Curse

SnipiousMax · Jan 24, 2006, 03:56 AM // 03:56

Again...New to mesmerism, just looking for input.

Domination: 12 + 1 + 3
Inspiration: 9 +1
Fast Casting: 9 +1

1. Energy Surge
2. Energy Burn
3. Signet of Weariness
4. Leech Signet
5. Energy Tap
6. Mantra of Inscriptions
7. Physical Resistance
8. Res sig

This is a Random Arena/team arena build. I've been using thieves armor (for +armor vs. physical) w/ one piece of virtuoso for the global +armor while casting. I never have a problem w/ energy so I don't use enchanters with this build. I do use another set of weapons w/ extra energy just in case but haven't had to use it ever. One of the problems I've had with this build is how dependent I am on the rest of the team for support or healing. If I get trapped or seperated, then it's pretty much over for me...but thats the way with most casters. I've been looking into self healing skills, but worry about loosing to many skill slots to that. Basic Idea is to first deal direct damage and steal energy with Energy burn and surge, then drain more energy with signet of weariness and energy tap. mantra of inscriptions cuts signet recharge in half, and Energy Tap assure I don't run out of energy very quickly. Using two signets cuts energy use big time. Again, this is a PvP random/team arena build, not GvG or PvE although those insights would be welcome as well! Thanks in advance!

agentblade · Jan 24, 2006, 04:21 AM // 04:21

mind wrack is a good way to increase the dmg that u deal with energy denial.. that's what i like abt energy denial in 4v4, u can actually kill the monk while keeping him at 0 energy.. kinda like killing 2 birds with 1 stone.. not possible in GvG or HoH though due to more than 1 monks.

dun quite like leech signet cos the recharge is insane even with MoI.

Shame/Guilt is a good energy denial spell too.

Power leak is deadly if u are able to pull it off.. loss of 26+ energy is massive..

SnipiousMax · Jan 24, 2006, 04:27 AM // 04:27

Would using Mind Wrack require a cover hex?

Littzain · Jan 24, 2006, 05:00 AM // 05:00

Not for CA, I've seen few monks bring CoP into CA. Remove hex is just asking for an interupt.

agentblade · Jan 24, 2006, 06:43 AM // 06:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Would using Mind Wrack require a cover hex?

not really, with mind wrack having a recharge of 5 sec, it can be easily re-applied back. Also if u are able to time ur surges and burns well, most of the time u should apply mind wrack before surging them thus making mind wrack hit immediately....

interestingly enough i used mind wrack as a cover for shame when I run energy denial..

Avarre · Jan 24, 2006, 11:35 AM // 11:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Again...New to mesmerism, just looking for input.

Domination: 12 + 1 + 3
Inspiration: 9 +1
Fast Casting: 9 +1

1. Energy Surge
2. Energy Burn
3. Signet of Weariness
4. Leech Signet
5. Energy Tap
6. Mantra of Inscriptions
7. Physical Resistance
8. Res sig

This is a Random Arena/team arena build. I've been using thieves armor (for +armor vs. physical) w/ one piece of virtuoso for the global +armor while casting. I never have a problem w/ energy so I don't use enchanters with this build. I do use another set of weapons w/ extra energy just in case but haven't had to use it ever. One of the problems I've had with this build is how dependent I am on the rest of the team for support or healing. If I get trapped or seperated, then it's pretty much over for me...but thats the way with most casters. I've been looking into self healing skills, but worry about loosing to many skill slots to that. Basic Idea is to first deal direct damage and steal energy with Energy burn and surge, then drain more energy with signet of weariness and energy tap. mantra of inscriptions cuts signet recharge in half, and Energy Tap assure I don't run out of energy very quickly. Using two signets cuts energy use big time. Again, this is a PvP random/team arena build, not GvG or PvE although those insights would be welcome as well! Thanks in advance!

Ok, firstly...

Drop domination to 10 + 1 + 3. Why, you ask? Because 14 is the required domination for 10 energy drain from burn/surge/weariness, and for overall efficiency there isn't much point in adding more skills (10 more damage from mindwrack isn't much). You have two stances, drop physical resistance, replace this with mind wrack. From there you have a very workable energy denial build.

Your tactic, if you haven't found it already, is to mind wrack the target, then burn his energy until you see mindwrack trigger. From there, follow a cycle of wrack-drain-wrack-drain-wrack-drain, using your 4 energy drain skills to trigger wrack one at a time. The only way a monk can escape this cycle is with offering of blood/energy drains of its own, and lo and behold, you can drop energy tap and sub in Signet of Humility. With mantra of inscriptions and 12 inspiration, you can PERMANENTLY disable an enemy's elite skill. Which is also great for annoying evisceration warriors. From there, we have:

10 + 1 + 3 Domination
11 + 1 Inspiration
The rest + 1 Fast casting

Surge
Burn
Sig. Weariness
Sig. Humility
Sig. Leech
Mind wrack
Mantra of inscriptions
Res sig

which is what I use for edenial in random arenas

Yes, you have no self-protection whatsoever, but it pays off in that there is no monk that can stand up to being barraged with wrack-surge-wrack-burn-wrack-weariness once their energy is demolished, and with OoB (the most efficient energy elite) permanently disabled, they're doomed... from there, you can just have your team completely ignore the monk as you can bring it down alone, with a combination of damage and energy denial. Even if you fail to lock their energy, what they have left will be entirely devoted to keeping themselves alive -> the rest of your team gets free kills.

Other skills : Shame is a good addition, but I prefer the 3 domination skills I listed above because they work on things that don't target allies as well. Leech signet is a great interrupt, or you can go Me/E, drop fastcasting slightly and bring Gale.

SnipiousMax · Jan 24, 2006, 10:21 PM // 22:21

Thanks a ton! Good responses. I'll see what I can do with Mind Wrack. I'm still a bit nervous about going in with no self-protect...but I'll play around with it... not much to lose anyway. (aside from patience w/ the people yelling noob and such)

Littzain · Jan 25, 2006, 12:42 AM // 00:42

Sadly, one of the problems with being a mesmer and CA means your probably the first or one of the first few targets. Without any means of protection, you'll be down faster than you can get crackin' on their casters.

SnipiousMax · Jan 25, 2006, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Quote:

Sadly, one of the problems with being a mesmer and CA means your probably the first or one of the first few targets. Without any means of protection, you'll be down faster than you can get crackin' on their casters.

Yup, thats what I've found out today playing with the three sigs, and mantra of inscriptions...so I I adapted (which is why I think mesmers freaking rock! Adaptability). I dropped Sig of Humility, and Leech sig, and kinda went back to a tweaked version of my first build.

1. Energy Surge
2. Energy Burn
3. Mind Wrack
4. Sig of Weariness
5. Ether Feast
6. Energy Tap
7. PHYSICAL RESISTANCE
8. Res Sig

Idea was to make a very self sustaining build. So with Ether Feast and Energy tap, neither energy nor healing was a problem. Now the reason I went with physical resistance and not distortion. First of with 13 in inspiration (new allocation) I only lose -14 armor to elements...but gain +40 against physical. it last almost 90 freaking seconds, and recharges very quickly. I don't cast it right away, and wait to see if I get attack first or not...but it's worked very well at keeping me alive. Between Ether feast and Physical Resistance I can keep myself alive untill another healer can take over, or the Warrior gets board of not killing me. I can kill a warrior one on one (Mind Wrack helps alot with this) and as long as I survive the first inital onslaught... I'm death to casters. I really enjoy this build, I was lucky enough to get a fairly balanced team in RA, and we went 10 consecutive, with 7 flawless. Not saying its gonna work everytime, but I've been having a blast playing it.

agentblade · Jan 25, 2006, 06:23 AM // 06:23

dunno about you but I find playing energy denial mes in CA extremely frustrating cos unless I bring in loads of defensive skills and self-heals I usually dead in less than 10 secs.. before I can kill a war with mind wrack I usually already dead.

My advice is to move to TA and find a team with a monk. that way you can do your thing more effectively.. and it's more fun too..

With regards to Physical resistant I believe there is another thread which is also discussing the effectiveness of Physical resistant go check it out..

SnipiousMax · Jan 30, 2006, 12:27 AM // 00:27

Okay new tweak.... I really like this one.

1. Energy Surge
2. Energy Burn
3. Mind Wrack
4. Sig of Weariness
5. guilt
6. shame
7. Distortion
8. Rez sig

Now new question....

Would it be worth putting 16 into domination? I'm only putting enough in illusion to get -1 energy per hit w/ distortion. So Domination and Fast casting are the balancing act now.

Avarre · Jan 30, 2006, 01:36 AM // 01:36

Hrm, my build above used a total of 14 dom 12 insp 10 or 11 fast cast or so...

So I'd say going with 14 Domination, 12 Illu (the req for -1) and the rest to fast cast is fine. 16 dom wont boost your Surge, etc, unless you're trying to get an 11 drain from 17 domination %chance.

Microknight · Jan 30, 2006, 05:37 AM // 05:37

What about using Panic instead of Energy Surge to get the degen?

Or -
How about switching Power Leak, Drain Enchantment, or Ether Feast instead of Guilt or Shame. Although Power Leak requires timing (and I hate babysitting).

SnipiousMax · Jan 30, 2006, 07:56 AM // 07:56

Quote:

How about switching Power Leak, Drain Enchantment, or Ether Feast instead of Guilt or Shame.

Cause those are all Inspiration skills and Illusion has to be 12 for Distortion.

Hella Good · Jan 30, 2006, 08:48 AM // 08:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Cause those are all Inspiration skills and Illusion has to be 12 for Distortion.

I don't think Dist needs so much points in Illusion to be effective- you can keep up with the energy loss by using Inspa skills. Also Dist doesn't really work well with Domi skills. The way I see it Domi and Illusion don't mix well, mainly because lack of Inspa results in poor energy management (and you can't skip Fast cast). Mesmer skills are among the most cost-inefficient, that's why we got a whole attribute to help us offset these costs.

In large teams it doesn't matter if you have the skills to protect yourself, since you have monks to take care of you. Ether Feast and Dist is probably as good of a protection as you can get as mesmer but that's only worthwhile if you are building for degen or frag or something Illusion-based. I personally use 0 protection. But thenagain I play gvg and hoh mostly, some ta, too.

Serps · Jan 30, 2006, 10:09 AM // 10:09

With 12 illusion, you can use Sympathetic Visage to drain energy from warriors attacking you (as well as destroying their adrenaline)