Interrupter Mesmer Critique

I played this build during the last hours of the last BWE.

I had a really good time playing it, it's very funny to see these casters wonder why their spells doesn't work.
This build is focused on spell interruption (I was looking for a way to stop those monk spamming their #@! healing spells).

Mesmer/Ranger
- Fast Casting: 5
- domination magic: 11
- inspiration: 10
- Marksmanship: 9 (only for the bow)


Power Spike
Cry of Frustration
Power Drain
Leech Signet
Energy Burn
Energy Tap
BackFire
Ether Feast

I know it can be tweaked so i'm waiting for your comments.

I wouldn't use a bow with this build, you don't deal enough damage without bow skills to be worth it. A staff or wand+focus would be much better (at least +12 energy) - and you'd free up those 9 points in markmanship.

No elite? Power Block...
Diversion is really useful too.

And yes, lose the Bow, get a wand/focus.

Definitely agree with dropping the bow for a wand and focus, with a good set, you're looking at around +12 more Energy, which is entirely more useful. If you're looking to focus on interrupting and energy denial, then save direct damage dealing for characters meant to do that - trying to do too much spreads a character thin, making them less effective than they would be otherwise. Those points freed up from Marksmaship would be well served going into Fast Casting.

Power Block would be a solid choice to take for an interrupt build, since it also disables Spells of the same line for X amount of time - the advantage of this is that most people focus heavily on one discipline, be it an Elementalist's magic lines, or one line of Prayers for Monks. Shutting down their skills in a focused fire situation can be the difference between success or failure, really. Now, if you really wanted to aggrivate healers, take Diversion along as well. I don't see this skill getting played a lot .. but you can stop a person from using one of their skills for almost a minute with it. That might not seem too useful at first .. but let's say you nail a Monk with Power Block, which temporarily disables their Healing Prayers. If they're a Monk primary, chances are they've got points invested in Divine Favor (Why else would anyone want to acknowledge themselves as a healer?) so the next thing they're likely to do is fall on their backup healing skills (Signet of Devotion seems to be popular) but if you follow up with a quick Diversion.. you get the idea.

ok, i'll take out the bow (hmm... perhaps ranger is not the best secondary class).

I didn't take power block because, I need the target to cast a spell in order to interrupt him. That being said... */me thinks*... I think you're right, i could use it to wait until ether feast recharges itself if i take some damage.

I'll probably take out Backfire or energy burn for Power Block.

[color=#009900]Edit:[/color] So here's the build:

Fast Casting: 6 (i heard somewhere 6 is enough)

Domination magic: 12
Inspiration magic: 11

Power Spike
Cry of Frustration
Power Drain
Leech Signet
Power Block
Diversion
BackFire
Ether Feast

What do you think of Arcane Conundrum ?

It's better to have a target not being able to cast due to lack of Energy, than to wait for them to cast and interrupt them. That allows you to harass several targets at once, which is the strength of the Mesmer's interrupt game over the Ranger (Rangers are better vs. single targets.) That being said, the skill i'd drop instead would be Cry of Frustration. The selling point of the skill is that it can interrupt more than one person, but that's only if other foes are nearby and doing something that can interrupted. Chances are, you aren't going to find many active clusters like this outside of KotH maps, so the damage you get from CoF (negligible) and its Energy cost make it a little impractical.

So Here it is. With the energy leeching aspect, i wonder if Mind Wrack is a good option.

Class: Mesmer / Ranger

Attributes: (cost)
Fast Casting: 6 (21)
Domination Magic: 12 (97)
Inspiration Magic: 11 (77)

Total attribute points used: 195/200


Skills:
1) Power Spike - (10,1,15) If target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and target foe takes 86 damage.
2) Power Block (elite) - (15,1,30) If target foe is casting a spell, that spell is interrupted. The interrupted spell and all spells of the same attribute are disabled for 13 seconds for that foe. This is an elite skill.
3) Power Drain - (5,1,30) If target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and you gain 29 energy.
4) Leech Signet - (0,1,45) Interrupt target foe's action. If that action was a spell, you gain 12 energy.
5) Energy Tap - (5,3,20) Steal 13 energy from target foe.
6) Diversion - (10,2,5) For 6 seconds, the next time target foes a skill, that skill takes an additional 47 seconds to recharge.
7) Backfire - (15,3,20) For 10 seconds, whenever target foe casts a spell, that foe takes 116 damage.
8) Ether Feast - (5,2,8) Target foe loses 5 energy. You are healed 23 for each point of energy lost.

Why would you not run Power Leak, especially over stuff like Spike?

Peace,
-CxE

Curious as to the point of the Ranger as the Secondary...

Why not run with a Elementalist/Mesmer, putting those fast casting points into Energy Storage to get even more energy... unless Fast Casting is better in this situation.

I noticed that this seems to be a PURE Mesmer Build... but you might not always want to play it this way, so you'll want a Secondary that you think will allow you to be flexible with your character when you want to. If you feel that the Ranger has some skills that you MIGHT want to make use of at some point, then stick with it.

loose the bow. without skills associated with it, the little bit of base damage from it is nothing to waste attribute points on. if you're going to be interupting using Power Spike, Arcane Conundrum can be useful.