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Building Builds
Rush the Resplendent
THX
Heya, altered the max char to 100,000.. should be fine now 
Rush the Resplendent
Yay!
Guild Wars - A Role-Playing Game
Being an MMORPG, and furthermore possessing skill lines, as did Diablo 2, the rise of the Builds is inevitable in Guild Wars. However, before you embark on making your very own build, there's some things you should know, so you don't end up running around with an "Uber-Leet Anti-Warrior Caster Nuker" Ne/Me that is actually just a piece of shit. This article assumes some measure of familitarity with GW. It assumes you know the difference between Hexes and Ailments, what the general gist of each class is, etc. Also, I'm not going to say what each skill does, though I might point out specific ones. Go Here
First: GW is a game of counters, and your opponent is smart; just as smart, if not smarter, than you are.
This means, avoid ridiculously complex house-of-cards builds. If you're relying on tons of Enchantments to make you "Invincible!!!", or counting on never being Power Leak'd while casting your 5 second spells (Minion Necromancers, I'm looking at you), or relying on DoTs to kill your opponent, stop. Save yourself the trouble and go back and make a build that doesn't suck.
Two: Know Thyself
How good are you? How's your situational awareness? (Ability to see and understand what's going on around you). What're your reflexes like? Have you memorized every skill inthe game so that you know if that spell that Monk is casting is long enough for you to interrupt it with Disrupting Chop? If you're not good at positioning yourself, don't be a Healing Monk. If you have bad situational awareness, don't be a Mesmer or an Elementalist.
Three: Know the Skills
If you know what skills the opponent is using on you, kicking their ass will be that much easier. The easiest example is Healing Hands. If you see that W/Mo start having blue numbers above his head far greater than the red numbers you're doing to him, and didn't know what Healing Hands was and so didn't stop with your attacks, you'd likely get your ass kicked. If you were familiar with Healing Hands, you'd know to remove the Enchantment and then proceed to take the W/Mo out. If you know the casting time on many spells, you can save yourself the anguish of blowing a 15 mana Power Leak on a 1 second cast time spell you had no chance of interrupting.
Fourth: You're part of a team.
You can, but shouldn't, build your build with being independent in mind. You should have a Monk to cover your ass, an Elementalist to do damage to multiple targets at once, etc. etc. You want to pick a role/job/task, be good, and stick to that.
Now that we've got that over with, let's get to the builds themselves.
First: GW is a team game. Your build should play a role, and it should play it well.
There are three primary roles in GW. Offense, Defense, Disruption. Your first step should probably be to look at these 4 roles, and choose whichever one appeals to you most as a gamer. No use playing a role you don't like.
Second: Just as you can dual-class, you can dual-role.
Choose one role to "Major" in, and one to "Minor" in. 5 skills for your major, and 3 for your minor, is a good rule of thumb. There are some exceptions, which I'll get to later, but mostly, two roles is the sweet spot. One role and you're too focused, three and you're spread too thin.
As an example of a horrible one-role build, I'll point to the Dazer pre-made from the BWE. This build could disrupt Casters, and that was it. It had 7 skills to disrupt casters, and its only "Offensive" skill, Fragility, was one of those touchy house-of-cards skills I warned you about. It didn't have any offense, so it couldn't actually kill the casters. Terrible.
There were no three-role pre-mades, but suffice to say, if you look over your build, and see that you have heals, interrupts, and nukes, you're spread too thin. Pick two.
Now, for a two-role build that works great, one need look no further than the W/Mo. Why is the W/Mo so popular? It's a simple and effective two-role build. People who are just beginning GW wouldn't know to pick two-roles, so the simple two-role W/Mo seems totally awesome. Having read this guide, you now know the secret to the W/Mo, and can hopefully build builds just as good as it at will!
Now, let's get to the subsets. This is where your build really takes shape. There are subsets to each of the three primary roles.
Offense:
Look at this chart.
Now, when you want to kill people, you're either gonna want to kill one person, or alot of people. Let's start with alot of people, as its easier:
There's only one real viable route to killing alot of people: The Elementalist. For multi-target killing, ignore Lightning. Let's look at what each skill line has to offer:
Fire:
Rodgort's Invocation
Fire Storm (Storm)
Searing Heat (Storm)
Meteor Storm (Storm)
Fire Ball
Meteor
Earth:
Earthquake
Eruption (Storm)
Water:
Maelstrom (Storm)
Deep Freeze
Clearly, Fire is the way to go, but you might want to put 8 or so points in either Earth or Water and pick up some of their skills, too.
Now, multi-target attacks can be broken in "Storm" spells, or non-storm spells. Non-Storm spells are simple nukes that do a lot of damage in a wide area. Storm spells do smaller damage every second for 5 to 10 seconds. You probably want a few of each. Storm spells are better at making people scatter; the big nukes are better at actually killing people.
Single Target:
This can be broken down into ranged or Melee. For Melee, Warrior is your only real choice. As using a weapon is mana-free, a Warrior can do other things in addition to melee. The vast majority of Warrior skills are offensive; I'm only mortal, I'm not putting myself through that shit. Warrior damage is something for a seperate article. Look it up yaself.
For Ranged, you've got Ranger or Elementalist. Elementalist is if you want to drop a single target really quickly, but devote yourself entirely to doing it, as Elementalist is very mana-intensive. Lightning is the best Elementalist single-target line, specifically Lightning Strike and Orb, unless you want Water Trident as your elite, in which case Water is the best.
Lightning Strike - Strike target foe for 5..41 lightning damage.
5 mana cost
1 second cast time
5 second recast time
Lightning Orb - Lightning Orb flies toward target foe and strikes for 10..82 lightning damage if it hits.
15 mana cost
2 second cast time
5 second recast time
Water Trident - Send out a Water Trident at target foe. Water Trident strikes for 10..76 cold damage if it hits. If it hits a moving foe, that foe is knocked down.
5 mana cost
1 second cast time
3 second recast time
Ranger is if you want to be able to do damage, not as much as anElementalist, while doing other stuff. As using a Bow is mana-free, you can do ranged damage while healing, or casting buffs, or casting disruption, etc. etc. Power Shot, Dual Shot, and Punishing Shot (Which is elite) are your big damage dealers. Note that if you want to be an offensive Ranger, you basically have to be a Primary Ranger for Expertise, or you'll be OOM (Out of Mana) before you can say G2G (Good to Go).
Power Shot - If Power Shot hits, you strike for +(8..34) damage (before armor).
15 mana cost
3 second recast time
Dual Shot - Shoot two arrows simultaneously at target foe. These arrows deal 25% less damage than normal.
10 mana cost
5 second recast time
Punishing Shot (Elite) - If Punishing Shot hits, you strike for +(8..34) damage and your target is interrupted.
10 mana cost
3 second recast time
Defense:
There's two kinds of defense: Self-Only,and Other. These can be broken down into further groups: Defensive Buffs and Heals. A Defensive Buff is anything that gives you great surivivability, but can be removed. A Heal simply adds to your current hit point total, up to your maximum.
Heals will usually serve you better than buffs, as they can't be removed. If you're healed, you're healed. Then again, there are exceptions. Let's start with the Self-Only heals:
Ranger:
Troll Unguent (Linked to Wilderness Survival)
Healing Spring (Linked to Wilderness Survival)
Warrior:
Healing Signet (Linked to Tactics)
Mesmer:
Ether Feast (Linked to Inspiration)
Necromancer:
Linked to Blood:
Vampiric Touch
Vampiric Gaze
Monk: The monk has no heal which only targets themself; however, they do have two heals which can target themselves as well as Allies. Other Monk heals cannot target themselves.
Orison of Healing (Linked to Healing)
Divine Signet (Linked to Divine Favor)
As you can see, each class really only has one attribute linked to their self-heals, the exception being the Monk, which has two. The Elementaist doesn't have any self-only heals, only a buff which heals them when they cast spells (Aura of Restoration). This befits the Elementalist's overwhelmingly offensive nature. Troll Unguent might be better classified as a buff, but it can't be removed. So, it falls between the cracks.
If you were to ask me which classes had the best self-heals, I would list them in this order:
Orison (Monk)
Ether Feast (Mesmer)
Healing Signet (Warrior)
Vampiric Touch/Gaze (Necromancer)
Troll Unguent (Ranger)
Now, let's look at Self-Defense: Buffs. I won't list every individual skill, as there are far too many, but I'll give you a general overview of the ability of each class.
Warrior: Stances that allow them to dodge Arrows or Melee, mostly Melee. Many end when you use a skill or attack.
Ranger: Stances that allow you to dodge Arrows, Melee, and one that lets you defend against Spells (Dryder's Defenses). None of them end on attack. Ranger stances are very very good, and very underrated.
Mesmer: Many Mantras (Mantra of Fire Absorption, Lighting Absorption, Physical Absorption), and Illusion of Weakness, which gives you 50% of your maximum health when you reach 25% current health. The Mantras are not all that great, however, and Illusion of Weakness is the only really viable Mesmer self-buff.
Necromancer: Alot of spells that give strange effects, like gradual life regen (Life Siphon, Life Transfer), or extra Maximum HP at the cost of current HP (Demonic Flesh). Essentially every Necromancer buff is in the Blood line. Necromancer is a quirky class; I'll leave it to you to get a handle on it.
Elementalist: The Elementalist has many self-buffs, and they're all very good. Each skill line has some form of self-defensive buff, with the exception of Fire. Earth has by far the best, however.
Monk: The Monk has no self-buffs that cannot be cast on other people. Thus, it doesn't really count.
Best to Worst here, excepting the Monk:
Ranger
Elementalist
Necromancer
Warrior
Mesmer
Now, let's look at the real meat of Defense: Defense, Other. This can be broken into both Healing and Defensive Buffs, also.
The only class that's any good at Defense, Other is the Monk. Some classes have certain things (Ranger's Healing Sprint, Necromancer's Well fo Blood) that can do stuff, but none are any good.
As basically the entire Monk class is dedicated to Defense, Other, I won't go over every skill individually. However, let me point out some highlights to you:
Healing: (Linked to, suprise, the Healing line)
Orison of Healing:
Heal target ally for 16..67 Health.
5 mana
1 second cast
2 second recast
Word of Healing:
Heal target other ally for 16..67 Health. Heal for an additional 15..83 Health if that ally is below 50% Health.
5 mana
1 second cast
4 second recast
Linked to Divine Favor:
Signet of Devotion:
Heal target ally for 14..83 Health
0 mana
2 second cast
5 second recast
Defensive Buffs:
Linked to Healing:
Healing Breeze:
For 10 seconds, target ally gains +(2..8) Health regeneration.
10 Mana
1 Second Cast
2 Second Recast
Healing Seed:
Whenever target other ally takes damage in the next 8..18 seconds, that ally and all adjacent allies gain 3..25 Health
15 mana
2 second cast
25 second recast
Linked to Divine Favor:
Divine Intervention:
For 10 seconds, if target ally receives damage that would be fatal, the damage is negated and that ally is healed for 26..197 Health.
10 mana
1 second cast
30 second recast
Linked to Protection:
Shield of Deflection:
For 5..10 seconds, target ally has a (50..70)% chance to "Evade" attacks and gains 12..22 Armor.
10 mana
1 second cast
4 second recast
Reversal of Fortune:
The next time target ally would take damage, that ally gains that amount of Health instead, maximum 15..67. Reversal of Fortune wears off after 8 seconds if you haven't taken any damage.
5 man
1 second cast
2 second recast
Guardian:
For 5 seconds, Guardian has a (20..44)% chance to "Block" attacks and magical projectiles striking target ally.
5 mana
1 second cast
2 second recast
If you stick with these skills as the basis for a Monk, you'll do fine.
Now, we've come to the final point: Disruption. Thankfully, A.Net has broken Disruption down neatly into two classes for us, with a few deviations:
Warrior and Ranger Disruption: Necromancer
Caster Disruption: Mesmer
There are a few basic strategies for disrupting either Warriors or Rangers, and Casters. The Necromancer and Mesmer can enact these strategies single-handedly; that's what makes them the best at what they do. However, other classes can enact one or more of these strategies.
Disrupting Warriors and Rangers:
The main way to kill Warriors and Rangers is to try and hit the W or R with as many of these negative effects as possible: Slower attack speed, increased miss chance, less damage. I'll review some of the essential skills to do this with, though there are others out there.
By far the best choice for Warrior/Ranger disruption is the Necromancer, as I said. Here's why:
Necromancer:
Linked to Curses -
Faintheartedness -
For 8..37 seconds, target foe's attack speed is reduced and that foe suffers -(1..3) Health degeneration.
10 mana
2 second cast time
0 second recast time
Shadow of Fear -
Target foe and all adjacent enemies attack slower than normal for 20..39 seconds.
10 mana
2 second cast time
0 second recast time
Enfeeble -
Target suffers from Weakness for 5..17 seconds.
5 mana
1 second cast time
5 second recast time
These three skills are all you really need to shut down a Warrior or Ranger entirely. These are 3 nice skills all grouped into the same attribute with low mana costs and cast/recast times. <3
The other options available to you are Elementalist spells:
Linked to Water -
Blurry Vision - For 8..18 seconds, target foe and nearby foes (within 13 feet) are Hexed with Blurred Vision. While Hexed, those foes have a 50% chance to miss with attacks.
15 mana
1 second cast time
10 second recast time
Linked to Lightning -
Blinding Flash - arget enemy is Blinded for 3..9 seconds. While suffering from this ailment, target enemy's melee and missile attacks have a 90% chance to miss. Target enemy's projectiles also have a greater chance to stray from their intended target.
10 mana
1 second cast time
4 second recast time
There's another choice open to you, but it's tricky, and easy to break. The Monk skills Pacifism and Amnity in the Protection line:
Pacifism For 8..18 seconds, target foe cannot attack. This effect ends if the target takes damage.
10 mana
1 second cast time
30 second recast time
Amity(Elite) - For 8..18 seconds, adjacent foes cannot attack. For each foe, Amity ends if that foe takes damage.
5 mana
1 second cast time
60 second recast time
Finally, we can hurt Warriors by removing their Adrenaline. Only Mesmers can do this, with two Illusion-Linked skills:
Soothing Images -For 8..18 seconds, target foe cannot gain Adrenaline
10 mana
2 second cast time
5 second recast time
Sympathetic Visage - For 8..18 seconds, whenever target ally is hit by a melee attack, all nearby foes lose all Adrenaline and 3 Energy.
10 mana
1 second cast time
10 second recast time
Now, onto killing Casters.
There's 4 ways to kill Casters: Make them kill themselves, take all their mana, make their casting times longer, interrupt their spells.
There are are a few skills I really like for achieving these goals. If you want to kill Casters, work these skills into your build.
Make them kill themselves - Two skills are good for this.
Backfire (Mesmer Skill, Linked to Domination) - For 10 seconds, whenever target foe casts a spell, that foe takes 22..116 damage.
15 mana cost
3 second cast time
20 second recast time
Soul Leech (Necromancer Skill, Linked to Blood) - For 10 seconds, whenever target foe casts a spell, you steal 16..67 Health from that foe.
10 mana
2 second cast time
15 second recast time
Take all their mana - Four skills that are good at this. All are Mesmer skills. Most are linked to Domination.
Linked to Domination -
Power Leak - If target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and your target loses 10..39 Energy.
10 mana cost
Instant cast
20 second recast time
Guilt - For 4-9 seconds, if target foe casts an offensive spell, the spell fails, target loses 5-12 energy, and Guilt ends.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
30 second recast time
Shame - For 4-9 seconds, the next time target foe casts a spell on an ally, the spell fails and that foe loses 5-12 energy.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
30 second recast time
Energy Drain (Linked to Inspiration, Elite) - Steal 8..18 Energy from target foe.
5 mana cost
2 second cast time
20 second recast time
Longer Casting Times - Three skills can do this, each from a different class.
Arcane Conundrum (Mesmer Skill, Illusion Linked) - For 6-25 seconds, spells cast by target foe take twice as long to cast.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
20 second recast time
(Note: There is also Migraine, which does the same thing as Arcane Conundrum, but adds a tiny little DoT, and is Elite. Avoid Migraine; Take Conundrum instead)
Skull Crack (Warrior Skill; Unlinked) - If this attack hits while target foe is casting a spell, that foe is Dazed. While Dazed, that foe takes 3 times longer to cast spells and is easily interrupted.
8 Adrenaline Cost
Concussion Shot (Ranger Skill; Marksmanship) - If Concussion shot hits while target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and your target is Dazed for 5..17 seconds. This attack deals only 1..11 damage
15 mana cost
10 second recast time
Interrupting Spells - There are alot of good skills here. The best classes for this are Mesmer and Warrior. Mesmer has four interrupt, three in Domination (Power Leak, Power Spike, Block) and one in Inspiration (Power Drain). All are simple "Click the skill while they're casting and they're interrupted and X happens". Power Leak makes them lose mana, Power Spike takes damage, Power Block blocks all skills they have from the attribute line that was interrupted (So if the enemy had 4 fire skills and 4 water skills, you interrupted Fire Storm with Power Block, then they couldn't cast anymore Fire skills for a while), and Power Drain makes you gain mana.
Warrior is more complex. They have a few skills. Each weapon line has an option to interrupt Casters.
Sword has Savage Slash - If this attack hits, it interrupts target foe's action. If that action was a spell, you deal 1..32 extra damage.
5 mana cost
10 second recast time
Hammer has all their knockdowns. Knockdowns interrupt casting, or any other other they hit.
Axe has probably the best skill around for interrupts, Disrupting Chop. If you're an Axe Warrior, you should have this skill.
Disrupting Chop - If it hits, this attack interrupts the target's current action. If that action was a skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 20 seconds.
4 Adrenaline Cost
Warrior has one last Unlinked skill, Distracting Blow.
Distracting Blow - Swipe your weapon at the target, doing no damage but disrupting the target's current action (and the actions of foes adjacent to your target).
5 mana cost
10 second recast time
Ranger has Distracting Shot, which also disables the interrupted skill for 20 seconds, and Debilitating Shot, which is an energy drain. You might think this makes the Ranger a good choice for disrupting Casters, but you'd be wrong. Their arrows take time to travel, so its very likely you'll miss with your Distracting Shot unless you're standing right next to the caster. And if you're standing right next to them, why not be a Warrior?
Of course, you can also Daze a target (Via Skull Crack or Concussion Shot), and then all physical attacks will interrupt the target. Ranger's best bet for Caster hate is Concussion Shot. If you're going to use it, make sure the spell takes at least 2 secondst to cast, preferably 3 or more. Don't try to Concussion Shot on Orison of Healing, which takes 1 second to cast.
A final note on Disruption:
Controlling an area is also Disruption. Well of the Profane, Well of Suffering, Fire Storm, Maelstrom - all of these skills (and there are others) force whoever's in the area to get out of that place, or suffer the consequences. Hitting a Monk stuck casting Ressurect with Fire Storm is as good as an interrupt - Either they have to move, interrupting the spell, or take a heap of damage. However, area-control is a topic for another time.
Phew! Still with me? Good. Now, there are a few more 'jobs' out there which aren't exactly roles, but which are nonetheless crucial for an 8 person team to have. Of course, every 8 person team needs some Disruption, Healing, Single Target offense, Multi-Target offense, Defensive Buffs, etc. But, there are also a few 'jobs' which, while not precisely roles, as they only require a few skills, are nonethless crucial. Here they are:
Condition Removal
Hex Removal
Enchantment Removal
Ranged Snares
If your Monk gets Dazed, you want to get that Condition off him ASAP. If you don't, your team will likely lose the match. If your Monk gets Backfired, you don't want him to choose between dying and healing you. If you're focus-firing a target and they get hit with Mark of Protection, you don't want to have to call a new target and interrupt your whole flow. Finally, you don't want some goddamn son of a bitch running around the arena for 15 minutes wasting your damn time. You want him snared and dead.
For Condition Removal, the best choice is the Monk, either Mend Ailment or Condition. Both will remove one Ailment from the target. Don't waste your elite on Restore Ailment, and don't take a spell with a 60 second recast like Purge Conditions.
For Hex Removal; Again, Monk. Take Remove Hex. 5 mana cost, 2 second cast time, 5 second recast time. Efficient.
Enchantment Removal: Mesmer or Necromancer. All Enchantment Removal spells that are reasonably usable have huge recast times. There's nothing you can do; This is just A.Net being stupid. Nonetheless, they're nice to have.
Mesmer skills
Shatter Enchantment (Domination Linked) - Remove an Enchantment from target foe. If an Enchantment is removed, that foe takes 14..83 damage.
15 mana cost
1 second cast time
25 second recast time
Inspired Enchantment (Inspiration Linked) - Remove an Enchantment from target foe and gain 3..13 Energy. For 20 seconds, Inspired Enchantment is replaced with the Enchantment removed from target foe.
10 mana cost
1 second cast time
5 second recast time
Necromancer -
Unlinked:
Rend Enchantments - Target foe loses all Enchantments. For each Monk Enchantment removed, you take 20 damage.
10 mana cost
3 second cast time
30 second recast time
Strip Enchantment (Linked to Blood) - Target foe loses one Enchantment, and you gain 4..65 Health.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
20 second recast time
Ranged Snares: Elementalist or Ranger.
Elementalist - All their good snares are linked to Water.
Ice Prison - For 8..18 seconds, target foe's legs are encased in ice, dramatically decreasing their movement rate. This effect ends if target takes fire damage.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
30 second recast time
Ice Spikes - Target and nearby foes are struck for 10..76 cold damage and are slowed for 2..5 seconds.
15 mana cost
2 second cast time
15 second recast time.
Don't take Shard Storm for snaring. It can miss. Chances are someone you want to snare will be far away from you, and thus Shard Storm will miss even more.
Ranger -
Pin Down (Marksmanship) - If Pin Down hits, your target is Crippled for 3..13 seconds.
10 mana cost
10 second recast time
Pin Down can miss too, so really, if you want Snares, Elementalist is the place to go. The two spells I listed cannot miss, and snare tremendously.
Now, what's the use of this guide, you may ask? Well, it's simple. You choose a primary Role, and a secondary Role. Say you pick Offense as your main. Following the guide, you choose Multiple or Single. You choose Multiple, and thus you have Elementalist as one of your classes. You look closer, and choose Fire. You take Searing Heat, Fire Storm, and Rodgort's Invocation. Your secondary role you want to take is Disruption, specifically vs. Warriors or Rangers. So, you have Necromancer as another of your classes. You look at Disruption for Warriors or Rangers, and see that Curses is the attribute to be. You take Faintheartedness, Shadow of Fear, and Enfeeble.
Bam, your two classes and 6 out of your 8 attributes right there. Isn't that nice?
The last step is deciding in which order to put your two classes. For that, we need to look at Primary attributes, Mana regen, and armor levels. Also, you can only put on Runes for your Primary class. If you want a huge level in one skill, say 15 Fire, or 16 Healing, than be the primary of that skill.
Primary Warrior -
Primary Attribute - Strength
Armor - 80 (100 vs. Physical)
Mana regen - 2
Mana - 20
The Warrior primary is Strength. If you want to take some Strength related skills, you should be primary. Further, Strength gives you a 1% damage penetration everytime you use an attack skill. If you have a fast skill like Cleave, this can really add up. Also, their armor is great.
However, their mana regen and mana suck. If you want to tank and do damage, then Primary Warrior is the place to be. If you want to tank and do damage, but not as well, but cast more spells in return, then don't be a primary Warrior.
Primary Necromancer -
Primary Attribute - Soul Reaping
Armor - 60
Mana regen - 4
Mana - 30
Soul Reaping gives you 1 mana per point in it everytime someone dies near you. Basically, it sucks. Don't be a Primary Necromancer. Next.
Primary Ranger -
Primary Attribute - Expertise
Armor - 80
Mana regen - 3
Mana - 25
Expertise has some very nice skills linked to it, mostly stances, which can really boost your survivability vs. Warriors and other Rangers. Also, Expertise lowers the mana cost for Bow attacks, Preparations, and Traps. If you want to use lots of these, you're basically forced to be a Primary Ranger.
The Ranger armor is very nice, and their mana is enough to use some spells. You're not going to be a nuking machine, but say you take secondary Monk, you can certainly put out some nice healage.
Primary Monk -
Primary Attribute - Divine Favor
Armor - 60
Mana Regen - 4
Mana - 30
Divine Favor is mostly a skill-linked Primary, I.E. the main reason to be a Monk primary is to use Divine Favor skills. Head on over to Knights-Templar and check the skills out: If you like 'em, be a Primary Monk.
However, Divine Favor also heals your target an extra 3 health any time you cast a Monk spell on them per point in Divine Favor.
Also, lots of people like to boost their Healing to astronomical levels, as its basically all a Monk ever does. If you want to have 15 healing, you need Runes, and you need to be a Primary Monk.
The advantages of a high healing and Divine Favor can be quite singificant. An El/Mo casting Orison can only heal for 67, max. A Primary Monk could do up to 118 with 15 Healing and 12 Divine Favor. Quite a significant advantage.
Primary Elementalist -
Primary Attribute - Energy Storage
Armor - 60
Mana Regen - 4
Mana - 30
Energy Storage has a few linked skills, but they all recently got nerfed to hell and aren't good. So, mostly, you take Energy Storage because it gives you +4 to mana per point. At level 10, you have 70 mana (30 + (4*10) Very nice. One of the most popular primaries, for good reason.
Primary Mesmer -
Primary Attribute - Fast Casting
Armor - 75
Mana Regen 4
Mana - 30
The Primary Mesmer has nice Armor. 75 vs. 60 makes you take about 20% less damage or so.
Fast Casting works on a percentage. So, 33% Faster Casting on a 5 second spell works out alot better than 33% Faster Casting on a 1 second spell. If you want to use alot of long spells (Rezzes, big Elementalist Nukes, Necromancer Minion-Raisers), then Mesmer is a good Primary. That covers potential Me/Mo's, Me/E's, and Me/Ne's. Me/W's and Me/R's are good simply because you don't sacrafice so much armor as if you were another caster primary, and get alot of mana and Regen in return.
There you have it. My head hurts; good day.
Next Up:
How to build an 8 person build
Guild Wars - A Role-Playing Game
Being an MMORPG, and furthermore possessing skill lines, as did Diablo 2, the rise of the Builds is inevitable in Guild Wars. However, before you embark on making your very own build, there's some things you should know, so you don't end up running around with an "Uber-Leet Anti-Warrior Caster Nuker" Ne/Me that is actually just a piece of shit. This article assumes some measure of familitarity with GW. It assumes you know the difference between Hexes and Ailments, what the general gist of each class is, etc. Also, I'm not going to say what each skill does, though I might point out specific ones. Go Here
First: GW is a game of counters, and your opponent is smart; just as smart, if not smarter, than you are.
This means, avoid ridiculously complex house-of-cards builds. If you're relying on tons of Enchantments to make you "Invincible!!!", or counting on never being Power Leak'd while casting your 5 second spells (Minion Necromancers, I'm looking at you), or relying on DoTs to kill your opponent, stop. Save yourself the trouble and go back and make a build that doesn't suck.
Two: Know Thyself
How good are you? How's your situational awareness? (Ability to see and understand what's going on around you). What're your reflexes like? Have you memorized every skill inthe game so that you know if that spell that Monk is casting is long enough for you to interrupt it with Disrupting Chop? If you're not good at positioning yourself, don't be a Healing Monk. If you have bad situational awareness, don't be a Mesmer or an Elementalist.
Three: Know the Skills
If you know what skills the opponent is using on you, kicking their ass will be that much easier. The easiest example is Healing Hands. If you see that W/Mo start having blue numbers above his head far greater than the red numbers you're doing to him, and didn't know what Healing Hands was and so didn't stop with your attacks, you'd likely get your ass kicked. If you were familiar with Healing Hands, you'd know to remove the Enchantment and then proceed to take the W/Mo out. If you know the casting time on many spells, you can save yourself the anguish of blowing a 15 mana Power Leak on a 1 second cast time spell you had no chance of interrupting.
Fourth: You're part of a team.
You can, but shouldn't, build your build with being independent in mind. You should have a Monk to cover your ass, an Elementalist to do damage to multiple targets at once, etc. etc. You want to pick a role/job/task, be good, and stick to that.
Now that we've got that over with, let's get to the builds themselves.
First: GW is a team game. Your build should play a role, and it should play it well.
There are three primary roles in GW. Offense, Defense, Disruption. Your first step should probably be to look at these 4 roles, and choose whichever one appeals to you most as a gamer. No use playing a role you don't like.
Second: Just as you can dual-class, you can dual-role.
Choose one role to "Major" in, and one to "Minor" in. 5 skills for your major, and 3 for your minor, is a good rule of thumb. There are some exceptions, which I'll get to later, but mostly, two roles is the sweet spot. One role and you're too focused, three and you're spread too thin.
As an example of a horrible one-role build, I'll point to the Dazer pre-made from the BWE. This build could disrupt Casters, and that was it. It had 7 skills to disrupt casters, and its only "Offensive" skill, Fragility, was one of those touchy house-of-cards skills I warned you about. It didn't have any offense, so it couldn't actually kill the casters. Terrible.
There were no three-role pre-mades, but suffice to say, if you look over your build, and see that you have heals, interrupts, and nukes, you're spread too thin. Pick two.
Now, for a two-role build that works great, one need look no further than the W/Mo. Why is the W/Mo so popular? It's a simple and effective two-role build. People who are just beginning GW wouldn't know to pick two-roles, so the simple two-role W/Mo seems totally awesome. Having read this guide, you now know the secret to the W/Mo, and can hopefully build builds just as good as it at will!
Now, let's get to the subsets. This is where your build really takes shape. There are subsets to each of the three primary roles.
Offense:
Look at this chart.
Now, when you want to kill people, you're either gonna want to kill one person, or alot of people. Let's start with alot of people, as its easier:
There's only one real viable route to killing alot of people: The Elementalist. For multi-target killing, ignore Lightning. Let's look at what each skill line has to offer:
Fire:
Rodgort's Invocation
Fire Storm (Storm)
Searing Heat (Storm)
Meteor Storm (Storm)
Fire Ball
Meteor
Earth:
Earthquake
Eruption (Storm)
Water:
Maelstrom (Storm)
Deep Freeze
Clearly, Fire is the way to go, but you might want to put 8 or so points in either Earth or Water and pick up some of their skills, too.
Now, multi-target attacks can be broken in "Storm" spells, or non-storm spells. Non-Storm spells are simple nukes that do a lot of damage in a wide area. Storm spells do smaller damage every second for 5 to 10 seconds. You probably want a few of each. Storm spells are better at making people scatter; the big nukes are better at actually killing people.
Single Target:
This can be broken down into ranged or Melee. For Melee, Warrior is your only real choice. As using a weapon is mana-free, a Warrior can do other things in addition to melee. The vast majority of Warrior skills are offensive; I'm only mortal, I'm not putting myself through that shit. Warrior damage is something for a seperate article. Look it up yaself.
For Ranged, you've got Ranger or Elementalist. Elementalist is if you want to drop a single target really quickly, but devote yourself entirely to doing it, as Elementalist is very mana-intensive. Lightning is the best Elementalist single-target line, specifically Lightning Strike and Orb, unless you want Water Trident as your elite, in which case Water is the best.
Lightning Strike - Strike target foe for 5..41 lightning damage.
5 mana cost
1 second cast time
5 second recast time
Lightning Orb - Lightning Orb flies toward target foe and strikes for 10..82 lightning damage if it hits.
15 mana cost
2 second cast time
5 second recast time
Water Trident - Send out a Water Trident at target foe. Water Trident strikes for 10..76 cold damage if it hits. If it hits a moving foe, that foe is knocked down.
5 mana cost
1 second cast time
3 second recast time
Ranger is if you want to be able to do damage, not as much as anElementalist, while doing other stuff. As using a Bow is mana-free, you can do ranged damage while healing, or casting buffs, or casting disruption, etc. etc. Power Shot, Dual Shot, and Punishing Shot (Which is elite) are your big damage dealers. Note that if you want to be an offensive Ranger, you basically have to be a Primary Ranger for Expertise, or you'll be OOM (Out of Mana) before you can say G2G (Good to Go).
Power Shot - If Power Shot hits, you strike for +(8..34) damage (before armor).
15 mana cost
3 second recast time
Dual Shot - Shoot two arrows simultaneously at target foe. These arrows deal 25% less damage than normal.
10 mana cost
5 second recast time
Punishing Shot (Elite) - If Punishing Shot hits, you strike for +(8..34) damage and your target is interrupted.
10 mana cost
3 second recast time
Defense:
There's two kinds of defense: Self-Only,and Other. These can be broken down into further groups: Defensive Buffs and Heals. A Defensive Buff is anything that gives you great surivivability, but can be removed. A Heal simply adds to your current hit point total, up to your maximum.
Heals will usually serve you better than buffs, as they can't be removed. If you're healed, you're healed. Then again, there are exceptions. Let's start with the Self-Only heals:
Ranger:
Troll Unguent (Linked to Wilderness Survival)
Healing Spring (Linked to Wilderness Survival)
Warrior:
Healing Signet (Linked to Tactics)
Mesmer:
Ether Feast (Linked to Inspiration)
Necromancer:
Linked to Blood:
Vampiric Touch
Vampiric Gaze
Monk: The monk has no heal which only targets themself; however, they do have two heals which can target themselves as well as Allies. Other Monk heals cannot target themselves.
Orison of Healing (Linked to Healing)
Divine Signet (Linked to Divine Favor)
As you can see, each class really only has one attribute linked to their self-heals, the exception being the Monk, which has two. The Elementaist doesn't have any self-only heals, only a buff which heals them when they cast spells (Aura of Restoration). This befits the Elementalist's overwhelmingly offensive nature. Troll Unguent might be better classified as a buff, but it can't be removed. So, it falls between the cracks.
If you were to ask me which classes had the best self-heals, I would list them in this order:
Orison (Monk)
Ether Feast (Mesmer)
Healing Signet (Warrior)
Vampiric Touch/Gaze (Necromancer)
Troll Unguent (Ranger)
Now, let's look at Self-Defense: Buffs. I won't list every individual skill, as there are far too many, but I'll give you a general overview of the ability of each class.
Warrior: Stances that allow them to dodge Arrows or Melee, mostly Melee. Many end when you use a skill or attack.
Ranger: Stances that allow you to dodge Arrows, Melee, and one that lets you defend against Spells (Dryder's Defenses). None of them end on attack. Ranger stances are very very good, and very underrated.
Mesmer: Many Mantras (Mantra of Fire Absorption, Lighting Absorption, Physical Absorption), and Illusion of Weakness, which gives you 50% of your maximum health when you reach 25% current health. The Mantras are not all that great, however, and Illusion of Weakness is the only really viable Mesmer self-buff.
Necromancer: Alot of spells that give strange effects, like gradual life regen (Life Siphon, Life Transfer), or extra Maximum HP at the cost of current HP (Demonic Flesh). Essentially every Necromancer buff is in the Blood line. Necromancer is a quirky class; I'll leave it to you to get a handle on it.
Elementalist: The Elementalist has many self-buffs, and they're all very good. Each skill line has some form of self-defensive buff, with the exception of Fire. Earth has by far the best, however.
Monk: The Monk has no self-buffs that cannot be cast on other people. Thus, it doesn't really count.
Best to Worst here, excepting the Monk:
Ranger
Elementalist
Necromancer
Warrior
Mesmer
Now, let's look at the real meat of Defense: Defense, Other. This can be broken into both Healing and Defensive Buffs, also.
The only class that's any good at Defense, Other is the Monk. Some classes have certain things (Ranger's Healing Sprint, Necromancer's Well fo Blood) that can do stuff, but none are any good.
As basically the entire Monk class is dedicated to Defense, Other, I won't go over every skill individually. However, let me point out some highlights to you:
Healing: (Linked to, suprise, the Healing line)
Orison of Healing:
Heal target ally for 16..67 Health.
5 mana
1 second cast
2 second recast
Word of Healing:
Heal target other ally for 16..67 Health. Heal for an additional 15..83 Health if that ally is below 50% Health.
5 mana
1 second cast
4 second recast
Linked to Divine Favor:
Signet of Devotion:
Heal target ally for 14..83 Health
0 mana
2 second cast
5 second recast
Defensive Buffs:
Linked to Healing:
Healing Breeze:
For 10 seconds, target ally gains +(2..8) Health regeneration.
10 Mana
1 Second Cast
2 Second Recast
Healing Seed:
Whenever target other ally takes damage in the next 8..18 seconds, that ally and all adjacent allies gain 3..25 Health
15 mana
2 second cast
25 second recast
Linked to Divine Favor:
Divine Intervention:
For 10 seconds, if target ally receives damage that would be fatal, the damage is negated and that ally is healed for 26..197 Health.
10 mana
1 second cast
30 second recast
Linked to Protection:
Shield of Deflection:
For 5..10 seconds, target ally has a (50..70)% chance to "Evade" attacks and gains 12..22 Armor.
10 mana
1 second cast
4 second recast
Reversal of Fortune:
The next time target ally would take damage, that ally gains that amount of Health instead, maximum 15..67. Reversal of Fortune wears off after 8 seconds if you haven't taken any damage.
5 man
1 second cast
2 second recast
Guardian:
For 5 seconds, Guardian has a (20..44)% chance to "Block" attacks and magical projectiles striking target ally.
5 mana
1 second cast
2 second recast
If you stick with these skills as the basis for a Monk, you'll do fine.
Now, we've come to the final point: Disruption. Thankfully, A.Net has broken Disruption down neatly into two classes for us, with a few deviations:
Warrior and Ranger Disruption: Necromancer
Caster Disruption: Mesmer
There are a few basic strategies for disrupting either Warriors or Rangers, and Casters. The Necromancer and Mesmer can enact these strategies single-handedly; that's what makes them the best at what they do. However, other classes can enact one or more of these strategies.
Disrupting Warriors and Rangers:
The main way to kill Warriors and Rangers is to try and hit the W or R with as many of these negative effects as possible: Slower attack speed, increased miss chance, less damage. I'll review some of the essential skills to do this with, though there are others out there.
By far the best choice for Warrior/Ranger disruption is the Necromancer, as I said. Here's why:
Necromancer:
Linked to Curses -
Faintheartedness -
For 8..37 seconds, target foe's attack speed is reduced and that foe suffers -(1..3) Health degeneration.
10 mana
2 second cast time
0 second recast time
Shadow of Fear -
Target foe and all adjacent enemies attack slower than normal for 20..39 seconds.
10 mana
2 second cast time
0 second recast time
Enfeeble -
Target suffers from Weakness for 5..17 seconds.
5 mana
1 second cast time
5 second recast time
These three skills are all you really need to shut down a Warrior or Ranger entirely. These are 3 nice skills all grouped into the same attribute with low mana costs and cast/recast times. <3
The other options available to you are Elementalist spells:
Linked to Water -
Blurry Vision - For 8..18 seconds, target foe and nearby foes (within 13 feet) are Hexed with Blurred Vision. While Hexed, those foes have a 50% chance to miss with attacks.
15 mana
1 second cast time
10 second recast time
Linked to Lightning -
Blinding Flash - arget enemy is Blinded for 3..9 seconds. While suffering from this ailment, target enemy's melee and missile attacks have a 90% chance to miss. Target enemy's projectiles also have a greater chance to stray from their intended target.
10 mana
1 second cast time
4 second recast time
There's another choice open to you, but it's tricky, and easy to break. The Monk skills Pacifism and Amnity in the Protection line:
Pacifism For 8..18 seconds, target foe cannot attack. This effect ends if the target takes damage.
10 mana
1 second cast time
30 second recast time
Amity(Elite) - For 8..18 seconds, adjacent foes cannot attack. For each foe, Amity ends if that foe takes damage.
5 mana
1 second cast time
60 second recast time
Finally, we can hurt Warriors by removing their Adrenaline. Only Mesmers can do this, with two Illusion-Linked skills:
Soothing Images -For 8..18 seconds, target foe cannot gain Adrenaline
10 mana
2 second cast time
5 second recast time
Sympathetic Visage - For 8..18 seconds, whenever target ally is hit by a melee attack, all nearby foes lose all Adrenaline and 3 Energy.
10 mana
1 second cast time
10 second recast time
Now, onto killing Casters.
There's 4 ways to kill Casters: Make them kill themselves, take all their mana, make their casting times longer, interrupt their spells.
There are are a few skills I really like for achieving these goals. If you want to kill Casters, work these skills into your build.
Make them kill themselves - Two skills are good for this.
Backfire (Mesmer Skill, Linked to Domination) - For 10 seconds, whenever target foe casts a spell, that foe takes 22..116 damage.
15 mana cost
3 second cast time
20 second recast time
Soul Leech (Necromancer Skill, Linked to Blood) - For 10 seconds, whenever target foe casts a spell, you steal 16..67 Health from that foe.
10 mana
2 second cast time
15 second recast time
Take all their mana - Four skills that are good at this. All are Mesmer skills. Most are linked to Domination.
Linked to Domination -
Power Leak - If target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and your target loses 10..39 Energy.
10 mana cost
Instant cast
20 second recast time
Guilt - For 4-9 seconds, if target foe casts an offensive spell, the spell fails, target loses 5-12 energy, and Guilt ends.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
30 second recast time
Shame - For 4-9 seconds, the next time target foe casts a spell on an ally, the spell fails and that foe loses 5-12 energy.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
30 second recast time
Energy Drain (Linked to Inspiration, Elite) - Steal 8..18 Energy from target foe.
5 mana cost
2 second cast time
20 second recast time
Longer Casting Times - Three skills can do this, each from a different class.
Arcane Conundrum (Mesmer Skill, Illusion Linked) - For 6-25 seconds, spells cast by target foe take twice as long to cast.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
20 second recast time
(Note: There is also Migraine, which does the same thing as Arcane Conundrum, but adds a tiny little DoT, and is Elite. Avoid Migraine; Take Conundrum instead)
Skull Crack (Warrior Skill; Unlinked) - If this attack hits while target foe is casting a spell, that foe is Dazed. While Dazed, that foe takes 3 times longer to cast spells and is easily interrupted.
8 Adrenaline Cost
Concussion Shot (Ranger Skill; Marksmanship) - If Concussion shot hits while target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and your target is Dazed for 5..17 seconds. This attack deals only 1..11 damage
15 mana cost
10 second recast time
Interrupting Spells - There are alot of good skills here. The best classes for this are Mesmer and Warrior. Mesmer has four interrupt, three in Domination (Power Leak, Power Spike, Block) and one in Inspiration (Power Drain). All are simple "Click the skill while they're casting and they're interrupted and X happens". Power Leak makes them lose mana, Power Spike takes damage, Power Block blocks all skills they have from the attribute line that was interrupted (So if the enemy had 4 fire skills and 4 water skills, you interrupted Fire Storm with Power Block, then they couldn't cast anymore Fire skills for a while), and Power Drain makes you gain mana.
Warrior is more complex. They have a few skills. Each weapon line has an option to interrupt Casters.
Sword has Savage Slash - If this attack hits, it interrupts target foe's action. If that action was a spell, you deal 1..32 extra damage.
5 mana cost
10 second recast time
Hammer has all their knockdowns. Knockdowns interrupt casting, or any other other they hit.
Axe has probably the best skill around for interrupts, Disrupting Chop. If you're an Axe Warrior, you should have this skill.
Disrupting Chop - If it hits, this attack interrupts the target's current action. If that action was a skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 20 seconds.
4 Adrenaline Cost
Warrior has one last Unlinked skill, Distracting Blow.
Distracting Blow - Swipe your weapon at the target, doing no damage but disrupting the target's current action (and the actions of foes adjacent to your target).
5 mana cost
10 second recast time
Ranger has Distracting Shot, which also disables the interrupted skill for 20 seconds, and Debilitating Shot, which is an energy drain. You might think this makes the Ranger a good choice for disrupting Casters, but you'd be wrong. Their arrows take time to travel, so its very likely you'll miss with your Distracting Shot unless you're standing right next to the caster. And if you're standing right next to them, why not be a Warrior?
Of course, you can also Daze a target (Via Skull Crack or Concussion Shot), and then all physical attacks will interrupt the target. Ranger's best bet for Caster hate is Concussion Shot. If you're going to use it, make sure the spell takes at least 2 secondst to cast, preferably 3 or more. Don't try to Concussion Shot on Orison of Healing, which takes 1 second to cast.
A final note on Disruption:
Controlling an area is also Disruption. Well of the Profane, Well of Suffering, Fire Storm, Maelstrom - all of these skills (and there are others) force whoever's in the area to get out of that place, or suffer the consequences. Hitting a Monk stuck casting Ressurect with Fire Storm is as good as an interrupt - Either they have to move, interrupting the spell, or take a heap of damage. However, area-control is a topic for another time.
Phew! Still with me? Good. Now, there are a few more 'jobs' out there which aren't exactly roles, but which are nonetheless crucial for an 8 person team to have. Of course, every 8 person team needs some Disruption, Healing, Single Target offense, Multi-Target offense, Defensive Buffs, etc. But, there are also a few 'jobs' which, while not precisely roles, as they only require a few skills, are nonethless crucial. Here they are:
Condition Removal
Hex Removal
Enchantment Removal
Ranged Snares
If your Monk gets Dazed, you want to get that Condition off him ASAP. If you don't, your team will likely lose the match. If your Monk gets Backfired, you don't want him to choose between dying and healing you. If you're focus-firing a target and they get hit with Mark of Protection, you don't want to have to call a new target and interrupt your whole flow. Finally, you don't want some goddamn son of a bitch running around the arena for 15 minutes wasting your damn time. You want him snared and dead.
For Condition Removal, the best choice is the Monk, either Mend Ailment or Condition. Both will remove one Ailment from the target. Don't waste your elite on Restore Ailment, and don't take a spell with a 60 second recast like Purge Conditions.
For Hex Removal; Again, Monk. Take Remove Hex. 5 mana cost, 2 second cast time, 5 second recast time. Efficient.
Enchantment Removal: Mesmer or Necromancer. All Enchantment Removal spells that are reasonably usable have huge recast times. There's nothing you can do; This is just A.Net being stupid. Nonetheless, they're nice to have.
Mesmer skills
Shatter Enchantment (Domination Linked) - Remove an Enchantment from target foe. If an Enchantment is removed, that foe takes 14..83 damage.
15 mana cost
1 second cast time
25 second recast time
Inspired Enchantment (Inspiration Linked) - Remove an Enchantment from target foe and gain 3..13 Energy. For 20 seconds, Inspired Enchantment is replaced with the Enchantment removed from target foe.
10 mana cost
1 second cast time
5 second recast time
Necromancer -
Unlinked:
Rend Enchantments - Target foe loses all Enchantments. For each Monk Enchantment removed, you take 20 damage.
10 mana cost
3 second cast time
30 second recast time
Strip Enchantment (Linked to Blood) - Target foe loses one Enchantment, and you gain 4..65 Health.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
20 second recast time
Ranged Snares: Elementalist or Ranger.
Elementalist - All their good snares are linked to Water.
Ice Prison - For 8..18 seconds, target foe's legs are encased in ice, dramatically decreasing their movement rate. This effect ends if target takes fire damage.
10 mana cost
2 second cast time
30 second recast time
Ice Spikes - Target and nearby foes are struck for 10..76 cold damage and are slowed for 2..5 seconds.
15 mana cost
2 second cast time
15 second recast time.
Don't take Shard Storm for snaring. It can miss. Chances are someone you want to snare will be far away from you, and thus Shard Storm will miss even more.
Ranger -
Pin Down (Marksmanship) - If Pin Down hits, your target is Crippled for 3..13 seconds.
10 mana cost
10 second recast time
Pin Down can miss too, so really, if you want Snares, Elementalist is the place to go. The two spells I listed cannot miss, and snare tremendously.
Now, what's the use of this guide, you may ask? Well, it's simple. You choose a primary Role, and a secondary Role. Say you pick Offense as your main. Following the guide, you choose Multiple or Single. You choose Multiple, and thus you have Elementalist as one of your classes. You look closer, and choose Fire. You take Searing Heat, Fire Storm, and Rodgort's Invocation. Your secondary role you want to take is Disruption, specifically vs. Warriors or Rangers. So, you have Necromancer as another of your classes. You look at Disruption for Warriors or Rangers, and see that Curses is the attribute to be. You take Faintheartedness, Shadow of Fear, and Enfeeble.
Bam, your two classes and 6 out of your 8 attributes right there. Isn't that nice?
The last step is deciding in which order to put your two classes. For that, we need to look at Primary attributes, Mana regen, and armor levels. Also, you can only put on Runes for your Primary class. If you want a huge level in one skill, say 15 Fire, or 16 Healing, than be the primary of that skill.
Primary Warrior -
Primary Attribute - Strength
Armor - 80 (100 vs. Physical)
Mana regen - 2
Mana - 20
The Warrior primary is Strength. If you want to take some Strength related skills, you should be primary. Further, Strength gives you a 1% damage penetration everytime you use an attack skill. If you have a fast skill like Cleave, this can really add up. Also, their armor is great.
However, their mana regen and mana suck. If you want to tank and do damage, then Primary Warrior is the place to be. If you want to tank and do damage, but not as well, but cast more spells in return, then don't be a primary Warrior.
Primary Necromancer -
Primary Attribute - Soul Reaping
Armor - 60
Mana regen - 4
Mana - 30
Soul Reaping gives you 1 mana per point in it everytime someone dies near you. Basically, it sucks. Don't be a Primary Necromancer. Next.
Primary Ranger -
Primary Attribute - Expertise
Armor - 80
Mana regen - 3
Mana - 25
Expertise has some very nice skills linked to it, mostly stances, which can really boost your survivability vs. Warriors and other Rangers. Also, Expertise lowers the mana cost for Bow attacks, Preparations, and Traps. If you want to use lots of these, you're basically forced to be a Primary Ranger.
The Ranger armor is very nice, and their mana is enough to use some spells. You're not going to be a nuking machine, but say you take secondary Monk, you can certainly put out some nice healage.
Primary Monk -
Primary Attribute - Divine Favor
Armor - 60
Mana Regen - 4
Mana - 30
Divine Favor is mostly a skill-linked Primary, I.E. the main reason to be a Monk primary is to use Divine Favor skills. Head on over to Knights-Templar and check the skills out: If you like 'em, be a Primary Monk.
However, Divine Favor also heals your target an extra 3 health any time you cast a Monk spell on them per point in Divine Favor.
Also, lots of people like to boost their Healing to astronomical levels, as its basically all a Monk ever does. If you want to have 15 healing, you need Runes, and you need to be a Primary Monk.
The advantages of a high healing and Divine Favor can be quite singificant. An El/Mo casting Orison can only heal for 67, max. A Primary Monk could do up to 118 with 15 Healing and 12 Divine Favor. Quite a significant advantage.
Primary Elementalist -
Primary Attribute - Energy Storage
Armor - 60
Mana Regen - 4
Mana - 30
Energy Storage has a few linked skills, but they all recently got nerfed to hell and aren't good. So, mostly, you take Energy Storage because it gives you +4 to mana per point. At level 10, you have 70 mana (30 + (4*10) Very nice. One of the most popular primaries, for good reason.
Primary Mesmer -
Primary Attribute - Fast Casting
Armor - 75
Mana Regen 4
Mana - 30
The Primary Mesmer has nice Armor. 75 vs. 60 makes you take about 20% less damage or so.
Fast Casting works on a percentage. So, 33% Faster Casting on a 5 second spell works out alot better than 33% Faster Casting on a 1 second spell. If you want to use alot of long spells (Rezzes, big Elementalist Nukes, Necromancer Minion-Raisers), then Mesmer is a good Primary. That covers potential Me/Mo's, Me/E's, and Me/Ne's. Me/W's and Me/R's are good simply because you don't sacrafice so much armor as if you were another caster primary, and get alot of mana and Regen in return.
There you have it. My head hurts; good day.
Next Up:
How to build an 8 person build
THX
Very good read, I believe I may now be able to not suck in PvP (well, maybe not.. but I'm getting there).
Sausaletus Rex
Very nice, Rush. Needs a bit of work, a bit of polish and formatting, I'll see if I have time to look over it more closely by the weekend.
Spooky
Good read, glad to have you with us, Rush.
floppinghog
monks have
healing touch
5 energy
3/4 cast time
5 recharge
everything else is fine, but you have revising and research to do for monks
healing touch
5 energy
3/4 cast time
5 recharge
everything else is fine, but you have revising and research to do for monks
Lasareth
Wow, a blast from the past.
floppinghog, there's a very good reason this info is in error--it's almost a year old.
I hope the nostalgia buffs won't mind that I'm going to close this so it can't be bumped up again
It's not too terribly useful to have outdated info at the top of the list.
floppinghog, there's a very good reason this info is in error--it's almost a year old.
I hope the nostalgia buffs won't mind that I'm going to close this so it can't be bumped up again
It's not too terribly useful to have outdated info at the top of the list.