User:Saxazaxx/Team - 7 Hero Deep

This PvE-oriented team composition is designed to allow players to complete The Deep in Hard Mode with 7 heroes. It is intended to be played on an Assassin primary character. It is recommended that you bring Scrolls of Resurrection, crafted by Kwat, Alcus Nailbiter, Edwin, or Eyja at Embark Beach, for the Aspect of Failure in The Deep, in which spells, including Flesh of My Flesh, all fail.

Player Bar
[build prof=a/w dagger=12+1+3 crit=12+1] [Jagged Strike][Fox Fangs][Death Blossom]["Save Yourselves!"][Way of the Assassin]["You Move Like a Dwarf!"]["I Am Unstoppable!"][Recall] [/build]


 * Weapons & Armor:
 * Nightstalker's Insignias
 * Zealous Daggers of Defense
 * Any Longbow or Flatbow(for pulling enemies)
 * Shield set (16 armor, +30hp, +10vs Demons is ideal + one-handed weapon of enchanting)
 * Optional: High-energy staff

Mesmer 1
[build prof=me/a dom=12+1+3 fast=10+1 insp=8+1] [Energy Surge][Cry of Frustration][Mistrust][Unnatural Signet][Shatter Hex][Empathy][Leech Signet][Recall] [/build]


 * Weapons & Armor
 * 40/40 Domination set
 * Prodigy's Insignias

Mesmer 2
[build prof=me/a dom=12+1+3 fast=10+1 insp=8+1] [Panic][Cry of Frustration][Mistrust][Unnatural Signet][Shatter Hex][Power Drain][Leech Signet][Recall] [/build]


 * Weapons & Armor
 * 40/40 Domination set
 * Prodigy's Insignias

Mesmer 3
[build prof=me/a illu=12+1+3 fast=10+1 insp=8+1] [Ineptitude][Arcane Conundrum][Wandering Eye][Clumsiness][Signet of Clumsiness][Inspired Hex][Leech Signet][Recall] [/build]
 * Weapons & Armor
 * 40/40 Illusion set
 * Prodigy's Insignias

Ritualist 1
[build prof=rit/a comm=12+1+3 spawn=12+3] [Soul Twisting][Shelter][Union][Displacement][Armor of Unfeeling][Spirit to Flesh][Boon of Creation][Recall] [/build]
 * Weapons & Armor
 * High-energy staff of Enchanting
 * Shaman's or Blessed Insignias

Ritualist 2
[build prof=rit/p chan=12+1+3 spawn=9+1 command=9] [Signet of Spirits][Splinter Weapon][Bloodsong][Ancestors' Rage][Spirit Rift][Flesh of My Flesh]["Never Surrender!"]["Fall Back!"] [/build]


 * Weapons & Armor
 * 40/40 Channeling set
 * Shaman's Insignias

Necromancer 1
[build prof=n/rit blood=10+1+2 soul=8+1 resto=12] [Blood is Power][Blood Bond][Signet of Lost Souls][Spirit Transfer][Mend Body and Soul][Spirit Light][Protective Was Kaolai][Recovery] [/build]
 * Weapons & Armor
 * 40/20/20 Restoration Magic staff of Enchanting
 * Tormentor's, Survivor, or Undertaker's Insignias

Necromancer 2
[build prof=n/rit soul=10+1+1 curses=8+1 resto=12] [Icy Veins][Enfeebling Blood][Weaken Armor][Signet of Lost Souls][Mend Body and Soul][Spirit Light][Protective Was Kaolai][Life] [/build]


 * Weapons & Armor
 * Restoration Magic staff with a 20% HCT staff head and inscription, plus a staff wrapping of Defense
 * Tormentor's or Survivor Insignias

Usage

 * General strategy and tactics can be found on the GuildWarsWiki page: The Deep.
 * Aspects of Kanaxai must be knocked down at 75%, 50%, and 25% of health or they take 0 damage.
 * The main Kanaxai boss at the end of The Deep must himself be knocked down at 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20%.

Start

 * Flag all your heroes, using the total party flag, to the first blue, sparkling portal on the right. Three of your heroes will go through the portal and appear in the first room on the edge of your minimap.
 * Re-flag your party flag somewhere else in the starting room. Do not place the party flag in the second portal yet. And do not cancel the first party flag and then place the flag somewhere on the ground in the starting room. Just place the party flag somewhere again without canceling it.
 * Run through the second portal yourself.
 * Cancel the party flag. This will make your heroes teleport to you. It should take 10 seconds or so for them all to appear in Room 2.
 * Kill the group with the Kanaxai Death Aspect in Room 2 and run down the corridor.
 * Note: If some of you heroes do not run to you, trying moving around a bit, without aggroing the enemies in the room if you can. If that doesn't work, try placing the party flag somwhere in the starting room and then canceling again. This will cause your heroes to run to it, then when you cancel the flag, they will "reset" and run to the spawn location in the first room, and then they should run to where the portal in the second room was, before teleporting to you. When they do that, they should be able to teleport to you even if you and two of the other heroes going through the portal caused the second room's portal to deactivate and the third room's portal to open up--the remaining heroes should still teleport to you.
 * Note: If you can't get all your heroes into Room 2 with you, resign and follow the steps again.

Section 5, health degeneration

 * Flag your party in the corridor, a few paces away from the entrance to the Aspect of Pain room.
 * Aggro the three patrolling mobs and pull them backwards into the corridor.
 * Spike down the Ripper Carps, and then take out any Darkened Irukandji to prevent them from using Restoration. If they do use it, kill the spirit before killing them. If you experience difficulty, you may try experimenting with Frozen Soil on one of your heroes.
 * When you have killed the three patrols, kill the three stationary Blessed Mantas and the room's Pain Kanaxai Aspect.

Section 6, slowed movement
Note that the video posted at the bottom of this page exhibits an outdated team composition and strategy --in terms of using Shadow of Haste, which is not needed any more--for this Aspect of Lethargy room ("Gate room").
 * Flag your party behind the right side of the entrance to the Aspect of Lethargy room, as indicated in the picture below:
 * When you run to the center of the room, two groups of Leviathan Arms to the Northwest and Southeast will run at you. Pull them backwards to your group to kill, then pull the group that patrols along the corridor by the Kanaxai Aspect if you didn't aggro it with the other two.
 * Clear out the room and kill the Lethargy Aspect. It can speed things up if you spread out your party, using individual hero flags, when attacking the Leviathan heads, so their Choking Gas doesn't interrupt every caster hero in your party.
 * Kill the group of Outcast that spawn in casting range on the far side of the gate before you open it.
 * Hold down your Shift key and click the Recall skill on your four heroes' bars. You will see a red "cancel" sign over the 4 skills.
 * Cast your Recall skill on any of your three heroes who do not have Recall.
 * Flag your whole party to a point beyond the closed gate.
 * Target yourself, then click the four canceled Recalls on your four heroes' bars. This will make them cast Recall on you.
 * There are two pads to the North and two pads to the West when you are standing on the middle pad. Flag hero 1 and 2 (both of whom have Recall on their bars) on the left two pads.
 * Flag hero 3 and 4 to the right pads (they should also have Recall).
 * When players or NPCs are standing on all five pads at once, the gate will open, and your remaining three heroes will run through.
 * Open your minimap (U key) and move the party flag to the point indicated on the screenshot of the minimap:
 * It is important that the three heroes run to the right of the "L wall," down the sort of corridor, so that they do not aggro the 2nd Outcast group on the left of the "L" wall.
 * If you and your Recall heroes do not teleport, flag your party a little farther down the corridor (using your minimap).
 * When the three heroes run off your minimap, out of range of you, the Recall you casted on one of the three heroes who ran through will end. A split second later, the recall on your 4 Recall heroes will end, and your entire party will be transported through the gate.

Section 7, energy burn

 * Kill the Outcast group behind the "L" wall.
 * Use a longbow to pull the Depletion Aspect away from the three stationary Outcast groups by the gate. You may aggro the groups briefly to pull Kanaxai, he will pull all the way to the gate of the precious room (Lethargy), whereas the three stationary Outcast groups will break.
 * When you cross a certain point in this room (Depletion), Nightmares will spawn in the previous room (Lethargy). Flag your party away from the closed gate so they do not aggro the Nightmares. Make sure your heroes are set to "Guard," not "Aggressive," so they don't aggro the Nightmares, even if they are standing outside your heroes' range. You heroes can be changed from Aggressive to Guard mode by selecting the orange shield icon on each of their skill bars.
 * Killing the Depletion Aspect will remove the effect of energy depletion and damage every 30 seconds, and it will make killing the next three Outcast groups much easier.
 * Flag your party in range of just one Outcast group, either the one on the left or right high outcropping, and have your heroes damage them down. As a meleer, you should stay with your party and let your heroes do the damage. Get ready to re-flag your party to another location if an Outcast Spellstorm successfully casts Maelstrom - this can quickly wipe your party, along with Arc Lightning and Gust on their Necromancers' Flesh Golems.
 * Kill the other group of Outcast in the same fashion, by flagging your party in range of them and letting your heroes damage them down with spells.
 * After the left and right groups are dead, you may proceed to kill the final Outcast group in the center of the room, by the gate.
 * After all three Outcast groups are killed, the gate to the next room (Aspect of Failure) will open, and the gate from the previous room will open too. This means that the Nightmares from the previous room will be able to aggro your party and move in to the room (Depletion) if you aggro them--previously, they were blocked by the Lethargy room's gate. This will give you the opportunity to kill the Nightmares and resurrect any party member who died and got trapped behind the gate, in case you made a mistake with the Recall gate trick.

Section 8, no spells

 * Flag your heroes behind one of the walls that form the doorway to the Aspect of Failure. They should be flagged inside the Aspect of Depletion room.
 * Run to the small cliffs in the Aspect of Failure room, and wait until the three patrolling Outcast groups more or less ball up on the stairs. When all three are running near each other, briefly aggro one of the enemies in the patrol and they all should aggro on you. Immediately run back to the gate where you flagged your heroes.
 * Body Block the meleers using the wall on your right. Your heroes should spike them down easily.
 * While you are killing the three Outcast patrols, ensure that your heroes do not run into the Failure room, or they will not be able to cast spells.
 * If you miss a patrol, simply pull the ones you did aggro to your party, wait for your heroes to kill them, and then run back to the cliffs and pull the last patrol.
 * Run with your heroes past the Outcast Rangers, without killing them, down the first set of stairs into the next area (Aspect of Shadows).
 * Note: Chest farming: often, a Locked Chest (if playing in HM) or a Deep Jade Chest (if playing in NM) will spawn on top of the cliffs by the two stationary Outcast Ranger groups, along with the Failure Aspect. If you wish to unlock the chest for the chance at a rare item, run through the room with your heroes, past the stationary Outcast Ranger groups, without killing them. Flag your party on the first set of stairs that lead out of the Failure room. They will be standing outside the Failure effect and be able to damage the Failure Aspect with spells and cast healing spells. Especially if playing in HM, you might need to bring Death's Charge to jump up to one of the Outcast Rangers so that you can aggro the Failure Aspect and then pull it down the stairs to your party. If you try to aggro the Failure Aspect by running up the stairs, aggroing it, and running back down the stairs, you might die and have to restart the mission, since your heroes will not be able to run back into the room's Aspect effect and heal you or resurrect you. You can also cast Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support on an Outcast Ranger that is standing nearby the Failure Aspect on top of the second cliff, so that the Failure Aspect aggros the Ebon Vanguard Assasin, which will allow you to easily aggro the Failure Aspect from the bottom of the cliff, and the Failure Aspect will run down the stairs itself, toward you and your party. This method allows you to aggro and kill the Failure Aspect without needing to Death's Charge up the cliff, or run up and down the stairs at all. But you should only bring Death's Charge or Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support if you intend to farm chests in the mission. After you kill the Failure Aspect, you may bring your heroes into the room and have them either kill or take aggro of the Outcast Rangers, allowing you to run up the stairs and get the chest.

Section 9, no enchantments

 * Flag your party in the very corner to the left of the stairs, behind the wall. If you did not kill the Failure Aspect, they will be able to cast spells while standing in this corner, as it is outside the Aspect of Failure.
 * Run down the second set of stairs into the Aspect of Shadows room, and to the first Fire Flower on the left. Before you reach the flower, three groups of Oni should appear. Pull them backwards and bodyblock them on the top of the stairs so that they can't run around the corner and attack your heroes. Because Oni use Viper's Defense, some will inevitably get past you. But Oni are relatively weak, and your heroes should have no problem killing them.
 * There are two main paths through this room (Shadows). Take the path on the left by hugging the wall to the left and killing the Reborn Irukandjis and Oni popups on the way. Hug the wall and stay to the left all the way to the Shadow Aspect at the back of the room. Kill the Shadows Aspect and proceed to the next long set of stairs at the start of the next room (Scorpion).
 * Note: The Leviathan will only be able to attack your party when you are about halfway between the second set of stairs at the beginning of the room and the Shadows Aspect at the back.
 * Note: It is possible to skip killing the Shadows Aspect. You may skip it by taking the right path and running past or killing The Leviathan. This path can be more difficult, since your heroes will have energy issues without Blood is Power, which is an enchantment and cannot be cast while the Aspect effect is active.

Section 10, teleport and knockdown

 * The effect causes players to be teleported and knocked down next to foes within aggro range, this makes it extremely dangerous against Maelstrom and Oni spawns.
 * "I Am Unstoppable!" will prevent yourself from being knocked down.
 * Set your team at the top of the stairs, they will teleport to the Darkened Irukandji if it isn't dead.
 * Wait for the Oni patrols and pull them towards your group.
 * After the patrols have been eliminated start pulling the first two or three groups, they won't aggro while moving.
 * There will be a large Oni spawn at the center, make sure spirits are set up and heroes are at the stairs before killing them. If you have trouble with this part, bringing a Soul Twisting Ritualist helps greatly.
 * Hug the left or right wall and take out the groups.
 * Kill the Aspect of Kanaxai, you will be teleported frequently, so get hexes on him.

Section 11, damage while moving

 * Follow the path to the first bridge.
 * When you move over the center of the bridge, 10 or so groups of Oni and Freezing Nightmares will spawn and run at you. Don't continue any farther on the bridge, as there will be an Oni spawn.
 * After taking these groups out, kill the Oni spawn at the end of the bridge.
 * Repeat this for the next bridge.
 * At the final bridge, there will be a massive Oni spawn. You can kill the Aspect of Kanaxai before, during, or after killing the Oni.

Section 12, damage upon energy depletion

 * Unequip all caster weapons from heroes, this prevents the Sapping Nightmares from using Chaos Storm.
 * Move in towards the cavern until the enemies spawn. They move around in a circular pattern.
 * Ball groups of varying sizes against a wall and pull them towards your group to take out.
 * Do this until there's a couple groups left and you're free to go kill the Aspect of Kanaxai.
 * It is possible to skip this aspect. Do this by using YMLaD on it while running past.

Section 13, health degeneration while Bleeding or Poisoned

 * Flag your heroes to the right side next to the stalagmites, it's a good position to pull mobs.
 * Kill the Oni spawn at the center.
 * An Oni group will spawn after aggroing the Outcast group. Aggro the group with a longbow and run back or use Recall.
 * Take out the Outcast group and then the Oni group.
 * Keep following the right side until you reach an opening, where there will be an Oni spawn.

Section 14, damage unless skills are used

 * There will be groups of 3 Oni spawning along the winding path.
 * Follow the path and kill the group of Outcast and the Aspect of Kanaxai.
 * Turn right from here into Kanaxai's cavernous lair.

Section 15, -8 health degeneration

 * In this room, you will experience constant health degeneration, which will be covered by spirits and Protective was Kaolai.
 * Whenever Kanaxai is knocked down he will spawn a group of Nightmares. He can spawn a maximum of 24 enemies, which is equivalent to being knocked down twice. Players can then pull him to the other side of the room and kill him. Information can be found on the GWW page.
 * 1) Cast Recall on a hero and run into the room.
 * 2) Kanaxai has roughly double the aggro range of the bubble. Use "I Am Unstoppable!" prior to him attacking and pull him towards the wall.
 * 3) Use "You Move Like a Dwarf!" once you pulled him next to the wall or are just about to die and cancel Recall.
 * 4) Repeat this step except you use "You Move Like a Dwarf!" ASAP and cancel Recall again.
 * Move your heroes to the opposite side of the room (Convention is to get spawns on left side, Kanaxai on right.) and pull Kanaxai.
 * Get his attention and keep IAU up to prevent knock down.
 * Interrupt Nightmare Refuge with YMLaD, Shared Burden or Arcane Conundrum make it much easier.
 * Make sure Empathy, Spiteful Spirit, and Calculated Risk are on him.
 * Clear any Nightmare spawns left and collect your chest.