Zei Ri aftermath

I wonder how heroes use Splinter barrage or DWG nowadays...

Has their AI improved after these updates? They use splinter awesomely on every ally/party member with psychical weapon.

If you want to go with the third rit as a healer instead of a ST, for example you are already bringing a N/Mo MM with PS, an alternative is to make him a Wanderlust+Earthbind restore. Yes it is a little gimmicky and that added defense is not needed in most areas, but it works great and has some synergy with the other 2 rits. How would be a setup like this? I mean...wich builds? Could you suggest one?

How would be a setup like this? I mean...wich builds? Could you suggest one? I only bring a setup like this when I am playing my rit. So you have your rit as a SoS, Xandra as a SoGM, Razah as a mesmer, and Zei Ri (or a merc rit) as a ST or a Wanderlust+Earthbind restoration healer.

For energy management on the wanderlust rit, you can put in about 6 points to channeling and bring spirit siphon. This would provide better defenses for elite areas. The other good thing is that it also synergizes with any other KD skills that you bring along with your team as Earthbind bypasses monster stun immunity.

Would having a SoS, ST and SoGM be worth it if I bring a 16 command para hero with anthem envy. Or would it be better if i replace those with other dps? Without knowing the rest of your build, I would say replace the command para with other higher dps builds in general. If you need any important command skills, you can always make some of your casters /P and fit those skills into their skill bars.

I have him on my Paragon, with which i use 3 paragons, an Orders, and two spirit spammers with Splinter Weapon. (Razah is set as Mesmer, for a different team build, so its why I don't use him). It works well, my damage is slightly lower than I'd like it to be, but I can't complain, no one dies Untill paras are changed somehow, i would say having more than 1 is a liability. 1 para is all you need for any useful para skills you might want tbh. ANd that double splinter might be overkill. You are better off with an offensive communing rit instead of the second channeling.

The main problem with paras i find is the lack of hard dmg reduction outside of TINTF so even though you seem to be stacking on those nice armor buffs ( SY in combination with stand your ground) all it takes is 1 pack is ether beasts and your party goes poof. This is mainly because unless you wanna go ultra defensive on a 3 paragon party, you usually forego shelter, which is your main defense vs ether beasts
- yaya you can micro your heroes and spread em out but its a pain in the ass in the long run and different 7 hero comps completely forego the need to micro and spread heroes around

So basically, its like a catch 22, add in a ST defensive rit to survive armor ignoring dmg but ur build becomes overkill vs other non armor ignoring dmg. Don't add this ST, and you might as well skip some areas in Elona and prepare to have a miserable time...

(In before some smartass comes in telling me that you can micro and get stuff done with a full paragon party)

Since I have 8 mercs my team setups might be a little different from many others here. UNless you somehow managed to beat the game with 8 mesmers, it really doesn't matter because any optimal hero build doesn't require more than 2-3 heroes of each class

UNless you somehow managed to beat the game with 8 mesmers, it really doesn't matter because any optimal hero build doesn't require more than 2-3 heroes of each class Clicked accept a bit early. Hence why the post came out unfinished. I generally agree with this but my SB-Resto build is IMO in most cases superior to N/Rt healer so I bring 4 mesmers for my caster characters.

even though you seem to be stacking on those nice armor buffs ( SY in combination with stand your ground) all it takes is 1 pack is ether beasts and your party goes poof. I don't use Save Yourselves. Where on earth in my post did I say I use that? I use Stand Your Ground only, but, why in hell would I use Stand Your Ground with Save Yourselves anyway? They don't stack, it would only benefit me, which I can just use I Am Unstoppable if I were to use it.

I don't use Paragons for speed, I use them because I love them, and I love showing that there is more to them than spamming a stupid skill. My builds ARE slow, but they are SAFE. I can complete anything with them, save UW HM or DoA HM. It takes a while, but I don't need to rush through it all.

Edit: Didn't read your post fully. You also said two Splinter Weapons might be overkill. They need to maintain Splinter on FOUR paragons, one using it is hard. One Rit is Channeling Magic with spirits and Restoration, the other is Channeling Magic with Communing spirits.

... any optimal hero build doesn't require more than 2-3 heroes of each class I wonder how true that is. People have always needed to constraint themselves to the number of available heroes whenever they make a build. Would their builds all stay the same if this constraint is removed? Maybe most would stay the same but somehow I doubt ALL "optimal" hero builds would stay the same if everyone suddenly has 8 available heroes per class.