Curse

DarkerHelmet · Jan 13, 2006, 10:09 AM // 10:09

I'm not that far yet with this char but until now I'm very happy with it. I've finished 3 other chars allready but I have the feeling that this one is most strong. I'm only lvl 14 with this build but I've noticed that I can hold my own pretty well. I'm playing PvE more then PvP, not because I don't like PvP but I end up in the wrong teams all the time and I don't get any better of that. I'm searching for a nice guild though that can teach me :P.

Here's my build so far;

Me/N lvl 14 (Druid's Overlook)

Domination 7+1= 8
Illusion 6+1=7
BloodM 6
FCasting 5

Empathy
Conjure Phantasm
Life Siphon
Vampiric Gaze
Energy Burn
Backfire
Vampiric Touch
Res Signet

This build gives me a lot of health stealing and HP degen abilities. A single lvl20 or lvl 22 beast is no problem. Problems only occur when my energy runs out :P. I know this will be a big problem in PvP. But until now I haven't got the skills yet. For PvE this build works fine cause I can take on fighters and casters alike. I was thinking of adding one of the next energy regen skills later on; Energy tap or Energy drain (E) but that's inspiration and I need to change my attributes to that or; Shame (domi) which will interrupt as well but isn't really effective against non casters.

I've also set my mind on getting Migraine as Elite, but I see this interfering with Shame since it needs a caster to cast :P, so do you guys have any advice for my novice Me/N?. Thanks allready :P.

kais · Jan 13, 2006, 10:39 AM // 10:39

well, im not an uber know-it-all mesmer player, but i think its not a bad build. theres one thing i would change: i dont think vampiric touch is a very appropriate skill for your build since you look like you re a ranged caster. instead, i would use( since u use the blood line) well of blood,so you could be of even more help to you and your teammates. you could also try to bring interrupts, good for bringing down enemy casters or monks but for where you are, backfire is enough, just make sure to put a cover hex like life siphon on the caster you backfired.
for pvp, if you think you will have energy problems, try putting attribute points in inspiration, there are a lot of energy management skills,like channeling, drain enchantement, spirit of failure, power drain, or mantras of recall ( though i have never tried it). if you still use the blood magic line, try getting the "offering of blood" necro elite skill, it gives you 8-18 energy for sacrifiying 10% of your maximum health, which is very handy.i ve surely not told you about all of them, so you can check out the skill listings on the site
well, i hope this will be of any use to you.

DarkerHelmet · Jan 13, 2006, 11:39 AM // 11:39

Yes, thank you.

I definately need to put in some energy regen skills for pvp. Didn't think of well of blood, it could be helpfull indeed and yes I'm more a ranged Me now and like it :P.

You are right about Vampiric touch, it's my least used skill so far so it could easily be replaced I think.

I know inspiration is where many skills are for energy regen but I don't like to spread my attributes over too many groups. Perhaps I should minimize Fast Casting?.

Although I have 3 lvl20's I have not used elite's from my 2nd professions, I thought it was not possible, so I was wrong?.

holden · Jan 13, 2006, 04:35 PM // 16:35

at level 14 i would stick to one or two attribute lines. you have blood,dom,illusion and fast casting. just not enough points to make it all worth while yet.

and man you need a way to get some energy. most of those spells you're using all cost 10 energy.

you might try all points into illusion and inspiration right now. there's a couple good interrupts in inspiration as well as channeling and some other ways to get quick energy.

DarkerHelmet · Jan 14, 2006, 11:13 AM // 11:13

You got a good point there, I'm not very comfortable to spread out the attributes. Perhaps it's a good idea to focus on just 2 groups.

Then of course I do have a a pretty wide range of options because I see many nice combinations. But since I do run out of energy I think one of the skillgroups should be Inspiration.

I'm not sure about Illusion being my 2nd choice. It's nice for interrupting casters and dealing damage but then I have no real option to heal myself. And for damage dealing I think the Necro skills have better options, but perhaps I'm wrong?.

I was thinking about Curses as a second line, weakening the enemy and stealing health.

Or perhaps Death Magic to concentrate on minions but I guess there are still some areas of zombies around where it is of no use :P. Here I don't have self healing as well but the minions could shield me :P.

I understand that with a good team I probably don't need to heal myself, on the other hand I often end up standing alone in the world because my team was doing something that killed all very quickly. Apart from that, I like to venture in the unknown with as little help as possible :P.

kais · Jan 14, 2006, 04:16 PM // 16:16

yes you can use elite skills of your secondary profession.
also, if you want to use your secondary profession, you could use blood magic( i like blood magic

), with skills like blood ritual, the already mentionned well of blood, energy management skills from inspiration, some of which are interrupts, which gives u an interrupt and an energy gain. or u could use the inspiration skills with curses like enfeebling blood, shadow of fear, mark of pain or suffering. im choosing these since they affect many monsters at a time and its better for pve, where there s always loads of enemies

pecky · Jan 16, 2006, 03:50 AM // 03:50

I have a combo that will punish any warriors and rangers that try to attack you, if any of you are interested...when this combo is grouped with attacks like soul feast or animating skills it means that once u kill your opponent u can bring him back to destroy the casters as this combo isnt as effective against them
Ineptitude(e) (wich waits for your opponenet to attack then does large damage and blinds them)
spirit of failure(wich gives you a small amount of energy when your opponent misses) (and because they are already blinded from ineptitude they will almost definatly miss)
price of failure(wich damages your opponent everytime they miss)
empthy(with damages your opponent everytime they attack)
drain enchantment(incase a monk decides to try to heal your opponent with an enchantemt such as healing breeze or sumthing of that sort)
clumsiness(next time your opponent attack or use a skill it is interupted and they take a large amount of damage)

This combintation is best used against warriors in PVP because wen versing enemies in RPG its very unlikely that you will come across a single warrior on his own..were as in PVP u might be able 2 single out a warrior a bit easier with less interaption, it also ensures that your energy is kept high...and if u want 2 use it on casters i recommend also bringing spirit shackles and maybe blackout to enusre that at least for a few seconds they hav 2 use normal attacks, the main problem tho is that u hav 2 spread ur points ova 3 differant atributes...so its better suited for higher lvls such as 18+ but i hav used it a few times on warriors, rangers and spell casters alike and it has never failed me before

DarkerHelmet · Jan 16, 2006, 10:25 AM // 10:25

Nice advice, certainly a build to try for PvP.

The problem with still being a low lvl Me/N is that I do not have all the nice skills yet and I lack elites:P.

I wanted to go for Inspiration & Curses but I had few skills in curses and not all that good actually. I did try it though but on my own I didn't stand a chance.

So I had to look closer what skill groups could work togheter. I came back to the blood magic skills. There were more skills there and a lot of them concern stealing HP.

I now use the following set up;

Inspiration 9
Blood Magic 12

Channeling
Energy Tap
Life Siphon
Shadow Strike
Vampiric Gaze
Vampiric Touch
Well of Blood or Strip Enchantment
Res signet

I must say that concentrating on just 2 skillgroups really helps. I'm also very happy with your advices about my energy depleting very fast. These two inspiration skills help a lot, if there are any enemies around:P.

I put Vampiric Touch in there because to really benefit from channeling I need to be near a lot of enemies:P. I tried Blood Renewal for self healing at first but after calculating the benefits from different kinds of healing or stealing I ended up with Life Siphon. Yesterday I finished the Villainy of Galrath with a group of lvl 20's and I really learned how powerfull Life Siphon is. The more enemies the stronger I become. I just cast Life Siphon on a few different foe's and I have all the healing I need. As long as I can steal enough energy I can use the other HP stealing skills to counter the hitdamage and lower the foe's health.

This build kept me alive more then many of the lvl20's except for the W/Mo and R/Mo who were just stronger:P. Although I can stay alive and do more damage then my previous set-up I tend to believe that it's not enough. On the other hand I don't believe Me/N are really used to do high amounts of damage but maybe you guys think different?.

But to come back to Life Siphon, I can cast this almost continuously with channeling and energy tap and my armor. I have 47 energy and when I cast LS on two foes I already gain +6HP regen. The foe only has -3 but is it possible that another player cast LS on that target?. If it is 2 N could basically cast LS on another team leaving the whole group with -6HP regen for 22 sec and more :P.

Anyway when I have gathered more skills I will probably change some things, I think this build is very versatile although I have my doubts of being a real damage dealer, well I have my W/Me (changing to MO I think :P) for that.

THX for the help and if you have more idea's plz post :P.