(edited by baylock.1703)
Phantasmal Defender and Disenchanter
I use disenchanter in PvP, but it’s really not efficient since it is so easily cleaved down. And I sometimes use iDefender when I tank deimoss. I think disenchanter is an incredibly strong phantasm. One of the stronest, but there’s not much use for it in raids since there are already dedicated healer and no bosses that needs constant cleanses. Well there is blue guardian, but our auto attack does enough strips for him. If I could have a 4th utility slot, i would probably leave disenchanter on my bar permanently.
Works fine in WvW
Disenchanter is a fine third-slot utility for power shatter. Defender only make sense if you’re not running Chaos IMO. If you use both, I wouldn’t recommend going below 2400 armor.
edit: There is already an Illusions type skill that breaks stun. Its name is Decoy.
(edited by expandas.7051)
Actually since last patch the iDefender is a pretty decent Phantasm to use with your “AoE Burn-burst” from stealth. You come out of Stealth with Protection up and 2 Phantasms out to F1 + F2 Combo on top of 6+ stacks of AoE Burning. That’s a boatload of AoE Burn, Confusion, and Torment.
With iDefender on 16 second CD now, and giving 4 seconds of AoE Protection on top of the usual effect, it’s actually pretty nice now. (and it’s solid shatter bait to boot of course!) I am loving it against Thieves, because the CD is now low enough to fit well into the rotation of defenses against an annoying Thief that keeps resetting the fight.
Yeah a .75 second cast time would make them both even better and still balanced, but overall they’re actually kinda OK now. (Not the top choice mind you, but a viable choice that brings something.) Although the initial spell on the iDisenchanter should be centered around us and not the Phantasm, that way it would be more useful as a self cleanse…which we badly need for non Inspiration build options.
I love disenchanter. As a condi build, it’s great because it removes resistance. It has a low cooldown so it has great synergy with Persistence of Memory and Chronophantasma.
I think the initial cast condi cleanse is actually centered on the target (this is what the wiki says). So it’s a bit tricky doing a one-second cast while staying close to the target to get the cleanse effect.
But I think Anet has come a long way in making this skill really nice.
At least disenchanter feels a rather decent skill.
But our utility bar feels so fixed now. Portal/Signet of illusion/Blink are almost mandatory skills…There is just no place for other utility.
This is one of the reasons I stopped playing in pvp mode. It just feels like portal is mandatory there, and I had so much fun in other modes playing when I didn’t have to have portal on my bar. All of my recent experience is only based on WvW, so maybe not helpful for the OP actual question
At least disenchanter feels a rather decent skill.
But our utility bar feels so fixed now. Portal/Signet of illusion/Blink are almost mandatory skills…There is just no place for other utility.
Yeah I agree completely about the utility bar feeling fixed. A lot of skills I never use simply because I can’t give up the ones I have on my bar already.
I use Disenchanter in PvP when solo-ing. The boon removal is very nice. I use it offensively for the most part as it removes quite a bit of boons from the enemy team at a rapid rate. While it’s very random in its bounce, I never tend to have issues with it removing condis when I need it to. Like everything with Mesmer, if you can’t learn to position correctly then you aren’t Mesmering correctly at all.
“The jealous are troublesome to others, but certainly a torment to themselves.”
I, too, currently use Disenchanter but for additional defensive support. Also, I trait for Temporal Enchanter rather than Mental Defense for that reason (use Time Warp/Null field).
The problem I am currently having, while tuning up for next season, is all of the passive procs, boons – the rate and quantity are too overwhelming to use Disenchanter offensively (boon stripping), so I concentrate on condi clear and resistance stacking (4 seconds with TW/NF not a lot while clearing condis at the same time, but still been helpful both personally and in team play). I am also considering the use of Feedback over Disenchanter for an addition 2 seconds of resistance and the projectile defense (Druids, Thieves and DH’s are abounding).
In short, personally speaking, I think it will be a long season for Mesmers this time because there are just to many other professions that can do so much more.
edit: recently switched to Feedback, worked well defensively especially by adding an additional 2 seconds of resistance, not to mention the projectile defense did prove to be quite handy. still, going to continue to experiment in more matches to get an overall feel for team play.
(edited by Soothsayer.9206)
The problem I am currently having, while tuning up for next season, is all of the passive procs, boons – the rate and quantity are too overwhelming to use Disenchanter offensively (boon stripping),.
This has been the case even back in celestial D/D meta, where every ele just play to their own rotation and you can’t keep up with shattered concentration. Not to mention the pulsing boons we have now require almost 0 brainpower in them, and iDisenchanter takes longer time to repeat attack than your regular shatter.
Unless you can corrupt boons or steal them, there are very little benefit in stripping them nowadays. Like you said, the only benefit iDisenchanter can bring is AoE condi cleanse (and require you to stand close to target as well). Overall it just doesn’t bring enough to the table even when compare to mantra of resolve or even nullfield.
I use defender in raids on Cairn or on Sabetha where the protection it gives is helpful, or if I’m running minstrel and want to boost my potiential to remove damage even further. After those two, I don’t need it much.