Curse

arredondo · Mar 26, 2006, 07:21 AM // 07:21

Quote:

Discord
Description: If target foe is suffering from a condition and under the effects of a hex or an enchantment, that foe suffers from 15-63 damage (79 at L16). This is an elite skill.
Energy Cost: 5
Activation Time: 1 Second.
Recharge Time: 2 Seconds.
Linked Attribute: Death Magic. Increases damage dealt.
Skill Type: Spell.

Here's a Discord build I came up with that should work well:

========================================
Ne/Me

Death: 14
Illusion 12
Inspiration: 8
Soul Reaping: 3

Discord:71 damage on Condition and Hexed foe
Conjure Phantom: -5 degen, 12 secs.
Images of Remorse: -4 degen, 9 secs... does 44 damage to an attacker
Accumulated Pain: 30 damage and 17 second Deep Wound if placed on dual Hexed foe

Distortion: -2E a whiff
Inspired Hex: net +4E
Drain Enchantment: net +7E
Rez
========================================

Now this is a really complete build for the damage it does. A melee evade, Hex disposer, enchant dispeller and plenty of energy help from IH, DE, and SR.

The damage is really, really, nice. You cast Conjure Phantom and Images of Remorse (switch around vs. an incoming attacker for bonus IoR damage). Then apply Accumulated Pain for the Deep Wound. You are now able to spam Discord until death. In 10 seconds on a 500 HP foe:

CP+IoR degen = 180 damage, 224 if you catch an attacker
Accumulated Pain = 130 damage
Discord x4 = 284

TOTAL DAMAGE: 638!

A paltry 594 if IoH doen't hit an attacker, lol. In any case, the target is dead long before 10s, and the cool thing about this build is you can stack attack with other Discorders for (I believe) armor ignoring spike kills. For only 45E spent to do that much damage, Arena.net may consider re-naming the Necro as the assassin, lol.

Lorven · Mar 26, 2006, 03:37 PM // 15:37

ROFL! just pwned this wammo with healing hands on him , and got him atking. thanks for the build , amazing dmg , monks didnt know what hit them

TehTomato · Mar 26, 2006, 03:48 PM // 15:48

Yeah that skill is pretty bitchin, it took me a few times to read it over, but it's going to own. I can see spike groups running this.

Anarki · Mar 26, 2006, 06:31 PM // 18:31

I can see Discord being nerfed.

Symbol · Mar 26, 2006, 06:56 PM // 18:56

I hope not. Because it's not overpowered in the least. If you're going to sacrifice your elite slot for a damage elite (instead of energy management) it damn well should do lots of damage.

arredondo · Mar 26, 2006, 11:09 PM // 23:09

It'll be nerfed. Arena.net nerfs every good build I come up with.

Check my past threads for some of the great stuff I put up that I used to be able to do.

In any case, I'm glad you guys like it (for the time being). I just got back from a murder spree and earned more faction in a short time than with any build I tried so far. On one map I solo killed opponents six times. Here is the latest version that I think maximizes my style of play as well as the damage:

========================================
Ne/Me

Death: 16
Illusion 12
SR: 4

Discord:79 damage on Condition and Hexed foe
Conjure Phantom: -5 degen, 12 secs.
Images of Remorse: -4 degen, 9 secs... does 44 damage to an attacker
Accumulated Pain: 30 damage and 17 second Deep Wound if placed on dual Hexed foe

Archane Echo
Consume Corpse: net +105 health, net +11E
Distortion: -2E a whiff
Rez
========================================

This build is near perfect for me now, except I can't get 13 Illu for -1 Distortion. I can cast and Distort (or kite and Distort) with ease now. My energy concerns are low... I prep AE early to minimize its cost, then cast Discord for 0E - I now have two spammable copies. For each death I net +15E... +4E from SR and +11 from Consume Corpse (which heals VERY well too).

After AE+Discord, I then cast the Hexes and Accumulated Pain. Even if a Condition is existing from someone else, I apply the Deep Wound if I know they heal well. Otherwise, it's Discord spam until death - only two are needed if the victim has no help. Under AE (thx for the suggestion Symbol!), you can cast every 1.75 seconds (with after cast), so your DPS shoots up. I now get max Death damage, so its better than before.

This build does higher DPS than AotL, but it isn't as strong in the heals. There are all kinds of things that keep it fair (Condition/Hexes removed), but constant -9 degen pressure is killer on most builds, even when I can't immediately Discord. Even with my good energy management, it can slow you down over time, but not for long.

I hope Arena.net allows this build to remain so that the improved Warriors have some DPS competition.

Crystallinity · Mar 27, 2006, 09:07 AM // 09:07

i played with this earlier tonight in random arenas, and REALLY enjoyed it.

since we're high in illusion, there are a few other useful things i wanted to experiment with... first, tried replacing arcane echo with clumsiness (so many warriors/rangers/assassins in random arena). i also tried replacing arcane echo with illusion of weakness. both have their benefits and drawbacks in comparison to arcane echo: clumsiness is decent damage and prevents some damage through an interrupt, and IoW is useful for self preservation... but losing arcane echo leaves you waiting on the discord recharge when you're about to make the kill.

i also tried swapping both accumulated pain and arcane echo for phantom pain + shatter delusions, because fast hex removal could sometimes ruin the accumulated pain's conditional deep wound.

can't really say if any of these small changes were better or worse than the original, they're all useful in a different way.

it's incredibly reminiscent of the old fragility builds, when you think about it...

- illusion hexes to start the combo
- final hex leaves a condition
- finishing spike relies on conditions being present (both being deep wound in this case)
- 5 energy, spammable, elite death magic finisher: discord/virulence

the only real difference is that you need to spec high into death magic here, whereas with fragility you wanted no points in death to increase the spike damage.

i've really missed the old fragility build... it was the only build that made mesmers truly feared for their direct "killing power", rather than simply their disruption/shutdown ability as they are viewed now.

considering the changes that were made to fragility and virulence, i wouldn't be surprised to see something such as the recharge of discord being increased.

anyways, i really enjoyed the build, thanks for sharing.. and here's to hoping it won't be nerfed :|

arredondo · Mar 27, 2006, 11:14 AM // 11:14

Ah yes... the old Frag build. Elitists here were clowning it when I first brought it up (in one argument thread that I won't refer to). Here's the original thread from way back when on the build itself:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=36845

I miss the good ol' days sometimes. That build got me a ton of XP points.

Anyway, I have a new build that has even higher DPS than this Discord fragger. I was undefeated with my team (two Wars and a Monk besides me) in TA before Arena.net shutdown BWE during our streak. I'll try to post it up as soon as I can.

Nice suggestions you have there for alternate skills. Too bad we can't play them anymore for a month or so.