Question regarding "retribution" build
endomorphious
Hi all, I've played on and off for a few years and never got far in the game. I'm back again. I really enjoy playing characters that can stand in the middle of a pack of attackers and watch the npcs kill themselves while attacking me...vis a vis the WoW retribution paladin. I'd like to do something similar in concept here for PvE. This is for theme and not efficiency. Initially I was thinking monk as primary, but not sure that would be the wisest choice. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Either links or names to a build would be welcomed.
Kanda
Hi!
The most well-known build that perform what you describe here is the 55 monk build.
There are numerous variations (330 Ritualist and 600 Monk come to mind), and depending on them, you cannot go everywhere, or you need a support character, or you cannot survive indefinitly, or you need a constant stream of hits. They were once among the most efficient farm builds, and are still used from time to time.
Monk primary is indeed a wise choice; depending on the build, you may want to keep your starter armor.
The most well-known build that perform what you describe here is the 55 monk build.
There are numerous variations (330 Ritualist and 600 Monk come to mind), and depending on them, you cannot go everywhere, or you need a support character, or you cannot survive indefinitly, or you need a constant stream of hits. They were once among the most efficient farm builds, and are still used from time to time.
Monk primary is indeed a wise choice; depending on the build, you may want to keep your starter armor.
BrettM
There are also a number of elementalist farming builds using PBAoE, often combined with earth-magic defenses, to solo massed groups of melee attackers.
The problem with farming builds, regardless of profession, is that they aren't universal. They are meant to work and work well in specific situations, and outside those situations you have extremely low survivability. Trying to use them for general PvE is not just inefficient, it's horrendously ineffective.
It is possible to create a build that can survive against just about any kind of foe you will encounter, but such a build is all defense with no room for offense. It's a tank build, and the rest of your party has to provide the spank to go with it.
The problem with farming builds, regardless of profession, is that they aren't universal. They are meant to work and work well in specific situations, and outside those situations you have extremely low survivability. Trying to use them for general PvE is not just inefficient, it's horrendously ineffective.
It is possible to create a build that can survive against just about any kind of foe you will encounter, but such a build is all defense with no room for offense. It's a tank build, and the rest of your party has to provide the spank to go with it.
shillo
As said earlier, monk can be made to work that way, but in context of GW, it's basically a special-purpose, farming build.
For a less gimmicky class that's actually meant to play in the monsters-kill-themselves style, but ranged and more CC oriented, look into Mesmer. Large portion of Mesmer skills is about punishing enemies for acting, or even worse, punishing both action and inaction. Their other skills are about interrupting, disabling skills, energy draining, and just being a general nuissance to the enemy. Things like Diversion + Wastrel's Demise ('next skill you activate, if it's in the following 6 seconds, will be disabled' + 'you will take a tonne of damage every second unless you activate a skill') are always a joy
For a less gimmicky class that's actually meant to play in the monsters-kill-themselves style, but ranged and more CC oriented, look into Mesmer. Large portion of Mesmer skills is about punishing enemies for acting, or even worse, punishing both action and inaction. Their other skills are about interrupting, disabling skills, energy draining, and just being a general nuissance to the enemy. Things like Diversion + Wastrel's Demise ('next skill you activate, if it's in the following 6 seconds, will be disabled' + 'you will take a tonne of damage every second unless you activate a skill') are always a joy
KotCR
Far from being the most efficient, but it does work:
Dwarven Gladiator
I too love a reflect damage theme on characters. It's the whole defense over offense thing that appeals to me; Stout defender and all that. Too bad it's not really a viable playstyle for anything but farming in Guild Wars, but you can still give it a try.
Dwarven Gladiator
I too love a reflect damage theme on characters. It's the whole defense over offense thing that appeals to me; Stout defender and all that. Too bad it's not really a viable playstyle for anything but farming in Guild Wars, but you can still give it a try.