Question about Discord Way.

Prayash

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2008

Littleton, CO

Angelic Valkyries Of Frost[ICE]

W/

Does the Discordway build with heroes require you to use the EotN skills ("Finish Him!" / "You Move Like a Dwarf")? Or can I use a normal PvE build with it.

subarucar

subarucar

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

New Zealand

None

You need to supply a condition and a hex, these need to be spammable and you need to be able to upkeep energy.

MercenaryKnight

MercenaryKnight

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2006

Wolf of Shadows [WoS]

P/

It doesn't require it but it helps. You would need to give one of your heroes a condition and hex to spam. Generally suffering/shadow of fear and weaken armor/ enfeebling blood.

The problem is they could take some time applying it so it'll slow down your spike. If your playing a caster character you'll pump out more damage with an ap caller most of the time.

If you are a physical try bringing something like asuran scan and some condition skill with you.

KZaske

KZaske

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jun 2006

Boise Idaho

Druids Of Old (DOO)

R/Mo

You need a condition and a hex at the start of the build. I consider "Finigh Him" to be the finale. It is not necessary for the build to work. I use it all the time on a smiter that does not have Finish Him. I just use a smite sig to polish him off. It just makes things move along faster.

Carnivorous Cupcake

Carnivorous Cupcake

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2009

Lolrus League [lol]

A/E

You dont need to have them although they do make things so much better as long as you have a mean to apply a hex and a condition in your build you will be fine.

Prayash

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2008

Littleton, CO

Angelic Valkyries Of Frost[ICE]

W/

Since, I dont have EotN, I'm thinking about using Assassin's Promise, Dancing Daggers, Entangling Asp, Signet of Toxic Shock, Augury of Death and maybe some other skills.

MercenaryKnight

MercenaryKnight

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2006

Wolf of Shadows [WoS]

P/

If your using the assassin with no eotn skills you can just run a mb+ db sin with save yourselves. Will greatly help the discord party with armor and damage. You could alter some of the builds to bring strength of honor, splinter weapon etc.

If your just using a secondary assassin, (don't know your primary) then you can focus on your primary or go /necro and just bring a quick recharging hex and condition.

Prayash

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2008

Littleton, CO

Angelic Valkyries Of Frost[ICE]

W/

I am a W/ . Right now I'm using the AP caller thing without any EotN skills. I start with AP -> Augury of Death -> Dancing Daggers ->Entangling Asp (Enemy is dead by this time..) and if not, Signet of Toxic Shock.
My heroes are MoW (Healer), Olias (Minion Bomber) and Razah (Curser/Healer). I'm using the builds from PvX with slight changes.

Pocketmancer

Pocketmancer

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Hate to break it to you but Warriors and Paragons have difficulty running AP builds for Discordway with or without EoTN. Their energy regen just isn't enough to keep it going, even with AP returning some energy.

Prayash

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2008

Littleton, CO

Angelic Valkyries Of Frost[ICE]

W/

I'm using a +15 energy staff, takes up my energy up to 35. I use about 20 and AP gives back 17. I've tried the Deadly Arts skills that I listed in my recent post and I have had no problem with energy. I still have 2 empty slots and don't know what to put in them.

Improvavel

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2007

Why you are using AP caller beats me.

If you really want an hex, grasping earth gives you a nearby AoE hex.

A condition isn't that hard to come by - WE can have easy deepwound, Earth Shaker has deepwound and/or weakness, Swords can have bleeding although that is meh and all can have withering aura,

Sincerely, if you do your job as warrior you can leave the hex and the conditions to heroes.

Ap callers need to apply a condition and an hex fast because they need to get their other skills recharged - mostly those PvE only skills from EotN.

As a warrior you don't have to do that.

There is a big thread around here concerning the use of discord heroes with physical heroes and without an AP caller.

fenix

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

I use the AP caller on my Warrior; but I use this bar;

Assassin's Promise, You Move Like A Dwarf, Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support, Enduring Toxin, Enraging Charge, Lion's Comfort, Save Yourselves, For Great Justice


I use the Hourglass Staff for +15e, and bring Succor on my N/Mo minion guy, so that I get 3 regen.

I never run out of energy, and if we're taking heaps, I can swap to a sword and SY everyone (AP recharging FGJ means 24/7 double adren, woo).

AtomicMew

AtomicMew

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2005

N/A

Paragon's do okay as AP callers because of built in e-management. Bump up leadership to 14. Anthem of flame spam gets you decent damage and little bit of energy. GftE or energizing chorus gets you a lot. Paragon also has strong optional slots in command shouts.

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

This is my AP caller (which I think is a lot more effective than the standard AP caller):

A/N, 12+1+1 deadly arts, 12 curses (of course N/A works well too)

assassin's promise (e)
enfeebling blood
mark of pain
ebon vanguard assassin support
rigor mortis
"finish him!"
signet of deadly corruption (check the updated skill description!)
pain inverter

Standard sequence is 3-4-2-1-6-7. That works most of the time; sometimes 8 is a more effective hex than 3; sometimes 4 isn't really necessary; sometimes you can start right off with 1 instead of 3-4 first; and sometimes 5 is important to counter blocking.

MercenaryKnight

MercenaryKnight

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2006

Wolf of Shadows [WoS]

P/

Yep I hated the old signet of corruption. I saw it at first and said this will be an awesome addition. Then I noticed the requirement.

Now you'll get an additional 80+ damage spike after ymlad and finish him to help ensure the target goes down. Not to mention even more damage if they are poisoned or weakened.

I run ap caller as a paragon. I bring fall back to help move quicker and also keep more minions alive longer. It's great with assassin's promise because it's recharged after every fight.

I am also considering we shall return for an emergency res incase of a hard area. But most likely if it's hard I would be running an imbagon anyway so unsure.

Awex Mafyews

Awex Mafyews

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2008

Cornwall

W/Mo

I've used a normal PvE build with conditions on my warrior and comparing it to my mes that uses the standard AP caller build, the AP caller is 3 times as fast in my opinion. You can literally spam the first 3 keys in a lot of places, obviously that gets boring but yeah up to your personal preference, as long as you've got condition and hex applying skills somewhere in your build discord will work.

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Bringing View Post
New Sig of Deadly Corruption is hawt, ive already put it in my AP caller. The thing i dont like about your build is that it lacks a knocklock, which makes it MUCH easier to shutdown monks/casters.
Frankly, one of the things I don't like about discord in general is that it lacks a knocklock. YMLaD is hardly a knocklock. It's a single KD. And EVAS knocks down the target with iron palm anyway. So what does YMLaD really add? I find PI more useful, and you only get three PvE-only skills.

Quote: Actually, YMLaD+EVAS makes a pretty nice knocklock. I don't get why you would use YMLAD when the target is already knocked down...that would ruin the knocklock.

Quote:
Your kills will also take longer because they need setup time to apply your conditions/hexes, rather than just AP-->YMLaD! and the target dies with a finish him. On a side note, <3 new Masochism. How does AP/YMLaD apply conditions faster than mark of pain/enfeebling blood? The first takes 2 3/4 seconds (since the crippled condition doesn't take effect until after the target gets back up). The second takes 2 seconds of casting time and an aftercast delay of 3/4 second in between. Isn't that identical?

Life Bringing

Life Bringing

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Fissure of Woe

[LOD]/[GS]/[DL]/[LOD*]

N/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Dawg View Post
Frankly, one of the things I don't like about discord in general is that it lacks a knocklock. YMLaD is hardly a knocklock. It's a single KD. And EVAS knocks down the target with iron palm anyway. So what does YMLaD really add? I find PI more useful, and you only get three PvE-only skills.
How does AP/YMLaD apply conditions faster than mark of pain/enfeebling blood? The first takes 2 3/4 seconds (since the crippled condition doesn't take effect until after the target gets back up). The second takes 2 seconds of casting time and an aftercast delay of 3/4 second in between. Isn't that identical? 1.The skill description is incorrect.
2.urbaed.
AP+YMLaD only take 3/4 of a second to prep, because YMLaD is instant and the cripple takes effect immediately, regardless of what the skill says, and AP is only a 3/4 second cast. MoP(1)+aftercast(.75)+Enfeebling(1) is 2.75. Thats a 2 second difference. That was an epic display of fail btw

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Bringing View Post
Actually, YMLaD+EVAS makes a pretty nice knocklock. I don't get why you would use YMLAD when the target is already knocked down...that would ruin the knocklock.
You're not understanding, are you. I'm not using YMLaD when the target is already knocked down. That's the point!

Quote:
1.The skill description is incorrect.
2.urbaed.
AP+YMLaD only take 3/4 of a second to prep, because YMLaD is instant and the cripple takes effect immediately, regardless of what the skill says, and AP is only a 3/4 second cast. MoP(1)+aftercast(.75)+Enfeebling(1) is 2.75. Thats a 2 second difference. Hmm, you're right, the skill description is incorrect. Then it does make a difference. I'll experiment with it.

Edited to add: I still don't think AP can be your opening hex, because the foe doesn't always die in time. Yeah, I know, USUALLY it works, but when it doesn't, you may as well stand up and get a cup of coffee while you're waiting for all your skills to recharge.

Also, don't forget that enfeebling blood is an AoE spell (and a useful one at that), so you're not always going to have to reapply it.

Quote: Actually, the ebon sin will use iron palm immediately after being cast. The only randomness is that once in a while, the sin won't target your target.
Quote:
That was an epic display of fail btw What the hell?

Carnivorous Cupcake

Carnivorous Cupcake

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2009

Lolrus League [lol]

A/E

Life is correct to be quite honest.

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

He's correct that YMLaD causes cripple immediately. I said so. The rest...whatever. Discord people always say "Just cast AP-YMLaD-Finish Him and the target should be dead!" It's not true.

Voodoo Rage

Voodoo Rage

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2008

Sacramento, CA

Geezers

R/

Instead of the standard AP caller, I've been running this build (someone around here recommended it and it's really nice), Necro/Mesmer:

[Fevered Dreams] - Spreads conditions and adds daze to foes in the area
[Cry of Pain]
[YMLAD!] - 1st condition, cripple (and the knockdown)
[Enfeeble] - 2nd condition, weakness (and now 3 seconds of Daze is added)
[Signet of Lost Souls] - I personally like the extra energy will all the skills I am spamming
[Rip Enchantment] - adds another bleeding condition if applicable
[Finish Him!] - 2 more conditions, more daze
[Optional Hex Skill] - I like Mark of Pain or Barbs depending on where I am

That mob gets seriously shut down with this build.

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by traversc
View Post
You were also wrong about YMLAD + EVAS. It IS knocklock for 4 seconds, if you time it right. Tbh, I don't have the timing down, but the possibility is there. You need to YMLAD about 0.25 seconds before EVAS. You can't "time it right." The pocket sin is on his own as soon as you summon him. Sure, sometimes he'll get in his KD right after the KD from YMLaD expires. And other times he won't.

Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of the discord people constantly saying essentially "Oh it's so simple you do these three skills and all these remarkable things happen immediately and reliably." As I've said repeatedly already, it doesn't always work, and when it doesn't work, the caller has a gimped bar. (Edited to add: That's why I think the caller's bar needs Plans B & C worked into it, and that's what I was trying to do with the bar I posted--instead of banking absolutely everything on AP-YMLaD-Finish Him and twiddling your thumbs when the target doesn't immediately go down.)

Guys, it's not as though I suck at the game or that discord is the only way to win in PvE. I have hero-henched every single zone in the game in HM. (Only exceptions are zones that cannot be hero-henched, like DoA, Urgoz, etc.) Yes, that includes places like Vloxen HM and Duncan. And I did it all without ever touching discord. I've only started to look at discord recently since everyone raves about it--and I gotta say it's currently the most overrated hero team out there.

Life Bringing

Life Bringing

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Fissure of Woe

[LOD]/[GS]/[DL]/[LOD*]

N/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Dawg View Post
You can't "time it right." The pocket sin is on his own as soon as you summon him. Sure, sometimes he'll get in his KD right after the KD from YMLaD expires. And other times he won't.
Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of the discord people constantly saying essentially "Oh it's so simple you do these three skills and all these remarkable things happen immediately and reliably." As I've said repeatedly already, it doesn't always work, and when it doesn't work, the caller has a gimped bar. (Edited to add: That's why I think the caller's bar needs Plans B & C worked into it, and that's what I was trying to do with the bar I posted--instead of banking absolutely everything on AP-YMLaD-Finish Him and twiddling your thumbs when the target doesn't immediately go down.) So, my n/a discord caller looks like this:
Assassin's Promise
"You Move Like a Dwarf!"
Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support
Signet of Deadly Corruption
"Finish Him!"
Mark of Pain
Barbs
Enfeebling Blood

That bar gives you adequate backups if AP gets stripped(use a 40/40 curses set). Basically, to make a discord team work best, lots of spamming and sometimes microing is needed. I have a micro in my mouse that micros discord on my three heroes if i decide that the target isn't dying fast enough, or i need a priority target spiked down. If you know hex removals are going to be present, sometimes baiting them out with MoP is needed.

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

Welllllll...

That's actually a pretty similar bar. So what were we even disagreeing about? I will fiddle with YMLaD instead of PI (at which point our bars will be virtually identical).

And the pocket sin does not reliably attack the guy you want him to attack. Sometimes he wanders around.

AtomicMew

AtomicMew

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2005

N/A

EVAS almost always attacks your target and uses iron palm immediately. I know this because I can see the yellow numbers .

Having shown that you don't know how YMLAD works, that kind of shows inexperience. I'm not saying I'm an amazing-never-fail player or even that I'm better than you, it's just that I realize the potential of an AP caller, whereas you only seem to take from experience.

When AP gets removed or times out, the truth is, 99% of the time your fault. You can always cast barbs first or cover with MoP or cast AP right before FH!

Jeydra

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Bringing
Depends how you run your discordway. If you're microing discord on your spikes, then yes, the target will die. Oh, needs an EVAS in there and then it'll die lol Not necessarily. If the target receives a strong prot, e.g. Spirit Bond, it's certainly possible he doesn't die.

Life Bringing

Life Bringing

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Fissure of Woe

[LOD]/[GS]/[DL]/[LOD*]

N/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeydra View Post
Not necessarily. If the target receives a strong prot, e.g. Spirit Bond, it's certainly possible he doesn't die. When was the last time you saw either of those in pve?

Jeydra

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2008

Since forever. Spirit Bond - and Shield of Regen - is so common in the areas I play, I can't travel without Rend Enchantments. There are a variety of other defensive skills as well, for example, Shield of Absorption / Shielding Hands, Kinetic Armor, Stoneflesh Aura ...

Paul Dawg

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2008

House of Myrthe (HoMe)

W/

The idea of mark of pain is that EVAS will start whaling on the target. And if you're going to have mark of pain at all, it has to be on the caller's bar (because of the long recharge).

I don't know why he has barbs and think it's a waste of space. THAT'S a skill that heroes use well.

Life Bringing

Life Bringing

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Fissure of Woe

[LOD]/[GS]/[DL]/[LOD*]

N/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Dawg View Post
Edited to add: I'm also very surprised to see people like Life Bringer acting as though they've never seen a target being protted and healed. Where are you guys using your discord teams? Vanqing in Istan? In difficult areas where good players like to play, mobs with multiple casters that prot and heal are pretty common.
It's fairly difficult for somethign to be protted when you kill the prot first...
Quote:
Spirit Bond - and Shield of Regen - is so common in the areas I play, I can't travel without Rend Enchantments. There are a variety of other defensive skills as well, for example, Shield of Absorption / Shielding Hands, Kinetic Armor, Stoneflesh Aura ... The only skills that really pose a problem are spirit bond and stoneflesh, neither of which is that big of a deal. Shield of regen and kinetic both only affect armor affected damage. Shielding hands and SoA don't prot the damage fast enough for discord to nto make them explode. Stoneflesh can be moderately annoying, but YMLaD on the 2 second cast is easy enough, even in HM. Your best best on spirit bond is to quarterknock the monk that has it with YMLaD-->EVAS.
Quote:
Mark of Pain and Barbs make bad cover hexes, IMO. The only damage coming from them will be minion attacks, and if they get removed you have a long recharge and a 2sec cast hex to work with. Parasitic Bond is fast enough that even the strongest hex removal won't keep you from slapping it right back on them-- and when it's removed, you gain ~100 health. I ran Parasitic for a while, but then realized that if i brought MoP and barbs, i could drop a full curses hero and instead bring 2 hybrid healers, one with SoF and enfeebling, the other with Shambling and Putrid Bile. Basically makes it so i dont have to be quite as careful about overagroing.

Jeydra

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Bringing
It's fairly difficult for somethign to be protted when you kill the prot first...
He can prot himself, and / or get healed from the healer, and / or be so far back in the mob that pushing to kill him is dangerous.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Bringing The only skills that really pose a problem are spirit bond and stoneflesh, neither of which is that big of a deal. Shield of regen and kinetic both only affect armor affected damage. Shielding hands and SoA don't prot the damage fast enough for discord to nto make them explode. Stoneflesh can be moderately annoying, but YMLaD on the 2 second cast is easy enough, even in HM. Your best best on spirit bond is to quarterknock the monk that has it with YMLaD-->EVAS. You have to play more against Shield of Regen then. Discord might deal a lot of damage, but 3x Discord + YMLAD! still might not be enough to take down someone who's also getting healed. Casting Discord is an investment as well; you might need the healing. It is my experience that if you can land Finish Him!, the target usually dies. If you can't land Finish Him!, then there's every chance you've missed AP.

If you are so certain Discord spikes > everything else, I'd welcome a screenshot of you doing the first Stone Summit mob in Duncan HM using Discordway, before they pressure you out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by syphonus
Mark of Pain and Barbs make bad cover hexes, IMO. The only damage coming from them will be minion attacks, and if they get removed you have a long recharge and a 2sec cast hex to work with. Parasitic Bond is fast enough that even the strongest hex removal won't keep you from slapping it right back on them-- and when it's removed, you gain ~100 health. When Smite Hex comes in multiple copies, or when monsters have Divert Hexes / Convert Hexes or Expel Hexes, Parasitic Bond is of no help. Personally, I think one should cast AP only when he is reasonably certain the target will die almost at once (or when the mob has no hex removal).

AtomicMew

AtomicMew

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2005

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Dawg View Post
All you're saying here is exactly what I've been saying all along: that AP should not be your opening hex.

You really seem to enjoy arguing with me, and it's getting tiresome.
I'm not sure why you're being so hostile. At least in this thread, I'm simply correcting something you said which was wrong: yes it is certainly possible to knocklock with an AP caller.

Edit: also AP can USUALLY be your opening hex. Almost always. You also have the possibility of micro-ing PB on the hero.

Quote:
Edited to add: I'm also very surprised to see people like Life Bringer acting as though they've never seen a target being protted and healed. Where are you guys using your discord teams? Vanqing in Istan? In difficult areas where good players like to play, mobs with multiple casters that prot and heal are pretty common. Bolded part, UPS. Good players VQ an area once and then never visit it again (unless it's for farm or something.) Same with dungeons.