Guild of the Week: Eternum Pariah (EP)
Eternum Pariah (EP) was formed through the merger of several guilds whose core members were driven by a single motivation: to be the best. This tight-knit group—consisting of only 12 members—has a background rooted in a variety of MMOs. All are avid participants in the competitive aspects of online gaming, and all were drawn to Guild Wars due to its skill-based combat and eight-versus-eight PvP options, which they believe keep battles balanced and prevents teams from suddenly becoming outnumbered on the battlefield, as they have experienced in other games.
Eternum Pariah is only a little over a month old, yet the guild has already made its presence known with its meteoric rise to the top of the Guild Wars Guild Ladder. As a whole, EP prefers guild-versus-guild play for its emphasis on tactics and ever-changing strategies. To the members of EP, GvG is the best competitive challenge Guild Wars has to offer.
Strategy: PvP Play
When playing in competitive matches, Eternum Pariah members coordinate their efforts through the use of voice communication. One member is assigned the role of target caller, a responsibility that does not change hands unless the caller is downed or otherwise incapacitated. By utilizing a single target caller, the team is able to avoid conflicting priorities or strategies.
Members of Eternum Pariah stress the importance of controlling the flag stand in guild-versus-guild battles. Because the effects of a Morale Boost can bring a weakened team back to its full capacity, EP makes certain that it has a flag runner ready to retain control of the stand as necessary. When required, the EP team can assign two players whose characters are bringing speed buffs for this task: as the first runner claims the flag stand, the second is ready to grab a new flag. This allows them to quickly recover the stand should the enemy try to retake it.
EP members also make skilled use of the catapults that can be found in the guild halls, and they have chosen their hall—the Hunter’s Isle—because of the range of its catapults. The strategic value of the catapults was highlighted in one of Eternum Pariah’s memorable matches. As EP team members faced down their foes in a fierce battle at the flag stand, they sent one of their members to sneak past the battle and attack the enemy’s Guild Lord. Alarmed at the sudden attack on their base, the opposing team attempted to fall back from the fight to save their Lord. (Little did the opponent know that they were falling into a trap that had been laid out for them!) Waiting at their foe’s base was a series of wards that Eternum Pariah had laid down to slow them. The opposing team, ensnared by the slowing effects of the wards, became an easy target for the catapult, which was loaded and ready. The ensuing blast resounded from the walls of the guild hall . . . and as the last echoes faded away, all that was left in its wake was a poignant reminder to use the strategic layout of the maps to their fullest.
Example Team Build #1
EP created this build to deal high amounts of concentrated damage in a brief period of time—otherwise known as "spiking." The build’s four Air Elementalists serve as the damage dealers, picking a high-priority target from the enemy team and unleashing focused attacks in rapid succession. The Earth Elementalist primarily plays a support role, using wards to compensate for the Air Elementalists' light armor. When the situation presents itself, the Earth Elementalist can also deliver the coup de grace of a spike volley using Obsidian Flame.
The Monks in this build have the primary role of keeping the Elementalists alive so that they can complete their volleys. Overall, the build is much more focused on offense than defense. Because Air Elementalists can become overburdened with Exhaustion over the course of a drawn-out battle, the emphasis is placed on achieving a swift victory.
Example Team Build #2
This second build emphasizes the swift, successive elimination of single targets. The Warrior leads the charge into battle, serving as the target caller. When a priority target is found, the Warrior calls out his knock-down attack to the rest of the team. The three Earth Elementalists follow the Warrior into battle so that they are close by when the knock-down is called, then they quickly follow up with Aftershock, which gives an additional damage bonus against foes that are knocked down. This combination deals out a very large amount of damage in a small time frame, making it difficult for the opposing team's Monks to compensate. If the target foe is not dispatched in the initial volley of Aftershocks, the Elementalists use Crystal Wave to land the finishing blow.
While this build has a very high potential damage output, it also requires a large degree of coordination in order to work successfully. Being able to use voice communication helps keep the team organized, as it can be difficult to keep track of single targets in the midst of a heated and frantic battle.
Member Profiles
Get to know some of the members of Eternum Pariah.