Curse

Miikka · May 14, 2006, 11:58 AM // 11:58

I have finished factions with my mesmer and now i need something to do. I want
to try UW or FoW. I know mesmers arent very popular there, most builds run on tank,nuker,monk basics. Can mesmers get into any group? What build should i use? Interrupt?

Thanks for your help!

Evilsod · May 14, 2006, 12:31 PM // 12:31

Very few groups accept mesmers into group and even fewer groups actaully search for them. Its stupid though, 1 group i was in yesterday had 3 rangers (for some stupid reason) but would probably have totally ignored a mesmer...

Interrupts are the way though, illusion is pretty useless down there imo. There are groups of 8 mesmers that clear UW, there are some screenshots down in 1 of the sub-forums at the bottom.

Avarre · May 14, 2006, 01:33 PM // 13:33

Avoid direct damage and stacked degen. Hexes to combat melee and caster, a few of each to spread around. Cry of Frustration is the best interrupt to use for anti-skill and area effect.

Best way is to start your own groups, but that depends on your knowledge of fow/uw.

Trouveur · May 14, 2006, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilsod

Interrupts are the way though, illusion is pretty useless down there imo.

I disagree. Clumsiness, Ineptitude, Conjure Phantasm, Phantom Pain. With that you can severly hurt Axtes and others warriors.

Now if only I could replace Phantom Pain with Images of Remorse and Accumulated Pain... When will my Factions box arrive ?

Eaimirth Etaivella · May 14, 2006, 06:06 PM // 18:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trouveur

I disagree. Clumsiness, Ineptitude, Conjure Phantasm, Phantom Pain. With that you can severly hurt Axtes and others warriors.

Now if only I could replace Phantom Pain with Images of Remorse and Accumulated Pain... When will my Factions box arrive ?

I hate illusion magic.

On a different note; arcane echo is your friend.
arcane echo ->shatter hex (SS+mark)
arcane echo ->empathy (rangers go bb)
arcane echo ->cry of frustration (well that was fun)
arcane echo ->power block (2 monks? No problem)

Or my personal favorite...Aracane echo+e surge x2+shatter hex with 50% chance for fast recharge...=120(hex)+(A.Echo)+80(surge)+44(cry the heal sig, heal area, whatever)+80(surge)+120(hex) for 444 damage.

All that before the meteors even hit the ground...funny huh?

Terra Xin · May 14, 2006, 09:51 PM // 21:51

Shatter hex would have been my biggest weapon in FoW.... until they got rid of the book trick that is. I haven't been down there since... I should go really.

As for the mesmers clearing out UW. I hear this lady is going around gathering mesmers together to bring them up to par with ranger thumpers in the Temple.... UW.... just after Dragons Lair.... (mind block!!)

Anyway, A largely populated mesmer group hunting in UW is very effective, done it before, i'd love to do it again.

Evilsod · May 14, 2006, 10:28 PM // 22:28

I'd just like to do it, sounds fun.

When i meant Illusion is useless down there i was referring to FoW. Inep+Clum can be healed in a single WoH from a Shadow Monk, better to go interrupter and stop the Monks healing, Eles hurting and Beasts annoying the hell out of everyone.

UW... i'd still say Domination is better. Unless your going with a team of 8 mesmers, you should ideally have properly set up tanks to take the damage and an ele set up for snaring. That and the SS necro is probably doing the most damage.

Always fun clearing the Chaos Planes with a 55, SS/SV and Fire Nuker...

Sab · May 15, 2006, 03:00 AM // 03:00

I always run a Domination build in FoW, acting as support to make my fellow teammates' lives a bit easier.

Namely: Power Block, Cry, Power Spike, Empathy

Never really bothered with UW so I can't help you there.

Eaimirth Etaivella · May 15, 2006, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Shatter hex +Cry of frustration are still as good as every in uw...well just about anywhere lol

Miikka · May 15, 2006, 11:23 AM // 11:23

ok, thank you all for your help

Damien · May 17, 2006, 03:58 PM // 15:58

Long time since I went to FoW with my Mesmer, But i usually run with a SS/Domination build with some inspiration for energy

Effendi Westland · May 18, 2006, 08:42 AM // 08:42

For UW and FoW i use completely different builds. For FoW domination with power block as an elite, for UW i throw in some illusion for sympathetic visage (which is soooo needed if your damage dealer is a curse necro) and use glyph of renewal as an elite.

nitrile · May 18, 2006, 09:56 AM // 09:56

When I've been into UW with my mesmer I've found ineptitude invaluable; unfortunately I've not noticed that elite anywhere in cantha, so you'd need a long trip up to mineral springs in the shiverpeaks. To be able to (with arcane echo) blind one or two aatxe for a short time can easily save your healer or bonder, and by extension the entire party should those aatxe decide the warrior has too many bones to be worth eating straight away.

1. cry of frustration - for nightmares' rend enchantments primarily. but of use against terrorwebs, obsidian behemoths' spirits or anything else you can catch.
2. ineptitude {e}, as I stated. echo it and blind one or two aatxe. keeps people alive, but noone will believe it was you that did it.
3. spirit of failure, free energy; put it on aatxe you just blinded. Have not yet found out what to use this energy on, since there's no hexes to shatter in the aatxe-populated area (although, you could use distortion for a long time before running out of energy with this, I've never had to dare to try). Maybe, sympathetic visage/ancestor's visage.
4. backfire. echo it against the mesmers on chaos planes, and terrorwebs.
5. arcane echo. for whatever spell needs to be used twice
6. distortion. another prophecies only skill (!) - for when blindness runs out and you're the next snack.
7. shatter hex
8. rebirth

I base this around blinding aatxe, in fact almost all around mitigating aatxe, because if you don't make it past the crypt, nothing else is a whole lot of use taking. The relatively low damage output from this, I count against whatever damage another person that would/could have died, is doing in those 10 seconds of aatxe blindness. Almost everwhere else, echoing shatter hex and/or backfire does respectable damage, so I run domination higher than illusion, at 14 or 16.

It's very generalist. But you'll be useful to your party nearly everywhere in UW with something like this. I've seen other mesmers use migraine interrupt builds which are quite mad - in the hardest area they are the least help.

But, for a cantha-only mesmer you've still got some thinking to do. Maybe ineptitude+spirit of failure could become spirit of failure + blurred vision/blinding flash (water/air ele secondary) or spirit of failure + price of failure (necro secondary).

Avarre · May 18, 2006, 10:39 AM // 10:39

I've almost always used in both UW/FoW :

Ineptitude
Distortion / SV (depends on trust of tank)
Arcane conundrum / Images of Remorse (prop/factions)
Backfire
Shatter Hex
Empathy
Cry of Frustration
Rebirth / other res

Eaimirth Etaivella · May 18, 2006, 12:16 PM // 12:16

I can see inept in UW l but as usual I hate illusion magic to the core as I am not fond of degen; however inept+clum do have their uses as 1 dude in UW can kill you in 1-2 hits so...empathy will not do much in terms of saving you.

Still in FoW; do not see a reason for illusion magic (especially when domination can do 444 damage in such a short period of time =p)

Themis · May 18, 2006, 04:10 PM // 16:10

Both in UW/Fow i often take N secondary : i sometimes put some spare skill points in Curses, depending on my mood.

I allways take Shatter Hex AND inspired hex. You can seriously consider taking also Expell Hexes and/or Revealed hex. Monks have better things to do, rather than removing hexes.

In UW i take very often Signet of Midnight.

For the rest, the posts above explain it all.

Avarre · May 19, 2006, 05:15 AM // 05:15

Ineptitude is basically melee shutdown for 10 seconds. Empathy is colossal melee damage. Both are very useful. You are not pure damage, you combine damage effects with enemy reduction effects. By reducing the damage your team takes, you further imbalance the (EDxTH:TDxEH) ratio, which leads to victory (enemy damage x team health : team damage x enemy health. Theoretically, the more enemy damage goes up, your team health goes down to balance the ratio. If their damage is kept low, your health stays high).

Eaimirth Etaivella · May 19, 2006, 05:23 AM // 05:23

The trick is to take down as many targets as quickly as possable; thus limiting the number of targets that are posing harm to your team. The prime targets are ones that are doing harm directly to your team (stray warriors off the tank) or ones that are prohibiting the deletion of targets (monks or mesmers). Taking down these targets can vary; the most popular method of course is to fully deplete their standing hp; however as Avarre pointed out blindness for melee+ranged characters is also an option similar to powerblock on casters.