Curse

antoninus · Jun 17, 2006, 02:34 PM // 14:34

Famine {E} - Create a level 1...8 Spirit. Whenever any creature in its range reaches 0 Energy, that creature takes 10...30 damage. This Spirit dies after 30...78 seconds.

Sympathetic Visage / Ancestor's Visage - For 8...18 seconds, whenever target ally is hit by a melee attack, all nearby foes lose all adrenaline and 3 energy.

Say a monster hits you and his energy drops to 0, he'll then take 30 damage. He regens 1 energy then hits you again so his energy drops to 0 then he takes 30 damage again.

But lets say there are 4 monsters attacking you.. energy drops to 0, takes 30 damage but since you're recieving multiple continuous attacks SV is always activated thus maintaining the monsters' energy at constant 0. Famine's description says Whenever any creature in its range reaches 0 Energy that creature takes 10...30 damage. So if energy is dropped to 0 it takes 30 damage, and with SV keeping it from regenerating, it won't activate Famine's 30 damage whenever energy drops to 0 coz it was at 0 the whole time anyway.. (?)

I'm kinda confused.. can anyone else try to explain this?

Xasew · Jun 17, 2006, 02:38 PM // 14:38

If he regens 1 energy and it drops back to 0, he takes damage. If SV keeps his energy at 0, he won't keep taking damage.
Haven't tried, but I assume it works like that, since Mind Wrack does also.

Francis Demeules · Jun 17, 2006, 07:41 PM // 19:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xasew

If he regens 1 energy and it drops back to 0, he takes damage. If SV keeps his energy at 0, he won't keep taking damage.
Haven't tried, but I assume it works like that, since Mind Wrack does also.

To clarify this, it works like you said. The monster must be at least 1 energy and drop again to 0 to take effect. Its a good spirit to do E-Denial supporter with Debilitating Shot too to make it faster.

Famine+MWrack combo hurts.

Metanoia · Jun 18, 2006, 12:33 AM // 00:33

Someone on another forum has already tested it.

Good news, it works.

Bad news, the damage dealt by Famine counts as a foreign source. This means you get no experience or drops.

antoninus · Jun 18, 2006, 11:53 AM // 11:53

but lets say a monk casts Shield of Judgement on you. You will have SV and SoJ and Famine doing damage. Would SoJ's "damage" overlap what Famine does thus giving you the exp and drops when the monsters are killed? I'd really want to try this myself but there are no interested rangers in my guild -_-

elavro · Jun 18, 2006, 07:28 PM // 19:28

i've even thought of a build with this: 5 mesmers, 1 ranger and 2 monks. famine and MW, ranger uses delibiating, mesmers steal energy, and have a bow with delibiating( no points in mark). But because the target needs 1 energy it doenst work I think

lightblade · Jun 18, 2006, 07:32 PM // 19:32

Works in PvE but not PvP

captainccc · Jun 18, 2006, 11:28 PM // 23:28

This is a stretch but...

Mo/W, N/Me, R/x UW threesome? Wow that could pwn FAST if it worked. Just a thought i dont even know if SoJ and Famine would overlap but it would be a mix =].

jummeth · Jun 18, 2006, 11:49 PM // 23:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightblade

Works in PvE but not PvP

Just came up against a Famine + wither/malaise build in TA.

It was a good hard fight, fun aswell, we were playing a hex overload / degen, we had the edge since we could spike, but its very effective. Since its e-denial and damage in one, and degen is normally thrown in for fun ^^

ubermancer · Jun 19, 2006, 03:17 AM // 03:17

I think he meant Sympathetic Visages + Famine doesnt work in PVP, which I dont see it doing.

jummeth · Jun 19, 2006, 06:59 AM // 06:59

SV activates too quickly, keeping the energy levels at 0

ubermancer · Jun 19, 2006, 07:13 AM // 07:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by jummeth

SV activates too quickly, keeping the energy levels at 0

Mobs do have extremely high energy regen. Perhaps itd be better in small doses against moderate size groups?

antoninus · Jun 19, 2006, 03:02 PM // 15:02

i saw a thread a few days ago at gwonline, a r/me soloing the iway zaishen team using famine + sv with pics. With SV constantly keeping the energy to 0, it seems the 30 damage from Famine is activated despite its description. --whenever any creature in its range reaches 0 energy...---
I would post a link to it but i forgot where it was, i tried searching but nothing came up.

Yes famine + sv does work however what the OP wanted to point out is that
as Metanoia said, {the damage dealt by Famine counts as a foreign source. This means you get no experience or drops} I don't know if it's a bug needing to be fixed or if that was how they intended it to be but given that Famine will be the only damage dealing skill, you will get no experience and drops (OP posted a screenshot, no exp no faction upon kill)

So my question is... if there was another skill doing damage aside from Famine, say SoJ or SS or whatever.. would it somehow "overlap" Famine and thus allocate the exp and drops to you once the monsters are killed?

jummeth · Jun 19, 2006, 03:38 PM // 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubermancer

I think he meant Sympathetic Visages + Famine doesnt work in PVP, which I dont see it doing.

They might have had SV up on their monk or whatever, however since we were playing a hex build, we didn't activate it. Since we did no physical damage.

The problem with mobs is that they tend to hit you a lot, its not like SS where its only 1 monster activating it, its every monster that touches you.

However if as Antonious says it works regardless, then yes it will prolly be quite nice. RE: Drops/exp etc, do you have to do the majority of the damage to get them, or is it just some damage. You can prolly ignite arrows once just to ping the damage meter.

Pick Me · Jun 19, 2006, 04:01 PM // 16:01

Its sounds good in theory, but what about enchantment stripping?

Foes must hit you, which means if someone spike damages you with a melee attack, you may die quickly.

This also works both ways (Mergoyles cast spirit Shackles on your warrior, each attack made makes you lose 5 energy; your warriors/rangers will be hit by Famine as well). So monks continually healing you will start to cry "my energy is 5 of 53". Monks my endup with damage from Famine.

Does anyone know if this damage is lowered by Spirit of Protection by a 55 monk?

Metanoia · Jun 19, 2006, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by jummeth

SV activates too quickly, keeping the energy levels at 0

They can't actually lose energy while on 0, this means that no matter how often they're being effected by SV, they'll keep recovering up to 1 energy unimpeded.