Curse

Ginny · Nov 12, 2005, 07:39 PM // 19:39

Help!

Mesmer/Necromancer, Level 20
Full Courtly Droknar’s Armor (+1 Domination Mask)
Major Domination Rune
Major Inspiration Rune
Minor Fast Casting Rune

Weapons (Need to be upgraded: suggestions?)
Truncheon (5-8 Damage) Lol
Chakram (Energy +10, Improves Casting Speed 5% Chance, Armor 5 v. Ele)

15 Domination
13 Inspiration
05 Fast Casting

Power Block (Elite)
Diversion
Power Drain
Power Leak
Power Spike
Cry of Frustration
Leech Signet
Res Signet

In general, this is what I am using in PvE (not* PvP) as an ‘Anti-caster Interrupt Mesmer’ (AIM): this is obviously pure Mesmer and I rarely use Necromance skills/attributes.

1. I want to contribute more to teams (!!) so I am hoping for suggestions on another direction: perhaps anti-melee would be better PvE or a DOT Build? I just do not know. Perhaps I should put in some punish skills like backfire, guilt, shame?

Right now, I can help a bit with this build. But it does not seem to me as if I am contributing a whole lot. I mainly get off of the called target (unless it is a monk boss giving people trouble) and look for casters to interrupt. Monster Casters spam so much that it is hard for me to lock down more than one effectively (sometimes two). This is probably my inexperience. I never feel like I am shutting down the casters enough during combat. I would like to shut one down for a moment, so I can move to the next and take two out of the battle. But it does not work that way much for me.

2. What equipment should I be shooting for and what can I use in the meantime? I am a pretty casual player and do not have a lot of resources.

Hannibel · Nov 12, 2005, 07:56 PM // 19:56

looks like a pure intirrupt, you might wanna bring drain enchament

calamitykell · Nov 12, 2005, 08:04 PM // 20:04

Drop Leech Sig. I'd also drop Power Block as that kind of defeats the purpose of an interrupt. If they're Powerblocked, they're not being interrupted, so you're just kinda sitting there.

My interrupt Mesmer ran:

16 Domination (12+1+3)
7 Fast Casting
rest in Inspiration

Empathy
Backfire
Power Spike
Power Leak
Power Drain
Cry of Frustration
Guilt or Shame (whichever you prefer)
Echo {Elite}
Rez Sig

Echo just about whatever will help you in the particular battle more. Lots of casters? Echo an Interrupt. 2 consecutive Power Drains will net you back just about to full energy. Lots of Warriors? Echo Empathy and have some 20% recharge gear.

Guilt and Shame also help in giving you energy, and you can echo those as well. (Guilt necros/mesmers and Shame monks, or reverse it, lol. I get the 2 mixed up sometimes.)

With this, casters should be useless, and you should never really run low on energy.

edit: you can also swap Guilt/Shame/Echo out for Inspired Hex or Drain Enchantment (as suggested by Hannibel).

edit2: If you don't have time to gather stuff for collectors items, send me a PM or add me in-game and send me a whisper, I'll try to help you out.

rii · Nov 12, 2005, 08:21 PM // 20:21

Power Block allows you to take down two targets, maybe three if your fast. Dont drop it.

beginners_luck · Nov 12, 2005, 11:15 PM // 23:15

You could make a subtle switch from interrupter to shut-down: Diversion, Arcane Thievery and Arcane Echo will kill three enemy skills, and since when is THAT ever a bad thing? Naturally, you'd take five other skills of your choice, but I think those first three provide a decent base from which to work.

Cymmina · Nov 13, 2005, 12:34 AM // 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by beginners_luck

You could make a subtle switch from interrupter to shut-down: Diversion, Arcane Thievery and Arcane Echo will kill three enemy skills, and since when is THAT ever a bad thing? Naturally, you'd take five other skills of your choice, but I think those first three provide a decent base from which to work.

Unless they changed things since I last tried, an echo'ed Arcane Thievery can, and usually does, steal the same skill as the original AT.

I see no reason to drop Leech Signet. I would, however, drop Power Drain in favor of Mantra of Inscriptions. With MoI, LS will be recharged 47% faster, making it's recharge time only ~24 seconds. That will put it close to Power Drain in terms of recharge and only 5 less energy gain with LS. The trade off would be that you can interrupt things other than spells, if need be (like Res Sig or preps).

For an interrupting mesmer, I like to bring Arcane Conundrum. With the points in illusion, I also like to bring Soothing Images to slow down warriors. Usually, SI is enough to handle the melee aspect so that I can concentrate on casters.

P.S. I prefer Glyph of Renewal over Echo, when it comes to skills with 15+ second recharge times. GoR recharges faster.

pagansaint · Nov 13, 2005, 02:51 AM // 02:51

Arcane Echo the Power Block{E} you can stop 3 targets near at once in conjunction with your interrupts.

Ginny · Nov 14, 2005, 05:14 AM // 05:14

I am still not sure about what would make a more powerful pure Mesmer build in PvE.

I sometimes replace Diversion (which I am not too wild about, do others find it useful?) with Arcane Echo; that way I can cast two elite power blocks or two cry of frustrations.

But still, the build does not seem to be extremely suited for PvE. There are many times when I block spell after spell on healing monk bosses and they just keep spamming their spells as if I were not there. Sadly, substituting in backfire seems to help with issues like this.

It is sometimes hard to keep up with the sheer magnitude of spells being cast. I interrupt, they cast, I interrupt, they cast, I interrupt.... I wait for recharge... they cast ... they cast... they are at full health and now casting... (this happens sometimes). I just feel like maybe in PvE the there should be a more effective combination that will shut these casters down.

I still feel like there should be some better builds for PvE. I just do not feel that I am doing enough (again, this might be my inexperience, but I try really hard to contribute).

Serps · Nov 14, 2005, 05:43 AM // 05:43

Tried diversion in pve? Sure, they drop a self-heal, but that's the only one they'll get for 60 seconds. That's more than enough time to beat them down.

Basically, PVE has more monsters than players, and interrupts aren't enough: you need denial-over-time effects, or punishment effects (like backfire) to keep on top.

Nibbler · Nov 14, 2005, 10:17 AM // 10:17

I'd stick a couple of Hexes in there as well... Empathy is always handy, stick on a warrior early in the fight and they will take loads of damage. Wastrals worry used in combination with power block is quite nice. Shatter Delusions in there as well, stick WW on 'em and if they try and use a skill shatter it.

Interrupts are really handy but I rarely take more than 3 as you face too many casters in PvE to shut them all down.

As for wepons about 4-5k will buy you a nice max dmg staff.

Venus · Dec 03, 2005, 02:47 PM // 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by calamitykell

Drop Leech Sig.

Drop Leech Sig? That is one of the best skills in the game, you can interupt any action, troll ungent, ressurection signet, etc.

keep it.

Yukito Kunisaki · Dec 03, 2005, 07:24 PM // 19:24

Pure mesmer in pve is pointless. I've played almost every mission in this game [except Alkar's mission in SF and Defend North Kryta cause people are asses]

I tried making a pve mesmer/nec and it's not worth it. I've therefore kept him as my pvp only slot...

You've got curses, and they work WONDERS in PvE. Where there are usually more ranged/melee non-casters instead of casters...

I'd suggest bringing in some curses to cause pain and punishment to the mobs attacking your warriors. [if they're doing it right, the melee/ranged mobs will be on your warriors]

The best PvE curses to prevent/harm enemies dmg to warriors are

Shadow of Fear
Enfeebling Blood

You bring those 2 and all of your team's warriors will have a MUCH easier time withstanding pain and suffering from your PvE mobs.

Also, in PvE, casters are quite stupid and cast through Backfire so that's definitely a good idea to bring. Leech Signet interrupts all. Don't drop it.

If your team warriors bring Shield's Up, then the melee enemies are all you may have to worry about.

Using Soothing Images on the Cleave spammers [which seem to be all the stone summit] helps a lot.

Spirit of Failure + Price of Failure on multiple melee and/or ranger monsters is definitely a plus as well.

if you can turn off every enemy within range using your AoE hexes, then you're doing your part as a mesmer. Don't worry about creating pinpoint damage mesmers in PvE, it's too hard and I've given up on that idea...

RYCHER969 · Dec 05, 2005, 07:31 AM // 07:31

The only pve toon i have is a mesmer and i love it. You have to realize that you are doing dmg by countering spells, ie: you counter meteor storm and your tanks dont get k/d and take dmg so THEY keep dishing it out. The team concept of this game gets lost often as " faming " and "uber/invinceable" builds get popular.

As for str8 mesmer build pve...backfire is a staple..as is conj phant. If you backfire then counter , the enemies TAKE the backfire damage ( 147 w/dom at 16).I run:

backfire
cry of frust ( favorite)
power leak
power drain
mantra of recall
conj phant.
other
other...depending on area & group.

You need to balance your build. Just counters are not enuff. Any team will realize the power of your interupts when timed right. Otherwise help out the tanks by spamming conj phant on front lines ( or empathy or clumsiness etc.).

I am NOT a fan of echo. It costs too much and recharge is bad as well. NO skill is that good that i need to spend 15 energy ( cost of arch. echo) plus cost of skill.

Lots of great advice in these forums.I wish i had found them when I 1st got the game. ( i just bothered every mesmer i saw in towns & asked questions).

Good luck. If you would like to contact me in game name is : cpt. spalding

Serps · Dec 05, 2005, 08:05 AM // 08:05

If you backfire then counter , the enemies TAKE the backfire damage

They do? I thought they had to successfully cast a spell for backfire to be set off.

Hockster · Dec 05, 2005, 08:28 AM // 08:28

They must complete the cast for backfire to affect them.

Zobi · Dec 05, 2005, 12:07 PM // 12:07

Hockster is 100% correct.

lg5000 · Dec 06, 2005, 03:00 AM // 03:00

Yukito Kunisaki, I dunno... I end up running pure mesmer skills in pve because well.. they're good.

Also, in the later parts of the game, PLEASE explain to me how conjure phantasm is any good?

My interupt set-up consists of:

1 Sup Dom. + mask
minor everything else + maj. vigor (I'm cheap)

((don't quote me on the attribute points, illusion is normall high enough to get archane conundrum to last a decent amount of time, so spare points really))

Dom: 14
Inspiration: 10
Fast Casting: 10
Illusion: 6

Archane Conundrum - either stops monsters casting or slows down enough for you to interupt
Power Block - use it on one target, then switch target
Power Spike
Power Leak
Power Drain
Cry of Frustration - will interupt things other than spells
Leach Sig - will interupt things other than spells
Res sig or other res.

You'll find you're not doing a lot of damage, but as pointed out, you're stopping damage done and it's lotsa fun

Also, with these skills, you can get away with wearing whatever you feel most comfortable with, energy is not going to be a problem.

And this is the skill set I take to fow

Anti-meele... I'm not too sure... I think that would be the illusion line, but yeah, i have NO experience with illusion having focused the entire game on domination.

If you want to do damage though, I'd suggest looking at the domination line and the curses line, it's got some VERY nasty stuff in there with high damage, and don't forget that fast casting is your primary attribute and is actually useful.

Kai Nui · Dec 12, 2005, 11:05 PM // 23:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cymmina

Unless they changed things since I last tried, an echo'ed Arcane Thievery can, and usually does, steal the same skill as the original AT.

I see no reason to drop Leech Signet. I would, however, drop Power Drain in favor of Mantra of Inscriptions. With MoI, LS will be recharged 47% faster, making it's recharge time only ~24 seconds. That will put it close to Power Drain in terms of recharge and only 5 less energy gain with LS. The trade off would be that you can interrupt things other than spells, if need be (like Res Sig or preps).

For an interrupting mesmer, I like to bring Arcane Conundrum. With the points in illusion, I also like to bring Soothing Images to slow down warriors. Usually, SI is enough to handle the melee aspect so that I can concentrate on casters.

P.S. I prefer Glyph of Renewal over Echo, when it comes to skills with 15+ second recharge times. GoR recharges faster.

When used on some PVE creatures, yes, because they only have 1 or 2 skills making it more likely to thieve the same skill. Not to say echo is bad in any way, you could still echo an interrupt skill.