Curse

bumtex · Mar 17, 2006, 05:04 PM // 17:04

I am making an Illusion + Domination Mesmer and haven't decided on my last spell slot... I want this mesmer to be an anti-caster since I always have hte most trouble with them in pvp and pve (bosses and healers).

After saying that I'd like to show the skills I've selected..

1. Arcane Conundrum
1. Backfire
3. Power Block {E}
4. Power Leak
5. Power Strike
6. Arcane Thievery
7. Shatter Enchantment
8. [Unsure]

I need to know about what ones I don't need; why and what spell I should have. Also would Illusion of weakness be good?

Not sure of skill placement atm because I usually set character up after they reach level 20.

Yukito Kunisaki · Mar 17, 2006, 06:40 PM // 18:40

You should make a necro secondary with curses and use Rend Enchantments instead of Shatter Enchantment. Makes a whole world of difference in terms of prioritizing.

Res Sig may work.

What's Power Strike? I think you mean Power Spike.

Get some Inspiration and put Power Drain in there. Adding a 5e. counter to feed your other counterspells is always good...

rii · Mar 17, 2006, 09:28 PM // 21:28

Power Drain. Energy Managment = good.

If you want FC/Dom/Inpir curses might just be hassle. Whatsmore, shatter isnt the same as rend

Rend is for stripping, shatter is also spike assist.

tigernz · Mar 17, 2006, 10:47 PM // 22:47

When going into areas with tough caster bosses (Thirsty River monk/priest combo for example) I never left home without:

1) Arcane Thievery
2) Diversion
3) Blackout
4) Power Block {E}

Throw in a couple of energy management skills (Drain enchant & Pwr drain are nice) then fill out the rest of the bar with whatever's needed.

Healer bosses aren't so tough when they have no skills left to use

TGgold · Mar 18, 2006, 01:19 AM // 01:19

I'd say, if you're going with interrupts, get rid of backfire. It's counter productive.

Diversion is nice against healer bosses, if they cast their self heal when you use it. A monk boss with no Orison is pretty...well...special :P

Blackout is nice in a coordinated team. It's basically a 7 second window to spike the enemy to death. Also, with the right amount of FC, and a 20/20 dom wand, you shoudl be able to diversion before the enemy can recover fully from the blackout, useually hitting their self heal.

I'm not a big fan of illusion magic in this case, mainly because you shouldnt need conundrum to interrupt most casters. I'd say ditch your points in illusion for inspiration, and then power leak. The unsure slot should be a res sig. (or a hard res in PvE if you're a Me/Mo).

In PvE, I've always found shatter hex more useful with high dom. Also, since this is PvE, I'm not so sure that Power Block is going to be worth your elite skill. I prefer running an energy management elite, mainly because a 13 second block for a PvE creature is a little overkill in most situations. Your team should be able to take them down in the blackout time - if not, they're doing something wrong.

Arcane Thievery is an akward spell in PvE, useually it's not worth stealing a spell from an easy-to-kill enemy. I'd much prefer Drain Enchant, then place in shatter hex (rather than shatter enchant).

This is jsut what I'd do, not necissarily what's right :P

thor hammerbane · Mar 19, 2006, 04:19 AM // 04:19

get power drain, e-management ftw

Arcanis the Omnipotent · Mar 19, 2006, 06:18 AM // 06:18

If you're using Power Block as your elite, go with Wastrels in the last spot.
If they cant do anything, they cant stop the damage.

Another good idea would be Empathy. Casters with no ability for spells will be forced to wait out the hex and attack in the mean time.