Bars forum build guides vol. 2: The Lab Edition

This is a great general purpose build, flexible and capable of doing all content. There's hardly a thread where you can't put in at least a sarcastic remark about the lab and derail the whole thing. You'll also be joining the most popular, pardon me, the most vocal forum guild: Lab Haters United - here you'll find friendship, acceptance and you'll always have something to talk about. Members of the Lab Lovers faction will instantly turn hostile but they are the minority and you can always call a few of your buddies to gang up on someone if they are giving you trouble.

This build isn't great if you like trolling since your anti-lab posts won't trigger anyone but lab lovers, who are like four people in the entire forum, and possibly GGG staff who aren't allowed to react even if they want to strangle you. Nevertheless, if you get a thread lock with 'thank you for your feedback, I e-mailed your concerns to Samantha, if there's anything else please feel free to contact us - we appreciate the feedback!', congratulations - someone in GGG's office wants to strangle you.

The three versions:

a) self-post: this is the high effort version and there are lots of variations but the common theme is you are actively posting lab hate threads and posts. You could go for quantity over quality and post a new lab thread every day (see sexcalibure's build) or write fewer but harder-hitting posts and threads. The most minmaxed version is the guy who compiled and linked over 200 lab complaint threads in feedback, there are also a few top-tier builds who post pages upon pages of lab analysis and criticism. The main problem with high quality, low volume builds is they require a lot of time and effort and almost no one reads the posts, so I would generally prefer the Sexcalibure build unless you are confident in your capabilities.

b) passive post (also known as post on post or PoP): the trigger build. Make an anti-lab signature and make every one of your post a passive lab hate post regardless of topic. This approach is beautiful in its simplicity and scales extremely well with post count, regardless of quality or length. You can just post a few times per day or you can maximize your post output for maximum effect - the decision is yours. Make sure the signature is in caps lock to scale visibility even further. If you're worried this build is too easy and you want to invest for super endgame in it, no worries: just make a lab-related character name (example: FUCK_THE_LAB) and pin it in your profile. The more impressive the character is, the better. If you're a super elite grinder and impossible is nothing, the best-in-slot mirror version of this build is when your profile displays two level 100 HC characters with lab hate names.

c) hybrid: this build employs double dipping to pack a ridiculous punch. The concept is simple: you combine builds a) and b). Create an anti-lab forum profile for passive DPS output AND spam anti-lab threads and posts as the active component. The problem is, you will sacrifice survivability for DPS and you risk being oneshot with 'oh god, not this guy again' or 'dude,you've got issues'. It's a great build if you are a DPS junkie but it isn't hardcore viable.

This is the safest build for players who don't want to antagonize anyone. Sadly, minimizing your risks also minimizes your return on investment. It's super tanky and HC-viable but the farming is slow, it's high-effort and you have to really know what you're doing. The concept is deceptively simple: you have a measured stance on the labyrinth and identify a few good points and a few aspects which could use some improvement. The goal is to hit the sweetspot of balance between praise and criticism where you appease the members of both factions and antagonize no one. Unlike the lab hater build, it won't build you any life-long forum friendships and you won't become popular in a week. It's also a high-effort build - you'll need a delicate sense of balance and diplomacy to avoid aggro. You also have to write rational and well-structured posts with a solid base of game knowledge and understanding and you'll need immunity to status ailments like 'emotional', so this build isn't viable for 99% of the posters.

A detailed guide on the Middle Way by zenmaster Raics himself (appropriately placed in the middle of the page)

A high-risk, high-reward build for the truly dedicated and hardcore players. Do you enjoy triggering posters with just a few well-placed words? Do you want to farm and level up until you don't even have to DO anything, your mere presence is enough to oneshot everything? Do you thrive under pressure? Would you enjoy a constant torrent of forum hate with just a sprinkling of kind words from fellow lab lovers? Look no further, the Lab Lover build is just for you! Just don't expect to make many friends. This aspect of the build will make the forum game remarkably similar to pokemon - you'll have to hunt for the rarest of all pokemon, the fellow lab lover, but nothing compares to the feeling of finally catching one.

About the basic build configurations, this follows the same pattern as anti-lab builds: self-post, passive post and hybrid. The same principles apply but there are some significant differences in playstyle. Unlike lab hater builds, you can play a lab lover with minimum effort and maximum return. If you're too lazy to create threads, you can always find a lab hater thread and shit all over it. If you do decide to create a thread, the average response time from an enraged lab hater will be less than ten minutes and you'll soon have a nice flamewar going. Examples of a few minmaxed one-liners to get you going:

- lab is ez, I farm uber lab with my bladefall trapper lololo
- git gud, l2p etc.
- HC lab is ez, I farm it with my 2000 life reg/sec MoM totem chieftain lulz

Passive lab lover builds with a 'I love lab' signature are startlingly effective, you just post a few one-liners in random highly visible threads and the entire forum hates you. Keep it up for a week and you'll have reddit threads about you. In comparison, a lab hater has to invest ten times as much effort and patience and even has to be a little lucky to achieve a reddit thread and making the entire forum hate them is practically impossible. Case in point: sexcalibure, he farmed the forum for MONTHS with a new anti-lab thread every day and all he got was mild annoyance, a few actively disdainful posters at best.