Tournament victory depends on a lot of variables, and most important among
them is arguably a well-balanced fighting force. While a team composed solely of
Warriors might do a great deal of damage at close range, it simply won't succeed
against a team with varied skills and strengths. The following pages provide
time-tested advice on assembling teams with the strengths and abilities to come
out on top.
BASIC TEAM
A good basic, well-rounded team looks something like this: two Primary Healers,
one Support Healer, four damage-dealers (including one Target Caller), and 1
Controller. For your Primary Healers, Monk Primary is a good option. Focus
points into healing attributes. The Support Healer should focus on giving energy
to the Primary Healers and backup healing as needed. The damage-dealers can take
the form of Offensive Tanks, Elementalists, or Necromancers; the goal is to
ensure that when you focus fire on one target you'll be doing a lot of damage.
The controller's job is to slow the target that is being called and/or to reduce
the healing power of enemy healers; Damage-Over-Time Mesmer and Water
Elementalists make great controllers
HEALING BALL
The Healing Ball team consists two or three Primary/Support Healers, and four or
five long-range damage-dealers. The strategy here is to keep the team together
to allow the healers to keep everyone alive with area-of-effect skills, while
the ranged damage dealers (Rangers, Elementalists) attack the enemy, preferably
from a distance. This group is vulnerable to enemy area-of-effect spells.
Elementalists and Rangers do a lot of damage here, and Necro Monks' ability to
absorb energy from dying enemies can help keep the healers' energy levels maxed.
It's a good idea to station one team member outside the Healing Ball standing
ready with silence-curing spells.
SYMBIOSIS
For the Symbiosis build you want four or five Monk primary/Warrior secondary
characters and three or four Rangers. The goal here is to take advantage of the
environmental enchantment Symbiosis (which increases everyone's health 50 points
for every active enchantment), then load up on Monk enchantments and charge into
battle with double the health of your opponents. With all the firepower and
healing at your disposal, this build should outlast most opponents.
KNOCKDOWN RANGERS
This build consists of a fairly even mix of Rangers and Elementalists. The
primary goal is to load up on Ranger damage-dealing skills and Elementalist
knockdown spells, such as Meteor and Meteor Storm. Work to pin down the target
with knockdown spells. and then unleash the arrows and Ranger attack spells.
FIRE MAGES
Elementalist Monks make up the bulk of this build. Load them up with point-blank
area-of-effect fire spells like Inferno and Lava Font. The goal of this group is
to surround the enemy and blast them, casting Heal Party and Heal Area to keep
each other alive. This build can be deadly against any group that clumps up.
DEATH NOVA
Fill this build with Necro/Monks and load them up spells that summon undead
minions. The goal is for some allies to kill themselves while others animate and
then resurrect them with spells like Vengeance. Repeat this strategy until you
have a large undead army, then cast Death Nova on your allies as they run in to
battle. Use Touch Death spells so allies die near the enemy, hitting them with
Death Nova before reanimating again.
ICE WARRIORS
This build consists of a large number of Warrior/ Mesmers. Use the Absorb Frost
Mantra followed by Greater Conflagration to turn all physical damage in to Fire
damage. Next use Blizzard, which turns all elemental damage in to Ice damage.
This way all your Warriors get a huge reduction in damage from frost, allowing
them to focus on dealing large amounts of damage in melee combat.