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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.
The most common barrage/pet team consists of:
5 Barrage rangers
1 Minion Master- 1 Orders Necromancer
1 healing Monk
Membership
This is one of many possible variations. The builds noted below are suitable for pick up groups, but it is by no means definitive. A more complex alternative can be found here.
Barrage Rangers
<pvxbig> [build prof=range/monk marksm=12+1+3 beastm=8+1 expert=8+1 wilder=7+1][barrage][savage shot][distracting shot][troll unguent][throw dirt][charm animal][comfort animal][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig> Variations:
- At least one ranger must carry Favorable Winds (FW). A FW Barrager should replace Troll Unguent with Favorable Winds, and move all points from Wilderness Survival into Expertise.
- At least one ranger must carry Winnowing (WW/Winn). A Winnowing Barrager should replace Troll Unguent with Winnowing and can lessen ranks in Beast Mastery for higher ranks in Wilderness Survival if they desire a longer lasting spirit with more health.
- Winter can be used against Terrorweb Dryders and Mark of Rodgort, efficiently preventing it from triggering.
- Consider using Paragon as a secondary profession. Paragons suffer no ill effects when struck by a foe using Fingers of Chaos, and can carry Signet of Return, a repeatable resurrection skill.
- Consider using Ritualist as a secondary profession. Splinter Weapon can increase damage significantly without sacrificing orders damage, and Flesh of My Flesh is an effective combat resurrection.
The purpose of the pets is to tank for the group (at least until the minion master raises a sizable army) and to provide an endless source of corpses for the minion factory. A dead pet with an exploited corpse serves no purpose, so it is important for the rangers to raise their pets at every opportunity.
Note: Skill bar blackout time from pet death is reduced by higher ranks in Beast Mastery.
For additional information, see Build:R/any General Barrager.
Minion Master
<pvxbig> [build prof=necro/monk deathm=12+3+1 soulre=12+1...3 protec=3][rotting flesh][blood of the master][animate bone horror][animate vampiric horror][animate flesh golem][death nova][taste of death][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig>
The purpose of the minion master is to raise a large undead army and keep the attention of the foes. Unlike many other minion builds, the minions here are not intended for pure damage, but rather to body-block the Grasps of Insanity from reaching the ranger line.
Note that this build is not set in stone, and there are nearly as many variants as there are Minion Masters. Keeping this in mind, some minor variants include swapping the skills Rotting Flesh for Dark Bond for a more durable build, swapping Animate Flesh Golem for Jagged Bones for "free" minions, and changing any of the animate skills.
For additional information please see the general minion mastery guide.
Orders Necromancer
<pvxbig> [build prof=necro/monk bloodm=12+3+1 soulre=8+3 healin=10][order of the vampire][blood ritual][healing breeze][heal party][optional][optional][optional][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig>
The Orders Necromancer doesn't deal direct damage, but drastically increases the effectiveness of the barrage team due to the guaranteed damage of the Order skills. This character should stay well clear of combat 2 sup runes gives them a low health (arround 330), reliance on enchantments makes them vulnerable targets for mesmer and bewarey that the mesmers can also interupt.
Optional: Signet of lost souls; signet of sorrow; life siphon; vampiric gaze, jaundic gaze or blood renewal are all viable options
Equiptment
- any weapon set that has 20% enchanting, hsr and +5 energy should do the trick
Usage
just keep healing breeze on yourself and cast order of the vampire whenever it is available (or the icon starts flashing). if the monk bleeps for energy use blood ritual, and if the pets and minions dont hold the wall, you might want to use heal party to aid the monk a bit (but remember to kite)
Counters
Be careful of enchantments. Casting these to try to 'help' the monk out in a pinch can harm a recipent who is down in HP if he is close enough to a Banished Rider with Shatter Enchantment, the general rule of thumb is to leave most of the healing to the monk and oov to a certain extent, and occasionally using heal party when under pressure.
For additional information please see N/Mo Tombs OoV."
Healing Monk
<pvxbig> [build prof=monk/any healin=12+3+1 divine=12+3 protec=3+1][word of healing][orison of healing][dwaynas kiss][signet of rejuvenation][signet of devotion][heal party][remove hex][rebirth][/build] </pvxbig>
Any pure healing Monk. Use of enchantments is generally discouraged, due largely to the prevalence of Fingers of Chaos and Shatter Enchantment.
Variants and Discussion
Critical Barrager
In this variant, any number of Rangers can be replaced by Assassin/Rangers, as they can deal greater damage using Sharpen Daggers to cause bleeding and the increased critical hits.
For additional information, See Build:A/R Critical Barrager.
Six Barragers Variant
In this variant, the Orders Necromancer is replaced with a sixth Barrager. All Barragers either use elemental bowstrings, or one Ranger brings Greater Conflagration instead of Barrage. The foes in the Tomb Ruins, being mostly of the Warrior and Mesmer classes, have no additional defenses against elemental damage.
Analysis: An Orders Necromancer with maximum Blood Magic gives a guaranteed damage bonus of 17 (or 19 if aided by Awaken the Blood) per arrow that hits. In the worst case, with each of the five barragers hitting just one target each, this translates to an additional damage output of 85 (or 95) for the team. A sixth Barrager with maximum Marksmanship will do around 40 damage per arrow with an elemental string; he will thus have to hit at least three targets every time to outperform the Orders Necromancer's worst case damage output. In even a slightly better case, where each barrager hits three targets each, the damage output of the Orders Necromancer is 255 (or 285), which is more than the sixth barrager can achieve even if all his six arrows connect. Without an orders necromancer, the team is free to use elemental bowstrings, which increases the damage output of every arrow by around 5-10 points.
It should be noted that Order of the Vampire offsets some of the healing pressure from the Monk, and the Orders Necromancer doubles as a battery for the Monk.
Fevered Dreams Variant
In this variant, either a Ranger or the Monk brings Fevered Dreams and coordinates with the conditioners in the team to spread conditions around using very effective combinations. One possible combination is Fevered Dreams + Enfeeble + Virulence: all foes in the area become |weakened, poisoned and diseased. Another possible combination is a ranger/mesmer using Fevered Dreams on a target, and then adding conditions with Pin Down, Apply Poison and Throw Dirt.
Analysis: While potent, this build takes some coordination between the players, and so is most likely not suitable for loosely organized PUGs.
Minionless Variant
In this variant, the minion master is replaced with a different Death Necromancer build. The plethora of corpses are used for Wells of Suffering and Putrid Explosions instead of the minion factory. This variant depends more heavily on the pets forming a sturdy front line, so it is common to have all Barragers have 8 or 9 in Beast Mastery and bring skills to aid the pets such as Otyugh's Cry, Call of Protection and Symbiosis. The Monk in this variant also tries to keep the pets alive for as long as possible.
Analysis: This variant requires very careful aggro management, and is therefore most likely unusable by PUGs.
Monkless Variant
This variant replaces the healing Monk with a sixth damage dealing character. All healing in the build is done by Predatory Season and the Orders Necromancer who brings Heal Other and Heal Party for emergency healing. Predatory Season makes minions more durable. This variant is essentially a 100% damage-dealing build.
Analysis: This variant is risky, but when correctly executed, can be among the speediest Barrage/Pet variants. Clearing times of 40 minutes or lower are not unheard of.
Paragon Variant
In this variant, a paragon replaces the orders necromancer. Anthem of Flame when combined "They're on Fire!" can both increase damage output and reduce incomming damage. "Incoming!" can further reduce spike damage common at the begining of an engagement, and Song of Restoration can provide some additional healing. "Go for the Eyes!" and "Find Their Weakness!" are especially effective with Critical Barragers.
Historical notes
Historically, the six barrager variant was one of the earliest barrage/pet team compositions. Before Order of the Vampire was modified to make it ineffective together with Order of Pain, the Orders Necromancer was always the clear winner in terms of raw damage output, so the six barrager variant fell into disuse. Its popularity has resurged after a March 2nd 2006 update changed Order of the Vampire, because a well managed six barrager team can match or outperform an Orders Necromancer.