Curse

Keir · May 31, 2005, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Hi all,

I'm new to GW's and the forum and I'm wanting some design advice before I invest alot of time in the what might be the wrong direction. I've been recruited into a guild and PvP is central to the design idea's - though ability in PvE is a definite plus.

I started with a W/E (lvl 8 now) as it is a straight forward apporach which didn't require excessive thinking to early in the learning curve. However I love excessive thinking and part of what drew me to this game is the similarity to M:TG's deck design - which I had a ball with, spent to much money on etc. For me build/strategy design is about deciding what you are about and then stacking everything to back that up. So here is my first build idea.

"Lights out for the Manic Mesmer"

- Hysteria is an extremely volitile Mes/El who lets fly in a big burst and then does a spaz (Blackout).

The plan is mixture of blast and control creating an anti-caster who unloads asap utilising fast casting and then casts Blackout at the target called by the team leader. Maybe some-one looking vunerable to being taken down or maybe at whichever Monk or spellcaster is the biggest problem. If things are going well you pick on a Monk to mess up their healing or if things are going badly you could Blackout the main offensive threat.

While you lose your skills for 5 seconds with Blackout they can lose theirs for as much as 8 meaning when they come back you can be ready to counter the spells they start casting - if your teamates haven't killed them meantime. If you are all out of energy that is 5 seconds time to recharge and you know the blacked-out enemy will come back strong so you hopefully you can be ready to counter their spells and re-energy (and life if needed) in doing so.

The crucual question I'm wondering is will casting lots of hexes on a target make it harder for the opponent to remove the Blackout or will Blackout simply be de-hexed? With a few Blackout mages going in a team you could try to Blackout as many or their players who can remove hexes as possible.

At present I'm looking at a Mesmer/Elementalist but if there is a better secondary class I'd be open to that.

The Mesmer is a starting point as the design is attempting to maximise the value of Fastcasting and counterspelling plus Blackout attempts to minimise the impact of having a smaller energy pool than elementalist by providing some compulsary downtime.

The Elementalist secondary is for fast damage plus Lesser Energy Glyph. I like the look of Air with its focused attack.

Another option would be to concentrate more on Mesmer magic and just use Lesser Energy Glyph and maybe Gale - which only needs Air5. In this case rather than blasting for damage early Hysteria would be throwing out hexes and Gales then casting Blackout on who-ever the team leader calls. The appeal of this approach would be that it is trying to do less by leaving damage to other characters and it wouldn't be to hard to use refund points to adjust to this build while using a blast approach in PvE.

Yet another approach would be to go El/Mes, blast for longer before Blackout and have aura of restoration going so that you can heal by blasting/countering. I'm less interested in this at this point (I'm focusing on Mesmer right now) but if the Mesmer version proves unsatisfactory I might look at it.

As I said at the start I'm new and so I'm not going to try and give a list of 8 skills, plus attributes as I'm going to work this out through play - if Blackout is viable in PvP. What I'm interested in is feedback on the fundamentals of the design, wether it could work, and what are the best attributes to take for this other than Domination and Fastcasting?

So is Blackout a potentially brutal element in a focused take down approach or am I chasing a lemon?

Advice appreciated.

Josh · Dec 11, 2005, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Blackout (PvP) is generally, very annoying, had this Mesmer constantly casting it on me in Tombs earlier when I'm an Elementalist...my god how frustrating...

However, casting just a million hexes and draining your mana pool to near 0, can just be wiped in 1 go, if a Monk just casts Convert Hexes or something of the sort which removes all hexes, however, it is quite rare for a Monk to bring it, maybe a decent Guild monk would, although it's common for "Remove Hex", which removes the last 1 hex from target ally.

So if you cast all the hexes you want (PvP), then do 1 hex you don't care if it gets rid of, your ok I guess.

Talking Team Arenas, Mesmers are lethal...especially Blackout.

You should use "Channeling" (Inspiration) to keep your Energy up though, so make sure your in near the midst of the battles.

Rico Carridan · Dec 11, 2005, 04:02 AM // 04:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keir

Hi all,

"Lights out for the Manic Mesmer"

The plan is mixture of blast and control creating an anti-caster who unloads asap utilising fast casting and then casts Blackout at the target called by the team leader. Maybe some-one looking vunerable to being taken down or maybe at whichever Monk or spellcaster is the biggest problem. If things are going well you pick on a Monk to mess up their healing or if things are going badly you could Blackout the main offensive threat.

While you lose your skills for 5 seconds with Blackout they can lose theirs for as much as 8 meaning when they come back you can be ready to counter the spells they start casting - if your teamates haven't killed them meantime. If you are all out of energy that is 5 seconds time to recharge and you know the blacked-out enemy will come back strong so you hopefully you can be ready to counter their spells and re-energy (and life if needed) in doing so.

The crucual question I'm wondering is will casting lots of hexes on a target make it harder for the opponent to remove the Blackout or will Blackout simply be de-hexed? With a few Blackout mages going in a team you could try to Blackout as many or their players who can remove hexes as possible.

Blackout is not a hex, and cannot be removed by any means, other than waiting it out. That makes it really, really, annoying if used properly. One popular blackout strategy is to take Me/W, and use illusionary weaponary then blackout. Illusionary weaponry will allow you do to some armor piercing melee damage, and since you need to be in touch range anyway, you might as well pound him with the illusionary sword.

Another option might be to run Me/N (or even N/Me). Use wither, malaise, and some cheap hex like parasitic bond or life siphon on one target, which will reduce their energy regeneration to zero. Both of these hexes last a really long time, so if you pick your target right, you can really devastate their ability to use mana effectively, and if they try to remove hex (convert hexes aside), they will just end up removing your cover hex. While those hexes are running, you can happily keep another target under constant blackout, and effectively take two casters out of the fight.

These are just a couple of possibilities. Blackout can be incredibly powerful, if used properly, and has a lot of interesting applications.

Rico

rii · Dec 11, 2005, 10:03 AM // 10:03

For a start, blackout is a skill, no longer a hex (it was changed) so dont worry about covering it any more.
Secondly, since it is a skill, it is affected by expertise, which is handy since that eliminates the need for energy management (10e/10s is much worse than 4e/10s obvioously).
Thirdly, wilderness survival is another handy line to go into. For a start you have serpents quickness, which will let you maintain blackout at a 6s duration almost indefinately.
Fourthy, wilderness survival has handy traps/rituals, which can be used to shaft runners and also shaft the person that is being blackout'd

The reason for those skills is they have a long duration/effect and so the fact that your black'd out most of the game is null.

This is the general blackout build I run, when i can be bothered:

Ranger/Mesmer

Domination: 11
Expertise: 10+3+1
Wilderness Survival: 10+1

Oath Shot [e]
Serpents Quickness
Blackout
Distracting Shot
Natures Renewal
Barbed Trap
Debilitating Shot
Resurrection Signet

They also nerfed blackout's duration a bit, it doesnt go to 8s i think. At this set up, it last 6s and recharges in 7. Use distract (also on a 7s cooldown), debilitating, barbed and natures renewal (longer casting times on stuff mean that there is less chance of them popping anything off during the 1s downtime) to mess people up along with almost continuous blackout.

Vexed Arcanist · Dec 11, 2005, 04:36 PM // 16:36

Since Blackout is a skill (touch) it is not affected by Obsidian Flesh or Spellbreaker.