need to get rid of everything that you will not use in Ursanmode and maximize the potential. Since you will be at constant -2 energy degen, you need to have high enough energy pool to last the noncombat situations. During combat you will gain energy by attacking, in which case Zealous mod doubles your energy recovery. The -1 on Zealous and on the +15 ene/-1 regen mods will NOT have any effect, since the regen of Ursans is FIXED at -2. This is why Blood is power and Blood Ritual doesnt have effect either... So any character should have at least 30 energy and as high health as possible.


2.1 Armor
Do not use any Superior, Major or even Minor runes (buy new armor without it). In Ursanmode, this will not have any positive effect, since your attributes do not count in Ursanmode, but they do lower your health. Instead use Vitae Runes if you already have 30+ energy or Attunement Runes to raise your energy towards 30 or more.
For Necromancers and Paragons however, it might be usefull to bring Soulreaping and Leadership runes. Beast Mastery Runes will also boost your Pet's attributes, but I dont recommend to sacrifice health for that.

Using either Survivor or +Armor Level insignia is debatable and dependable on the situation. I suggest having at least 700 health in Ursanmode (Health boost also depending on Norn title) and then you might worry about raising your armor to a sufficient level.
Most condition based common insignia's (Brawler's, Stalwart, etc) are not triggered often enough to be usefull. Only Sentry's (while stanced, +10 armor) could be usefull when combined with a long-lived stance like Drunken Master.

However, some character professions have quite good insignia's with armor adding or damage ignoring properties. This are the alternatives to Survivor per character profession:
Warriors: Knights Insignia is a good choice for Warriors. Stonefist Insignia would increase the Knockdown effect and is also a good add.
Rangers: Beastmaster's Insignia is good, considering it is also a good idea to have a pet and high Beast mastery.
Monks:Take Survivor. Disciple's is the only other good one if you are certain you get a condition and that will not be removed. But that would make your armor very area-specific.
Necromancers: Undertaker's could be taken, but Survivor is good too. As with the Monks Disciple's Insignia, you could take the Blighter's Insignia for +20 armor, but only for specific areas with not too hurtfull hexes.
Mesmers: Survivor and maybe Virtuoso when there are a lot of Quickening Zyphyr spirits around, ensuring you are almost always using skills.
Elementalists: A very interesting solution found by Kyomi Tachibana, using Prismatic Insignias and spend 9 points in each Elemental Mastery (Air, Earth, Fire, Water), thus making the total extra armor 20. To do this, you will need to add some +1 to Elemental Mastery Runes in your armor, but it will outweigh the lesser health.
Assasin: Just take Survivor, unless you go to an area that only has either Slashing, Blunt or Piercing (physical) damage and take the according insignia. But these areas are very limited and not worth buying the Insignia for if you ask me.
Ritualist:Take Survivor, unless there is a Quickening Zyphyr Spirit around, so you can take the Mystic's Insignia instead for +15 AL while activating skills.
Paragon:Centurion's Insignia is the best option, since you will always be under the effects of Shouts and Echos.
Dervish:Best and only option is Survivor, since you will never have enchantments on you. (unless there is for some unknown and vague reason a bonding monk in the team, which is really not advisable in Ursanway)


2.2 Weaponsets
Having two (and if you feel like it 4) weaponsets is a good idea if you want to maximize your Ursan.

First of all, the set you should use while fighting:
Weapon: Axe, Sword (and maybe Spear), you do not have to meet its requirements
Inscription: +5 Energy, 'I have the Power'
Prefix: Zealous (for double energy gain when you hit something, -1 energy degen wont work in Ursanmode)
Suffix: +30 hp, Fortitude
Offhand: Any Shield one of which you meet the requirements. If not, just take any shield, since you get half the armor bonus (+8) if you do not meet the requirements.
Inscription: -5/20% "Luck of the Draw" or -3/hexed "Nothing to Fear" are good allround inscriptions. If you go to a certain area with a lot of a specific damage type, you could go with +10 AL vs 'insert damage type'.
Suffix: +30 hp, Fortitude

The set you should use while running in Ursanmode and when energy is low.
Weapon: Any Wand, you do not have to meet the requirements.
Inscription: -1 energy regen +15 energy, "Seize the Day"
Suffix: Doesn't matter.
Offhand: Any Focus of which you meet the requirement, if you do not meet it, you get half the energy (+6).
Inscription: -1 energy regen +15 energy, "Live for Today"
Suffix: +30 health, Fortitude

A third set can be brought; the negative energy set. To cancel Ursanmode (prematurely) without having to use the skill (which might not have recharged yet) and it helps getting your energy back up high.
Weapon: Axe, Sword (and maybe Spear), you do not have to meet its requirements
Inscription: +15% Damage -5 Energy, 'Brawn over Brains'
Prefix: Doesn't matter, since you swap to normal set afterwards
Suffix: Doesn't matter, since you swap to normal set afterwards
Offhand: The extremely unique Earth Scroll from the same quest that gives the -50 hp Grim Cesta: Cities of Ascalon. Getting this Earth Scroll gives you -2 energy when you do not meet the requirements for the scroll. Together with the "Brawn over Brains" Weapon, you will have -7 from your base energy, so Warriors have 13 maximum Energy, Rangers, Dervishes and Assasins will have 18 maximum Energy and all other will have 23 maximum Energy.
Not having the Scroll is not a bad thing, any offhand (or having none at all) with no +energy mods on it will do almost the same thing. And then again, it is not necessary to have a negative energy set like this, but can be very usefull in regaining your energy.

The fourth set can be used when Ursan is down and you need to regenerate fast.
Having a Cold Weapon instead of Zealous can also be effective, in case there is a Necromancer with [skill=text]Spinal Shivers[/skill] to interrupt strong foes. This can be combined with the shield from set 1.
This makes the set having your base energy and normal energy regeneration.

2.3 Consumables (W.I.P)
Essence of Celerity, Armor of Salvation, Grail of Might, Birthday Cupcake

3. Character Profession Analysis (W.I.P)
Ursan can be played in various professions, to my opinion, there is no 'best' profession. There are certainly some professions that are better and others that are worse. But that does not imply they should not be taken in the Ursan groups. A player's own skill, Norn and Lightbringer title tracks and equipment could make up for the profession's difference, which is all has been explained in the rest of this guide. For now a character analysis:

Warrior:
As Primary: Taking Knights Insignia is a good idea, since you already have a high armor rating, it could even make the damage go to 0. Ofcourse a Superior Rune of Absorbtion should also be taken. Stonefist Insignia is also a good idea to enhance the Knockdown effect.
I highly recommend having a Focus with +12 energy and meeting the requirement, since Warriors have absolutely the lowest energy pool, which shortens Ursan mode.
As Primary or Secondary: Just meet up with at least Tactics requirement, to add some more armor from your shield. You could decide meeting the requirement for your Sword/Axe, but if there is Quickening Zyphyr or Serpent's Quickness or consumables in the game, I would not recommend giving up attribute points to it, unless there is nothing else to put them in. Because in those cases, you will most likely be almost constantly spamming the skills and not really attacking much.
Suggested Skills:
[skill]Signet of Stamina[/skill]
Signet of Stamina is a good extra boost in energy, but the downside is not being able to attack, or it cancels. And Warriors need their Zealous attacks to keep their very limited energy up high.
Conclusion: Warriors make good Ursans, having 116 AL (80 standard + 20 Ursan + 16 Shield) and an additional +20 vs physical. Added to that, they have 5-10 damage absorbtion, depending on "Luck of the Draw".
The downside is their limited energy pool, and poor energy management.

Paragon:
As Primary: Spend Points in Leadership, as the Ursan Roar will trigger it and be your energy management. Centurion's Insignia on their armor is good for Ursan paragons.
As Primary or Secondary: Meet up with the requirements for your Command or Motivation Shield. Motivation the better choice, since Mending Refrain is more usefull for Ursans then the other Refrains (more about that later).
Suggested Skills:
[skill]Mending Refrain[/skill][skill]Chorus of Restoration[/skill]
Mending Refrain is a nice health regeneration bonus that could be kept up forever after going Ursan. You could also add the other refrains, but Agressive would decrease your armor, Burning would almost never trigger and Bladeturn would only probably increase armor vs Slashing for +10, because armor bonusses dont stack.
Conclusion: Paragons make good Ursans, having 126 AL (80 standard + 20 Ursan + 16 Shield + 10 Centurion's). Added to that, they have 0-5 damage absorbtion, depending on "Luck of the Draw".
In addition to that, their base energy pool is +10 from warrior, making it a total of 30 and they have an energy management attribute.

Elementalist:
As Primary: The Elementalist has some interesting and unique possibilities for Ursanway. For instance it is recommended that you split your attribute points and (Minor) runes so, that Air, Earth, Fire and Water all have 9 points in them. Now adding Prismatic armor to it, you will have +20 armor bonus. An example of this.
You still have enough points to spend in Tactics, Command or Motivation to meet the requirements for your shield.
Some points in Energy Storage is a good idea.
As Secondary: Not recommended.
Suggested Skills:
[skill]Meteor Shower[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Ward against Foes[/skill][skill]Glyph of Sacrifice[/skill][skill]Ward against Foes[/skill]
Meteor Shower is nice to cast just before you go Ursan. You could bring Arcane Echo with you, to be able to cast it twice. But then you will have to sacrifice your shield attribute for that.
Glyph of Lesser Energy is good to lower the costs of the other spells, when you turn back to ursan.
Ward against Foes, should make you more surviving when you go out of Ursan with foes around. Bring the other Ward skills as you like.
Glyph of Sacrifice is good in combination with Meteor Shower for a quick cast. But it can also be used very effectively with [skill=text]Rebirth[/skill], to allow a very quick tele-ressurect from a difficult or dangerous situation.
Unique E/Me option: Taking /Me as secondary can be a good idea, especially in situations where good tanking is required. The build is as follows:
[skill]Obsidian Flesh[/skill][skill]Stoneflesh Aura[/skill][skill]Stone Striker[/skill][skill]Mantra of Earth[/skill][skill]Arcane Mimicry[/skill][skill]Glyph of Swiftness[/skill][and two damage skills.
As you see, Ursan is missing in this build, but by using Arcane Mimicry, it can be copied from another Ursan. For armor, Geomancer's would be the best, providing +20 armor because of Stonestriker. Maximize Earth Magic with headpiece and Superior Earth Rune. Some points in Inspiration and Energy Storage. For damage, take skills like Sliver Armor, Dragon Stomp or Stoning. You could also add some more defensive stuff like Wards of Kinetic Armor. Don't forget to bring a weapon with +20% enchantments on it.
This build is very usefull in clearing the UW, but its Ursan is lesser then the E/W or E/P version.
Conclusion: Elementalists make good Ursans, having 116 AL (60 standard + 20 Ursan + 16 Shield + 20 Prismatic).
Going E/P is probably the better choice, as you can get health regeneration from the Mending Refrain and spend points in Motivation, having a Motivation Shield. Added to that, they have 0-5 damage absorbtion, depending on "Luck of the Draw".
In addition to that, their base energy pool is +10 from warrior, making it a total of 30 and but they have no energy management. But Elementalists have a slightly bigger energy pool due to Energy Storage attribute.

-Necromancer: Max Soul Reaping to keep Ursan up easily.
-Assasin: Use Critical Strikes to gain some extra energy.
-Mesmer: Use Mantra's to get energy back and add some defense. Stances will last when you go Ursan, Enchantments will not. And Mantra's pretty long with high enough points. Use Ether Signet and high Inspiration to get a lot of energy when you go back from Ursan to normal.
-Rangers get to keep pet in Ursanmode, so maximize Beast Mastery. Though when they die, your ursan skills will be disabled for an annoying while.
-Monk secondaries should take Rebirth and maybe another res skill.

PvE 'Professions' boost:
-Dwarven Stance lasts a long time, so like Mesmer stance, this can benefit you.
-Summon Imp/Mursaat/Naga/Djinn, they last when you go Ursan, so they deal some extra damage.
-Lightbringer title, against Demons, this will boost skill 1's damage output past 200 if you max the titles. Ofcourse the minimized damage is also good.
-Norn title boosts every effect Ursan does, so try to max this title. Also Heart of the Norn boosts your health more when in Norn territory.
-Asuran area boost is good for more energy.
-Vanguard title for Charr fighting is good for energy recovery.
-Sunspear Rebirth Signet is good for team survivability, as well as the normal Res Signet. It will not recharge when you kill bosses in Ursanmode.



4. Recommended Backline Characters
In most areas, 2 Monks are enough. 1 monk with HB and spammable skills and 1 monk with LoD and Arcane Mimictry to copy the HB (it should last 50 mins anyway).
Some areas a N/Rt healer Hero or Player is good replacement for the LoD, or a nice addition. A Rt spirit spammer (union, shelter, displacement, etc) is VERY nice add as well.


4.1 Healer's Boon Monk

[skill]Rebirth[/skill][skill]Dwayna's Kiss[/skill][skill]Words of Comfort[/skill][skill]Ethereal Light[/skill][skill]Healing Seed[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Heal party[/skill][skill]Healer's Boon[/skill]

Healing Prayers: 12 + 2/3 + 1
Divine Favor: 12 + 2

The main healer for the Ursans, due to its awesome pure healing power, an excellent combination with Ursanway. As Ursans generally have (or at least should have) a high maximum health (around 800 or higher advisable), small heals will not have much effect. The answer is overheals, which is generally the effect of the spells cast by this monk. Dwayna's Kiss with at least 1 hex on target, Words of Comfort with at least 1 Condition on target and Ethereal Light will heal at least for 200 health with Healer's Boon boost and Divine bonus. Plus they are cheap and highly spammable. For 2 almost free party heals, use the Glyph before casting Heal party (ofc while Healer's Boon is active). Healing Seed can be replaced by Seed of Life, which is a bit better. This skill should be cast on an Ursan receiving most of the aggro.

Variant on this build are also very usefull, depending on the area. Heal Party and Glyph of Lesser Energy can be swapped out for other stuff.
Generally it is not needed to remove hexes from Ursans, since they make Dwayna's Kiss all the more powerfull. But some hexes might be a bit more of a nuisance, like [skill=text]Spitefull Spirit[/skill]. For this case a monk could decide to bring a Hex removal skill. Same applies for Conditions. The two Spotless skills are a nice answer to these.

Instead of the Glyph a Monk could bring [skill=text]Divine Spirit[/skill] with him, to reduce the cost of spamming the healing skills to 1, making the energy regeneration higher then the costs. This should be used in tight situations when a lot of healing is required.
In addition, Heal Party could also be swapped by Divine Spirit's PvE counterpart: Selfless Spirit. This skill requires a Kurzick/Luxon title, but at R4 it is generally even better then Divine Spirit, only drawback is that you can't heal yourself or the skill cancels. It also reduces the cost to 0 instead of 1, making it even better.
Bringing an item with 20% recharge bonus on Divine Skills would drastically improve these two skills, enabling the monk to spam the 200+ Healing skills almost indefinately.


4.2 LoD Mimic Monk

[skill]Rebirth[/skill][skill]Dwayna's Kiss[/skill][skill]Words of Comfort[/skill][skill]Ethereal Light[/skill][skill]Healing Seed[/skill][skill]Divine Spirit[/skill][skill]Arcane Mimicry[/skill][skill]Light of Deliverance[/skill]

Healing Prayers: 12 + 2/3 + 1
Divine Favor: 12 + 2

A good combination with the Healer's Boon monk as a secondary healer. The main power of this monk lies in being able to spam party heals with +110 healing. Sadly Light of Deliverance is not as good as it used to be, having a quite high recharge time. But a +20% recharge mod could help that a bit.
Use Arcane Mimicry on the Healer's Boon Monk, to copy his elite skill, Healer's Boon. This will make LoD a lot stronger heal, plus the other spammable healing skills, as explained in the above monk build.
Healer's Boon enchantment will last, even if Arcane Mimicry changes back. The only drawback being enchantment shatters from foes, which makes this build less then its HB counterpart. Make sure you copy HB just before a big battle, to ensure its uptime maximized.

Just as the Healer's Boon Monk, Healing Seed should be replaced by Seed of Life, if it has better stats then Healing Seed.


4.3 N/Rt Healer variants

[skill]Reaper's Mark[/skill][skill]Mend Body and Soul[/skill][skill]Spirit Light[/skill][skill]Spirit Transfer[/skill][skill]Vengeful Weapon[/skill][skill]Life[/skill][skill]Protective was Kaolai [/skill][skill]Flesh of My Flesh[/skill]

Soul Reaping: 12 + 2/3 + 1
Restoration Magic: 12

The main advantage of using this build is its energy income due to Soul Reaping, which is quite a lot with a rampaging Ursan group around. The Restoration part also has a large healing capability, especially when the conditions are met. Heroes tend to use N/Rt healing builds very effectively, which I recommend for this.

As you see, I have put in a Soulreaping Elite; Reaper's Mark. The advantage of this is that it does quite nice degen damage (though subjects generally don't live very long with it), plus a nice energy boost, though it might not be necessary.
It could also be swapped for [skill=text]Icy Veins[/skill], if an area is generally easy and that could speed up the killing a lot, due to the AoE damage when something dies which was hexed with it.
[skill=text]Wail of Doom[/skill] could also be usefull for some hard bosses, but keep in mind that some bosses experience only 33% of the hex time.

Instead of using a Soulreaping Elite, you could also invest in a Restoration Magic Elite, if you need an additional boost in healing skill.
[skill=text]Weapon of Remedy[/skill] is probably the best choice if you go this way. Taking away a hit on a party member, healing him and damaging the foe in the progress.
[skill=text]Spirit Light Weapon[/skill] will heal a party member for 120 or 240 damage over time, depending on if the party member is standing near a spirit or not.
[skill=text]Preservation[/skill] can also be used, adding an extra spirit that can be used to conditionally heal targets, as well as the spirit's own effect.

5. Walkthrough by area (W.I.P)

6. Usefull Ursanway links and other threads: (W.I.P)

My old Guide (R.I.P)

Wiki Ursan Blessing

Ursanagaway: Ursanway on Steroids

The Ursan Underworld Chest "Run" Guide (EXCELLENT! - Clear UW in 2 hrs)

How about ranger as secondary for the ursans? A pet will still be active while u go ursan and when using Ursan Roar the pet also gets +14 dmg, some should bring the pet res spirit if many ursans bring pets

I try using Asure Summon + pet and sometimes the Support Assasin (altougt i don't wanna use Totem of man jsut to summon these, but in tough areas they make a difference)

Nice guide tough

^^ I prefer using a /R on my monk as well. Maximizing Beast + Wilderness for Charm Animal, Comfort Animal and Serpent's Quickness for extra boost of skill spamming.

All will be in the guide in due time.

Alright, well nicely laid out.

That being said disregard everything he said about equipment. The whole idea with ursan is to use the health and armor bonuses to survive while you pump out you 2 skills.

For armor you should take all + armor insigneas and vitea ruins.
For weapons you should take a zealous sword of fortitude
and more importantlt a SHIELD of fortitude for the extra armor

This mean that unless you are a primary warrior or Paragon your secondary should be the one that matches up with your shield req Tact, Mot, Com. The extra armor out wieghs the stance in any team that is moving constantyl. If you are on a slow team and constanly losing your blessing the stance do have a better end result but the idea of Ursan is speed so you shouldn't be losing your blessing that often.

I do agree that you should bring a 15/-1 set for in between battles in case you are moving slow or for long distance but once you get your energy back up switch back to you sword and shield.

The idea in the OP is ok but to maximize your efficiency running this team build remember that the more health and armor you have the less pressure you monk feel.

A good team can also run a paragon who put up his echos (mending refrain, bladed refrain for ex) that can be maintained by Ursan Roar.

Oh and FoW can be done easily under an hour. Here is a screenshot of my best time so far

Yeah, for equipment, insignia's should be +AL, for example, with Ele, get runes so your elemental attributes are all at 9, and use Prismatic Insignias, which raises your armor by 20, give you 80 AL, another +20 from Ursan = 100AL, if you actually decided to spec into Tactics/Command/Moti, that's another +16AL, giving you an effective 116AL during Ursan.

Well first of all, gg on the time, I will certainly update the time. Just to be sure; you did not relog after entering FoW for the first time I hope?

Anyway, to be short: Chapters 2,3 and 5 need to be and will be updated. They are written about half a year ago and are copies of my original drafts, which are certainly outdated.

So much to do... so little time.

I'll get working on the Equipment now. After that, I will add suggested builds and additional skills, sorted by character. The supporting backliners builds have been finished now.

Hmm thats a good one Kyomi.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kyomi Tachibana

Hehe, I'll post a pic of my ele and how she's set up, she's r5/5 and tends to live as long as the 10/8 wars, and MUCH longer than all other ele's I've seen. x,x

*breaks out photoshop* Let's see if I can include everything in one shot.

Yeah my base health is around 620-630 (can't remeber) and I use tormentors insigneas (Don't really see much holy damage). Undertakers insignea would also work well for necros although the total AL bonus would kick in until you were already in deep.

I run max soulreaping and max motovation (shield). I am never running around without blessing so I dont really fill skills. Could bring fall back i guess just been to lazy to get more paragon skills.

And no i didn't D/C and reconnect. I have another SS of a 51 minute run.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22.../gw272copy.jpg

And there she is. If you need any more info then go ahead and ask. I ran wards because with 9 in the element, not much else can be of use.

I forgot to add, with the battle set, her en is about 41~ but with the high energy set her energy bumps up to 78.

Very nice Kyomi.

You could add another +30 health if you change the 20% enchanting to Fortitude. Also "Luck of the Draw" or "Nothing to Fear" could make your shield better (though its non-moddable).

Unless you are enchanted and stanced while in Ursanmode, and I am overlooking that. Anyway very nice idea on the Prysmatics. I've added this info to the guide now.
What is your health while in Ursan?

Well, I use that sword for my UW farming on my war, so the 20% ench mod is from that. ;3

My health in Ursan is about 698 so 798 with Consumables, and higher with a morale boost.

And as for the shield, I'm cheap and poor.

ye sure

Well the health is pretty nice, considering you already have a lot of armor. With the +30 from a sword you even go past 700 health, which is good enough for low armored Ursans. My monk has 850ish in Ursan without any consumables and stuff, but then again, he has about half your armor.

I guess my health would be 729 + 187 so just over 900 with Ursan and cons.

Good idea on the ele armor for the +20 AL.

Just a point when I changed my armor from my normal set to my Ursan set I saw a considerable difference to the damage I was taking from MS (seem to focus on big numbers). Something like 109 per hit to 80-94 per hit. So when applied over time that extra armor makes a huge difference for you monks.

Yep, I think a balance between Armor and Health should be found. Mainly because Armor is not linearly related to your damage taken. Against very high level foes (the kind Ursans take on) the difference will be more noticable. But against low hitting foes, more armor doesnt do much difference (then again, it is already little damage).

I do remember taking more then 300ish damage from the (Shockwave) Titans in Domain of Anguish, with 80 armor. I recon this would be around 140 if you have 100 armor or more.

Good job putting this back up.

Warriors and Paragon's can go /ranger secondary for Serpents quickness. With Dwarven Stability this lasts pretty long and makes your Ursan skills recharge faster. Use this before the reallty big fights.

Other professions should go /warrior secondary for a tactics shield and a zealous axe/sword.
It's better to go warrior than paragon, since a spear is ranged and your Ursan skills are melee range.

Put some points in either axe or sword as well, nothing wrong with meeting the weapons req and dealing damage when hitting.

Good guide. As people have said... its basically a guide for people who dont use the skill, or who already know how to use it... the people who do need this guide most probably wont read it anyways

You might want to add positioning and knockdown tactics for the various types of foes.
For example Dryders in the UW (spawning pools) dont bunch up too well and can use ranged knockdowns. The best tactics here is for every ursan to target a different Dryder (watch out for agro if you are the one fursthest forward), and save the Knockdown only for when you see [Meteor Shower] being cast. Makes the monks jobs way easier and the ursans kill faster because none of their skills are interrupted.

Another good addition to the Group build is a [Spiteful Spirit][Mark of pain][arcane Echo] necro with [Blood Ritual] for the monks. This speeds up any run with a good group immensely, all the Ursans have to do then is to autoattack one foe in a bunched up group and it means the hardest mob goes down in seconds. Bring [barbs] for single target kills (such as bosses).

All the Ursans have to do is to keep agro bunched up in a nice ball by blocking and autoattack one foe (the one with [Mark of pain]... best being the one with the highest overall HP). You can echo the [Mark of pain] for a second foe incase you get a second mob attacking, but it isnt always needed. [Spiteful Spirit] is for the monks (keeps them busier healing themselves as they dont always stay in the main mob).

[Spiteful Spirit] may be a waste to cast on a single foe sometimes, but with an Ursan group... you dont have to be stingy with our energy as a necro with Soul Reaping. Plus its always a good Backup to have along with you incase a second mob gets agroed so you can cast and forget on them untill the Yogibear pile-up is finished.

EDIT: if you want mass interrupts, bring [Spinal shivers] and equip all Ursans with Cold damage weapons... leaves any creature lying in a shivering pile of failed casts for about 40 seconds