Curse

Yukito Kunisaki · May 17, 2006, 05:55 AM // 05:55

I used to run a decently effective 16 inspiration 'engine' build before the e. draining / denial got nerf batted...

The idea was straightforward...

Stop casters by sucking off as much energy as you could. [save eles, they just had too much lol]

Then use the energy you stole to totally neuter non-casters like warriors, rangers, and now possibly, assasssins...

My question as a semi-nooby mesmer [post update], is there a 16 [or rather, MAJOR] inspiration style of play in pvp that could still do this?

Or is energy stealing gotten to the point where it's a totally useless strat to steal energy and use it to stuff non-energy users?

Just curious, easy on the flames please...

[dons flame retardant shield]

fatboyslimerr · May 17, 2006, 08:23 AM // 08:23

Energy Drain and Energy Tap are good e-denial skills (-9 -6 energy to foe and +13 +8 to you) as is ether lord but e. lord is a slightly strange skill and often works best in a necro energy degen build (e.g. wither {E}/malaise/ether lord.
Spirit Shackles is a good anti ranger/assassin and spirit of failure is good energy gain and anti warrior skill

But inspiration by itself isn't great at energy denial with E-Drain and E-Tap both having long recharge times and E-Lord making you lose all your energy. It is still possible to do what you want but its not neccessary to have 16 inspiration.

You could try my favourite build and modify it slightly although its not easy to play. Use Mantra of Recovery (spells recharge 50% faster) then E-Tap/E-Burn/Shame and possibly signet of weariness although sig. of weariness ain't a spell so won't recharge faster. Alternatively just run an E-surge build using pretty much the same skills but using E-Surge instead of MoR. Either of these will deny energy, but then as for warrior/ranger/assassin management, with 10 inspiration you can still quite happily use Spirit of Failure (take a cover hex too) and Spirit Shackles (both work well with MoR). Drain Enchantment will work well with either of these and its good energy management spell.

So both of these builds use something like 15 domination 10 inspiration and 10 fast casting I think. If you wanted to be really anti warrior while still being able to deny enemy casters of energy you could try this:

Spirit of Failure
E-Tap
E-Burn
Shame
Mantra of Recovery/E-Surge
Empathy (don't use on same target as you cast spirit of failure on or it loses effectiveness)
Drain Enchantment
Res Signet.

Or if you wanna try and spike warriors try this

Spirit Shackles
Mind Wrack - spirit shackles makes foe lose 5 energy everytime they attack and warriors won't particularly care about losing their energy until it gets to 0 when they'll take like 80-95 damage from mind wrack which can of course be spammed over the top of spirit shackles.
Then some of the skills above, although Empathy might be a good option here although keep in mind energy management.

Hoped that helped. As you can see there are lots of options

Yukito Kunisaki · May 17, 2006, 01:40 PM // 13:40

Wow, Nice input!

I suppose, would NOT having a superior rune and using all minor runes work?

With stats like

10+1+1
9+1
6+1
rest to Curses?

I used to run builds like that but discovered the 16 stat was awesome.

Maybe it's only worth it on warriors and no other class perhaps?

fatboyslimerr · May 17, 2006, 01:53 PM // 13:53

Superior rune in domination if ur using +30 hp staff. Otherwise stretch to a major. 16 Domination is awesome, empathy does 31 dmg everytime foe attacks, Burn and Surge do 80 damage each (althought they also do that at 14 domination thanks to the new nerf).

If you want to be totally anti warrior then I recommend a degen mesmer build, since degen makes warriors big armor pointless

skills like conjure phantasm, phantom pain, crippling anguish {E}, images of remorse then spirit of failure and spirit shackles + some energy management.
The majority of these skills (the conjure/pain/anguish) combo works against any foe giving them -10 degen whether they're a warrior or not. You might also want to include mantra of persistance to make these spells have a longer duration.

If you use this build, and I recommend it a lot, be sure to put phantom pain on last so if it does get removed they get deep wounded

Enjoy..