Laura's ULTIMATE Deep Guide

Version 2: Good Deepers needed upgrading, as did some of the builds.

Why The Deep?

The Deep is a 12 man elite-mission which starts in a pretty, jadeite cavern deep below Cavalon. The area is the home to Kanaxai (no, I can't pronounce it either), a dark demonic creature that is the source of the Nightmare Horde and the corruption of the Outcasts which threatens humans in the Jade Sea. The objective of the mission is to find and destroy him which typically takes about 40 minutes, as long as you follow the "making a team" section in this guide!


Typical Drops

In The Deep, there are usually about 4 chests per run which are reachable which can be unlocked by Deep Keys or Lockpicks. Also note that in Hard Mode it is likely golds will drop from enemies. Typical drops from these include;

• Zodiac Weapons
  
• Oni Blade
  
• Vertebreakers
  
• Bo Staff
  
• And much more...

Upon completion of The Deep, a large Chest appears (Kanaxai's chest) which grants you a gold or green weapon and two pieces of Jadeite (the reward is double this in Hard Mode). Skins have been added to the game for this chest, such as Pronged Fan, Serpentine Scepter, Jade Sword [will add more later]

• Green Kanaxai's Edge - sells for 7-15k
  
• Green Kanaxai's Axe - sells for 5-10k
  
• Green Kanaxai's Mallet - sells for 2-3k

Getting to The Deep

Pretty simple this; if you havn't been before, buy a Deep Scroll from a Rare Scroll Trader (they are usually around 250g), go to Cavalon and use it! If you have been, me or Andy could ferry you from Guild Hall. Note that when you get there, go straight to International District.


Know your stuff - Team Builds

First thing you'll need to know is what kind of team you're joining. It is assumed all teams go in Hard Mode (as it's basically just as hard as Normal Mode, with better drops). The type of team is called by how they are arranged in the split rooms at the start, rooms are numbers from RIGHT TO LEFT as this is the order the rooms open in



All teams are made up of a number of W/A, E/Me, Mo and N( SS and Bip) (which are always reordered into that order) although there are some variants which I'll go over later.

134 - This is the old school way, tends not to be done anymore. The 12 team members go in this order; 134 134 134 222. So rooms 1, 3 and 4 have a tank, ele and monk in each and fight, while room 2 wait to be saved. In this build, there are 3 W/A, 3 E/Me, 4 Mo/?, 1 N/Me, 1 N/? (BiP)

444 - This is the new craze recently. Some clever person realised instead of having four rooms with three players you can have three rooms with four players and means things go a lot faster at the start. This is achieved by necros killing themselves before the portal and being rebirthed into it by a monk. This means that two SS are taken, and only theee monks. The team takes the order 1234 1234 1234. However, in more experienced teams, only two tanks are taken and a fourth elementalist is taken.



There are two sets of numbers for the last lot because people can't seem to decide whether the tank should go in r2 or r3. When the tank goes in r2, it is possible for the bip to tank in r3 if, and only if, the third monk takes Healing Hands and clear the room. However, the tank has a higher chance of getting through r3 and r2 can be freed without killing the enemies.

Individual Builds

It is important that you already have the right build in The Deep for the experienced players (some mentioned above) to take you in their teams. There are a few varients people use; here I will advise you on what I've found works the best.

W/A Recall Warriors
Vital Skills:

• Recall or Shadow Meld
  
• Shove or You Move Like a Dwarf (for knockdown)
  
• Dolyak Signet
  
• Signet of Stamina
  
• Defensive stance and/or Gladiator's Defense
  
• Disciplined Stance

Optional:

• Grapple (second knockdown if you want to do the final Kana by yourself)
  
• Death's Charge (for pullers)
  
• I am unstoppable! (for pullers)
  
• Endure Pain (unfavourable due to health drop when ends)
  
• Ressurection Signet or Sunspear Rebirth Signet (rarely taken)

Information:
I personally would NOT recommending tanking on your first, second or even third trip to The Deep. Get to know the layout really well first and the pulls etc before you brave it. Although there are various "acceptable" builds, Shove is going out of fashion and people tend to use You Move Like A Dwarf. This opens up a free elite which tends to be Gladiator's Defense. Some of the very speedy tanks take Shadow Meld as a standard replacement of Recall though. Also, you NEED an icy weapon to trigger Spinal Shivers.


E/Me SF Nukers
Vital Skills:

• Searing Flames
  
• Glowing Gaze
  
• Arcane Echo
  
• Meteor Shower
  
• Mark of Rodgort
  
• Fire Attunement
  
• Glyph of Lesser Energy

Optional:

• Mindbender (personal favourite)
  
• Deep Freeze (only one ele in team must take this)
  
• Arcane Mimicry (mimics shadowmeld to avoid dying at the gate)
  
• Liquid Flame
  
• Glyph of Elemental Power or Intensity (if you have high Sunspear Rank)
  
• You Move Like a Dwarf (lol, why not)
  
• Ressurection Signet or Sunspear Rebirth Signet (rarely taken)

Information:
Elementalist's are pretty boring as far as builds are concerned, there's not really much room to make it your own build. I would highly recommend using Glyph of Elemental Power, especially if you end up doing 134 at the start. That extra little bit of damage really makes a difference! If you usually use a staff, remember to take a caster weapon as well for rooms with Sapping Nightmares.

Laura's recommended build:

*Note* Blank space for Mindbender, my ele just hasn't got it yet!
Template code: OgVCoMzDdbs6LWCADkBAAXA



Mo/? Heal Party Monk
Vital Skills:

• Heal Party
  
• Healing Seed
  
• Seed of Life (is alright even with lowish Sunspear Rank)
  
• Protective Spirit
  
• Word of Healing or Orison of Healing
  
• Dwayna's Kiss
  
• Rebirth

Optional:

• Healing Hands (used for experienced 444, allows bip to tank room 3)
  
• Glyph of Lesser Energy
  
• Healer's Boon
  
• Holy Haste (personal choice, if not using Healer's Boon)
  
• Extinguish

Information:
Unfortunatly monk builds have got slightly more boring recently. Before a recent nerf, it was common that only one monk would take Healer's Boon and others would steal it with Arcane Mimicry. Now Healer's Boon lasts a shorter time, Mimicry cannot be used efficiently and many monks just take Healer's Boon as their elite. Avoid Heal Other, you wil end up with no energy. Lastly, if you usually use a staff, remember to take a caster weapon too!

Laura's recommended build:

Template code: OwAT04nBXKjIHcjQioeQmIu6jAA



N/Me Spiteful Spirit Necromancer
Vital Skills:

• Spiteful Spirit
  
• Arcane Echo
  
• Shivers of Dread or Spinal Shivers
  
• Blood Ritual or Arcane Mimicry
  
• Inspired Enchantment or Revealed Enchantment
  
• Vetara's Gaze

Optional:

• Soul Feast (good corpse control)
  
• Enfeeble or Enfeebling Blood
  
• You Move Like a Dwarf
  
• Insidious Parasite
  

Information:
Quite a bit of room to play with the build here and it's really down to personal choice for the optional skills as none are particularly useful. Remember to take a caster weapon as well as a staff. Talk with the other SS - there's not really much point in taking two insidious and two Spinal Shivers.


N/? BiP Necromancer
Vital Skills:

• Blood is Power
  
• Blood Renewal
  
• Well of Blood
  
• Masochism

Optional:

• Vetara's Gaze
  
• Mending, Healing Breeze, Protective Spirit, Ressurection Chant
  
• Song of Power, Leader's Zeal, Signet of Return, Fall Back!
  
• Mystic Regeneration, Faithful Intervention, Veteras Aura, Dark Bond
  

Information:
Quite a few major variants for this, N/P are probably most respected although probably not the best build, healing-wise. In each case, it is a good idea to keep your HP pretty low, but remember people can only rebirth you (so no 1HPing), each room needs a different amount of safety HP, but you will learn this as you practice more. A +20% enchantments weapon is favourable.

Laura's recommended build:

Template code: OANEQaVm2KdHMHAScFwFsFKSgGB



Build Variants

Sometimes you'll join a team and think "what the hell is that Mesmer doing there?!", here are a few standard swops that happen (will add builds when I can get them off people). Bear in mind it is unlikely for a team to take two or more variants a time and some team leaders will refuse to take them at all.

*Note* All builds are as accurate as possible, but don't come crying to me if you don't get accepted in a team.

E/Me Nuker can be replaced with:
[*]Me/N Nuker Template Code: OQRDAbwiRCVde2gLB3gDBaABBA
[*]Rt/? Spirit Nuker Template Code: OACjAyiKJOnzo9Zrc+NrmOzLGA

Mo/? can be replaced with:
[*]Rt/? Healer (not used much in 444)
[*]P/Mo Angelic Bonder Template Code: OQOiYyoMNjZiVjBE2jJPITIvBA

N/Me can be replaced with:
[*]N/Me Spoil Victor (444 only - again, rarely taken)
[*]Me/N Faster Casting SS