Curse

Desert Penguin · Jun 01, 2006, 02:21 PM // 14:21

Hi guys. I have built a melee Mesmer/Warrior that does not use Illusion Weapon and it works great in PvP! I posted this build on another website, but the people over there hated it because it was a build they never saw before. They only play builds that every one else plays, and original ideas are never welcome. Thats why I left that website and came to GWGuru

I would like to share my Melee Mesmer/Warrior with you. You need the Factions expansion pack though. The best armor for this build is the Savant Armor (which looks cool too). This armor provides +10 armor when you have a stance active, and this build uses a stance virtually all of the time (as you will see). The stance this build uses is "Physical resistance", which costs 10 energy and lasts for 78 seconds with this build. Thanks to the Savant +10 armor bonus, whenever you use Physical resistance stance, you gain +50 armor vs physical attacks but -4 armor penalty vs Elemental attacks. Add a Grip of Shelter to your weapon for aditional +5 armor. This gives you 115 physical armor and 61 elemental armor. Nice for a melee Mesmer, despite mediocre elemental armor. Therefore, this build will have little problems getting into the fronlines of battle like other Mesmer builds.

Now another problem this build addresses is anti-Warrior hexes (such as Empathy) or general hexes (such as Conjure Phantasm). This build uses the Elite Factions skill "Expel hexes" which costs 5 energy, 1 cast time, 8 recharge and gets rid of TWO hexes at once. This skill will make it easy for you to fight with Anti-Warrior Mesmers or Necros. I actually had no problems with Anti-Warrior spellcasters thanks to this Expel Hexes elite skill, and killed many anti-Warrior Mesmers 1vs1. The ability to remove 2 hexes every 8 seconds for only 5 energy will give an Anti-Warrior spellcaster an extremely hard time to shut you down.

Now that those two common problems are solved, I would like to share my build with you. The weapon I used was swords, but if you prefer Hammers or Axes, you are free to try that.

Armor = Savant Armor (requires Factions)
Weapon = Get a weapon that gives damage bonuses when you are in a Stance

12 Swordsmanship
12 Inspiration (10+1+1)
9 Fast Casting (8+1)

Sever Artery
Gash
Hamstring **
Seeking blade
Ether feast
Expel Hexes {Elite - this skill requires Factions}
Physical Resistance
Ressurection Signet

** Hamstring is a PvP skill. If this build was used for PvE, I would recommend Standing Slash instead of Hamstring.

I used Seeking Blade becasue with ony 4 sec recharge, it provides good DPS and cannot be blocked. It is also a counter vs somebody evading your attacks, this is why it is suitable for PvP, and can be used for PvE if desired. The skill 'Hamstring' is PvP-based, since it cripples for 13 seconds, making it effective vs runners/kiters. Ether Feast is for healing yourself, and Physical resistance activates the Savant armor +10 armor, which in total gives +50 Armor vs physical attacks. Sever Artery is for bleeding, Gash is for deep wound. I hope this build impresses you, because it impressed me when I played it.

Some people dislike swords, and if you wish to change to Axes or Hammers using the same fashion as this build, feel free to try it. This build worked fine for me.

I hope you's like my build.

This build is completely original, I did not go into Observer Mode to steal other people's builds. I designed it myself and tested it to see if its effective. I have won alot of battles with this build and it works fantastically

Any suggestions/criticisms/compliments are welcome, and thank you's for reading my post!

Pick Me · Jun 01, 2006, 02:48 PM // 14:48

Interesting. I've never played a Mesmer primary before, so I didn't know about the armor bonuses they received.

This won't help you vs Warriors or Rangers using Elemental damaging weapons, will it?

Fiery Swords or IDS would hit you at the 61 armor right? Warriors also have the ability to remove stances I think, but I'm not sure if anyone in PvP ever uses them. In PvE I've never seen any monster do that, so it sounds very nice.

I haven't ventured far in Factions, but Assassins can "steal" your stance, have you encountered anyone copying your stance?

Does this work vs anyone? (Obviously you would change Physical Resistance to Fire/Lightning/Cold resistance vs Elementalists)

Please don't think I'm being critical or anything, I'm just curious. The last thing I want to do is create a character and get smacked on the head because of something totally unexpected happens.

Your build gives me another reason to create a mesmer.

Good job, and thank you.

Sab · Jun 01, 2006, 02:51 PM // 14:51

Elemental damage will kill you - Kindle Arrows, elemental weapons etc. I suggest replacing Physical Resistance with Distortion because of this. You can maintain this stance for as long as you want since the rest of the build doesn't require much energy.

I recommend speccing into Tactics, not only to meet the requirements for your shield (getting the full 16AL), but for Healing Signet - replace Ether Feast with this. You can drop FC entirely if you do this, since Expel becomes the only spell in the build, and it's 1 second cast. Also, there's are two very nice skills in the Tactics line which you should consider - Riposte and Deadly Riposte.

So, something like:

Me/W

Swords: 12
Illu: 6+1+1 (to get a 2-energy Distortion)
Tactics: the rest

Sever Artery
Gash
(Attack skill)
Seeking Blade
Healing Signet
Distortion
Expel Hexes (E)
Res Sig

Desert Penguin · Jun 01, 2006, 02:58 PM // 14:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

Interesting. I've never played a Mesmer primary before, so I didn't know about the armor bonuses they received.

This won't help you vs Warriors or Rangers using Elemental damaging weapons, will it?

I haven't ventured far in Factions, but Assassins can "steal" your stance, have you encountered anyone copying your stance?

Does this work vs anyone? (Obviously you would change Physical Resistance to Fire/Lightning/Cold resistance vs Elementalists)

Please don't think I'm being critical or anything, I'm just curious. The last thing I want to do is create a character and get smacked on the head because of something totally unexpected happens.

Your build gives me another reason to create a mesmer.

Good job, and thank you.

A lot of warriors use elemental weapons as a secondary weapon (weapon-switch) for fighting other warriors, since Warriors normally have 100 physical armor and 80 elem armor. As for this build, your stance lasts for 78 seconds so chances are, you used Physical Resistance long before you fight them, meaning they have no idea you are using your stance. Assasins can copy your stance by Mirror Stance, but then again they normally wouldn't suspect you of using a stance. In fact, the Assasins try to kill my enchantments, because they think I am using Illusion Weapon, which means they wasted thier energy

PS: Mirrored Stance is a Hex, and you can remove hexes with this build

We can see this build does have weak its points (like all builds), though

Thanks for the nice comments.

Desert Penguin · Jun 01, 2006, 03:02 PM // 15:02

Luxa, thats a pretty good build.

I'll get Distortion by unlocking it. I have to try to make sure it lasts as long as it can since my sword and Savant Armor recieves bonuses from having a stance. Thanks for the advice

Shield · Jun 01, 2006, 03:10 PM // 15:10

Why not use a W/Me? You're spending skill slots to make yourself a harder target when you could get that as a passive benefit for free. As was said, this build doesn't require much energy. But it's not doing a lot of damage either.

Desert Penguin · Jun 01, 2006, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Actually, spamming Seeking Blade requires energy and it proides decent damage.

dgb · Jun 01, 2006, 04:25 PM // 16:25

I'm failing to see the point of this build. It just looks like a gimped warrior. A warrior would do more damage and be more as survivable.

Pick Me · Jun 01, 2006, 04:55 PM // 16:55

Hmmm....

Without enchantments, I don't think there is an indication by the enemy that you have a stance on (if used prior to fighting, so you look like you have no additional defenses; thus no one will try to strip you of anything thinking you have an enchantment on instead of a stance).

Distortion - 75% to Evade; so, if you evade you lose energy (2 per evade) or if you don't evade, you are hit for damage.

Seeking Blade - Does +x damage; if evaded, target begins to bleed; cannot be blocked

So if warrior uses Seeking Blade on a Distortion using Mesmer, you are damaged and you are bleeding. When good to use? Use it when the Mesmer tries to use Healing Signet.

Forget Diversion, use Riposte or Wary Stance or Deadly Riposte

The only other flaw I see in the two builds listed is the lack of anti-degen skills. Bleeding and poison will hurt you serverly. Especially if your foe is W/N.

Desert Penguin · Jun 01, 2006, 10:58 PM // 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgb

I'm failing to see the point of this build. It just looks like a gimped warrior. A warrior would do more damage and be more as survivable.

Well if it was a Mesmer/Necromancer then chances are you would believe it was a gimped Necromancer or the like. Of course, Necros and Mesmers are both non-melee so they have something in common. In this build, Seeking Blade does effective damage, and it is spammable in this build, unlike a Warrior who cannot spam it constantly. Seeking Blade cannot be blocked too. Also, Hamstring has 10 energy cost, and I've noticed this may be slightly hard to pull off for some warriors due to slow energy regen rate. And another advantage with this build is the Hex Removal, which many Warriors, even Wa/Mo's don't normally carry, which is why they are prone to getting hammered by anti-Warrior illusion hexes.

So yeah, it is true that its somewhat of a gimped Warrior. But I posted it only for the people who wanted to play their Mesmer in a different way.

Eaimirth Etaivella · Jun 01, 2006, 11:09 PM // 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuxA

Elemental damage will kill you - Kindle Arrows, elemental weapons etc. I suggest replacing Physical Resistance with Distortion because of this. You can maintain this stance for as long as you want since the rest of the build doesn't require much energy.

I recommend speccing into Tactics, not only to meet the requirements for your shield (getting the full 16AL), but for Healing Signet - replace Ether Feast with this. You can drop FC entirely if you do this, since Expel becomes the only spell in the build, and it's 1 second cast. Also, there's are two very nice skills in the Tactics line which you should consider - Riposte and Deadly Riposte.

So, something like:

Me/W

Swords: 12
Illu: 6+1+1 (to get a 2-energy Distortion)
Tactics: the rest

Sever Artery
Gash
(Attack skill)
Seeking Blade
Healing Signet
Distortion
Expel Hexes (E)
Res Sig

Good comment imo; another option might be able to dump tactics completely (I hope I know what I'm doing) and pick up illusion magic to rank 13. With this you would have a powerful illusionary weakness with a +5 armor while enchanted foci so you only lose 11 armor but gain an instant heal and a -1 distortion. You could even headgear swap before the battle to obtain Iweakness at rank 16 before fighting ^_^ (for 253 hp)
Not saying its better; just a different way to go.

Hollerith · Jun 02, 2006, 12:02 AM // 00:02

The reason this build was received poorly was because it's very suboptimal. You received very fair criticism on it. The only benefit you receive from a mesmer primary is fast casting Ether Feast and Expel Hexes, along with more energy so you can spam Seeking Blade. You're devoting most your points to a secondary line, which is fine - however your primary skills aren't even being used much except for a stance to make you a pseudo-tank. Inspiration isn't above 12, and fast cast isn't really helping anything except Ether Feast. So you're using your primary as secondary skills and your secondary as primary skills. Screams ineffective to me.

This is a gimped W, no doubt about it. Cheers to you for wanting to play different, but this is just a case of maximizing your disadvantages while minimizing your advantages.

If you want to try a W that doesn't worry about energy, drop Expel Hexes and bring Warrior's Endurance.

Hella Good · Jun 02, 2006, 12:42 AM // 00:42

Without a shield, savant armor, and stances, your chances of survival are less than minimal. Plus there is 0 benefit in going Me/W unless you plan on using something to make it worthwhile (some hexes or touch skills or smth).

Desert Penguin · Jun 02, 2006, 03:21 AM // 03:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollerith

The reason this build was received poorly was because it's very suboptimal. You received very fair criticism on it. The only benefit you receive from a mesmer primary is fast casting Ether Feast and Expel Hexes, along with more energy so you can spam Seeking Blade. You're devoting most your points to a secondary line, which is fine - however your primary skills aren't even being used much except for a stance to make you a pseudo-tank. Inspiration isn't above 12, and fast cast isn't really helping anything except Ether Feast. So you're using your primary as secondary skills and your secondary as primary skills. Screams ineffective to me.

This is a gimped W, no doubt about it. Cheers to you for wanting to play different, but this is just a case of maximizing your disadvantages while minimizing your advantages.

If you want to try a W that doesn't worry about energy, drop Expel Hexes and bring Warrior's Endurance.

Thank you for the cnstructive criticism. I appreciate good criticism. On other website forums, all people ever said was "OMG ur build is teh sux". I am glad that GWGuru has more intelligent posters

The main reason I thought this build was good was because of the Expel Hexes, since in 4vs4 Random Arena, around 1 in 5 Mesmers or Necros focus alot of anti-Warrior Hexes. These anti-Warrior hexes hurt if they stack like 4 hexes on you at the same time. I never knew there was quite a number of Mesmers that hate Warriors so much to the point that they focus their entire build around disabling them.

I thought that maybe a Warrior primary could not spam expel hexes, so I believed a Mesmer would do the trick. Then again, Expe Hexes is good to cast on your ally monk as well.

But yeah, thanks the constructive criticism. I will test a W/Me and see how it goes. Thanks alot for the advice

LightningHell · Jun 02, 2006, 05:17 AM // 05:17

I don't know a lot about warriors, so...ignore this post if you would.

This is probably RA, right?

Quote:

Sever Artery
Gash
(Attack skill)
Seeking Blade
Healing Signet
Distortion
Expel Hexes (E)
Res Sig

Galrath for the attack skill?

Oh, and I'm not a big fan of Sever either.

Silverwing/Sun and Moon Slash? But then, you'd lose Deep Wound.

dgb · Jun 02, 2006, 06:51 AM // 06:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desert Penguin

Well if it was a Mesmer/Necromancer then chances are you would believe it was a gimped Necromancer or the like.

No I wouldn't because there are synergies between the advantages of being a primary mesmer and using necromancer skills, primarily fast casting and the support of the inspiration line for energy management.

However for this character there are no synergies that I can see between the advantages of a mesmer primary and being a warrior.

LightningHell · Jun 02, 2006, 07:25 AM // 07:25

There isn't, but you can trick your opponent into readying their Shatter Enchantment. :P

Desert Penguin · Jun 02, 2006, 08:50 AM // 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

There isn't, but you can trick your opponent into readying their Shatter Enchantment. :P

Happens all the time, they think I am IW so they shatter my enchants before my monk

Jeremy Untouchable · Jun 03, 2006, 12:53 PM // 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgb

I'm failing to see the point of this build. It just looks like a gimped warrior. A warrior would do more damage and be more as survivable.

half of the other class's become a gimped warrior as soon as they pick anything up besides a wand....on the other hand, if you dont have a warrior, and really wish too, this build would hold you over tell you got a real tank

Tindalos · Jun 03, 2006, 01:15 PM // 13:15

This is similar in concept to a build I've been playing with in PVE for a long while now.

Skills:

Echo (E)
Backfire
Empathy
Shatter Hex
Deadly Riposte
Riposte
Defensive Stance
Shield Stance

Fast Casting: 8
Domination: 12
Swordsmanship: 12
Tactics: 8

Zealous Sword
Aegis

With someone that can do AOE slows on a team Chaos Storm becomes very fun. It also becomes fun against warriors in melee. I consider shatter hex and backfire to be exchangable with other skills. The point of this build was to be a melee mesmer without illusion but using domination instead. I've also run healing signet with shield stance and things like that. A lot of different ways to go about it. I do find this type of build works best with a team that understands what you're doing and how to support you, not necessarily with healing but with condition removal.

Good luck with your build!