Observed Build #2, Clan KGYU Pressure Build

Earlier this week, AB got a chance to face the then ranked #6 team, Clan KGYU. Today, I watched Clan KGYU flatten several teams with just as much ease, including #4 ranked I Guild I (flawless victory in 10 minutes!). By the end of the day, Clan KGYU were ranked #1.

Clan KGYU runs a very solid Pressure Build with impressive skill. Usually a Pressure Build takes a while to develop, as the monks are drained of energy and heavy degen takes its toll. Clan KGYU diagnoses enemy counters to their pressure build very quickly and uses excellent interuption & shutdown to steamroll opponents.

Here is the build:

# 1 Warrior / Necro
1) Charge [Elite]
2) Sever Artery
3) Gash
4) Final Thrust
5) Bull's Strike
6) Healing Signet
7) Plague Touch
Rez Signet

# 2 Ranger / Warrior
1) Ferocious Strike [Elite]
2) Hammer Bash
3) Crushing Blow
4) Irresistable Blow
5) Bestial Fury (Chapter 2 copy of Tiger's Fury)
6) Confort Animal
7) Charm Animal
Rez Signet

# 3 Ranger / Mesmer
1) Crippling Shot [Elite]
2) Apply Poison
3) Distracting Shot
4) Savage Shot
5) Revealed Hex (Chapter 2 copy of Inspired Hex)
6) Distortion
7) Blackout
Rez Signet

# 4 Monk / Mesmer
1) Energy Drain [Elite]
2) Reversal of Fortune
3) Mend Ailment
4) Inspired Hex
5) Protective Spirit
6) Guardian
7) Divine Boon
Contemplation of Purity

# 5 Warrior / Necro
1) Bulls Charge [Elite]
2) Sever Artery
3) Gash
4) Final Thrust
5) Frenzy
6) Healing Signet
7) Plague Touch
Rez Signet

# 6 Mesmer / Necro
1) Tainted Flesh [Elite]
2) Rotting Flesh
3) Deathly Swarm
4) Signet of Humility
5) Mantra of Inscriptions
6) Drain Enchantment
7) Inspired Hex
Rez Signet

# 7 Elementalist / Monk (Primary Flag Runner)
1) Ether Prodigy [Elite]
2) Deep Freeze
3) Ice Spikes
4) Heal Party
5) Armor of Mist
6) ?
7) ?
Resurrect ?

I didn't observe all the skills on the E/Mo. Some possiblities are Healing Breeze, Extinguish, Blurred Vision, or Hex Removal.

# 8 Monk / Mesmer
1) Energy Drain [Elite]
2) Reversal of Fortune
3) Mend Ailment
4) Signet of Devotion
5) Inspired Hex
6) Spirit Bond
7) Divine Boon
Contemplation of Purity

Observations on the Build

Damage
This build's damage comes from condition stacks (Bleeding, Poison, & Disease) and constant melee damage from 2 Sword Warriors & and Ranger Hammer Warrior "Bunny Thumper".

Ability to Split
The build works best 8 vs 8, but it is designed to split well into 2 groups of four if needed. The top four are the Attack team with Charge, Poison from the Cripple Shot Ranger, and Bleeding from Sever Artery. The bottom four have Disease from Tainted Flesh + Bleeding from the other Sword Warrior.

Together they can maintain the maximum 10 health degen on several targets. If they split each group can put 7 degen on their foes.

Mobility
The first Warrior has Charge to help make the team more mobile. The second Warrior has Bull's Charge to run down foes and the Flagger has Armor of Mist for running. There are not a ton of running skills, but there are plenty of snares for the other team and a well placed Charge can get the whole team moving.

Snares
The Crippling Shot Ranger and the Water Flagger do an excellent job of snaring multiple targets. Deep Freeze can slow an entire team for 10 seconds and Crippling Shot only has a 1 second recharge.

Condition Removal
Both Warriors carry Plague Touch to remove Blindness and Weakness. This saves the monks' energy and allows the Monks to carry Mend Ailment instead of Mend Condition. Mend Ailment now has a 5 second recharge but provides a wonderful heal if facing condition stacks. So the Warriors remove troublesome conditions themselves and the Monks can save their condition removal for efficient heals.

Hex Removal
Each Monk has Inspired Hex and Contemplation of Purity, so they can remove hex stacks from themselves. There are two copies "off-monk" hex removal with Inspired Hex on the Crippleshot Ranger and the Mesmer. This helps keep Diversion off of the Monks.

I think this maybe one area where the build could have some weakness. A heavy hexing team could slow the Warriors and the Hammer Ranger considerably. Perhaps the E/Mo flagger had hex removal as well?

Enchantment Removal
There is only one copy of Drain Enchantment which surpisingly seems to be enough for this build. This team has enough snaring to keep Dual Smiting teams from doing much damage. This build is also not overly concerned with Life Barrier or Life Bond because the heavy degen ignores these enchantments.

Caster Shutdown/Interupts/Energy Denial
The knockdown and interupt skills in this build are what make its degen & melee pressure so deadly. There are 3 players knocking people down and a Ranger with interupts. Clan KGYU excels at diagnosing an opponent's defenses and then knocking down and interupting the right people at the right time.

One Warrior has Bull's Charge and the other has Bull's Strike, so moving targets get knocked down. The Ranger/Warrior has Hammer Bash which charges quickly when used with Ferocious Strike & Beastial Fury. Together they can keep 3 targets completely off their game with frequent knockdowns.

The Crippleshot Ranger has 2 interupts in Distracting Shot & Savage Shot, so Heal Party spammers can be interupted from afar. The Ranger also has Blackout to shut down a foe for several seconds.

The Mesmer/Necro provides the finishing touch with Mantra of Inscriptions + Signet of Humility. Used together, these skills can constantly disable one enemy elite skill from being used. So if the other team has Tainted Flesh (which would protect against disease) or Elite Condition Removal like Restore Condition it can be disabled completely.

"Warrior Hate" (conditions or hexes that slow Warriors/Assassins)
Warriors and Assassins are kept in check by constant snaring from Crippleshot & Water Hexes. The Water Ele runner may have had Blurred Vision as well.

The damage from condition stack degen also ignores armor, so enemy Warriors are forced to retreat for healing.

Spike Capability
There are no timed spikes in the build. Each Warrior has a terrific adrenaline spike with Gash + Final Thrust which can take a life bar from half full to empty. These spikes can be coordinated with a knockdown or Blackout on a Monk to ensure a dead target.

Healing
Both Monks use Divine Boon to add efficient heals to their protection spells. The two builds complement each other nicely with one Monk using Protective Spirit and the other Spirit Bond. The E/Mo runner can also spam Heal Party if needed.

Resurrect Skills
I really didn't see many of these skills used by Clan KGYU. I think all the non-Monks had a rez signet except the E/Mo flagger which probably had a hard rez.


Summary
The efficiency of Clan KGYU running this build is scary. Poison, Disease, & Bleeding are piled on quickly. The opponents are Crippled and Frozen so they lose mobility. Enemy counters for Condition Stacks are identified quickly and neutralized with Signet of Humility or timely knockdowns, Blackouts and interupts.

The key to applying pressure is to push in the right places. Both Warriors, the Hammer Ranger, and the Cripple Shot Ranger can harass targets so key enemy skills don't get used. 10 degen only amounts to 20 damage per second, but when unchecked, an entire team can be killed is a remarkably short amount of time. http://www.theamazonbasin.com/gw/forums/index.php?showtopic=5970