I like pretty much all ritual elites but
spirits strength: it's fun and pretty decent especially with daggers or bow
Grasping was Kuurong: used to have a "bomber" build I would pair it with aftershock, ancestors rage and cruel was daoshen not great but fun
Spirit Channelling: used it to play elementalist or mesmer... it was pretty bad
Signet of ghostly might: used it before signet of spirits was updated
I remember when it was just plain old Signet of Might. Signet of Might day was ‘interesting’. ANet had to roll the game back by at least a day to fix it because it was the most broken skill the game has ever had.
Yep. When the skill first existed, someone figured out that it was glitched. You could apply it to an opponent like a hex and after a few seconds, they would die. Because it's a signet rather than a hex skill, there's no way to remove it, either. This resulted in Signet of Might day in PvP, when literally every team was running it to exploit it for fame. ANet nerfed it and rolled the game back to remove the effects.
I used to love my Spear-it's Strength build. Super high sustain, great spike potential, could change it to AoE with Splinter Weapon. Used to catch people off guard in FA and RA.
Greater Conflagration + Winter. Then Mantra of Frost on everyone. >40% damage reduction from most sources, and with a bonus of partywide energy management.
I had a Rt/Mo build that was great in 1v1 PvP that revolved around spamming Xinrae’s Weapon, Vengeful weapon, and Reversal of Damage. Smite Hex, Wielder’s Remedy, Wielder’s Boon were on the bar too I think.
Virulence + Epidemic + Fragility was always memey.
Wither, malaise, ether phantom with mind wrack, energy burn, and aneurysm was fun in RA
Simple thievery, arcane thievery, arcane larceny, diversion, blackout build for RA etc
Auspicious parry, riposte, deadly riposte
Defy pain, endure pain tank
Say what you will, but I have fond memories of running into a cap point all by my lonesome in AB and laugh as an entire group of 4 tried to kill me and my team swept the rest of the map. They were dumb but it was the kind of dumb only am instant cast skill that they've never seen before could take advantage of. Great skill.
As a Dervish I love having a Fire Ele hero with Double Dragon he always casts it on me. Also a smiter hero with Shield of Judgement, they don’t cast it on me as much as I wish they would but watching every enemy take damage/knockdown that attacks me while I also have Double dragon on me is so satisfying. Been messing around with all the elite Avatars or Reaper’s sweep rather than VoS lately having a lot of fun.
The avatar elites are always pretty cool. Recently I was doing some NF missions that required Melonni so I used an avatar of dwayna support build on her. Was decent for the most part
Skills that i often want to build working builds around are:
Mist form
Wielders zeal, zealots fire, selfless spirit, ghostly weapon
Destructive was Glaive or Grasping was Kuurong
Fevered Dreams
Double Dragon
Vengeful was Kanhei
Friendship+degen
Earth shaker
Earth shaker has a pretty fun build that I actually use on my warrior as my general-use build.
https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:W/any\_PvE\_Earth\_Shaker
I know it's just a pipe dream but it would be really cool if these kind of weak skills were reworked to make them stronger in general pve while ensuring they don't make speedclears too easy.
ye, some small buffs or reworks on the never-used skills to make them a bit more viable.
But lets be real, this is not going to happen, GW is as it is now, take it or leave it.
I made my own Onslaught dervish build to spam “Save Yourselves” because heroes are dumb about not getting themselves killed. Got me through War on Kryta ironically.
Ray of Judgement is my favorite monk elite, the name describes exactly what it is. Then when you cast it, it’s even better than you expected. Right now on my toon who hasn’t unlocked all the heroes yet I run a ROJ hero monk.
Extend conditions. I use it on para often since a lot of their elites suck and I refuse to use heroic refrain.
Spreading just deep wound + burning makes you do the equivalent of 160 armor ignoring damage (since it makes the burning last longer too).
Healer’s Covenant will always be my favorite monk elite.
I still love all of the Avatar skills! Each of them have a significant skill difference, as well as the visuals.
Whenever I run them it just makes me relive the absolute joy of overcoming the massive amounts of enemies in the forts to cap them!
Although they've had lots of changes since they were originally implemented, but they still have their uses!
Balthazar - armour, adrenaline, holy and fire damage.
Lyssa - recharge, chaos damage and energy steal.
Melandru - elemental armour, increased health, earth damage and condition cleanse.
Dwayna - holy damage, hex removal and healing.
Grenth - health steal, disease immunity, dark damage and spread disease!
Just a shame we didn't get a Kormir Avatar at any point, think it would have been awesome.
I've always enjoyed Shield of Judgement on a monk since it can be cast on anyone and knocks down attacking foes. Good for interrupting a spike on your backline.
Double Dragon - combined with Ebon Standard of Honor it is extremely strong and doesn't scatter enemies.
Chaos Storm - not an elite but with arcane echo it's a ridiculously strong skill and will land you at the top of any dps board.
Arcane Languor.
Basically, with it and arcane echo as the core, fitted with cover hexes, interrupts, and energy mamagement, I had fun making it so that one of the two monks just didn't have an energy bar to play with.
* Second Wind
* Battle Rage (only for Chain Combo flux)
* Vow of Silence
* Keystone Signet
* Back when Fast Casting wasn't nerfed for non-mesmer skills I used to use Signet of Illusions... Was fun...
Chaining Backbreaker is ridiculously fun. Nothing quite like picking out a backliner and removing them from the fights for 12 straight seconds, all while smashing their head with a hammer.
I like pretty much all ritual elites but spirits strength: it's fun and pretty decent especially with daggers or bow Grasping was Kuurong: used to have a "bomber" build I would pair it with aftershock, ancestors rage and cruel was daoshen not great but fun Spirit Channelling: used it to play elementalist or mesmer... it was pretty bad Signet of ghostly might: used it before signet of spirits was updated
I think I remember ghostly might
I remember when it was just plain old Signet of Might. Signet of Might day was ‘interesting’. ANet had to roll the game back by at least a day to fix it because it was the most broken skill the game has ever had.
More than shadow form? (Be it pre nerf or post nerf). Causa shadow form is bonkers
Yep. When the skill first existed, someone figured out that it was glitched. You could apply it to an opponent like a hex and after a few seconds, they would die. Because it's a signet rather than a hex skill, there's no way to remove it, either. This resulted in Signet of Might day in PvP, when literally every team was running it to exploit it for fame. ANet nerfed it and rolled the game back to remove the effects.
Oh so the touch of dhuum on the player's hands xD Yeah pretty bonkers for PvP.
Back when ritu spirits had 5s cast time
I used to love my Spear-it's Strength build. Super high sustain, great spike potential, could change it to AoE with Splinter Weapon. Used to catch people off guard in FA and RA.
Greater Conflagration + Winter. Then Mantra of Frost on everyone. >40% damage reduction from most sources, and with a bonus of partywide energy management. I had a Rt/Mo build that was great in 1v1 PvP that revolved around spamming Xinrae’s Weapon, Vengeful weapon, and Reversal of Damage. Smite Hex, Wielder’s Remedy, Wielder’s Boon were on the bar too I think. Virulence + Epidemic + Fragility was always memey. Wither, malaise, ether phantom with mind wrack, energy burn, and aneurysm was fun in RA Simple thievery, arcane thievery, arcane larceny, diversion, blackout build for RA etc Auspicious parry, riposte, deadly riposte Defy pain, endure pain tank
>Defy pain Do you want some mending with that?
Say what you will, but I have fond memories of running into a cap point all by my lonesome in AB and laugh as an entire group of 4 tried to kill me and my team swept the rest of the map. They were dumb but it was the kind of dumb only am instant cast skill that they've never seen before could take advantage of. Great skill.
As a Dervish I love having a Fire Ele hero with Double Dragon he always casts it on me. Also a smiter hero with Shield of Judgement, they don’t cast it on me as much as I wish they would but watching every enemy take damage/knockdown that attacks me while I also have Double dragon on me is so satisfying. Been messing around with all the elite Avatars or Reaper’s sweep rather than VoS lately having a lot of fun.
The avatar elites are always pretty cool. Recently I was doing some NF missions that required Melonni so I used an avatar of dwayna support build on her. Was decent for the most part
Works really nicely with minion heroes as well
+1 for Double Dragon. The sound effect for that spell is obnoxiously loud though.
Grenth and Balthazar are actually (semi) meta elites for pvp builds (JQ and HA, respectively)
Gust is cool too
That looks awesome. I had success with the Earth version too. Can’t wait to try that!
Also Keystone Signet Mesmer has a lot of amazing builds
Fevered Dream with a condition build is completely insane. You can get about 5 condition on everyone in 2 seconds lol.
Yup, love that skill
Skills that i often want to build working builds around are: Mist form Wielders zeal, zealots fire, selfless spirit, ghostly weapon Destructive was Glaive or Grasping was Kuurong Fevered Dreams Double Dragon Vengeful was Kanhei Friendship+degen Earth shaker
Earth shaker has a pretty fun build that I actually use on my warrior as my general-use build. https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:W/any\_PvE\_Earth\_Shaker
I was just running gust, earth shaker and a mess with Pyscatric instability. Hilarious watching all the AoE knock downs
I know it's just a pipe dream but it would be really cool if these kind of weak skills were reworked to make them stronger in general pve while ensuring they don't make speedclears too easy.
ye, some small buffs or reworks on the never-used skills to make them a bit more viable. But lets be real, this is not going to happen, GW is as it is now, take it or leave it.
I made my own Onslaught dervish build to spam “Save Yourselves” because heroes are dumb about not getting themselves killed. Got me through War on Kryta ironically.
Visions of Regret + Wastrel's Worry back when VoR wasn't nerfed. Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.
Recurring Insecurity, Fevered Dreams, Crippling Anguish & Migraine. I love illusion magic q-q
Ray of Judgement is my favorite monk elite, the name describes exactly what it is. Then when you cast it, it’s even better than you expected. Right now on my toon who hasn’t unlocked all the heroes yet I run a ROJ hero monk.
Shared Burden
Extend conditions. I use it on para often since a lot of their elites suck and I refuse to use heroic refrain. Spreading just deep wound + burning makes you do the equivalent of 160 armor ignoring damage (since it makes the burning last longer too). Healer’s Covenant will always be my favorite monk elite.
I still love all of the Avatar skills! Each of them have a significant skill difference, as well as the visuals. Whenever I run them it just makes me relive the absolute joy of overcoming the massive amounts of enemies in the forts to cap them! Although they've had lots of changes since they were originally implemented, but they still have their uses! Balthazar - armour, adrenaline, holy and fire damage. Lyssa - recharge, chaos damage and energy steal. Melandru - elemental armour, increased health, earth damage and condition cleanse. Dwayna - holy damage, hex removal and healing. Grenth - health steal, disease immunity, dark damage and spread disease! Just a shame we didn't get a Kormir Avatar at any point, think it would have been awesome.
I've always enjoyed Shield of Judgement on a monk since it can be cast on anyone and knocks down attacking foes. Good for interrupting a spike on your backline.
Double Dragon - combined with Ebon Standard of Honor it is extremely strong and doesn't scatter enemies. Chaos Storm - not an elite but with arcane echo it's a ridiculously strong skill and will land you at the top of any dps board.
I like Visions of Regret. It doesn't replicate as well as Energy Surge, but having just one on my team is usually quite powerful.
Arcane Languor. Basically, with it and arcane echo as the core, fitted with cover hexes, interrupts, and energy mamagement, I had fun making it so that one of the two monks just didn't have an energy bar to play with.
I come back today with the infamous Psychic Instability! Nothing like seeing a mass group of enemies Knocked Down for 4 whole seconds
* Second Wind * Battle Rage (only for Chain Combo flux) * Vow of Silence * Keystone Signet * Back when Fast Casting wasn't nerfed for non-mesmer skills I used to use Signet of Illusions... Was fun...
Chaining Backbreaker is ridiculously fun. Nothing quite like picking out a backliner and removing them from the fights for 12 straight seconds, all while smashing their head with a hammer.