R/ME Interrupter - critique my build, please!

R/Me Interrupter

Expertise 14 - (10 + Sup Rune+ Mask)
Marksmanship 10 (9 + Rune)
Wilderness 8 (7+ Rune)
Illusion 10

(2 wasted attribute points)

Oath Shot (E)
Arcane Conundrum
Distracting Shot
Debilitating Shot
Throw Dirt or Whirling Defense
Choking Gas
Hunter's Shot
Res Signet


Critique this build, please!

It's kind of all over the place, which is the problem, but I feel a ranger interrupter damn well MUST have a daze - hence Arcane Conundrum. I'm not sure if I really NEED Oath Shot, since most of my attack skills already recharge pretty fast and am thinking about replacing it with Poison Arrow (Choking Gas > Apply poison for the purposes of this build - 2 preps, obviously, are useless).

Not sure if I need a Hunter's Shot in there - it's a great all around skill, but it doesn't serve a particularly specific purpose.. I'd possibly replace it with Savage Shot, but that makes me almost TOO anti-caster. As it stands right now, my strategy for dealing with melee is basically throw dirt and hope for the best - since I haven't packed a self-heal.

On a totally different bent, with Choking Gas, do I NEED Arcane Conundrum? If no, I'd replace Illusion with Inspiration and take Ether Feast and possibly Power Drain in favour of Hunter's Shot/whatever.

Thoughts?

I'd say ditch Concussion Shot, since you only really need 1 skill to daze them. Keep Oath Shot to make sure you can always throw in Arcane Conundrum when it wears off. Also I'd say stick mainly with Whirling Defence, since it prevents ranged attacks as well, and it can't be removed. Choking Gas and Arcana Conundrum don't really cancel each other out, so leave both of those in, as slower spells maximizes the effects of Choking Gas. If you have an extra slot, I might suggest something like Called Shot, coupled with Choking Gas for fast, constant spellcaster disruption. You don't really need too many protect/heal skills since you won't usually be targeted very early.

Hope this helps, sorry it's a little out of order, I kept popping up to see your post and adding whatever I noticed first.

Well actually whirling defense can be removed by warriors with wild blow, since it is a stance.

But that's beside the point and warriors don't often carry that so it's not a big deal, lets just say I've never had it removed when I use it and it's great to have a warrior run up to you and then go...wait a minute what the hell is going on? You're not dieing...

Other than that I'd say it's pretty good, there are several mesmer and ranger skills alike that you could pick and choose from and rearrange, the build allows for some variation thankfully enough.

looks good... but what is the point of hunters shot?

Quote: Originally Posted by drowningfish999 I'd say ditch Concussion Shot Should be easy, since it's not part of the build

So is it the general consensus that whirling defense would be more useful than throw dirt? You make a good point that Defense is probably more difficult for people to get rid of. I've played plenty of warriors - NOBODY packs Wild Blow - they're much likelier to carry something like Warrior's Cunning or Pure Strike, but at least that would only help THEM and not disrupt my stance. Also, I think you've convinced me to keep Oath Shot.


Quote: looks good... but what is the point of hunters shot? Mostly to keep some damage potential vs. non-casters, but I know it's probably not the most useful thing in there. What would you put in its place? I was thinking Savage Shot... but maybe Favorable Winds would be useful too.

Id say use debilitating shot instead of hunters shot, or if you really want a bleed and are worried about skill recharge, take melandruus arrows for extra damage and bleed spam then serpents quickness to recharge skills 33% faster.

I prfer Throw Dirt, as you can defend your teammates with it as well. Warriors dogging your Monk or another caster? Use Throw Dirt.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kishin

The thing about Whirling D is that it only applies when people attack you.

Throw Dirt can be used to defend another caster that's being harassed by a physical attacker - Whirling D cannot.

But dirt only protects vs wars and rangers. Running all the way over to the rangers isnt very effective, so dirt is almost exclusively anti-war. Typically your monk doesnt really need that much protection from warriors. (See the "why do warriors get no respect?" threads) And like I said before, dirt can be dispelled.

Just started with PvP (with all my chars, including a ranger). For my ranger I capped punishing shot as elite, but didnt use it yet.

Why isnt this skill mentioned? Is it not that good?

Because it's a glorified power shot, which is frequently ousted by penetrating shot in our skill tabs.

Don't forget serpent's quickness, if you use that you don't even have to use oath shot. If you're more heavy on using choking gas, use practiced stance to keep up a steady stream, and so you won't have to use concussion shot.

Hmm.... let me try to complement Enigmatics' idea. If you ditch Oath Shot for Serpent's Quickness and Hunter's Shot for Practiced Stance, you'll end up with three stances in your skill bar, which seems like a waste to me.

Serpent's Quickness is enough to allow you to re-cast Conundrum practically as soon as it ends, so I agree that you could replace Oath Shot with it - but then you'd not be using Practiced Stance at all, and therefore you wouldn't be keeping your Choking Gas on all the time.

That'd leave you with a free elite slot, though - you could then replace Hunter's Shot with Incendiary Arrows and alternate between IA and Choking Gas (because I *think* that Serpent's Quickness isn't enough to keep IA going all the time). You'd end up with something like:

Serpent's Quickness
Arcane Conundrum
Distracting Shot
Debilitating Shot
Whirling Defense
Choking Gas
Incendiary Arrrows {E}
Res Signet

Then your biggest worry would be staying above 50% health to make sure your Conundrum will recharge in time.