Guild Wars
Guild Wars Eye of the North Build: Aggressive Norndragon
I’ve been playing with the new skills in Guild Wars Eye of the North. Unlike Leeroy Jenkins, I like to prepare between PvE battles. Since I now favor my Cyndr’s Edge, I like to stay healthy and use a lot of adrenaline in battle. That’s what this build does, using the paragon skill synergies presented by the time-unlimited Norn shout “I Am The Strongest!”. Enter the Warrior/Paragon Aggressive Norndragon. This is a non-n00b version of the mending final thrust wammo, removing energy and adrenaline inefficiencies using newer skill synergies to create a self-sufficient PvE tank.
Warrior/Paragon Aggressive Norndragon
Attributes:
Strength 10+1
Swordsmanship 12+1+1
Motivation 8
Skills:
Sever Artery
Gash
Dragon Slash
“I Am The Strongest!”
Mending Refrain
“For Great Justice!”
Signet of Aggression
Remedy Signet
Usage:
Shout “I Am The Strongest!” at leisure between battles, then use Signet of Aggression five times to charge all your adrenal skills. Since “I Am The Strongest!” has no time limit and Signet of Aggression has no energy cost, you can fully charge both your energy and adrenaline between battles.
Just before entering battle with “I Am The Strongest!” in effect, echo Mending Refrain on yourself and shout “For Great Justice!”. “I Am The Strongest!” should expire after several attacks, reapplying Mending Refrain. Shout “I Am The Strongest!” as that happens. When “I Am The Strongest!” expires again, Mending Refrain gets reapplied again. “For Great Justice!” should expire soon after, reapplying Mending Refrain a third time.
Since your adrenal skills are fully charged, you can immediately attack with Sever Artery, Gash, and Dragon Slash in that order. Under the effects of “For Great Justice!”, Dragon Slash should return ten strikes of adrenaline, recharging it instantly. Spam your opponent with Dragon Slashes for maximum damage per second. Since you didn’t waste “For Great Justice!” on charging attack skills, you can inflict nearly eighteen seconds of Dragon Slash spam on a deeply wounded bleeding opponent. If your target is immune to bleeding, make Dragon Slash your first attack, giving you nearly twenty seconds of continuous Dragon Slashing. Remember to repeat your shouts as necessary while attacking.
With Mending Refrain to mitigate health-degenerating conditions, this warrior’s worst fear is blindness. Remedy Signet should fix that. If you need a mission-specific skill, swap out Remedy Signet since you’ll probably have a condition remover in your party.
Equipment:
Since the Aggressive Norndragon buffs health and adrenaline through the start and middle of a battle, a furious sword of fortitude with a “Strength and Honor” inscription and a shield of fortitude are the best equipment for this build. Alternatively, you can wield a sundering sword of fortitude with a “Strength and Honor” inscription since this build already features great adrenaline management.
Survivor Swordsmanship armor of Minor Swordsmanship, Minor Strength, Superior Absorption, Superior Vigor, and Vitae should boost both health and damage while providing extra armor for rushes.
Cautions:
Note that “I Am The Strongest!” is a PvE-only shout, and this build has no resurrection. You need a resurrector in your party. This build requires skills from the Core, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North sets, so you should also have access to resurrecting heroes. Necromancer skills that prevent shouting (Well of Silence, Vocal Minority) and skills that prevent adrenaline gain (Soothing, Soothing Images) can shut this warrior up and pipe him down during combat; make sure to shout and pump adrenaline before combat. Even if you get hit by silencing spells, you lose only one wave of “I Am The Strongest!” attacks. Even if you get hit by soothing spells, you can still cause bleeding right away before delivering two waves of “I Am The Strongest!” attacks.
I’m not a professional Guild Wars player, so I don’t claim this PvE-only build is perfect by any means. The skill template code for this build is OQkjEpU8JS+FAGLOzkqYXFwbxbA. Feedback is appreciated. 🙂
P.S.: Apologies to Filipina gamer babe Alodia Gosiengfiao for not watching her perform at U Got Game. I was out hunting Cyndr’s Edge and other unique weapons on Eye of the North unique item weekend.
Cyndr’s Edge features stats that work perfectly with this build. That, and it’s one big-ass sword.
Guild Wars Eye of the North Heroes
I just returned from the Far Shiverpeaks, where I hunted with Norn and spelunked with dwarves for the Guild Wars Eye of the North preview weekend. Gwen, the plucky little girl adventurers meet in the first area of the first campaign of Guild Wars, returns as a strong and beautiful mesmer out to avenge her mother’s death.
Other Eye of the North heroes who joined the preview weekend are the stacked Jora, the irate Ogden Stonehealer, and the snooty Vekk. That’s me on the right.
Congratulations to ArenaNet on a successful preview event. Already adventurers are chronicling their weekend travel discoveries in the Guild Wars wiki. Like a tourist coming back from a wild rampage with tall blondes in Sweden, I’m itching to go back when Eye of the North goes live August 31.
