1 - Full IW 55hp guide to UW
2 - Spirit Bond Scythe build*
3 - 55hp/SB 2-man tanking builds
4 - 55hp troll/avicara solo
5 - Jade Armor
6 - Ettins
*Note : With the new AI changed in Guild Wars : Nightfall, some of the builds here are now obsolete. The primary version, however, still works.
Solo UW Guide Me/Mo - Visionary Knight
Aatxes vid : http://files.filefront.com/UW_Mesmer.../fileinfo.html
Music : Sonata Arctica - I Want Out
In the vid im using Mantra of Resolve instead of Symp Visage, because this was a older version i was using. The mantra makes no real difference (was only to aid vs grasps) and thus isn't a consideration in the vid.
Update 14/7 : IW recharge is reduced to 35s, you can now keep perma IW. This makes things a little faster, I suppose.
Well I was getting bored of spamming 'lfg' and especially bored of 55hp monks getting all the Ectoplasms... so i figured i could do it better. Note : This build is designed to perform a smite run by itself.
The basis of your equipment is going to be super runes, since this is basically a 55hp mesmer platform with Illusionary Weaponry as its damage basis.
Illusionary Weaponry {E}
Sympathetic Visage
Mending
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Healing breeze
Power Drain
Protective Spirit
5 + 3 Fast casting
12 + 3 + 1 Illusion
2 + 3 Inspiration
9 Healing Prayers (+7 breeze, +3 mending)
8 Protection Prayers (15s spirit)
Equip :With regards to equipment, things hardly differ. I am using a set of armor with 5 super runes and an Illusion mask, as well as a +18% enchant sword and a -50 offhand. This, of course, gives me the cookiecutter 55hp, which is vital. A reqX 11-22 illusion cane is advised for nms.
Strategy :
Run Part 1
Upon entering the Underworld, cast Mending, Balthazar's Spirit and Essence bond. After regenerating full, proceed up either of the staircases. Aggro the aatxes (2 or 3 makes no difference), cast protective spirit and wait for them to approach. Try not to move to the aatxe, as this gives a greater chance of spawning a dying nightmare.
Note : If at ANY time a nightmare spawns, immediately target it and cancel its Rend with power drain, then destroy it with an illusion req wand, or close and use IW to melee it (not recommended).
When the first aatxes attack you, put up healing breeze and renew protective spirit, then cast IW (if not already activated for killing a dying nightmare). From here on is basic, simply mow down the aatxes one by one. Youll have +7 regen (with bleeding on you) and 44 hp with a deep wound. Your enchantments give you +2 energy when you are struck, and when you hit the Aatxe's ripostes you gain another 1-2. Energy is, therefore, not much of a problem, but make sure you don't waste it. One of the only reasons i die on this build is using up too much energy and being unable to renew prot spirit / breeze in time. One round of IW (30 seconds + your enchant mod bonus) usually takes an aatxe to 30-40% life. While cutting down the aatxe, remember to renew spirit and healing breeze constantly.
Attached picture shows the first encounter with the Aatxe (excuse my exuberant guild-battlecry).
Destroying the Aatxes in the Labyrinth is a fairly menial task, just involving aggroing / removing nightmares if any / whack whack. The procedure follows as above, renew breeze and spirit and cut away with IW.
Once all 12 of the aatxes and the nightmares are dead in the first area, take the Lost Soul's quest. Graspings are, in my opinions, the most difficult part of the run, but as long as you keep your enchants up, they pose no real threat.
After taking the quest, move to the stairs on the left, cast spirit, and aggro a group of graspings. Proceed to move back to the center dais and cast healing breeze. A word of warning : the graspings usually arrive with an immediate distracting blow, so try not to be casting when they first hit you. Once breeze and spirit are up and maintained, cast Sympathetic Visage. The use of this is to drain their adrenaline so the grasps cant cast 'Fear Me', which can be rather troublesome if they constantly drain your energy. Once this is activated, use IW and lay into the graspings. With +10 regen, 55hp and prot spirit, you can't die. Usually 1 grasping will die in 1 round of IW.
At 16 illusion, SVisage lasts 21 seconds base. Thus it should be only down for a short period of 5 seconds (with an enchant mod of near 20). Once recharged, immediately recast it. The remaining graspings will fall quickly, as long as you keep Spirit and Breeze on you at all times. When you come to the last grasping, you no longer need breeze, as mending can completely counter its damage.
Remove the graspings 1 group at a time as shown above.
Once all of the graspings are removed, proceed to the door to the smites area. You know where that is, right? RIGHT? Good.
Through the door are 3 groups or so, 2 groups of 2 aatxe and a group with graspings. Use a bow or staff to pull one group at a time and demolish them in the methods outlined above (just keep the enchants on you, and power drain the nightmares, and everything is good).
Once this little area is clear, you're home free to the smites, which I felt is the easiest part of the run. Cast prot spirit on yourself, run forward and aggro the first group, which is 3-5 smite crawlers. I had no trouble taking on groups of 5 smites, so this is no concern. Once they are aggroed, put up breeze, renew spirit, and cast Sympathetic visage. This will drain the smites' energy and prohibit them from casting anything potentially harmful. Proceed to use IW to hack away at the smites, killing 1 at a time (usually takes about 1 round of IW to kill one). When only one smite is left, you no longer need Breeze.
From there on, just avoid coldfires and kill the groups of smites scattered around. Easy, right? Note: You can take on groups of 3 coldfires with the build, but they are all avoidable while getting to the smites, and they do not drop ectos anyway
Run Part 2
From either of the passages to the quest room for Clear the Chamber, carefully (and I mean carefully) aggro mobs one group at a time. There are something like 2 groups of 2x aatxes, 2 groups of 3x graspings that are an immediate threat, and a few nightmares at times. Make sure you don't aggro more than one group, if you do, run back until aggro breaks (they don't follow that far).
Once the room is clear, there are 3 terrorweb dryders remaining. Cast spirit and breeze and rush them. Cast IW before you reach them, and use power drain to stop the first meteor shower you see (and also give you some energy refill). From there, hack at the first dryder until meteor showers land, at which point dodge them. From there on it's simply keeping enchants up and killing the target with IW. Constantly interrupt (drydrers usually attack 2-3 times then cast on their next attack, so anticipate the spells) to gain energy.
Once two dryders are dead, the hard part begins. At this point I run out and break aggro. Get full energy, run back in with all three enchants on you, interrupting meteor shower. Kill as fast as you can and interrupt as much as possible because your energy tends to run out quite quickly versus one dryder. Don't be afraid to have burning on you without breeze, just don't let yourself die. When your IW runs out, recast enchants and switch to a staff to get that last bit of energy for recast. From there it's a race to who dies first, which you should win. Once the last dryders falls, the Reaper will come out.
Next you can proceed down into the Forgotten Vale and clear the mobs. There are a few groups of Aatxes, 3 groups of 5 graspings and several packs of coldfires/stalking nights (earth mages) to kill. Be on guard for nightmares which can pop up occasionally (scout areas first). Once they are all dead (avoid behemoths at all costs, however), return to the Reaper.
Take the restore the statues quest, and proceed back to the vale and clear the 3 terrorwebs. Do the same in the smites area (its 6 more chances at ecto, don't complain!) using the same tactic as above.
Run Part 3 - Unwanted Guests
Time for the newb-killer quest of yore. Take the quest, warp to the Forgotten Vale.
Run up to the first keeper (wait till the terrorwebs are out of the way) and wand it to death, nothing fancy. Lingering recharges in 10 seconds, so don't try to stop it. The keeper only hits about 6-9 damage anyways, so recast mending and beat him down with a wand
Kill the 3 terrorwebs in the mentioned way. Thats one group down. Kill the three terrorwebs in the middle tunnel while they are forward from the aatxes.
Aggro all three vengefuls and rush the keeper. Interrupt Lingering curse, run next to it, cast SV and IW. SV will drain it's energy so that it cannot cast a second lingering, and then you can kill it quickly with IW. If the Vengeful Aatxes do not die, run towards the Vale until they break aggro and do so. Don't aggro them on the Reaper by accident
Two groups down.Use a bow to pull the keeper at the middle platform and wand it down. Three dead. Pull the fourth (the one on the way to smites) with a wand and kill it with the wand/IW (careful of the terrorwebs). Remember to clear the terrorweb groups when the keepers die.
Carefully pull the last two keepers and wand them down for the win. Should vengefuls be too close, use SV and charge the keeper head on, interrupting Lingering. The SV will keep a recast from occuring. If terrors are too close, let them move because they'll crush you when lingering hits otherwise.
There you have it, the Full Solo Mesmer Run. I'll update any more parts if I can manage to do them, but I think that is the limit of the build's ability.
Notes : This build took some getting used to but is laughably easy and is, in the end, pretty simple to use. So long as you keep an eye on your energy, minimap (for nightmares), and renewable enchants, you'll be fine. If you have any flames / questions, my IGN is Avarre Mnestris.
Personally, this build inspired a 'WTF' more than anything when i thought of it, but it works. How well? I got 30 ectos this week from UW so far
Maybe I should have kept it a secret, maybe everyone already uses it behind my back... Hopefully some other mesmers can take this and put it to good use, anyway.------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 15/10 : Finally adding a note, with the changes to spirit bond this build is no longer possible to the same extent. It shall be kept here in memorandum.
Solo UW Guide Me/Mo - Visionary Reaper
Illusionary Weaponry {E}
Sympathetic Visage
Elemental Resistance (or anything, should you drop pieces of armor).
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Spirit Bond
Power Return
Protective Spirit
6 + 1 Fast casting
12 + 3 + 1 Illusion
11 Protection Prayers
Equipment :
Scythe of Enchanting. The preorder Soulbreaker is the only one currently.
Illusion req wand, max damage and customized
5 or 15 AL armor. Alternatively, remove parts you don't need.
If you use 5 AL, or remove parts (such as shirt), you can drop ele resist for another skill (AV, mantra of resolve are possibilities).
If looking for basics of mesmer solo, please READ BELOW FIRST, the second (and earlier) guide has more information
Essentially, it's the same thing. The only difference is you can safely take a much larger aggro, and with power return you can easily do it. Interrupt nightmare, kill it, move forward. When you have a decent aggro, use SV (it helps against savage but isn't needed) and IW. From there... it's all pretty lights.
It's the old setup, but now you have AoE. You lose effectiveness against caster mobs but those can all be avoided during the smiterun, which is substantially safer, faster, and more fun.
You'll find it more effective to aggro 3 aatxes at a time, as if the scythe has more than 3 targets it will alternate, slowing the damage to each individual aatxe and thus giving them more time for natural regen. Three at a time ensures all damage is dealt to the same mobs. Against other mobs that do not have natural regen, aggroing more is just as good.
Here's some numbers for you;
Group of 7 Graspings - 2 casts of IW (previously would be 7 + slower aggro)
Group of 5 smites - 2 casts of IW (previously would be 5)
Group of 8 smites - 3 casts of IW (previously 7 + slower aggro)
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Duo UW Guide add-on (Me/Mo and N/Mo)
If you've read all above, then I salute you.
Soloing is slow, so I've also been refining a me/mo 55 build for tanking, duoing with a Necro (N/Mo is best).
Shield of Deflection {E}
Sympathetic Visage
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Mending
Power Drain / Return *
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
*(no energy back, but you can interrupt and move on to aggro more with lower recharge)
9+1+3 Fast Cast
7+3 Illu
5+3 Insp
9 Heal
10 Prot
Alternatively, if going with a Necromancer/Mesmer that has his own SV :
Shield of Deflection {E}
Spirit Bond
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Mending
Power Return
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
With the same stats. This build just adds a slightly safer component of spirit bond, but the necro brings his own SV.
Equipment is the same, except it helps if you have a -20 health focus (also obtained from Cities of Ascalon, or as a blue/purple/gold drop).
The first thing you have to become familiar with is your tanking capability. Generally, you are only limited by how much area you can safely aggro without interrupts/nightmares stalking you.
Smites max : about 12 smites is your limit. I have taken 15 at once but your health will drop and you will die eventually, so unless you have a very good necro stay around 10-12. You will need SoD up the entire time. Anything above 5 requires SoD generally, and anything above 8 requires SV being used with SoD on (the lesser amounts you can SV, rapidly drain then throw up SoD before you die). If using Spirit Bond in the build (version 2), you can switch to low AL armor and tank however many you wish.
Don't annoy the necro, if you have any comments pm me.
Aatxes max : Because of bodyblocking, there is no limit to Aatxes you can handle. In the first room I usually aggro 6 immediately as more puts the necro at risk and nightmares cause trouble.
Graspings : So long as you can get SV and SoD up, no real tanking limit. I wouldn't go far beyond 8 because of distracts, though.
Mindblades : Annoying as hell, and it's more a matter of luck to tank them. Try to have the necro split them and kill them in smaller groups while you are tanking, basically keep PS, HB and SV up at all times and you might survive (its the interrupts that hurt).
There isn't much to add as the path is the same as for the solo run. You can also clear twin serpent mountain, although it takes forever. Learn the order that the behemoths use healing spring in, and then interrupt them in that order with wand (spring is a trap). Drop ess bond for fighting under renewal.
Note the dp -> infinite res is handy sometimes
The necro should run:
Spiteful Spirit
Suffering
Desecrate Enchantments
Watchful Spirit
Vengeance
Rebirth
Ess bond
Smite Hex (free space)
The obvious advantage is that you have limitless res while still having SV. With good aggroing, your run speed is very similar to that of a 55 monk's, although Servants of Grenth and Escort of Souls are highly problematic and not advised. If you are running the second spirit bond build, the necro should ideally be a standard N/Me.
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SoJ Troll/Avicara farming build
This is a build for just killing stuff, and getting not-too-bad loot.
The majority of this guide is taken from a PM to Makkert about the run:
The run is from droknar gate to the troll cave (killing all trolls and avicara on the way), clearing the cave, then heading out north and clearing as many avicara groups as possible (avoiding guiles).
Shield of Judgement {E}
Arcane Echo
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Mending
Mantra of Resolve
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
5 + 3 + 1 Inspiration
12 Smite
2 + 3 Fast cast
9 Heal
8 Prot
The run can take anywhere from 5 mins (if there are no good spawns) to 20+ mins (clearing all of talus).
The enemies you will face:
Avicara Braves, Fierce (5 or so max with no dp)
Avicara Wise, Guiles (guiles remove ench, wise degen)
Trolls
Blessed Griffons (will usually destroy you)
Tundra Giants (they have knockdown, best to avoid)
Grawls (easy to kill, but they knockdown and can interrupt SoJ)
Azure Shadows (killable, but poor drops. They kd with signet).
Mountain Trolls (xpxp!)
2 rounds of SoJ will kill enemies, or bring them to about 5% hp (they die in 1 more SoJ hit when you recast, generally).
The spawn patterns :
Typically 3 trolls, and 4-5 avicara at the start. On the ledge, 4 trolls can spawn, as well as 3-5+ avicara. There is also an avicara patrol that runs from the east (it will aggro on other avicara and trolls), that has 1 guile.
North of the cave, you usally meet 2 brave, 1 fierce or 1 wise, 2 brave. There are also larger packs of multiple brave and fierce where they spawn nearby, and 6 avicara groups with wise.
The absolute best spawn enables about 12-15 avicara (all brave and fierce) which can be cleared with 15% dp and -20 focus (13hp setup).
Giving yourself dp can help out when tanking large amounts.
Loot : Rare armor (avicara), troll tusks, shiverpeak keys, black dyes (I get alot from trolls), various weapons and raven staves.
ADDED : Non-55 Troll killing mes build
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Jade Armor add-on guide
Jade armor aren't that profitable, but sometimes I kill them to get around anti-farming code on avicara.
Shield of Judgement {E}
Arcane Echo
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Mending
Vigorous Spirit
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
12 Smite
2 + 3 + 1 Fast cast
10 Heal
8 Prot
After starting the Ring of Fire mission, there are three groups of two Armor, 1 Bow. Carefully avoid the mursaat and kill the groups 1-2 at a time. Killing the Mursaat is possible but it's a pain and not worth the time usually.
Spirit bond build :
Shield of Judgement {E}
Arcane Echo
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
<empty, usually I use a smiting skill>
Retribution
Spirit Bond
Protective Spirit
12 Smite
6 + 1 Fast cast
11 Prot
Same idea, aggro all the of the Jade this time and pull them to where aggro won't affect you. Kill them, takes around 25-30 seconds.
It is also possible to use IW and SV to kill mursaat casters. This is somewhat slower and as you can obtain mainly the same drops by quickly killing armors, not quite as useful. Regardless, the build (tweaked by someone else) can be found elsewhere in the forums.
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Ettins!
Illusionary Weaponry {E}
Ignorance
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Mending
Illusion of Haste
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
7 + 1 fast cast
12 + 1 + 3 Illusion
2 + 3 domination
9 Heal
8 Prot
Simplicity. Not going into the route, which is readily available at other places. Use IoH to get around faster, because it's a fairly large area to cover. Just use IW to cut the ettins down, and use ignorance to interrupt their healing signets. With fast cast, it has about 3/4s casting time compared to a 2s signet, which isn't hard. Ignorance will interrupt the signet when they finish casting it, and disable the signet for an additional 12 seconds.
The loot, as you should know, is Gold ettin pauldrons, which can give superior runes like vigor and absorbtion should you be lucky.
Edit : Further Notes This build is also usable for multiple other farming locations;
Sand Wurms
Sand Giants(Injektilo, page 4)
Hydras (swap the Troll build -> resolve for mantra of flame)
Griffons (swap power drain for distortion)
Element-born Titans (Possible but difficult, swap SV for channeling)
Blessed Griffons (dont drop much though, swap power drain for Distortion)
Pongmei valley (Avicara build, but with smite hex instead of Mantra)
Spirit Bond farming areas
Jade armor (start of RoF, echo SoJ)
Arborstone Wardens (echo SoJ, ele resist and SV are helpful)
Shiroken (not my development, can be found in the farming forum)
That's the end for now everyone, this post will be updated periodically as I add or modify things. Post in the thread for comments/questions.
