Curse

Terra Xin · Nov 17, 2007, 05:02 AM // 05:02

I was thinking about a build that would use this skill, and the best condition that a mesmer could get their hands on is Daze. Too bad they don't have that ability, so I looked at other professions and then stumbled across the Paragon's set of Spear skills. Here it is:

Me/P

Fast Casting: 10 + 1 and Illusion Magic: 1 OR
Fast Casting: 1 and Illusion Magic: 10 + 1
Inspiration magic: 11 + 3 + 1
Spear Mastery: 10

[skill]Extend Conditions[/skill] (+100% at R15)
[skill]Epidemic[/skill] or [skill=text]Hypochondria[/skill]
Spear Swipe (under Leadership - 4 sec of Daze)
Shrinking Armor (Cracked Armor)
Chest Thumper (Deep Wound, requires Cracked Armor)
[skill]Physical Resistance[/skill] (-12AR to elemental at R15)
[skill]Ether Feast[/skill]
[skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Armor: Recommended that you use a Spear with AR+7 vs. elemental and a Focus item of +5 vs elemental, to offset the Physical Resistance. Make sure you take a +33% to daze mod on your spear as well, it makes a big difference. Clothing is up to you, I use Sentry's (+10 while stanced).

Usage: Find a target and use Shrinking Armor, then go up to them and hit them with spear swipe and then Extend Conditions immediately afterwards (this will give almost 8 seconds of daze when you first use this). Follow up with Chest thumper once Shrinking Armor has ended, and then re-apply shrinking armor where appropriate. Daze can be difficult to keep on a target indefinitely, but achievable only if you use Extend conditions as soon as it recharges. Share those conditions with other enemies by using Epidemic, or put more conditions on your target with Hypochondria.

Notes: As you can see, this build uses three conditions, which are Daze, Deep Wound and Cracked Armor. I left two choices between fast casting and illusion magic, and I did this because Shrinking Armor's condition can be lengthened by Extend Conditions whether or not you have attributes on it, so it's really a decision between faster casting of shrinking armor and ether feast, or the bonus of having degen from Shrinking armor.

Pros: Great against all caster types, including Monks and those annoying Dancing Dagger sins. You are also running at 110 armor vs physical and 70 armor vs elemental (60 armor vs untyped).

Cons: The most common reaction of a target under daze is to run away. Since you don't have snares, it can be difficult to keep conditions on them if they make a real effort to kite you.

Variation: Try [skill=text]Barbed Spear[/skill] and Maiming Spear (causes cripple, requires bleeding) in place of Shrinking armor and Chest thumper (then put your attributes into fast casting, or disperse them over inspiration and spear mastery). This will give you the same degen from Shrinking armor as well as a good snare to improve your odds that your target wont run away. Barbed spear does require adrenaline, so keep that in mind while fighting.

joemanstar · Nov 17, 2007, 07:07 AM // 07:07

Is this for PvE?
It's quite useful in PvE I think

For PvP
RC or Martyr can counter it

Terra Xin · Nov 18, 2007, 12:26 AM // 00:26

PvE and low end PvP.

upier · Nov 19, 2007, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Basically all that work for 8ish secs of Daze?
Why not just go ranger secondary for BHA?

=DNC=Trucker · Nov 19, 2007, 08:53 PM // 20:53

It has its uses, yes, but its very limited. Condition removal is WAY too common to revolve a build around this skill.

Azaya · Nov 20, 2007, 06:15 PM // 18:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

Basically all that work for 8ish secs of Daze?
Why not just go ranger secondary for BHA?

Exactly.

Might be a fun change but nothing really earthshattering.

Terra Xin · Nov 28, 2007, 02:22 AM // 02:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azaya

Exactly.

Might be a fun change but nothing really earthshattering.

Since I'm the only one that has tested this, it does go up to 30 seconds under constant application - which also means indefinitely... :S