Curse

upier · May 24, 2009, 12:11 AM // 00:11

As some might remember I never was a fan of CoP.
But you know what - screw it!

The builds that I really dislike are the builds that put CoP in the centerplace - where the guy controlling the pretty pony that is the mesmer just spams CoP like mad. Now - while I completely understand that not taking that approach means you're probably not going to end up as effective as one would if one would just spam CoP - there is nothing more rewarding then actually playing the mesmer by including some of his more interesting options.

So, after putting my para to rest for a bit - I figured I'd look at what my mesmer can do. I binned my old AP-YMLD!-EVAS-FH! build and looked at what I really want to do.
And this is what I came up with:

Now, it still close to your average CoP build - which means you really aren't giving up much damage. What it does is include Tryptophan Signet - probably my new favourite "mesmer" PvE skill. Movement AND attack slowdown? And it's AoE!? And FREE!?
It's like the whole Illusion line on crack! I LOVE IT!
It also focuses on Inspiration for enchantment removal through Drain Ench and Drain Delusions to trigger Phantom Pain's deep wound and providing the user with unlimited energy. And here - I don't mean "unlimited" - I really mean unlimited energy. Drain is pretty close to being Soul Reaping in a skill.
EVAS stayed because the KD is fun!
Shrinking is there simply as a way of additional damage and it gives you a cheap, very spammable hex if something goes wrong with PP or to cover AP.
(One could (or better yet - should) use the newly buffed Fragility - since it will trigger on DW and additional conditions your party brings, it's AoE which means one will spend even less energy casting it AND it would help in areas with hex removal - but you know what, I hate the icon, so screw it!

)

Anyway - I figured I'd share this for the people that might be looking into something more mesmery, but still aren't willing to give up all the madness that Cop and AP bring. Hopefully someone will have as much fun with it as I have!
(Given my love for Inspiration - I'd REALLY love to stick in things like Power Drain or Signet Of Humility - but in HM, interrupts really become much less reliable and Siggy now has that nastly "disables all non-mesmer skills".

)

Lishy · May 24, 2009, 12:27 AM // 00:27

Have you tried out Fragility? It's great.

Demonlord Matt · May 24, 2009, 12:36 AM // 00:36

lol did u read his post?(One could (or better yet - should) use the newly buffed Fragility<---

Luminarus · May 24, 2009, 06:03 AM // 06:03

Maybe Shatter Delusions instead of Drain Delusions for more damage, and same affect... Especially since you have "unlimited" energy, there is no reason relaly not to..

upier · May 24, 2009, 07:23 AM // 07:23

The unlimited energy is because of Drain.

(Plus it's Inspiration - so I get a warm fuzzy feeling each time I use it!

)

maxxfury · May 24, 2009, 09:01 AM // 09:01

Sellout :P *wink try Augury of death for giggles :P popping around all over the place droppin dw's!

upier · May 24, 2009, 03:20 PM // 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxxfury

Sellout :P *wink try Augury of death for giggles :P popping around all over the place droppin dw's!

I thought people knew by now to NOT to give me ideas for shit and giggles.
Someone innocent ALWAYS gets hurt in my quests when trying to make them happen.

maxxfury · May 26, 2009, 03:12 PM // 15:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

I thought people knew by now to NOT to give me ideas for shit and giggles.
Someone innocent ALWAYS gets hurt in my quests when trying to make them happen.

I like to see some drive-by roadkill! i wouldnt suggest stuff for shits n giggles otherwise

Also Try-Sig, how does that fare?

pretty much brings mobs back into nm levels?

upier · May 28, 2009, 12:34 AM // 00:34

I am done screwing my hate for CoP.
It's back. With a vengeance!
And the mesmer bores me again.

But - to not make this completely off topic:
Added Fragility instead of Shrinking and it's a much better choice! Especially since it was ran with a bunch of Discord guys - meaning it triggered on DW, cracked, weakness, ...

Longasc · May 28, 2009, 12:41 AM // 00:41

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Pv...ame=&Go=Senden

This is how I play my Mesmer in PvE. You can replace Images of Remorse with a Rez or whatever you want.

SurrealFi · Jun 12, 2009, 11:56 AM // 11:56

That's a dead boring skillbar Longasc. :-)

To the op: CoP is more of a team/party skill than anything else if you want it to be efficient, I never use it when I'm out alone with H/H, and I probably never will either. Why? It's dead boring and doesnt require me to think in the slightest. Cast meshex -> (echo ->) CoP -> (CoP ->) Remove hex/Remove enchant for nrg -> Cast AP but D'oh, the guy was already dead! ... Ouch, I think I lost a couple of brain cells back outside Kamadan in the nawb area. :-P

If I wanted to nuke and burst out some aoe dmg, I'd go ele. Leave CoP to the team builds and use some more fun skills like [Pain Inverter] or [Clumsiness].

Just.nl · Jun 14, 2009, 05:41 AM // 05:41

Hmmm,

I got a other nice build with Assassins Promise. Its fun to play aswell

[assassin's promise][empathy][cry of frustration][backfire][pain inverter][ebon vanguard assassin support][arcane echo][sunspear rebirth signet].

Echo the sin, 2 sins on enemy. Use promise on the enemy and use backfire on caster en empathy on melee. Cry of frustration for interrupt. Pain inverter for some enemies that deal loads of damage.

Cheers

Kraviec · Jun 17, 2009, 09:45 PM // 21:45

Seen Shared Burden? Something like uber tryptophan signet, but elite and 10e. Anyways, none of these two synergises with sabway, SS to be accurate.

Xenomortis · Jun 17, 2009, 10:22 PM // 22:22

Shared Burden has the single advantage of reducing spell casting time. Tryptophan beats it on more or less, ever other account (assuming a rank of 6). Ok, it may last a little longer. However it's elite and certainly not worth it.

Lack of Sabway syngergy, or as you say, specifically SS, is trivial. Nothing synergises with SS with the exception of Reckless Haste and that barely holds in HM anyway.

To be honest, if I wanted to have fune with my mesmer, I'd probably look at Fevered Dreams or AP. AP locks me into an undersirable secondary though, with very little extra utility. Though with FD, I suspect I'll be longing to use my necromancer for it instead.
But to be really honest, I cannot even be bothered to progress my mesmer to the end of any of the campaigns.

FireWhale · Jun 19, 2009, 03:27 AM // 03:27

Granted, this isn't well thought out, so if anyone has more ideas, share them.

Okay, sure. I get the nerf to CoP. That cryway was ridiculous. I mean, I only ran arcane-echo-cry with h/h, but even that was pretty awesome AOE damage.

Still, CoP can still be utilized. It does mediocre aoe and slaps on a hex for even more degen.

Illusion: that degen quickly hits the degen cap when combined with illusion degen. I do like the lyssa's aura anti-melee build. Definitely a throwback to ~2 months ago before I had nightfall/eotn. Another promising skill is fragility. That's great, since Me/N has a great way to spread conditions. If only there was a way to remove conditions from foes. The adjacent AoE is a bit of a letdown compared to CoP, but whatever.

Domination: With VoR being hit hard, I find lyssa's to be equally promising. I remember overload was fun for keeping that up pre-nightfall/eotn. No AoE here. Maybe a simple utility interrupt build is best here (but then again, heroes are better than me no question at interrupting). Couple interrupts with VoR and you might have someone who can be useful.

AP: If you want to run AP with other overpowered pve skills, be my guest. I just find using such builds myself a little hard to swallow. Yes I know they are good and they work.

in short: I find that the lyssa's aura (both dom and illusion) builds to be more palatable to me. Fragility is an interesting build, but I think it's subpar aoe damage (not even mentioning it's aoe effect is adjacent, a team would have to be built around fragility to reach the numbers CoP was pushing out aka short-duration conditions). Finally, I could try out some interrupt builds and see how that goes. Lastly, I would rather play another one of my characters than resort to using AP+assassin support

ps. It seems they want the mesmer to return back to utility casting, while leaving the AoE to eles and the ilk. Considering that the current game is based upon "damage" and lots of it, I can only say adios to my hayday of -100's and -95's popping up everywhere.

UnChosen · Jun 19, 2009, 11:15 AM // 11:15

Heh...back to tank + ele + monk spank for elite areas, and necro heroes for everything else. Hmm...and SY! paras and rit spirit spammers with super-charged skills. Sorry pug mesmers, I'll miss ye */kick*

zwei2stein · Jun 19, 2009, 11:34 AM // 11:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxxfury

Sellout :P *wink try Augury of death for giggles :P popping around all over the place droppin dw's!

Can as well run iron palm with that for kding after each dw poop