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Creating or Editing New Builds

This is not the GuildWiki, a forum, or any other site you may have used for posting builds. Builds should be posted according to these guidelines to ensure consistent quality. Administrators will be setting builds that do not follow these guidelines to pending delete.

Proper spelling and grammar is expected at all times, not AOLbonics or TXT speak. This is a part of the rules you should have read before registering.

Naming Conventions

Builds should be given a name that suggests its purpose. It should NOT contain the build's primary and secondary, either fully spelled out or in abbreviation form (eg. Ranger/Elementalist or R/E). Search results and build displays always display this information and build downloads will add the abbreviations to the filenames automatically.

Build names are only set to unique on a per user bases. This means that two users can have a build with the same exact name, but you cannot have two builds with the same name. If your build is a variation on a popular build, you might want to include the original build's name along with a hint at how you changed it (e.g. BL Monk: Shield of Abs Variant).

If your build is designed specifically for use within a team, it is recommended that you use the team build's name in the build's name. If a team is called Anti-IWAY, a warrior for the team might be called Anti-IWAY: Mr. Smash.

Good build names
55 Spoiler
The Flaming Reaper
Conductive Killer
The Heroic Barrager
Grasping Earthmage
The Weapon Master
Bad build names
assassin
PvE Paragon
ds war
Monk PvE Build
11/2 Mo/w
Damage Mesmer
Solo Farming W/Mo

Summary

Summaries always show up in search results, so they should be used to briefly describe what the build does or what it's purpose is. A good summary should help others searching for builds find the one that suits their needs.

  • Summaries should NOT be identical to the build's name
  • Summaries should not contain your username or your character's name
  • Summaries should not contain your build's primary or secondary profession
  • Summaries should be left blank if you're not sure what to put
Good build summaries
Strong hex and condition removal with cover enchantments and healing
Knockdown, blind, bleeding and you can't rez.
Staggered channeling spells for AoE fun!
Use the Dervishes innate Mysticism to become nearly invulnerable
Degen and spike with self healing
Bad build summaries
Personal use, try it if you want.
king kixx solo farm build
A ritualist dervish build.
A good PvE build
Turns people EMO!!!

Descriptions

Descriptions should get straight to the point, avoiding rambling or unnecessary explanations. Quality is more important than quantity. No one wants to read an imposing wall of text that could be written to say the same thing in half the space. Improve the scannability of the text by using the correct syntax mark-up to create paragraphs, lists and headlines (steps that should be followed belong in an ordered list, general tips belong in an unordered list, etc.)

Descriptions are for documenting this build and this build only. The following things are commonly put in descriptions and they do not belong there because this is not a forum:

  • Information about each skill on the bar in detail
  • Character names
  • How to contact you
  • Advertisements and sigs
  • Comment solicitation
  • Assuming we know which update you're talking about when you say the update

There are two types of builds: ones that require documentation and ones that do not. Most builds fall into the documentation not required category.

Documentation Not Required

If your build is basically use the primary damage skills to do damage, the run skill to go fast, and the self heal to heal yourself, you have a build that does not require documentation. If you feel you must put something, put something useful instead of telling people how to heal themselves or activate their attack skills. You don't have to answer all of these questions, they're just ideas.

  • Is it versatile and generally useful or is it only useful in specific areas or against certain targets?
  • Is it self sufficient or does it require a specific partner build to complement it?
  • Is it fragile but can quickly spike out a target or is it slow and reliable?
  • Is it energy intensive or do you spend most encounters nearly full energy?
  • Is there a lot of downtime waiting for skills to recharge or can you keep casting as long as you have energy?
  • Are you supposed to focus on a single target or do you juggle multiple targets?

You know the build, not us. Instead of treating us like we're still in pre-searing, tell us what to expect when using the build. You shouldn't need more than a few sentences to do this.

Documentation Required

Builds that involve a special trick or interesting combination of skills should have an explanation on the how/why it works and the skill order (if necessary). Don't go overboard, you don't need to write a novel to do this. For some builds, a tutorial video does a better job of explaining the build than any length of documentation could possibly hope to do.

Just because the purpose of a few skills needs to be explained, that doesn't mean the entire bar has to be explained in the same level of detail. Like builds that don't require documentation, give us information on what to expect. Don't just give us fluff we can already see if we read the skill descriptions.

Solo builds are allowed a little more freedom in documentation because of how critical timing is. These builds are usually designed to be used in a specific way and the skill usage isn't always obvious. It is still recommended you post a tutorial video instead of an overly verbose documentation.

Counters and Disadvantages

Your melee build is shutdown by blindness? No kidding! Tell us something we don't know.

Unless there is a single counter that absolutely destroys your build, counters are not worth mentioning. If someone who doesn't even play the game can figure out what's going to shutdown your build with a little bit of common sense, it doesn't belong with the build.

Attributes and Runes

Attributes and runes do not go in descriptions. Ever. They have a very specific location they need to go: the attributes table that appears below the skill listing.

Equipment

Guild Wars is not an equipment based game, and as such, there are very few instances where the equipment actually matters. Builds are not tutorials on how to play the game or determine which equipment is best: refer to an article about equipment instead.

If a build requires a very specific piece of equipment to function, then it belongs as a part of the build's description. If you're listing the equipment, you're essentially saying only this equipment will do, you cannot use weapon swaps or the armor you already have because the build will not work anymore.

If the equipment is a matter of personal preference and can easily be replaced with any other gear, then it does not belong as a part of the build's description. Maybe the build does require a 20% longer enchantment mod on a weapon, but do you have to spell out exactly what they need as their offhand or the other mods they should put on their staff? Usually not.

If there's something that works particularly well, but isn't exactly required to run the build, it's better to give enough information about the build so the user can make an informed decision on their own. Answering some of the questions listed above for builds not requiring documentation go a long way towards suggesting what to use.

Necessary Equipment (required)
The -50hp focus and 5 superior runes for 55hp builds
A 1-handed melee weapon (or scythe for farming) with 20% longer enchantment duration for an Illusionary Weaponry build
An Ebon weapon for builds using Ebon Dust Aura.
Personal Preference (not allowed!)
Vampiric Sword of Fortitude vs Sundering Sword of Fortitude
Wand and Focus vs Staff
Radiant (+energy) Insignia vs Survivor (+health) Insignia in armor
Example Description (with syntax mark-up).

The following example is for a W/Rt using Vengeful Was Khanhei to solo Underworld. Parts of it have been borrowed from an existing build in the database, with updated grammar and wording. Note that the skill abbreviations are spelled out the first time they are used in the description.

This is a fairly straight-forward build using Vengeful Was Khanhei to clear the chamber of Grasping Darknesses and kill Smite Crawlers in Underworld. It's very hard to mess-up too much.

= Instructions =

Once you enter Underworld, take the initial quest nearby. We're just using it to open the exit to the chamber by killing the graspings.

# Use Dolyak Signet (DS) and build up enough adrenaline for Bonetti's Defense (BD)
# When DS starts blinking, use BD
# Use Vengeful Was Khanhei (VwK) once your energy is full
# When VwK ends, repeat the previous steps until they are dead

Once all 3 groups of Graspings are dead, run to the ice wastes.

= Tips =

* Use Sprint to lose agro from the Aatxes, you can't kill them with this build
* Only agro 1 group of smites at a time (usually in groups of 3-5)
* Don't attack the smites once they put up Shield of Judgment, let them attack you to gain adrenaline
* Don't engage coldfire nights unless you replace sprint with resilient weapon (this is still //very// hard)

You can watch a [[http://youtube.com/watch?v=2nonXViwScs|tutorial video of this build on YouTube]].

Categories

Not only does proper categorization help others find the build they need in searches, but it serves as an indicator of its purpose in team builds.

Balanced
Has both offensive and defensive abilities
Well-rounded and suited to many different areas
Offensive
Capable of dishing out significant damage with little or no defensive abilities
Healing
Sole purpose is to make blue numbers pop-up
Usually only Monk and Ritualist builds will fall into this category
Support
Deals little damage and is primarily focused on supporting the rest of the team
Most Monk, Ritualist, and Paragon builds will fall into this category
Shutdown
Primarily focused on disabling foes
Most Mesmer and Necromancer Curses builds will fall into this category
Running
Focused on getting from point A to point B
Usually, PvP flag-running builds or PvE builds for traversing explorable areas are found here
Solo/Farming
Focused on taking down foes alone or with only a few party members
Descriptions must include the types of targets or the regions where this build is intended to be used (e.g. bosses, melee, etc)
Should always be set to PvE
Specialized
Builds that serve a special purpose, but don't really fit into the other categories
Examples: Minion Masters or builds that have a few out of place skills to complement their teammates

Additional Types

Rough Draft
Builds that are only viewable by the author
Upon publishing a build, its date added time is set to the current time and the last modified time is cleared
Will be automatically deleted after 30 days if it is not published
Once published, a build cannot be set back to a draft (but you can petition an administrator to do it)
Testing
Flag to indicate the build is still in the testing stages
Retired
This build used to work, but doesn't anymore
Hero
Heroes can run this build without difficulty
Update
Flag that is automatically set when one of the build's 8 primary skills have received balance changes
Not necessarily a reduction in the build's performance
Must be unflagged by the author if the build continues to work effectively

Skills and Alternates

Builds can support up to 12 skills associated with it: 8 primary skills and 4 alternates. Any attempt to save more than this will discard the extras. The advantage to having the 4 alternate skills allows you to have the skill descriptions handy and allows users to easily generate a new template using the skill combinations they like best.

Pending Delete Status

A build will be set to pending delete by an administrator if it does not follow the build posting guidelines. These builds are removed from all search results and sent to the pending delete listing along with the reason why. No build is deleted by the administrators without appearing on this list first, unless the author has attempted to circumvent the pending delete system.

The author has one week to correct the build, once it appears on this list. Administrators will check the listing frequently and clear any builds that conform to the posting guidelines, which restores them to the search results. Builds that have been edited are marked as requiring attention, and will not be immediately deleted after one week, but will be deleted eventually if left on the list for too long.

The administrators want to ensure only quality submissions appear on the site. This system was forced into place because many users could not be trusted to do so on their own, ruining it for the rest of the users.

Searching

Type
Both: any build
PvE: builds that are marked as PvE only or Both
PvP: builds that are marked as PvP only or Both
Additional Display Types
Reveal Testing: includes builds marked as testing (omitted by default)
Reveal Retired: includes builds marked as retired (omitted by default)
Only Hero Builds: only displays builds marked as usable by heroes
Attributes
Select builds that only use those attributes
To select multiple attributes hold down the ctrl key and click on each one
Sort
Date: date created descending
Name: build name ascending
Ratings: number of favorites descending
Comments: number of comments descending
Author: author name ascending
Profession: primary profession name ascending, secondary profession name ascending
Type: type ascending

Comments

Comments should be useful and stay on topic to the build in question.

  • Comments that contain personal opinions are not useful (eg. this build sucks or this build is the best)
  • Comments should be about the current build, not some other build that works better
  • Comments should not describe the build, authors should edit the build instead

Favorites

Not only are favorites a handy way to keep track of builds you like, but they are the only way to have access to builds other than yours, your friends', or your guildmates' while creating a team build. This replaces a starred rating system for ranking builds. It's also used to help manage page download speeds, since having access to every build would require pagination to scroll through page after page of builds you don't particularly care about.

Downloading

The default directory for Guild Wars templates is C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Templates\Skills\. You can create subdirectories for your templates for sorting purposes. Within the Guild Wars client, you can do this by naming your build directory\Build Name.

Builds posted here are also available in formats compatible with the following applications:

We do not endorse any of these products. We simply offer them as a courtesy. There are no immediate plans to add other download formats at this time. However, if there is enough demand for a particular format, we will consider adding it.

Templates that use Mesmer attributes may not work with GW Freaks, due to the programmer's decision to use inconsistent internal naming conventions. You can manually correct this by editing the XML file and removing Magic from IllusionMagic, InspirationMagic, and DominationMagic.

Condensed Syntax

Do not abuse formatting by using the improper mark-up because you like the way it looks. The appearance of the following elements can change at any time, so use the correct mark-up to describe your text.

General Text

Paragraphs of text must have two newlines seperating them from other elements, otherwise the formatting breaks.

Bold (Strong)
**Bolded Text**
Bolded Text
This should never be misused as a headline
Italic (Emphasis)
//Italics Text//
Italics Text
Strikeout (Deleted)
--Strikeout Text--
Strikeout Text
Underline (Inserted)
__Underlined Text__
Underlined Text
Link with description (must begin with protocol, such as http://)
[[http://www.guildwars.com/|Guild Wars Official Site]]
Guild Wars Official Site

Headlines

Headlines should appear in order, similar to an outline or nested lists. Start with level 1, then level 2, and finally level 3. Never jump straight from level 1 to level 3. You can, however, jump from level 3 to level 1.

Note: only pages that support expanded syntax support up to 4 levels of headlines. Pages that use the condensed syntax only go up to 3 levels of headlines.

= Level 1 Headline (top level headline) =

== Level 2 Headline (sub headline) ==

=== Level 3 Headline ===

Level 1 Headline (top level headline)

Level 2 Headline (sub headline)
Level 3 Headline

Special Mark-up

Blockquote

The blockquote tag should only be used to quote other sources, either people or various documents, such as the game manual. This should never be used to indent or otherwise highlight a section of text other than the purpose of quoting a block of text.

""This is a blockquote""

This is a blockquote

No Mark-up

Occasionally, you'll want to have a section of text that shouldn't have the mark-up rules applied to it.

**Oh no, this is bolded text!** <<**Don't bold this text!**>>
Oh no, this is bolded text! **Don't bold this text!**
Lists

Lists are for a collection of similar items, such as a list of tips, definitions, or a set of instructions to be followed in order. If you have a single element, it does not belong in a list just because you want it to line up with other elements on the page.

Unordered List

Most lists of items should be in the form of an unordered list. Here is an ingredient list for cookies:

* 1 c Granulated Sugar
* 1 c Brown Sugar
* 1 c Butter or Margerine, softened
* 2 Eggs
* 1 1/2 t Vanilla
* 1 t Baking Soda
* 1 t Salt
* 3 c Flour
* One of the following ingredients
** 12 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
** 2 c Rasins
** 2 c Coconut
** 2 c Walnuts
  • 1 c Granulated Sugar
  • 1 c Brown Sugar
  • 1 c Butter or Margerine, softened
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 1/2 t Vanilla
  • 1 t Baking Soda
  • 1 t Salt
  • 3 c Flour
  • One of the following ingredients
    • 12 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
    • 2 c Rasins
    • 2 c Coconut
    • 2 c Walnuts
Ordered List

An ordered list is ideal for a list of steps that should be completed in a particular order. Here is a set of instructions for making cookie dough:

# Place the following ingredients into mixer bowl
## Sugars
## Butter
## Eggs
## Vanilla
# Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer
# Stir with the mixer for about 1 minute, stopping to scrape bowl twice
# Turn mixer on low
# Gradually add the following ingredients
## Baking Soda
## Salt
## Flour
# Mix for about 2 minutes
# Add Chocolate Chips (or other desired ingredient)
# Stir for about 15 seconds
  1. Place the following ingredients into mixer bowl
    1. Sugars
    2. Butter
    3. Eggs
    4. Vanilla
  2. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer
  3. Stir with the mixer for about 1 minute, stopping to scrape bowl twice
  4. Turn mixer on low
  5. Gradually add the following ingredients
    1. Baking Soda
    2. Salt
    3. Flour
  6. Mix for about 2 minutes
  7. Add Chocolate Chips (or other desired ingredient)
  8. Stir for about 15 seconds
Definition List

A definition list is best suited for a list of terms or definitions, like a glossary. Here is an abbreviation guide for cooking:

+ t
- Teaspoon
+ T
- Tablespoon
- Equal to 3 Teaspoons
+ c
- Cup
- Equal to 16 Tablespoons
t
Teaspoon
T
Tablespoon
Equal to 3 Teaspoons
c
Cup
Equal to 16 Tablespoons

More...

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