Curse

Nevin · Feb 12, 2006, 02:55 AM // 02:55

I went to Grendich Courthouse on a hunt for skills to make a new build.. And I saw Physical Resilance with 10 inspiration it gives +40 armor vs physical for 70 seconds and -16 vs elemental... I thought it'd be perfect for IW builds, I'm suprised I didn't have it before.

calamitykell · Feb 12, 2006, 06:11 AM // 06:11

I love Physical Resistance. I absolutely refuse to try to solo anything without it. The +40 armor is great, long as hell duration, and it's a stance so no stripping of it (in PvE. I don't think I've seen enemies use Wild Blow or whatever.)

Mesmers actually get numerous defense buffs (Elemental Resistance, Physical Resistance, Mantra of [element], Distortion [does it count? lol), but all are stances I believe, so you can't stack any.

Only ones I ever really see in builds are PR and Distortion though

Avarre · Feb 12, 2006, 09:31 AM // 09:31

Under no circumstance should a mesmer be taking direct, constant damage. This weakens the use of having Phy res, which is inferior to distortion (evade chance, which stops interrupts, knockdowns, other such things that phyres doesn't).

A usual IW build runs some sort of inc. attack speed (flurry) which would cancel PR, while it can be quickly switched around with distortion.

Imho, PR / ER are wastes of a slot. Unless you seriously are trying a full-hp mesmer build for soloing, then PR isn't too bad. Use distort for anti-warrior or anti-ranger jobs, however.

calamitykell · Feb 12, 2006, 05:29 PM // 17:29

Like you said, when a mesmer is the only one there, damage is pretty much going to hit. I'd rather take half damage from physical attacks than spend 5 energy to lose 1 energy everytime I dodge an attack.

SnipiousMax · Feb 12, 2006, 05:49 PM // 17:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Under no circumstance should a mesmer be taking direct, constant damage. This weakens the use of having Phy res, which is inferior to distortion (evade chance, which stops interrupts, knockdowns, other such things that phyres doesn't).

Yup, this was a hard lesson learned for me.

Kai Nui · Feb 12, 2006, 11:49 PM // 23:49

All the mesmer manra stances seem to be useless in my oppinion. Why waste a skill slot for Mantra of Flame when for all I know, I'm going to be attacked by a geo mancer.

Dodo The Extinct · Feb 13, 2006, 12:25 AM // 00:25

Ahh, yes physical resistence. A CA monks best friend. Nothing beats whammos like physical resistence.

WoofWoof · Feb 13, 2006, 12:28 AM // 00:28

Mantra of Front could be usable with the Ranger's Winter Spirit as it will convert all elemental damage to cold damage. But, as said here, I am not sure these defensive mantras/stances belong in PVP...

icemonkey · Feb 13, 2006, 01:15 AM // 01:15

honestly if you think about it skills like mantra of flame encourage builds that isolate and prey off of one type of enemy in PVE. Did they honestly think there would be inspiration mesmers that would take these skills, when really all they are used for is like maybe a warrior trying to solo hydras with mantra of flame

Str0b0 · Feb 13, 2006, 01:24 AM // 01:24

Well I'm not so sure of their use in PvP but in PvE I've had a lot of use for physical resistance and elemental resistance with my ranger build. They cast quick, have good duration and pretty good bonuses for not a whole lot of point investment. It's too bad you can't stack them. A Ranger with Druid armor would be looking at a small physical reduction and a nice elemental bonus if this were possible. Alas it is not.

JYX · Feb 13, 2006, 01:32 AM // 01:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kai Nui

All the mesmer manra stances seem to be useless in my oppinion. Why waste a skill slot for Mantra of Flame when for all I know, I'm going to be attacked by a geo mancer.

Are you using this as a broader example of the way all mantras are useful or do you actually just mean the mantra of flame/frost/earth skills? Mantra of persistence, resolve, signets, concentration all have their uses...physical/ele resistance are also useful. The individual mantras of flame/frost etc may not be reliable in PvP but in PvE its sometimes worth thinking about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodo The Extinct

Ahh, yes physical resistence. A CA monks best friend. Nothing beats whammos like physical resistence.

Its a tradeoff with distortion on a monk. Distortion means you want to kite, even so you lose a lot of energy while you're at it...simply recasting the thing takes it out of you and realistically you're going to have -2 energy per whiff. Physical resistance is a lot cheaper like that...but you can still be interrupted by rangers and you'll still get conditioned.

Whatever floats your boat.

Katari · Feb 13, 2006, 02:05 AM // 02:05

Hehe. I love seeing someone use Phys Resistance in CA. My warrior promptly swaps to her Elemental Axe/Sword. Good times

Phys Resistance and Ele Resistance seem to be better in PvE, where you know what you'll be facing.

Two April Mornings · Feb 13, 2006, 02:07 AM // 02:07

this + watch urself + shield + base 80 warrior armor FTW

SnipiousMax · Feb 13, 2006, 06:50 AM // 06:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodo The Extinct

Ahh, yes physical resistence. A CA monks best friend. Nothing beats whammos like physical resistence.

Yes, unless of course it's a Wammo that carries a Elemental weapon in his inventory(like you always should) or is using Wild Blow (which I always have) so you end up with a stance that is actually hurting you (due to elemental damage) or nothing (cause it was ended by wildblow) with an insane recharge time while your playing around with said wammo. Physical Resistance has it's uses...but not in freaking PvP. NOT TO MENTION, that while your sitting there chuckling about your increased armor vs. physical, that said wammo is building up his/her Adrenaline for such jewel's as Evecsirate, Final thrust, etc. It's better to lose a bit of energy with distortion than to provide the wammo with exactly what he needs to kill you faster.

This is all stuff that people have told me...it took me a bit before I realized that they were right.

JYX · Feb 13, 2006, 10:00 AM // 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Yes, unless of course it's a Wammo that carries a Elemental weapon in his inventory(like you always should)

In which case, taking into account additional ele al from armors and focii they're doing a little over 4dps more to you for 70 seconds max yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

or is using Wild Blow (which I always have) so you end up with a stance that is actually hurting you (due to elemental damage) or nothing (cause it was ended by wildblow)

It recharges every 20 seconds, which also happens to be the exact time of fallout from Mantra of Recall so you're not short on energy to recast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

NOT TO MENTION, that while your sitting there chuckling about your increased armor vs. physical, that said wammo is building up his/her Adrenaline for such jewel's as Evecsirate, Final thrust, etc.

Eviscs will do about half damage, under 50 barring a crit. Final thrust more than that, but also far more conditional seeing as you'd be harder to get under half hp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

It's better to lose a bit of energy with distortion than to provide the wammo with exactly what he needs to kill you faster.

Assuming the wammo is at full preparedness and I am at minimal preparedness, he will gain an advantage over me that is the equivalent or even lesser to bleeding.

Problem with distortion is that its not a bit of energy you're losing, its a ton. You're already blowing up to 1 energy per second just keeping the thing up, the equivalent of 3 pips of energy regeneration or about the same as Offering of Blood and Energy Drain put together. You're also going to get -2 energy per evade, which is pretty poor, assuming you're only evading him once every 3 seconds thats still 5 pips of energy you're using up. Physical resistance is pretty much set at 0.43 pips, or 1.5 if you're constantly recasting due to wild blow. Theres a massive gap in energy usage there, now I'm not saying the effect of distortion is not better, but you need to realise you're also paying for it.

Theres also the issue of distortion really cutting into territory thats already handled by aegis and guardian...maybe later shield of deflection.

Then theres the problem of stat distribution into illusion, in which you're basically looking at 4 points. Therefore if you were going 11/10/10 before you'd need to drop 1 point somewhere along the way, if you were going 12/8/10 then you need to drop 3 points somewhere along the way, 4 is seriously not a magic number.

Avarre · Feb 13, 2006, 11:58 AM // 11:58

Physical resist sets your armor level versus warriors to the same level a warrior in glads armor is at. And I see glads armor warriors getting torn down by rangers and warrior all the time.

It's also a death sentence versus rangers with kindle (IE: many), elementalists, and plenty of other builds. Distortion functions better than these and also gives you the benefit of being protected from interrupts.

If you kite while using distortion, it's a meagre fragment of energy you lose. You really should try to avoid using it if you're going to lose more than 1 (in PvP), although WM's rangers have -2 distort. For monks, you're better off with aegis or guardian.

Cirian · Feb 13, 2006, 01:50 PM // 13:50

Although the focus of this thread seems to have become PvP, the inspiration stances are extremely useful in PvE where the enemies are known.

Physical Resistance is excellent in melee heavy areas, and it makes 'while in stance' bonuses from shields and weapons very easy to maintain. It's simplicity to switch between a focus and a +45 life / -2 damage shield.

Likewise, the elemental mantras can be matched to the zone you're in.

In PvP though, yeah, it's not a worthwhile gamble I'd agree. Elemental Resistance was the most useful, although it's worth pointing out just for giggles that Mantra of Earth works against armour-bypassing earth attacks (unlike Elemental Resistance, which just adds armour...)

Avarre · Feb 13, 2006, 02:11 PM // 14:11

Mantras also reduce after prot spirit, meaning a 55hp build will take 4 fire damage farming hydras or whatever

Robster Lobster · Feb 13, 2006, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Winter+ Greater Conflagration + Mantra of Frost = IWAY warriors doing ~4 damage when they swing at you. Add wards and Aeigis for more fun.

I know the point of this topic was Physical Resistence (useless seeing as most W/Mo carry Fiery Dragon Swords), but people brought up some of the elemental mantra's.

SnipiousMax · Feb 13, 2006, 06:21 PM // 18:21

Quote: