Curse

LifeInfusion · Jun 15, 2007, 11:35 PM // 23:35

Ritualist/Mesmer
Level: 20

Spawning Power: 9 (8+1)
Channeling Magic: 16 (12+4)
Inspiration Magic: 10

- Ancestors' Rage (Channeling Magic) <-- damage
- Essence Strike (Channeling Magic) <-- damage /energy
- Signet of Spirits [Elite] (Channeling Magic) <-- mass energy
- Destruction (Channeling Magic) <-- damage
- Bloodsong(Channeling Magic) <-- damage
- Leech Signet (Inspiration Magic) <-- interrupt
- Mantra of Inscriptions (Inspiration Magic) <-- decrease recharge
- Death Pact Signet (Ritualist None) <-- resurrect

Sideboard:
- Gaze of Fury (Channeling Magic) to kill enemy spirits, although a 30 recharge spirit killer is not a good idea but it can also be used on Destruction
- Signet of Humility (Inspiration Magic) instead of Leech Signet, when there is an elite that seems to be devastating (read: Searing Flames on lvl 28 boss)
- Signet of Disenchantment (Mesmer other) instead of Leech signet to strip off Obsidian Flesh/Spellbreaker
-Hex eater signet (Inspiration magic) in AoE hex areas (Deep Freeze from Torment mobs) instead of Leech signet

CONCEPT:
To make the best use of Signet of Spirits.
Offering of Spirit provides more or less the same net energy without requiring a spirit and in addition it has 5 less recharge. Mantra of Inscriptions changes all of this.

PITFALLS:
Unlike Offering of Spirit, you are constrained into having a spirit to gain energy.
When you cut out spirit use, you are constrained to 2 damage skills that are subpar to an air elementalist.

CONSIDERATIONS for other SIDEBOARD skills:
-Spirit Burn was thrown out because it does less than Ancestor's Rage and in PvE you usually have a frontline character to Ancestor's Rage off of
-Spirit Rift was thrown out because it requires stationary targets
-Gaze from Beyond was thrown out because it has longer recharge than Ancestor's Rage but has less damage
-Channeled Strike is subpar unless you use item spells
-Spirit Siphon is pitiful
-Spirit to Flesh was considered as a replacement for Bloodsong, but it gives it way less offense and puts Signet of Spirits in jeopardy
-Boon of Creation/explosive Growth/Spirit's Gift do not have enough return on investment when there is no spammage.

frojack · Jun 16, 2007, 05:39 PM // 17:39

It's nice to see people using this type of build again. However I am way too bitter over the nerf to SoS to go back to this.

Notes:
Death Pact Signet is asking for trouble.
I doubt you really need more than 1 spirit. Since it's pve, take a good weapon spell.
Warmonger's is naturally first choice. Nightmare is good for foes with stupidly high armour and natural damage reduction. Even the friggin' minions (MINIONS ffs. Stupid, stupid idea...) seem to have damage reduction in Hard Mode.

I've become less interested in splinter as time has gone on. Still good though.

Another interesting thing you can do with SoS (man I really used to love this thing) is use Ether Lord when your low, and then just use Sos to recover a good portion of energy. Though since you can just use a -energy weapon set it's still not worth doing this with SoS. Another pointless 'oh shit' adjustment to pretty niche skill...

Marverick · Jun 16, 2007, 05:58 PM // 17:58

Stationary targets isn't hard to achieve in PvE, so no reason to toss out Spirit Rift.

LifeInfusion · Jun 16, 2007, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Death Pact signet isn't all that risky considering it is 120 seconds and then the danger goes away. Since it is a damage ritualist and not a defense/healer I don't really mind it.

Bloodsong more or less has to be in the front lines, and often times a simple smack by a level 20+ warrior or dervish will end it. That is why it is not really reliable when it comes for Signet of Spirits.

The thing with Destruction is that it is extremely slow but it is relatively secure if you cast it in the background. This acts as a backup to Bloodsong.

Granted, weapon spells would be pretty useful. Maybe essence strike could be swapped out for one, since an overabundance of energy is obtained from the two signets.

LifeInfusion · Jun 21, 2007, 12:05 AM // 00:05

I'm thinking Hex eater signet is going to be sweet now that it is 25 recharge.

Terra Xin · Jun 21, 2007, 03:12 PM // 15:12

I'd rather have Nightmare Weapon than Essence Strike, you have three e-management skills in there and no healing.

I wouldn't place any attributes into Spawning Power either, especially when you're only using it's benefits to provide more health to the two spirits. I have two reasons for this:
1 - Destruction isn't designed to last long, and it has a 15 second recharge
2 - Bloodsong is designed to heal itself, but for this particular build, you should rely more on safe spirit placement than giving it more health.

LifeInfusion · Jun 23, 2007, 03:19 AM // 03:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terra Xin

I'd rather have Nightmare Weapon than Essence Strike, you have three e-management skills in there and no healing.

I wouldn't place any attributes into Spawning Power either, especially when you're only using it's benefits to provide more health to the two spirits. I have two reasons for this:
1 - Destruction isn't designed to last long, and it has a 15 second recharge
2 - Bloodsong is designed to heal itself, but for this particular build, you should rely more on safe spirit placement than giving it more health.

But I didn't want to pump Inspiration to 12 for no reason...
Nightmare weapon could be swapped in for Essence Strike, that's true.