Curse

Garan · Mar 01, 2005, 06:25 PM // 18:25

I was trying to create a rounded build that would give me a fighting chance in almost any situation. I’m trying to combine the Mesmer’s natural ability to shut down enemy players with the Elementalists ability to dish out large amounts of dmg.

As far as I can see my greatest problem is the small energy pool of the Mesmer (as apposed to the Elementalist) and I try to work my way around that as best I can.

Please post any suggestions or corrections to this work in progress.

Class: Mesmer / Elementalist

Attributes: (cost)
Fast Casting: 8 (37)
Domination Magic: 10 (61)
Inspiration Magic: 6 (21)
Air Magic: 11 (77)

Total attribute points used: 196/200

Skills:
1) Blinding Flash - (15,1,4) Target enemy is blinded for 9 seconds.
2) Spirit of Failure - (10,3,10) For 30 seconds, target foe has a 25%
chance to miss with attacks. You gain 3 energy for each miss.
3) Lightning Strike - (5,1,5) Strike target foe for 38 lightning damage.
4) Lightning Orb - (15,2,5) Lightning Orb flies towards target foe and
strikes for 76 lightning damage if it hits.
5) Power Drain - (5,1,30) If target foe is casting a spell, the spell
is interrupted and you gain 16 energy.
6) Diversion - (10,2,5) For 6 seconds, the next time target foes a
skill, that skill takes an additional 41 seconds to recharge.
7) Backfire - (15,3,20) For 10 seconds, whenever target foe casts a
spell, that foe takes 100 damage.
8) Shatter Hex - (15,1,10) Remove a hex from target ally. If a hex is
removed, foes near that ally take 100 damage.

My energy problems seem to be solved with the Blinding Flash - Spirit
of Failure combo, allowing me to use my spamable Lightning attacks to
dish out dmg.

I figure that sooner or later most casters will just stop casting for
the duration of Backfire, so I was thinking of working in:

Wastrel's Worry - (5,1,1) After 3 seconds, target foe takes 46 damage.
Wastrel's Worry ends prematurely if that foe uses a skill.

It seems like a great spell to have if you are using Backfire and
Diversion, but I will miss my Power Drain as I have no other direct
interrupts. Do you think that it is worth dropping my only interrupt
to take Wastrel's Worry?

Another option is to take Power Spike instead of Power Drain, so if
you decide against Wastrel's Worry please let me know if you consider
Power Spike or Power Drain to be the better fit here.

Also is Lightning Orb a bit too energy intensive for this build and perhaps I should replace IT with Wastrel's Worry??

Sausaletus Rex · Mar 01, 2005, 06:40 PM // 18:40

Power Drain is the much better fit if you're worried about energy.

I'd forget Backfire. It's not bad but it's easy to counter and there's better things out there.

You could always go for the old Mind Wrack+Wastrel's combination.

Unforunately, I believe Blindness and Spirit of Failure no longer stack. Meaning that the miss chance from one has no bearing on the other. I could be wrong, though, in which case putting that on a Warrior or Ranger is pretty nice. Although, again, it's easy to counter if the other team is packing any hex removal.

If energy is really a problem you might consider Inspired Hex instead of Shatter Hex. You won't be coming out ahead as much as you would with a higher Inspiration but it will cost less than a Shatter.

Garan · Mar 02, 2005, 03:51 AM // 03:51

Thanks for your reply. Your advice definitely forced me to change my build. I'm sticking with Power Drain... and forgetting Backfire (though I’m not sure if I found anything better, feel free to point out a skill, in the mean time I replaced it with Mantra of Recall).

As far as Blindness and Spirit of Failure no longer stacking I'm not quite sure what you mean. Does the higher % to miss override the lower, meaning that a character who has Spirit of Failure (25% miss chance) on him, and then gets hit with Blindness (90% miss chance) will have a 90% chance to miss, or is the "to miss chance" of the last spell cast used? Either way I don’t see much of a difference, as I will be casting Spirit of Failure first due to its longer cast time.

Inspired Hex is really a great find for this build and I'm kicking myself for not noticing it first. I don’t know how the energy use will be in battle but if I feel I need more energy I will defiantly switch it for Shatter hex. Though at this point the only skill that uses the Domination line is Diversion so I felt justified to lower the amount of points put into Domination.

Class: Mesmer / Elementalist

Assumed items:
+2 to Fast Casting
+2 to Inspiration Magic

Attributes: (cost)
Fast Casting: 6+2 (21)
Domination Magic: 6 (21)
Inspiration Magic: 10+2 (61)
Air Magic: 12 (97)

Total attribute points used: 200/200

Skills:
1) Mantra of Recall (elite) - (15,0,15) For 78 seconds, you gain no benefit from it. You gain 30 energy when Mantra of Recall ends. This is an elite skill.
2) Blinding Flash - (15,1,4) Target enemy is blinded for 9 seconds.
3) Spirit of Failure - (10,3,10) For 30 seconds, target foe has a 25% chance to miss with attacks. You gain 4 energy for each miss.
4) Lightning Strike - (5,1,5) Strike target foe for 41 lightning damage.
5) Lightning Orb - (15,2,5) Lightning Orb flies towards target foe and strikes for 82 lightning damage if it hits.
6) Diversion - (10,2,5) For 6 seconds, the next time target foes a skill, that skill takes an additional 28 seconds to recharge.
7) Power Drain - (5,1,30) If target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and you gain 31 energy.
8) Inspired Hex - (5,1,0) Remove a hex from target ally and gain 13 energy. For 20 seconds, Inspired Hex is replaced with the hex that was removed.

What do you think of the new build?

Kui · Mar 02, 2005, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garan

As far as Blindness and Spirit of Failure no longer stacking I'm not quite sure what you mean. Does the higher % to miss override the lower, meaning that a character who has Spirit of Failure (25% miss chance) on him, and then gets hit with Blindness (90% miss chance) will have a 90% chance to miss, or is the "to miss chance" of the last spell cast used? Either way I don’t see much of a difference, as I will be casting Spirit of Failure first due to its longer cast time.

I believe it's actually that they'll have both the 90% and 25% chance to miss, however the gain 3 energy bit isn't triggered if they miss on the 90%.

Something like:

Enemy swings.
Check if they miss on the 25%.
If they missed, gain 3 energy.
<if miss, end>
Check if they miss on the 90%.
<if miss, end>

or in other order:

Enemy swings.
Check if they miss on 90%.
<if miss, end>
Check if they miss on the 25%.
<if miss, end>

So if they miss on the 90% of either one you won't be gaining that 3 en. :\

Never tested it myself though... just my understanding based on other people's explinations here and in other forums.

~Kui

Sausaletus Rex · Mar 02, 2005, 04:33 AM // 04:33

Miss chances are handled separately. If you stack up Blindness and Spirit of Failure on a target they won't have 90%+25% = 115% chance to miss. Instead, they'll first have a 90% chance to miss, then a 25% chance to miss or a 25% chance to miss the other 10% of the time they don't miss from Blindness. That's a total 92.5% miss rate.

Now, it matters which order you put those miss rates on, too, apparently. The last one you do is the first one checked so Blindness followed by Spirit of Failure (90% + 25% of 10%) is different than Spirit of Failure followed by Blindness (25% + 90% of 75%).

And, currently, my understanding of it is that the other effects from those miss rates aren't combined either. So, while you'll gain energy whenever Spirit of Failure causes someone to miss, you won't when Blindness does. You don't get a total 92.5% chance to gain energy. You get either 2.5% or 25% depending on the order you cast them. Even though you get 92.5% miss rate either way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garan

Mantra of Recall

Not a bad pickup, although I like MoR unlinked because 20 energy in 30 seconds is a lot better than 30 energy in 78 seconds. But as it's a stance you should be able to self-cancel it and gain that 30 energy by recasting it every 15 seconds. Granted, I haven't tried this but it should be a net of +15 energy when you reuse it. And you'll have regenerated energy for 15 seconds, too (That's 20 energy with 4 pips).

If you think you'll get enough energy you might go with Mantra of Recovery instead. That lets your skill recharge faster at the cost of needed more energy.

There's always Energy Drain, too. That's energy *now* as opposed to later but you do need a target for it.

You could turn to Elementalist for an elite and get Thunderclap or Glimmering Mark since you're tossing around the lightning damage. That's AoE Blindness or Knockdown.

Also, I'm not entirely that sure you really need Diversion, either. Drop that and you can get out of Domination altogether. It's nice in an interrupt centered build but you're really just looking to fuel your casting here so something like Energy Tap to give you yet more energy wouldn't be out of place instead.

Overall, better, but I can't help but think you're trying to make an Elementalist in a Mesmer's clothing. Going primary ele means you're have more energy to fuel your casting meaning you won't have to rely on energy management so much. You don't really have a lot of skills that benefit from Fast Casting because they're relatively short casting times.

Nova · Mar 02, 2005, 06:15 AM // 06:15

[QUOTE=Garan]I was trying to create a rounded build that would give me a fighting chance in almost any situation. I’m trying to combine the Mesmer’s natural ability to shut down enemy players with the Elementalists ability to dish out large amounts of dmg.QUOTE]

(That is all Iread but,) OH MY GOSH TAHTS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO DO! But I am a complete newbie and have never palyed. If ANYONE could help a complete newbie start/make a cahracter build as a Mesmer/Elementailst, I would be so freakin' grateful. Thanks.

Garan · Mar 02, 2005, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Nova if I learn anything from making my build is that energy should be the focus of your build. Due to Fast Casting you will burn through your limited supply faster then you could ever imagine. Don't forget that where the Necro and the Elementalist have Soul Reaping and Energy Storage respectively, we Mesmers have to go at it the hard way.

Nova · Mar 03, 2005, 05:45 AM // 05:45

Yeah, I know from playing some rpg games like those of the Diablo branch and EQ and stuff, I know that casters NEED ENERGY LIKE NONE OTHER! So yeah, wheather the game calls it mana or energy, I get that cocept. THANK GOD! HAHA! Anyway, yeah I will definatly have a mesmer as part of me. They are jsut so freakin' awesome..... they so cool...

Elite Coranas · Jan 17, 2007, 09:44 PM // 21:44

I have a question about this build.

It looks realy good, and i just started playing with a mesmer.
But there is no self heal in this build, is that not a problem?!
I play almost always PVE, and your saying that this is a ''rounded build'' so also good for PVE a guess?!

I'm trying it now, just capt ''Mantra of Recall''.
Only need ''Spirit of Failure'', i try to cap that in ''Gates of Kryta'' Mission.

I wanne thank you for this build, because i think it is going to work well.

The last question is, wath weapon will be the best to use with this build?!
I hope somewann has a anser.

Gr, Elite

ss1986v2 · Jan 17, 2007, 10:06 PM // 22:06

first off, this thread is almost 2 years old. head over to the mesmer pve forum in the campfire to get more up to date ideas. this build is a bit out of date. mantra of recall has been nerfed since this post, several times over i think.

lightblade · Jan 17, 2007, 11:40 PM // 23:40

Oh sh*t! Undead thread!