Team Build: Z-Way | Z-Merc Edition | (Update 3.0)

Have yet to encounter a dungeon/Area me and Zeph didnt complete with ease, without the use of cons.

Every build has its flaws, and this one isnt perfect, but which build is?

If you want to complete any dungeon NM/HM, or other HM content, i do suggest you try this build. spending the $$$ to rune up your heroes REALLY does make a diffrence.

I've been looking at this build a lot and I think that it's very dependent on what class you play. The damage and control seem to be there, and it doesn't rely on something as weak and arbitrary as minion AI. That being said, unless you play an ER healer or a healing monk, this is gonna run into some problems on hard content.

Moreover, it sort of faces all the problems that are part and parcel of any non dps player build--you can probably do things effectively, but a damage based build or one that abuses merc heroes will probably be faster and more efficient.

My biggest criticism is thus that if you are running heals you can probably drop some protection for more damage (at least optimize your spirit usage).

That being said, I believe Olle when he says this can handle difficult content, but I still think optimizing it further is the way to go. This could really be a way to make Player healing in a H/H setting a viable avenue of play.

Lastly, with any person's build, a lot of the times personal preference and playstyle. For example when I was clearing HM content daily with only 6 heroes, I used a special ST Rit using Earthbind alongside my E/A Ele for perma AoE shutdown via MS and other kds.

Was it objectively the most efficient or best? Perhaps not, but a lot of this game turns on what people like to do. I know that when I was running, using an Ele, let alone a fire one was anomalous, but I competed with and matched records established by some of the best runners out there (Ling, Olle, etc.)

Just my $0.02.

Cheers,

Yuko

Hey yuko,

This build is exclusively for people that have no mercs at their disposal but dont require to purchase to win the game, also its designed for a healing charracter.
Dropping defense is questionable as its always nessesairy in pre-fight, which increases stress on heals.

Your right, this is indeed not a perfect build because it comes with flaws that you just have to deal with, which makes specification of role played important.

As it was unclear on what solutions are good for playing this setup as a Damage dealer, i'v placed builds (of what i play as monk) and aswell a 3 support hero builds to trade the diffrence of the player not healing. (which doesnt have to be a bad thing)

I added those options as i had them left out when i was reading your comment.

Thanks again for your interest and feedback!


Edit! : Also you mentioned optimizing the ST, a small but effective solution to have instant control is by having important spells keybinded.

Skill 1 (Soul Twisting) - Numpad 1 key
Skill 2 (Shelter) - Numpad 2 key
Skill 3 (Displacement) - Numpad 3 key

Quote: Originally Posted by Tyran Hellcaster Like you say, this build is meant to steamroller pve and therefore soulreaping is ideal. I didn't say that. In fact, what I said (in other words) is that IMO this build seems to take maximum safety for its casters while trying to output the maximum possible damage in the most efficient way, instead of going for maximum damage and secondary safety, preferring speed over efficiency (what essentially steamrolling usually goes for/means).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyran Hellcaster However, you then say soulreaping (and, inherently, the 11 energy per 8 seconds from signet of lost souls) is more situational for this build than an enchantment with a 30 second cooldown, which can be stripped..? SR inherently is much more situational since it depends on your team actually doing good to be functional, while ER in this case works perfectly in places with average enchantment removal. Zones with heavy enchantment removal also have creatures that are harder to kill, thus taking into account the bigger energy pool of the elementalists, the only disadvantage is trading the elite for reliability. Personally, I agree with you on the ER users, but mostly because I find them too slow for my tastes, but I wanted to explain my previous post.

The sole purpose of having these elementists (which obviously dont stack up against mesmers) is because if everyone has access of 2 extra mesmers, they would have taken the ele slots.

Because there is a 2 hero slot gap to fill that up, elementists make the superiour alternative for having those mesmers.

If you do have access of 2 mesmers mercs, then please do use those over 2x ER.
With the same build as the Esurge, but with Panic, Phsychic Instability, Matyr, Esurge, or Expel Hexes of your choice.

Will you post whole build for when we have access to mercs? Should we ditch the ele's?

Hey Zeph.

I like this. A lot. You may have an Internet Point. Those involved in unnecessarily nit-picking and criticising your fine work for no apparent reason do not receive an Internet Point.

One question though..... Which ones to leave out for 4 or 6 man areas?

Max.

Quote: Originally Posted by MaxBorken One question though..... Which ones to leave out for 4 or 6 man areas?

Max. Hey Max,

Unfortunally this team does not perform aswell as a triple necro or double rit team in 4 man area's, so therefore not a viable choice to take.

On the 6 man party's, assuming you are the healer, you could drop the ST + 1 Illusion or ER elementist to keep a balance of what the mesmers provide.

If you are a damage dealer consider dropping the ST, 1 Illusion, and 1 ER.
Being 5/6 at this point, take a second healer to fill the gap, while remaining with 4 DPS.

Take note of what mission you will do, if you face more Physical then Casters take two Illusions, and drop the ER's.
If more Casters then Melee, two ER's over Illusion.
And if you face both, drop one of each for a fair balance.


Hope this helps you out

Z.

Changelog :

Optimized Zephway to 2.0
added Mercway

enjoy!


Edit : ultra discordway will be posted tonight for those die-hard necrolovers!

'Thought i'd post some Z-Way in action, 19 minute AFK.

And because we can, we just afked the boss-fights and observed.

With a few Fall Backs added (gotta go fast) and some slight skill changes due to specific areas/personal preferences, I'm having quite a blast using this build. Have tried it out doing the ST Rit role, Derv and even a Ranger.

Thanks for the build, Zeph!

Hey Othienka, glad your enjoying it!
I'll be posting more dungeons, and DoA later this week, so stay tuned!

Damn man you are the best! I love these crazy builds, can't wait for the ultra discordway, will it be better than the other builds?

Did some doa with mr burns, and did 2/4th of it.
Foundry and City.

Foundry went all smooth.
But i should have placed my team in the alley which i didnt, and thus took an extra 10 min to complete, also my EoE had 0 Beast Mastery lol.... rusty me'
(Takes about 30-35 mins with no mistakes)



City was easy, 24 mins ish without cons.



Part Two will be the Stygian Veil, and Ravenheart Gloom.

So here is Part Two ladies and gents!

As i wouldn't expect a diffrent result, it was a massive success.
Complete DoA as Z-Way allows you to do, even if u have a friend aboard!

Stygian Veil went smooth, done just when the Cons were about to wear off.


Ravenheart Gloom was even easier, 20 minutes with 2 min afk ^^


Last but not least, Mallyx, we whiped once so we decided to let Tooburns run SoS too pump more physical damage.
Also, heroes were able to rupt Mallyx's anti hex alot.
(Remove weapons of your heroes to counter enviromental effect: Repressive Energy



The total time without the mistake would be easily around 100-120 minutes.
Next time, we probably we'll be doing Fissure of Woe, or otherwise The Underworld!
Stay tuned, and try this yourself!

Who else is Pro enough to play Sos on a warrior, i mean c'mon that's way better then Wammo !

This time me and the gang for some Deep HM, gd times.



I'll mostly load up what we feel like doing, UW will come by at some point.

Z.

That was so epic. These team builds you come up Zeph are fantastic, and I think when I next log on I will dedicate my resources to setting them up on my chars too. Next I think we should do a Campaign speedclear, see how long itll take us to get from Great Northen Wall to Hells in HM hahaha.

Mr.Burns and I went too Urgoz this time, we were close on having a personal record.
But the Hero AI decided to troll us bigtime on two occassions, which costed us well over 8-10 minutes time loss...

It was fun nonetheless, and thats what counts.
Hopefully next time, we will hit the 35 minute mark!

Happy Holidays from the both of us, and the [PhD] Guild


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no care was given that day, we got the chest anyway.



grass looks pretty glitchy >>