Hero builds and questions.

Halgard

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2009

Manchester, England.

Seraphic Guardians [SG]

22 Jun 2012 at 08:00 - 1

Hey guys,

Been a long time player on and off since release and coming back to GW in the hopes of getting GWAMM for GW2. I just have a few questions about hero builds.
1) I checked the PVXwiki and there are a number of different types of hero builds I imagine there is no "best" build and most of it is situational but I have made the "7 hero support build" and was wandering how this would fare with vanquishing and HM missions etc? If there is a build that is clearly better I would definately switch to it, from what I understand "Discord" is the way to go but that requires intense hero management.
2) For areas and missions where you dont have access to the full setup i.e. 4/6 in the maximum party is there a build specific for these areas? again for vanquishing and HM missions.
3) Is there any areas/missions where its almost impossible to solo? as sadly most of my mates achieved 30/50 and knocked it on the head!
4) This ones more of a query, on the PVXwiki it says to use spears and shields over a staff and I cant seem to understand why as if you dont meet the req then I was under the assumption you dont recieve the armor bonus from the shield and the damage bonus from the spear? I was thinking that say you have a spear with +5 energy and 20% enchant and a shield with +30 HP wouldnt a staff do the exact same job? staffs have an innate energy+10 and you can add a health +30 mod and a 20% enchantment mod afaik. Admittedly there might have been a number of changes over the years so any clarification would be good.
5) And finally is there like some EPIC mercenary build I could set up which would decimate everything? lol

Lots of questions I need answering so if you could help that would be much appreciated!

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

22 Jun 2012 at 10:54 - 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halgard View Post

1) I checked the PVXwiki and there are a number of different types of hero builds I imagine there is no "best" build and most of it is situational but I have made the "7 hero support build" and was wandering how this would fare with vanquishing and HM missions etc? If there is a build that is clearly better I would definately switch to it, from what I understand "Discord" is the way to go but that requires intense hero management.

-7 hero support is fine. Hard Mode isn't hard anymore, barring a few exceptions. Depending on your playstyle/preferences/etc you'll probably want to customise it to make it better.
-Discord builds were far more popular before the 7 hero update. Necro heavy setups have been somewhat replaced by Mesmer heavy ones. AoE damage > single target. Also, I'm not sure where you got the idea Discord requires micro; a lot of people give it crap for being a c-space build for lazy players.

Quote: 2) For areas and missions where you dont have access to the full setup i.e. 4/6 in the maximum party is there a build specific for these areas? again for vanquishing and HM missions. People generally don't bother. Use your judgement. Understand what is important, how much (or little) defence you need, and how the best way to pack damage in would be.

Quote: 3) Is there any areas/missions where its almost impossible to solo? By solo I assume you mean with heroes (/henchmen). Everything in PvE, with no exceptions whatsoever, can be completed with heroes, in Hard Mode, and without the use of consumables. Some of them, like UW HM are incredibly difficult, but possible. The bulk of the game can pretty much be steamrolled once you've got your builds together.

Quote:

4) This ones more of a query, on the PVXwiki it says to use spears and shields over a staff and I cant seem to understand why as if you dont meet the req then I was under the assumption you dont recieve the armor bonus from the shield and the damage bonus from the spear? I was thinking that say you have a spear with +5 energy and 20% enchant and a shield with +30 HP wouldnt a staff do the exact same job? staffs have an innate energy+10 and you can add a health +30 mod and a 20% enchantment mod afaik. Admittedly there might have been a number of changes over the years so any clarification would be good. A couple of things to consider (I'm sure someone could make a comprehensive list; but I'm not going to bother):

-Most interestingly, foes use weapon type to determine how they should react. If they see you're not wielding a wand, they figure you're not a caster and don't use anti-caster skills against you.
-Spears produce physical damage, which is good for triggering skills like Mark of Pain.
-The mod setup works a differently. Not a lot, as you've mentioned, but it's something to consider.

I just give my casters the Hourglass Staff from some promotional/pre-order thing I got somewhere along the line. Compared to skills, it doesn't really matter all that much unless there is some core aspect of the build that specifically relies on it (like ER ele's and the enchant mod).

PS: Not meeting the requirement of a shield results in you getting half the stated bonus.

Quote:

5) And finally is there like some EPIC mercenary build I could set up which would decimate everything? Not really. There's a point where adding more of something doesn't really add much. There are generally three heroes of each profession (the notable exceptions being Mesmer and Rit), plus Razah whose primary profession can be switched to whatever you want.

PS: Any half-decent 7 hero build will decimate everything anyway. I probably said that above somewhere already.

Jeydra

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2008

23 Jun 2012 at 02:18 - 3

What Marty said, I'll add:

7 hero player support will work for most areas. It should certainly clear all missions and vanquishes easily. It's against the harder areas (select dungeons and elite areas) that the build is inadequate. It's also inadequate if you're trying to set speed records, but most people don't go that far. As for Discordway, it's another build that will work for most areas, and it doesn't require micro. Most people don't like to play builds that require a lot of micro, myself included. Generally I micro only "Fall Back!", with Unyielding Aura very occasionally.

You'll notice quickly that most players run some variation of this, which actually works quite nicely with the caveats above (maynot work against harder areas + elite areas):

Minions
Spirits
Spirits
Mesmer x2
Some kind of healer
Some kind of offensive caster

There are variations, but this is quite the standard template.

For 4-man and 6-man areas, most people don't make completely new builds. If you're wondering what to use, the simplest antidote to 4-man areas is minions + spirits x2, while for 6-man areas you could go minions + spirits x2 + mesmer + some kind of healer if you want to be safe (players who like to live on the edge may want to go minions + spirits x2 + mesmer x2).

Everything can be done with heroes, although some HM areas are very difficult indeed. But then if your main concern is the HoM, you don't have to worry that much because nothing's stopping you from doing it in NM + using consumables, which makes things fantastically easier.

Finally for the weapons, aside from the obvious differences with using a staff / wand + focus (different mods, etc) there's a hidden advantage of using these weapons: that they have longer range. Heroes equipped with spears will often run forwards to autoattack their targets. Since spear range is considerably less than cast range, you may find them overextended. This does not apply to staffs.

tl; dr version: just about everything works, so don't worry so much and just enjoy the game