Curse

Terra Xin · Apr 10, 2006, 01:18 PM // 13:18

The first time I used this build, it failed miserably and everyone that also lost (buggery hipocrits) were laughing at my build.

OK^^ So I'm coming out clean, I know I'll get honesty from here... tell me what you think^^? I've been testing it out in PvP, it actually works very well overall, it needs a bit of work tho:

Fast Casting 11 (10(base)+1(rune))
Inspiration Magic 14 (10(base)+3(rune)+1(hat))
Water Magic 11

Skills Set:

Spirit of Failure
Signet of Midnight {elite}
Ice Spear
Drain Enchantment
Inspired Enchantment
Ether Feast
Rust
Res Sig

Summary: The skills are designed to not only make the average warrior constantly blind, but at the same time, feeding you energy so that you can respond adequately. I chose the Elementalists profession because I needed an offensive spell that had little or no recharge time, hence the ice spear. General warriors tend to have at least one signet on hand (usually healing signet) so rust becomes an effective tool. Now with Inspiration Magic at 14, this allows Spirit of Failure to give 5 energy per failed attack, and Midnight sig amplifies the Spirit's effectiveness to 115% failure rate (or 90% +and 25%, whatever goes through the computer's head) giving you energy per hit. Should the warrior decide not to attack or that warrior has enchantments (and you're low on energy), refill your energy by using drain & inspired enchantments to give you a temporary supply.

Now the key to this build is designed to be the reverse to that of the warrior's abilities; it isn't entirely designed to kill warriors, but to take them out of the picture while you focus your Ice Spear on some of the weaker targets (though you'd put up a winning fight 1v1). At the start of the battle, cast Spirit of Failure and Midnight Sig (remembering to replenish the sig when you can) on the warrior - so long as he continues attacking, you will have a nice supply for your Ice Spear. If the warrior has enchantments, leave them on him until you need the energy - in a way, you're trying to make sure the warrior is healthy and attacking, every time that warrior heals himself, he isn't attacking, and therefore you are not gaining energy - keep this in mind. Only use Rust on the Warrior when his/her life is near the low, this will allow you to finish him/her off quickly using Ice Spear, otherwise you can use this spell against your secondary target.

You will also come to notice that this build is a good counter strategy against frenzy, tigers fury, flurry, etc. as this increases also increases the frequency of energy you gain.

Notes & Concerns: This build's survival relies on keeping the physical attacker hexed and blinded for as long as possible. Having hex removals will put a damper on your energy, and having condition removals will put you in the fray of damage. Also, this build is near-useless if the opposing team has no physical attackers - meaning this build doesn't leave room for variation - as a mesmer does^^. Backfire is a real killer as well, you could be busy spamming Ice Spear and by the time you realise you have this hex on you, it's too late.

I didn't post this in the build directory, I want some feedback and possibly an improvement here or there first. Thanks^^!

Run Red Run · Apr 10, 2006, 06:39 PM // 18:39

Seems like something that you might get away with in RA. I think you went a little overboard on the energy management. SoF w/ Midnight should be enough to keep you going (I would bring one other EM skill). I'd stick with Drain Enchant or Inspired Enchant, I don't really see the need for both....then replace it with another damage skill from water. A cover for SoF may not be a bad idea either, but if you're using this in RA I couldn't see someone removing it from a warrior.

Not a bad little self-sufficient build, but could probably be tweaked a bit.

Terra Xin · Apr 12, 2006, 03:47 AM // 03:47

Well... inspired enchantment doesnt really give that much energy in return i guess. I wouldnt use Spirit Shackles because that's additional casting time & energy that I dont really want to spare.

Hmm... another water spell... (takes a look) well, I would need to either look at backup skills or skills that will supplement the build that I have. I prefer the second option so I have more focus on one target, otherwise I tend to waste my energy on multiple targets when I could have easily taken out just one.

(can't decide...) See if I choose a backup skill, it will most likely be armour of frost or mist, or swirling aura, just in case the war decides to have condition removal or something, but those skills will only made me die slower... and I dont want any slow-affecting spells because the warrior will take longer to get to me, and I want him to chase me and hit me and miss me and give me energy (bad grammar... i know.)

Now when it's put that way, any other water magic spell that I would use would be a backup... I hate backups.

(Using backups) OK, so i'll replace Rust with... Frozen burst. Because i'll be at close range for most of the battle, it should give me time to run away and recast SoF and then go back in with midnight sig.

Here are the refurbished skills:

Spirit of Failure
Signet of Midnight {E}
Ice Spear
Drain Enchantment
Chanelling (If SoF is removed, this is the backup)
Ether Feast
Frozen Burst
Res Sig

swordfisher · Apr 12, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Good choice with frozen burst. Ice Spear spam can actually output some good (read: decent compared to warrior autoattack) damage if you've got the fastcasting and energy to do it. Frozen burst is a useful spell overall as an aoe snare + damage hex.

Your second version seems very well put together for Random Arenas, though it's too wrapped up in itself for a larger scene.

Terra Xin · Apr 12, 2006, 04:59 AM // 04:59

lol, it is too...

Actually I designed the build specifically for RA. I'd never take this to HA... TA... maybe...

See... this is why we should have 1v1^^... yes yes... you 'do' have a 50% chance of losing...

If I tried designing a similar build for HA... then i'd have to make multiple builds... ill take a look see... I'll go for PvE first...

Thanks^^

SkyeFerina · Apr 14, 2006, 07:07 AM // 07:07

Funny, I've been working on a fast cast water mesmer for Arenas too. I hadn't thought of using Signet of Midnight as Elite, was going to go Ward Against Harm....SoF and Blind is just great. Most W's just wail away even though they're blind in Arenas, and you just scoop up all those +4s...great.

I'd agree that you're too heavy on energy management too. Instaed of Sugnet of Midnight my emergency warrior measure was a Frozen Burst then run, does quite good damage for water line, but I think your Sig Idea is more flexible and less situational. Hell, you don't even have to target a warrior attacking you. Nice idea.

MasterDinadan · Apr 14, 2006, 07:06 PM // 19:06

Be wary if a W/N comes at you. They can easily remove their own conditions with Plague Touch. Once the Blind condition is removed... they will tear you limb from limb :/

LouAl · Apr 14, 2006, 07:55 PM // 19:55

Its not really a mes with water supplement tho right? Its really a spear spammer with energy through inspriation, oh yeah and sig of midnight.

My thoughts on the build are...
IMO you would really be better off running this as an ele since your damage is all ele dependent and your biggest gains from going Mes are from FC and the +1 energy return from SoF.

The problem that I see is that an ele will be able to cast almost as fast as you (since your damage spells have short cast times) and will get higher damage from them (spear does 49 dmg at lvl 11 and 69 at lvl 16). Also, your elite is no attribute so it works just as well on a ele also, and since the ele would be casting slightly slower s/he would not need the extra +1e from SoF.

I am NOT saying that this build is bad/horrible/crap/etc I am just saying it would *probably* be a little more effective with a ele primary.

My suggestions:

scrap the whole thing j/k

Trade out frozen burst for, possibly, ice spikes (or maybe even ice prison if you want to go less AoE) so that you can have a few extra seconds of spear spamming/loading people up with SoF before they get to you and start trying to smash your face.

Other suggestions: (large changes)
use channeling as your primary energy source
replace Sig of midnight with blinding flash
replace ice spear with water trident
replace SoF with air attunement
leave drain enchant cuz it rocks
replace forzen burst with ice prison or spikes
replace ether feast with...anything (whirlwind, inspired hex, power drain, glyph of lesser energy)

Attbs
Air 8 or 10 (not 9)
Water 12
Inspiration as high as you can (minor rune + mask)
FC left overs (minor rune)

so suggested skills being
channeling
blinding flash
water trident {e}
air attunement
drain enchantment
ice spikes/prison
*your choice, just not ether feast*
Res sig

I know that it does not have any healing anymore, but I hate ether feast and that is why you have a monk right? and why you are permanently blinding people. Also I think that Air attune is a better choice than Water attune because you will only get 1e back for each trident, however you could run both...

*IMPORTANT*
I have never tried what I just suggested and it has some obvious flaws, like trident not being as spammable as spear, energy issues, etc. but it is worth a try

Terra Xin · Apr 15, 2006, 12:13 PM // 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterDinadan

Be wary if a W/N comes at you. They can easily remove their own conditions with Plague Touch. Once the Blind condition is removed... they will tear you limb from limb :/

yeah im actually having that problem with W/N now, lol. but with the 25% miss still in place and frozen burst, W/N will get annoyed...

---

Lou... you love eles... dont you^^

Oh man I despise the ele's attunements... seriously ArenaNet needs to have a good look at those things...

hmm... the build you suggested is trying to keep me at range, and the spells have a much longer casting time... and more energy...

ahhhh! My build... what are you doing??? lol.

Renegade ++RIP++ · Apr 15, 2006, 08:06 PM // 20:06

Spirit of Failure
Blurred vision
Water trident [E]
Drain Enchantment
rust (to cover your sof and blurred vision) annoy bonders, res sigs, and healing sigs
Ether Feast
Ice spikes
Res Sig

That could seem interesting although it is quite heavy on the waterline and you aren't really 100% immune to their attacks.

only problem is the needed healing.

LouAl · Apr 17, 2006, 09:30 PM // 21:30

I don't really love eles...it just seemed like your build is more an ele in mesmers clothing so I tried to come up with some other ideas that might work.

sorry for ruining the build

Serra Knightfang · Apr 19, 2006, 01:13 PM // 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terra Xin

Oh man I despise the ele's attunements... seriously ArenaNet needs to have a good look at those things...

Attunements are awesome...what are you thinking about??? I've seen guildmates throw up two and chaincast all day with no problems.

Renegade ++RIP++ · Apr 19, 2006, 11:54 PM // 23:54

shatter hurts, as does drain enchant which is quite common.