After a long Hiatus, Coldfront All-Call reviews are back!
On 9-1-04 LotD decided to run an all-signet damage build. Signets
are objects that have magical properties that can be used during
combat. Signets cost no mana to use, and each have varying refresh
times.
4 Monk/Mesmer 13 Smite, 12 Insperation - Bane Signet; Blank; Blank; Blank; Signet of Judgement; Mantra of Distortion; Mantra of Inscriptions; Mantra of Resolve
1 Necro/mesmer 12 Blood, 10 Dead, 8 Insperation, 6 Illusion - Vampic touch, Signet of Agony, Blank, Blank, Dark Aura, Ether Feast, Mantra of Inscriptions, Unnatural Signet.
1 Monk/Mes [12+1 healing; 12+1(Hat) Divine] - Orison of Healer; Word of Healing; Mend Condition; Blessed signet; Remove hex; Mending; Divine Boon; Restore Life
1 Monk/Mes [12 Protection 12+1(hat) Divine] - Divine
Intervention; Divine Boon; Protective Spirit; Restore Condition;
Reversal of Fortune; Divine Spirit; Guardian; Leech Signet
1 Necro/Monk (Bipper) [10 healing 9+1 soul reaping; 6 blood; 10 death] - Blood is power; Blood Ritual; Heal Area; Well of Blood; Animate bone Minion; Restore Life; Death Nova; Taste Of Death
LotD used its usual "Healer Triad" to take care of the healing. One
protection healer, one damage healer, and one "Bipper" (blood is
power'er) is truely a viscious combination that very hard to counter.
In the hands of skilled players its almost impossible for the group to
lose a character. Our Bipper also raises minions from the corpses of
fallen characters, which over time make a huge army of combatants for
our team.
The Necro/mesmer is a new intersting build a member
came up with. "Signet of Agony" is an PBAOE signet that deals around 50
damage to everyone in its area. The penalty attached to this signet is
that it causes a random affliction to the user, and uses 25 health for
each cast. While being a rather healer-intensive class (meaning our
healers really had to keep an eye on his health) this character was
basically a walking time-bomb. If he saw a group of enemies bunched
together, the character would run to the group and let loose his
signets, dealing 50 damage to everyone in the area per signet he used.
The remaining 4 members of the group all ran monk/mesmer builds. Bane
signet is a 2 second 35 damage DD signet. By focus firing and timing,
we were able to drop down 35x4 damage every 2 seconds on 1 target. What
this amounts to is in around 4-6 seconds the target was dead.
Furthermore "Signet of Judgement" is a 40 damage AOE signet with
knockdown. If we saw a group of enemies bunched up, we would all cast
our signet of judgement on one of the members of the enemy group. 40x4
damage is huge. Furthermore "mantra of inscriptions" instantly
refreshes the very next signet after its use. So, when we would see an
enemy group bunched together, we would cast mantra of inscriptions,
then signet of judgement (40x4 damage) and have the signet Instantly
refreshed, giving us another round of (40x4) damage.
As i'm
sure you've gathered this build was quite devistating and there was nor
is any logical counter for the group. Simply to much damage being put
out for absolutly no drawback, since signets do not use mana. Needless
to say i'm sure this build helped Dev's judge the power of signets in
the game.
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