Curse

Jenosavel · Sep 27, 2005, 02:16 AM // 02:16

Change his skill set to contain only two skills: Diversion and Ressurection Signet.

I doubt anyone will question Dunham's relative uselessness. Out of morbid curiousity, I've watched him throughout various areas of the game to see what skills he was using. Aside from the fact that he seems to only ever have 3 skills max besides Rez Sig., he has only mediocre spells which he absolutely will not use effectively. I can understand how it would be difficult to program any AI to be an effective Mesmer as it is indeed one of the finesse classes. However, the Mesmer is not without its spam-worthy skill. If Dunham had Diversion, and nothing else to waste his energy on, he might actually be able to offer something to the party.

I'm not trying to bash the henchmen here. I use them extensively myself and understand their worth, even though they can never measure up to a good human player. However, I feel that Dunham is quite out-of-line with his peers. No one would choose him over another henchman unless they simply didn't know better yet.

Tarot Ribos · Sep 27, 2005, 02:35 AM // 02:35

/signed x 1,000,000.

Dunham uses two skills, as far as I have seen. Distortion (which he spams for no purpose, even when no one's around), and Empathy... which he can rarely cast, because he eventually runs out of energy casting Distortion all the time. And even then, his Empathy power is nothing to write home about.

I suppose he also packs Res sig... but I usually don't die enough for him to use it.

How about Conjure Phantasm? That's a pretty spammable skill, and requires little effort in using it properly. Ditto for Energy Burn. If Wind Riders can annoy the hell out of players with Cry of Frustration, surely Dunham could find a way to use it?

Seriously, I've taken Dunham a total of three times: The first was to take a mesmer henchie, because Mesmers are cool. The second time was to verify that he wasn't actually doing anything. The third time, I clicked him instead of Orion by accident, and didn't realize my mistake until I got out into the field.

Henchmen are not bad as they are. The problem lies solely with Dunham. Please, take away that Distortion of his. And give him something halfway useful. That's all we want.

Tactical-Dillusions · Sep 27, 2005, 02:40 AM // 02:40

Yay, another bash Dunham thread. He deserves it!

/signed

Trapped In A Box · Sep 27, 2005, 04:12 AM // 04:12

I dont like this henchmen either. I have seen him use empathy enough times and strangely I haven't seen disortion alot but yet he is NOT useful. I take every henchmen but him.

knives · Sep 27, 2005, 04:42 AM // 04:42

Imagined Burden, Distortion, Empathy.

Chaos storm + diversion please.

Racthoh · Sep 27, 2005, 07:14 AM // 07:14

I know his elite is Crippling Anguish, and he does cast a spell to remove enchantments. Watch a Dolyak Master cast Mark of Protection on itself and he might remove it.

Charcoal Ann · Sep 27, 2005, 05:37 PM // 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

I can understand how it would be difficult to program any AI to be an effective Mesmer as it is indeed one of the finesse classes.

you have to remember how much the Stone Summit Heretics cast shatter enchantment when you are using breeze. the enemies have plenty of mesmers that are much much much more effective than Dunham. basically its distortion or bust from Dunham.

Mercury Angel · Sep 27, 2005, 06:25 PM // 18:25

Dunham's current skills, as of Ember Light Camp;

Dunham-
Crippling Anguish {E}
Empathy
Drain Enchantment
Distortion
Resurrection Signet

Most other hench have 5-7 (Cynn is the one with 7) skills as well, including a defensive/healing skill and resurrection signet. Bear in mind that he may have a 6th skill that I missed.

Empathy deals defence ignoring damage, Drain Enchantment is always nice, and Distortion cuts down on the bulk of damage he would be taking... Crippling Anguish is utter GARBAGE. Since when do monsters run away? >_<

Instead of an all attribute mesmer with one of the worst choices for a domination skill, I'd rather see him as;

Power Block {E}
Diversion
Power Drain
Energy Tap
Ether Feast
Resurrection Signet

Using Diversion and Power Block for shutdown (And since NPC's have leet timing for interrupts, he'd rock!), Energy Tap and Power Drain for energy management, and Ether Feast for his defensive skill.

or;

Energy Drain {E}
Ether Feast
Diversion
Spirit Shackles
Resurrection Signet

Energy Drain for energy management, Ether Feast for healing, Diversion and Spirit Shackles for shutdown (Spirit Shackles is one of the few ways to pin a boss at 0 energy, since they're too stupid to stop attacking, and the duration is fairly long, so even halved can remain on constantly with ease.)

or;

Power Block {E}
Power Spike
Power Drain
Cry of Frustration
Leech Signet
Ether Feast
Resurrection Signet

Giving him the ability to interrupt multiple spells and skills, with the ease of NPC AI, and all of them take a bit to recharge. This is something that no human player could manage easily, and barring his inability to decide which skills are 'good' to interrupt and which ones are a waste of time, he'd be a fairly good team member for any team, particularly on bosses where he couldn't get confused on what to interrupt.

or;

Energy Surge {E}
Energy Burn
Shatter Enchantment
Power Spike
Energy Tap
Ether Feast
Resurrection Signet

This is a far less preferrable build than any of the above, but it'd still be better than his existing one <_< 4 skills to deal armor ignoring damage, which is helpful against bosses at least.

As an Illusionist, I'd suggest;

Migraine {E}
Conjure Phantasm
Soothing Images
Mantra of Persistance
Ether Feast
Resurrection Signet

He'd toss out some long-lasting hexes that would actually stick to bosses, and he could be scripted like the monsters (Fevered Devourers with Enfeeble first come to mind) to cast Soothing Images mainly when a group of enemies clusters together.

or;

Ineptitude {E}
Clumsiness
Conjure Phantasm
Distortion
Ether Feast
Resurrection Signet

I personally don't like Ineptitude much, but at least Dunham would output a little spiked armor ignoring damage, instead of relying entirely on degeneration, which is only half as effective on bosses anyway.

Regardless, I do hate Dunham's current status, and prefer Claude/Eve over him any day of the week;

(Eve-
Blood Ritual
Deathly Swarm
Vampiric Gaze
Shadow Strike
Grenth's Balance {E}
Resurrection Signet)

Edit;
While we're on the subject, Eve needs an overhaul too.

I'd suggest-

Blood Ritual
Shadow of Fear
Enfeebling Blood
Putrid Explosion
Feast of Corruption {E}
Resurrection Signet

Shadow of Fear and Enfeebling Blood for mass debuffing, Blood Ritual for energy management support, Putrid Explosion for... well, it rocks >_> Feast of Corruption deals decent AoE damage and offers a little self-healing. Scripting to cut down the frequency for which she casts Blood Ritual on warriors would increase her survivability by leaps and bounds.

or;

Blood is Power {E}
Vampiric Gaze
Shadow Strike
Strip Enchantment
Soul Feast/Consume Corpse
Resurrection Signet

This would require more careful scripting, so that she doesn't sacrafice herself to death, or near death. Aside from that potential problem, she once again needs scripting to be prevented from casting BiP on warriors.
Vampiric Gaze and Shadow Strike deal damage while healing, Strip Enchantment provides healing and support, and Soul Feast/Consume Corpse gives large spiked heals when needed. (As with other healing skills, scripted to be used when more injured.)
Soul Feast is probably easier to deal with, but Consume Corpse now offers additional energy over its casting price, which makes it somewhat attractive. Consume Corpse could act as both an energy AND life management, if the NPC's were smart enough to move out of melee range <_<

or;

Spiteful Spirit {E}
Deathly Swarm
Desecrate Enchantments
Putrid Explosion
Blood Ritual
Resurrection Signet

For this, she'd be an AoE damage dealer, with 3 out of 4 of her damaging skills ignoring armor. Mark of Pain would be a great addition, but seeing as she wouldn't call it, perhaps not so. Blood Ritual because everybody would be upset if it were gone <_<

Jenosavel · Sep 27, 2005, 06:50 PM // 18:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercury Angel

Energy Drain {E}
Ether Feast
Diversion
Spirit Shackles
Resurrection Signet

Energy Drain for energy management, Ether Feast for healing, Diversion and Spirit Shackles for shutdown (Spirit Shackles is one of the few ways to pin a boss at 0 energy, since they're too stupid to stop attacking, and the duration is fairly long, so even halved can remain on constantly with ease.)

I dare say that Dunham would be quite worthwhile with this particular set-up. Granted, all of your suggestions are improved over his current condition; however, this one in particular seems like it could stand up well against the bungling that inevitably happens with hench AI.

Thanks for that wonderful post!

Xue Yi Liang · Sep 27, 2005, 06:51 PM // 18:51

If he were a female mesmer at least he'd be easy on the eyes for me ... but he's not.

Perishiko ReLLiK · Sep 27, 2005, 08:39 PM // 20:39

I do wonder when they might change him... I've used him a few times just to get a few laughs going in me when i'm frustrated trying to find the monster with the skill i want, but now they made skill aquiring easier then hell. So now i don't get to use him anymore.

One time my whole team died out except for him, and for some reason the enemies ran off... needless to say, he didnt res anyone, and i had to restart the quest.

Eder · Sep 27, 2005, 10:49 PM // 22:49

I agree, they should just give Dunham a few decent skill-killers (Diversion, Power Block) so that:
1) there would actually be a reason to pick him, like how you pick Eve for the occasional energy boost;
2) people would save time when they're trying to go into that mission where you absolutely *need* a mesmer, but can't find a decent one.

As it stands, his build just seems pointless... there's no reason to take him, and there's no henchie to take when you need a mesmer fast. He doesn't do any of the stuff that only a mesmer could do well.

Mr Wolfmaster · Sep 28, 2005, 03:37 AM // 03:37

Having only 1 skill (other than rez sig) is really uncreative if you ask me. I think he should have a build of some kind. (Like the ones suggested)

Are Cane · Sep 28, 2005, 03:49 AM // 03:49

signed, When I use a mesmer i do in order (PvP)
Imagined Burdened (If its a Warrior rushing to my monk)
Then I use this on monks:
Energy Burn
Energy Drain
Backfire
Energy Tap
Then I head over back to the Warrior and do Imagined Burden again and Empathy
Then do a few ether feasts
then I repeat...
and i carry res sig

If only Dunham was this strong...
Surprisingly I win battles like this...Monks just keep healing everyone and do an occasional healing touch and healing breeze which hurt them even more...