A viable counter to spikers..., Here comes the Symbiosis :)

I was playing in the TAs with some of my newly found friends over at [soc]. They are a great bunch of people that seem to be always having fun in the TAs!!! They have a couple skilled players that I would choose over most any pubbie. Can we say TEAMWORK FTW?

We were thinking about ways to counter the ranger spike that seems to be prevelant in the TAs, Tombs, and GvG lately. Thus, we came across the bondage build with some necro added At first, we ran 2 Mo/R (one carrying symbiosis) with 2 Necros (one being dark aura --> ME!)... the other was a pubbie that didn't live up to much of a standard This could survive most anything, but our damage was a bit weak due to poor communication skills with the damaging team, and no way to interrupt or go off target.

Later, we switched up the pubby necro to an interrupt/damage ranger with symbiosis, and the monks switched to Mo/Me for the mantra of inscriptions and energy management. That seemed to do worlds better (This is where I took the screenie), but still not quite what was optimal. If we came across ranger teams at this point... they had no chance of survival! The best part about this build, was the 1/4'd damage intake with symbiosis up *cough* and 10 pips of regen Symbiosis can be quite powerful if you have monks taking advantage of it on the primary target.

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Once I had found a happy medium for energy management. It seemed to work out WORLDS better but still wasn't the damage output for symbiosis being down... I switched to my warrior and did worlds better

We ended up with:
R/Me Marks/Exp/Beast Mastery (Punishing, Distracting, Savage, Symbiosis)
W/Mo Axe/Smiter (Axe Skills, Judge's Insight, Smite Hex)
Mo/Me Prot/Inspiration (Essence Bond, Life Bond, Guardian, Shielding Hands)
Mo/Me Heal/Inspiration (Aura of Faith, Divine Boon, P. Drain, Drain Enchant, Healing skills)

Any other suggestions to help refine this concept?
Shields Up!
Watch Yourself (not terribly effective, but does help a lot with symbiosis up)
Ward against Harm (be wary of balling vs spikers) http://www.theamazonbasin.com/gw/forums/index.php?showtopic=3939