Trouble with heroes

Hey guys.

I just started playing a few days ago. I've been having a lot of difficulty on nearly all missions - even the npcs you have to fight through before the mission.
I eventually get it done most of the time but after several deaths. As I am progressing further I am failing more and I had to stop the EotN storyline and go back to NF.

I think the main problem is my builds (hero and mine.) I have tried looking into what most people use but I haven't unlocked many spells yet.

Here are the spells I have and the builds of my heroes:

-Spell List-

Monk spells:
Reversal of Fortune
Shield of Absorption
Holy Veil
Blessed Signet
Smiter's Boon
Watchful Healing
Heal Party
Healing Touch
Orison Healing
Spotless soul
Mend Aliment
Words of Comfort
Signet of Devotion
Balthazar Aura
Bane Signet
Banish
Castigation Signet
Retribution
Reversal of Damage
Remove Hex
Ressurect
Healing Breeze

Ranger:
Throw Dirt
Charm Animal
Comfort Animal
Pin Down
Power Shot
Savage Shot
Flame Trap
Kindle Arrows
Storm Chaser
Troll anguent
Dual Shot

Elementalist:
Air Attunement
Binding Flash
Enervating charge
Lightning Orb
Lightning Strike
Obsidian Flame
Ward Against Fore
Ward Against Melee
Aura of Restoration
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Flare
Inferno
Liquid Flame
Blurred Vision
Freezing gust

Mesmer:
Cry of Frustration
Diversion
Empathy
Hex Breaker
Power Strike
Shatter Enchantment
Clumsiness
Ether Feast
Power Drain

Necromancer:
Life Siphon
Strip Enchantment
Unholy Feast
Vampiric Gaze
Well of Blood
Parasitic Bond
Animate Bone Fiend
Death Nova

Warrior:
Critical Chop
Disrupting Chop
Counter Attack
Power Attack
Shield Bash
Final Thrust
Gash
Savage Slash
Sever Artery
"Watch Yourself!"
"For Great Justice!"

Dervish:
Vital Boon
Faithful Intervention
Heart of Holy Flame
Imbue Health
Mystic Sweep
Zealous Renewal
Chilling Victory
Victorious Sweep


-My Heroes-


Ogden Stonehealer (Mo)
12 Healing
12 Divine Favor
Orison Healing - Holy Veil - Signet of Devotion - Healing Touch - Healing Breeze - Ressurect - Spotless Soul

Tohikara (Mo)
12 Divine Healing
12 Protection
Reversal of Fortune - Shield of Absorption - Protective Spirit - Mend Aliment - Remove Hex - Ressurect - Watchful Healing

Pyre Fierceshot (R)
12 Marksmanship
10 Wilderness
8 Expertise
Dual Shot - Kindle Arrows - Savage Shot - Throw Dirt - Power Shot - Flame Trap - Pin Down

Vekk (E)
12 Air
12 Energy Storage
Lightning Strike - Lightning Orb - Aura of Restoration - Blinding Flash -Air Attunement - Glyph of Lesser Energy - Enervating Charge

Gwenn (Me)
12 Domination
11 Inspiration
6 Fast Casting
Cry of Frustration - Diversion - Shatter Enchantment - Ether Feast - Power Drain - Hex Breaker - Empathy

Livia (N)
12 Death
10 Blood
8 Reaping
Parasite Bond - Vampiric Gaze - Strip Enchantment - Unholy Feast - Well Blood - Death Nova - Life Siphon - Animate Bonefiend

Koss (W)
12 Axe
10 Strength
8 Tactice
Critical Chop - Disrupting Chop - "Watch Yourself!" - Power Attack - Counter Attack

Jora (W)
12 Strength
12 Tactics
Sever Artery - Gash - Svage Slash - Final Thrust - Counter Attack - Power Attack - "For Great Justice!" - Shield Bash

Melonni (D)
12 Mysticism
10 Earth
8 Scythe
Mystic Sweep - Vital Boon - Heart of Holy Flame - Imbue Health - Chilling Victory - Faithful Intervention - Zealous Renewal

((I also have MOX and Acolyte Sousuke))

My build is a complete mess too:13 Smiting
12 Protection
Bane Signet - Banish - Castigation Signet - Reversal of Damage - Reversal of Fortune - Protective Spirit - Retribution - Balthazar Aura


So as youcan see I have no idea what I'm doing!

Generally speaking, your heroes are initially suited to the level and area where you first acquired them, and should grow with you. It may be a good idea to continue with NF until you can equip your heroes better. It may also be a good idea to take some henchmen with you until your heroes are fully outfitted (a mix of heroes and henchies)

You didn't list any Runes or Insignias on your heroes or yourself. That's probably at least some of your problem. Check at the rune trader and/or wikis to see which runes/insignias best suit your build (and your hero's builds). You should, at the very least, have a Vigor Rune and a minor rune of your builds main attribute.
Also, of course, you need to make sure you and your heroes have appropriate weapons, preferably "max".

If you just started playing a few days ago, you should most definitely NOT be trying to do EotN. Seriously. EotN is advanced PvE content meant for those who have substantial GW experience, max gear, a wide range of skills (including elites) available for themselves and heroes, etc. Just because you can get there at level 10 doesn't mean that it's newbie friendly, as many new players find out to their sorrow. I suspect a number of new players get turned off to GW because they got the bad advice to head to EotN as quickly as possible and got themselves trashed repeatedly by the foes there.

It isn't just a matter of builds (though good builds are needed), but general experience with how the GW AI works and various useful strategies and tactics for GW. Going back to Nightfall was a good idea, and you should play that campaign to completion at least. However, other campaigns also offer some good skills and elites, and you may wish to spend some time picking up those.

For example, Ray of Judgement in Factions is a great skill that is absolutely essential for a smiting monk. (A side trip to Factions to pick it up is an excellent idea, because you will want it badly when you hit the Desolation in Nightfall. It can be obtained in the Undercity without doing any missions.)

For your own build, I would suggest concentrating on straight damage if smiting is your goal. It's very hard to switch back and forth between damaging foes and protecting allies, especially for a new player. The first three skills you list are pretty much fundamental to any smiting build. Adding Signet of Rage and Spear of Light would also be worth while, and you can buy them in Kaineng City. (For a smiting hero, you will also want Smite Hex, Smite Condition, Judge's Insight, and Strength of Honor. Judge's Insight is important if you use any martial heroes, and Strength of Honor is important if you use any melee heroes.)

You have a wide range of choices for putting your Protection points into something else, and smiting monks can use their secondary professions very effectively. You might, for example, go Mo/Me, adding interrupts, energy return, and/or faster recharge of your signets. One of my favorite builds for my smiter is Mo/Ra, with 12 Wilderness Survival:

Serpent's Quickness (Ranger)
Ray of Judgement (E)
Banish
Bane Signet
Signet of Rage
Castigation Signet
Spear of Light
[optional]

Serpent's Quickness is a ranger stance that causes all the skills on your bar to recharge more quickly. The optional skill can vary at need. I usually use one of the PvE skills these days, but the Scourge skills can be useful at times, or Reversal of Damage, or even a ranger skill from the Wilderness Survival line. I find it to be a very flexible build that can be adapted to many circumstances.

Your heroes do need a lot of work on their bars, but I wouldn't obsess over it yet. Take your time collecting skills, equipment, and runes for them. Outfitting a lot of heroes is expensive, and takes time. If Nightfall is progressing too fast for you to keep up with necessary hero upgrades, you may want to switch over to Prophecies for a while, since Prophecies has a much slower pace.

Quite a few new players seem to be having problems getting into GW and I think some of us are responsible.
There have been quite a few posts replying to new players advising Start in nightfall grab all the heroes move to eye as soon as you can and get those.

Now that's great on your 2nd or later character because you will have loads of skills unlocked.
Some of the more thoughtful posters here have advised using Henchmen till they have learned a little more about the game.

Its all very well racing ahead to open up the hall of monuments and start getting asura, ebon vanguard and norn skills.
But until you get a good range of skills unlocked and know how they work you have no foundation to base your builds on.

You will also have no idea as to how players and party builds can work together or cancel each other out.
Sure we can give you a list of great builds but your still on shaky ground trying to use them.

Please go slowly in the beginning and don't rush ahead to far till your more confident in what your doing.

i'd say the best thing you can do for yourself is get some elites unlocked. used gwpvx.com for some ideas on good builds to use.

also quaker said you didn't list any runes on your heroes, but if you don't have any i wouldnt even worry about it. you can roll through most of the game without ever having to do so, it is helpful if you do though

You haven't unlocked many spells yet and so are in a bit of a bind; there're precious few good spells in that list and no elites too.

In this case, I suggest you use henchmen. They're inferior to heroes later, but for the moment they get many good skills that you don't have access to.

Yes, you are certainly right in going back to Night Fall The hardest thing for you right now is that you really don't have any decent skills for your heroes. During missions I would suggest switching at least some of your heroes out for the henchmen, especially the monks. If you're heroes aren't level 20 yet, bring them along for your normal quests or any of the easy content outside of missions so they can get some levels. IF they are already max level though, you can just leave them in favor of the henchmen until you get more skills.

For the build you posted: the first thing I would suggest is dropping your melee heroes. Melee heroes are sub-par in this game because of their AI. You can bring along maybe one of the warriors and your dervish, or just one of them, but all of them are just not doing much for your DPS.

For your skills, it might help to unlock some more basic skills by making a couple new characters of that specific class and buying them from the low level skill merchants in the starting cities. You can also unlock some skills with hero skills points from Hero skill trainers.

The most important skills you are lacking are some elite skills. When you start progressing through NF there are some skills you will want to try to capture with a signet of capture that will really help your heroes. I found some of the staple or basic elites that are fairly early on in NF for you to capture.
- Word of Healing (staple for most healing monks): Capture from killing Hahan, Faithful Protector
- Zealous Benediction which you can capture from Taskmaster Sadi-Belai in the mission Kodonur Crossroads
- Cleave (for your Axe warrior) captured from Chor the Bladed in Marga Coast
- Invoke Lightning (for your air elementalist) from Lushivahr the Invoker
- Burning Arrow (for your ranger) from Admiral Chiggen or a little later get Expert's Dexterity from Bansheh, Gatherer of Branches
- Energry Surge (dom mesmer) from Yammiron, Ether Lord
- For your necromancer you actually want a couple non-elite skills: Animate Bone Minions and Death Nova

If you have specific questions about builds, etc, you can PM me and I can give you my IGN for more help.