Depends if you want to go as far as possible then 1 tank with 1 dps is best, but you can get far with 2 dps that have good damage and survivability

Texecutioner187 wrote: »

I'm not sure if there is a general consensus or not on how two people should be going through infinite archive easiest? Should there be two "solo build" DPS with survivability, or should it be one heavier DPS and a healer? I don't know that a tank would be necessary so I didn't even include that in my thought process but wondering what others are finding best success with

As has been mentioned, if you want to go as far as possible, having at least one tank is meta. Specifically a DK tank with ultigen to live permanently in Magma Shell. This requires something like Elf Bane to prolong Magma Shell, Drake's Rush to generate ultimate, and Exhilarating Drain as the main ultimate building tool (20 ult in 3 seconds). That is probably the only way records have been set, e.g. people going to arc 30+ (this also means finding a way to maintain your login while you sleep).

A tank can however be useful from the beginning to pull mobs together for the DD. Depending on your capabilities and playstyles, that can be as efficient as having two DDs, though maybe not as efficient as two arcanists at the beginning .

I think a healer is a hard no. At the beginning you don't need them. The further you go, both players need to be tanky enough to survive unexpected one shots. It's hard for a healer to protect against those, other than perhaps with scribing and shields. Even then, I'm not too sure. Shields can be gotten in other ways and resistances impact shields too. I find passive tankiness more consistent, where possible.

At any rate, you need damage. You can get to the middle of arc 4 with two DDs, wearing conventional self-healing builds, in relative comfort. Gothmau may well kill you and that can happen from arc 2 if you're not careful. This is where you need the tank, or you need some other solution or experience, if you don't want to lose a thread.

My solution to the marauder problem is mainly the Esoteric Greaves, albeit they only work on certain builds, e.g. magicka builds, and only up to a point. Being ranged and judiciously kiting Gothmau in particular is probably the default option. A melee build against that guy is generally a no no, e.g. you need a tank or you need the Esoteric Greaves to make that work. The other marauders are easier. For Hilkarax, stay close. For Ulmor, whatever. He's not that dangerous.

Marauders appear once per arc, from arc 2 onwards. When they appear, it is shortly after the first mob wave of 3. Kill the bigger mobs, but leave 1 or 2 of the smaller ones alive and make sure not to cleave them. If you have a partner who does not follow that rule, you will most likely die. You do not want to move on to the next add wave until the marauder is dead. That said, the second add wave can be OK, but the third is deadly.

In terms of damage, you can start with almost a full trial DPS build. Sul-Xan is an option, due to the many mobs. Boss burn setups with Mechanical Acuity are another. The quicker you burn stuff, the less likely you run into trouble. If you are very good DDs, this may carry you further than I get with such an approach, which is to the middle of arc 4 (solo or duo tbh).

That said, once you get two arcs of visions under your belt, the visions and verses will start dominating the damage that you do. The way to build for the archive is to eventually be tanky, but optimised to take advantage of visions, specifically the fully upgraded Focused Efforts vision. If you don't get at least two of those in the first few arcs, you might as well throw in the towel. It's random luck with visions that ultimately decides how far you get, or at least in a reasonable time.

From the middle of arc 4 you have to deal with Thoat boss-style adds in the trash pulls. The small blob shards are by far the most dangerous of those, when you get them. They multiply like crazy and, if you don't kill or stun them, they will kill you. AFAIK you cannot outheal them. This is one of the reasons I am saying healers are useless. It's better to have more damage to kill them, whereas a tank can interrupt them by chaining. I've had 12K health regen on a tanky, resistance-capped health-regen focused build with the right visions. If you have no means to deal with the blobs, you're dead regardless. Those means include killing, Explosive Charge (templar AOE interrupt) and warden Crystallized Slab. The latter automatically stuns blobs as they attack you. Now you know why wardens do well on the leaderboard. Note that blob shard damage feels like a DOT (damage over time), but it is not. It is a barely visible projectile they shoot at you. It ramps up like crazy, if you don't deal with them.

Aside from some boss mechanics, which you may not actually encounter, the marauders and the blob shards are the guaranteed problems I have encountered getting into arc 5 solo or with an inexperienced / non-tank partner. Arc 4 is the end of the content for all intents and purposes, though. You encounter the final version of the Thoat fight at the end of that arc. I've only gotten beyond that, solo, with 3 Focused Efforts visions. Duo, I've only gotten further with some very competitive partners and/or an outright tank.

Making a build for the archive includes the following considerations:

• Have at least two builds for each DD. A conventional build at the start, but switching over to a tanky, vision-based build later via gear change. Your damage will eventually no longer come from your actual build. It will come from visions. What you need, then, is tankiness to survive, even as a designated DD.
• Some visions give you +~30% stamina or magicka regen. Have decent but borderline regen to begin with. Count on stacking some of those visions later. Sustain sets are not particularly necessary, because of this. Especially take the stam regen vision, if you are wearing the Esoteric Greaves. You will need a dual-regen food to begin with in that case, like a PvPer.
• Building for health regen can be an option. Gaze of Sithis + Alessian Armor + Strategic Reserve CP + gold food + visions can stack health regen to 10K+. I've tried this and I think Gaze of Sithis is ultimately a dead end. You need to be able to block. However the availability of health regen visions is something to keep in mind. If you have multiple armor sets in your inventory and can tailor your build to the visions you get, all the better.
• The single most important vision is Focused Efforts. Always take that vision if you get it, even as tank. You will start doing damage. You do need to build for this. There are certain warden setups involving the Ice Furnace set that can apply Burning in AOE. The Unleashed Terror set can apply Hemoraghing in AOE. Charged weapons are a good idea, as is dual-wield for more enchant / status effect variety. I run Blade Cloak and an Unleashed dual wield back on my magplar for example. You can proc with Explosive Charge, Stampede, or Streak. Finally Elemental Susceptibility can turn into a powerful damage skill and Crushing Shock with a Charged weapon is a meta option.
• Attuned Enchantments is another important vision. One weapon, possibly the tank's, should have an Infused Weakening enchant. You may boost this with Torug's Pact and/or Heartland Conqueror. Together with visions, this can reduce marauder weapon/spell damage by 1,000 ... 2,000 ... more, thus reducing their damage.

Finally, you need the upgrades that the vendor on the left sells, if you want to go far. Particularly the upgrade that enhances the visions. It's only with that upgrade that Focused Efforts jumps from 200% to 500% extra damage.

P.S. Bring some penetration as a DD, especially if you play without a tank. Something in the 5K to 9K range. 9K unbuffed is theoretically optimal for solo (and duo) play, but there is a penetration vision by ... 37% I think. So your pen may increase, but it is a percentage-based vision. You need some half-decent pen to begin with for that to be effective.