Curse

Mythology Of The Greeks · Aug 31, 2005, 08:30 PM // 20:30

Hey guys,

Just recently I have noticed Blackout Mesmers becoming a big and formidable opponent in HOH. And truthfully, they piss me off SO MUCH, that I just feel I have to make one to piss some other people off. So, while I am on the subject, I am trying to figure out what makes the Blackout Mesmer build so great. In essence, I am looking for any skill sets that you guys would be willing to dish out to me. Give me as many vairations as you can because I will probably try them all out. Thanks in advance for all your help.

tengar · Sep 02, 2005, 11:03 PM // 23:03

Hehehehe I do enjoy using blackout and illusionary weaponry in pvp

I usually use the following skills
Backfire/chaos storm/rez signet/illusionary weaponry/blackout/conjure phantasm/healing signet/empathy and thats for a mesmer/warrior

Vermilion Okeanos · Sep 02, 2005, 11:42 PM // 23:42

Here is a few things you can think about...

All touch range spell are consider "skill"... it have a category of its own pratically...

Expertise reduce blackout cost.

Eder · Sep 06, 2005, 05:41 PM // 17:41

Sometimes I run an Echo/Blackout build in random arenas just to piss people off by disabling them completely for up to 12 seconds.

I'm not sure it'd be any help (I don't remember what the recast times for these skills are), but if you have 2 mesmers running that build with Arcane Mimicry, maybe you could pull a 18-second blackout? (Although I think that it'd be better to have one mesmer with Echo and one with Power Block, one mimics the other, then you have two mesmers capable of doing 12-second blackouts followed by a power block as soon as the target tries to do anything... throw conundrum on your target beforehand to make sure you'll have time to get the power block in, you don't want to let some stupid insta-cast skill get the guy back to full health.)

Anyway, if you just want to piss people off, the rest of your skill bar doesn't really matter, but just don't rely on spammability. Use stuff like enchantments, stances, etc... and if you plan on doing this often, you'll need an energy management skill.

Effigy · Sep 07, 2005, 12:09 PM // 12:09

If you use Echo/Blackout, you can keep one target blacked out completely for 26 seconds because the duration of the skill is 6 sec, it only affects you for 5 sec, and the recast is 10 sec (Echo will end after 20 sec, and has a 30 sec recharge). After that, they'll have a ~5 sec window to cast since Blackout and Echo will both be recharging. That means you can keep your target locked down about 84% of the time (using Blackout/Echo alone), which is pretty decent if you ask me.

The downside to this is you're basically doing a one-for-one trade with the enemy team. You disable one of their players, but in the process you limit yourself from doing anything else. The upside is that if you disable a keystone member of their team (like a monk), this can still lead to your team's advantage, even if it takes 100% of your concentration.

CAT · Sep 08, 2005, 01:16 AM // 01:16

haha

Mesmer/Ranger

Blackout, Imagined Burden(snare), Stormchaser, QZ. Can keep a target blacked out the entire match if done right. The other spells are good as drain, spirit of failure, and other energy management

Tarot Ribos · Sep 12, 2005, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Hm... just to note... people are treating Blackout as a 6-second duration... which it is at 12 domination.

But...

At 13-14 domination (can't remember which, I use 14...), it works for 7 seconds.

Relevance?

Echo + Blackout. As mentioned above, you've got roughly a 5-second window in which both skills are recharging at 6 second duration. With 7, you reduce that to a 3 second window.

3 seconds is not very long for a spellcaster. Also, comboed with other skills, that easily allows for complete shutdown with a little wiggle room. Wiggle room = time to cast other stuff. Like energy management skills. Or something to deal a little extra damage (Energy Burn? Conjure Phantasm?). Yep. Go from there.

Bottom line: invest in some of those domination runes. High levels of fast casting will be your friend as well. Carry it from there.