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Let’s talk about Phalanx Avatars today.

  • Unrelenting Phalanx doubles the spawns. 8 Unruned Avatars, 8 Bowmen, 6 Shield Charge, 6 Stampede Warhorses(technically not an avatar, may not proc condemn), 8 Shield Bearers (only attack once on the activation), or 4 Bodyguards.

  • Baleful Remnant gives you up to 8 Bodyguards. Don’t die at the Rift Guardian.

  • Warhelm of Kassar provides 60% CDR on Phalanx, only good if you’re trying to avoid Eternal Union, or want to reposition your manually cast Phalanx.

  • Falling Sword: Rise Brothers gives 3 extra Bodyguards, cannot grant more than 3.

More Comments About Phalanx

  • You cannot have more than 10 Bodyguards.
  • Shield Bearers looked promising because they overlapped, I was able to spawn 24 simultaneous Shield Bearers, but this rune isn’t viable due to the 8 simultaneous hits occurring only once on cast.
  • Unruned Avatars can be spammed. Each Avatar in this attack causes a separate damage value when colliding with an enemy. We do not know if Condemn will proc separately on each collision. If so, in huge density you can expect over 25-30 Condemns per attack, which is enormous, best of all you can actually AIM your attacks into deep density. There are more questions: How many times do we need to cast this ability to refresh Akarat’s Champion? In tight maps/corridors, or near trees, you may not get all Avatars per cast, so this is ideal for large maps. Furthermore, all Avatars may not strike a rift guardian with a small hit box.

What Are the Likely Combinations?

  1. Baleful Remnant w/ Phalanx Bowmen + Falling Sword + Eternal Union: Up to 14 Phalanx (10 Bodyguards + 4 Bowmen)
  2. Unrelenting Phalanx w/ Phalanx Bowmen + Falling Sword + Eternal Union: Up to 11 Phalanx (8 Bowmen + 3 Bodyguards)
  3. Unrelenting Phalanx w/ Unruned Phalanx + Falling Sword: Up to 11 Phalanx (3 Part Time Bodyguards + 8 Piercing Phalanx)
  4. Akkhan’s Addendum (Rally) w/ Phalanx Bowmen + Falling Sword: 7 Phalanx (3 Bodyguards + 4 Bowmen)

Options #1 and #2 must be used with Eternal Union. Options #3 and #4 do not take Eternal Union, which opens a path to use F&R + CC3 + Aughild3

Now Let’s Talk About What to Expect

These builds are a little more fragile like pre-Captain Crimson Condemn, especially when you try to squeeze in all damage sources (F&R, Warhelm of Kassar, Taskers, CoE, Zei’s), etc.

Assuming it works, I’m guessing that #3, the Piercing Phalanx builds, might be an ideal for push. Here’s how you play it with F&R:

  1. Do not Spam Condemn, you will run out of Wrath VERY quickly. you may not even need Condemn on your Skill bar.
  2. Create Density, try to position an elite directly in the center of it.
  3. Quickly cast Judgement over your density. (2 circles if lots of density – do not overlap)
  4. Cast a Generator like Justice/Punish/Slash.
  5. Use Falling Sword near any Elites. (Falling Sword helps with AC uptime)
  6. Spam cast Phalanx Shield Bearers over the density, try to stutter step away keeping F&R up.
  7. Repeat steps #2-6 every 8 seconds.

I predict most builds will demolish GR140-143, but the rift guardian kill will take 8-10 minutes. Condemn’s single target problem is exacerbated by the removal of Furnace. In solo, there may be a point where having those 11-14 AI managed Avatars (Bodyguard/Bowmen) pulls ahead of Unruned avatars.

We’ll have to see how things play out on PTR.