Curse

KennyC · Apr 14, 2008, 10:22 AM // 10:22

This is a nice Mesmer Support build, designed to provide a massive AOE snare, deep wound and cracked armour with some degen for good measure! This build is so much fun in areas like Vizunah Aquare, The Bogroot and Arachni dungeons and fighting Charr. Its also great in Urgoz, basically any areas with large amounts of enemies.

[build prof=Me/E fas=10 ill=16 ins=8][Glyph of Lesser Energy][Fevered Dreams]["You Move Like a Dwarf!"][Shrinking Armor][Accumulated Pain][Drain Delusions][Ether Nightmare (Luxon)][Cry of Pain][/build]

Weapons & Armour
Go for max Illusion Magic - I dont normally advocate a superior rune but the extra few seconds on Fevered Dreams will make a difference. The rest is energy and health as you see fit. I use a high energy staff but a +5e +30hp Crippling Spear and a +12e +30hp Offhand are also excellent choices.

How it works.
GOLE+ Fevered Dreams + YMLAD Cripples everything in the area. Shrinking Armour + Accumulated Pain + Drain delusions applies cracked armour and deep wound for 21 seconds to everything in the area! At this point your Eles and barragers are smashing the crippled Mob, then you cast> Ether Nightmare + Cry of Pain, which inflict degen, armour ignoring damage and an interupt to everything in the area.

My Mesmer has a base energy of 56, at the end of the initial combo her energy is 29, this leaves you plenty of energy to use Cry of Pain and Ether Nightmare again before the Enemy all die. Loading up on survivor runes to pump your health up at the expense of a little energy would not hurt this build at all.

Positives.
It's an Awesome snare, puts out some very long lasting conditions and it keeps everything almost static for your nukers/barragers etc.

Negatives.
If Fevered Dreams is removed before you can cover it you look like an idiot, but this is rare as you cover it pretty quickly with multiple hexes. Total reliance on your Monks for Protection and Healing, although mellee enemy cant get to you because of the cripple.
No Rez.

Chthon · Apr 14, 2008, 03:26 PM // 15:26

1. We've been all over Fevered Dreams build in my search for a decent mesmer thread. It can be done better.

2. No blind. No weakness. Both of these conditions are more valuable than cripple, especially on an AoE basis.

3. Shrinking Armour + Accumulated Pain + Drain delusions takes waaay too long to cast. Your target dies before you can finish the chain, so you never get the conditions spread. And this problem is going to get worse as a fight progresses and high hp foes are harder to find.
Finish Him applies DW and CA instantly and more cheaply than this chain; and it only takes 1 skill slot as opposed to 3.

4. Serious energy problems.

KennyC · Apr 14, 2008, 03:45 PM // 15:45

@Chthon
Thanks for your input.

A note on "Finish Him" it's a conditional skill requiring the target to be below 1/2 health for the deep wound to apply, this will more often than not kill the target and end your attack chain without spreading the condition. Thats why I discarded it as not useful for this build as you want the DW to transfer to all enemies.

No blind? No weakness? Who cares, this is one of 8 characters, Enfeebling Blood can be taken by a Necro.
Blind is too expensive to maintain for any duration, i'm more than happy to rely on Enfeebling Blood from a Necro and the FD'd Cripple to keep my party safe from any enemy mellee.

Yes you are right that it takes a while to cast all 8 skills.

Serious energy problems, I do not agree. It's not ideal but it's certainly not a serious problem.

EDIT-If you could PM me a link to your thread i'd be interested to read it.

Cebe · Apr 14, 2008, 03:51 PM // 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

2. No blind. No weakness. Both of these conditions are more valuable than cripple, especially on an AoE basis.

What about other players though?

I used Fevered Dreams on my Mesmer and loaded up with Heroes to see if I could recreate "The Mandragor Effect". It worked really rather well and was fun. I don't see why other players/heroes couldn't help spread the love though..Elementalists for Blind and Burning, Necros for Weakness and Cracked Armor, Dervishes/Rangers for more lulz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

4. Serious energy problems.

I'd rather see the use of Power Drain at least. It's too good not to use instead of Glyph of Lesser Energy, and in PvE there are usually plenty of Spellcasters to interrupt.

I don't think Ether Nightmare is really the greatest skill choice. Perhaps more energy management instead, since damage from Cry of Pain can already be triggered by the other hexes.

In higher level PvE, without a Ranger to spread Daze, perhaps replacing a skill with Arcane Conundrum, to slow down enemy spellcasters, and, as Chthon says, using "Finish Him!" to combine three skills into one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyC

A note on "Finish Him" it's a conditional skill requiring the target to be below 1/2 health for the deep wound to apply, this will more often than not kill the target and end your attack chain without spreading the condition.

It's easy enough to slam "Finish Him!" on a foe as it's just under 50% health imo. Plenty of life left to spread the conditions to other foes.

Chthon · Apr 14, 2008, 10:25 PM // 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyC

A note on "Finish Him" it's a conditional skill requiring the target to be below 1/2 health for the deep wound to apply, this will more often than not kill the target and end your attack chain without spreading the condition.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that, because Finish Him applies the conditions before the damage, it also triggers Fevered Dreams before the damage.
At any rate, I agree with Celestial Beaver. I have no practical trouble finding targets and spreading DW/CA using Fevered Dreams + Finish Him, so it's a non-issue.

Here's the thread: link

Bront · Apr 15, 2008, 02:20 AM // 02:20

My general experience is few mobs stay up long enough to play effective condition spreader by yourself in PvE. Now, if you use this as a party build, where another person or two is also throwing out conditions (Burning, poison, disease, weakness, deep wound, bleeding, etc) then it could be devistating. I might suggest Epidemic also to be added to the build. Hit one guy with Fevered Dreams, Epidemic a different mob in range of the Fevered Dreams guy, and you get twice the area.

KennyC · Apr 15, 2008, 05:56 AM // 05:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bront

My general experience is few mobs stay up long enough to play effective condition spreader by yourself in PvE. Now, if you use this as a party build, where another person or two is also throwing out conditions (Burning, poison, disease, weakness, deep wound, bleeding, etc) then it could be devistating. I might suggest Epidemic also to be added to the build. Hit one guy with Fevered Dreams, Epidemic a different mob in range of the Fevered Dreams guy, and you get twice the area.

Something like this perhaps? Click

Bront · Apr 15, 2008, 06:39 AM // 06:39

If you had a second player, that'd work.

Zil · Apr 15, 2008, 09:05 AM // 09:05

The option that can bind Hero skills to keys also made Fevered Dreams even more dangerous, allowing you to throw out conditions when and where you want it. Mandragor power.