Curse

tuperwho · Sep 01, 2005, 01:30 AM // 01:30

Ok, so here's the deal. I'm trying to plan my build for my me/mo who's about to get to the desert. I think I just about have what I want, but am having trouble deciding between 2 pairs of skills. I hate conforming to the most popular builds, so refuse to simply look up what other people are doing. I'm aiming for a healer who can also shut down bosses/castors. Here's what I'm working with: any suggestions?

1. rebirth
2. healing seed
3. heal other
4. healing breeze
5. ether feast
6. backfire

and the tough part:

7. power leak
8. word of healing

or

7. dwayna's kiss
8. power block

I guess it comes down to word of healing has a greater benefit than dwayna's kiss, but I'm not sure if it's better to interrupt and steal mana, or interrupt and disable skills.

Oh, and I will have maxed healing magic, near max domination and inspiration (after runes), and a few into fast casting. Thanks in advance!

LifeInfusion · Sep 01, 2005, 02:23 AM // 02:23

dwayna's kiss is only for when you know there will be hexes. Thena gain, you should probably remove the hexes. I'd use diversion instead of power leak as a interrupt.
If you are going to be healing, power leak requires you to interrupt WHILE they are using the skill. Diversion is any skill they use within 8 seconds gets prolonged recharge. PLus diversion works on warriors and every other class

A non-monk should not consider healing touch, it heals mediocre amount even compared to orison because you don't have the divine favor bonus. Word of healing is better, but it is uneccessary if you have heal other + good energy management.

I'd use something to the end of stealing energy always (i.e. Energy Drain), instead of the two power mesmer interupts, if you are going to use so many energy skills (healing seed/backfire).

Power block would add to your energy trouble.

2. healing seed-15
3. heal other-10
4. healing breeze-10
5. ether feast-5
6. backfire-15
7. power leak-10
8. word of healing-5
7. dwayna's kiss-5
8. power block-15

As for conforming, not many people use Mes/Mo.

And it's better to disable than to interrupt. Interrupting a 5 recharge skill isn't do much. Monk bosses spam orison of healing and other such low recharge stuff. Diversion is much better for those. It disables the skill for up to a minute or so.

knives · Sep 01, 2005, 02:37 AM // 02:37

Umm...if you wanted to play a monk, you should have created one. Backfire? What are you using that for? Just for some "damage", then I would say drop it, as it doesn't really help what your trying to accomplish, which I assume is fast cast "healing", which already casts pretty fast..

tuperwho · Sep 01, 2005, 02:39 AM // 02:39

Thanks for the suggestions. A couple of points..... dwayna's kiss is enchantments and hexes, so would benefit from my own ench. on allies. Just curious where you got healing touch from? Finally, the power block/leak are more aimed at preventing casting/healing, so I was more interested in the mana steal and disable skill part than interrupt. I'll def. give some thought to diversion and word of healing (or something else altogether), though. Thanks again

Morganas · Sep 01, 2005, 02:43 AM // 02:43

Backfire's good in pve, which is what I assume he's doing.

Don't turn your mesmer into a healer, you'll suck at it. Not only will you suck at it, but people will know you suck at it, and will be less likely to bring you along knowing you're a mesmer healer rather than an actual mesmer. Bring two healing spells at the most for backup healing if you want, and make your other five domination and inspiration energy energy management spells.

Edit: should add that the only two non monk classes that can primary heal in pve are necros and eles who have ether renewal, due to their means of gaining energy, and compensating for lack of divine favor with big expensive heals, like breeze and heal other.

tuperwho · Sep 01, 2005, 02:58 AM // 02:58

In hindsight, I had already known that I should have gone with mo/me, but the point of no return is past. I simply overestimated fast casting, while underestimating divine favor (plus I hate the look of male monks). Anyway, as I stated before, I am going to be mainly a healer, with ability to terrorize bosses (hence backfire doing 100+ damage when they try to heal, and also interrupting/preventing skills/heal) like the monk bosses who try to out heal your party's damage output. I appreciate the opinions, but I think I'll keep up with the healing mesmer, which is doing just fine for both healing capacities and energy use so far, and just learn things the hard way for myself. Finally, judging by the end of the game, everyone needs healers in their parties, so I don't expect that to be a problem, even with mesmer primary.

thetrojansheep · Sep 01, 2005, 04:09 AM // 04:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuperwho

In hindsight, I had already known that I should have gone with mo/me, but the point of no return is past. I simply overestimated fast casting, while underestimating divine favor (plus I hate the look of male monks). Anyway, as I stated before, I am going to be mainly a healer, with ability to terrorize bosses (hence backfire doing 100+ damage when they try to heal, and also interrupting/preventing skills/heal) like the monk bosses who try to out heal your party's damage output. I appreciate the opinions, but I think I'll keep up with the healing mesmer, which is doing just fine for both healing capacities and energy use so far, and just learn things the hard way for myself. Finally, judging by the end of the game, everyone needs healers in their parties, so I don't expect that to be a problem, even with mesmer primary.

Um..... A couple things.

First off, its wonderful that you like to heal. I applaude you. BUT you are a mesmer, with no divine favor (like it or not). You need to realize that you aren't a monk. You are a mesmer, my friend.

Instead of going for a heal build, I'd say use your monk secondaryness to be a counter-nuker.

Use the domination skills of the mesmer such as Backfire, Empathy, ect. that will damage a target if he performs any action. Then suppliment those with monk smiting skills such as the Scourge Healing, Scourge Sacrifice, and others that will increasre your counter attack arsenal.

I can't see many other Mes/Mo Builds. That why not many people are them.

One last thing. You said that people are desperate for healers in the end. I'm sorry to tell you that they aren't desperate enough to rely on a mesmer to keep them alive, even with an 16 fast cast and +1, +1 from Equiptment.

If you really want to make a healer, make a Monk / (Ele, Warrior, Necro, Ranger).

Monk and Mesmer don't really mix...

QuixotesGhost · Sep 01, 2005, 04:27 AM // 04:27

I think you might have a misconception as to what a mesmer can do. A well-played memser can be just as important as a monk to keeping a team alive. Think of it like this, you get shot with a bullet:

The Healing monk is the doctor that patches you up afterwards.
The Protection monk is your bullet proof vest.
The Mesmer is the crazy kung-fu mofo that snatches the bullet out of the air before it even hits you.

The thing is, that a mesmer and and a monk are both full time jobs. You can't be watching health bars and shutting down targets at the same time, they both demand your full attention. Just make a mesmer concentrated on pure defense.

Morganas · Sep 01, 2005, 05:23 AM // 05:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuixotesGhost

I think you might have a misconception as to what a mesmer can do. A well-played memser can be just as important as a monk to keeping a team alive. Think of it like this, you get shot with a bullet:

The Healing monk is the doctor that patches you up afterwards.
The Protection monk is your bullet proof vest.
The Mesmer is the crazy kung-fu mofo that snatches the bullet out of the air before it even hits you.

The thing is, that a mesmer and and a monk are both full time jobs. You can't be watching health bars and shutting down targets at the same time, they both demand your full attention. Just make a mesmer concentrated on pure defense.

Listen to this man. You *cannot* make a healing mesmer that pulls his weight in a party. You can be a real mesmer though and more then pull your weight.

If saving the party is what you want to do, I highly recommend the illusion line. It's a line that combines damage with mitigating the enemies ability to do harm or heal. Snares are IMMENSELY useful in pve and pvp alike, as long as your party members know to run.

Morganas · Sep 01, 2005, 05:33 AM // 05:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by thetrojansheep

If you really want to make a healer, make a Monk / (Ele, Warrior, Necro, Ranger).
Monk and Mesmer don't really mix...

Mesmer is the best secondary to monk there is. IMO there is no other viable secondary for general use, aside from certain "specialty" builds.

Keure · Sep 01, 2005, 08:17 AM // 08:17

A healing mesmer can and does work if you set yourself up for it - at least in PvE. You aren't going to be the best healer - but that doesn't mean you can't be a good healer.

1) You lack the healing efficiency per energy that primary monks get with DF and runes. You gotta make up for it by carrying more energy - this means you should carry some energy-leeching Inspiration skills that you, as a mesmer, can take better advantage of than a primary monk.

Against any high-level caster Energy Drain is awesome, and with enough fast casting Energy Tap makes a decent universal energy recovery (primary monks would need to take themselves out of battle for awhile to use this one). A third solid one would be Drain Enchantment - though this one is a bit more situational than the former two.

I would wear a rune and a hat for Inspiration to make your energy leeching better.

2) For your Healing spells, find stuff that heals alot but doesn't rely on Divine Favor to be effective.

Heal Other and Healing Breeze make solid choices as a healer me/mo (make sure you get a +X% enchant grip to get more healing out of Healing Breeze). Healing Seed is also good.

As for your PvE caster harassment - I haven't played PvE very critically or very recently so I wouldn't know how much of an energy pool bosses in PvE have. I do know that most PvE caster bosses don't have much skill variety so maybe if you can time some Diversion casts on them with decent Domination (doesn't have to be very high) you could shut down their spammables, making them easier to deal with.

rii · Sep 01, 2005, 08:33 AM // 08:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

dwayna's kiss is only for when you know there will be hexes. Thena gain, you should probably remove the hexes.

Two main points,
1. there are always hexes.
2. there are always enchantments.
you only need 1 of either before kiss gives more hpe than orison, and remember, you have a prot monk, so whoever your healing (i.e. the target) should be covered in enchants. Ive been having some realllllly big heals with kiss lately since hexes started to pick up a bit. major hex stacking has a new partner with convert.