User:Foo/GoM/Theory

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The Theory

The Titan's Chaos Rift in Gate of Madness has the higher rate of continuous spawns in the game, in a cycle short enough for maintaining a Scroll of Berserker's Insight. (8 new level 28 enemies every 30 seconds, as long as they are killed fast enough).

They can be killed by a single Keystone Signet Mesmer hero, and be tanked by an AFK player if correctly bonded. Bonders (and spirit maintainers) can stand out of agro to let only the player and Keystone hero share XP.

Protective Bond (Prot Bond) reduces damage to 5%, and the Lightbringer title reduces 1 additional point for each rank. The amount of total damage can be set by adjusting the tank's max health in the correct way, and for the sake of Essence Bond which will become important soon, it is wise to set it to at least 1.

The equation for damage is floor(MaxHealth / 20 - LB), so health should be at least LB * 20 + 20, and for each additional 20 health points, the tank would take 1 additional point of damage.

Negating that damage and the degen caused by periodical Burning and Bleeding can be done with Mending, Watchful Spirit, and Succor, and Purifying Veil can reduce the timespans of these conditions.

To produce the energy that is consumed by Prot Bond and maintains the bonds themselves, several energy management methods are used, including Blessed Signet, Essence Bond, and Balthazar's Spirit.

Protective Bond

Protective Bond (Prot Bond) works in mysterious ways! Well, not really, but let's break it down:

This is the basic defined skill progression for Prot Bond:

Progression
Protection Prayers Single bonder	0 6 1 6 2 6 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 4 9 4 10 4 11 4 12 4 13 3 14 3 15 3 16 3 17 3 18 2 19 2 20 2 21 2

However, this only describes how much energy is needed for a single bonder. When multiple bonders apply Prot Bond to the same target, the cost can't be simply distributed among them, as they might have different Protection ranks.

In practice, a bonder pays as if each bonder (by order of casting) pays 1e, until its own cost is fully paid.

For instance, if Tahlkora casts first with Protection 8 (cost of 4e), and Dunkoro casts second with Protection 13 (cost of 3e), Tahlkora would think that she pays 2e and Dunkoro pays 2e, but Dunkoro would only pay 1e, because he thinks that Tahlkora pays 2e and he is only left with 1e.

If the casting order would be switched (13 prot before 8 prot), both bonders would pay 2e.

This can be seen in this progression table that shows how much each of 2 bonders would pay, based on their own individual Protection rank:

Progression
Protection Prayers 1st / 2 bonders 2nd / 2 bonders	0 3 3 1 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 4 3 2 5 3 2 6 3 2 7 3 2 8 2 2 9 2 2 10 2 2 11 2 2 12 2 2 13 2 1 14 2 1 15 2 1 16 2 1 17 2 1 18 1 1 19 1 1 20 1 1 21 1 1

3 bonders:

Progression
Protection Prayers 1st / 3 bonders 2nd / 3 bonders 3rd / 3 bonders	0 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 1 4 2 2 1 5 2 2 1 6 2 2 1 7 2 2 1 8 2 1 1 9 2 1 1 10 2 1 1 11 2 1 1 12 2 1 1 13 1 1 1 14 1 1 1 15 1 1 1 16 1 1 1 17 1 1 1 18 1 1 0 19 1 1 0 20 1 1 0 21 1 1 0

4 bonders:

Progression
Protection Prayers 1st / 4 bonders 2nd / 4 bonders 3rd / 4 bonders 4th / 4 bonders	0 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 4 2 1 1 1 5 2 1 1 1 6 2 1 1 1 7 2 1 1 1 8 1 1 1 1 9 1 1 1 1 10 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 12 1 1 1 1 13 1 1 1 0 14 1 1 1 0 15 1 1 1 0 16 1 1 1 0 17 1 1 1 0 18 1 1 0 0 19 1 1 0 0 20 1 1 0 0 21 1 1 0 0

These are the distributions that make the most sense for different amounts of bonders:

• A single bonder with 18 Protection would pay 2e - which makes energy management simple, but reaching 18 Prot is tricky and not possible for all professions without additional players.
• 2 bonders with 8/13 Protection would pay 2e/1e. (Notice that the reverse order would cost 2e/2e instead!)
• 3 bonders with 13/8/3 Protection would pay 1e/1e/1e - The simplest and most obvious way, requiring three total bonders.
• 4 bonders with 8/3/0/0 Protection would pay 1e/1e/1e/1e - Requires 4 bonders, but they all need very low Protection.

The actual calculation per bonder is floor((cost - i) / bonders + 1), where cost is the bonder's own cost of Protective Bond, bonders is the amount of total Protective Bond bonders, and i is the bonder's place in the casting order.

Purifying Veil

Tests on Purifying Veil (and Recovery) using Poisoned Heart (5-19s) and Signet of Agony (25s) show that:

• Purifying Veil of p% reduction reduces an s seconds condition to min(s-1, ceil(s * (1-p/100)))
• Recovery of p% reduction reduces an s seconds condition to rh2e(s * (1-p/100))
• When used together, Purifying Veil is calculated before Recovery, no matted the order of application.

Titans apply 5s burning and 15s bleeding, which dictates specific Protection break points for Purifying Veil:

Progression
Protection Prayers Purifying Veil on a 5s condition	0 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 4 9 4 10 4 11 4 12 3 13 3 14 3 15 3 16 3 17 3 18 3 19 2 20 2 21 2

Progression
Protection Prayers Purifying Veil on a 15s condition	0 14 1 14 2 14 3 13 4 13 5 12 6 12 7 12 8 11 9 11 10 10 11 10 12 9 13 9 14 8 15 8 16 8 17 7 18 7 19 6 20 6 21 5

This means that Protection 12 is the important burning breakpoint, and that there is no point in getting Protection to 15/16.

Build Crafting

The first thing that should be decided about a build is how Prot Bond's energy cost is distributed, as per the section above. One of the bonders can, of course, be the player.

Break points of Protection can be reached with:

• Attribute points (up to 12)
• Runes (Monks only, +4)
• Candy Corn and Golden Eggs (Players only, +2)
• +1/20% Protection item (Requires recasting until randomly succeeding).
• Grail of Might (+1, but raises health for 30 minutes which could mess up the incoming damage amounts).
• Signet of Illusions, Shadow Theft, and Heroic Refrain (Various limitations).

Each 1e paid per Protective Bond reduction is equivalent, when tanking the Titans at LB4, to about 3 pips of energy degen.

On top of that, the bonders should take bonds to minimize conditions' duration and to regenerate lost health: Purifying Veil, Mending, Watchful Spirit, and (usually) Succor.

To generate enough energy for Prot Bond and the extra bonds, various energy resource can be used:

• Active, only useful by heroes:
  • Blessed Signet nets 0.75 pips per maintained enchantments, assuming DF is high enough, or 1.285 with Quickening Zephyr.
  • Mantra of Recall at 12 Inspiration nets 1.2 pips, or 1.7 with Quickening Zephyr.
  • Offering of Blood at 12 Blood nets 3.3 pips, but requires the maintainer to have low enough health so that the health lost to sacrifice be naturally regenerated between casts.
• Passive, useful for both heroes and players:
  • Essence Bond recovers about two thirds of a 1e Protective Bond cost, but requires that the tank's health be set so that it would take a small amount of damage.
  • Balthazar's Spirit recovers 100% of a 1e Protective Bond cost for the tank, and about half that when used by a hero bonder through Life Bond (which only redirects damage from attacks).
  • Soul Reaping is unstable and hard to measure, but can give a meaningful energy boost for primary Necros.
  • Natural energy regeneration: 2 pips for Paragon and Warriors, 3 for Rangers, and 4 for all other professions.

Calculating the total for each bar would show how balanced it is. Keep in mind that:

• The cost of Protective Bond fluctuates during the 30 seconds Titan cycle, and can somewhat shift randomly due to various variables like spirit cycles and mobs arrangement. This means that unless fully paid by Balthazar's Spirit, some leeway is advised.
• Each point of damage that passes Prot Bond is equivalent, when tanking the Titans at LB4, to about half a pip of health degen.
• Both EoE and High LB ranks help shorten the lives of Titans, reducing the energy cost of Prot Bond. It is therefore advised to take EoE with at least 12 BM, and LB of 4+.

All builds require the same Keystone Mesmer hero:

Build Progression

The first variant was based on Blessed Signet with QZ as energy management, and requires, on top of the Keystone, 3 bonders and 2 rangers:

but QZ isn't fun to fight with, inconvenient to disable/enable, and requires a second Ranger hero, so to get rid of it, Mantra of Recall can be added, which also reduced the number of rangers by 1:

These two variants can be combined for better safety and damage, which is especially wise for lower LB. However, Mantra of Recall takes up the elite slot and requires the monk bonders to be secondary Mesmers, which limits their ability to help on the way to the farm.

Setting health to the range in which a tank receives some damage (ideally 1) and using Essence Bond frees the bonders to have other secondaries:

This improves energy management enough so that the hero bonders can take more of the bonds, and the player can use Balthazar's Spirit to maintain one of Protective Bond's copies, reducing the number of bonders by 1:

Player

Having one of the bonders maintain EoE rids the team of the last ranger:

Player

This is the build currently presented in the guide. It was developed to:

• Works for every profession.
• Requires low LB rank.
• Requires no cons (Other than the scroll of course) and no +1/20% items.

It also has the benefits of having bonds only applied to the tank, and of using no elite skills.

Reducing the number of heroes further

While the build above is simple, stable, and has few requirements, the number of heroes can be reduced further. This requires combinations of:

• Lowering the hero bonder's health so that it could use Offering of Blood without dying.
• Generating more energy using high SR.
• Dropping Watchful Spirit while having high LB which reduces damage packets.
• Having the hero bonder use Life Bond so that it could also gain energy by casting Balthazar's Spirit on itself. This requires casting Life Bond only after the reapplication of LB.
• Reaching higher Protection with cons, +1/20% items, and some specific skills.

Player pays 2e, hero pays 1e: Necros with SR

Player casting Prot Bond first with 8 Protection and some SR

Hero casting Prot Bond second with 13 Protection, 13 healing, 11 DF, and 9 Blood

Necros with some SR can pay 2e while also maintaining 3 enchantments.

Player pays 2e, hero pays 1e: Mo/Me/E/N/A/Rt/D with LB8

Player casting Prot Bond first with 8 Protection and LB8

Hero casting Prot Bond second with 13 Protection, 13 healing, 11 DF, and 9 Blood

LB8 => faster killing => reduced damage => Watchful Spirit not needed => professions with 4 pips of energy regen can pay 2e while still maintaining 2 enchantments.

This seems to work on LB7 with EoE as well.

Player pays 2e alone: Mo/Me/A with pcons

Player casting a single Prot Bond with 18 Protection

Hero, 13 Healing, 12 Protection, 5 DF, and 12 BM

Professions that can reach 18 Protection:

• Monks with a Candy Corn and a Golden Egg.
• Mesmers with a Candy Corn and a Golden Egg and Signet of Illusions at 16 Illusions.
• Assassins need to cast Shadow Theft twice in succession with 16 Critical Strikes and 12 Protection. Best done with Recall on the stationary Torment Claw. (no pcons required).

Paragons can reach 18 Protection with HR and pcons but they lack the required energy regen.

Hero pays 2e, player pays 1e: Monks or pcons

Hero casting Prot Bond first with 8 Protection, 13 DF and 12 Blood

Player casting Prot Bond second with 13 Protection, 13 Healing

Player can be of any profession. Hero bonder can be a Necro with high SR instead of monk with high DF.

Hero pays 2e alone: Paragons or Grail and +1/20% item

Hero casting a single Prot Bond with 18 Protection, 11 DF and 10 blood

Player

Player can be of any profession, but only Paragon players can use HR to avoid needing a +1/20% item and a Grail.

1e/1e splits are also possible, but are generally inferior to setups of a single bonder paying 2e.

Extra Healing

Methods for gaining extra healing (or reduced conditions) for running this with low Lightbringer ranks or without the Lightbringer title all together.

The DV LoD remote-healer hero

Mo/R with 0 DF, 10 healing, 16 protection, 10 BM, and a DV weapon

• A hero with a vampiric weapon will use Light of Deliverance to negate whatever degen it has, thus also healing the far-away tank.
• A Dual Vamp weapon causes a 2 pips degen.
• Life Attunement adds 52% more healing.
• Predatory Season reduces the hero's healing by 20%, so it adds 25% more healing to everyone outside its range.
• Health is set to the lowest value that is needed to keep the hero alive, so that the bursts will be as frequent as possible.

This should net a theoretical total healing equivalent to 2 * 1.5 * 1.25 = 3.75 pips of health regen, but testing seems to show it's about 4 pips.

This hero should:

• Be out of spirit range of the player due to Predatory Season.
• Be out of range of any hero that might heal it.
• Have no other self healing abilities.

This enables running the normal setup on LB2, and it might also be useful for other types of mostly-solo farms.

Potential improvements:

• Casting Life Attunement at Protection 17/18 (by a hero) or even 19/20 (by a monk/mesmer player).
• Running this on a necro with LoD and Masochism, (no Predatory Season). Requires careful calibration of SR, healing, and health, and another hero for Life Attunement.
• Other ways to increase the hero's life loss, other than Masochism (TBE).

No Lightbringer setup

Stationary Torment Claw abuse

This is presented mostly as an experiment and proof of concept. This is not really a good idea:

Positioning heroes close to the stationary Torment Claw gets them "in combat", meaning they use skills they would otherwise not use when idle, including Recuperation and Recovery, which can enable running the farm with no Lightbringer at all (Meaning no Lightbringer title damage reduction).

To do this, heroes should be set to avoid combat. A tank hero should be flagged in melee range of the Torment Claw that is south of the Titan's Rift, and the rest in casting range of it and in spirit range of the player tank.

QZ and EoE can be used on a primary ranger with max BM to compensate on the reduced damage with no LB.

One possible way to set this up is with a keystone hero and a single hero bonder as in the normal setups, and additionally, something like this:

Hero tank, caster, casting Prot Bond on self with 8 prot, and flagged right on the Claw

Maintains spirits and supplies energy and healing

Maintains spirits and supplies energy and healing

Ranger with max BM

It would be interesting to explore other possibilities enabled by the "in combat" situation, including exploiting Arcane Zeal, Ether Renewal, adrenaline skills, and paragon chants and shouts.