Build:Team - DoA Trenchway

The PvXwiki community finds this to be an important part of the metagame. If you disagree with this rating, please discuss it on the build's talk page. This build has been designed for the following use: PvE team PvE SC

This build requires Consumables to operate properly.

Completes the Domain of Anguish in Hard Mode in a little over 1 conset, with the potential to complete in under 1 conset.

Overview

Team Setup

Main Tank

<pvxbig> [build prof=A/Me insp=12 sha=12+1+3][Shadow Form][Mantra of Resolve]["I Am Unstoppable!"][Heart of Shadow][Dark Escape][Shroud of Distress][Recall][Death's Charge][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Blessed insignia, attunement or vitae runes, rune of superior vigor
• Weapons: one handed +20% enchanted weapon and +10 armor vs demons shield, high energy staff.
• Titles: r8+ norn and r8 lightbringer are recommended
• Sweets: Either a Candy Apple or an 105hp-armorset is recommended for Jadoth in City.

Trench Tank

<pvxbig> [build prof=A/N death=12 sha=12+1+3][Shadow Form][Necrotic Traversal]["I Am Unstoppable!"][Shadow of Haste][Dark Escape][Shroud of Distress][Recall][Death's Charge][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Blessed insignia, attunement or vitae runes, rune of superior vigor
• Weapons: one handed +20% enchanted weapon and +10 armor vs demons shield, high energy staff.
• Titles: r8+ norn and r8 lightbringer are recommended
• Sweets: Candy Apple, golden eggs, and candy corn are recommended for Gloom.

Caller

<pvxbig> [build prof=Me/R dom=12+1+3 fast=8+1 beast=10][Air of Superiority][Cry of Pain][Visions of Regret][Unnatural Signet][Shatter Delusions][Mistrust][Edge of Extinction][Overload][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Radiant insignia, runes of attunement, rune of superior vigor, rune of superior or minor fast casting depending on preference
• Weapons: 40/40 set is best but a staff is fine too, +30 -2 high energy set
• Titles: r7+ lightbringer is required

ESurge

<pvxbig> [build prof=Me/N dom=12+1+3 fast=10+1 insp=8][Arcane Echo][Energy Surge][Unnatural Signet][Mistrust][Necrosis][Arcane Mimicry][Lightbringer Signet][Backfire][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Radiant insignia, runes of attunement, rune of superior vigor, rune of superior or minor fast casting depending on preference
• Weapons: 40/40 set is best but a staff is fine too, +30 -2 high energy set
• Titles: r6+ lightbringer is recommended

SS

<pvxbig> [build prof=Me/N fast=12+1+3 curse=12 dom=3][Finish Him][Cry of Pain][Spiteful Spirit][Defile Enchantments][Unnatural Signet@16][Necrosis][Signet of Sorrow@16][Empathy][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Radiant insignia, runes of attunement, rune of superior vigor
• Weapons: 40/40 set is best but a staff is fine too, +30 -2 high energy set
• Titles: r7+ lightbringer is required

Mid/Far Tk Esurge

<pvxbig> [build prof=Me/A dom=12+1+3 fast=12+1][Air of Superiority][Arcane Echo][Energy Surge][Unnatural Signet][Mistrust][Spiritual Pain][Pain inverter][Recall][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Radiant insignia, runes of attunement, rune of superior vigor, rune of superior or minor fast casting depending on preference
• Weapons: 40/40 set is best but a staff is fine too, +30 -2 high energy set
• Titles: r5+ lightbringer is recommended

Seed

<pvxbig> [build prof=Mo/E divine=12+1+3 pro=12][Unyielding Aura][Seed of Life][Deep Freeze][Ebon Escape][Blessed Signet][Life Attunement][Blessed Aura][Life Bond][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Radiant insignia, runes of attunement, rune of superior vigor, prot headpiece and divine headpiece
• Weapons: +20% enchantments staff
• Titles: r9+ sunspear is required
• Sweets: Using a golden egg + candy corn before you cast blessed aura is recommended. You will only need to recast blessed aura if you die, and so should reapply the candies then.

Elebonder

<pvxbig> [build prof=E/Mo energy=12+1+3 pro=12 heal=3][Spirit Bond][Burning Speed][Infuse Health][Ether Renewal][Ebon Escape][Balthazar's Spirit][Protective Bond][Life Bond][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor: Radiant insignia, runes of attunement, rune of superior vigor
• Weapons: +20% enchantments staff
• Sweets: Having 18 in energy storage is highly recommended for Veil, and required for Jadoth in City; so you need one from Golden eggs, Candy corn, or Lunar Fortunes.

General Usage

The tanks pull mobs into balls, which the mesmers then spike. The tanks are kept alive by bonds from the E/Mo and the permanent Seed of Life from the Monk.

Tanking

This is just an outline of the techniques used to tank DoA:

• Standard Mobs: These are the easiest to pull, as the A.I. is predictable and intuitive. Simply pull in a striaght line, and you will separate out the different ranges of creatures. From furthest to shortest range we have: longbow, caster, paragon, and melee. This means that you can pull everything onto 1 spot in 3 steps and a dcharge. You can reduce the number of steps required by pulling mobs around corners, this way the ranged attackers can be made to all have the same effective range.
• Balled Groups: Almost every mob in City, and some in the 1st & 4th rooms of Foundry has this A.I. feature. The group follows a pattern: they start off wandering around aimlessly, then suddenly they all regroup on 1 spot and pause for a few seconds, they then all run as a team to a different place, pause again, and then resume wandering. This cycle repeats ad infinitum. If you aggro the group when they are in the process of suddenly regrouping, they will pull only a few steps, and thus you should always time it so that you only aggro when they are wandering or running together.
• Dream Riders: To pull a dream rider into the same ball as the terrorwebs in its group, you must first pull everything in a straight line, and then turn around and run to the right-hand side of the terrors at roughly a 45 degree angle, and stop when 2/3 or so of an aggro bubble away from the terrors. An [http:// image] of what I mean, and remember practice makes perfect.
• Mass melee: These are only really encountered in Veil, and can be extremely dangerous since the groups usually contain multiple hungers. When you aggro a group of melee monsters, the A.I. is designed to try and body-block you. They calculate where you will be if you run in a straight line, and will enclose you from both sides. Obviously to avoid this you simply need to run in curves, aggroing a mob and then running around one side of it. Most importantly, when you are tanking enemies that will kill you if they reach you e.g. hungers, DO NOT STOP. Use shadowsteps to put distance between you and the enemies, and NEVER stop to cast stuff if you don't need it, too many times I have seen people recast shadow form when it is not needed.
• Trench groups: Found only in Veil, these are the hardest to pull since you will usually not have bonds on you. The general rule is to run in straight lines, so that all arrows hit you (dodging and blocking will hurt you a lot due to the Veil HM effect, whereas the arrows themselves don't really do much other than degen). Golems will strip your enchantments if they reach you, however once aggroed, they will stop and cast a few enchantments of their own before running to attack you. Horrors will knock you down if you are moving, brutes will only knock you down once they build adrenaline (by which time you will probably be dead).

Spiking

This is a general guide to what the spikers should be doing:

• Before each spike the Caller should put EoE down.
• Once the ball is ready, the Caller should Ping his VoR on a central target of the mob.
• Spikers should then spike the mob, and finish off any leftovers. Skill usage is generally left-to-right for the builds posted on this page.
• The UA mesmer should ressurect anybody that dies.
• If stuff goes wrong, do not pull aggro into the group, it is almost always better to die so that others can get away safely and rez you.
• Note that all spikers should have prot bond on them so, unless the E/Mo dies or loses energy, you can take on small numbers of enemies (provided they don't strip enchantments too much).

Bonding

This is a general overview of what the bonders should be doing:

• The monk should always follow the E/Mo, and maintain seed on him.
• The E/Mo should maintain energy by spamming spirit bond and burning speed. The E/Mo has infuse in order to heal people directly when required.
• Bonds should generally be applied like so:

Monk

• Life Bond on both tanks and E/Mo (when casting this on tanks try to ensure that it is cast before the E/Mo puts prot or balth on).
• Life Attunement on both tanks and E/Mo.
• Blessed Aura on yourself.

Elebonder

• Life bond on both tanks, make sure this is the first enchantment cast.
• Prot bond on the entire party.
• Balth spirit on both tanks, the monk, and yourself.
• Emo is like KBALAMAMAMAMAAMAMAMA

Specific Usage

Links

• 26min World Record - Uses speed optimized builds & tactics
• 34 min farm run - Uses exact builds & tactics on this page
• Similar Build on PvX - Read for more in-depth information about DoA in general.

Frequency

• This build is used by the majority of DoA speedclear teams. Solo Tank builds are still commonly used by (primarily German) teams less comfortable with using 2 tanks, and occasionally defunct builds are still in use by people who don't know how to tank for this build.
• Even though it is ~3 times as fast, this build is used far less than DwG Builds since it is much more difficult for PUG teams.