Henchmen Mini-guide

I decided to post some more practical applications to using henchmen. It is effectively an expansion of the Henchmen Guide already on this site. I felt it was incomplete so I decided to post some of my thoughts here.

Practical Guide to Henchmen Use:

First of, as a note, everyone who hasn't read it already, please go read the "Guide to Effective Use of Henchmen" posted on this site. In general, the concepts posted there are accurate. What I will attempt to address here are the practical matters that arise when using henchmen, which this guide failed to deal with. I hope you will find my experience and comments useful.

I often hench in pve. In fact, I use henchmen far more than I play with normal players. I have completed every mission with just henchmen as my allies, and been through most explorable areas with just henchmen. It really isn't that difficult. With some experience, everything can be done with henchies. So, I will begin with what you do in your outpost.

Step 1 - Henchmen selection
This is actually more important than you think it is. In Tyria, it is much less of an issue than in Cantha, simply because there are less henchmen. Given the differences, I will cover each individual area separately.

Tyria contains the same henchies after you get past a certain point. There are two monks, two warriors, one ranger, one necro, one mesmer, and one elementalist. Before that, some of these henchies are cut out. In Tyria, the following rules apply:

1) Always bring all monk henchies
2) Always bring both warrior henchies

Beyond that, henchmen selection is your choice.

My normal setup is both warriors, both monks, ranger, necro, elementalist.

I have a personal preference for the ranger and the elementalist, but that is only because I am able to control the placement of Orion's or Cynn's Firestorm decently well, which is a key to using the elementalist. I find the ranger henchie a solid damage boat who doesn't take much damage, so I usually bring Reyna or Aidan along also. But, beyond the warriors and monks, the henchies are really up to you. Cantha contains a far wider variety of henchies, especially before the split into kurzick and luxon sides, so therefore, henchmen selection becomes much more important. Once again, a few rules apply.

1) Always bring a Spirit Henchmen (Chiyo or Professor Gai)
2) Always bring a Healer Henchmen (Sister Tai, Danika, Jamei)
3) Bring the Protection Henchmen if he is available
4) Always bring both Warrior Henchmen
5) Never bring the Assassin Henchies, under any condition, EVER

The one exception to these rules occurs if you are a monk (monk primary only, secondaries need not apply). If you are a monk, drop one of the defensive henchies (spirit, healer, protection) assuming all 3 are available. If all 3 are not available, then take the 2 that are, and add yourself. My personal preference is to drop the ritualist, but the Protection Henchie can be dropped also. I would advise strongly against dropping the healer henchmen. The rules are fairly common sense. Follow these rules and you will always have a solid group of core henchmen. You may find it odd that I say to ignore the assasin henchies. This is because of AI. The function of your melee henchmen is to get in up and close, draw aggro, and take hits. Assasins follow the exact same AI as warriors, except they do less damage, and take more hits. Since 2 warriors is always enough, there is no reason to ever use an assasin henchmen, as they are functionally just a bad warrior. It is impossible to get the assasin henchmen to operate like an assasin should, which is to move around on the periphery of the main group and caster hunt, while maintaining the effectiveness of the rest of your group. The second point of explanation is regarding the Healer Henchies. Sometimes there are 2 of them. They have the exact same skillbar, and the exact same AI, therefore, it is generally pointless to bring both healer henchies. Now, with that out of the way, how you choose to supplement your henchmen is up to you. The difference between Cantha and Tyria is the utility henchmen. Cantha has more utility henchmen, I will go through them and describe their uses as I see them here.

Vile Henchmen - Death Necro, biggest use is Putrid Explosion on a stick, which can do a good bit of damage
Blood Henchmen - Same as Tyrian Necro henchie, biggest use is Blood Rit, although he will only use it if you are at really low energy
Shock Henchmen - Air ele, a decent amount of damage on your target
Earth Henchmen - Ward against Melee + occasional dragon's stomp
Mage Henchmen - Same as Tyrian counterpart, lots of damage, requires some management
Archer Henchmen - Same as Tyrian Archer henchie, strong damage dealer, usually one of the later ones to die, due to solid positioning behind lines.
Longbow Henchmen - Barrage Henchie, effectiveness varies based on how well you pick her targets for her
Interrupt Henchmen/Domination Henchmen - Both server the same purpose, utilize computer's god-like reflexes to interrupt your target like mad
Illusion Henchmen - Generally useless

My normal setup in Tyria is healer henchie, spirit henchie, both wars, earth henchie, vile/interrupt henchie, Archer/Longbow Henchie, Protection/Mage Henchie

Step 2 - Your build

Your build should vary based upon which class you are. I will go through each class here.

Monk - Obviously you are set up in a defensive build. Whether you are a healer, protection monk, or a hybrid of both is up to you. Your job is to keep the party up, as always. Don't bother with offensive skills, and bring a Rebirth if you have room. If it looks bad, run, and you can always res the entire team. Rebirth is a highly useful skill as a monk.

Monks can accomplish there objectives in many different ways, here are some:

Bonder - Life Bond is extremely strong in PvE. It is weaker in Cantha than in Tyria, but overall, it is still a very strong build. The core is Life Bond + Balthazar's Spirit + Blessed Signet. Personally I run 14 healing prayers, 12 divine, 11 protection, and I run a bond-healer hybrid. The bonds and blessed signet serve as energy management, and the damage prevention combined with solid targeted heals is very effective. Of course, you can also go full protection bonder, but I personally find the bond-healer more effective, as you can also heal, therefore have a direct way of increasing a target's health quickly, which is sometimes necessary.

Suggested build - Word of Healing, Orison of Healing, Healing Touch, Rebirth, Blessed Signet, Life Bond, Balthazar's Spirit, Holy Veil (10+1+3 healing Prayers, 10+1 Protection Prayers, 11+1 Divine Favor)

Healer - Straight healers in PvE should do just that, heal. You should run targeted heals, energy management, condition removal, Heal Party, and Rebirth. Nothing else. You may not need all of these on your bar depending on the area, or what you choose to run. But don't try to bring things like protective spirit, or guardian, or Divine Intervention. Its not worth it. Just heal. I personally refuse to leave district without Heal Party, as I think it is the best heal in the game, but you can determine that for yourself.

Suggested Build - Mantra of Recall, Orison of Healing, Healing Touch, Healing
Whisper/Dwayna's Kiss, Heal Party, Healing Seed, Inspired Hex, Rebirth (11+1+3 Healing Prayers, 10+1 Divine Favor, 10 Inspiration magic)

Suggested Build 2 - Word of Healing, Orison of Healing, Healing Touch, Heal Party, Holy Veil, Healing Seed, Offering of Blood, Rebirth (11+1+3 Healing Prayers, 10+1 Divine Favor, 10 Blood Magic)

Protection monk - Like the healer, your skillbar should focus on one thing, protection. I personally suck at playing prot monk, so I don't do it, but I am familiar with what they do. Just understand your skills and how to use them, Guardian on targets that are being hit by warriors, protective spirit for elementalists, etc. Once again, energy management and hex removal are also runnable. One thing you should be aware of, if you chose to run a protection monk, always bring condition removal. If the party has a dedicated protection monk, condition removal is part of the job description. You will be expected to have it in some way shape or form. I recommed Mend Condition, but there are other alternatives.

Suggested Build - Reversal of Fortune, Protective Spirit, Guardian/Aegis, Mend Condition, Convert Hexes, Rebirth, Mantra of Recall, Rebirth (11+1+3 Protection Prayers, 10+1 Divine Favor, 10 Inspiration Magic)

Boon prot - This is a monk build designed to be able to handle pressure by itself. It combines healing from Divine Boon with Protection skills. It is overall a strong build, but has more energy management issues than other monk builds due to the -2 energy from Divine Boon.

Suggested Build - Divine Boon, Reversal of Fortune, Guardian, Protective Spirit, Mend Condition, Mantra of Recall, Contemplation of Purity, Inspired Hex (11+1+3 Divine Favor, 10+1 Protection Prayers, 10 Inspiration Magic)

Ranger/Warrior/Assasin - Your job is to be a high DPS platform, while providing the ability to interrupt key skills that will prove to be bad for your henchmen team. In general, that means I run W/R, and R/X (Mo ideally for Rebirth, but sometimes I am too lazy to change my secondary).

Warriors should always carry an attack speed buff. If you can manage with flurry, do so. I recommend Tiger's Fury/Bestial Fury, as Frenzy (the only other really viable option) is suicidal, although it can be used if you are good.
The differences stop there. Warriors should use their attack buff as much as humanly possible. This will often entail a zealous weapon, which you should aquire immediately. With 9 Beast Mastery, Tiger's fury will last 9 seconds, and you will get 12 energy back during that time, thereby netting 2 energy every cycle of TF with a zealous weapon (the skill costs 10 energy). The key with attack buffs is not the DURATION but the RECHARGE. Fast recharge is very important on attack buffs, as the ability to use and reuse them in combat is very important for your damage output. Warriors should rely on Adrenaline skills to do the job. Rangers should do their best to attack from a distance. They are better at interrupting than warriors, but do slightly less damage, but this damage is from range. That is the tradeoff. Pets are strong, as they are free damage and tanks without you really doing anything. As long as you can control the pet's aggro, usually it is a good thing to take one along.

Assasins have one of two options, you can act like a warrior, or you can teleport to casters in the back line, hit them with a quick combo, and TELEPORT BACK. the coming back is the most crucial part. If you don't come back fast, henchmen AI will screw you. You probably will only get 2-3 hits on your target before you have to come back. The window you have to leave the front line is very small.

Suggested Builds:

Warrior - Eviscerate/Triple Chop, Executioner's Strike, Penetrating Blow, Tiger's Fury, Healing Signet, Sprint, Distracting Blow, Resurrection Signet (11+1+3 Axe Mastery, 8+1 tactics, 8+1 Strength, 9 Beast Mastery)

Ranger - Barrage, Distracting Shot, Savage Shot, Whirling Defense, Troll Unguent, Charm Animal, Comfort Animal, Rebirth (12+1+3 Marksmanship, 11+1 Expertise, 6+1 Wilderness Survival)

Assasin - No clue, sorry, I suck at assasin skillbars

Elementalist - You are supposed to be even higher damage than warriors. Bring lots of AOE damage. Fire is optimal, Air is decent for single targets, and Earth is good if you want to bring party support spells also (mainly wards)

Suggested Builds:

Fire Ele - Fire Attunement, Elemental Attunement, Fireball, Meteor Shower, Arcane Echo, Flame Burst, Rodgort's Invocation, Resurrection Signet (12+1+3 Fire magic, 12+1 Energy Storage)

Air Ele - Ether Prodigy, Lightning Orb, Lightning Strike, Enervating Charge, Heal Party, Rebirth, + 2 skills of your choice (11+1+3 Air Magic, 10+1 Energy Storage, 10+1 Healing Prayers)

Necromancer - Damage or support, depending on the situation, necros are highly useful in PvE. Minion masters and Spiteful spirit necros provide strong damage output, while orders necros and battery necros provide very strong party support.

Minion Master - Animate Flesh Golem, Animate Bone Fiends, Animate Bone Minions, Death nova, Taste of Death, Blood of the Master, Heal Area, Resurrection Signet (12+1+3 Death Magic, 10+1 Soul Reaping, 8 Healing Prayers)

SS necro - Spiteful Spirit, Arcane Echo, Blood Ritual, Suffering, Desecrate Enchantments, Defile Enchantments, Awaken the Blood, Resurrection Signet (12+1+3 Curses, 8+1 Blood Magic, 10+1 Soul Reaping)

Mesmer - Disruption, hexes, and support are the name of the game here, although mesmers are generally fairly weak in PvE. You should be able to hold up for a good long while, as mesmers have the best energy management in the game.

Suggested Build - Mantra of Recovery, Backfire, Empathy, Cry of Frustration, Power Drain, Shatter Echantment, Drain Enchantment, Rebirth (12+1+3 Domination Magic, 10+1 Inspiration Magic, 8+1 Fast Casting)

Note: Wastrel's Worry is rather strong against bosses.

Ritualist - Support for the party, and excellent in PvE, you can set up to do damage, but I would suggest being defensive in nature. Obviously, being a ritualist, there is no need to take the Ritualist henchie. Spirits do not stack, and you can keep them up well enough by yourself.

Suggested Build - Ritual Lord, Boon of Creation, Signet of Creation, Shelter, Union, Recuperation, Shadowsong, Flesh of my Flesh (10+1+3 Spawning Power, 10+1 Communing Magic, 11+1 Restoration Magic) + 2 skills of your choice

Note: The suggested builds are just some examples of builds that you may use. They are not optimized in any way shape or form, nor are they the best builds to use in PvE. But, if you are new, and have the skills, they should get the job done. Interrupts are very useful in PvE, and if you have room for it, I recommend bringing one in general. In certain areas, it is absolutely imperative that you have an interrupt, and in some areas, I bring 2, even 3.

Okay, now we are done covering exactly what you have to do while in the outpost, select your henchmen and set your skillbar. Now, we cover what happens in the instance, and how to manage henchmen effectively.

There are 2 rules of Henchmen combat is very simple:

1) Engage one group at a time
2) You may let one warrior per monk by your front line for a limited period of time (usually somewhere between 10-30 seconds, depending on how many other ppl you are fighting, and what they are, knowledge of this time limit can only be gained by experience).

This seems like common sense, but can sometimes be relatively difficult to accomplish. As for engaging one group at a time, most henchmen teams are capable of handling 2-3 groups of enemies, but only if you play well. Assuming no lag, I can usually handle a group of 3 hydras and 5 flesh golems out in Perdition rock with 7 henchmen. Here are some general tips on how to utilize your henchmen more effectively. However, the warrior thing is absolutely critical. It is absolutely crucial that you do not let enemy warriors rampage through your defensive line for extended periods of time. You will get torn apart. This is probably the single mistake made the most often when I see pople hench. They charge for the enemy back line, and let the warriors hit their back line. Then wonder why they are all dead 2 minutes later. You must know when you can afford to do this and when you can't. Experience will tell you when you can afford to let warriors by, and when you can't, but if you are ever in doubt, simply don't let them by. Let your warriors take their warriors and just slowly whittle away.

Tip 1: Differentiate between patrols and stationary groups, then learn the patrol paths.

This is to help you engage only one group at a time. Most of the time, pulling the patrol is not necessary (it can be done, but is rather difficult). Normally it is possible just to wait until the patrol is in an isolated, or relatively isolated location and then engage it and quickly wipe it out. Sometimes this will mean bringing a second group into the fray as you wipe out the casters in the first group. This is perfectly okay, just make sure that you wipe out the first group quickly, then proceed to working on the second.

Tip 2: Target selection

This is very important, target priority, what to kill first. If the opposing group is small enough, it really doesn't matter, as you can just roll your way through it as your team of 8 henchmen is far more powerful. However, as the enemies get denser and denser, and the groups get larger and larger, this becomes far more important. I will divide targets into 3 priority levels: High, Medium, and Low.

High Priority Targets: Warriors and anything that does a good amount of AoE damage. This is very important. Warriors, if allowed to start beating on your defensive casters, can shred your backline in no time, and if that happens with most of the opposing group up, it means a wipe or near wipe. So, the first priority in any engagement is to develop warrior on warrior battles. Have your warriors engage their warriors first, and take them down, then go after the other casters. Henchmen also tend to ball up like there's no tomorrow, and therefore take a lot of damage from AoE spells. An occasional dragon's stomp or earthquake really isn't gonna hurt, but stuff like meteor shower, firestorm, churning earth, lava font, searing heat can get really really nasty if 2 or 3 stack up. Watch out for this. Fortunately, most of these skills are relatively easy to interrupt, so you should bring an interrupt or two.

Medium Level Targets: Rangers, Elementalists that don't fall into the High Priority category. Along with anything that causes significant health degeneration

These targets can put some heavy damage pressure on your monks from afar, killing your group relatively quickly. Health degeneration from skills like bleeding spam, conjure phantasm spam, and other things of the like, can also put some heavy pressure on you, and should be dealt with accordingly.

Low level Targets: Everything Else

Exceptions to the rules:

1) Anything that can summon a good number of minions.

Animate Flesh Golem, and thus Outcast Deathhands, are a low priority target because they are a necro that is only capable of summoning one minion. The minion, while powerful, is not overwhelmingly so. However, Stone Summit Gnashers have Animate Bone Fiend, and are capable of getting quite a decent number of minions up. This can get to be a problem if you are fighting a large group. Therefore, these guys should be considered High Priority targets.

2) Any defensive caster that is stopping you from eliminating a target should be immediately eliminated.

Do not judge whether a defensive caster is stopping you from eliminating your target. If you are a warrior, learn to skill chain (use all your adrenaline skills at once) and ALWAYS bring a Deep Wound. If you are a caster, you can usually put some pressure on other targets to force the monk/ritualist to divert his attention elsewhere, allowing you to kill your target. Sometimes this is a very slow process. Patience is key here. If you are making ANY progress on the target's health bar consistently, and moving would entail breaking of positioning rules listed above, DO NOT DO IT.

Example: You have engaged 6+ strong warriors backed by 2 monks (both with life bond). I did this once, it took me about 3 minutes to get each warrior down, but I did it without suffering any casualties. All it took was time. Had I broke off and gone after the monk, I probably would have wiped, as the warriors would have gone straight for my monks, wiped them out in a short manner, then turned around on me. It is key to realize when you are making slow progress, and when you are making none at all. Even if progress is slow, be patient, they will die eventually.

Other than that, target priority is very very rigid, and should be followed in order to pull yourslef through tough fights. If you do this correctly, and act quickly, you will be able to pull off many fights with henchmen that you might otherwise have deemed too difficult for the "crappy AI"

Tip 3: Kill stuff as quickly as possible.

This in general means you should learn to Skill Chain or shutdown, depending on your build. Learn to interrupt, and learn to chain skills. Warriors using skills like Eviscerate + Executioner's Strike in succession can do a lot of damage, often taking down a target before it can be healed. Elementalists can use something like Earthquake + Aftershock or Lightning Orb + Lightning Strike to similar effect. Necromancers can use Spiteful Spirit followed by Parasitic Bond to cover their hexes. Things like this are very important. The key is to use your build well, and most decent builds require some skill chaining (at least as far as offense is concerned). If you are a defensive caster, your job is simple. Look at the little red bars, and make sure none of them go to zero.

Some other tips regarding henchmen in combat:

1) Henchmen will switch to the target you are attacking on after a short period of time. If they can't attack the target (only a problem for assas and warriors), they will come up and attack stand still for a bit, then attack a nearby target. Casters will have to do one of two things to hold warriors in position. The first is to call the target periodically (Ctrl + Spacebar). The second option is to wand the target periodically (once every 5 seconds or so). I normally find a combination of the two useful. I wand when I can, but if I'm busy casting, (eg. healing) I just spam call the target between spells. It is genrally preferable for offensive casters to wand the target, as you will normally have time off for one wand attack, and that is all it takes.

2) To get a warrior henchmen to switch targets faster, spam call the target in team chat (Ctrl + Spacebar). Hold the Ctrl key and just hit spacebar as fast as you can. This will get the melee henchies over to that target very quickly.

3) Spam calling can also be used to quickly group up henchies that have been spread out (for example from engaging 2 groups, one on each side). It will force all caster henchies to move within wanding range of the called target, getting your group together so it puts less strain on the monks since they don't have to run around. This is circumstancially useful, but when it is used, it is highly useful and very important.

4) Spam Calling can also be used to get henchies out of a fight if you have left a group of henchmen you can avoid. What it will do, is get all your henchmen to run towards that target and disengage from the fight. Once they are sufficiently dis-engaged, stop fighting, stop calling, and just run. Some of them will probably die, but its better to lose a few than to lose everyone.

5) Ctrl + Spacebar can be used to send warriors in ahead of caster players. This should always be done. As a note, it requires you to be about 1.25 aggro bubbles away from the target (just outside longbow range). Generally this should be done on a warrior, to send your warriors after theirs, and generate a front line.

6) Calling targets in general is useful for moving your henchmen around (especially the melee ones) If you find a henchmen is not doing anything, try calling a few different targets to get it to move.

Now I will cover probably the single most advanced thing you will ever do with a full party of henchmen. Most people say it cannot be done. It's a bunch of bull, because I do it all the time. It just requires some patience, and a little bit of luck.

The final topic is pulling with henchmen. Now, you will wonder how I pull with 2 warrior henchmen that LIKE to charge in on everything that hits their aggro bubble. The secret is to not let anything hit that aggro bubble. If you want to pull with henchmen, you MUST use a longbow or a flatbow. No other weapon will suffice, as the range is too close to that of the aggro bubble. I recommend a flatbow for the higher arc. Pulling is a 3 step process: approach, lure, finish.

Step 1: Approach

Make sure you are OUTSIDE the maximum range of your bow, usually about 5-10 steps should suffice. Also make sure that your henchmen are stationary. Then, target the nearest enemy and hit spacebar (with your longbow or flatbow out). This should make you run up and take a shot. If the nearest enemy changes while you are running up, either back out, or change your target. Pulling off the nearest enemy is always the easiest thing to do.

Step 2: Lure

This is the most difficult part. You must turn around and begin running WHILE the arrow is in the air. Basically, as soon as the arrow leaves your bow, turn around and book it in the opposite direction. In about a second, the arrow will land and the group will follow you. If you have a stance speed boost, now is the time to use it. Do not use speedboosts like Windborne Speed that force you to stop and cast them as your warriors will aggro and your pull will be bad.

Step 3: Finish

Just keep running until the group is sufficiently spread out, then turn around and engage them. If necessary, steps 1 and 2 can be repeated on a moving target (although this is more difficult, once again, it can be done). Upon engagement, rules for normal combat apply, and you should attempt to position your henchmen and yourself accordingly.

With some practice, everything in the game will also be clearable by henchies for you.

lol i only read the first bit about only taking monk henchies and warrior henchies and i completely agree. Best henchies in the game.

Gave most of it a good read, try to make use of the BOND and UNDERLINE options to make titles stand out, and leave extra spaces, its a bit of a confusing mess... also add some pictures in there

Very good read nevertheless.

This needs to be moved to the Community works forum.

Nice guide. Thank you very much
You forgot that part where when you call a target, make sure your hench don't get bodyblocked, or they will stand there forever doing nothing. This especially goes for the warrior hench who will grasp every opportunity to either do nothing or go for a different target.

I don't like (well, hate is a better word) ele henchies, or at least fire ele henchies. They -still- use firestorm! Shock and Earth ele's are better. Earth is almost always in my party when available. As a Warrior I only take one Warrior henchie. In Cantha interuption and domination henchies are great, I love them. When I can I take them both and take out the targets I don't want to get spells of first.

The rest was a very good read and a nice guide. Luring with henchies is very hard but you described it perfect.

Probably the best place to learn to play well with henchies is the desert, since this place is hard and the henchies are very low level (too low for the area if you ask me).

Nice guide.
Like Gonzo... I disagree with the selection of the elementalist. I think that
if you experiment, you'll find that it does little effective damage and the
damage it does isn't worth the grief it causes with firestorm. In the early
parts of the game firestorm is useful if only because it often drives mobs
off the healer, giving it time to recover some health or get out of a mobs
surrounding it. Once the protection monk comes available, I think the ele.
becomes useless.
A good place to test the benifit / liability of the ele. is Abaddon's Mouth. Try
to get from the start to say... at least the area where you have to cross the
lava on the way to the bonus objective. It takes at least three times as long
with the ele. in the group.

You call this a mini-guide....?

nice guide, couple of things to try out here as I tend t use henchy's a lot too, mostly successfuly

I would like to know how you control Cynn's Firestorm. It always seems to me that they use it right after the last enemy dies.

I somewhat agree with your targeting priority. There are certain mobs where you have to take out the Elementalist First especially in Cantha. The Earth Ele's and Mage's need to be engaged to interupt their Spells & Spikes.

Good Guide could use some tweaking..

A few comments:

1) Nice guide
2) If you are playing MM, don't bring the Vile hench. In fact, never bring the Vile Hench.
3) There are a few missions where there is only one Warrior to pick, in that case an Assassain will have to do.
4) The Interrupt/Domination hench ROCK! Take then every time. If possible, take both!

"monk primary only, secondaries need not apply"

I quit reading after that.

Good guide, but I do disagree with a few points.

1) When you're monking with hench, bring damage skills primarily, only secondary heal/prot. Makes taking down tough mobs and bosses much, much easier.

2) Don't always bring the warrior henchies...especially if you're playing a warrior and bring the fire ele henchies. The fire ele's AoE is good for mob control (scattering), not damage. Much easier to control aggro without the warrior henchies, and controlling aggro is the most important part of successful henching, IMHO.

3) Alternative pulling without a bow. Just get the enemy in your aggro bubble, without attacking. Wait. They'll come to you. If you warriors charge (if you brought them), mouse-click move backwards. (Keyboard controls are not as effective at controlling hench movement as mouse clicking in my experience).

...that's all for now, I'm out of time, maybe more later.

I like bringing the Sin henchmen. And im the monk :P. They "spike and run" way better than a lot player controlled sins.

I usually try to bring only 1 warrior hench. And yes interrupt henchies are godlike XD

What saddened me a few times while reading this guide is that you will almost freak if a warrior "get past the front line" I do play a monk, so that might be part of it, even a new player can have a warrior on him or her and get by fine. I go to FoW all the time and I usually have the 2 Shadow Warriors on me. Not that hard. Also "assassin are not good" Horse Pucky. Assassins are the best damage dealers in the game. Most just do not know how to use them. Assassins can stack almost every condition(except burning) just using assassin skills.

To pull with hench I back towards a group and just touch one with my aggro bubble. The hench team responds best to a retreat if the human player is facing away from the enemy and not just using the down arrow to back up. This way I can get a very comfortable distance away from any other enemies before engaging the pulled group.

We're talking henchies here : Panaku is not so hot IMO, I'd rather have Devona + Talon. No feeding the 'sin troll ...
By the same token, I play a monk, and I can deal with the occasionnal rampaging warrior ; monk henchies don't do so well, and when you're not a healer yourself, you get in trouble pretty fast after Jamei goes ground beef.

I agree with Shield : aggro bubble pulling is often enough ; when the group starts spreading, a good wanding will persuade the victim not to return to its original position.

When I use my warrior, I don't bother bringing any other melee henchie so I can pull monsters. If you brought any other melee henchie, they would go rush in as once ane enemy is in their arggo circle.

Okay a few points:

1) Firestorm is not damage, it's aggro breaking. You use it to make warriors run away and stop bashing on your monks for a few seconds. It is VERY useful in that manner. If you can control where cynn's firestorm comes down, you can usually accomplish this. This is done by observing casting patterns. Cynn has a few casting patterns, and if you realize these patterns, you will be able to predict when she will cast firestorm, and thereby place it accordingly. Fireball does far more damage than Dragon's Stomp + Stone Daggers, and the earth henchie is straight out better than the air one (Ward Melee does that), so I hardly ever bring shock henchie.

2) I have issues pulling tight compact mobs w/o a bow, so I didn't recommend doing it. There are some places (like a few groups of Wardens in Arborstone explorable) where the groups are very close together and tough to pull without a bow.

3) I personally find monk henchmen bite the dust really fast when being bashed on by warriors, that's why I try my best not to let the warriors bye, even when I'm monking.

4) My philosophy when monking w/ henchmen has always been this: Keep them alive long enough and they will do the job. Although you COULD smite, this also allows you to practice monking for a real group. It is often very similar, only henchmen take more time to kill stuff. It really is quite good practice.

I also am going to touch up the original post a bit. Make it prettier.

Nice Guide.I would of included the Prophecy henchman as well and not everyone is a Mo/Mes in the game and as a W/R.

Actually, the Illusion Henchmen are far from useless. Ever seen those Triple Chops stopped in midswing? That ain't the ranger. That's because Lo Sha just hit the enemy with Clumsiness. He also has hex removal, fyi.

You can just cast windbourne or whatever before shooting the arrow

Great guide though, thanks.

For the monk healer, I disagree about not bringing anything but heals and en management. I bring protective spirit every time on my monk and it is incredibly useful; the energy I save simply by not having to heal as much with prot spirit on is just as effective as mes en management in PvE (which I've never used and never had problems with btw). Even if you take a protection henchie, they sometimes still don't use PS on the right person anyway and whoever is being spiked ends up dying while the necro that just sac'd a little HP gets the PS. Henchies.

Id just like to add that ive been following some of these guidlines, and found them to be working a treat, so again, thanks for the insight, its help me aproach henching in a new light

hmmm not my style of playing with henchman but nice guide.

i ALWAYS bring the following henchies: kurzick side 2 warrior 1 assassin 1 domination 1 spirit 2 monks

luxon side: 2 warriors 1 assassin 1earth 1 spirit 2 monks

in tyria 2 warriors 2 monks if possible and just as much damage as possible. (ussually all of them but not the ranger)

You say NEVER bring an assassin but they do great.
A man (or woman) can also use just outside agro of a enemy group shift+ctrl+spacebar to send in the henchies first to your target and then go in yourself. on this way the henchies get all hexes and conditions on them the casters stay back and the melee henchies are fighting there .... off.
Hell this way the henchies can even solo. but it is probably a matter of personal preference wich henchies you take with you.

like i said nice guide if you are new to henchman

I never noticed till recently...

Illusion Hench = Cast Distortion, repeat, repeat, repeat...

2 elites.

good guide, i love henchies, they dont write on the map, leave or talk rubbish and with a bit of practice they dont leroy on you, you have highlighted all the points that took most people a few months to crack...very useful.

nicely done. couple things...

i avoid fire hench like the plague because firestorm will agro unwanted...um...agro

if you're a "healing class" player, go towards the damage end (smiting or communing/channeling)

prot and illusion hench always run up half way and bridge agro to the back.

rit hench will always put weapon of warding on the character that has not nor will ever be hit. their ai needs work and they behave like...well...idiots. i only use them on unwaking waters for the occassionally well-timed shelter.

you can use ctrl+shift+spacebar to not run forward (calls the target but doesn't make you attack) before backing up to ensure agro not bridging.

lastly, when i play a melee, i generally set up for ranged. squishies tend to run up next to the player and if the monks go down, so will the rest of the hench. i've beaten unwaking waters with a w/mo running smiting. a/w or w/a would be less effective using ranged though.

thanks for putting together a guide. so many people are complete idiots with hench. and i'm 100% behind the ues of sin hench. i know panaku does something that dazes and that's great.

and for the kurzicks henching unwaking:
bring the necro pigs and cynn. i always prefer an all-hench kurzick team to players unless they bring those 3 (and aidan for that matter). cynn kills the spores and scales and the pigs just seem to do a pretty good job.

nice guide for beginners, but quite inflexible and close-minded in some ways. although I have also cleared all but a handful of bonus maps with just henchies as well, i disagree on a few pts.


1. you don't really always need warrior henchies. In times Kai Ying (wards) is available I find myself going much faster with an all-caster + rangers teams rather than having a tank at all.

2. i prefer taking just one tank henchie (if the warder is unavailable that is). if your aggroing skills are good enough; one meatshield is all you need, and one less frontliner your monks/rits have to worry about.

3. the illusion hench is not useless.

4. mesmers are generally weak in pve.
what can i say?
my mes can solo the tahnnakai mish with just the story-required npcs; solo perdition rock
magho hyras / jades; drakes, minos & hydras of the desert; many of the canthan bosses
with just pure mes builds. and i'm not even stating what she can do with secondaries like
spirit bonds or 55's.

Well, the original poster forgot to add one of the mechanics I find most useful for hench control, which is CTRL+SHIFT+double click (or space), which allows you to call targets without trying to attack it (briefly mentioned by another poster in this page). That way you can coordinate attacks without losing your position (CTRL+clicking and then running back usually makes the henchs run back, too), AND it allows to pull with henchies. I used it A LOT when henching thru cantha with my ritualist. Drop a couple spirits, crtl+shift+dclick, drop another spirit while the henchs run, and when they hit the enemy aggro bubble, run back. the enemies will go right into your spirit trap, at which point you order the henchs to attack again, and the enemies will be soup.

lure -> if you're a spellcaster, cast a dmg spell on nearby foe. this won't trigger henchies AI, but will aggro mobs.

IMO, this is an excellent beginners guide for newbies. I'd like to see this on guildwiki; I point a lot of newbies to that site....

I second that. He also has Power Drain.


Also, I dont know why it is suggested to kill Warriors first. I have henched nearly every mission (and nearly every bonus feasable with hench) and NEVER kill warriors first. NPC Warrior damage can be easily absorbed and out-healed, whereas casters tend to provide more damage and support for the enemy and drop far more quickly.

Rangers as second priority? Bah. Far less damage than warriors and enemy ranger NPCs RARELY take skills that disrupt your combat effort (oh noes! throw dirt!!!!111oneoneone).

It really needs to be a matter of:
Enemy Damage Output/Mitigation vs Your Damage Output/Mitigation

Here is the killing order I suggest:
*Eles - Most damage output - can be killed through intense healing
*Monks - Most Mitigation - often interchangable with Eles for primary target
*Mesmers - Balanced Output/Mitigation (via Interruption) - they are annoying and start to tax defence mid battle
*Necros - 99% are "By the way you are dead now" kills, also stops corpse exploitation which is mildly irritating
*Warriors - Moderatly High Output (usually only to a single target) and Reasonable Damage-to-Self Mitigation (through heavy armor)
*Rangers - So-So Damage and Paltry Mitigation (wow whirling defence)

If you take into accout Factions chars:
*Rits - More Mitigation than Mesmers, less than Monks, paltry damage output, though they will rez - usually 1st due to crappy self-preservation skills and high team defense ablilty.
*Assn - Where? Whoops I accidentally killed it and didnt see it there.


You can also PvE with an A/Mo if you use Dagger/Crit/Heal/Prot with 8 in Heal (Vigorous spirit and mending) and sometimes 8 in Prot depending on the mission (Prot Bond or Spirit). Vigorous + Mending + Flashing Blades = Sin Survival guide.

uhh at least in nahpui quarter ranger mobs>warrior mobs dmg by far, not sure abt other places tho @_@

2 Elites?

Very good guide. The most important word here is GUIDE. its a tool you give us a clearer cleaner look at how to use henchies. This isnt set in stone, you can take what you want, and leave the rest. Personallly I would liek to see a followup to thisguide namely one that shows how to take as few henchies as possible, and still complete the quests/missions. This will generate more xp , drops and gold.

A very good guide in general, *if* you're a monk-type. It does seem to be written from a monk/caster perspective.

As a warrior or assassin, it's preferable to take all ranged characters, tank all of the incoming melee yourself, and focus-fire enemies in the order the guide suggests. Much easier to pull this way (ctrl-shift-space, as people have noted), and focus fire works faster.

I find rangers to be extremely good, as the guide suggests: they are very durable and deal good damage. Also, the assassin henchies are awful, due to moving/teleporting away from mobs a lot, which can trigger adds, and lowers their damage output.

Some interesting ideas, but I have to disagree with the "Always bring both warrior henchies" and "mesmers are generally fairly weak in PvE" opinions.

A mesmer character of mine was able to beat the Tyrian Tomb of the Primeval Kings underworld zone using a party of all henchmen, with no warriors. In this zone, I found the warrior henchmen were a liability; they would run in and get killed, then the monks would run in, try to resurrect the warriors, and also get killed. The warrior-free group (of only 7) didn't have this problem. I used mesmer anti-melee skills such as clumsiness and ineptitude to compensate for the lack of warriors, and, when needed, was able to do a little bit of tanking myself using distortion.

I'm not trying to flame, but I find that a highly offensive statement. Due to the exact build I had, I did resort to using Pugs during the high end missions(and therefore switching to healing. But before I got there I did all exploration, and most missions, with nothing but henchies. If I had been a bit more stubborn I could have done every mission with them, but I felt it was easier to get together with some humans.

Only because a REAL(/sarcasm) group doesn't like bringing smiters, though I do agree this stance would work, the henchman can also end up getting themselves killed if you don't toss in a certain amount of damage to help them kill quicker.

I find this works better for me. Theres two ways to play a monk with henchies. Heal their damage or prevent it. You can prevent it with protections prayers, or by simply destroy the source of said damage.

Lo Sha the Canthan illusion henchman has interrupts go check it yourself - he interrupts better than most random human mesmers (not talking about expert human mesmers). The only problem is he often runs forward to remove hexes from warriors, and with 60AL and no sense of self preservation (doesn't seem to run back and away immediately after removing hexes), he sometimes gets in trouble (he's often not the first to die though).

Dunham the Tyrian/Ascalon illusion henchman on the other hand is just "filler" material.

As for the henchmen warriors, if you want to complete some Factions missions quickly with just henchmen you should leave the warriors out if you are not a melee based character yourself.

Why? Because melee attackers tend to aggro tons of enemies at a time - it should be obvious that in order for them to hit something, their target has to be near the middle of their aggro circle and guess what happens next.

So for say the Sunjiang, Tahnnakai or Nahpui mission I just took two healers (if available otherwise one healer and one ritualist), an archer or two, Earth and Shock henchman and Lo Sha. And what you do is just pull the closest bunch first and kill them a few but rapidly at a time (think spike).

Cynn/Orion isn't too bad - people complain that the firestorm comes late, who cares, often if you are still fighting by the time the firestorm arrives, you'll be thankful for that firestorm - think of it as backup plan. And the fire eles do about the most DPS of the henchies as far as I know. When the enemies start running from the fire storm towards unaggroed enemies, retarget a closer enemy so the hench group doesn't rush forward and aggro them.

When you have a ranged attacks only group, in some situations like the Tahnnakai mission you can surgically target and kill some of the bosses without aggroing everything and thus proceed to the next objective rapidly.

And in Nahpui with ranged attacks, the well of weariness tends to appear in places you can avoid (where possible pull and kill the star guardians first).

It can be done. I have got masters/expert with henchies on some of these missions. For example, after getting sick of stupid humans (e.g. rangers/assassins who think they are tanks and run forward holding the urn, or warriors who insist on killing _everything_ including themselves and the rest of the party), I switched my w/mo to a w/ranger, went interrupt-bow-only and completed the Sunjiang mission with a _Masters_. No melee needed - just judicious targetting and only killing what is necessary.

Of course, warriors are good in other cases - like going around in bukdek - vs the jade knights and so on. But for many PVE missions/quests tanks/warriors are unnecessary or even counterproductive.

Of course in Tyria you don't really have much choice, the hench non-warriors are crap - low dps, mediocre skill sets.