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[Wavebend]

Introduction

 

After spending the whole weekend thinking long and hard about the best solo build for the Saarebas, I believe I've found a reliable setup that can work well for all players regardless of promotions. This build is barrier-less, ring-less and glyph-less (for reasons explained in FAQ section) but can still be very team-friendly as its focus is to maximize CC opportunities (even better than a necro) and to output massive DPS. This build is risky and requires practice; while you may not solo Nightmare to completion on your own (unless you're a promotion lord), it will allow you to stay alive on your own. This build satisfies all the requirements I had in mind:

• Very good mobility (Necessary for evading terrors, fast targets such as shadows/brutes/rage demons and recovering from bad situations)
• Very good CC (Slowed, Chilled, Frozen, Paralyzed, Knockdown, Panicked)
• Extremely good overall DPS
• Good focus on defense
• Has to work well against all factions
• Optimized synergy between abilities (no overlap)

FAQ

Spoiler

Barrier-less build philosophy

 

I have three issues with Saar-Taar Shield in an offensive build.

1. The quality of the barrier sucks. Unlike the keeper, the elementalist or the virtuoso, the Saarebas doesn't benefit from Strength of Spirits, Knight-Protector or Reinforced Barrier.
2. The quantity of her barrier sucks. The bulk of the barrier comes from the finishing-stance and only fills 65%.
3. The choice of the ability you cast in the finishing-stance is extremely important. The finishing-stance animation for all abilities is really long unless you have the Ring of Asaaranda or the Heart of Pride staff. Therefore, it's important that you setup the battlefield properly prior to the finishing-stance to minimize the risk of death. My philosophy is that if you're forced to cast Barrier in the finishing-stance, that means you've failed to plan properly and you'll most likely die very soon. In any case, mobility + control > barrier.

Ring of Asaaranda-less philosophy

 

I don't recommend it for an offensive build (unless you have Heart of Pride) because it doesn't synergize correctly.

As I described above, due to the long casting time of the finishing-stance, only your opener and your flow abilities can be used to properly setup the battlefield to have control over your enemies. Most of that control should come from the flow-stance (e.g. Paralyzed from Ataashi's Breath, Paralyzed from Wall of Hissra, Paralyzed from Gaatlok Blast or Panicked from Itwa-Adim Explosion). Casting the Ring of Asaaranda while you're surrounded by enemies is a sure way to lose control of the battlefield, which will lead to your death.

 

Why no Itwa-Adim Explosion?

 

While Itwa-Adim works fine as a ranged damage dealer, this capability can be found in other abilities as well, such as Wall of Hissra or Gaatlok Blast.

Therefore, Itwa-Adim is mostly good for one thing: to panic enemies during the flow stance. However, while it applies a Panicked AoE, this doesn't apply to the (unaffected) primary target. This leaves you vulnerable with no other options than to go through the long casting time of the Finishing-stance, which will most likely leave you dead. The Panicked capability of Itwa-Adim can however be found in Wall of Hissra's finishing-stance, and the latter also applies to the primary target. With good planning, Wall of Hissra is arguably more useful in the long run.

 

Why no Ataashi's Breath?

 

Ataashi's Breath is only good for two things. To freeze (opener) and to paralyze (flow). Its finishing-stance damage ability can easily be replaced with Athlok Burst's opener. However, its freeze capacity overlaps with the finishing-stance of Athlok Burst, making it a bit redundant while chaining, and its flow-stance paralyze capability, while extremely useful because of its long duration, can be replaced by that of Gaatlok Blast or Wall of Hissra's (both in flow-stance). One of the reasons I personally prefer Gaatlok Blast is because the flow-stance ability, while single target, deals a ton of damage, inflicts a Paralyzed/Discharge combo which incapacitates the enemy for a longer duration than Ataashi's Breath would, which allows you to get out of bad situations via Leap, whereas this can't be done via Ataashi's Breath. The opener, unlike Ataashi's Breath, adds an unique CC capability (knockdown) which allows you to survive against shadows/shrieks. Wall of Hissra's glyph version of Paralyzed also allows you to cast the Burst early, which is a nice bonus. While I do agree that it's a really good ability, I had to make room for the Leap as well.

 

Why no Glyph?

 

No room for it. Less effective than any of the slotted abilities anyway.

 

 

The Build

Spoiler

Active abilities: Gaatlok Blast+, Asaara's Leap+, Wall of Hissra+, Athlok Burst+

 

 

Demo (stats: 21 constitution, 42 cunning, 74 willpower)

 

 

Extra strategy tips (after watching demo)

• If you suddenly find yourself surrounded, either fade step to position yourself better (Asaara's leap opener), or cast Gaatlok Blast in the flow-stance to paralyze/discharge an enemy and use that enemy to leap to. The discharge will incapacitate the enemy for more than 6 seconds.
• Have a good knowledge of each enemy's immunity list.
  • E.g. #1: A shadow is immune to Frozen/Panicked but is vulnerable to Paralyzed and Knockdown. Use Gaatlok Blast to Knockdown, then Gaatlok Blast again to Paralyze/Discharge and deal massive damage or Wall of Hissra.
  • E.g. #2: A Red templar knight is immune to Frozen/Paralyze/Knockdown but is vulnerable to Panic. Use Wall of Hissra's finisher to Panic and eventually kill him via damage over time.
• When casting Wall of Hissra's finisher (Wall of Fire which inflicts Panicked), make sure to stay close to a chokepoint to keep good positioning. Spam Ice wall/Lightning wall to prevent enemies from going behind you. If they do get behind you, leap to the farthest enemy via Gaatlok Blast / leap and repeat.

[coldsteelblue]

Thanks for that Wavebend, still tweaking my build & I've picked up a couple of pointers from that vid.