Curse

LouAl · Jun 06, 2007, 08:53 PM // 20:53

Well, not really. Not even close.

I have found myself becoming increasingly playing other characters and leaving my mesmer to rot. The only thing that keeps me playing my mes is that it was my first and favorite (for a looong time) character and I really want to like it as I once did. Also, it is my character with the most time/money spent on titles so I don't really want to just bag it (I know, I know, those are sunk costs and can't be recovered).

So, I decided to lay aside my old predjudices and again try to play my mes in different ways (I played mes in beta then again in prophesies, where I sometimes used it as a fire nuker up until about LA) and here is what I did.

I am still convinced that using a mes for something like SS or SF or whatever is a bad idea, but I found a fun little degen/energy pain build that takes advantage of the mesmer's primary in a way that, IMO, it was ment to be used - by making a chain of spells more secure by reducing the cast time. It not only makes each 2 second spell harder to interrupt, but also makes the hex stack harder to clean by getting everything on target faster...

Keep in mind, this build, in its current state, is really only good for RA. It is nearly worthless (not quite, but almost) in PvE, and is too predictable in higher-than-RA PvP.

Me/N - Pain in the a-hole

Blood - 12
Curses - 9
Fast Casting - 10 (6+1+3)
Inspiration - 8 (7+1)

Skills
Core Skills
[skill]Life Siphon[/skill] 12 is the break point for 3 pips. This is really needed to offset the degen from malaise and to add pressure
[skill]Malaise[/skill] more attribute points don't do a ton to make this more effective since they really just make it last longer and give it slightly more dmg when e=0
[skill]Parasitic Bond[/skill] really just a cover, but adds some healing
Energy mgmt/utility skills
[skill]Power Drain[/skill]
[skill]Offering of Blood[/skill]
Free slot - I have used Phys resist since there are so many physicals in RA, but it can end up being worthless if the team you face has elementals
[skill]Ether Feast[/skill]
Res Signet

So basically you stack Life Siphon, Malaise, and Para Bond (in that order) on everyone on the other team and then reapply when needed (easier now that malaise has a tell). When you need energy, you either find someone to drain or hit OoB. If you come under too much damage you can continue to apply LS and PB but leave off the Malaise so that you have plenty of regen. I usually put malaise on everyone but warriors, but if you notice they are using any energy skills, put it on them and it drops them to 1 pip, which obvioulsy sucks.

The only reason why this setup works better than a N/Me is that you can lay all your hexes down faster and malaise, being the real center of the build, doesn't really benefit very well from higher attributes (LS would, but whatever).

The other thing that I have been thinking aobut would be to try and fit Wither in somehow. It can't replace Malaise since the recharge is 5 times longer, but it may be useful for extra hurt on a monk or caster. The problem that I faced was that with Wither, I couldn't also use OoB so a non-elite e-mgmt solution would have to be found and it would probably have to come from Inspiration, which the build barely has points for as it is and can't really put any higher.

Maybe the e-mgmt would have to be soemthing like Auspicious Incantation and Chilblains as often as possible, but that would have to be used with a minimum of 30 energy leftover and only nets 9 gained enery 25 seconds (as compared to the 13 net every 15 seconds with OoB...maybe just Auspicious and then LS (it would only have a 9 second recharge at that point), maybe Drain Delusions and Ether Phantom, but you run the risk of them not having enough to give you any back. Also, you wouldn't really net any energy gained, it would just hurt them more, maybe just p-drain and leech sig.

Anyway, there you go. It helped push back my mesmer boredom to some degree. It also helped that people on the opposing team would be pissed enough to call me silly names. This build also allows me to be a Necro in my dashing noble attire, which is nice.