First off I want to say good job everyone, we've been winning in halls again after a long absence. We have a solid HoH build, and after talking with a few officers about our success, I decided to try bringing that success over into GvG.
One of the things I have noticed lately is that now that HA is 6 man team, and also due to map changes, there is ALOT less spike in halls. Another thing I noticed, which is probably a direct result, is that there is more spike in GvG. Also highly present is single or dual smite builds, which are always hard to counter do to the massive pressure they apply. What I'm about to present is a rough draft, but looks like it has big potential:
2 W/A or W/E - constant damage/pressure
These would be what we are running in HoH, only thing i would say is required is at least 1 Shields Up! to deal with rangers. The reason i said maybe 1 or both wars as W/A is for Siphon Speed. I don't think we've run it in GvG before, but Alfred was rocking it in halls, to good effect. It fits nicely with my shutdown hexes too.
1 Me/? - monk shutdown
This is me and my patented super deluxe shut 2 monks down til they cry build, version 4.2
1 Rt/Me - more pressure/blind/enchant removal
The build i ran the past week in halls. Shadowsong does nice dmg+blind, Pain+Bloodsong for dmg, Disenchantment is probably the best counter we've ever had against smite teams. Sig of Humilty to stop tainted necs, or randomly disable someone elses elite. Works wonders on an eviscerate war also by the way. Consume soul negates enemy spirits, and provides bonus healing off ours.
1 Mo/me - smite monk aka more pressure
basic air of smite monk, can bring Smite Hex or Draw Conditions, or both!
1 prot monk
to be discussed
1 SB/infuse monk
ok here it is, I think we need an sb/infuse since all the spikers have stopped doing halls and are now running that stuff in gvg now. Our regular 2 monk build cannot counter a good spike, but with sb/infuse i think we can. Even if they dont have eles or necros spiking, SB can help a monk from being hexed. I do recall running it when i first joined ZB, and I think the reasons were the same.
1 R/? runner
Ok to fit with my shutdown I want to have the runner bring Equinox. It doubles exhaustion, making Arcane Languor completely filthy. It also penalizes Ether Prodigy/Mind Shock/Burn/Freeze eles. I'm also thinking have the ranger bring traps, and trap around our monks when he comes up. If it seems we are missing the extinguish/heal party from our runner, we can always go back to the conventional E/mo runner.
Now this IS a rough draft, you will notice I didnt put everyones skillbar. One reason is that it's a work in progress. Another reason is because I hate telling people what to put on their skillbars, and then losing because they aren't comfortable with it. I also don't like relying on 1 specific skill, such as Natures Renewal on our old build. Equinox is bonus exhaustion, the build won't fall apart without it.
I'm not sure if we need an infuser with a smite monk throwing in added healing, but then again I think we need something solid to catch spikes. This week I've faced rspike, bspike, and obs flame spike as a guest in gvg. The 2 monk team i was in was pitifully unable to cope with a well done spike. I'd rather stay alive while killing spikers, then just be outspiked and lose. This build has defense against all 3 of those spike builds, and still has solid dmg output. I think we should try it.