1st Ritualist and I'm stuck.

Hey.

I have just made my first Rit, currently lvl 10 in the monastery. I need to choose a 2nd profession but I am having trouble deciding, and need some help.

I have Proph, factions (of course), NF and EotN.

I am currently running a dodgey and limited spirit spammer with limited skills (see below) being my first Rit, and only level 10. (My only other character is a level 20 P/W). I need something to get me through the end of factions with Henchies.

[Boon of Creation][Bloodsong][Shadowsong][Pain][Painful Bond][Vengeful Weapon][Generous Was Tsungrai][Flesh Of My Flesh]

I only ever play PvE, and I never use PUGs, only H/H.

I was thinking Rt/R and doing [splinter weapon][barrage] (I have some ok green bows in my chest), or should I go Rt/Me and try a [Arcane Echo][Vengeful Was Khanhei] build. Are any of these okay? Or should I try something else? Rt/Mo?

I have checked out the wiki and the Rit Guide sticky.. but I want your advice because I can't make up my mind.)

Thanks for any help. (I've just come back to GW after a long break).

Cheers
Woofy

Splinter/Barrage is OK, VwK is more of a farming tool and not all that effective in general play unless you want to flag henchies away constantly so you grab aggro...

I went through most of factions NM playing a minion bomber, something like this:

[build prof=Rt/N dea=12 spa=12+1+1][Animate Flesh Golem][Animate Bone Minions][Explosive Growth][Boon of Creation][Spirit's Gift][Death Nova][Putrid Flesh][Flesh of my Flesh][/build]

This can be improved with various PvE skills or nightfall elites, but Flesh Golem can be capped early on after Naphui, so all of these skills should be easy to obtain and get you started. You can also run whatever or even no elite until you get flesh golem, it's not particularly important. An MM in general rolls over factions, and it was a really strong choice before you could bring a hero along to do the job.

Alternatively your current spirit spam build improves by miles once you get [Summon Spirits] and [Vampirism], and [Signet of Ghostly Might (PvE)] just makes it crazy. Just get off of shing jae and a ton of options will open themselves up to you.

well, when I first started my rit, I made a /mo. I only used it for rebirth so not very helpfull. As you stated, /ranger, and even para(you cant choose that yet :P) have some intresting build options. I would go with /R for now and see hoe it goes.
as for healing, [triple shot] + [nightmare weapon] got some decent healing spikes

For spirit spammer? Doesn't matter. Although as /R there are some decent heal spikes, as elypta mentioned [triple shot] and [nightmare weapon] or you could really [splinter weapon][barrage] it. It doesn't really matter, and there is also minion bomber as /N. All you need for minion bomber is the following: [explosive growth][boon of creation][death nova][animate bone minions]. It's really up to your choice.

Thanks guys. I guess this is going to be one of those "suck it and see" moments.. I guess what ever one I choose, if I don't like it, I can always change my 2nd profession later on.

As a rit primary, I'd go with a Monk secondary. Sure the spirit's strength ranger idea is ok, but it really doesn't live up to expectations a lot of the time. Better to chose something like Monk, which will give you additional party support (like hex removal) as well as access to the 330 rit farming idea. Most rits these days use a mix of Channeling and restoration and luckily many of the better skills in those lines can be aquired early on, either on Shing Jei island or in Kaineng Center. While minion bombers can be quite effective, its generally something a hero does much better than a human, so you're probably better off going with some sort of channeling nuker/spirit spammer/party support (via weapon spells and heals). Good hunting.

You could also play as a Restoration Rit.

The use of Preservation + Life with the basic Restoring skills: Spirit Transfer, Soothing Memories, Mend Body and Soul. Work very effectively. I've never had a problem in PvE and found it works very effectively in, AB, RA, and TA.

I play both Rt and Monk and both are fantastic healers.

Quote: Originally Posted by Crazyvietguy

You could also play as a Restoration Rit.

The use of Preservation + Life with the basic Restoring skills: Spirit Transfer, Soothing Memories, Mend Body and Soul. Work very effectively. I've never had a problem in PvE and found it works very effectively in, AB, RA, and TA.

I play both Rt and Monk and both are fantastic healers.
Exactly!! Recuperation + Life are simply amazing. Do not underestimate the power of the restoration line.

Research restoration and restoration builds. A good Restoration Rt will make you forget about the need for monks. I speak from experience. I have been in parties (in PvE) where no one noticed that there was no monk in the team (monk was afk) for a good 20 minutes!!!

I am not going to turn this into who is the better healer, that is not the issue, but they are incredibly, incredibly competent healers.

One last thing, a restoration/spirit Rt needs time to set up to be effective, this in turns leads to better aggro control. Restoration FTW!

You have EOTN? Get Putrid Bile instead of Death Nova, it's a million times less annoying to target the nearest enemy than it is to target your minions. Toss on Necrosis from Nightfall, and you got some serious synergy. Consider playing through NF or EOTN until you get a Necro Hero, and give him/her your standard MM build with Fiends and Death Nova, and go nuts.

My Minion Bomber guide here: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3039479

Well I actually went Rt/R and was at level 13 and was not having any fun at all.

Following an in-game chat, I am now starting again and going Rt/N and it's more what I was looking for and I am enjoying it. Bargamer, nice guide, I'll be following that, and thanks for the in-game help, nice to meet friendly/helpful people in GW that aren't rude little kids, very refreshing.

Woofy

Quote: Originally Posted by woofyhugger

Well I actually went Rt/R and was at level 13 and was not having any fun at all.

Following an in-game chat, I am now starting again and going Rt/N and it's more what I was looking for and I am enjoying it. Bargamer, nice guide, I'll be following that, and thanks for the in-game help, nice to meet friendly/helpful people in GW that aren't rude little kids, very refreshing.

Woofy Good to hear that you are enjoying your new Rit. I started out as a /N as well, minion bombing my way to lvl 20. Leveling in Factions is very fast, so you'll be lvl 20 in no time (Vizanuh Square is awesome as a minion bomber). Then you'll be able to switch secondaries and tailor your build to every situation. For me that's the most fun to play as a Rit.

Quote: Originally Posted by Crazyvietguy

Most people are scared of Vizunah Square, but as a Minion Bomber, I enjoy it! Especially Sins, they hate the Afflicted Explosion thing.

I enjoyed Vizunah square with my Rit. 4 damage spirits, painful bond, and Signet of Ghostly Might and the Summon Spirits. I kept boundcingmy spirits and healing them it seemed to be very effective and fun.

Which 4 Spirits did you run, out of curiosity? Personally, I don't think spirits swing fast enough to keep up with my 8 minions, and they don't body-block or kamikaze into enemies very well.

But, what do I know about damage spirits? Resto Spirits are the only ones I can ever seem to get any mileage on.

I'm going to guess it was Bloodsong, Pain, Vampirism, and... Shadowsong? Anguish? One of those.

Anyways, Signet of Ghostly Might and Painful Bond do give spirits a great damage rate... shame they die so quickly when under attack. If they were more durable, or functioned as a damage-immune persistent spell type (say, an enchantment, and the spirit vanishes when the enchantment ends or is removed) then one Ritualist per team would be able to far surpass the physical classes in terms of damage. Granted, they still can, but only if they keep those Spirits alive.

(It hovers between 100 to 135 DPS, which as far as I know can't be attained by anything aside from a Critical Scythe Assassin.)

I've had great success using my Minion Bomber, but unfortunately, the Master of Damage is not all that accurate when it comes to AOE damage.

Quote: Originally Posted by Asia Skyly

Exactly!! Recuperation + Life are simply amazing. Do not underestimate the power of the restoration line.

Research restoration and restoration builds. A good Restoration Rt will make you forget about the need for monks. I speak from experience. I have been in parties (in PvE) where no one noticed that there was no monk in the team (monk was afk) for a good 20 minutes!!!

I am not going to turn this into who is the better healer, that is not the issue, but they are incredibly, incredibly competent healers.

One last thing, a restoration/spirit Rt needs time to set up to be effective, this in turns leads to better aggro control. Restoration FTW! I'm a beginner Ritualist having only played Ritualist for a couple days but I COMPLETELY agree. The Restoration line is really good.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk I'm going to guess it was Bloodsong, Pain, Vampirism, and... Shadowsong? Anguish? One of those. Gaze of fury is an ignored skill for some reason. It lasts longer than the recharge for the skill and once it's up you can use gaze on the spirit of fury to 'refresh' it. I usually run it along with the first 3 spirits and Anguish (double dmg against hexed foes is fun).

For the mid-to-late factions game, I ran Rit/whatever, and used a mostly Channeling bar for PvE:

Mighty Was Vorizon
Bloodsong or Pain
caretaker's charge
Spirit rift
Essence Strike
Spirit Burn.

In fact, if you let aggro settle for a moment on some warrior, sin, or derv in the party, go spirit rift--Clamor of Souls--Ancestor's rage (cast on your "tank"). That takes care of a lot of melee problems. It plays kinda like an ele, only without the exhaustion.

Pay attention to your item spells and spirits...lots of GREAT things happen when you are either near a spirit, or holding something.

And yeah, with live peeps, resto rit is serious fun. It's nice to get the props.