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Spiked Gauntlets ZvZ PvP Build

Overview

Weapon: War Gloves
Focus: Melee DPS
Mode: ZvZ

Strengths

  • Easy to play
  • High AoE Damage
  • Good Self-Healing

Weaknesses

  • Low Mobility
  • Bad 1vs1
This build is up to date for the November 6, 2024 Horizons Patch #1.

Overview

This Spiked Gauntlets ZvZ PvP build prioritizes delivering high burst AoE damage during pushes, with focus on eliminating tanks. Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse deals extra damage to players wearing plate armor and slows them down by 75%. This build excels when your zerg is in a defensive stance, aiming to prevent enemy engages by dispatching tanks before they can reach your zerg.


Equipment

Elder's Spiked Gauntlets
Main Hand Weapon
Elder's Spiked Gauntlets
Dragon Leap
Triple Kick
Gravitational Collapse
Hard to Catch
Elder's Assassin Hood
Head
Elder's Assassin Hood
Meditation
Balanced Mind
Elder's Lymhurst Cape
Cape
Elder's Lymhurst Cape
Energy Reserve
Elder's Hellion Jacket
Armor
Elder's Hellion Jacket
Life Steal Aura
Balanced Mind
Elder's Royal Sandals
Shoes
Elder's Royal Sandals
Defenseless Rush
Aggression
Major Gigantify Potion
Potion
Major Gigantify Potion
Beef Stew
Food
Beef Stew
Keep in mind: Gear shown in this build is meant as a reference. Choosing the correct tier of gear is very tricky as there are many variables. Some of them being your budget, your spec and minimum Item Power requirements of your guild if used for ZvZ.


You should always check prices based on IP of the items. For example, a masterpiece quality 4.3 Elder's CryptcandleElder's Cryptcandle could be cheaper while providing roughly the same IP as an 8.0.


Usage

Elder's Spiked GauntletsElder's Spiked Gauntlets

Dragon LeapDragon Leap — This is one of your two movement abilities. With a very short cooldown, Dragon LeapDragon Leap can be spammed on cooldown allowing you to gain distance from enemies or to chase down fleeing players. If you manage to kick at least one enemy, then you can recast the ability with the same 2.5m range and the target hit will be knocked into the air for 0.5s.

Triple KickTriple Kick — This is your secondary movement ability and couples perfectly with Dragon LeapDragon Leap helping you move away from a fight and repositioning. However, due to Hard to CatchHard to Catch boosting your damage resistances and CC resistance, it should be used right after a use of Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse in order to help with your survival in case an enemy zerg follows you in your retreat.

Making contact with an enemy player when using this ability will drag the enemy along with you so try to be careful not to drag enemies along and bring them to your zerg's backline when using this ability.

Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse — This is your bread & butter, your main damaging ability that deals AoE damage in a cone depending on the armor type the enemy wears, dealing the most damage to players wearing plate. The ability also slows based on armor type. Keep in mind however that once an enemy is hit by Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse, they become immune for one second to another Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse so timing your damage is very important.

Hard to CatchHard to Catch — This passive offers you extra resistance after a use of Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse and its the ideal choice for ZvZ settings where survival is important and any bit of extra defense is needed.


Elder's Hellion JacketElder's Hellion Jacket

Life Steal AuraLife Steal Aura — Because of your role as a melee bomber, you will always find yourself being at the front of your zerg in an attempt to reach their tanks. Life Steal AuraLife Steal Aura will help greatly with your survival if the enemy zerg pushes through your frontline or if you find yourself surrounded by enemies. With the Life Steal AuraLife Steal Aura healing you more based on how many targets it hits, it will allow you to become more or less impossible to kill while the effect is active. However, you should still do your best to get away from the situation before it runs out.

Balanced MindBalanced Mind — This passive not only increases both your damage and healing but also your defense. It is the only choice for this build as we try to achieve as much damage as possible.


Elder's Assassin HoodElder's Assassin Hood

MeditationMeditation — You want to use this ability after you used your Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse in order to reset most of the cooldown and get another chance to use the ability as fast as possible. Because the ability lowers all your cooldowns, try to use both Triple KickTriple Kick and Dragon LeapDragon Leap to reposition before using the ability so you don't get interrupted or killed during it's cast time. Always try to be in a safe spot when using this as you are exposed for the duration of the cast.

Balanced MindBalanced Mind — This passive not only boosts your damage and healing but also enhances your defense. It's the optimal choice for this build as we aim to maximize damage potential.


Elder's Royal SandalsElder's Royal Sandals

Defenseless RushDefenseless Rush — This ability pairs perfectly with the build, boosting all damage by 15% but also lowering your defense when in use. You want to use this ability before engaging a target as a buff before you'd use Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse.

AggressionAggression — Aggression provides flat extra damage which is exactly what you need for this build while the other three options are worthless to you.


Elder's Lymhurst CapeElder's Lymhurst Cape

Energy ReserveEnergy Reserve — This cape offers amazing mana regen once your mana drops below 40%, giving you back 80% mana on a roughly 2 minutes cooldown depending on the quality of the cape. Because the build is quite mana intensive, this cape fixes that problem. Another option would be Elder's Martlock CapeElder's Martlock Cape for it's defense increase whenever your HP drops below 25% if you are in a defensive position protecting a fort or in a fight that doesn't last too long.


Rotations

Bomb Rotation + Retreat ↴
Defenseless Rush
Arrow right.webp
Gravitational Collapse
Arrow right.webp
Triple Kick
Arrow right.webp
Dragon Leap
  • You want to start your combo by using Defenseless RushDefenseless Rush in order to position yourself ahead and close enough to the enemy frontline to cast Gravitational CollapseGravitational Collapse, make sure to align yourself properly so the cone damage hits as many enemies as possible. Once you've delivered the damage, you want to use Triple KickTriple Kick coupled with Dragon LeapDragon Leap in order to move back and away from the enemy and reset your abilities using MeditationMeditation. Make sure to wait for your Defenseless RushDefenseless Rush to be fully off cooldown and useable before you go back in for round 2!


Consumables

Major Gigantify PotionMajor Gigantify Potion — This comes into use whenever your Life Steal AuraLife Steal Aura is on cooldown or when your zerg has lost an engage and you need to move away. It will increase you Max HP, making you incredibly difficult to kill while also making you immune to Forced Movement Effects. It will also increase your character model size however which makes it obvious for the enemy whenever the potion runs out so they can wait for you to go back to normal before killing you.

Beef StewBeef Stew — Beef Stew significantly enhances your damage output with a flat bonus, making it a top choice for all DPS builds. Spiked Gauntlets are no exception, as the noticeable damage boost they provide makes them an excellent option. Another option would be Deadwater Eel StewDeadwater Eel Stew that combines the effect of Beef StewBeef Stew and Pork OmelettePork Omelette or Pork OmelettePork Omelette but normally the damage increase of Beef StewBeef Stew remains preferable.


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