Guild Wars February updates gave me ever so many shiny new toys! It's a pity I've been so busy working I haven't been able to play with them all.
This is one of my shiniest latest toys - but be warned, I suspect it will be nerfed. It feels... too good. Years of gaming gut instinct tells me this one will die, so enjoy it while it lasts!
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The Concept
Keep up ally-wide Aegis (Displacement), Protective Spirit (Shelter), Pimped-Up Shielding Hands (Union) at least 80% of the time. Never run out of energy. Run around all you like (with spirits every 15s, you're highly mobile).
Skills
Soul Twisting (Elite)
Shelter
Displacement
Union
Feast of Souls
Mighty was Vorizun
Boon of Creation
Flesh of my Flesh [optional slot]
StatsCommuning [12]
Spawning Power [12]
Gear
- Superior runes of either type. Communing will give you fatter spirits. Spawning power will give a longer duration on Soul Twisting, bigger heals on Feast of Souls and also slightly fatter spirits. Works with minor runes too, so just pick according to your playstyle (and/or budget).
- Weapon doesn't matter, you'll be clutching your ashypot 99% of the time.
- Radiant or herald's insignia work best.
Campaigns Needed
Factions. That's it. =) No PVE skills needed. Good for baby rits.
How To Use
- Keep Mighty was Vorizun and Boon of Creation up at all times.
- Keep Soul Twisting up whenever you can refresh it - once you get into the rhythm of it, it's not hard. Soul twisting is an instant cast, and cannot be stripped.
- Place your spirits, refresh Soul Twisting when it's available again.
- For single spirit party heals (100hp), spread your spirits out so you only 'eat' one at a time with Feast of Souls.
- For a 300+hp party spike heal, put the spirits in a ball, and eat them all. Be aware that the spirits are major damage mitigation, and if you do that, and all prots are gone, your party members may drop like stones. Experience will teach you when it's safe to eat them all.
Optional Slots
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Great Dwarf Weapon [requires EotN Campaign] - Your physical damage dealers will love you
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Great Dwarf Armor [requires EotN Campaign] - Getting bored standing around while waiting for your spirits to die so you make new ones? GDA is a wonderful mini prot that doesn't take any stats.
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Pain Inverter [requires EotN Campaign] - You'll never run out of E anyway, toss this at bosses and elementalist foes for numbergasms.
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Breath of the Great Dwarf [requires EotN Campaign] - Great for areas with lots of burning - also functions as a mini heal party.
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Armor of Unfeeling - Wiki has mixed reports on how well this works. I found it didn't lengthen my spirits' lifespans for long enough to bother with, especially since Soul Twisting allows such a fast recast. Experiment with it to your own preference.
Update: [Courtesy of my friend Star Guards Squad 1234567890] If you intend to use your spirits as a spirit wall, and NOT a backline/out of line of fire prot that covers your frontline, you must bring this. They die way too fast otherwise.
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Spirit to Flesh - If you're good at targetting your allied spirits - this one is for you. Take it either as the optional slot, or the alternative to Feast of Souls. Be aware that it heals *nearby* allies though, and will not function as a party-wide heal the way Feast of Souls will. Works particularly well if standing beside a Minion Master with a nice batch of bone fiends.
Optional slots that DID NOT work for me
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Restoration - Eating this spirit with Feast of Souls didn't make my Master of Whispers stand up. I could have sworn he was right beside me, but I might have misestimated the distance. Use at own risk.
Update: [Courtesy of my friend Star Guards Squad 1234567890] Restoration will resurrect party members if you use Soul Twisting, and cast it twice, replacing it with a copy of itself.
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Spirit's Gift [requires Nightfall Campaign] - Mighty was Vorizun and Boon of Creation mean that every 45-60s or so, you have to stand still for 4 seconds to recast them. This is too much for some trigger happy people who will leap ahead, not letting you catch up. Piling Spirit's Gift on top of this tendency made me an unhappy camper. If you can find a sane lot of people though, it could work
Counters
- Having both Mighty was Vorizun and Boon of Creation interrupted.
- You can survive on only one, but if you lose both, kiss your energy goodbye.
- Not having Soul Twisting up when summoning spirits.
Additional notes
Why Mighty was Vorizun, rather than Energetic was Lee Sah?
Boon of Creation doesn't reduce energy cost, it refunds you the energy after you've already spent the original amount. Vorizun therefore lets you cast with the huge energy pool you need, while Boon ensures that you never run out of E. Additionally, Vorizun can be kept up all the time, Lee Sah cannot.
Help! My party is taking way too much damage, and all three spirits die too fast! This sucks!
If your party is taking a massive influx of damage, spread all around, you need to pick ONE spirit to chain cast 3 times. If the damage is elemental, use Shelter. If the damage is physical, use Displacement. Union is (imo) your least likely spirit to chain, since it works best against small, fast attacks. Each time your spirit dies, recast it with Soul Twisting still up. This should leave you with at most 3-5s without any spirit protection.
Feast of Souls is useless! When I eat my spirits to heal people, everyone is healed and then drops dead! Oi!
To use Feast of Souls effectively - needs a bit of practice and planning. Ideally you should know beforehand when you drop the spirits if you will be needing to eat them or not. If you think you will need to eat them, but retain prots, space them out so you can pick which one to eat. If you know you can eat them all (and thus drop all prots) without consequences (i.e. massive party heal from lots of degen), then ball them up and eat them all. Feast of Souls is strictly 'in a tight spot' support, and should not ever be relied on as the main party heal.
Can Heroes use this build?Yes. Soul Twisting AI for heroes was updated, and heroes use this beautifully now.
For a hero, though, I'd replace Feast of Souls with Spirit to Flesh, since heroes can much more reliably target the low-health spirit to chomp on for spot heals.
Where have you tested this?Dzagonir Bastion (HM + bonus)
Underworld (NM)
Issnur Isles Vanquish
Destruction's Depths (NM + HM)
Heart of the Shiverpeaks (NM + HM)
A Time for Heroes (HM with H/H)
I don't tend to run prot or heal when I run with H/H, so other than A Time for Heroes, all the rest were done with real people + heroes, or plain real people.
