Curse

thetwistedboy · Mar 11, 2011, 04:05 AM // 04:05

starbert is an old pvp build. dont run it in pve. and domination is probably the best damage line you can use if youre a mesmer.

maxxfury · Mar 11, 2011, 04:17 AM // 04:17

To be fair, early on in proph... you could quite happily demolish everything with a fc fire nuker.... up to a fair way into the story....not optimal by a mile, but doable if your insistant!

Dom is WAYYY cooler tho!..

And wow! starburst warrior!...thats like circa 06/7 right? :O christ....were did he necro that bar up from?

Kojima · Mar 11, 2011, 05:58 AM // 05:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkflight

Okay, I would like to bring up a point for discussion. What about the secondary effects of some of these spells? Setting foes on fire (burning) and knocking them flat (knockdown)? I don't see any Mesmer skills that can set foes on fire.

Like someone has already said, to be fair, fire damage is good at the beginning of the prophecies storyline. I started with an elementalist and was very happy with her until after Lion's Arch. As you progress, you will see that fire damage does not do much to the foes in the areas anymore. As a mesmer, you may be surprise at the amount of AOE you can generate. Imagine having a skill bar that allows you to generate AOE over and over. This is something the elementalist cannot do so well at. The only thing is the as an mesmer, you need to think ahead and use the right skills at the right moment. This is the most difficult part to me because as a fire elementalist, you just need to spam all your fire skills.

And I believe that Star Bert was a great build but that was a few years back, no? I do know how good it will work now because of GW nerfs.

Aly Lightningstorm · Mar 12, 2011, 03:40 AM // 03:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kojima

Like someone has already said, to be fair, fire damage is good at the beginning of the prophecies storyline.

It's good for almost all the game in NM. Savannah Heat + Searing Heat + Teinai's Heat does huge damage to almost every mob. So does Rodgort's Invocation + Searing Flames. It's only when you start running into things like Titans and Destroyers that it starts doing badly.

But on the other hand, mesmers can do massive damage, and do lots of other cool things, no matter where they are...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkflight

Ah ... I see. I took a look at Domination magic, and ... well, please, convince me. I'm probably missing something, but it looks very gimmicky. The spells seem to rely on either the foe casting a spell (needs good timing and no lag) or the foe having buffed himself with an enchantment. If this is the case, it seems to me like playing an Elementalist is safer.

If you won't listen to them, then listen to me. I started with an ele and wish I had put that 500 hours into a mesmer instead. Mesmer skills are a LOT better in general.

I remember thinking the same thing you're thinking when I first unlocked Wastrel's Worry. These were basically my thoughts about it:

"This only triggers when an enemy doesn't use their skills. They use skills all the time. How worthless! Fire Storm is so much better."

I was SO wrong. Now, I use that "junk spell" all the time.

Just look. Compare it with Fire Storm.

Quote:

Fire Storm (FS)
10 energy, 2 second cast time, 30 second recharge
Spell. Create a Fire Storm at target foe's location. For 10 seconds, foes adjacent to that location are struck for 5...29...35 fire damage each second.

Quote:

Wastrel's Worry (WW)
5 energy, 0.25 cast time, 1 second recharge
Hex Spell. After 3 seconds, target foe and all adjacent foes take 20...84...100 damage. If that foe successfully uses a skill, Wastrel's Worry ends prematurely and does no damage.

Ok, first of all, look at the energy costs, look at the cast times, look at the recharge times. There is no contest here. WW is a lot better then FS in all three categories.

Second problem. FS is a damage over time, area of effect spell. It causes enemies to run away. It will hit them 2-3 times, if you're lucky. WW on the other hand, is a hex. You cannot run away from hexes, you can only remove them. And since only about 0.1% of the mobs in the game have decent hex removal, hexes will usually stay on them. But then again.. WW isn't a normal "fire and forget" type of hex. It usually will stay on anyways though. (I'll explain why in a minute.)

Third problem. The damage from FS will be reduced. It will hit the average enemy for about 10-20 damage, instead of the listed 35. This is because elemental damage is effected by armor. Armor reduces the damage from elemental spells by a lot. On the other hand, most (possibly all?) mesmer damage skills ignore armor. So, unless the target is under some kind of protection prayer, mesmer skills usually do their full listed damage. Most mobs don't have a decent protection monk, so you'll almost always do full damage. Unlike an elementalist, who usually does about 50% (or less) of the listed damage.

Now, WW is a special kind of hex. It can be easily removed. All the enemy has to do is use one of their skills. But when you are being targeted by a mesmer, it can be very difficult to use a skill. This is because mesmers have tons of interrupts, and can cast them very quickly.

WW becomes VERY powerful when you combine it with interrupts. Like this one here:

Quote:

Cry of Frustration
Spell. If target foe is using a skill, that foe and all foes in the area are interrupted and suffer 15...63...75 damage.

Now think about this. Imagine a mesmer and an ele fighting a group of charr.

Elementalist casts Fire Storm. It takes about 3 seconds for this to start hitting enemies. When it does, it hits a charr ranger and warrior 2 times in a row, for 17 damage each hit. So, it does about 70 damage total, spread out over two enemies.

In the meantime, the mesmer does this instead. Puts WW on the 2 of the elementalists, and the monk in the group. The monk casts something and gets rid of WW. But the mesmer is still targeting one of the charr eles, and it tries to cast meteor shower. Bad idea. The mesmer uses cry of frustration, and interupts all the enemies in that group. Let's say there was a necro standing there with the monk and eles. They are all still standing exactly where they were to begin with, all bunched up nicely in a group. Because WW doesn't cause scatter.

So, they get interrupted and all take 75 damage. Now that's bad enough. But it's not over. There are still 2 active copies of WW, and the 3 seconds the charr have to get rid of it are almost over. In the next few seconds, those explode on them, and deal 200 damage to all of them.

So, while the ele was spending ~5 seconds to cast FS and do 70 damage, the mesmer did 1100 damage AND interrupted those enemies at the same time.

Meanwhile... the ele is getting beaten on by charr warriors, waiting for her fire storm to recharge. But it's ok. The mesmer is going to kill those warriors next...

Ok, I hope you get the point. This is all optimistic. I'm assuming a good mesmer and bad ele. But it's not really exaggerated. Eles are simply outclassed by mesmers. Mesmers skills are awesome. Especially domination magic. Fire magic is OK in some areas, but BAD in just as many.

So, I wouldn't waste your skill bar by filling it with crappy fire spells. Go for domination magic if you want to do damage. Once you learn to use it, I guarantee you'll NEVER use flare or fire storm again.

mage767 · Mar 14, 2011, 06:05 PM // 18:05

Ether mage? Sounds more like regular fire mage to me.

Anyway, you should never run a bar full of ele skills on a mesmer bar. Even your elite is from ele...why are you running a mesmer then? Delete your mesmer, create an ele and have fun.

Mesmers > Ele, I know it, everyone knows it, and now you know it too! Stop making bad ele builds for mesmer...

It is OK to put a few ele skills which synergize with mesmer skills, but oh wait...you need to learn what mesmers are capable of first...but I promise once you see a REAL mesmer in action, you will never go back to ele again...LOL.