How I vanquish EotN Charr

I ran triple necro through most of Tyria, but I slowly decided to change it for certain difficult areas, because I didn't think the curses necro was pulling his weight, minions once killed render the MM useless for a while, and I cared more about removing hexes than conditions.

Still I was able to manage until I got to Grothmar Wardowns. You all know the EotN Charr teambuild, don't you? It's amazing. The biggest problem, I think, is the very effective monks combined with a very effective midline and well, a very effective frontline. Well, I'm half kidding. It's the ability of the rits and mesmers to hard res their buddies up in seconds ([Resurrection Chant] at like 20 fast casting). So my options were to try some frozen soil thing or just nuke everything down at the same time. Guess which one I chose?

The method is simple. The build relies on multiple layers of defense, with fire pressure and anti-caster spikes to quickly take out the key opponents. It's pretty much an all-caster team, which lends itself to wards and chants because people aren't running around much.

My primary is a mesmer, so I ran a general PvE damage build with the ability to quickly spike a mob down once they reach 50% health:
[build prof=Me/N name="Mesmer Player" dom=11+1+2 insp=10+1 fast=10+1 desc="Insightful Staff of Fortitude with +5^50 inscription"][Power Drain][Empathy][Backfire][Necrosis][Cry of Pain][Mantra of Recovery][Ether Signet][Finish Him!][/build]

I know I need knockdowns, so I bring an SF ele. In HM, any AoE causes the mobs to scatter, so I use SF as a nice AoE pressure that keeps the mobs grouped up and powers Necrosis. MS and Extinguish are deactivated and used manually. The benefit of Aegis and Reverse Hex on this bar is that the energy to use them is available, and they have long cooldowns so they don't interfere with the flamethrowing.
[build prof=E/Mo name="SF Ele Hero" fire=12+1+3 ene=9+1 prot=9 desc="Hale Staff of Fortitude with +5^50 inscription"][Fire Attunement][Aura of Restoration][Glyph of Lesser Energy][Searing Flames][Meteor Shower][Aegis][Reverse Hex][Extinguish][/build]

The SF also synergizes well with "They're on Fire!", which Morgahn is great about keeping up. Morgahn also provides heals, defense, and energy management. Slot 5 is pretty optional.
[build prof=P/Me name="Support Para Hero" mot=11+1+2 lead=11+1 command=8+2 desc="Furious Spear of Fortitude with +5e inscription{br}Motivation Shield of Fortitude with +10 vs fire inscription"][They're on Fire!][Song of Restoration][Ballad of Restoration][Aria of Zeal][Mirror of Disenchantment][Signet of Synergy][Glowing Signet][Stand Your Ground!][/build]

Third hero slot is either another SF ele with an identical build for longer Aegis chains and more fire damage, or a MM bomber with Jagged Bones. However, I prefer the SF ele because you get another MS, and guaranteed damage even if you lose your minions.
[build prof=N/Mo name="Jagged Bomber Hero" death=12+1+3 soul=9+1 blood=3+1 prot=9 desc="Hale Staff of Fortitude with +5^50 inscription{br}OR 40/40 death set"][Jagged Bones][Animate Bone Minions][Death Nova][Blood of the Master][Signet of Lost Souls][Aegis][Reverse Hex][Blood Ritual][/build]

Henchmen are Eve (for more e-management) or Devona (for more knockdowns), Herta (for wards and awesomeness), Mhenlo and Lina.

Here are the layers of defense:
- Three copies of Aegis, that are chained pretty well usually. Don't forget to pre-Aegis, especially against the ranger groups, which can spike hard.
- Ward Against Melee and Elements from Herta.
- "Stand Your Ground!" from Morgahn.
- "They're on Fire!" is almost always active and reducing ~30% of all damage from burning sources. This includes damage from hexes and everything.

As you can see it's pretty comprehensive. The only problem is when enemies are spread out, like a huge semicircle of rangers, but even then Aegis comes through for you.

For offense, you want to lock your ele's targets on the Charr hard ressers. first let the mobs settle down and start casting. Don't cast important spells in the first few seconds, because their mesmers and monks have interrupts. You can bait them with Empathy, and they'll use their interrupts up soon. After about 5-6 seconds, all the Charr casters should be burning and this is when you cast the first MS. As soon as you see the animation that the spell's done, cast Backfire on one of the monks, followed by Cry of Pain. Switch to the mesmer and it should be near half health. Necrosis if needed, then "Finish Him!" and Necrosis until he's dead, switch to the rit and repeat, being sure to interrupt [Flesh of my Flesh] with Power Drain or Cry of Pain. You should be able to kill both ressers in the first MS. If not, and you brought another ele, just MS again. From that point it's just a matter of spiking down the monks (pretty easy since Backfire = at least 133 damage, Cry of Pain = 100 at max rank, Necrosis = 90 at max rank, and "Finish Him!" is another 180 and reduced healing from the deep wound, all in about 2 seconds).

Good luck!

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Yes, and the skill itself does up to 80 armor ignoring damage as well. The cracked armor is just icing, nice if you have minions.

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lol, yeah. 80 (armor ignoring) damage at max rank.

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imo, Charr, Dinos, and Jotuns, are the harder HM enemies of eotn.

EotN charr hit really hard. They're abit tougher since they have 2 profs (I wish all enemies had that). I was just vanquishing that area using an Assassin's Promise build on my nec - as long as their Extinguish doesn't get through, Technobabble whoops them pretty bad.

As a mesmer, I'd recommend you also use Assassin's Promise - Cry of Pain spam can do massive damage. Being able to use "Finish Him" on every target is also very nice. Biggest downside I see is not being able to use Necrosis. I think it's good at least - stapled to all my nec bars.

I damn hate charr.

It is hard to find a universal heroes team build for such areas without using a MM.

I find that this defensive build works ok against them, without a MM, even without SY:

[build prof=D/N blo=5 win=10+1 earthp=10+1 mys=10+1+1][Dark Fury][Mystic Healing][Pious Restoration][Mystic Regeneration][Imbue Health][Signet of Pious Light][Pious Renewal][Vow of Piety][/build]

[build prof=N/Mo sou=12+1 cur=12+1+1][Signet of Removal][Barbs][Defile Defenses][Enfeebling Blood][Rip Enchantment][Weaken Armor][Vengeance][Signet of Lost Souls][/build]

[build prof=N/Mo blo=12+1 sou=9+1+1 pro=9][Well of Power][Order of Pain][Spirit Bond][Protective Spirit][Aegis][Signet of Lost Souls][Foul Feast][Vengeance][/build]

variants:

[build prof=N/Rt sou=8+1 cur=12+1+1 res=2 cha=10][Spiteful Spirit][Splinter Weapon][Barbs][Enfeebling Blood][Rip Enchantment][Defile Defenses][Weaken Armor][Signet of Lost Souls][/build]

[build prof=N/Mo blo=12+1 sou=9+1+1 pro=9][Well of Power][Order of Pain][Dismiss Condition][Protective Spirit][Aegis][Signet of Lost Souls][Foul Feast][Vengeance][/build]

Bring Mhenlo. If you are a caster, bring more physical henchies. If you are a physical, you can replace the Well of Power N/Mo with a SoP Paragon and bring some protection skills (SY would be nice) on your character, if you can.

A 6-heroes team would probably do better but to fit a good universal build into only 3 heroes, without a MM or SY, for HM is alittle tough.

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