Boon Share Confusion Mesmer
Updated as of 26/6/13
Aim
There really was none; I came up with the build after I noticed Prismatic Understanding had been buffed a while ago and since then, other traits and weapons involved were also buffed. I generally used this as a troll build in PvP hotjoins due to the sheer amount of stealth involved.
Prismatic understanding was also buffed in the 26/6/13 patch, much to my surprise.
Link
http://tinyurl.com/o6xkftz
Traits
20 Domination: Signet Mastery (VI) and Cleansing Conflagration (IX).
30 Chaos: Debilitating Dissipation (V) (optionally; Illusionary Defense (IV)), Chaotic Dampening (X) (optionally; Mirror of Anguish (VII), Cleansing Inscriptions or Bountiful Interruption (VIII)) and Prismatic Understanding (XII).
20 Illusions: Master of Misdirection (V) and Blinding Befuddlement (IX) (optionally; Phantasmal Haste (X)).
Gear
Armour: 6 x Rune of Lyssa, Carrion Amulet with Carrion Jewel (or optionally Rabid Amulet with Rabid Jewel).
Weapons: Scepter/Torch with Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Corruption and Staff with Sigil of Battle
Skills
Shatters cause confusion and might stacks with a 20% reduced recharge
Scepter auto-attack chain
Illusionary Counter: Hits for decent damage if it actually lands (which is rarely ever in my case), but is more useful for the 2s block and now counter spell can apply a stack of confusion (Blinding Befuddlement). Adds torment now too at the cost of reduced damage.
Confusing Images: The bread and butter of damage output. Generally a hard to land beam due to the wind up, chance of obstruction or just general block or dodge roll from other players, however with a complete connection you only have to worry about condition cleanse.
The Prestige: Definitely one of my favourite skills after the removal of channelling buff. Last 4s and will applies boon through improved Prismatic Understanding. Also removes a condition (Cleansing Conflagration). Reduced recharge to 24s.
Phantasmal Mage: Remove a condition on summon (Cleansing Conflagration). Reduced recharge to 24s.
Staff Skills: I lumped this altogether as staves are common enough in Mesmer usage and aren’t hugely affected by the traits in this build. Phase Retreat recharges reduced to 8s. Phantasmal Warlock recharge reduced to roughly 15s, Chaos Armor recharge reduced to 28s with blind causing a 4s confusion (Blinding Befuddlement). Chaos Storm recharge reduced to 28s. If traited into bountiful interruption instead, chaos storm has good synergy with interruptions, albeit at the cost of the recharges.
Heal Skill:
Mirror: A reliant, decent heal that reflects for 2s with relatively lower recharge which allows it to proc the Rune of Lyssa’s buff of providing a random boon on using a skill (active every 10s).
Optionally
Ether Feast: Comparably unreliable, large heal which doesn’t proc the rune set as much.
Utility Skills
Decoy: Always a useful stun breaker without investment. Benefits from Prismatic Understanding. Cloak lasts 4s.
Signet of Midnight: Passive increase in boon duration by 10%. Active provides a stun break that causes a 4s confusion to the AoE blind. Reduced recharge to 24s. Can remove a condition when traited with Cleansing Inscriptions at the cost of staff recharge.
Signet of Inspiration: Passive benefit applies a random boon every 10s. Active effect has great synergy with the Rune of Lyssa set as it can spread all the boons received on activating an elite skill to allies in a 600 radius. Reduced recharge to 36s. Can remove a condition when traited with Cleansing Inscriptions at the cost of staff recharge.
Elite Skill
Mass Invisibility: Has the lowest recharge of all Mesmer specific elite skills and benefits from Prismatic Understanding. This combined with the Rune of Lyssa set and activating Signet of Inspiration means you can effectively share all your boons to allies in 600 radius.
Possible Rotations
Chaos Storm → switch to Scepter/Torch → The Prestige
The Prestige → Phantasmal Mage → wait by enemy for blast and activate Confusing Images to exit stealth
Chaos Storm → Phase Retreat → wait till Chaos Armor is down → Chaos Armor
Mass Invisibility → Signet of Inspiration
Conclusion
Boon share is a template that allows for large amounts of party support in the form of boons. It also has viabilities in terms of solo play due to the sheer amount of stealths involved in the build and the passive buffs employed. Most of the skills outlined perform with great synergy. Obvious weaknesses towards the build are frequent stacking of conditions or removal of boons through actions of either stealing, removing or corrupting. The Carrion set-up also makes the Mesmer relatively squishy in relative terms to a Rabid set-up, however Carrion affects both the general damage output as well as the confusion and retaliation output.
(edited by Rattus.1462)
will deffo give this a try tomorrow night.