AB Team - CwD Ritualists

Introduction

I read about the idea for this AB team build recently and wanted to test it out with a few changes. Earlier tonight, Ahou, Animus, Jebus, and I ran it a few times in AB and it worked pretty well, though we obviously need some practice still. I'll share it here so anyone interested can read about it and join in, if interested. This is a very specialized capping team, but it can hold it's own 4v4 and can sometimes break up a rather large mob.

The Builds

[build name="CwD Resilient" prof=Rt/R chan=12+1+3 resto=10+1 wilde=8][cruel was daoshen][channeled strike][soothing memories][mbas][resilient weapon][offering of spirit][natural stride][bloodsong][/build]

[build name="CwD Res 1" prof=Rt/R chan=12+1+3 resto=10+1 wilde=8][cruel was daoshen][channeled strike][soothing memories][mbas][offering of spirit][natural stride][life][death pact signet][/build]

[build name="CwD Res 2" prof=Rt/R chan=12+1+3 resto=10+1 wilde=8][cruel was daoshen][channeled strike][soothing memories][mbas][offering of spirit][natural stride][recovery][death pact signet][/build]

[build name="ZB Monk" prof=Mo/R prot=12+1+1 divi=10+1 wild=8][zealous benediction][reversal of fortune][guardian][remove hex][mending touch][shield of absorption][holy veil][natural stride][/build]

[dismiss condition] can be used instead of [mending touch], both of which are mainly there for if no spirits are nearby. If more spike protection is needed, [spirit bond] can replace [shield of absorption].

Mouse over the class icons to see attributes and suggested skill runes.

Gear Suggestions

For both monks and rits, full Survivor's Insignias. Aside from already noted runes, one Rune of Superior Vigor and 2 Runes of Vitae.

As far as weapons, I suggest 4 weapon sets.

For Rits,

Set 1: (Main Set) Channeling Wand of Memory w/ "Aptitude not Attitude"and a Channeling Focus of Aptitude w/ "Master of My Domain"
Set 2: (Defensive) Spear/Sword/Axe of +30 HP with "I Have The Power!" and Shield of +30 HP with +10 AR vs Slashing (or damage of your choice)
Set 3: (High Energy) Channeling Wand of Memory w/ "Seize The Day" and Channeling Focus of Aptitude w/ "Live For Today"
Set 4: (Low Energy) Channeling Wand of Memory w/ "Brawn Over Brains" and Shield of +30 HP with +10 AR vs Slashing

For Monks,
Set 1: (Main Set) Adept Protection Staff of Enchanting w/ "Aptitude not Attitude"
Set 2, 3, 4: Same as rits, but with Protection Prayers weapons instead of Channeling Magic.

Basically, use you main set most of the time. If you get focus fired, switch to your defensive set. If you're low on energy and REALLY need to cast something, quickly switch to High Energy, cast the spell, and switch back to you other set. You don't want to stay on High Energy long because it has -2 Energy regen. Low Energy is for the very rare chance we face an energy-denial mesmer or ranger (you can use the Low Energy set and quickly switch to your normal set whenever you cast, then switch back to Low Energy). Remember, your energy is regening even if it's 'below 0', but an e-drain can't lower you energy below 0, thus by lowering your energy you're "protecting" it.

How It Works

This team works by producing a large packet of AoE damage in a very short amount of time, an "AoE spike". The Rits cast Cruel Was Daoshen, run near the target, then recast Cruel Was Daoshen and immediately drop it. This causes the first CwD to drop only 3/4 seconds before the second one. With 16 Channeling Magic, each CwD does 122 AoE lightning damage. If all three Rits do this at the same time, they do a total of 742 AoE damage in under a second (to something with 60 armor). This wipes out all the NPCs at every shrine except maybe the rangers, allowing for very quick captures. Any survivors are finished off with Channeled Strike.

Channeled Strike can also be used for a long-range spike on casters, low-health enemies, or fleeing opponents. It does 138 damage when holding an item, which is 414 damage if all three Rits time it together.

When not spiking, the Rits spend time healing. With four healers in the group, it can withstand a lot of pressure. Soothing Memories is a very efficient general heal if you're holding an item. Mend Body and Soul is great condition removal when all three spirits are up and also a good heal for when you aren't holding an item or for when pressure is very high.

Offering of Spirit is used to maintain energy; it can be used even when not near any spirits, as the health loss is covered by a single Soothing Memories. Use it as soon as you can gain the energy back instead of waiting until you're low. If used on recharge, the 13 net energy gain (5 energy cost, 18 gain) every 15 seconds is roughly the same as a constant +3 energy regen. This energy is honestly needed, since both CwD and Channeled Strike are relatively expensive.

Resilient Weapon is useful on anyone taking heavy fire and as a pre-prot before rushing into an NPC group or mob.

The two Rits with Death Pact Signet have healing priority. Since this team relies on all three Rits to successfully pull off a spike, hard resses are useful even in AB. Using it quickly is important, since if you wait too long, the dead ally will respawn far away. To help prevent interrupts from rangers/warriors/sins, you can use Natural Stride as you begin to cast Death Pact Signet, which will block their interrupts half the time.

Spirits are useful both when fighting other players and to help defend a shrine as the group leaves. Even if not by much, a Recovery and Bloodsong left behind can slow the enemy team down just a bit as they try to cap and even potentially mess up a solo-capper. Both Life and Recovery affect all 'allies', which is great for AB since they help the other groups on your team as well. If anticipating a long fight, Recovery and Life should be cast in a relatively save, nearby location such as behind a pillar before engaging, if possible. Bloodsong should be cast at the beginning of just about all combat vs players since it's a long-lasting, cheap spirit that satisfies OoS and MBaS's conditions.

Natural Stride is useful both for running fast and for blocking. Use it when you are facing interrupts, knockdowns, or heavy physical pressure.

The monk heals big damage, removes hexes and conditions, helps with prots, and likely ends up kiting other players, since people in AB tend to get tunnel vision.

Conclusion

This team can be a lot of fun and very effective if well-coordinated. We had some very fun moments when we made some people go from full health to dead before they could react. The team is excellent at capping shrines, since most stuff dies instantly. Once we got used to it, we were able to survive some pretty heavy mobbing as well, but we could still use some improvement there.

Since the overall damage output over time from the Rits is relatively low, it is important to time your attacks together so that people die before their healers can react (which is basically the definition of a 'spike build'). Ventrilo makes this immensely easier, but so does practice. Also, it's important to know when you should spike and when you should focus on healing. If anyone wants to join in on the fun, let us know and we can get something working.

-Jonathan

One other observation from tonight: while the AoE spike can be useful for breaking up an enemy mob, it is best to really only do this if another group on your team is engaging the mob already. When 8+ people focus on our group of 4, it's very likely one of us will die while trying to spike (since we aren't healing then). However, if we slip in on a cluster of people already engaged in combat, we can quickly do our spike and get back out with Natural Stride.

Also, the Resilient Weapon Rit should really be the one with Bloodsong, since it's the cheapest spirit and the Rit will need the extra energy for Resilient Weapon on whoever is being swarmed.

-Jonathan

Nurse asked for some screenshots, but I didn't take any during the AB. I'll be sure to do so in the future, but in the meantime, here's one I took in Isle of the Nameless just to give a taste.



Now multiply that times three, once for each ritualist.

-Jonathan

The three spirits I was dropping when I tried the channeling / communing split were:

[build prof=rit][pain][union][shadowsong][/build]

Union is also all allies, and shadowsong doesn't discriminate on attacks. Pain was for dps. On those two runs, it felt better to me. FYI FWIW.

One odd plus to leaving a few spirits irregardless of which ... some groups seemed to hesitate when near those shrines. I don't think it was the spirits, but that on a quick map check the spirits show as enemy blips, so when glancing quickly at the map ... it may look like a group was still there. Another reason to be trying to spread them out *grumble at self*.

It was an interesting fun evening.

We did seem to be doing better, but I'm not sure if it's because of the spirits or because we had just gotten more practice spiking and whatnot.

Union is indeed all allies, but unlike Life it's effect doesn't increase when more people are around. At 13 Communing with 3 Spawning Power, Union will prevent ~157 damage and then die. If there are lots of people around, it'll only last a few seconds too, which makes it less useful for OoS and MBaS. At 11 Restoration, Life will heal everyone in range for 100 HP. If all 12 people on our team and even some NPCs are nearby, that's a lot of healing. Because of this, Union is most useful when it's just the 4 of us vs a small group of enemies, where the damage is likely to be focused on just one or two people. But then, with all the healing we have in the original setup, we really shouldn't be dying vs 4 people unless they have some serious anti-caster/anti-healer hexes.

The other drawback of having all those spirits is that even if you leave them all behind at one shrine, the second you recast them at another shrine, the old spirits disappear. This limits the effectiveness of having lots of spirit defenders.

I really think we should give it another go with all three rits as resto and bring along Life. The main point of the build is lots of survivability because of 4 healers and good spike ability. Having spirits to leave behind, pressure the enemy, and support us is kinda a side benefit.

-Jonathan

EDIT: By the way, there is another spike we can do if we're just facing a single target. Channeled Strike -> Drop CwD. This does slightly more damage, costs 5 less energy, and allows us to immediately recast CwD instead of waiting 5 seconds for its recharge. This spike would probably be particularly good on dervs/wars/sins as they close in, since we could start casting Channeled Strike before they get there, and it'd probably finish when they're in range for CwD.

Or for an even bigger (but slightly slower) spike. Channeled Strike -> cast CwD -> Drop new CwD. We'd need 25 energy before starting this spike though. It's be about 1156 damage on a 60 armor target and 578 on an armor 100 target. Might be a big enough spike to instagib most warriors and rangers.

Another tactic we can employ is called a 'feint'. Basically, we use Channeled Strike to spike one target, and then quickly use CwD to spike another. For example, suppose we're facing a group with a mesmer and monk. If we use Channeled Strike on the mesmer, the monk will likely think the mesmer is our spike target and start using heals and protections on the mesmer. While he's casting these spells, he's stationary, unprotected, and distracted. This is when we run up and use the CwD spike on the monk, likely killing him.

If the monk is someone we've faced before, they might expect a spike if we stand nearby someone on their team. We can actually use this to our advantage with a 'double-feint'. Stand near one target and the monk will likely pre-prot them and be prepared to heal them, expecting a spike (or feint-spike if we've use that before on them). Then, we use Channeled Strike to spike a second target, then quickly run over to a third and CwD spike that one. All the pre-prots are wasted because we don't even touch the first target, the monk will likely use any other heals/prots on the second target, and the third is left unprotected.

See what I mean this team requires good coordination to really work well? :p

-Jonathan

I finally got my Rit the armor/runes/weapons/skills/etc so he can join in and to get more flexibility in the team in case we ever decide to do this again (ie, we're missing a Rit but someone else can Monk). I'll be trying to get vent to work. I won't be able to talk but at least I can listen in for the cue. I'm obviously going to need a bit of practice but at least we'll have a back-up.

The other drawback of having all those spirits is that even if you leave them all behind at one shrine, the second you recast them at another shrine, the old spirits disappear. This limits the effectiveness of having lots of spirit defenders.

I thought this only happened if they were within spirit range of each other? The shrines are pretty far apart.

Curatio Animus wrote:I thought this only happened if they were within spirit range of each other? The shrines are pretty far apart.

Did you cast both of those or did Xandra cast one? If you cast both of them, I guess I just wasn't far enough apart when I tested it. :p

1 person however can't have 2 of the same spirit, but a group can. The thing with the AB Rt group, is that all 3 Rits have differen't Spirits, so when we cast them at a new shrine, they will disappear from the old.

jebusfolife wrote:1 person however can't have 2 of the same spirit, but a group can. The thing with the AB Rt group, is that all 3 Rits have differen't Spirits, so when we cast them at a new shrine, they will disappear from the old.

That's what I thought. That's really not a problem though since, honestly, the spirits aren't going to be a huge problem except for a solo capper. They're mainly there for the times when we have to fight people, where having 3 different spirits is beneficial, with the side benefit of being useful to help slow down capture of the last shrine we took.

-Jonathan