Archive:Team - Barrage/Pet

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The Barrage/Pet is the most common, and effective Team build designed for ruins of the Tomb of the Primeval Kings.

As always, a decent build in the hands of a strong player is much more powerful than a perfect build in the hands of a player who doesn't know what he's doing; minor variations (runes, attribute points, non-essential skills, and choice of weapon in particular) are not harmful. Indeed, they are generally helpful, as they tend to suit a particular player's playing style and can be used to synchronize the party's abilities even more.

Team Composition

Barragers

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Supporters

Overview

This build utilizes the synergy between Barrage, Favorable Winds, and Winnowing to inflict high damage on multiple foes, with a wall of pets and minions to defend the party. This build requires only loose coordination between players, and a large spectrum of variants are viable. Barrage/pet builds are resilient to dropped players, as only two roles, the Monk and the Minion Master, can be said to be essential.

There are a total of four general roles in the team - the Barrager, the Minion Master, the Supporter, and the healing Monk. A "full team" consists of five barragers, one Minion Master, one Supporter, and one Monk. A "half team" may consist of two barragers, one Minion Master, one Supporter, and one Monk, or three barragers, one Minion Master, and one Monk.

Barragers

The barragers have nearly endless variations (even more so than the other three characters) due to the fact that many skills work extremely well with Barrage. In general, barragers should stay behind the wall of pets and minions to avoid damage. Shown below are a few example builds.

The primary profession for a barrager is the Ranger due to the extra four attribute points they can obtain in Marksmanship; however, other primary professions can sometimes do well in this position.

All barragers should use a Recurve Bow, due to its excellent timing between its firing rate and the recharge of Barrage (they are exactly equal, so the character will always be attacking with Barrage). Also, a Longbow or Flatbow is useful for pulling groups of monsters.

A Vampiric bowstring is useful to increase the damage; Sundering bowstrings can be used to a lesser extent, but without any health degeneration. The bow grip is essentially a matter of preference; a bow grip of Fortitude helps in case the barrager is attacked, while a bow grip of Marksmanship increases the damage the character deals. Other bow grips are not as commonly seen. Because there are few times when the barragers take damage, a Strength and Honor inscription adds consistent damage.

Because of this, Elswyth's Recurve Bow is a common choice (both in popularity and in availability).

Barrage/Pet group in action.

R/Mo Rebirth Barrager

<pvxbig> [build name="Rebirth Barrager" prof=range/monk marksm=12+1+1 beastm=8+1 expert=8+1 wilder=7+1][barrage][Distracting Shot][Winnowing][troll unguent][throw dirt][Feral Aggression][comfort animal][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig>

The sole advantage of this build is the presence of Rebirth. Should the group wipe, this character has the ability to resurrect all fallen teammates without aggroing monsters. It also brings an interrupt for interrupting Wurm Siege from Chaos Wurms. However, it deals much less damage than any other barrager presented here.

R/Rt Splinter Barrager

<pvxbig> [build name="Splinter Barrager" prof=range/ritua marksm=11+1+1 beastm=7+1 expert=7+1 channe=10][barrage][distracting shot][Triple Shot][splinter weapon][call of protection][Feral Aggression][comfort animal][Flesh of My Flesh][/build] </pvxbig>

Although this variant's pet is weaker than that of a normal barrager and his arrows deal slightly less damage, his overall DPS is significantly higher. Casting Splinter Weapon on himself deals a significant amount of damage with Barrage; casting it on allies before battles increases the party's DPS by an extreme amount.

The final skill slot could be Throw Dirt.

R/P Shouter Barrager

<pvxbig> [build name="Shouter Barrager" prof=range/parag marksm=12+1+1 expert=8+1 beastm=9+1 comman=5][barrage][distracting shot][Favorable Winds][anthem of envy][go for the eyes][Feral Aggression][comfort animal][We Shall Return][/build] </pvxbig>

This variant utilizes Paragon Shouts and Chants to increase the effectiveness of the entire party at the cost of his pet. "Go for the Eyes!" is an effective buff for any attacking ally, no matter what their build; Anthem of Envy is a strong chant to use at the beginning of a battle; "Brace Yourself!" is useful when combating mobs guarding Chaos Wurms (as the Wurm will attempt to knock down your allies before engaging in combat). Using "Find Their Weakness!" before "Go for the Eyes!" makes it very likely that many enemies will suddenly find a portion of their health bar turning gray.

Sunspear Rebirth Signet can be swapped for Signet of Return if a "hard" resurrection skill is desired.

R/W Savior Barrager

<pvxbig> [build name="Savior Barrager" prof=range/war marksm=12+1+1 beastm=10+1 expert=8+1][barrage][distracting shot][Edge of Extinction][save yourselves][call of protection][Never Rampage Alone][comfort animal][Sunspear Rebirth Signet][/build] </pvxbig>

The reason why people left b/p is because monks had a very hard job, and with these two barragers defense is solved for the team and monks don't have so much trouble with the reduced damage. Not having an imbagon in this build, with Save Yourselves, these barragers can aid the party with allegiance rank as low as one, because barrage increases adrenaline gain extremely. Despite not having a Hard res, with these rangers the chances of dying are significantly reduced.

• Barrage and chain save yourselves with the other barrager. It's recommended to take a defensve skil for the optional because the two of you are the most likely targets in the team.
• prepare your pet for battle via Call of Protection

General ranger variations

At least one ranger must bring Favorable Winds (often abbreviated as FW) and one ranger must bring Winnowing (often abbreviated as WW or Winn). Troll Unguent is a good skill to swap out for either spirit, as the monk (below) should be taking care of all the healing. If you decide to bring FW instead of Troll Unguent, reduce your Wilderness Survival to 0 and move the remaining points to Expertise. If you instead choose to bring Winnowing, you may want to move a few points from Beast Mastery to Wilderness Survival to create a heartier spirit. (Note that the Wilderness Orders support character can bring Winnowing if necessary.)

Perhaps the most important skill choice for an optional slot is a skill that interrupts to stop the party being devastated by Wurm Siege. Savage Shot and Distracting Shot are common choices.

The purpose of the pets is to tank for the group (at least until the Minion Master produces an army to do so). A dead pet with an exploited corpse serves no purpose, so it is important for the rangers to raise their pets at every opportunity.

All rangers should try to keep their Expertise level at or above 8 (including runes), as this will make 5-energy skills (most importantly, Barrage) cost three energy. Optionally, having 9 Expertise will make 10-energy skills cost only 6 energy.

Minion Masters

The Minion Master must be able to do two things: This minion master must be able to raise a large undead army, and he must maintain said army.

Unlike many other minion mastery builds, the minions here are not intended for pure damage, but rather to body block the Grasps of Insanity from reaching the ranger line, Though you can take advantage of this large party of minions by using skills such as Mark of Pain and Barbs.

The most restrictive variable on a minion master is time. The recharge time on many minion skills is quite long, as are the casting times. Therefore, a weapon that reduces both these times is desirable, as is one that increases the level of the minions. Since recharge time is longer than casting time (and therefore more important to reduce), an ideal staff would be an Adept 20/20 Staff of Death Magic.

For additional information, please see the general minion mastery guide on GuildWiki.

N/Mo Lich Hybrid MM

<pvxbig> [build name= "Lich Hybrid MM" prof=necro/monk deathm=12+3+1 soulre=9+1 Curses=10+1][aura of the lich][Ebon Battle Standard of Honor][Barbs][Mark of Pain][Signet of Lost Souls][blood of the master][enfeebling blood][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig>

This character makes a quick, maintainable group of bone horrors that inflicts MASSIVE damage when combined with Barbs and Mark of Pain.

N/D Undeath Hybrid MM

<pvxbig> [build name= "Undeath Hybrid MM" prof=necro/d deathm=12+3+1 soulre=10+1 earthp=8][Order of Undeath][Ebon Battle Standard of Honor][Animate Bone Fiend][Masochism][Signet of Lost Souls][Blood of the Master][Mystic Regeneration][Conviction][/build] </pvxbig>

• Keep up your minion army.
• Use mark of pain to annihilate groups
• Change res signet for barbs if resurrection is not needed.

Minions and Mark of pain synergize well, as they do with b/p. This hybrid is a break from traditional just raise and maintain a minion army, because it can deal very powerful AoE damage.

Rt/N Jagged Explosive MM

<pvxbig> [build name="Explosive Animator" prof=ritua/necro spawni=12+3+1 deathm=12][Jagged Bones][Animate Bone Minions][Great Dwarf Weapon][death nova][explosive growth][Spirit's Gift][boon of creation][blood of the master][/build] </pvxbig>

The Ritualist primary attribute Spawning Power allows a minion master to buff rangers with Great Dwarf Weapon that lasts over 30 seconds, and creates heartier (if weaker) minions, and allows for additional healing through Spirit's Gift. Because most of the damage in this team comes from the rangers, the loss of offensive power is not a big issue, although the loss of armor can be.

Unlike other minion masters presented here, this build deals a large amount of damage from Explosive Growth and Death Nova. The idea behind this is that as the tanks die, they will damage the remaining enemies - hopefully reducing or eliminating their need now that they are dead.

Support characters

These characters greatly enhance the damage output of the barragers by various means. They should carry equipment helpful for using many skills in a short period of time and making these skills last longer, if possible.

N/Mo Vampiric Orders Necromancer

<pvxbig> [build name="Vampiric Orders Necromancer" prof=necro/monk bloodm=12+3+1 soulre=8+3 healin=10 prote=2][order of the vampire][order of pain][blood renewal][blood ritual][awaken the blood][heal party][succor][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig>

This character should use as many superior runes as possible to reduce his health, decreasing the amount of health he sacrifices with his spells and increasing the rate of healing from Blood Renewal. As a result of this, he should stay well back from combat - remember that the key spells on this bar, Order of Pain and Order of the Vampire, will affect everyone on the necromancer's sphere of influence. Succor should be cast on the Monk so that he will not have as many energy management problems, and Heal Party should be used to alleviate pressure on the monk.

N/Mo Arcane Orders Dervish

<pvxbig> [build name="Arcane Orders Dervish" prof=dervi/necro myst=8+3+1 wind=10+1 blood=12][arcane zeal][order of pain][dark fury][blood ritual][mystic healing][vow of piety][watchful intervention][faithful intervention][/build] </pvxbig>

With extra party healing support from the dervish, this build is surely one of the best order builds.

• blood ritual on monk if he/she calls for energy.
• sometimes you can blood ritual the mm for faster energy and minion regain after the battle
• use orders inside the batle to support your barragers and power "Save Yourselves!"
• Heal your allies with your healing support.
• change Blood Ritual to dark fury if yout think barragers will need additional adrenaline support.

• watchful intervention should be used on the R/W-s because they are the most likely targets.

Backliners

Monks must focus on healing, though they can bring a skill or two that removes hexes. Enchantments should not be used at all when the party is fighting Banished Dream Riders or Scythes of Chaos. Equipment is mostly optional - if all goes well, the monk won't need to do much healing at all, and most monk spells cast quickly enough that there is little danger of them being interrupted or not activating fast enough.

Mo/E Word Monk

<pvxbig> [build prof=monk/elem healin=12+1+1 prote=10+1 divine=8+1][word of healing][Protective Spirit][Shield of Absorption][Seed of Life][Cure Hex][Dismiss Condition][glyph of lesser energy@0][Aegis][/build] </pvxbig>

Use protection prayers to reduce damage taken, and use Glyph of Lesser Energy to reduce the cost of Heal Party. Be sure to take critical hexes off the rangers with Cure Hex.

Mo/E Boon Monk

<pvxbig>[build prof=monk/elem healin=12+1+1 divine=12+1 prote=3][healer's boon][dwaynas kiss][Patient Spirit][Seed of Life][Cure hex][heal party][glyph of lesser energy@0][Healing Seed][/build]</pvxbig> A monk capable of healing the entire party, the same as the one in the old b/p. But the difference is, here he has an easier job.

• Keep up Healer's Boon.
• Heal your allies.
• Keep away from the frontline
• Call for energy if needed