Curse

sakura75 · Sep 06, 2007, 10:16 PM // 22:16

Location: Slaver’s Exile
Purpose: Killing Duncan the Black with a mesmer
Team Setup:

1) Me-XX
Attributes:
FC 8, Illusion 14, Domination 9, Inspiration 9. All Minor Runes one of each attribute, 5x Survivor insignas, Superior Vigor.
Skills: Ineptitude, Clumsiness, Conjure Phantasm, Empathy, Backfire, Conjure Nightmare, Mantra of Lightning Leech Signet.
Weapons:
Illusion Staff +5E/+30HP/20%/20%
Shield +30HP/+10Armor vs Lightning; Chackram 20% Domination, 10% FC

2) N/Rt (Hero), SR 12, Restoration 12
Protective was Kaolai, Weapon of Remedy, Recovery, Mend Body and Soul, Flesh of my Flesh, Spirit Transfer, Spirit Light, Ghostmirror Light

3) N/Rt (Hero), SR 12, Restoration 12
Protective was Kaolai, Recuperation, Life, Mend Body and Soul, Spirit Light, Flesh of my Flesh, Weapon of Warding, Spirit Light Weapon

4) Mo/E (Hero), Divine 10, Prot 10, Smite 11
Life Bond, Life Barrier, Vital Blessing, Balthazar’s Spirit, Reversal of Damage, Spirit Bond, Shielding Hands, GoLE.

5) E/R, Fire 16, ES 12, WS 3
Savannah Heat, Fire Storm, Fire Attunement, Searing Heat, Tennai’s Heat, Glyph of Sacrifice, Meteor Shower, Frozen Soil

6) Mo/XX (Hero), Divine 10, Prot 10, Heal 11
Light of Deliverance, Dwayna’s Kiss, Orison of Healing, Dismiss Condition, Remove Hex, Spirit Bond, Shield of Absorption, Resurrect

7) E/XX (Hero), ES 12, Water 14, Earth 4
Icy Shackles, GoLE, Blurred Vision, Deep Freeze, Freezing Gust, Mealstrom, Water Attunement, Ward vs Elemenrs

8) N/XX (Hero), SR 10, Blood 10, Death 14
Tainted Flesh, Animate Bone Minions, Death Nova, Rising Bile, Animate Shambling Horror, Res Sig, Rotting Flesh, Blood Ritual.

The Dungeon Slaver’s Exile is in my opinion one of the hardest dungeons; even the Catacombs of Kathandrax is a piece of cake in comparison. Since I love playing mesmers and mesmers and PvE are somehow not very compatible. No one would take a mesmer in the team. I took the challenge to do the Last Hierophant Quest with my mesmer and a friend playing an elementalist the other six spots were filled with heros.

The first four parts are really easy to clear out with our team, only Duncan the Black was horrible difficult, since his health is like 25k hit points. Directly upon entering the dungeon, we encountered a patrol to be cleared out. The path to Duncan was pretty straight forward with several spawns of annoying level 28 touchers. Clearing out strategy was as follows: priest (being nuked), defender (being backfired) and warders with Leech signet interruption. Frozen soil was kept up at safe distance so that they could not res. Facing Duncan the Black, firstly clear out the chamber of spawns of touchers. Don’t forget the spawn next to Duncan’s left side (right of you)!
Bonds are applied on the mesmer; switching to Shield +10 armor vs Lightning since Duncan cast channeling spells causing lightning damage. Keeping up Mantra of Lightning is essential for survival. DO NOT kill any spirits attacking you, since you will gain energy from them needed to spam your skills, triggered by Balthazar’s Spirit.
Position your mesmer above the stairs and spam degen spells and anti-melee spells on Duncan. Ineptitude at 14 illusion causes 128 damage. Counted are 222 times ineptitude casted which means a total of 28416 damage (damage from clumsiness, empathy and both the conjure degens excluded). Our guess is that this level 29 Duncan has 25k hit points. He does not heal himself, but the spirits around him (Recuperation) was responsible for his healing. Beware of Disenchant to remove your bonds! In case this happen, get down the stairs and reapply the bonds, Blood Ritual was casted on bonder to faster bonds reapplication. For faster kill, selectively kill the Recuperation spirits (done by my elementalist party member). Heal yourself at a distance using Light of Deliverance and Protective was Kaolai. Our Recuperation and Recovery was additional heal and and burning reduction.

Conclusion: Mesmers in PvP are awesome but are not to be underestimated in PvE either. Even in extreme conditions they perform as good as any other profession.

>> Positioning of your mesmer

>> Damage received by you done by the spirits, damage received from Duncan using his channelling spells are not illustrated here. Dependent on the spells he afflicted 0-42 damage.

>> Duncan after dealing him constant damage and degen.

>> Victory!

SotiCoto · Sep 07, 2007, 08:57 AM // 08:57

Nicely done!

Pity I won't be able to make use of this any time soon (I'm not a Mesmer player)...

Might take secondary Mesmer for the Mantra of Lightning though... now I think about it.

Rhys · Sep 07, 2007, 09:36 AM // 09:36

Congrats! I've been tweaking a mesmer build for Duncan as well since no one wants a mesmer on their team... if you'll permit me to hijack your thread. xD

I've actually done it by lowering my health as much as possible (117 was the lowest for me, since I didn't have sup rune armor ready) with DP, unlike you who seems to have high health.

Then... secret skill 1: "Swap". Use it on the spirits! Even if you kill them, they'll respawn at the swapped location great for getting rid of the pesky disenchantment spirits.

Secret skill 2: "Illusionary Weaponry". Doesn't trigger Duncan's Defences, use it with a high dagger mastery and whittle away his health while throwing a clumsiness whenever it recharges.

I had Talkhora use protective spirit on me, while maintaining mending and watchful spirit... no other healing was necessary.

Aren't mesmers great? xD

Karlos · Sep 07, 2007, 09:42 AM // 09:42

Congrats on getting it done. Quite frankly the place is so easy in normal mode people have been hero/henching it with all sorts of primaries. Your build as a mesmer does not seem to actually be that good at taking him out.

arcanemacabre · Sep 07, 2007, 09:42 AM // 09:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhys

Then... secret skill 1: "Swap". Use it on the spirits! Even if you kill them, they'll respawn at the swapped location great for getting rid of the pesky disenchantment spirits.

Wow. I mean, holy crap! I would've never considered that - pure genius! I haven't done this dungeon, yet, but was considering it later tonight. I think this tidbit is going to make it a breeze. Thanks for that, Rhys!

SotiCoto · Sep 07, 2007, 10:13 AM // 10:13

Swap?

.... So... erm... you teleport to where a spirit was and a spirit teleports to where you were? ... And the herohench destroy the spirit when it arrives...

But the jump puts you in the midst of a mob of other spirits? Is that such a great idea?

I mean I might try the IW thing myself... It has been a long time since I pratted around with that.

Rhys · Sep 07, 2007, 11:42 AM // 11:42

There should be 6 spirits on both sides of Duncan, so if you swap with a spirit on one side, you should only be teleported in the middle of 5 spirits -- 2 of which are recuperation ones. Three attacking spirits of pain/shadowsong won't be able to take you out and Duncan should only get one spell off on you (so use protective spirit before swapping!) before you are back out and ready to swap with another spirit.

The great thing is that it doesn't matter if your henchies kill the swapped spirit because it'll respawn where they killed them so you can leave them there or swap them even further away (especially recuperation ones... don't let them affect Duncan). xD

If you're trying out IW, remember to take drunken master for an IAS... alternatively, use sakura75's method but swap out the disenchantment spirits so they don't break any bonds!

Xitoahc · Sep 07, 2007, 11:56 AM // 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhys

secret skill 1: "Swap". Use it on the spirits! Even if you kill them, they'll respawn at the swapped location great for getting rid of the pesky disenchantment spirits.

Ok you have no idea how much your post will revolutionize future Duncan runs, thank you so much for posting this.

Abedeus · Sep 07, 2007, 12:03 PM // 12:03

As a player with only Mesmer primary in EotN I must say - Holy $h1t... Thanks, man!
Im giving this 5 star rating...

Theli · Sep 07, 2007, 02:53 PM // 14:53

Hi, Congrats!!!
But a few points.

Me and a friend tested some build for duncan, and I have to tell that ur usind 1 skill that doesn't work, an u can change it..

Life Bond only triggers with attacks, not with spells.

Our first Runs to Duncan we use LB, but we were WTF he kill the hero with LBond, and no dmg reduction, nothing was transferred to Bonder.

Then we tested on Balthazar Temple..

We hit Catapult, Wieth Lbond

First Try PS + LB On a Char with 510 Health DMG = 51.. Just PS No dmg reduction from LB.
Second Try Without PS, just LB. same char DMG = 200 something. No Dmg Transeferred to bonder.
Third Try Without LB Same dmg.

Then Agains The Master of Lightning = He use Lightning Orb.
Hit my war for 81 dmg without enchants on me.
With LB hitme for 81 dmg to.. No DMG reduction.

Then tested against master of hammer.
Without LB was something like 30 dmg average.
With LB : 15 dmg average.

And if u say that dmg from duncan spells was app42 dmg, why Spirit Bond?.

Thats all.
And again, Congrats, now my mesmer goes North!!.
And of course Thanks for share the build. There is lot of ppl with ss and covering builds.

PD: Another Congrats is to the swap guy, Grats and thanks to share the discover

Edit: Fixed a bug that cause me wite Protective bond instead of Life Bond.. Thats why i should not Reply Posts when I just Awake.
Was only Writting Problem :P, We do test with Life Bond, And Life Bond dont work. Only with attacks

Evilsod · Sep 07, 2007, 07:32 PM // 19:32

I'm confused... why did you name this thread killing Duncan with a mesmer... used a full team to do it... then finished the boss off using any old anti-attack/cast build with a bonder to do it?

Not quite as impressed now i know what the thread is actually about...

AlienFromBeyond · Sep 07, 2007, 07:54 PM // 19:54

That Swap tip is a great idea.

sakura75 · Sep 07, 2007, 11:54 PM // 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhys

Congrats! I've been tweaking a mesmer build for Duncan as well since no one wants a mesmer on their team... if you'll permit me to hijack your thread. xD

I've actually done it by lowering my health as much as possible (117 was the lowest for me, since I didn't have sup rune armor ready) with DP, unlike you who seems to have high health.

Then... secret skill 1: "Swap". Use it on the spirits! Even if you kill them, they'll respawn at the swapped location great for getting rid of the pesky disenchantment spirits.

Secret skill 2: "Illusionary Weaponry". Doesn't trigger Duncan's Defences, use it with a high dagger mastery and whittle away his health while throwing a clumsiness whenever it recharges.

I had Talkhora use protective spirit on me, while maintaining mending and watchful spirit... no other healing was necessary.

Aren't mesmers great? xD

Swap is horribly good... not thought about it....gg
I thought of Unnatural Signet, but still to slow.

sakura75 · Sep 07, 2007, 11:57 PM // 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theli

Hi, Congrats!!!
And if u say that dmg from duncan spells was app42 dmg, why Spirit Bond?.

Cause this build is not only to kill Duncan. It is to kill the other four quests/dungeons before getting to Duncan as well.

Brega · Sep 08, 2007, 09:33 AM // 09:33

swap is certainly a nice idea and one that had'nt occured to me, when we go for Duncan again have to make sure it comes along. On another note, has anyone thought about using the ritualist elite Consume Soul it would be a nice source of healing and another way of dealing with the spirits.

sakura75 · Sep 08, 2007, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Thought of Consule Soul, but think it is a waste of one elite skill for only killing spirits. Unnatural Spirit is better imo, no energy cost, direct recharge!

Shanaeri Rynale · Sep 08, 2007, 11:59 PM // 23:59

For fun I decided to get a team of all mesmers together to try Slavers

Since a lot of the mobs carry enchant removal, and there are respawning disenchantment spirits we took an an ineptitude, warder to provide protection against the melee,frozen soil and eoe for the stone summit mobs. The main damage dealers were CoP spikers(what else) with 2 Lod mes/monks and a prot mes/monk.

First boss down

Second boss down

It took us about 1:14 for both bosses.

One of the team members only needed duncan, and since if one person has that part of the quest then all can do it, we decided to give Duncan a go
We had one mesmer using unnatural signet and spiritual pain to keep the spirits quiet, another mesmer on interupt duty for duncan and the rest would chip away at him.

Only those mesmer under Prot spirit would attack, and then back off when it wore off.

Took us about 20 mins to take down Duncan

Oddly it registered as the quest being complete, so we took the reward

Once we got used to the build things went pretty easy. But it does go to show that Slavers is a great mission, and very much carrying on in the traditon of sorrows furnace. For sure it's not mega hard, but what it is, is fun and able to be completed with lots of builds. After all Fun is why we play.

sakura75 · Sep 09, 2007, 03:11 AM // 03:11

Wow, I really like your all mesmer build, it looks leet. Please PM me if you go to kill Duncan again and need a mesmer. I would gladly join you.

ACreator · Sep 09, 2007, 11:19 AM // 11:19

Shanaeri are u guys going to reapet the stun?

I mean I would rly love to make all slaver's with my mesmer.

can u plz say how long did u take on each part?

----

PS: one more question... what is ur timezone? xD

Rhys · Sep 09, 2007, 12:53 PM // 12:53

Lol! I'd love to be in an all-mesmer romp too. But I have trouble getting into normal PvE groups, let alone specialised groups like these.

*groan* Maybe it's time for a guild, with people (ha!).