Curse

Robin_Anadri · May 26, 2006, 06:19 PM // 18:19

I saw elsewhere in here some discussion about the elite "Recurring Insecurity" and how it seemed tailor-made for use with Soul Barbs.

They ain't just whistlin' Dixie.

Put this build together yesterday after capping the elite (btw - Morostov Trail and Mourning Vail Falls are a lot of fun to play around in, even with henches.) Then I tested it in Sunjiang Mission helping a guildie. *Poof* Master's Reward. Also played around in Fort Aspenwood and Alliance Battles... this build is just *fun.*

Mesmer/Necromancer

Fast casting - 9 (6 + 3)
Illusion - 15 (12 + 1 + 3)
Domination - 2
Inspiration - 8 (6 + 2)
Death - 1
Curses - 11

Soul Barbs
Recurring Insecurity {E}
Images of Remorse
Wastrel's Worry
Accumulated Pain
Energy Tap
Ether Feast
Consume Corpse / Res Sig

Looking at the skills:

1. Soul Barbs 10/2/20 - for 30 secs target foe takes 26 dmg when hexed or enchanted.

Already an evil little skill. However, when paired with:

2. Recurring Insecurity {E} 10/1/25 - For 10 secs target foe suffers -3 health degen. if hexed again, it's reapplied.

This is *vicious.* The key word here in the hex description is reapplied. Basically, any hex you or your team casts on your target generates the Soul Barbs damage twice. The "or enchanted" bit is a special bit of evil too - if the wammo casts breeze or the boonprot cast RoF on the Wammo, they take a double tap from Soul Barbs as well.

3. Images of Remorse 5/2/5 - for 10 secs foe suffers -4 health degen. if attacking, take 52 dmg.

Cheap hex for the double barb spike, plus brings the degen up to -7.

4. Wastrel's Worry 5/0.25/1 - After 3 seconds, foe takes 15 dmg. Ends prematurely if target foe uses a skill.

Your main spammable hex. Cheap, fast cast, low recharge. The only issue is that reapplying Wastrel's during the 3 second duration (provided target doesn't cancel it with a skill) does not trigger the barb spike again, so you need to watch their skill use and if they're not going to end the hex prematurely renew IoR instead.

5. Accumulated Pain 10/2/20 - Target foe takes 35 dmg, if suffering from 2 or more hexes, they suffer a deep wound for 20 secs.

The coup de grace. Once target's health is down, cast this for the deep wound finishing spike. (35 dmg + 20% max health reduction = usually dead target.)

6. Energy Tap - 5/3/25 - foe loses 6 energy, you gain 2 for each point lost
7. Ether Feast 5/2/8 - Foe loses 3 energy, healed 33 for each

Self explanatory, presumably.

8. Consume Corpse - 10/na/1 - Exploit random corpse, teleport to location and gain 30 hp/ 6 energy

This is for corpse control if you're in Aspenwood/AB facing one of those annoying MMs. It's also a somewhat random escape method in PvE, not reliable and I usually bring res sig when PvEing.

corrupted bloodline · May 26, 2006, 06:36 PM // 18:36

Just wanted to point out that Accumulated Pain should not be triggering Soul Barbs at all since it's a spell and not a hex. Other than that, seems like fun, especially if the hencies or teammates carried hexes.

Robin_Anadri · May 26, 2006, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by corrupted bloodline

Just wanted to point out that Accumulated Pain should not be triggering Soul Barbs at all since it's a spell and not a hex. Other than that, seems like fun, especially if the hencies or teammates carried hexes.

Doh! That's what I get for typing up things when I'm away from GW. Of course that's right. Editing to fix. Thanks.

And yes, it's a hoot to see the double spike go off when you didn't cast the hex, being either the other mesmer or necro or ele casting a hex or the target or their team mates casting an enchant.

SnipiousMax · May 26, 2006, 06:45 PM // 18:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin_Anadri

...I tested it in Sunjiang Mission helping a guildie. *Poof* Master's Reward....

I was there (Rompe Cabecito) playing warrior.... I didn't bother going after the hexed baddies, becaues I couldn't even charge my adrenaline before they died. I'm working on moving my mesmer along, so I'll give this a try.

Robin_Anadri · May 26, 2006, 06:53 PM // 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

I was there (Rompe Cabecito) playing warrior.... I didn't bother going after the hexed baddies, becaues I couldn't even charge my adrenaline before they died. I'm working on moving my mesmer along, so I'll give this a try.

*lol* Cool! That was a fun little romp thru Sunjiang, wasn't it?

As an aside, you were a pleasure to team with. So nice to have an intelligent tank on your team.

Hella Good · May 26, 2006, 10:28 PM // 22:28

I do the following on my Necro, I hope it is of some help:

1- Soul Barbs
2- Recurring Insecurity (e)
3- Faintheartedness
4- Conjure Phantasm
5- Parasitic Bond
6- Wastrel's Worry
7- open
8- open

A little less degen but it's got a bit faster spiking ability. Wastrel won't trigger RI if applied repeatedly (I'm almost 100% sure it doesn't trigger Barbs as well). Parasitic Bond, however, will. So I will like hit with Watrel, wait for it to expire (or get cancelled), meanwhile hit with PB, and then reapply Wastrel. I love IoR but I think up to 1 cast hexes are better for a Barbs spike. Cheers!

Robin_Anadri · May 26, 2006, 11:41 PM // 23:41

That sounds like a good suggestion. How well does it work on your necro? More damage from barbs, of course, less from the illusion stuff (which doesn't really matter.) I wondered if missing the fast casting would make much of a difference. I wanted to try the "flipside build" with my Necro at 16 curses, but she's not even to HZH yet, much less able to cap in Mourning Veil Falls. Project for this weekend perhaps.

Hella Good · May 27, 2006, 12:14 AM // 00:14

I'm pretty happy with it but I should mention I have used it mostly in PvP. I think the value of MM and SS in PvE is a bit too high to match with this. It does drop targets extremely fast tho. And FC doesn't make much of a difference, since all hexes (cept the base one- Barbs) are 1 or less cast. I should probably toss in Cume Pain or smth for a finishing move. It's a fun build but again it doesn't perform better than either MM or SS. Just smth to break the monotony, I guess.

Terra Xin · May 27, 2006, 01:02 AM // 01:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hella Good

A little less degen but it's got a bit faster spiking ability. Wastrel won't trigger RI if applied repeatedly (I'm almost 100% sure it doesn't trigger Barbs as well). Parasitic Bond, however, will.

WW doesnt trigger barbs or RI? I have to see that for myself. It's just that it's a hex, full stop, so it should work.... seems strange that it wouldnt.

Hella Good · May 27, 2006, 02:20 AM // 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terra Xin

WW doesnt trigger barbs or RI? I have to see that for myself. It's just that it's a hex, full stop, so it should work.... seems strange that it wouldnt.

Key words: "if applied repeatedly"

Like if you put WW on a target it triggers Barbs and RI, but then if you immediately reapply it, it does nothing. You have to wait for the 1st WW to expire or get cancelled then you can put the new WW and it will trigger Barbs/RI again. While Parasitic Bond does damage every time you reapply it. It is a weird thing I noticed while we were doing 1v1 with a friend to determine what to put in the build.

Lord Ertihan · May 29, 2006, 07:01 AM // 07:01

So they fixed that have they? I remember Soul Barbs being activated when the hexed opponent was the target of a hex or enchantment, meaning that just casting it, even if it's never applied/gets stripped/overlaps itself, is enough to trigger Soul Barbs. But I guess they've changed it so that it no longer does that ... what a shame. Because there was, at one point (if I recall), a wastrel's worry spamming Soul Barbs build (although it did not have the Recurring Insecurity bit). The build, however, was apparently brought up during the time of the height of the Fragility spike build, and in terms of raw damage just couldn't compete with Fragility/Virulence, and so apparently never rose to prominence...

Shoitaan · May 29, 2006, 07:18 AM // 07:18

I havent tried this build outside of RA but its pretty leet. A wee bit slow in RA but then I was running a rather crap build

The original idea for insecuritybarb spike came from a very clever person in the mesmer section of the gwonline forums

Hidden in the Mist · Jul 09, 2006, 05:37 AM // 05:37

Sorry for breathing life into this thread again but, the build works very well in RA and possiblely Alliance Battle, which I have to try tomorrow.

Drithlan · Jul 09, 2006, 07:03 AM // 07:03

I have been using this build for about 2 .5 maby 3 months now. That was before i started looking up PVP builds, I made this up my self and if you don't beleave me well thats your problem. My first build was in PVP and I LOVED it, I could kill everything. My Guild Leader liked the build too he came up with an other Me/N <different build> and She works great with mine, we own PVP and PVE together, though we are looking for a good ELE hexer to join in with us but just cant get a good build down. So I wanted to try this out in PVE and it worked as well. Then i decided instead of having 2 of these mesmers I made my PVE in to a PVP/E and she rules both land and sea. <I love that saying> Here is an image of my weapons <Crafted in Lavithan Pits for those of you who think these are PVP only>, skills, and attributes.

Hidden in the Mist · Jul 10, 2006, 01:02 AM // 01:02

You only need 9 in Fast Casting for the break-point.

I would put 13 in Illusion Magic to reach Images of Remorse's break-point of -4 pips.

Drithlan · Jul 10, 2006, 02:17 AM // 02:17

well i need my insperation at level 12 for eather lord at -3/+3 and mt FC is at level 10 because i couldnt put points any where else and i dont need the extra degen because they are usially dead before it matters.

holden · Jul 10, 2006, 01:58 PM // 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drithlan

well i need my insperation at level 12 for eather lord at -3/+3

i think power drain may be a better way to get back energy than ether lord.
it's kind of hard to actually gain energy back with ether lord. even if you only have 5e left.

Robin_Anadri · Jul 10, 2006, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Just a quick note to say that I don't claim credit for the build, the barb spike is nothing new, it just got some new life with Recurring Insecurity, finally making it a worthwhile competitor to the Fragility->Virulence spiker build. I only posted to get some discussion going about it.

I tend to agree with Hidden in the Mist wrt the FC/Illusion breakpoints. I also have a great distaste for Ether Lord. Power Drain, Energy tap, hell even focus-swap+Ether Signet is a better choice for energy management. But your mileage may vary.