Curse

Ninetail Trickster · Mar 24, 2006, 11:25 PM // 23:25

'kay, no one tell me 'wrong forum', because this IS about mesmers. Mesmer builds, specifically. Thinking for the future, if you will, before it becomes a problem.
Mesmers are supposed to be the 'counter-class'. People expect mesmers to shut down opponents. How are mesmers supposed to shut down Assassins?
E-Denial might work. The lead-off-dual-off chain usually takes up quite a bit of energy.
So how does one shut down an assassin?

General Typhus · Mar 24, 2006, 11:55 PM // 23:55

Distortion HURTS.

Lady Lorwinia · Mar 24, 2006, 11:59 PM // 23:59

all I can think of right now is empathy.

Assassins have to get off a chain of attacks to be useful.

If they have ss + empathy on them. I mean damn. One dead assassin very quickly.

Also. Crippling anguish and other crippling skills. An assassin can't attack if he can barely move.

That's all I can think of right now.

Inspirational Muse · Mar 25, 2006, 12:13 AM // 00:13

Uh...I used a build today with Signet of Midnight and Plague Touch.

Needless to say, Assassins were the least of my worries.

Vaga · Mar 25, 2006, 01:42 AM // 01:42

Just kite away from them, Assasins are a relatively soft target that wouldn't want to overextend too much.

Cherng Butter · Mar 25, 2006, 03:30 AM // 03:30

ineptitude + clumsiness + spirit of failure

assassins really cant dish out that much damage anyway, i always pwned them in RA today

Rayne Nightfyre · Mar 25, 2006, 03:39 AM // 03:39

Ineptitude + Clumsiness alone are an Assassin killer combo. Together, they leave the foe half dead at least, and also blind the foe for a time. Put in a slowing spell, such as Kitah's Burden to make it even harder for the foe to escape alive. Assassins can dish out quite a bit of damage in a short period of time if given the opportunity to. So simply do not give them that opportunity.

Avarre · Mar 25, 2006, 05:16 AM // 05:16

I kill them easily playing my anticaster 12v12 setup...

Diversion -> disable their lead attack, and GG THX BYE
Distortion -> you know what it does
Pound them down with wastrel's if you like... they don't hit that hard. If you can knock out a few skills with diversion they're weak, catch their shadow refuge with overload and you win.

Alot of what is above is more powerful, but I run anticaster, just saying you don't need to spec against them.

rii · Mar 25, 2006, 12:44 PM // 12:44

......spirit shackles.

I am loosing a little bit of respect for the assassin every time i use this skill. The new assassins (even some of the better ones) totally nuke out their energy with some speed. (even the innate energy regen and so on isn't realy powerful enough to give them enough to work with)

Basically, all anti-melee currently available (apart from some like soothingimages) is twice as good against these squishies. The 60al doesnt help either, and its a good day in the Rii camp when they start using frenzy for ias.

Minus Sign · Mar 25, 2006, 02:10 PM // 14:10

Signet of Midnight+Empathy/Plague Touch and you've got 2 on the ropes... Assassins are just hyped up R/Mes for the most part with increased attack speed to supplement standing in the middle of the hotspot. Many Crippling skills may seem less effective because of teleportation, but they aren't. Assassins still have the same mellee issues that Warriors do (barring a few skills) and their hexes, while nice, aren't the end all be all of shutdown. Drain Enchantment should rape most Recall builds by forcing them to burn it when they don't want to. From a healer's standpoint, i can tell you that most tele-heavy PvE groups get themselves killed popping out of my spell cast range (and then staying there to fight).

What worries me is the type of support role Anet seems to be assigning to Mesmers. Hex removal specifically. And the no attribute Elite thing was nice, but its getting old fast. They seem to make a habit of giving the mesmer class great skills that have no detrimental effect to other proffessions using them. Practice, tinkerings and time will tell the tale I suppose, but I fear for the future of the offensive mesmer.

Avarre · Mar 25, 2006, 02:28 PM // 14:28

Arcane Langour versus boonprots

Migrane and Power Return for massive interrupt spam

Overload and Powerspike for a 200 damage interrupt combo, coupled with Stolen Speed for faster cast.

The offensive mesmer looks just fine from over here...

SnipiousMax · Mar 25, 2006, 03:54 PM // 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Arcane Langour versus boonprots

Migrane and Power Return for massive interrupt spam

Overload and Powerspike for a 200 damage interrupt combo, coupled with Stolen Speed for faster cast.

The offensive mesmer looks just fine from over here...

I agree.

And continuing with the discussion...

An assasin without any energy is like a turtle on its back.

Francis Demeules · Mar 25, 2006, 05:02 PM // 17:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

I agree.

And continuing with the discussion...

An assasin without any energy is like a turtle on its back.

An assassin without energy is a dead assassin for me. I generally use Sig of Midnight around build or, like others said, Ineptitude+Clumsiness.

Leon_Ux-ixen · Mar 25, 2006, 05:09 PM // 17:09

I tried to mess with the preview but the current comps. at my school couldn't handle it. But needless to say an A/Me took care fo alot of enmeies. An A/Me can counter a mesmer with the right spell combination makeing them an easy kill. So I can easily see those two proffesion fighting one another.

Dragannia · Mar 26, 2006, 01:39 AM // 01:39

The reason Assassins are getting owned currently is because many of them are just prebuilts. Which suck. Assassin's strengths lie in conditions like Dazed, which will no doubt own any spellcaster. Still, a Mesmer with Spirit Shackles will take care of an assassin quite easily, hence the need for hex removal.

Sayshina · Mar 27, 2006, 01:24 AM // 01:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragannia

The reason Assassins are getting owned currently is because many of them are just prebuilts. Which suck. Assassin's strengths lie in conditions like Dazed, which will no doubt own any spellcaster. Still, a Mesmer with Spirit Shackles will take care of an assassin quite easily, hence the need for hex removal.

Very much true. Mobius is what they're all using as their elite, and I havn't seen anyone with Temple yet. I was running a R/A hoping to find out where to cap it, and gave up. The A also needs the Zealous mod desperatly, which means E-denial works that much better against him.

I only see the Asn as a prob if they get in Temple quickly, most likely with a tele. Mind you, once they have all those conditions on you, with the right support, you're in serious trouble.

They're faster than a War, in that they don't need adren and can do their thing from the start, but they had better accomplish their mission within 4 or 5 seconds or their dead.

What works against them? E-denial, enchant removal, blind, anything like SS, degen, and simple keeping them at a distance. Honestly, I don't understand the worry. I'm nearly positive the only real threat from the entire Asn line is some sort of Ranger spike using the tele skills to jump in, spike, and jump back out of harms way. And even that seems like a pretty fragile combo.

Ninetail Trickster · Mar 27, 2006, 01:43 AM // 01:43

Wow. That was quick. Thanks for the responses... can't believe I didn't think of Clumsiness and Ineptitude. >_<

remmeh · Mar 27, 2006, 03:16 AM // 03:16

empathy
sympathetic visage
spirit shackles
distortion + spirit of failure

Francis Demeules · Mar 27, 2006, 03:33 AM // 03:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by remmeh

empathy
sympathetic visage
spirit shackles
distortion + spirit of failure

you miss the brother of spirit shackle.... mind wrack

Nikki Moonlight · Mar 27, 2006, 03:59 PM // 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sayshina

Very much true. Mobius is what they're all using as their elite, and I havn't seen anyone with Temple yet. I was running a R/A hoping to find out where to cap it, and gave up. The A also needs the Zealous mod desperatly, which means E-denial works that much better against him.

I only see the Asn as a prob if they get in Temple quickly, most likely with a tele. Mind you, once they have all those conditions on you, with the right support, you're in serious trouble.

They're faster than a War, in that they don't need adren and can do their thing from the start, but they had better accomplish their mission within 4 or 5 seconds or their dead.

I used a build that i saw an EaSy member use the previous preview event...it was R/A with zealous daggers so energy wasn't a problem, and then you do jagged strike->temple strike->horns of the ox-> falling spider->twisting fangs...whilst under tigers fury, meaning whole combo takes about 7 seconds, and i only fought one monk that survived the whole combo..it was my faction farming extravaganza weekend