Curse

Chappy · May 10, 2005, 05:01 PM // 17:01

I want to make a Mesmer build, but I want to make it decent. I heard lots about Ra/Mes and the builds, but not very much detail on Mes/Ra. Could someone tell me the difference between the two, and builds for both?

Communist Robot · May 10, 2005, 10:54 PM // 22:54

Personally i would select the mesmer primary because the mesmers spells are very well suited by the fast casting and that i haven't yet played a ranger.

Chappy · May 11, 2005, 12:39 PM // 12:39

Yeah i was hoping for a Mesmer primary reply. And Rangers are fun, but Rangers are why i want them to be secondary, because overall, they arent that strong (attack damage wise). Although they have unique characteristics, I personally dont have them up high in my list.

Epinephrine · May 11, 2005, 01:15 PM // 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chappy

Yeah i was hoping for a Mesmer primary reply. And Rangers are fun, but Rangers are why i want them to be secondary, because overall, they arent that strong (attack damage wise). Although they have unique characteristics, I personally dont have them up high in my list.

Again, this is a misconception. Rangers are very powerful attackers, once they have the expertise to chain their skills continually. Mesmer may suit you better however, if you don't want to make the rather large investment in both expertise and Marksmanship required to get rangers dealing damage effectively.

Stephen Hawking · May 11, 2005, 02:29 PM // 14:29

The only problem I view with rangers is their attack speed is problematic. 2 sec per attack, and flight times, means the other players have much more time to react unless you're using the prep-skills beforehand to disable them (choking gas, distracting shot, etc). they make ideal callers for this reason, since they can survey and take down the hurt targets, or more dangerous ones, but by no means are they damagers in any respect I feel except to provide a little aoe, and focus fire support.

Epinephrine · May 11, 2005, 02:34 PM // 14:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen Hawking

The only problem I view with rangers is their attack speed is problematic. 2 sec per attack, and flight times, means the other players have much more time to react unless you're using the prep-skills beforehand to disable them (choking gas, distracting shot, etc). they make ideal callers for this reason, since they can survey and take down the hurt targets, or more dangerous ones, but by no means are they damagers in any respect I feel except to provide a little aoe, and focus fire support.

Well, with attack speed boosts and skills like Dual shot and Barrage and such you can do pretty well, and if every shot is a skill being sent out it adds up. They may not be the best DPS but they are good DPS and are flexible enough to fill a couple of roles. I think many rangers use skills to reduce flight times (favourable winds for example). I think that there are probably some Shock Sniper type builds out there that would surprise you with their damage output.

Chappy · May 11, 2005, 05:36 PM // 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epinephrine

Again, this is a misconception. Rangers are very powerful attackers, once they have the expertise to chain their skills continually. Mesmer may suit you better however, if you don't want to make the rather large investment in both expertise and Marksmanship required to get rangers dealing damage effectively.

I know its a misconception. I bet they do attack very well (in later levels). Probably the Ranger isn't my "ideal" character. They may work for you, but they dont fit well with me i guess. Probably one of my problems right now is im still trying to find my character that works with me. In the future when i have experience with all classes i will settle down with one and work it through.

Granamyr · May 11, 2005, 05:57 PM // 17:57

I'm wrestling with the same dilemna although I think the scales are tipped towards Mesmer/Ranger. The primary attributes for both aren't deciding factors for me. Expertise addresses the low energy pool for the ranger primary but that could be solved by just taking Mesmer as a primary and getting a bigger energy pool. I'm going to largely ignore the Expertise based skills anyway so it works for me.

If you're going to go Ranger primary, you have to boost two attributes.....Expertise and Marksmanship. If you go Mesmer, you only have to boos Marksmanship. The armor for the Ranger is better than the Mesmer's however the Mesmer's is the best armor for casters. The extra energy regen and +5 energy pool make up for slightly less armor.

Mes/Ranger gives you the freedom to distribute your attribute points better, more energy, usually less of a target too. Ranger/Mesmer, better armor.

Helderin · May 11, 2005, 10:30 PM // 22:30

Although I'm guessing you won't be relying on Expertise skills too much, you will probably want to include some of the stances, like the ones that allow you to dodge attacks and move faster. Other than the stances the other expertise skills you can definitly do without.

MoMan · May 11, 2005, 10:44 PM // 22:44

My primary character is a R/ME and I honestly counldnt be happier. For my character I focused on health degen skills, using a few from both professions, which accounts for most of the damage I do. I like the ranger as primary because I have fairly decent armor for my char, which allows me to somewhat tank if I need to. I obviously am not as good of a tank as a primary warrior but with healing skills, I can survive long enough to tank against a group of enemies. Havent tried the ME/R, but the R/ME is an excellent choice.