Scion's Class Guide

This lesson is going to brush over the core classes, what it does well, some key skills that kind of define its role, and trap falls to avoid.

I assure you, this is the the most opinionated garbage that will be spewed from my mouth, will be argued over ad nauseum, and just might anger some people.

But if you are new, and learning, it will save your life, your team will like you more, and good things will happen.

I will split between Fact and Opinion, just to get some real numbers out there.

WARRIOR FACTS

Max armor: 80
Armor bonus? +20 armor vs. Physical attacks
Base Energy: 20
Energy Regen: +2

Warriors have the highest armor and lowest Energy in the game. Their main attacks come from Adrenal based skills, that recharge upon hitting people, not stuff that uses energy Energy.

WARRIOR OPINION

Remember that if you play a Warrior, you are there to do one thing: hurt things with your giant muscles and weapons. Abandon all dreams of (enter favorite hybrid Fighter/Mage here). Use a sword or ax or hammer and stick with it.

The two things that kill Warriors the most is not understanding aggro and thinking they are invincible.

If you look at your little radar map thing, you will see a grayish circle around the (you) dot in the middle. That circle is the aggro bubble. When the red dot, the bad guy, gets inside your gray circle, he will come and start attacking you.

Do not charge headfirst into a giant mess of red, because they will all turn and attack you. Let the Ranger pull some (see later on Pulling) or watch the red dots move into two groups, and attack them separate.

Secondly, becoming a Monk secondary for Healing Prayers isn't a good idea. You only have 20 energy. Healing Breeze uses 10. Mending is the single biggest Energy drain skill for bonus health (you've only two pips of Energy regen, remember?). In the beginning it may work great, yeah, but you will soon find that casting Monk spells on yourself to stay alive is a great way to be out of Energy and dead.

Try to keep three attack skills, a way to heal yourself, an attack faster stance, and a move faster stance on your skillbar until you get the the hang of it.

Early Axe Build:

[build prof=Warrior/Necromancer][Cyclone Axe][Penetrating Blow][Dismember][Executioner's Strike][Frenzy][Sprint][Healing Signet][Resurrection Signet][/build]

Be sure to watch Frenzy. If you start taking too much damage, activate Sprint to cancel the stance. Find targets and hit them. Pretty simple.

Perfect summation. I fell into some of those traps as well. I went the monk secondary and was using healing breeze. saved some butts sometimes but was a disaster the majority.

Took me a long time to realize that if you are going to do that kind of stuff it is generally on a solo farm build and you carry an armored monk offhand and a energy inscription on your weapon and you use a stance that gives you energy back upon a hit or getting hit.

And i totally agree with not trying to be the hybrid warrior. There are minor exceptions to that though. There are some low energy skills that can give either you or a beleaguerd party member the break they need. An example of that is seeing your key monk getting pinned down by opposing forces. A quick knockdown skill like Signet of judgement or whirlwind may just give him that 2 or 3 second window of opportunity to escape trouble. You are'nt going for damage here, just a quick knockdown used wisely. And it really dont eat up any attribute points....just throw the few remainders u have in that one attribute. Thats about the only usefull hybrid i can think of.

And i still have issues with when to fall back if being overwhelmed. It is something GOOD warriors eventually learn to do. Step back and take a 5-10 second breather to recoup hp and energy and break off a few aggros. Your party can hold their own for a bit. and if they can't, then they are a lousy party anyways. you don't always have to be the point man.

I think the most important task a warrior can manage is looking at the terrain and figuring out where you can set up a blocking point. If you can block a group of opponents in a clump for 5-10 seconds, your area of effect party members will chew them up in a hurry. you just have to hold out a little while. Nothing is more frustrating as a elementalist or Ranger equipped to handle groups then to be wasting high damage/multiple target skills on a solo opponent because your warrior broke them all up like a bowling ball into the headpin.

I think the hardest part of being a warrior is understanding the party you are in and where it is vulnerable. example....your group only has one monk and there is a mesmer and a monk in the opposing party. common practice is for you to harass the monk to break healing but if you do that (and you rarely will take down a monk quickly by yourself) your monk is going to get shutdown fast. You should dispatch the mesmer with all due haste. If the rest of your party is causing damage that the opposing monk has to tend to, you should be able to get that mesmer down in seconds by yourself if you are quick on the draw. Generally the opposing mesmer is not looking at you anyways so he ain't ready for you. Think about where your group is weak and protect that. Thats your real job as a warrior. It is not uncommon for me as a warrior leading a group and calling targets, to call a target for the group and then let them handle that key target while i harrass some other target that has a high danger of interfering with the parties ability to take out that target.

And as to calling targets. I am a believer that the warrior is really only good at calling the initial target. An experienced spellcaster ihas a better vantage point of what is happening to the entire group to call second and third targets. But that really is an opinion that many will argue against.

Just some of my own thoughts

Pampered

Ranger Facts:

Max armor: 70
Armor bonus? +30 armor vs. Elemental attacks
Base Energy: 25
Energy Regen: +3

Rangers have the highest defense against Elemental damage. Rangers have the longest attack range. They are best at interrupts and condition spreading, mainly poison.

Opinion:

Rangers are so cool they I wish they'd come over my house and hang out. Rangers main strength is in interrupts and stances. They can attack faster, block incoming attacks, and stop Monks and Eles from getting spells off. Distracting Shot is the best skill in the game. Really.

One thing Rangers cannot do well is deal damage. The cannot lay the smack like a Warrior can. They are good for quick spikes of damage and giving mobs the gift of poison.

And don't think about grabbing a sword and heading into battle. Rangers have the bonus to Elemental damage so they can hang back and take an extra hit from the Ele throwing fireballs. Use your bow.

Try to keep a couple attack spells, a preparation, Troll Unguent, Distracting Shot, and a stance on your bar.

Getting a pet is wicked cool, but it takes a whole skill bar to use one effectively. Just throwing a couple points into Beast Mastery and bringing your pet along is going to get it dead, and you with wasted skill slots.

How to Pull:

Longbows have the longest range in the game. Their range is almost twice that of the aggro bubble. The best thing a Ranger can do is slowly move in to just attack range, hit one monster, and run back a bit. Of course right behind the Ranger is the rest of his team, waiting to pounce on the incoming monsters. Pull with a longbow, anything else gets a little dicey.

If you are pulling with heroes and henchmen, be sure to flag them far back, so they don't charge in when you start attacking.

Last thing about Rangers. You are still not a hybrid. Please do not try to be a bow wielding fireball throwing death machine of wonder. Doesn't work like that. Sorry.

Early Build:

[build prof=Ranger/Elementalist][Penetrating Attack][Screaming Shot][Keen Arrow][Read the Wind][Distracting Shot][Troll Unguent][Antidote Signet][Resurrection Signet][/build]

You can swap any bow attacks in there, just avoid Power Shot as soon as you can, it is not good. A nice prep, Dshot, a way to heal yourself and the great Antitode Signet.

Monk Facts:

Max armor: 60
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 30
Energy Regen: +4

Monks are the primary healers and damage stoppers. They also have some damage capability with Smiting Prayers. They have four pips of Energy regeneration, which lets them cast those spells needed to survive. Low armor and high value makes everyone wanting Monks dead first.

Opinion:

Monks are monks. My opinion and what monks do are exactly the same. Monks heal and protect against damage. The worst thing a Monk can do is overheal. That is, just spam all your healing and protection spells, run out of Energy, and be a waste.

If you want to Monk, and Monk well, learn how to heal enough, but no too much. Learn when to cast those big protection spells. Watch the battlefield, not players health bars.

It is perfectly acceptable to be a secondary Ele solely for Glyph of Lesser Energy. You might want to go secondary Mesmer for Channeling and other Energy gaining spells.

And stay away from big monsters that want to eat you.

EDIT

Monk resurrection

There are only a handful of skills in the game that bring dead players back to life without a morale boost, ala the Resurrection Signet. Ritualists have a couple, Paragons have 1 (and it really sucks), and the rest belong to the Monk.

Each spell is useful, depending on what the situation calls for. I will break these skills down.

Sidenote, if you are running a Monk hero, it is better to not bring Rez on their bar. Let them go to town with healing and protection spells. Have another (or two) heroes go /Mo or /Rit and have them bring the spells. Also, the hero AI isn't smart enough to know who else is trying to rez, or even when a good time to rez is. You will find someone died in the middle of a mob pile, every single hero and hench will stop and try to rez that one character, only to have it immediately die again because it is still stuck in the middle of that mob pile. And then Death Penalty grows...

Turn off the hero's skills with a shift+click and manually cast Rez when needed. Shift clicking is also good for enchants and Ranger preps, as heroes don't know when is a good time to stop and recast.

Monk Rez Skills

Resurrect/Light of Dwayna/Rebirth - The worst skills. They bring back people at a fixed amount of life and no energy. Pretty useless during calm situations and totally useless in a fight.

Rebirth, though, resurrects the character next to the monk, regardless of where the dead body is. Only useful when there is a near wipe, and the Monk got away. That is why Rebirth drains the rest of the casters Energy, it is meant as an "okay I made it, let's try to start over" type skill.

Restore Life (prophecies) I like the best, because it gives the dead body a lot of Energy upon resurrection. You can come back, start healing yourself, others, set up a stance to stay alive, etc. In a fight, though, be wary, as it is a touch spell, and the caster needs to be right next to the dead body. Which is usually where the bad guys are.

Renew Life (nightfall) is so/so. It is better than the worst tier, and it heals others in the area, so it might be useful in a pinch. If you've nothing else, use this.

Resurrection Chant (factions) takes the longest to cast, but it brings the char back with a potentially full life bar. Very useful in a fight, as there shouldn't be a steamrolling Death Penalty gain.

Necro Facts:

Max armor: 60
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 30
Energy Regen: +4

Necro are the anti-Monk. They spread hexes and conditions and, in general, make the bad guys easier to kill. They have some support skills but the bread and butter of the Necro is the hex.

They also are a casting class, with less armor and more Energy regain.

Soul Reaping gives the Necro Energy every time a creature (including Minions) die. Soul Reaping's range is double the size of the aggro bubble. Try to stick close (but not too close) to the battle in order to reap the Energy.

Opinion:

Necro rock. They can do so many bad things through Curses it should be illegal. Soul Reaping provides near constant Energy in PvE that it is okay to take Monk or Elementalist secondary and not even use Necro skills.

Most Necro spells are armor ignoring, so they do whatever damage the skill description says it is going to do. This is great against bosses and Warriors, as their spells cut right into those big red health bars.

Blood Magic, in my opinion, should be avoided at all costs. There are simply way to many better spells in the Curse and Death areas to waste points on self heals and degen.

Enfeebling Blood could be the number one best spell to stop bad guys from hurting your team. It costs nothing, it recharges fast, and it puts Weakness on everything. Weakness makes a creature do 33% of the damage it would normally do. Two-third reduction of damage from bad guys. !!!!

Corpse useage should be limited in Necroing. If you are using a corpse use spell like Animate Bone Minions or Well of Blood or what have you, only bring 1 or 2 skills, don't make your bar depend on fresh dead bodies.

If you are a minion master and just raise like crazy; bring two skills and switch between them to keep the minions coming. Though, try to get Death Magic to 12 or higher, as stronger minions really do make a difference. Don't try to keep them alive, either, just raise more constantly. Something like every ten seconds a minion gains another pip of life degen. It starts out okay, but they fail quickly at the end. Just raise more.

If you are bringing a Well of (blank) spell, just bring 1. No need to have two different Wells all over.

Y'see, once you use a corpse, it is used, so don't get too fancy with the spells. Stick with one thing.

Early Build:

[build prof=Necromancer][Enfeebling Blood][Deathly Swarm][Deathly Chill][Rotting Flesh][Vile Miasma][Plague Sending][Soul Feast][Resurrection Signet][/build]

Spam skills.

Minion Master Basic:

[build prof=Necromancer][Animate Bone Fiend][Animate Bone Horror][Blood of the Master][Barbs][Enfeebling Blood][Vile Miasma][Deathly Chill][Resurrection Signet][/build]

Switch back and forth between the Animate spells. Use Blood of the Master to keep things alive between fights. Barbs on bosses, the rest spam as needed.

Mesmer Facts:

Max armor: 60
Armor bonus?
Base Energy: 30
Energy Regen: +4

Mesmer are a casting class, and their primary attribute of Fast Casting only adds to it. Every spell and signet they use is casted in less time. This is not reflected on your skill bar, but it is ingame.

Mesmer are known for shutdown in PvP. They can simply stop a Warrior from hitting things or a Monk from healing or an Ele from nuking. The skills of a Mesmer are for interrupt, Energy denial, and unblockable damage.

Opinion:

Mesmers are great in PvP. They can take a player right out of the game. In PvE, they are a little less powerful, but some of the functionality is still there.

The main spells every learning Mesmer should use are Empathy and Backfire. They make attackers hurt themselves when attacking, and casters hurt themselves when casting.

Learn to interrupt, and not just anything, interrupt key skills and stop damage being done to your team.

Fast Casting is a great way to take Ele spells and nuke, but don't run out of energy. Running out of Energy is the worst thing any caster can do.

In PvE, monsters have somewhat infinite amount of Energy, so don't bring skills that cause Energy loss on bad guys, as it doesn't really do much. Stick to interrupts and hexes that hurt or stop attacks.

There aren't a lot of skills in the game that get rid of hexes, so bringing along Shatter Hex is a great way to help the team and hurt the bad guys. Just watch the recharge of spells, Mesmer has long recharges for a lot of the good stuff.

It will be hard to get along in PvE for a while, but you will always be able to crush boss characters and take Monks out of the fight.

Elementalist Facts:

Max armor: 60
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 30
Energy Regen: +4

Casting class. Does damage though big powerful spells. Stick to casting and don't run out of Energy and you'll make a very successful Ele.

Fire Magic is mainly Area of Effect damage spells, and things that cause burning. Lightning Magic is single target spikes and usually has armor penetration. Earth Magic has a little bit of both, but also has Wards that protect the caster and his teammates. Earth is also a big fan of knockdown. Water Magic has Area of Effect hexes, usually causing slow movement speeds for bad guys.

Depending on what you want to do, take the right line of spells.

Energy Storage gives the Ele the most Energy in the game, as each rank adds three points of Energy. They can still run out though! More Energy is not Energy management.

Opinion:

If you do not have Glyph of Lesser Energy or an Attunement spell on your Ele bar you are wrong. Staple one of those skills to your bar. This cannot be stressed enough. Without Energy you are nothing more than a big squishy target. Ele spells can cost up to 25 energy. Find some way, any way, to mitigate that cost.

For PvE you are mainly going to go with Fire Magic for the wildly powerful spells that are in that line. It is a great way to learn how to set up spells effectively and kill large swaths of bad guys.

Eventually you want to venture in to Lighting/Water combos, or add some Earth to the bar. But remember that it is better to focus on one thing rather'n spread out. Get that Fire Magic up and do it. Just don't cast Fire Magic on fire bad guys, know what you are up against once in a while.

The biggest problem I've seen with Eles is knowing when to cast damage over time spells. The computer AI is dumb, but it isn't that dumb. If you cast Firestorm or something that continually does damage in one area, they will run out of that area and re-aggro something. Don't do that. Unless they are aggroing you or the Monk. That is the only time it is acceptable to use spells like this.

Imagine you Warrior is out there, beating things up, and you cast Firestorm to do some damage. Now all those monsters break from him and run out of the damage zone. Now instead of a controlled battle we have giant dumb chaos. Bad news.

But if you are the one getting pounded, instead of running around being scared, cast Lava Front. The continuos damage will drive monsters away to find something else to snack on.

But for damage and killing reasons, stick with spells that do damage over a large area once, not less damage more often.

Assassin Facts:

Max armor: 70
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 25
Energy Regen: +4

Sins are a casting class, and are considered a 'squishy' target. They use low damaging daggers in high damage combos to inflict statues, knockdown, and quick death to single targets. They can be considered the Lightning Spike Ele of melee.

They also have a wide variety of hexes and shadowsteps to stop foes from moving, teleport next to them, kill, and zap back out.

They gain Energy upon every critical hit, which happens quite often. Sins have a wide variety of secondary classes and builds because of the Energy regen, ability to critical hit, and awesome dance moves.

Sin Opinion:

I honestly don't have that much to say about Sins. Stick with fast recharging combos on daggers and you should be fine in laying down the smack. Remember that Sins need to continually hit in order to land the good combos. Blocking stances, blindness, chance to miss Hexes, etc etc are the bane of Sins.

You don't have the armor like a Warrior, or even a Ranger, so do try to avoid over aggro and pick squishy targets first.

Secondaries I've found the best are Necro and Ranger. A lot of Necro hexes seemed designed to set up a target for a Sin to kill.

Sins can also gain a lot from Ranger's Apply Poison on their daggers. Or use a bow. It seems Keen Arrow and Barrage were designed for Sins' Critical Strikes.

Taking a Warrior as a secondary and using the adrenal based shouts and melee attacks would work, too, as daggers have the highest attack rate in the game.

Ritualist Facts:

Max armor: 60
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 30
Energy Regen: +4

Ritualists are an odd mix. They can outheal a Monk (but not protect), create Spirits for both offense and defense, cast unstrippable weapon spells, do direct damage through spells, all sorts of stuff.

They are a caster class, and are mainly there for support. They let every other class do their job better.

Rit Opinion:

I love Rits. Love love love them. I've beaten all campaigns with my Rit, and never looked back.

The first hurdle to get over, though, is realizing that Rits are there for support. You will never do as much damage as an Ele, never heal and prot better than a Monk, even with the awesome weapon spells you can't fight like a melee class. It just doesn't happen.

Getting into it, though: Splinter Weapon is the second most powerful skill in the game (Distracting Shot being number 1). Splinter Weapon is so powerful Guildwars continually nerfs it to try to make it fair in PvP. You cast Splinter Weapon on an ally (or yourself), and the next 5 attacks do armor ignoring damage to adjacent targets. Doesn't seem like a lot, but that means a Flailing Warrior or Scythe Dervish or Sin turns into an area of effect damage machine.

Combine Splinter Weapon with Ranger's Barrage. Oh man. You hit up to seven targets, the first five arrows do fifty damage to each adjacent target. There isn't too much in the game that can withstand two Splinter Barrages.

Restoration has some good skills in it. Stick with Life for a fast recharging Spirit to power your spells. Mend Body and Soul and Spirit Light are great low cost heals, and remove conditions, too.

Ancestor's Rage and Spirit Rift are great damage dealers. They really help the front line chew through mobs.

Most take /Mo or /Me as a secondary for Hex removal. It makes for a great support character.

I went /R and did Splinter Barrage.

Some people go /N and use Spawning Power to make stronger minions. This isn't very viable. A Necro can get Death Magic up to 16, a Ritualist only 12. The four levels of Death make for much stronger minions. Also, a Necro gets energy back every time a minion dies. A Rit does not. Using some Spawning Power enchants you come close, but it just isn't the same.

But you can go minion master and bring Death Nova, and turn each one of your minions into a little time bomb. The hero AI does this much better than you can, though.

Remember: You are really going to want to load up on Channeling Magic direct damage spells, but they are not worth it. Stick with Chan/Resto or Chan/Comm and help the team through Spirits and Weapon Spells.

And never take Splinter Weapon off your bar.

Nice Guides Scion.....You have put alot of work into this. Thanks sooooooooo much! Now we need to get some people on here to look at these!

LadyH

Excellent output of information.. I may not agree with all of the opinion parts.. but it's spot on for giving a good description of the class and the variable that go into playing that class.

Well done.

James

Dervish Facts:

Max armor: 70
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 25
Energy Regen: +4

Another one of those hybrid caster classes. The higher armor along with higher Energy regen allows for a versatile mix of spells and meleeing. Dervishes carry the most damaging weapon in the game, the scythe. It is also the slowest and has the largest damage range. You can hit for tons, or nothing. The scythe also hits 2 adjacent targets to what you swept at. Many Dervish skills rely on adjacent foes.

Dervishs also gain Energy through Mysticism. Whenever an enchant ends on the Dervish, it gains a little health and a little Energy. A little health is meh, but the Energy return is very nice. Coupled with a protection Monk, a Dervish is almost a neverending Energy machine.

Derv Opinion:

Dervishs are slow, dependent on Enchants, and everyone wants to be one. They are also the most powerful class in the game. The scythe is powerful, the Elite Forms and Enchants they can cast make them almost unstoppable.

When playing Dervish, remember that you need Enchants in order to do well. Bringing seven scythe attack skills will only let run out of energy and proceed to be useless. Like Warriors and Rangers, stick to three or four attacks, the rest healing and utility.

Basic Derv Build, all early skills: [build prof=Dervish/Monk][Pious Assault][Twin Moon Sweep][Chilling Victory][Vital Boon][Aura of Thorns][Heart of Holy Flame][Signet of Pious Light][Resurrection Signet][/build]

Let's break this down. Cast your enchants from left to right. Each enchant will cover the last. Now start attacking something. When you use Pious Assault, you'll remove Heart of Holy Flame and set everything on fire. Use Twin Moon and everything is bleeding now, too. If you need health, use Signet of Pious Light to heal yourself, and remove an enchant, then Signet again. If you remove Vital Boon with the Signet at 0 Earth Prayers, you'll heal yourself for over 100 hp. Not bad.

Look at everything about the Enchant Spell before you bring it. What does it do at the start, during, and end of the spell. Dervish is about managing your Enchantments, and knowing when to end them.

Paragon Facts:

Max armor: 80
Armor bonus? none
Base Energy: 30
Energy Regen: +2

Paragons use spears and shields. They have high armor, do nice damage at range, and are pretty much your last line of defense between bad guys and your squishy monks. Their shouts and chants are some of the best skills in the game.

Paragons gain Energy using any shout or chant. For every rank of Leadership they gain more Energy for every shout that hits a party member. Go For the Eyes is an Energy Management tool more than an attack help.

Paragon Opinion:

A long time ago, before the expansions, people would make Warrior Monks, enchant the crap out of themselves and call themselves Paladins. (Now, of course, they are called Wammos, but that is neither here nor there). The Paragon is the natural evolution of people loving damage dealing, self healing, party supporting, demigods.

Paragons have great armor and can do great damage with the spear. But the main strength of the Paragon is the chants and shouts. Try to keep only 1 or 2 attacks on your bar, if even that many.

Aggressive Refrain is key. Keep it up at all times. With the higher attack speed going, use adrenaline based shouts to give yourself Energy in order to use the big ones that support the whole party.

Think about Warrior secondary for more shouts, or Ranger to help do some ranged damage with a Pet or Apply Poison.

Paragons take a long time to come to fruition, but once they are there, they are an indispensable part of the team.

Nice guides, Scion. Seem to cover a lot of the basics for each class and, for the most part, I largely agree with the "opinion" parts, even if some of these are months old.

If there's enough interest, it might be worthwhile for someone to make a separate thread with late-game build tips and ideas for the various classes as well. Or I could just copy/paste the guides from Guru and save people the trouble of finding them. :p

*GASP*!!!

SCION!!!

You actually, unbelievably, incredibly, promoted pet ownership!!
Yes you did!
I cannot believe it!

My Paragon gets a pet with Scion's Gold Seal of Approval! Oh happy day! So next time I play with you, I am expecting you to admire my critter, whatever it may be...

By the way, my sin is a ranger, and yes, sadly she has a Bengal tiger. I cannot help myself. And I have named it..... Scion *rofl*

Nicolette
(Game Nurse)

Hold on Nurse. I think I said "Getting a pet is wicked cool, but it takes a whole skill bar to use one effectively. Just throwing a couple points into Beast Mastery and bringing your pet along is going to get it dead, and you with wasted skill slots."

Which means "You can use a pet if you USE THE PET." Not as a fashion accessory. If you bring your pet I want to see a 12 in Beast Mastery and some skills to back it up. Else I am going to be kicking Scion out. Him out. You know what I mean. Not me Scion, your Scion. Not that I'm your Scion. I mean, if you want me to be your Scion. But you already have a Scion. And he can't come when I'm around. =)

---

Jon, I'm just looking to get people from "this game is hard" to "oh I see why this doesn't work".

Usually around Lion's Arch in Proph, or getting of the noob island in Factions or Nightfall, people are forced to recheck their builds. This was meant as a guide to channel away from early builds.

Endgame builds? Sure. I can slap a couple up, good idea.

Scion

No, no...

you said - and I quote:
Think about Warrior secondary for more shouts, or Ranger to help do some ranged damage with a Pet


Now how, pray tell, does a Paragon have room on a skill bar for decent pet management? If I understand correctly, I am supposed to throw my pet like a tacky oversized handbag, right at the monsters to make them duck... right??

Which makes them the perfect fashion accessory... Tigers make me look hot, can be coordinated with my outfit, and are useful in a pinch. What could possibly be better???

So show me a build that would make my Paragon a Spear Weilding, Team Supporting, Pet Mastering, Vision of Fabulousness....


Nicolette
(Game Nurse)

Oh! I forgot to ask...

Are minions and pets counted as party members for Paragon skills?

Nicolette
(Game Nurse)

Game Nurse wrote:Oh! I forgot to ask...

Are minions and pets counted as party members for Paragon skills?

Nicolette
(Game Nurse)

Pets, I believe so.. Minions, no.

Nurse, P/R builds don't really follow the 'true path' of Paragon. They are built around [Spear Swipe] and [Stunning Strike] to keep something dazed. Using a pet, they can make sure the thing is always getting hit.

---

In the skill description, it'll tell you who gets hit from a shout/chant/spell.

Ally is anything that is green on the minimap, including pets and minions. [Go For The Eyes]

Remember, though, most skills need to be activated by a skill. Minions simply attack, and do no use attack skills.

Party member is only the humans/hench/hero you are playing with. Does not include pets or minions. [Anthem of Flame]

[build prof][/build]
Scion

Game Nurse wrote:No, no...

you said - and I quote:
Think about Warrior secondary for more shouts, or Ranger to help do some ranged damage with a Pet


Now how, pray tell, does a Paragon have room on a skill bar for decent pet management? If I understand correctly, I am supposed to throw my pet like a tacky oversized handbag, right at the monsters to make them duck... right??

Which makes them the perfect fashion accessory... Tigers make me look hot, can be coordinated with my outfit, and are useful in a pinch. What could possibly be better???

So show me a build that would make my Paragon a Spear Weilding, Team Supporting, Pet Mastering, Vision of Fabulousness....


Nicolette
(Game Nurse)

Most of the time, if the choice is between P/R or R/P, people will go R/P because Expertise provides rather good energy management.

For example:

[build name="Packhunter" prof=R/P spear=11 exp=9+1 beast=11+1+1 wild=6+1][barbed spear][maiming spear][merciless spear][rampage as one][apply poison][comfort animal][charm animal][resurrection signet][/build]

That's a pretty popular PvP build right now in RA and TA. Good damage, lots of conditions, strong degen.

As for a PvE P/R Beastmaster build, Scion's right. Most focus on abusing Daze and a pet, but you give up a lot of party support.