Which tends to be a better spiker: Recuring Soul Barbs or Fragility Virulence spiker?

I'm new to the mesmer. I got my butt handed to me in RA by several M/N. I'm pretty sure they were using the Fragility>Virulence>hypocondria spell, (with other hexes mixed in) though one did soul barbs > recuring. I think both builds are great...huge damage spike. I don't know. Are these good? Which is better?

Frag spiking is faster, and usually cheaper, and less harsh on the attributes. However, it is also more easily countered.

To be honest I like Sig of Suffering much better than either. It's true that it's more of a Necro thing than a Me thing but putting Sig of Suffering on top of a Barbs chain of hexes is a wonderful finishing move. Esp. if you stack degen hexes up to max degen. Frags is back only because of it's affinity with Hypochondria, and I'm not sure how long that will last. Barb/RI is nice, too. Depends on personal pref I guess, all are pretty good.

recuring soul barb isn't much of a spike...62 dmg per hex cast, and WW need another 3 seconds to work again..overwriting WW doesn't trigger soul barb.

but spamming PB does. ;-)

Quote: Originally Posted by lightblade