Curse

Ethereal · Sep 26, 2005, 01:18 PM // 13:18

Illusion 12
Marksmanship 12
Beast Mastery 4

Fragility
Mind Wrack
Incendiary Arrows
Tiger's Fury
Hunter's Shot
Pin Down
Illusion of Weakness
Ressurrection Signet

This is a build I've been working on in 4v4. It works well, taking out a single target surprisingly quickly, but still needs work. The Pin Down is realy energy-intensive, but I haven't found a cheaper way to slow runners - and as soon as casters feel a frag'd 1-second fire arrow, they do tend to run.

The main problem I'm having with this build is surviving long enough to kill more than one target. As Mesmer Primary I'm almost always priority target, and get cut down pretty quickly. Now, this exact same build can be done with Ranger Primary, which tends to survive longer (not as high a priority target), but doesn't do damage quite as quickly.

So the question is this: Does this build work best as Mesmer/Ranger, or Ranger/Mesmer?

Foxtale · Sep 27, 2005, 12:31 AM // 00:31

Quick question, why does nobody put many points into Fast Casting? I'd have thought it was the most useful skill a mesmer had.

octaviancmb · Sep 27, 2005, 02:45 AM // 02:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foxtale

Quick question, why does nobody put many points into Fast Casting? I'd have thought it was the most useful skill a mesmer had.

Fast Casting Rates

Because attribute point requirements rise disproportionately to the effect of Fast Casting once you reach a certain point (rank 7 or 9, depending on who you ask), most Mesmer theorists advise against going beyond the 7/9 threshold. Many people have great resultes from something as low as 3 or 5, depending on their build.

It all, really, depends on your skill bar. Obviously you don't need very high fast casting if you're not using its one linked skill and are filling the rest of your bar out with spam-casting spells, anyway (the Me/Mo, for instance).

Personally, the only time I'd advise a Mesmer to go beyond 7 Fast Casting is when they want to experiment with Mantra of Recovery, which will suffer and suck badly if linked to anything less than 12 FC due to the limited number of spells you can cast due to the .75 sec aftercast.

That said, 16 Fast Casting makes you really, REALLY fast, and can be real fun to play around with. Since there are no attribute refunds anymore, you might as well play, right? Knock yourself out!

cmb

Foxtale · Sep 27, 2005, 05:36 AM // 05:36

Okay, thanks for that. That should help me out a lot. I was going to put around 10 into FC, but from what you've said, that's not looking very attractive at the moment.

Thank you.

Yukito Kunisaki · Sep 29, 2005, 09:15 PM // 21:15

Hmm, I wonder how 16 fast cast would affect a mesmer using those LOOONG cast times with fire spells? [hmm, evil laugh]

Arcanis the Omnipotent · Oct 06, 2005, 06:55 AM // 06:55

You would still have to worry about how most powerhouse Fire spells cost major energy.

You'd get off 3 very fast, and then sit there for a minute.

EnzimX · Oct 06, 2005, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Mesmer/Elementalist

Dunno all the skills becuz I'm goin to buy it tomorow

But you can stick the enemy with mesmers skills and then destroy him with elementalists spells, you can do it fast with fast casting.

Diestro · Oct 08, 2005, 07:51 PM // 19:51

You can make a build like that, but there are a few serious (in my opinion) problems with it.

First problem is, since you're a mes primary, you limit yourself to 12 in your element of choice, which limits your damage output. Next problem would be energy management. Mes primaries have about half the starting energy pool that an el primary with a nicely boosted energy storage will have, and since you'll have faster energy use, you'll burn through that pool in a hurry. That'll force you to bring a couple energy management skills with you. With res sig on your bar, that'll leave you with 5 slots to split between mes and el skills, so you're really limited to either an el damage build, or a mes build (be it shutdown/denial/etc.).

A build like this is just a case of trying to do too much with one character. The one thing having an 8 skill limit does nicely, is forcing you to pick a specialty and make the best of it.

LightningHell · Nov 01, 2005, 12:52 PM // 12:52

I do Fast Cast/Inspiration/Water. So far it's alright, but I don't really know if it would get whipped in somewhere else other than Co-op Arenas.
As long as I get the quickness and the freeze, the lowered damage doesn't really matter. I let the other people do the kill.

Mantra of Recovery {E}
Maelstrom
Channeling
Energy Tap
Ice Prison
Ice Spear
Water Attunement
Spirit of Failure

Fast Casting 16 (12+4)
Water Magic 10 (10)
Inspiration 9 (8+1)

Nibbler · Nov 01, 2005, 01:43 PM // 13:43

It's been a slow day at work so I thought I knock together a Turbo Nuker build. Simple and not very subtle at all.

Att:

Fast Casting = 16
Fire Magic = 12
Other = Doesn't matter

Skills:

Elemental Attunement (E)
Fire Attunement
Meteor Shower
Rodgorts Invocation
Fire Storm
Fireball
Incendiary Bonds
Rez Sig

Plan of attack is before you go into a fight cast Ele Att and Fire Att, this will mean you get 80% of the energy cost of spells back then.

Meteor Shower
Rodgorts
Incendiary Bond
Fire Storm
and finally Fireball

The big plus here is you can get the whole volly off in about 8 seconds, which means your average Echo Nuker will still be casting their second Meteor Shower. I find this mildly amusing.

Couple of big issues tho', once you've cast everything you will be sat there with your only option being to cower at the back for a minute, and the exhaustion from the Meteor Shower is a big pain. Having said that I will probably put this build together tonight and see how it works.

Xenrath · Nov 07, 2005, 02:51 PM // 14:51

For those missions when you want to be a mesmentalist instead of proper mesmer, I've a turbo blaster which works rather well too

Fire Attunement
Elemental Attunement{E}
Arcane Echo
Meteor Shower
Fireball
Firestorm
Channelling/Backfire (optional, swap for other stuff)
Res Signet

Max out Fire, put as much as you can in Fast Casting and put rest into Inspiration or Domination

Cast attunements, then you can Arcane Echo Meteor Shower, Fireball and Firestorm to dish out some serious damage and knockdowns (x2) and keep your energy up high. Alternatively AE Fireball for fireball spamming.

Nibbler · Nov 08, 2005, 09:56 AM // 09:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenrath

Cast attunements, then you can Arcane Echo Meteor Shower, Fireball and Firestorm to dish out some serious damage and knockdowns (x2) and keep your energy up high. Alternatively AE Fireball for fireball spamming.

Doesn't the exhaustion screw you up?

Manfred · Nov 10, 2005, 04:08 AM // 04:08

yeah, 20 exhaustion on a 40-60 e character? no fun, man.

Xenrath · Nov 10, 2005, 03:43 PM // 15:43

That's what I thought at first but it doesn't really, the Meteor Showers take a while to recharge and by then the exhaustion has recovered a sufficient amount.

I forgot to add I also use the flame wand and artefacts from the crystal desert collectors 20/20 stuff + 12 energy, plus enchanters armour so you get maximum energy to start with.

You can also swap to AE'ing the fireballs while waiting for the energy to go back up. The dual attunements means you pretty much will never run out of energy, due to the big recovery of the big hitters.

Nibbler · Nov 10, 2005, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenrath

That's what I thought at first but it doesn't really, the Meteor Showers take a while to recharge and by then the exhaustion has recovered a sufficient amount.

Cool, cool!

I've found that energy isn't an issue either the attunement stack is very nice... could prolly just about take another exhaustion and my starting energy isn't that much. My main problem has been dealing out enough damage with Fire at 12 and the regen time.

Can get the initial volly out well enough then Rodgorts and Searing come back... When being the sole nuker against a certain Mr Yakslapper I was naff all use. Might swap incendary bonds for fireball as it is more spammable.

Any suggestions?

Xenrath · Nov 10, 2005, 04:04 PM // 16:04

Just for fun you can take Echo as your elite, as well as Arcane echo and as a result end up with THREE meteor showers lmao... it's completely disasterous for spamming of course (and you lose an attunment = energy problems) but fun while it lasts

badazzreddawg · Nov 13, 2005, 06:02 PM // 18:02

how about a mesmer/ ele build

Nibbler · Nov 14, 2005, 10:01 AM // 10:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenrath

Just for fun you can take Echo as your elite, as well as Arcane echo and as a result end up with THREE meteor showers lmao...

I have considered it, as 3 meteor showers in under 10 secs would be bloody funny. Problem is you can't take Elemental Attunement and Echo... This means you'd only be getting 30% of the energy back and only on the Meteor Storms. I reckon you'd need an energy pool of about 65 - 70 to pull this off.

It'd be bloody funny to see it though.

TGgold · Nov 24, 2005, 11:18 PM // 23:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nibbler

I have considered it, as 3 meteor showers in under 10 secs would be bloody funny. Problem is you can't take Elemental Attunement and Echo... This means you'd only be getting 30% of the energy back and only on the Meteor Storms. I reckon you'd need an energy pool of about 65 - 70 to pull this off.

It'd be bloody funny to see it though.

Couldn't Arcane Mimicry do the trick in this situation? I'm seeing a dual E/Me team for some fun :P

rocinantae · Nov 28, 2005, 06:13 PM // 18:13

Hey does empathy count as a negative condition? Could you cast it on an enemy then cast epidemic?