Curse

Baxen · Jan 08, 2006, 11:09 PM // 23:09

I have yet to play this game, but before I start games, I like to have an idea of what kind of character I will play as. After some resarch, I have been thinking of playing as a somewhat unusual Mesmer/Warrior.

The basic idea for the build:
Illusionary Warrior

Illusionary Weapon {Elite}
Frenzy
Hundred Blade
Distracting Blow
Power Leak
Empathy
Conjure Phantasm/Savage Blow
Imagined Burden/Savage Blow

The majority of points would go into Illusion, with the rest in Domination, Fast Cast and possibly tactics (for a shield and possibly defensive stance).
The goal would be to attack mages and quickly deal damage from the Illusionary Weapon with the attack skills. The other skills would be used to stop the mage from casting spells. Empathy and conjure phantasm to help take down warriors.

Do you think that this would be an effective build to use in Guild Wars? To me it sounds good in theory, but i have yet to play the game.

art_ · Jan 08, 2006, 11:18 PM // 23:18

I assume this is for PvP as i don't see this as viable in PvE. Problem with IW is that it is a bit of a gimmick skill imo. I mean if you set yourself up as an Illusionary Warrior and someone strips illusionary weaponry you are pretty much screwed.

As a side note, 100 blades is an elite so you wont be able to use it with IW.

hazmat · Jan 08, 2006, 11:27 PM // 23:27

also you have frenzy and flurry confused possibly... frenzy and flurry both make you swing faster, frenzy makes you take double damage while flurry makes your damage not as effective -- but this is inconsequential as you are not actually hitting with your weapon, so iw does the same dmg.

illusionary weaponry is a fun build to mess around with, but it's easily countered.

xxSilhouette · Jan 08, 2006, 11:37 PM // 23:37

you may want to change the skills and weapons as others have said, but the class combo is a neat idea i think - it sometimes is a really good thing to have a class combo that is diffrent from what you usually see =)

hazmat · Jan 09, 2006, 12:10 AM // 00:10

/agree

Turbo Wombat · Jan 09, 2006, 12:16 PM // 12:16

You may also want to look into distortion and either healing signet or ether feast. Mesmers have realitively weak armor and as a result, if you try to play without healing or evasion, you will die very fast and won't be able to do much about it. My IW build usually includes:

Phantom Pain (or slowdown spell)
Flurry
Distortion
Illusionary Weaponry {E}
Sympathetic Visage (or other cover enchantment or anything else you might want)
Illusion of Weakness
Rez Sig
Healing Sig

Max out Illusion and Tactics then throw the rest of your points into Fastcasting. And there you have it... a textbook IW mesmer.

Batou of Nine · Jan 10, 2006, 06:45 AM // 06:45

As i am glad you are trying to create ideas even before you play the game, i have one suggestion.

Play a character all the way through PvE first. Dont get runs anywhere, just follow the storyline. This will get you very familiar with game mechanics, you will become familiar with that characters skills and usage, and from there you will have a better understanding of setups for both PvE and PvP.

I say this, because too often i see new GW players skip about 75% of the PvE game and after months of playing are still clueless about the most simple aspects of the game.

Also, join any guild that asks. It will give you at least a few contacts of people when you have questions or need help. If that guild isnt helpful, easy fix, find a new one!

Btw, an IW mesmer can be fun, just learn the game first!

Good luck in GW, and best wishes to ur travels through Tyria!

Nessaja · Jan 10, 2006, 11:54 AM // 11:54

Dont make an IW mesmer as your first character. You won't get Illusionairy Weaponry untill the end of the game, so unless you let someone run you, you won't have acces to it.

Turbo Wombat · Jan 10, 2006, 07:19 PM // 19:19

On that note, try not to make any build based around an elite skill for a while, since you probably won't even be able to capture one until you are 70%-80% done with the story. I don't want to discourage you from being a mesmer though. The first character that I took through the game was a mesmer and he still gets played some. There are plenty of other ways to wreak havoc with a mesmer besides IW

remmeh · Jan 10, 2006, 08:01 PM // 20:01

also savage slash / distracting blow does NOT work while under IW );

TyLLy_4 · Jan 11, 2006, 08:00 PM // 20:00

the point its that a mesemer its pretti much a anti warrior or an anticaster ..... wich 99.9999999% of the time benifits from atacks at range .... because he its one of the weakest ... and a warrior has to expose himself to the enmy for prettymuch evry single good atack he has ...

... i recomend caster mesmer .. or if you relly want to be somnthing new ... take mesmer as a primary (take it from a me/e .... iv seen 3 like me so far)

Mistical miss · Feb 01, 2006, 08:17 PM // 20:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by remmeh

also savage slash / distracting blow does NOT work while under IW );

distracting blow may not interupt but it will be an extra fast hit with your iw on that means another 34 damage

holden · Feb 01, 2006, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistical miss

distracting blow may not interupt but it will be an extra fast hit with your iw on that means another 34 damage

no.
Swipe your weapon at the target, doing no damage but disrupting the target's current action (and the actions of foes adjacent to your target).

it doesn't hit so IW will not damage. you're still hitting the target with IW but IW is now doing the damage, not the weapon or weapon attribute. you can still cause conditions with attacks but the damage is IW damage. unless that was nerfed......may have been, savage slash used to work.
i miss savage slash in this build.

imagined burden/illusion of weakness
IW
flurry
sprint
distortion
power drain\drain enchantment
conjure phantasm
res

put imagined burden and conjure on the target. IW up yourself and sprint in with flurry flying. target is slow, with 16 illusion IW does 40 or so every swipe. conjure is doing it's job to help out the dot. distortion will save you against warriors for a while. power drain will net you 20 energy with high inspiration. i'll tell you there's nothing much more fun than interrupting a caster's elite or res in the middle of an IW onslaught.

i dont use a cover enchantment. its just iw afterall and i run it to have fun. but sympathetic visage would be a good cover. it would be a better build with a cover.

for fun or not, 40dmg a swing with IW and conjure's -5 degen for 12 seconds will piss that wammo off. im sure it's more damage in that 30 second time than the sword wammo will be doing.

Avarre · Feb 02, 2006, 01:33 PM // 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistical miss

distracting blow may not interupt but it will be an extra fast hit with your iw on that means another 34 damage

42 damage actually, using a superior rune (the range of damage for skill description maxes at level12).

Distracting is no real use, I've tried it... although Deadly Riposte is too underused by IW mesmers, with that you can slaughter most warriors as they'll blunder right into it. Definitely a pick if you're running a tactic IWer.

Don't use conjure, use clumsiness. Its a good 97 damage and an attack interrupt, meaning you can stop 2 warrior hits and deal 200~ damage, or put it on a ranger so they fail that critical interrupt on your res / iw... With DR/clumsiness to hold down wars, I usually drop distort for heal sig.

IW is the most awesome skill, period. It deserves more experimentation than it gets... ran 2 IW mesmers in ladder-frozen GvG (Me/E with gale, Me/W with attack speed mod) and we basically butchered their whole team. Fun stuff

holden · Feb 02, 2006, 02:34 PM // 14:34

Don't use conjure, use clumsiness. Its a good 97 damage and an attack interrupt, meaning you can stop 2 warrior hits and deal 200~ damage, or put it on a ranger so they fail that critical interrupt on your res / iw... With DR/clumsiness to hold down wars, I usually drop distort for heal sig.
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i dont remember ever trying clumsiness. that's weeeeeak. it would be a perfect fit.
i'll try it in there tonight.