Curse

Witcher King · Jun 03, 2005, 08:42 AM // 08:42

Here's the story. I have a necro/mesmer who is my main character. After 20 I switched to necro/warrior and, although a very fun class to play, nobody wanted me in PvP, because essentially I was a jack of all trades with no well-defined role. Even though I thought I kicked a lot of butt. But anyway, so then tonight I just switched my character BACK to a necro/mesmer and am now playing around with some different builds.

The idea came to me of a pure enchantment stripper since both the necro class and the mesmer class get them in good supply. How valuable do you guys think this would be on a PvP team? I know a lot of people depend on their enchantments for various things and it sure throws their gameplan out of the window when they're constantly getting them stripped. Is it worth it? Any thoughts on a good necro/mesmer build?

Witcher King · Jun 03, 2005, 08:44 AM // 08:44

The reason why I say pure stripping is because you need about 3 to 4 enchantment stripping spells to be effective since most of them have pretty steep recharge times.

anti_z3r0 · Jun 03, 2005, 08:52 AM // 08:52

rend enchantmets
inspired enchantment

I would recommend looking into those skills.

Burem · Jun 03, 2005, 09:10 AM // 09:10

I carry insired enchantment on me E/Me to drag a few off. I find it usefull in alot of situations (dragging down the pesky monk) and combined with knockdown and a few wellplaced spikes of damage it can really make taking someone down alot easier. On the other hand when someone has a ton of enchantments on them I'm not sure if it would be more effective to burn them down or try to tear off all the enchantments that they are just going to recast anyway.

Witcher King · Jun 03, 2005, 09:36 AM // 09:36

I have those as well, anti. It's not what enchantment skills to use but rather the value in making a build strictly to strip enchantments.

That's one thing I've considered too, Burem. People just recasting them, but if they are spending energy recasting enchantments, that's less energy they're using to throw a lightning orb or heal an ally, right?

I'm talking as one member of an eight man team, my whole job would be stripping enchantments. Of course I would have the elite energy drain spell with arcane echo to keep the energy coming and less for the enemy, as well as a res signet for a dead ally.

I guess the REAL question I'm asking is how much do you guys value your enchantments? And how much would you dislike having them constantly taken away from you?

Mercury Angel · Jun 03, 2005, 09:59 AM // 09:59

In general, single enchantment removal wouldn't bother me too much in any situation, except if you get lucky.

In a low enchantment build, most of the time, my enchantments aren't very important, or can be reset easily at 10 energy or less within 5 seconds.

In a heavy enchantment build, my most important enchantments are buried under less useful ones. Even fighting a mob of 5 enemy monsters with Shatter Enchantment, I manage to keep them off of my most prized enchantments. Things like Guardian, I could care less if you remove, and you can be sure I'll cast it immediately after a vitally important one. I've put up Protective Spirit on myself even when it isn't helping, just because it has a short recycle and a long duration, to hide enchantments.

Your mass enchantment removal options are limited, and slow to cast+recharge. When compared to the enchantments you're removing, most of the time, you're paying just as much, or even more, than what the enemy is paying to cast it, and they'll usually have the spell back up and ready before your skill has recycled.

That being said, a well-timed and/or lucky enchantment removal could indeed be EXTREMELY frustrating, and enchantments are almost always in use on multiple enemies, so you'll probably never find yourself unable to use a skill. And most of the enchantment removals offer other side effects, such as damage, healing, or energy recovery.

grimmolly · Jun 03, 2005, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Basically, if you want to destroy heavy enchantment builds, the answer is rend, lingering curse, or target switching. Chances are, if an enchantment is really necessary to their build, the team will try to bury it under junk protection enchantments or use spellbreaker.

Red Locust · Jun 03, 2005, 05:51 PM // 17:51

Now that they nerfed essence bond, you won't be seeing much 'essence bond + life bond' bonding going on for that "human battery" strategy, so I don't know how effective a pure enchantment stripper would be. A lot of monks rely on enchantments, but with the low energy costs and recharge timers, I don't think you'd be life-threatening.

Plus, who would want a necro stripper in their party?

Mercury Angel · Jun 03, 2005, 05:52 PM // 17:52

Life Bond + Balthazar's Spirit works fine though, or did the last time I checked.

Witcher King · Jun 03, 2005, 08:52 PM // 20:52

Thanks for tips. I'll probably just toss this idea in the trash.

mostro · Jun 03, 2005, 08:58 PM // 20:58

If you managed to get a corpse and have the energy to cast Well of the Profane, that's one nasty enchantment removal and prevention combo right there. Works especially well on koth maps.

Red Locust · Jun 03, 2005, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercury Angel

Life Bond + Balthazar's Spirit works fine though, or did the last time I checked.

Yeah but the point of essence bond was to cast it on someone maintaining a lot of life bonds and leaching a lot of energy out of it. With Balthazar's spirit, only the guy maintaining the life bonds gains energy, not everyone else.

I don't know why they nerfed essence, it seemed like a pretty crafty thing to do, to have a human energy machine. One rend enchantment would destroy the whole build (as well as the necro who cast the rend

).

Vindexus · Jun 03, 2005, 09:09 PM // 21:09

Strip enchantment is the single best single-enchantment removal skill in the game.

In all honestly, I'd rather have a few players with some nice enchantment removal than just one with all of it. If they have no enchantments, that character is wasted, and if he dies, you have no enchantment removal.

I love War/Nec's with Rend and Strip.

Zeru · Jun 04, 2005, 06:43 AM // 06:43

I don't think this is too feasible.

I mean, buffing vs debuffing is severely stacked in the favor of buffing (enchants). Try to fight an enchantment strip war and you'll lose, unless it's something like balth aura style cost. Take a gander at recharge times and costs and compare. Most enchants are so much stronger at this type of fight that you need to specialize in something else.

sidenote: rend is a great special use skill.

Asplode · Jun 04, 2005, 09:40 AM // 09:40

Chilblains
Rend Enchantment
Strip Enchantment
Inspired Enchantment
Shatter Enchantment
Lingering Curse

Those are nice spells, but personally why not exploit the stacked enchantment with Desecrat Enchantments and several of the Melandru skills rangers get?