User:Moloch/Theory Of Four Gems

The Theory of Four Gems originates in the Paragon class.

The four Gems of Guild Wars build making are:


 * 1: The Attack Skill
 * 2: The Spell
 * 3: The Shout
 * 4: The Signet

The theory stipulates that in order to create synergistic builds, you should try to incorporate as many of the four Gems as possible into each build. There are several reasons this is a good idea.


 * A Paragon can provide beneficial support upon activation of each of these skill types. For example, Hexbreaker Aria will not help a character with no spell equipped.
 * An important consideration is the possibility of shutting down characters. A character whose build has been created with the Four Gems Theory in mind will be extremely hard to disable, as generally speaking, you'll need to stack four types of disabling effects on it to achieve complete and prolonged shutdown.

This type of thinking has served me very well when it comes to creating working PvE team configurations. It should be possible to use this as a guideline when it comes to PvP builds as well, but as I'm not a good PvP player, I can't judge its value in that setting.