Archive:Team - SB/SS UW Farmer

Spirit bond with ~400hp and blow stuff up with ss. Update to the original 55/ss build

The Spirit Bonder
[build name="Spirit Bonder" prof=monk/mesmer divine=10+1+3 protec=11+3 insp=10][protective spirit][spirit bond][Shield of Absorption][mantra of resolve][spell breaker][blessed aura][balthazars spirit][Essence Bond][/build]

Usage:
 * Maintain your maintainables.
 * Maintain Mantra of Resolve.
 * When aggroing, pre-cast protective spirit and spirit bond, and make sure spell breaker is available.
 * When moving into a new part of the map, it is possible that Dying Nightmares will spawn. They will make a sound when they spawn, at which time you should cast spell breaker to prevent them from stripping your enchantments.
 * Use your staff to kill nightmares.
 * Maintain protective spirit and shield of absorption while tanking multiple targets.
 * Use spirit bond to red bar through the brief SOA downtime/rebuild up.
 * Tank skeletons with other monsters, otherwise their attacks will kill you through your enchantments.
 * You can also dodge all of the skeleton's attacks by hiding behind terrain such as walls and corners, and even physically dodging the "projectiles" the skeleton is throwing at you by moving back and forth. These projectiles are sometimes invisible (http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Flurry_of_Splinters).
 * When aggroing, clump enemies together so that they are all adjacent to each other. This makes nuking much easier for the SS.
 * If enemies break aggro and target the SS Necro, give the SS Protective Spirit and/or Spirit Bond, sometimes even Shield of Absorption or Spell Breaker if you can spare them.
 * Try taking on larger aggros to improve run times.
 * Focus on being energy efficient to reduce "regen" time.

Equipment:
 * Customized staff, 20% enchanting, at least +15 energy
 * Only 2 superior runes (prot and divine), the rest should be +energy
 * Radiant insignias
 * Lowest Armor rating equipment you can get (15AL or 5AL if you keep your starter armor).
 * Don't bring anything that gives +armor
 * Vigor rune
 * A vampiric and/or zealous Scythe of enchanting. A vampiric scythe can potentially heal you for up to 15 hp with each swing, and a zealous can provide up to 3 energy per swing.  Not only does a scythe help your energy efficiency, but it also helps damage, as it will do minor damage on its own, and will also make enemies use skills more frequently hence triggering SS more often (Bladed Aatxes will use Ripostes more, and you will also provide them, as well as graspings, more adrenalin to use their skills more often).

Spiteful Spirit Necromancer (SS/SV)
[build name="spiteful spirit necromancer (ss/sv)" prof=necro/mesme curses=12+3+1 illusi=9 soulre=9+1][arcane echo][spiteful spirit][reckless haste][ancestor's visage][sympathetic visage][optional][optional][optional][/build] Optional:
 * Blood Ritual (For inexperienced monks. Most monks will request it, but it is completely possible for a monk to properly manage their energy and rarely require "regen" time.)
 * Awaken the Blood (more damage from SS)
 * Insidious Parasite (A very nice option. Great for killing skeletons quickly, finishing off foes, taking out single targets, and even survival. A good SS can solo a group of 3 Graspings and a group of 2-3 Coldfires by echoing Insidious Parasite.  This is usefully when and if the aggro becomes broken or the monk dies and there are creatures between you and the monk's corpse.)
 * Mantra of Resolve (for Mindblades, if you choose to venture further than most)
 * Signet of Corruption (great e-management skill, with the added bonus of causing area damage)
 * Signet of Lost Souls (another great e-management option)
 * Sunspear Rebirth Signet (or you can just carry res scrolls)
 * Resurrection Signet (if you do not have Nightfall or res scrolls)

Usage:
 * Patience and good timing are the most important aspects of success. Give the monk room to operate and round up and gather aggro. Following closely will only result in breaking up aggro and making fights longer. Never move into the aggro range of enemies before they are concentrating on the monk. Most enemy types will also change their target to you if you go closer than the maximum spell casting range.
 * Once the enemies are piled up into one nice pile (a good monk should do this), proceed to echo and apply Spiteful Spirit and its copy on different foes. Follow it up with Reckless Haste if you have it (which affects an area so you do not need to apply it to more than one foe in the same cluster before the duration wears off). Always cast SS on the creature/creatures with the highest HP.  This will ensure that SS kills all of the other foes with lower hp, and then will continue to damage the higher HP foes.  Bladed Aatxes have the highest HP, so if the monk has aggroed Grasping Darknesses and Bladed Aatxes, always cast SS on the Aatxes.
 * Always make sure that Skeleton's of Dhuum die before any other creature. It is very difficult for a monk to tank skeletons by themselves, as their attacks do not often trigger Spirit Bond, and also ignore the monk's damage reduction spells.  As long as other enemies are alive and attacking the monk, Skeleton's are not a big problem.  A great strategy to ensure skeletons die first is to cast Arcane Echo, followed by SS and Insidious Parasite on the Skeleton.  This leaves you with an extra copy of SS to use on the other creatures, or to take out other Skeletons if there happens to be more than one aggroed.
 * At the monk's request, maintain Sympathetic Visage or Ancestor's Visage (but rarely/never at the same time) against Grasping Darknesses to reduce interrupts and the use of "fear me" by the Graspings. Otherwise, do not use visages vs. Graspings as this will only slow the killing process down when farming with an experienced monk.
 * If you are attacked, pull the attackers to the monk, who should cast Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond on you. If you act quickly, the enemies will die by the initial SS spells and you won't need to recast it.
 * Fighting Smite Crawlers is probably the most difficult job you will encounter on this farm. It is essential to keep their energy drained constantly so that they do not heal themselves and also do not remove your hexes.  To ensure this is done, cast visage on the monk, wait 9 seconds to let visage lower the energy of the Smites, then cast in the following order: Visage on the monk, Arcane Echo (if you did not echo visage), Spiteful Spirit on target 1, Spiteful Spirit on target 2 (or recklass haste if you echoed visage), then visage on the monk again, then move away from aggro range.
 * Coldfire Nights are easy to kill if the monk is able to keep them together and you stay out of their aggro when not casting SS on them. Otherwise, they have a tendency to break aggro and go after you.

Equipment:
 * A 20/20 weapon set, Ideally, Villnar's Glove and the Wayward Wand of Curses from the Adept of Bone. A curses Wailing Wand is also very useful, it can be obtained from Telamon or Gertrud. This significantly reduces the average recharge time of Spiteful Spirit. Other good equipment options include Tain's Corruption and any +12 energy curses offhand with a "Forget me Not" inscription.
 * A 20% enchanting set for extending the duration of Visages.
 * Radiant armor with Runes of Attunement.
 * The Stonereaper also works relatively well with this character.

Variants
 * See Archive:N/Me SS Nuker