UW Solo Mo/W Build and Tutorial

If player keep this build when the next expansion comes out how can they nerf protective bond when they have it?I use my Monk/War. for healing ad smiting for the most part not protection.I need my scalpal armor for that. You mean when tougher mosnters come out, what's to stop people using this trick to turn them into little sissies? Nothing. Except that you're probably going to be hard pressed to find an area in the expansion without mesmer or necromancer enemies. The only reason this works at all is beause Underworld doesn't have mesmers and necromancers since Balthazar favours warriors.

i was wondering which weapon would be better for this setup i was thinking 2 different things

collector smite staff
10energy
+5energy(perfect insightful)
20%recharge
20%fast cast
20%enchaments last longer(perfect enchament upgrade)

or

that collector smite rod
+ a shield
req 2 or less tactics with -2dmg(while enchanted)


anyone know? I use Miteethor's setup with that smiting staff. I have thought about the dmg reducing shield, but am not sure when the dmg is subtracted. If is is after prot bond takes effect then it is a good idea. As far as the req on the shield, I don't think requirements affect whether or not you get the bonus, so low req wouldn't matter. I hope for an answer to this question soon because I have a shield with both -2 while enchanted and -2 while in stance that I would love to use.

The only reason this works at all is beause Underworld doesn't have mesmers and necromancers since Balthazar favours warriors. unfortunately the underworld belongs to Grenth
Balthazar has his fissure with mesmers

one Obsidian Behemoth casting Nature's Renewal nearby would get us in trouble...

16 + %20 focus ...

i have cast the spell about 20 times always 2 energy for hit ... This happened to me when I accidentally left the smiting staff equipped (I had the protection icon equipped too but of course the staff "cancelled" its effect...)

Well if europe wins favor again ( had over 6 hours yesterday soooo won't get for over a week) i sould be able to try this out (finally)

really we need a map for UW cus i don't know it very well

i know FoW VERY well cus i always go there cus i'm getting a really good team for it.

anyone know of any UW maps? Lol, that's exactly my problem!
Spend most of my gold on this build and will probably spend the rest on only pathfinding in UW... When Europe gets the favor back (on a moment I'm at home, its hollidays so big chance they get it back when I'm away). But I must say soloing mobs that I only could do with henchies feels soooo great! That alone is worth it allready Thx Jelly!

The fact that I can sell a non-max eternal shield for a few platinum is just stupid. Hi.

Can you tell us how you do that? I have a very hard time selling even max eternal shields for 1k on the American servers. You can buy all my eternal shields if you want for 1k each

Btw, Im so lucky: 5 runs through UW and no ecto :/ Only lots of glittering dust. Maybe thats what ectos become after you salvage them (in case that is possible at all).

Yours,

i was wondering which weapon would be better for this setup i was thinking 2 different things

collector smite staff

or
a shield
req 2 or less tactics with -2dmg(while enchanted)
anyone know? Actually a nice idea. I would go for the -2 or -3 damage shield. Then you are only hit for 1, 2 or 3 damage which makes you maybe able to tank more monsters at once. You surely lose damage output because you dont have the enchantment upgrade of the staff. But I think thats acceptable.

But I must say soloing mobs that I only could do with henchies feels soooo great! That alone is worth it allready Thx Jelly! Indeed. It bores me already going solo to UW (well, like all farming in general). But the experience was worth and great. Thanks Jelly for this.

I hate to be a wet blanket, but this could be "nerfed" now as others have said. It's not that ArenaNet didn't see the possiblities protective bond gives in pve, it's that now everyone and their mother will do this because it has been handed to them on a silver platter. If they nerf it they are stupid. After a point there really isn't much to do PVE. If people enjoy playing the game this way then they should be allowed to. This game is designed to really be PVP, so as I see it this helps you generate the skill points you need to fill out the rest of the skills you may be missing for PVP. I can say I sure do not want to go the Everchat route of having to wait 2 years to get a maxed out character.

Heck...they may solve this whole thing another way also...when an expansion comes out maybe there will be new professions or skilss that will just blow this build away. I hate the fact that Monk's are the key to every thing. In my opinion it sure would be cool to have another profession that could match the monk or replace the monk in builds.


Has anyone even gotten close to running solo anywhere that has high level creatures with a non-monk build? If so how about some videos.

If they nerf it they are stupid. After a point there really isn't much to do PVE. If people enjoy playing the game this way then they should be allowed to. This game is designed to really be PVP, so as I see it this helps you generate the skill points you need to fill out the rest of the skills you may be missing for PVP. I can say I sure do not want to go the Everchat route of having to wait 2 years to get a maxed out character.

Heck...they may solve this whole thing another way also...when an expansion comes out maybe there will be new professions or skilss that will just blow this build away. I hate the fact that Monk's are the key to every thing. In my opinion it sure would be cool to have another profession that could match the monk or replace the monk in builds.


Has anyone even gotten close to running solo anywhere that has high level creatures with a non-monk build? If so how about some videos. I couldn't agree with you more.

And if you want a video of a non-monk soloing high level areas, I have one of my w/r going against aatxe and grasping darkness. I can send you the link if you'd like (mind you the video is about 20 minutes).

Yeah the -75 health is important with Prot Bond, since it reduces 5%. You want to have 105 Health minimum for this build.

I think the ideal build would use the Lions Arch tatoos, they are cheap and give the same amount of energy as the more expensive tats. I also use the collector smiting staff(outside Elonas) with a +17% enchant wrapping and whatever insightful head you can find. With that setup I currently have 49 energy, which is more than enough.
But by this logic, if you had 208 HP, the 5% would still amount to the same amount of damage you would take if you were taking 5% of 108 HP..

I.E. You have all of the prot bonds on, etc. Axtes are hitting you for -10 with your HP at 208..If you had 108 HP they would hit you for -5..whats the difference other than the cost of that extra rune(and the armor to wear it on)

I have done this with 208 HP and the Axtes hit me for -10..From the vids I have seen of this build with health at 108/105, they hit for -5..

Am I still missing something here?

I picked up that staff outside elona..I just need the insightful head and wrapping of enchantment..

I'm just wonderin, can you still get 17 on protection prayers? I've tried many times and not successful.
Read the original post by Jelly..You have to have your prot attrib at 16(with runes on armor)..and have the holy rod with +1 prot(get from collector - see Jellys original post for location)..You will have to cast the prot bond spell more than 1 time to get the 1 energy to show up(this will show as 1 when you mouse over the prot bond enchantment you cast on yourself...It will show as 2 or 1 depending on whether or not the spell got cast with 17 prot...Sometimes it takes 4-5 times but it does work..Then I usually switch over the staff to a smiter with better energy and better enchants and go to work..You can also re-arrange your attributes after the prot bond spell gets successfully cast with the 1 energy to get a better smite attrib as someone here posted before..

hope this helps chief,

But by this logic, if you had 208 HP, the 5% would still amount to the same amount of damage you would take if you were taking 5% of 108 HP..

I.E. You have all of the prot bonds on, etc. Axtes are hitting you for -10 with your HP at 208..If you had 108 HP they would hit you for -5..whats the difference other than the cost of that extra rune(and the armor to wear it on)

I have done this with 208 HP and the Axtes hit me for -10..From the vids I have seen of this build with health at 108/105, they hit for -5..

Am I still missing something here?

I picked up that staff outside elona..I just need the insightful head and wrapping of enchantment.. What you are missing is that it is easier to heal 5 points rather than 10.

I tried that, both w/ my ele trying to get to 13 and monk trying to get to 17. I casted protective bond 10+ times for both chars and never got to the lvl I wanted. I'm just wonderin if Anet nerfed this or not. Anyone can confirm they still can get to 17? Imagine that everytime you try to cast you have a 20% chance of getting the +1. Now consider that each cast is independent of the previous cast, thus you only have a 20% chance of +1 the second time, and so forth. This means that theoretically you might never get the +1, but keep trying, my record is 15 tries.

What you are missing is that it is easier to heal 5 points rather than 10.
Will try it..

Not a bad idea to buy cheap tatoos from LA, capitalist. I avoided new tatoos (from Droknars Forge) because I didnt want to pay all that money for pergaments and crafting. Surely, 49 energy are better than 41 but it works also with 41 (as you already said: energy is rarely a problem). I have my cheap tat set with all the superiors on it and then my Droknars set that I use when I play a real monk.

So it should be fine to use the Lion's Arch Tats? (I really don't want to spend so much on the Drok's...>_>) Your armor level doesn't matter with Protective Bond.

A 16-17% Enchant Staff Wrapping is all that is needed.

A +5 Staff head isn't going to make any difference vs a +2 staff head ora staff that just has +10 energy. Energy is not a problem with this build, except after killing the Darkness (if you don't pay attention with bonetti's you may have to remove some enchantments) Don't pay more than 20K for a +5 if you really need it. That is market value (+/-5K).

I've gotta give some serious props on this build, I actually had fun tonight playing for the first time in weeks. I spent three hours alone in the UW tonight with a variation of this build and I loved every minute of it, in a way it was very.....relaxing.

Was one hell of a hit in my pocketbook though, cost me over 80k to get everything set up perfectly. I cleared the chamber, smites and all the coldfires in the forgotten vale. Pretty good I'd say for my first night doing it. I also got a gold max dmg storm bow out of it.

Thanks for sharing this build. Was a very entertaining night. It is relaxing to not have to worry about anyone Leeroy'in(Aggro) and lose your 1k within the first 2 minutes in UW..Bad thing is, unless you are getting ectos or gold items, its still not worth it. Fun to play, but not very profitable unless the drops fall. Fun factor is stellar(what the game is really about anyhow). It does cost about 80-90k to get this setup even with the LA armor with the runes and wrappings selling for what they are now. Maybe they will come down, then again it might get nerfed and all prices will come back to pre-solo posting. The only way they could nerf this is to have something detect you being alone in the UW..Cause the game to have fewer and crappier drops..Its seems that is the case now with the axtes and darknesses anyhow. I have a hard time getting good drops even with a group in the UW..The ecto is not falling as frequently it seems.

Was in FoW last night with a really good group and had my way paid(it helps being a monk!) and made 25-30k total off of 1 purple shadow bow, dark remains, misc items, and 3 shards...
About 2 hours worth of work and it was more fun than solo'ing UW IMHO. Just gotta get the right group.

i just want to say for the people that come on the forums and talk about there builds and tell others how to farm are the ones that are ruining the game for the rest of us if u have a good build and farm with it or whatever keep it to urself for god sake cause when everyone here starts soloing UW wtf will be the point?

if u dis agree with me thats fine but i am just really ticted off about this thread and u wonder why gw economy is all screwed up... cause everyone can farm solo now lmao
I do not think this thread is a bad thing..It just goes to show you how many people will pay ungodly amount of plat to get this build for a small return on investment with the drops falling the way they are in UW..If you are doing it for fun(which again, is what the game is for) then go for it..They will probably NOT nerf this as it is still hard to get more than 1 good drop on a solo run. I get more $$$ out of FoW runs with a good group..I do the solo for fun - not $$$. However, I had all of the equipment minus the staff wrapping prior to this post showing up so I have more like 20k invested in the setup. If you are wanting to get this build now, then its gonna break ya if you aint got the loot to cover it. If they nerf this however, all these folks are gonna be hosed unless they go to farming other areas with this build they paid 80-90k for..I can farm with a much different(and less expensive) build than this one.

Example - You pay 80-90k for armor, runes and misc items to startup - You have to pay 1k to get in solo. If you got 1 ecto or a gold bow within 3 tries, and sell it for 10k, then you have only recouped 7k of your investment. Which means you gotta do this alot of times to break even. This also a time consuming process when solo'ing. It gets boring after about 7 or 8 times..You are lucky if an ecto fall in 3 tries from my experience..Gold max dmg bows are the same way..

Bottom line, this thread is not ruining the game for those who are playing for fun(and have the $$$ to get the startup armor/staff)..It IS however ruining it for those who are trying to get this build for a bargain and go on a drop for $$$ run cause it ain't gonna happen now until this dies down or gets nerfed and the prices some back into line due to folks dumping the runes and items(and then some of us will use a different build to continue to solo! LOL)

I say chill out, find other places to farm for good drops to sell for $$$(there are MANY of them still out there if you know where to look) if you do not have the $$$ to start doing this and HAVE FUN most of all. I mean does having a boatload of platinum really make that big of a deal if you are not having fun?