Curse

Devolution · Mar 03, 2006, 09:58 AM // 09:58

People will underestimate you.
They will say they don't want to party with a mesmer.
But tonight I won some respect from the nay sayers by farming ozo with my SS mesmer.

BUILD:
Spiteful spirit (Elite)
Awaken the Blood
Spinal Shivers
Ether Lord
Arcane Echo
Diversion
Blood Ritual
Ressurection Signet

STATS:
8+1 Fast Cast.
12 Curses.
2 or 3 Blood Magic.
9+3 Inspiration.
6+3 Domination. (if you got an inspiration weapon, allocate your points to fast cast or inspiration or something. Just keep enough in diversion to make Priests of Sorrow groan.

With this I was able to spam SS a lot faster than a Necro ever could, which resulted in faster kills. The MM and monks especially loved me for my fast Blood Rituals.

So, in short, a Mesmer/Necro can be just as good as a Necro in the SS department.

Simply put, the trade off is:

Higher DPS, slower casting with Necro.
SLIGHTLY lower DPS with significant faster casting time.

Necro = 41 dmg a SS
Mesmer = 33 (with awaken), 29 (without)

So yeah, I can farm greens with my mesmer and I don't have to accept anyone's stereotypes.

Avarre · Mar 03, 2006, 10:25 AM // 10:25

How do you 'spam SS a lot faster than a Necro ever could'? Fastcast turning a 2s cast into 1s is hardly noticeable, not for the damage reduction. Lord is a terrible spell for energy maintainance as well... +3 regen for 9s = 9 net energy gain, at the price of 5 + what you lost while casting = little gain.

Your fast blood rit's are also countermanded by the pathetically short duration you get with 2-3 blood.

Devolution · Mar 03, 2006, 10:31 AM // 10:31

I was mainly experimenting and also using a Illyana's staff.
It wasn't a one second SS. It was more of a 3/4's of a second one. And I was able to pop off four of them before I ran completely dry (ala no Ether Lord). All 4 33. It worked out pretty good.

I had fun doing it though, just to see if a Mesmer could make a good SS.

EDIT: If you wanted to, you could beef up the blood, but that would require a good Inspiration staff or a good Curses staff so that most of your points don't have to go into Domination.

Avarre · Mar 03, 2006, 11:08 AM // 11:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devolution

I was mainly experimenting and also using a Illyana's staff.
It wasn't a one second SS. It was more of a 3/4's of a second one. And I was able to pop off four of them before I ran completely dry (ala no Ether Lord). All 4 33. It worked out pretty good.

I had fun doing it though, just to see if a Mesmer could make a good SS.

EDIT: If you wanted to, you could beef up the blood, but that would require a good Inspiration staff or a good Curses staff so that most of your points don't have to go into Domination.

Thing is, a necro can fire off 4 41-43 damage SS as well

What's all this about insp and curses weps? You don't need to deal weapon damage, if you do want to, use a curses wand. Your insp stat is a waste, as it only powers the PvE-useless ether lord, and you hardly need points in dom for diversion to work.

Fluffyx · Mar 15, 2006, 09:56 AM // 09:56

You wont be able to cast more spitefuls than a necro could period. The cooldown will never allow you to cast more. So what if you push them out a little faster at the cost of 8 dmg (which adds up fast in spiteful).A necro ss will kill off more enemies faster. Also you have to bring awaken the blood to cover the gap more. You will probably be waiting for energy more often as well since you dont have soulreaping. Meaning in the end you will be able to cast less SS.
Not trying to knock attempts to make Mesmers useful for farming but SS is more efficient for sure with a smart necro using it.

LouAl · Mar 15, 2006, 10:47 PM // 22:47

I did some comparisons about the damage of spiteful in the skill section. IMO the difference between a 31 (33) dmg SS and a 37 (41) SS is HUGE. Over time and against ALL ADJACENT FOES it adds up, and on an Oro run where there will be lots and lots and lots of adjacent foes the difference is overwhelming.

Against 5 foes (easy on an Oro run) the numbers would stack up like this*
Nec at lvl 18 total damage with 1 SS over 5 foes (22 seconds) = 3280
Mes at lvl 14 total damage with 1 SS over 5 foes (19 seconds) = 2310

that is just with 1 SS, the difference becomes even bigger after the 2nd (or 4th)

the gains you get from getting it off in half the time (and I am pretty sure that the max reduction of FC is 1/2) are not enough to outweigh the loss in attribute levels.

*this assumes SS on a foe attacking at 1 attack every 1.33 seconds

hmmm not a good way to go

EDIT: changed numbers to reflect actual number of attacks and not average over time

isisaset · Mar 24, 2006, 01:52 PM // 13:52

I don't usually post--I normally just read what other people have said, ponder it and then apply it or don't. But you've hit a topic near and dear to my black lil necro heart.

I have only 2 characters now, after many months of playing Guild Wars, who are truly special to me--my necro and my mesmer. I have found that BOTH are highly under-rated....until people see them in battle.

Recently the thought has occured many times--what if I could combine the 2? Echo with SS--oh my!! But then...who to change?? So here is my quandry--the pros and cons--please feel free to weigh in.

Converting the Necro... She is one tough lady. I farm just about anywhere with her alone--sometimes I use up a skill slot for my cat (she's currently got ranger secondary) if I'm feeling lonely

The benefit of her ranger secondary (other than cool cat), you ask?? Winter.... It works exceptionally well with Spinal Shivers. The advantage of converting her is Echo...and she has soul reaping which would come in handy casting expensive mesmer spells.

Converting the Mesmer... My mesmer is an Inspiring Dominatrix with no Illusions

She is also currently a ranger (I have found that, for me at least, ranger is the best secondary for getting thru the game--after that all bets are off). So she is quite the interrupter/disrupter/energy thief. She is an extremely effective support character....but the idea of giving her some of my necro's solo-ability is tempting.... Ohhh, almost forgot, the disadvantage of converting her secondary is that the cat resembles and is named after my husband's cat....and she rather likes sitting on my lap watching "her character" in action...so I'm afraid she may make my life miserable if I zap her!

tuperwho · Mar 24, 2006, 02:01 PM // 14:01

I did domination + curses a while back. Good stuff. Throw empathy or backfire on an enemy, in addition to SS.... double penalties for any actions. Add to this soul barbs, wastrel's worry, and some health/energy management.... very powerful!

isisaset · Mar 24, 2006, 03:01 PM // 15:01

Well...after all the diliberating and pondering.... DUH It has to be the necro who converts. WHY? Becuz, to be a true SS powerhouse you need curses runes and the mesmer can't wear those!