usefulness of illus. weaponry - Guild Wars Forums

legandry · Sep 20, 2005, 09:45 PM // 21:45

Can someone please explain to me why so many mesmers are popping up in pvp with IW builds? As far as I see it, an IW mesmer is a warrior who does a constant (non-spike) dmg that is quite sup-par. IW at 16 hits for somewhere in the low to mid 40s (armor ignoring). A warrior focusing on damage can easily hit for this amount plus add skill dmg to it (ever seen an eviscerate + penetrating blow + executioners strike?), AND add the armor penetration factor from strength. The IW mesmer also has a very low armor (usually 60, tho different armors give different stats) compared to the heavily armored warrior. ALSO, the warrior does not need to worry about someone stripping his enchants away, thus rendering him totally unable to deal damage for 30 seconds. What gives? am I missing something critical to the build? Why are so many people using this?

Kampfkeks · Sep 20, 2005, 09:54 PM // 21:54

I've tried and it basically feels like payback day for getting bullied everytime in the missions, in pve, in pvp... everywhere. While it is true that a single enchantment removal will make them helpless crybabys. However IW does have its strengthes. You hit. No matter what happens as long as that enchantment is up you will hit for your fixed amount of damage. Getting blinded, ward agains melee, guardian.. all the warrior hate simply doesn't apply (well some necromancer hexes do though).
Plus you can (SHOULD) bring Flurry. Faster Attack Rate without lower damage? Spammable? YAY.
If you do a bit of team coordination you could even bring arcane mimicry and copy that hundred blades elite from your favorite sword warrior. Nearly doubling your damage output. Yes IW is no spike damage, but it is really nasty DOT when it doesn't get removed. And chances are... in a fierce PVP Battle sometimes people overlook that IW and until it has been discovered.. it has allready other enchantments stacked ontop of it.
In Random PVP... hardly anyone brings enchantment removal so this is your way to go. I'll never understand why people refuse to bring enchantment removal anyways. Does that make them "noob" or what? Instead they whine about smiters, iw mesmers and whatever - not topic related in this case but i've seen MANY folks whine about something when they could have simply brought ONE skill to counter it alltogether)

Sofonisba · Sep 20, 2005, 10:31 PM // 22:31

I've seen a lot of IW mesmers in the Ascalon/Shiverpeak arenas. (Don't get me started AGAIN on twinkies!!) It kind of makes me laugh, because they are using an elite skill whose usefulness, as I see it, does not come into play until armor penetration matters, like in level 20 arenas.

If you're going to be a twinkie, don't waste your darn elite skill slot with IW in Ascalon against AL 30 characters!

GreatLich · Sep 20, 2005, 10:48 PM // 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sofonisba

If you're going to be a twinkie, don't waste your darn elite skill slot with IW in Ascalon against AL 30 characters!

Wait?! You mean to say there's actually people in Ascalon Arena without Drok's armour? you're kidding, right...?

And armour penetration isn't the only thing IW is good against, mind you... it defeats any and all evade/block stances and skills; blindness doesn't matter to you anymore

Sofonisba · Sep 20, 2005, 11:01 PM // 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatLich

Wait?! You mean to say there's actually people in Ascalon Arena without Drok's armour? you're kidding, right...?

Me!! Oh, me me me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatLich

And armour penetration isn't the only thing IW is good against, mind you... it defeats any and all evade/block stances and skills; blindness doesn't matter to you anymore

I???m not going to argue that with you ??? but unless you are, in Ascalon/Shiverpeaks, mind you, up against an ele with eruption or more than is usual in air magic to blind, or a twinkie ranger with dust trap ??? still sort of less useful an elite than many many others, would you agree?

Just saying I think IW is sort of ???legendary??? and therefore people want to use it to try to look cool, not because they know anything about the game. I say, if you???re gonna be a decent twinkie mesmer in Ascalon/Shiverpeaks, get Power Block and wait for the Firestorm.

BigWu · Sep 20, 2005, 11:08 PM // 23:08

I have a ranger/mes for pve where I sometimes run illusion/beastmastery build. I find it quite fun to fight melee next to my pet, and while IW is cooling down I can use conjure phantasm and otther interrupt/support skills. Overall it is a very find build to play around with, however with the increasing amount of enchantment removing mobs, I find myself using this less and less.

GreatLich · Sep 20, 2005, 11:19 PM // 23:19

I've run IW, both Me/* and R/Me and i think IW is so... attractive, because you can melee as well ( maybe better ) as any W/Mo, and what Mesmer doesn't love to rip W/Mo's to shreds in any arena?

Kamatsu · Sep 20, 2005, 11:21 PM // 23:21

hmm, lets see.. do I pack PB and wait for that elementalist to cast FS to stop them using any fire magic (forgetting that anyone who tried FS in 4v4 PvP in AC is a dork...).. or do I pack in IW with a covering enchantment and then go pummel on someone doing 748 damage in a 30 second block that is completely unable to be prevented?

IW can only be stopped by 1 spell if it's not stripped. Iron Mist. Anything else doesn't matter - blindness, defensive stances, wards vs melee, armor, etc. Whatever you do if that Mesmer with IW up and running starts pummling on you your facing up to 748 damage that you can't do anything about unless you get Iron Mist cast on you.

Oh and that 748 damage isn't counting if they are using a speed enhancer like Tiger's Fury or Flurry - it's more like 1,020 damage with speed enhancers up. Either way, without stripping them or some major healing they can take 1 person down every time they get IW up.

And if they are wailing on the enemies monk.. the monk can only heal themselves, meanwhile the rest of their team kills the others.. or the IW mesmer wails on someone else and the monk focuses on them.. then the monk dies as the rest of the IW team beats down the monk..

btw, armor does nothing against IW. You could have 30 AL armor or 200 AL armor, your going to get the full damage from IW - what damage they deal depends on the level of Illusion attribute they have.

IW has it's uses and can be deadly if used correctly. Especially if the mesmer knows what they are doing and brings along a set of support skills that aid - only need IW, 1 covering enchant, 1 speed-up skill & 1 defense skill.. leaving 4 other skill slots to help put the pain down.. while being in the thick of things and not worrying as hey, IW is a useless elite isn;t it? It's not going to do much damage.. esp considering most ppl have enchant stripping... not. heh

Sofonisba · Sep 20, 2005, 11:31 PM // 23:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamatsu

hmm, lets see.. do I pack PB and wait for that elementalist to cast FS to stop them using any fire magic (forgetting that anyone who tried FS in 4v4 PvP in AC is a dork...).. or do I pack in IW with a covering enchantment and then go pummel on someone doing 748 damage in a 30 second block that is completely unable to be prevented?

IW can only be stopped by 1 spell if it's not stripped. Iron Mist. Anything else doesn't matter - blindness, defensive stances, wards vs melee, armor, etc. Whatever you do if that Mesmer with IW up and running starts pummling on you your facing up to 748 damage that you can't do anything about unless you get Iron Mist cast on you.

Oh and that 748 damage isn't counting if they are using a speed enhancer like Tiger's Fury or Flurry - it's more like 1,020 damage with speed enhancers up. Either way, without stripping them or some major healing they can take 1 person down every time they get IW up.

And if they are wailing on the enemies monk.. the monk can only heal themselves, meanwhile the rest of their team kills the others.. or the IW mesmer wails on someone else and the monk focuses on them.. then the monk dies as the rest of the IW team beats down the monk..

btw, armor does nothing against IW. You could have 30 AL armor or 200 AL armor, your going to get the full damage from IW - what damage they deal depends on the level of Illusion attribute they have.

IW has it's uses and can be deadly if used correctly. Especially if the mesmer knows what they are doing and brings along a set of support skills that aid - only need IW, 1 covering enchant, 1 speed-up skill & 1 defense skill.. leaving 4 other skill slots to help put the pain down.. while being in the thick of things and not worrying as hey, IW is a useless elite isn;t it? It's not going to do much damage.. esp considering most ppl have enchant stripping... not. heh

All I'm talking about is the lower level arena. Armor penetration, blindness cancellation, etc, are not things you have to worry about a lot in Ascalon & Shiverpeaks.

Sorry for the confusion, I did not mean to cast any doubt that IW was a good skill, just that I think it's funny that a mesmer will bother to bring it over anything else to Ascalon arena.

ShadowStorm · Sep 21, 2005, 12:02 AM // 00:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatLich

Wait?! You mean to say there's actually people in Ascalon Arena without Drok's armour? you're kidding, right...?

Yes, there are people in Ascalon Arena without Drok's Armor. They have Grotto, Citadel, or Fissure armor.

Sep 20, 2005, 09:45 PM // 21:45	#1
legandry Academy Page Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Houston, Tejas Guild: Morbidly Obese Terror Squad Profession: E/Mo	usefulness of illus. weaponry Can someone please explain to me why so many mesmers are popping up in pvp with IW builds? As far as I see it, an IW mesmer is a warrior who does a constant (non-spike) dmg that is quite sup-par. IW at 16 hits for somewhere in the low to mid 40s (armor ignoring). A warrior focusing on damage can easily hit for this amount plus add skill dmg to it (ever seen an eviscerate + penetrating blow + executioners strike?), AND add the armor penetration factor from strength. The IW mesmer also has a very low armor (usually 60, tho different armors give different stats) compared to the heavily armored warrior. ALSO, the warrior does not need to worry about someone stripping his enchants away, thus rendering him totally unable to deal damage for 30 seconds. What gives? am I missing something critical to the build? Why are so many people using this?

Sep 20, 2005, 09:54 PM // 21:54	#2
Kampfkeks Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2005	I've tried and it basically feels like payback day for getting bullied everytime in the missions, in pve, in pvp... everywhere. While it is true that a single enchantment removal will make them helpless crybabys. However IW does have its strengthes. You hit. No matter what happens as long as that enchantment is up you will hit for your fixed amount of damage. Getting blinded, ward agains melee, guardian.. all the warrior hate simply doesn't apply (well some necromancer hexes do though). Plus you can (SHOULD) bring Flurry. Faster Attack Rate without lower damage? Spammable? YAY. If you do a bit of team coordination you could even bring arcane mimicry and copy that hundred blades elite from your favorite sword warrior. Nearly doubling your damage output. Yes IW is no spike damage, but it is really nasty DOT when it doesn't get removed. And chances are... in a fierce PVP Battle sometimes people overlook that IW and until it has been discovered.. it has allready other enchantments stacked ontop of it. In Random PVP... hardly anyone brings enchantment removal so this is your way to go. I'll never understand why people refuse to bring enchantment removal anyways. Does that make them "noob" or what? Instead they whine about smiters, iw mesmers and whatever - not topic related in this case but i've seen MANY folks whine about something when they could have simply brought ONE skill to counter it alltogether) Last edited by Kampfkeks; Sep 20, 2005 at 09:57 PM // 21:57..

Sep 20, 2005, 10:31 PM // 22:31	#3
Sofonisba Desert Nomad Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Tucson, AZ Guild: The Black Hand Gang [BHG] and The Black Helm Gang [BHeG]	I've seen a lot of IW mesmers in the Ascalon/Shiverpeak arenas. (Don't get me started AGAIN on twinkies!!) It kind of makes me laugh, because they are using an elite skill whose usefulness, as I see it, does not come into play until armor penetration matters, like in level 20 arenas. If you're going to be a twinkie, don't waste your darn elite skill slot with IW in Ascalon against AL 30 characters!

Sep 20, 2005, 11:08 PM // 23:08	#6
BigWu Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2005 Location: WI Guild: Chimps With Ray Guns [OhNo] Profession: Mo/	I have a ranger/mes for pve where I sometimes run illusion/beastmastery build. I find it quite fun to fight melee next to my pet, and while IW is cooling down I can use conjure phantasm and otther interrupt/support skills. Overall it is a very find build to play around with, however with the increasing amount of enchantment removing mobs, I find myself using this less and less.

Sep 20, 2005, 11:19 PM // 23:19	#7
GreatLich Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Aug 2005	I've run IW, both Me/* and R/Me and i think IW is so... attractive, because you can melee as well ( maybe better ) as any W/Mo, and what Mesmer doesn't love to rip W/Mo's to shreds in any arena?

Sep 20, 2005, 11:21 PM // 23:21	#8
Kamatsu Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia	hmm, lets see.. do I pack PB and wait for that elementalist to cast FS to stop them using any fire magic (forgetting that anyone who tried FS in 4v4 PvP in AC is a dork...).. or do I pack in IW with a covering enchantment and then go pummel on someone doing 748 damage in a 30 second block that is completely unable to be prevented? IW can only be stopped by 1 spell if it's not stripped. Iron Mist. Anything else doesn't matter - blindness, defensive stances, wards vs melee, armor, etc. Whatever you do if that Mesmer with IW up and running starts pummling on you your facing up to 748 damage that you can't do anything about unless you get Iron Mist cast on you. Oh and that 748 damage isn't counting if they are using a speed enhancer like Tiger's Fury or Flurry - it's more like 1,020 damage with speed enhancers up. Either way, without stripping them or some major healing they can take 1 person down every time they get IW up. And if they are wailing on the enemies monk.. the monk can only heal themselves, meanwhile the rest of their team kills the others.. or the IW mesmer wails on someone else and the monk focuses on them.. then the monk dies as the rest of the IW team beats down the monk.. btw, armor does nothing against IW. You could have 30 AL armor or 200 AL armor, your going to get the full damage from IW - what damage they deal depends on the level of Illusion attribute they have. IW has it's uses and can be deadly if used correctly. Especially if the mesmer knows what they are doing and brings along a set of support skills that aid - only need IW, 1 covering enchant, 1 speed-up skill & 1 defense skill.. leaving 4 other skill slots to help put the pain down.. while being in the thick of things and not worrying as hey, IW is a useless elite isn;t it? It's not going to do much damage.. esp considering most ppl have enchant stripping... not. heh