AR has adjacent range (i.e. shoulder to shoulder) which is not where your ranged casters would be most of the time. I have also never seen them cast AR on spirits on their own, but if they do I would add it.
Not sure about casting it on spirits. I know for fact the spam it on my ebon sin and minions or anything that has enough foes around it.
I'd keep it variants and add Splinter instead though.
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Only if you already have lots of exploitable corpses at the end of the battle. During battle you waiting for its 45s recharge is going to be difficult to maintain your minion army. Additionally, your spirits also help to tank so you don't need your minion wall as much as you think.
Which is exactly the case most of the time. You also don't need to keep exploiting inside battle not to mention battles end fast. Even if battle is truly long and you get AotL recharged it's better to exploit all the available corpses and spawn spittoon on minions at once. It's a law of nature. : P
Also please don't view walling as spirit's primary purpose.
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BotM would run counter to minion bombing unless you intend to micro it on and off battles, but I don’t think that is necessary.
Theorycraft alert! No it won’t. Minions still explode but exploding your entire wall kinda sucks.
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I would rather they spend their time casting spells than wanding. I agree that the communing rit would probably have more time to wand but the AI is not smart enough to know that unless you want to micro it again in every battle.
Spirits have long recharge, heals are needed rarely same for prots. So prepare yourself to see your heroes wanding quite allot.
Also in my experience spirits were smart enough to cast splinter on a character that was wanding instead of one hat was actively casting.
I also see nothing wrong with microing. Boosts performance greatly. Heck to fully exploit spirits you must micro. (You probably won't understand this.)
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I have never seen the AI cast AR on ebon sins, minions, or spirits, unless you intend to micro this also. But if they do it on spirits or minions, I would add it.
Really? Strange. Open your eyes like that > O___O
I see them casting AR on minions allot. I often get AR on my ebon sin. Heck I get it cast on him every time hes spawns with a few mob around him or not. Dunno about spirits but it's still awesome.
AR is a good skill. I'd mainbar Splinter instead though. Well actually I'd mainbar both. :P
23 Apr 2010 at 17:12 - 12
I won't address all the points, but he is right about BotM.
It gets a bad rep from all the Discordway nuthuggers cause with that many minions it is possible for the Necro to sac himself.
It isn't counter productive to a MB because minions die fast as it is when they are at full health. Letting your minions run in at half or less means you will get 0-1 death nova's off and have no meat shield left.
23 Apr 2010 at 17:57 - 13
A hero will cast splinter on minions and summoned sin quite nicely (though they will never cast it on a char with a staff or wand unless microed), but on what condition would they cast AR on those and spirits? Do it require a certain number of foes in the range or something? I tried against master of dmg, but the hero never use AR...
23 Apr 2010 at 18:08 - 14
@Arrogant Bastard: I put ST and BoTM as variants.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
After battle you will have a few corpses to exploit, ket's say 5. It will take you the same time to exploit sufficient ammount of them as it will take you to wait for AotL to recharge. If I don't micro, after the mob is wiped, maximum recharge time I had left on AotL was 20 seconds usually less and mostly none. If you were starting with 0 minions than it will take you nearly the same time as AotL's entire recharge.
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It is not after the battle that I am worried about. It is during battle that Aotl alone would not supply enough bombs.
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Taking heals with spiritway is pretty redundant. Like I said before mine only runs around with PwK most of the time.
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Taking the right heals is not redundant. PwK serves as greater armor for the caster and a good party heal. MB&S synergizes with the spirits as a condition removal + some heals. Since I only take 1 healer hench, he may not come with a condition removal equipped (e.g. Mhenlo). Spirit Light is more optional but why refuse such a huge heal for such a low energy cost? 
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Also, read my post with builds. SoS rit can loads of variants. That includes SoH, Smite Hex and Condition if you are running a melee build.
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Read, this is a build for a caster character, not melee.
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You run long distance quite often actually. If youre expirienced you should know. With BotM you get more minions from mob to mob and you can heal them up before and after you engage so they can wall better (can be crucial hen just engaging). With such an enormous wall spiritway has, MB saccing with BotM is not a problem because nobody gets hit much anyway.
I think distances between mobs can be different for different areas, so I would add that as a variant.
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More theorycrafting. No heroes dont sac themselves to death anymore. =/
Unless the AI has been updated very recently, I still see heroes sac themselves to death.
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I only run AoU in areas with shitton of strong AoE.
And many areas have strong AoE in HM.
As to your comments on Splinter and AR, I need to do more testing on them because I have never seen the AI casting those on minions, spirits, or ebon sins on their own accord.
@Yasmine: I would check that out after I get home this evening.
23 Apr 2010 at 19:09 - 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
It is not after the battle that I am worried about. It is during battle that Aotl alone would not supply enough bombs.
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I usually engage with a bunch of minions. Enough bombs imo. Not that you have to blow up your entire wall or battles last long enough for that to happen. That's why you need BotM. 
Oh and if a battle lasts that long, chances are AotL will cd and you raise a huge army at a click of a button.
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Taking the right heals is not redundant. PwK serves as greater armor for the caster and a good party heal. MB&S synergizes with the spirits as a condition removal + some heals. Since I only take 1 healer hench, he may not come with a condition removal equipped (e.g. Mhenlo). Spirit Light is more optional but why refuse such a huge heal for such a low energy cost?
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Because it's redundant. You just don't need it.
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Read, this is a build for a caster character, not melee.
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Why not melee also? o.O
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Unless the AI has been updated very recently, I still see heroes sac themselves to death.
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It been that way for ages. But seeing how you still havent noticed that heroes cast AR on minions and NPC your hero might of died for some other reason.
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And many areas have strong AoE in HM.
Not really.
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As to your comments on Splinter and AR, I need to do more testing on them because I have never seen the AI casting those on minions, spirits, or ebon sins on their own accord.
Noticed that. You should run more stuff and theorycraft less imo. 
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I think distances between mobs can be different for different areas, so I would add that as a variant.
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Originally Posted by Daesu
@Arrogant Bastard: I put ST and BoTM as variants.
Ehh. Lol.
24 Apr 2010 at 05:48 - 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yasmine
A hero will cast splinter on minions and summoned sin quite nicely (though they will never cast it on a char with a staff or wand unless microed), but on what condition would they cast AR on those and spirits? Do it require a certain number of foes in the range or something? I tried against master of dmg, but the hero never use AR...
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I did some testing and they do cast splinter on ebon sin and minions. Ebon sins are totally not part of the build, and minions are there mainly as bombs anyway so they dont live long enough to make good use of splinter and they have slow attacks. But I would add splinter in as a variant for the auto attack and for those who may want to bring EVAS even though I still have doubts on its effectiveness for this build, without EVAS.
As for AR, I would leave it out since heroes never cast it on spirits, ebon sins, or minions anyhow, even when those are beside a target and AR is the only skill in the hero's bar.
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Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
Because it's redundant. You just don't need it.
I disagree. Having at least one condition removal is still useful even as a caster. I have already addressed your other points, if you read.
24 Apr 2010 at 10:28 - 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
I did some testing and they do cast splinter on ebon sin and minions. Ebon sins are totally not part of the build, and minions are there mainly as bombs anyway so they dont live long enough to make good use of splinter and they have slow attacks. But I would add splinter in as a variant for the auto attack and for those who may want to bring EVAS even though I still have doubts on its effectiveness for this build, without EVAS.
As for AR, I would leave it out since heroes never cast it on spirits, ebon sins, or minions anyhow, even when those are beside a target and AR is the only skill in the hero's bar.
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Test more. I helped a friend with a few factions missions yesterday and they cast splinter and AR on minions and ebon sins. They did that since early sabway. Going to screenshot it and post later. Maybe you were unlucky.
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I disagree. Having at least one condition removal is still useful even as a caster. I have already addressed your other points, if you read.
Uhm. How? There are very few conditions a caster is afraid of. Mainly Daze. But henchies can remove it. You simply don't need a microable condition removal because there wont be many conditions you need to remove asap.
I'm not saying heal is completely redundant. I can believe some playstyles needing it. Physicals will need to take FoMF sometimes to remove blind, weakness and cripple. For a caster however I would suggest Spirit Light since you don't need a condition removal much.
This is coming from an assacaster btw.
24 Apr 2010 at 14:18 - 18
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
Test more. I helped a friend with a few factions missions yesterday and they cast splinter and AR on minions and ebon sins. They did that since early sabway. Going to screenshot it and post later. Maybe you were unlucky.
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I don't know why don't they dont cast it on minions when I tried it, even with only AR on their bar. Yasmine has the same result:
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Originally Posted by Yasmine
...but on what condition would they cast AR on those and spirits? Do it require a certain number of foes in the range or something? I tried against master of dmg, but the hero never use AR...
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Uhm. How? There are very few conditions a caster is afraid of. Mainly Daze. But henchies can remove it.
The healer hench can't remove conditions if they don't even have a condition removal on their bar and like I have said, I dont bring the protection hench since I have PS and Aegis on my hero and those are all the protection prayers I need.
Mhenlo doesn't carry a condition removal skill, so this depends on your campaign/areas. I still think that having at least one conditional removal is useful even for a caster team regardless of the area.
24 Apr 2010 at 17:04 - 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
I don't know why don't they dont cast it on minions when I tried it, even with only AR on their bar. Yasmine has the same result:
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Yasmine's test is flawed. Wtf master of damage. Don't tell me you tested on MoD as well. Lol.
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The healer hench can't remove conditions if they don't even have a condition removal on their bar and like I have said, I dont bring the protection hench since I have PS and Aegis on my hero and those are all the protection prayers I need.
Mhenlo doesn't carry a condition removal skill, so this depends on your campaign/areas. I still think that having at least one conditional removal is useful even for a caster team regardless of the area.
Sometimes they do. You don't need condition removal anyway. If you need it take FoMF. For example if youre a physical running in an area full of cripple, blind, weakness. Or area that have tons of cripple and you want to move fast. Everywhere else FoMF is not needed and SL is better if you so need heals and that's why it should be optional.
I'm saying this from my expirience btw no theorycrafting.
24 Apr 2010 at 22:56 - 22
TLDR, but this build is basically meta. I have no idea how anyone can have any major complaints about this build, other than to say that it's already old-hat. This is pretty much exactly what Jeydra ran through forgewight HM with. If you think you can do better, by all means.
25 Apr 2010 at 09:21 - 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
Heroes usually cast AR and SW on any ally that is surrounded by a bunch of foes to maximise the efficiency.
Tested that heroes would cast ar on spirits surronded by a large number of foes (too lazy to test the rest but it would be logical if they did the same for minions/summoned sin). Given the short recharge and the low energy cost of AR, I'd prefer them to spam it a little more tbh (3 targets, like MoD + dummies, in absence of a better target, should be enough imo to trigger ai casting of ar) but that's beyong this discussion lol.
Not totally true for SW however - they will (probably) predilidge a target (of the same importance i.e. between 2+ heroes, 2+ minions, etc) with a lot of foes around it for SW, but they will also happily cast it on a hero with a melee weapon, set to avoid combat, that is standing still doing nothing in the backline... (preferring it to any minion/sins surronded by foes). Ofc, it can easily be avoided by giving a staff/wand to a hero that is not attacking much for some reason (like casting all the time) as heroes don't cast SW on targets with caster weapons.
25 Apr 2010 at 16:00 - 26
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yasmine
Tested that heroes would cast ar on spirits surronded by a large number of foes (too lazy to test the rest but it would be logical if they did the same for minions/summoned sin). Given the short recharge and the low energy cost of AR, I'd prefer them to spam it a little more tbh (3 targets, like MoD + dummies, in absence of a better target, should be enough imo to trigger ai casting of ar) but that's beyong this discussion lol.
Not totally true for SW however - they will (probably) predilidge a target (of the same importance i.e. between 2+ heroes, 2+ minions, etc) with a lot of foes around it for SW, but they will also happily cast it on a hero with a melee weapon, set to avoid combat, that is standing still doing nothing in the backline... (preferring it to any minion/sins surronded by foes). Ofc, it can easily be avoided by giving a staff/wand to a hero that is not attacking much for some reason (like casting all the time) as heroes don't cast SW on targets with caster weapons.
Thanks Yasmine.
From your results, it doesn't look like AR is as useful in a caster team setup as the rest the skills that are already there. On the side, Spiritway seems to support a caster team more naturally than on a melee character who can make use of physical buffs like SoH, Barbs, MoP, etc. for more damage.
In a 3-heroes build where the number of skills you can bring is quite limited, it makes more sense to customize your heroes according to the character type that they are with.
25 Apr 2010 at 17:38 - 27
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yasmine
Tested that heroes would cast ar on spirits surronded by a large number of foes (too lazy to test the rest but it would be logical if they did the same for minions/summoned sin). Given the short recharge and the low energy cost of AR, I'd prefer them to spam it a little more tbh (3 targets, like MoD + dummies, in absence of a better target, should be enough imo to trigger ai casting of ar) but that's beyong this discussion lol.
Not totally true for SW however - they will (probably) predilidge a target (of the same importance i.e. between 2+ heroes, 2+ minions, etc) with a lot of foes around it for SW, but they will also happily cast it on a hero with a melee weapon, set to avoid combat, that is standing still doing nothing in the backline... (preferring it to any minion/sins surronded by foes). Ofc, it can easily be avoided by giving a staff/wand to a hero that is not attacking much for some reason (like casting all the time) as heroes don't cast SW on targets with caster weapons.
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They should cast AR/SW much more often on minions and sins because they are usually closer to mobs. Your test only proves that AI will use AR on targets that are surrounded by mobs which is rarely the case with spirits.
People just don't know how to test stuff. /facepalm
And yeah they been doing this forever. So better not give melee weps to heroes on avoid combat. They will cast SW on players with magic weapons if none of them hold physical weapons. The they will simply cast it on anyone who wands bunched up mobs.
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Originally Posted by Daesu
From your results, it doesn't look like AR is as useful in a caster team setup as the rest the skills that are already there. On the side, Spiritway seems to support a caster team more naturally than on a melee character who can make use of physical buffs like SoH, Barbs, MoP, etc. for more damage.
Nothing stops you from bringing melee buffs. You got plenty of space. One of the reasons to why SW is so awesome is that it can easily adapt to the needs of a class playing it. Whereas Discord worked badly with melee or Sabway worked badly with casters.
25 Apr 2010 at 21:14 - 31
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
Nothing stops you from bringing melee buffs. You got plenty of space.
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Yes nothing stops you from bringing melee buffs, but does it make sense to bring SoH in an all-caster team?
Also remember that adding melee buffs would mean the opportunity cost of removing skills that can be beneficial to a caster team. Sure you can bring barbs and make your 4 hero casters auto attack with spears, without ias or spear mastery, but you would probably get more benefits with fewer attribute spreads using Bloodsong instead.
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One of the reasons to why SW is so awesome is that it can easily adapt to the needs of a class playing it. Whereas Discord worked badly with melee or Sabway worked badly with casters.
If I want to bring SW, I have to replace another skill with it. SW only make sense as a variant to the caster team since EVAS is a popular pve skill for casters. Level 15 bone minions do not attack fast enough and do not stay alive long enough in HM for SW to be effective.
25 Apr 2010 at 23:40 - 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
Yes nothing stops you from bringing melee buffs, but does it make sense to bring SoH in an all-caster team?
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Was replying to this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
Spiritway seems to support a caster team more naturally than on a melee character
Proven you wrong.
I'm getting an impression youre arguing for the sake of it. =/
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Also remember that adding melee buffs would mean the opportunity cost of removing skills that can be beneficial to a caster team. Sure you can bring barbs and make your 4 hero casters auto attack with spears, without ias or spear mastery, but you would probably get more benefits with fewer attribute spreads using Bloodsong instead.
You bring melee buffs when youre running it with as a melee. Think it was very obvious in my post unless you are really stupid and lack reading comprehension.
When you run Spiritway ith a melee you will most likely drop all the heals. But since you will most likely be running SY! heals will be redundant anyway so there is no opportunity cost.
I don't see SW as a melee buff. Although it works best with fast attack rates of a melee weapon, any weapon type can benefit from it.
Got it now?...This doesn't have much relation to the topic btw so there is no need for you getting butthurt and crying over it.
Although in all honesty, limiting spiritway to a specific class type when one of the build's main strong points is that it is extremely flexible and can be easily adapted to any play style makes absolutely no sense. That's what I been trying to say pretty much.
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If I want to bring SW, I have to replace another skill with it. SW only make sense as a variant to the caster team since EVAS is a popular pve skill for casters. Level 15 bone minions do not attack fast enough and do not stay alive long enough in HM for SW to be effective.
I suppose you dont run 7 skills instead of 8! So yes you will have to replace another skill with it. Thing is that except for PB, SoS, Bloodsong and PwK your bar is full of optionals. You can even drop PwK if you feel like you can avoid AoE. There ya go, 5 open slots and half the attribute points to play around with.
So you can easily drop something for SW like for example part of your redbar nightmare or energy management redundancy.
I'm not trying to force things on you btw don't get me wrong. :P Just saying that your argument against SW is weak.
As for minions. I don't run them. I prefer lvl21 horrors. They won't get raped as fast meaning you have stronger wall, more dps and in the end, more DN damage. High level minions were always better. Everyone kind of agreed on that when Sab wrote her article (one that is stickied now) but then somehow everybody became terrible and forgot how to build their MB's. Sad. 
26 Apr 2010 at 00:23 - 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
You bring melee buffs when youre running it with as a melee. Think it was very obvious in my post unless you are really stupid and lack reading comprehension.
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Before accusing me of not reading, did you even read the thread title before you post on this thread?
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I don't see SW as a melee buff. Although it works best with fast attack rates of a melee weapon, any weapon type can benefit from it.
And that is what I already said. It works best with fast attack rates. There is absolutely NO way to bring every single skill that has any small chance of benefiting the team in a 3-heroes build.
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Although in all honesty, limiting spiritway to a specific class type when one of the build's main strong points is that it is extremely flexible and can be easily adapted to any play style makes absolutely no sense. That's what I been trying to say pretty much.
You can kneel down and worship spiritway all you want, even consider it better than sliced bread, but spiritway has its weaknesses like any other build and doesn't provide as strong a melee buff.
As to the other points I have already addressed them.
26 Apr 2010 at 09:41 - 34
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
Before accusing me of not reading, did you even read the thread title before you post on this thread?
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/facedesk
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
This doesn't have much relation to the topic btw so there is no need for you getting butthurt and crying over it.
...
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And that is what I already said. It works best with fast attack rates. There is absolutely NO way to bring every single skill that has any small chance of benefiting the team in a 3-heroes build.
But it's effective with any weapon type really. I don't like your build it has to much overkill on defense and e-manag.
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You can kneel down and worship spiritway all you want, even consider it better than sliced bread, but spiritway has its weaknesses like any other build and doesn't provide as strong a melee buff.
Wrong. Spiritway provides better melee buff than necroway also better damage and defense. It consists of rits. Rits = best melee buffers. So obvious Lol. Your version is just sub-optimal and you don't understand the build. That's why you make ridiculous claims like this.
26 Apr 2010 at 14:44 - 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by Myotheraccount
/facedesk
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If you feel a need to discuss melee buffs then start your own thread instead of persistently hijacking this one.
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But it's effective with any weapon type really. I don't like your build it has to much overkill on defense and e-manag.
Not from what I have observed. In more difficult areas, the channeling rit spams enough heals so that she used spirit siphon for energy management.
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It consists of rits. Rits = best melee buffers.
Not really. The only melee buff that I like from rits is splinter. I also like SoH, Barbs, or MoP but none of these are rit skills.
26 Apr 2010 at 15:46 - 36
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daesu
If you feel a need to discuss melee buffs then start your own thread instead of persistently hijacking this one.
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I'm leaving my input on your build. I also correct you when you are wrong because I don't want the more impressionable members of the boards to get confused and misled. Stop being retarded.
I would also like to point out that you brought spiritway and melee into discussion yourself. I'm simply correcting the mistakes. I also pointed out several times that the matter has no relevance to the discussion and thus you don't have to get butthurt and cry. I hope this will stop you from derailing your own thread any further.
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Not from what I have observed. In more difficult areas, the channeling rit spams enough heals so that she used spirit siphon for energy management.
As I said before. Depending on a playstyle the effectiveness of heal will vary. Some players (probably less able) will most likely need heal whereas others won't. Personally I never take that much heal. I only take PwK and sometimes either FoMF or SL because my heroes hardly ever get hit. Thus my SoS always have near full bar of energy so any kind of e-manag is pointless.
I am sure there are others that are like me. For example Jeydra did Duncan with just SL on the SoS bar.
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Not really. The only melee buff that I like from rits is splinter. I also like SoH, Barbs, or MoP but none of these are rit skills.
It seems you never heard of secondary prof. =/
You take Mo or N as a secondary. Rit is flexible enough to easily take those skills.
I explained this several times. Your reading comprehension sucks.
Since you deal massive damage anyway, you dont rerally need to take both smiting skills and curses skills. I suggest taking smiting skills such as SoH and Smite Condition/Hex then. Although if you want both, your MB can take Barbs. But once again, this matter has little relevance to the topic so bringing it up all the time like you do makes little sense.
26 Apr 2010 at 16:45 - 37
As I said:
"I have no idea how anyone can have any major complaints about this build, other than to say that it's already old-hat. This is pretty much exactly what Jeydra ran through forgewight HM with. If you think you can do better, by all means. "
lol useless arguing and baseless theorycraft. If you think you can do better as a caster, stop theorycrafting and SHOW us.
26 Apr 2010 at 17:45 - 38
The bars you use are very familiar (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ), but some things I want to ask you about:
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N/Mo
8 Protection Prayers
7 Healing Prayers
12+1+3 Death
8+1 SR
Aotl or JB
Bone Minions
Death Nova
Dark Bond (effective even at 0 Blood) or Putrid Bile or Blood of the Master (if you have problems keeping minions alive between mobs)
Dwayna's Sorrow (micro to also use as AoE cover enchant, if necessary)
Protective Spirit
Aegis
Masochism or Res
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1) Is Dark Bond and Dwayna's Sorrow really that effective?
2) It's a bit hard to imagine a build without Blood of the Master ...
3) You don't mind not having Rend Enchants for Spirit Bond / Shield of Regen / Shield of Absorption etc?
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SoS Rit
12+1+1 Channeling
12+1 Restoration
3+1 Spawning
SoS
Spirit Siphon
BloodSong or Splinter Weapon
Painful Bond
Flesh of my Flesh or Death Pact Signet (if res shrine enabled)
Mend Body & Soul
Spirit Light
Protective was Kaolai
1) Why don't you run Superiors?
2) Does the extra heal (MBAS) really help that much? Is it dispensable?
3) A friend of mine suggested Spirit Boon Strike in place of Painful Bond. What do you think?
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SoGM Rit
12+1+1 Communing
12+1 Spawning
Boon of Creation (in areas with enchant removal either cover with DS or use SoC)
Disenchantment
Signet of Ghostly Might or Soul Twisting
Armor of Unfeeling
Dissonance
ShadowSong
Anguish
Pain
1) Why don't you run Superiors?
2) Soul Twisting doesn't deal damage. Is it better than SoGM?
3) When I used this bar the biggest issue was (always) energy - Dissonance's 25 energy cost for a short-lasting spirit with a rather useless effect makes it bad skill. Except it does damage, of course. Can the hero juggle Armour of Unfeeling with the energy issue? That's why I ran Death Pact Signet here too by the way; the SoS Rit had enough to spare for more offensive skills.
27 Apr 2010 at 02:05 - 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeydra
The bars you use are very familiar (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ), but some things I want to ask you about:
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Actually the bar that your ele was running has been in pvx for a while. Anyway, I think most aspects of spiritway has been discussed to death at least last year.
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1) Is Dark Bond and Dwayna's Sorrow really that effective?
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I am liking Dark Bond as a form of protection for the MM and leaving the MM with superior death and Masochism to bring down his health relative to the other heroes, to attract attention towards him.
DS works great on a minion bomber and I feel that it is a little underrated nowadays as a party heal. It is also a cheap AoE enchantment that doubles up as a cover enchant for Dark Bond and BoC.
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2) It's a bit hard to imagine a build without Blood of the Master ...
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I put that there because someone claim that it helps to keep minions alive from mob to mob. Personally, I have never needed BoTM for any of my MB builds as corpses tend to be plentiful, in most areas that would allow a MM, if you are killing fast enough. Furthermore, being able to retreat behind spirits (after pulling), allow the spirits to help out in tanking besides just relying on minions.
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3) You don't mind not having Rend Enchants for Spirit Bond / Shield of Regen / Shield of Absorption etc?
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And that is why there is Disenchantment in the communing rit build.
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1) Why don't you run Superiors?
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I dont think superiors are worth it for the rits, and besides it would undermine my purpose of using superior death + Dark Bond on the MM to attract monsters.
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2) Does the extra heal (MBAS) really help that much? Is it dispensable?
I dont think the heals are indispensable, but MB&S provides good condition removal which some heal henchies (Mhenlo for example) lack. If I intend to bring only 1 healer hench, having at least one condition removal is useful in certain areas.
The other aspect of bringing restoration heals are for party heals which the healer hench sometimes lack, depending on your area. For this reason, Spirit Light would be more dispensable and replacable with Life or other offensive skills.
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3) A friend of mine suggested Spirit Boon Strike in place of Painful Bond. What do you think?
Yes, I saw that suggestion in the rit forum and I actually tried it. I don't find it necessary most of the time. BloodSong life steals and SoS has a medium recharge and 3 spirits to tank. The communing rit has AoU which should be sufficient for most areas.
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1) Why don't you run Superiors?
See above explaination.
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2) Soul Twisting doesn't deal damage. Is it better than SoGM?
Arrogant Bastard suggested this as an energy management alternative to SoGM. His explaination makes sense to me so I added it as a variant.
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3) When I used this bar the biggest issue was (always) energy - Dissonance's 25 energy cost for a short-lasting spirit with a rather useless effect makes it bad skill. Except it does damage, of course. Can the hero juggle Armour of Unfeeling with the energy issue? That's why I ran Death Pact Signet here too by the way; the SoS Rit had enough to spare for more offensive skills.
From what I have observed, with BoC, the communing rit's energy is fine. One alternative to Dissonance is to put the rit's secondary to Paragon and take Anthem of Disruption instead, but comparing it with the life span of Dissonance and total energy need over time, Dissonance seems like a better choice.
Death Pact Signet is fine when you have a res shrine enabled. Otherwise, it actually increases the chance of mission failure on a team wipe on some missions. What other offensive skill would you suggest for the SoS rit?
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