Curse

NoseJob · May 30, 2005, 05:57 AM // 05:57

I'm playing a Me/E in PvE and find myself using more and more domination skills. I really like the skills that remove enchantments/hexes and deal damage in the process.
Inspiration and Illusion just don't seem powerfull enough to me. Can anyone change my mind on this? I really want to get everything out of my Mesmer.

ethornber · May 30, 2005, 06:42 AM // 06:42

Domination spells are the 'reactive' spells in Mesmerism. They're powerful and great and fun, but if your opponent doesn't play along, you're sunk.

Illusion spells are more subtle, but more active - they're hard to sum up, but very powerful in their own special way.

Inspiration spells are the self-sufficiency spells. They're your defense, your healing/energy regen, and other oddballs.

Try looking at the skills you have again in this light, and hey, play around with them - that's why they're there.

Eclair · May 30, 2005, 07:35 AM // 07:35

Illusion also has the almighty Illusionary Weaponry =P

NoseJob · May 30, 2005, 10:34 AM // 10:34

I've played around with all of my skills and find myself getting back to my Domination skills every time.
I'm only lvl15 now, so Í don't have all the skills yet (by far). I'll see what the future holds then.

Epinephrine · May 30, 2005, 02:43 PM // 14:43

I'm enjoying Domination as well, my only complaints are the long recharge timers on domination skills and the UGLY domination mask. I really wish we had a few choices of mask. Conjure Phantasm is still on my skillbar, mostly to have something to do (it's not bad, just not great...). I'm realising that since it is my only illusion spell at present I should probably consider dropping illusion for a line from my secondary, as nearly anything would be better.

Minwanabi · May 30, 2005, 03:37 PM // 15:37

Domination is certainly the most popular mesmer skill, and most would argue most useful, but inspiration holds a lot of nice interrupts/energy denial/energy gain. The types of spells that interrupt, and steal energy can be really, really useful at times. I can't remember the names of the top of my head, but the one I use, at least, is power block.

Epinephrine · May 30, 2005, 03:44 PM // 15:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minwanabi

Domination is certainly the most popular mesmer skill, and most would argue most useful, but inspiration holds a lot of nice interrupts/energy denial/energy gain. The types of spells that interrupt, and steal energy can be really, really useful at times. I can't remember the names of the top of my head, but the one I use, at least, is power block.

Really? My impression was that as a secondary Inspiration is most popular, and that Illusion was way up there with all the Conjure Phantasms I see thrown around.

C2K · May 30, 2005, 03:46 PM // 15:46

Domination is so nice because you only need two skills from it to be effective, being Empathy and Backfire. Those two hexes do some serious damage if no one gets rid of them.

Epinephrine · May 30, 2005, 03:52 PM // 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by C2K

Domination is so nice because you only need two skills from it to be effective, being Empathy and Backfire. Those two hexes do some serious damage if no one gets rid of them.

Funny enough I have removed Backfire from my skillbar. It wasn't worth the casting time and slot - I have to let the spell resolve in order to do damage, right? Nobody is dumb enough to cast through it, so it's just a "remove hex" waiting to happen. Backfire doesn't synergise well with my "control" strategy, as I want to prevent their spells - while in theory it can buy you time I haven't found it that useful lately - at best I get to deal damage with it maybe 1-2 times, for 15 energy and 3 seconds casting time, and that means that they've gotten off 1-2 spells. I'd rather Power Leak him, preventing further spells by energy denial. I do still have Empathy, but I'm not sure if I need it.

Minwanabi · May 30, 2005, 04:05 PM // 16:05

Quote:

Really? My impression was that as a secondary Inspiration is most popular, and that Illusion was way up there with all the Conjure Phantasms I see thrown around.

Yeah, that's certainly true, on a secondary mesmer inspiration is the way to go, but for primary it's just as useful. Illusion has some good skills, but generally they're a little too situational. I mean, a good illusion build could rock a round, or be deadweight, depending on the enemy build. It doesn't vit with the fersatility of the rest of the mesmer skill lines. Personally, I very rarely play a primary mesmer, both because my guild has some really good ones, way better at it than me, and fast cast is rarely worth it, there's almost always another primary worth taking. When I do play it, I'll go, usually, 1-2 attributes from a main, and dom and inspiration.

DismalClown · May 30, 2005, 07:12 PM // 19:12

You don’t get the real good inspiration skills until later in the game. Take a look at Channeling (good for monk combos), Spirit Shackles and Spirit of Failure just to name a few.

Flatliner · May 30, 2005, 07:52 PM // 19:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minwanabi

Domination is certainly the most popular mesmer skill, and most would argue most useful, but inspiration holds a lot of nice interrupts/energy denial/energy gain. The types of spells that interrupt, and steal energy can be really, really useful at times. I can't remember the names of the top of my head, but the one I use, at least, is power block.

Power block is actually Domination.

rii · May 30, 2005, 08:48 PM // 20:48

Power Drain is the one your talking about. Its nice.

Tiberius · May 30, 2005, 10:37 PM // 22:37

Last I herd Arcane Conundrum on monks has always been nice. (though it gets removed without a buffer hex)

EDIT: Illusion is also where you find most of the mesmer's anti warrior stuff, like Clumsiness, Ineptitude, Soothing Images and such. All rather handy.

Minwanabi · May 31, 2005, 06:11 AM // 06:11

Quote:

Power Drain is the one your talking about. Its nice.

thank you, yes, that is what I meant.

Exion · May 31, 2005, 08:08 AM // 08:08

I went through most the game with just domination,untill I got illusionary weapon-now I'm playing a mix of illusion,domination,tactics. PvE domination is the way to go,you get empathy,backfire,chaos storm. In Pvp I take off chaos storm for blackout (backfire+blackout hurts monks so much)

rii · May 31, 2005, 08:14 AM // 08:14

In pve none of the creeps remove hexes, and none of them react to your actions, so domination is easy to wipe the floor with everyone. Empathy, Backfire, and Chaos Storm are pretty much all you need, although very early game conjure phantasm is actually worth it. PvP, it rare to meet that kind of stupidity, so i usually keep those moves and invest in a bit of damage, energy burn and wastrels worry/shatter delusions. Most people will hit through empathy, some will cast through backfire, but most stop before they die.... you need these things to finish them off.

JYX · May 31, 2005, 08:18 AM // 08:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiberius

Last I herd Arcane Conundrum on monks has always been nice. (though it gets removed without a buffer hex)

EDIT: Illusion is also where you find most of the mesmer's anti warrior stuff, like Clumsiness, Ineptitude, Soothing Images and such. All rather handy.

yes, suddenly a simple orison takes 2 seconds to cast. Thats not really an acceptable casting time, and makes monks open game to important interrupts like Power Leak.