Curse

Kalendraf · Aug 15, 2007, 02:26 PM // 14:26

I am quite experienced with Mesmers, but most of that experience is related to Domination, Inspiration and Fast Casting. My wife is a very casual player, and she has become extremely fond of her Mesmer/Necro due to one skill in particular: Conjure Phantasm. I've tried to offer suggestions for her build, but most of my advice is skewed by my own mesmer playstyle (adaptive, reactive, target switching), while her playstyle is much more fire and forget, and focused on 1 foe at a time. I'm hoping someone out there can help suggest some viable builds.

At this point, she is still on the starter island in Nightfall (up to Blacktide Den), but she does own all 3 campaigns. She has an Elementalist / Mesmer a fair ways into the Factions campaign, and thus she can easily obtain many of the Mesmer skills from the skill trainer in Kaineng. Her necro skills are a bit less diverse. She likes the degen hexes, as well as some of the direct damage skills. The current build she is using features Illusion, Blood Magic and Inspiration skills, and whatever points are leftover tend to go into Fast Casting. In the long term, I think Curses might be a better fit than Blood Magic, but her limited skill selection on the necro side is impacting this somewhat.

Her present build is using these skills: Conjure Phantasm, Necrosis, Siphon Soul, Clumsiness, Vampiric Gaze, Energy Tap, Ether Feast, Unholy Feast (a recent addition she is trying)

One obvious problem she tends to be having is that she exhausts her energy rather quickly. I've suggested that she try using skills like Leech Signet or Power Drain, but she hasn't found them compatible with her play style. She also dislikes skills like Signet of Clumsiness for similar reasons. Essentially she likes spamming hexes and some direct damage skills.

What she's looking for is an easy-to-use Me/N build that heavily features Conjure Phantasm. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to set that up? (Keep in mind that most elites are still a ways off, and reaching Prophecies-only skills may not be viable in the near-term). Any help would be appreciated.

Master Mxyzptlk · Aug 15, 2007, 03:59 PM // 15:59

ether signet/mantra of inscriptions is usually pretty decent with energy
if she can get to MoR, then ethereal burden and kitah's burden also are good. However those two options take a lot of skill slots

Channeling may be her style, and it will mitigate energy loss if she's spamming necrosis or something, drain enchantment may also be useful (haven't tested it post-update) but that might be too conditional for her. perhaps energy drain, despite being weakened?

kimfromhouston · Aug 15, 2007, 04:04 PM // 16:04

I really prefer Dom (Power Block is my favorite skill in the game), but here is the Illusion build I use:
Illusion 16
FC and Insp split the rest of the att points

Ineptitude/Crip Anguish (Depends on how I'm feeling)
Conjure Phantasm
Conjure Nightmare
Auspicious Incantation
Accumulated Pain/Kitah's Burden (I generally prefer Kitah's Burden bc of the small energy gain)
Illusion of Pain
Ether Feast/Drain Enchant/Power Drain
Any Rez Available

Painbringer · Aug 15, 2007, 04:23 PM // 16:23

I am going to throw in a different approach. I love Illusion mixed with the Assassin. You will have to wait till you get far enough to change secondary but it is fun to play.

[skill]Assassin's Promise[/skill] mixed with [skill]Kitah's Burden[/skill] Balance your favorite illusions skills.

As long as you can kill it in the time frame needed you will love the combo of skills. You will get a crap load of energy returned to you and skills recharge.

I suggest her being the head of the party if you are only playing alone. That way hench and her heroes follow her commands and you can do your solo target disrupting and causing havoc.

dudeimoncoke · Aug 15, 2007, 05:23 PM // 17:23

Well for energy Auspicious+Conjure Nightmare you pretty much never run out of energy, plus it gives -8 degen.
Signet of Illusions is probably a good idea if she is going to use skills from the necro line, and it wouldn't require any attribute investment either.

So I guess if I had to put a bar together it would look like,
Conjure Phantasm, Conjure Nightmare, Auspicious Incantation, Phantom Pain, Sig of Illusion, any enchant removal (strip,rend,gaze,shatter,inspired, drain).

For the last two slots I don't really know what else you could take, except a res sig and maybe reckless haste or shadow of fear, only because its a fire and forget hex and you could just use Sig of illusions and max out illusion magic. Plus it really helps the monks if monsters have a 50% chance to miss.

Kalendraf · Aug 15, 2007, 06:28 PM // 18:28

Thanks for the fast responses...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Mxyzptlk

ether signet/mantra of inscriptions is usually pretty decent with energy

I'd thought about that combo, but wasn't sure Mantra of Inscriptions had enough synergy at this point with no other signets in the bar. Running at least 1 other signet alongside Ether Signet (such as Signet of Clumsiness, or Leech Signet) would definitely make this a solid option to consider.

Quote:

if she can get to MoR

MoR would be good if she had any prophecies characters far enough along to help obtain it. She owns that campaign, but has spent all of her limited, casual play-time in Factions and Nightfall so far.

Quote:

Channeling may be her style, and it will mitigate energy loss if she's spamming necrosis or something

Another prophecies skill, but this one is vastly easier to reach. Just need to hop on the boat and talk to Sergio once she arrives. I hadn't considered this one previously, but given her playstyle it might work pretty well.

Quote:

drain enchantment may also be useful (haven't tested it post-update) but that might be too conditional for her.

Yeah, the conditional/reactive skills are what she is hoping to avoid. I suggested having her try it before, but she didn't like the skill.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimfromhouston

Ineptitude

Great skill. Unfortunately, it's in Prophecies, and it's a long ways off for her at this point.

Quote:

Crippling Anguish

A reachable elite, but I am not sold on the concept of using slowing-hexes in PvE. Kiting is almost never a problem in PvE...at least not in normal mode. Given her playstyle, I fear she'd mis-cast slowing hexes enemies who might never attempt to move.

Quote:

Conjure Nightmare

So expensive vs. Conjure Phantasm for that extra -3 degen. Seems like this would further compound her energy problems w/o much benefit...

Quote:

Auspicious Incantation

...unless you factor in a skill like this. This combo looks viable, but it may not fit into her playstyle.

Quote:

Accumulated Pain

Now we're talking. I had somehow managed to totally overlook this skill. I think her ele has this unlocked, so she may just need a mesmer tome to learn it.

Quote:

Kitah's Burden

Slowing hex. Again, not sure this is all that necessary in PvE.

Quote:

Illusion of Pain

Something worth considering, although the ending heal makes this a bit more situational, so it may not suit her style.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Painbringer

Assassin's Promise

Interesting option. Not sure if she'd consider switching to Me/A to try that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudeimoncoke

Signet of Illusions

Definitely a cool illusion skill, but quite a ways off for her in the campaign (Nightfallen Jahei).

I really need to stress that my wife is an EXTREMELY casual player. Even though she has owned Nightfall since the release, she is still on the starter island of Istan! She would play more, but she has had time issues and other factors impacting how much she can be online. I've tried to help her along on some quests and missions, but she likes doing most of the quests by herself. I'm hoping that if she finds a satisfactory Me/N build that fits her playstyle, she will have more success and begin making faster progress. I've also suggested trying another class, but she is extremely intent on playing her precious Mesmer even if she struggles with it.

vespertine · Aug 16, 2007, 12:35 PM // 12:35

combining Auspicious Incantation with conjure nightmare.. c'mon.. just starting a microwave is easier than that..

maybe she should go me/e for a fastcast ele.. then she just has to push 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4....

Estic · Aug 21, 2007, 08:34 AM // 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kalendraf

Slowing hex. Again, not sure this is all that necessary in PvE.

The slowing could be a bonus. If you use the following combo:

Conjure Phantasm
Ethereal burden (or it's copy Kitah's burden)
Accumulated pain

That would give degen and a deep wound for 35 energy. When ethereal burden ends it nets you (at 16 illusion) 23 energy... so ina ll you spend 12 energy for the degen and deep wound (+37 damage from accumulated

) enough to spam some more conjure. Once you used acumulated pain you can switch targets. About 3-5 seconds later you get the 23 energy (target foe should have died by then) and have quite a nice energy pool.

Perhaps fit in a epidemic to finish the sequence off and spread the deep wound.

Patrick Smit · Aug 21, 2007, 09:58 AM // 09:58

she better be a degen necro (although I dont know how that works since reapers nerfs, maybe alternatives are present), it seems to me that she doesnt want active skills that require timing or situational awareness. She apparently prefers degen spam. A necro is much more suitable for that, as they can use soul reaping for e management. mesmers can do it too, but they are usually less effective at it.

Kalendraf · Sep 21, 2007, 10:19 PM // 22:19

It's pretty obvious that for what she is attempting, running a necro primary would likely have been better. However, she fell in love with the idea of the mesmer and is trying to make it work. She's now quite a ways into the NF campaign as well.

Update:
We have arrived at a build that seems to work fairly well for her. She is no longer running out of energy as easily, and she seems to be contributing well enough in the teams we have been using. Most of the time we have 3 humans (her Me/N, a SF Ele, and my own Rit) along with 5 heroes (usually 2 monks, MM, war and another SF ele). The latest build she's been using is this:

Blood Magic: 12
Illusion Magic: 12 (10 + 1 + 1)
Inspiration Magic: 9 (8 + 1)
Fast Casting: 3 (2 + 1)

[skill]Conjure Phantasm[/skill][skill]Images of Remorse[/skill][skill]Necrosis[/skill][skill]Vampiric Gaze[/skill][skill]Energy Tap[/skill][skill]Ether Signet[/skill] and 2 option slots

The option slots tend be things like [skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill], [skill]Lightbringer's Gaze[/skill], [skill]Signet of Capture[/skill], [skill]Barbed Signet[/skill], [skill]Lifebane Strike[/skill], or [skill]Vampiric Swarm[/skill]

It's not a great build by any means, but it lets her continue to apply degen hexes, while also spamming the necro spikes, primarily necrosis. She mixes in the Vamp Gaze for some health gain. When energy becomes an issue, she has the E-Tap and Ether Signet to help out.

I tried out the build myself for a bit, and it was actually fun to use. It's really straight-forward and is relatively mindless (in a good way) in it's playstyle, which is very unlike most of the other mesmer builds I tend to use. For someone like my wife who hasn't played a lot of GW, it works as a viable newbie mesmer setup.

Looking forward...
There's currently no elite in her bar yet, but she really has reached one yet to include. She may end up using Energy Drain as a replacement for Energy Tap, once she reaches the boss to cap it. At that point, it may be time to swap around the attributes again, possibly putting more ranks into inspiration, which might drive some other skill changes as well.

Dean Harper · Sep 24, 2007, 02:35 PM // 14:35

If she wants an elite from Illusion, tell her to go with Ineptitude and cap it in EotN when she hits lvl 20.

Pick Me · Sep 24, 2007, 03:33 PM // 15:33

[skill]conjure phantasm[/skill][skill]phantom pain[/skill][skill]life siphon[/skill]

There, max health degen with a little deep wounds and health regen for her.

[skill]spirit of failure[/skill] - e-management if she chooses to cast it on melee enemy (then move on to a new target).

Always have a rez.

PercivalBlack · Sep 24, 2007, 07:19 PM // 19:19

This is the Me/N build I've had forever - being a casual player myself it works really well for me. Its basically a Degen/Regen build with your wife's conjure phantasm as a big part of it.

*This uses only skills from the first GW installment*

12 Blood
13 Illusion
Rest in inspiration and fast casting

1. conjure phantasm - 14 sec -5 degen

2. Life Transfer(E) - 11 sec -7 degen +7 regen

3. Life Siphon - 22 sec -3 degen +3 regen

4. phantom pain - 10 sec -3 degen 18 sec deep wound

5. vampiric gaze - +52 health

6. clumsiness - 7 sec to interupt and 81 dmg

7. illusion of weakness - gain 215 HP when below 25%

8. energy tap - gain 10 enegy

I find that I rarely run low on energy because of the continual regen and degen that I'm putting out, I don't have to keep mashing buttons. Because of the many similar spells that grant both degen/regen even a mob with hex removal cant get rid of enough to really hurt you.

Hope this helps.