Time Warp and Feedback for Ascalonian Catacombs?
I always spec those for dungeon runs and my party appreciates it. I always call out over vent, “Double speed” when I engage time warp so we can push out a lot of dps. Feed back is awesome. Always use it on the gun shooters or bomb lobbers and throw an illusion in addition on them to keep them busy, while the rest of the party concentrate on others. By the time my party gets around to working on the foe I bubbled, hp is noticeably down.
Don’t forget, in some dungeons portals are useful too along with mass invisibility.
Several things:
- AC remains the most difficult dungeon I have completed, though it does get easier the more times you, and those you go with, have done it. This is true simply because it is often the first real group experience for people and most everyone is coming in there with a full damage build rather than supportive and combinative
- That particular group of 3 has given trouble to every group I have gone with
- Ensure someone is marking targets (Ctrl + T) and that everyone focuses fire (T)
- Feedback and Warden are great against projectile enemies. Depending on what it’s facing, the Warden can easily and very quickly kill enemies which use projectiles. However, if it is being hit by non projectiles, it will die instantly. Enemies often do not fire projectiles quickly enough to kill themselves against Feedback
- Null Field and the Disenchanter Phants can all be very good in dungeons, as well as the Defender and Arcane Thievery. Null Field is often better than the Disenchanter since the Disenchanter has very few HP and you can combo with the field generated by Null Field
As to Moa vs Time Warp… This is difficult to say. Moa works against almost anything that is not a boss and even some bosses. If your group can focus fire well enough, those 10 seconds of freedom from another enemy can make all the difference. You might consider using it against the Ranger. Time Warp is also good in certain situations.
The real key to remember is that if you’re dead, you’re doing 0 dmg. This is why I often run dungeons with as much utility and damage reduction abilities as possible. If the rest of your group is not, then it’s still going to be difficult to complete.
Time warp is the only elite I dare use in dungeons. Guild leader always shouts “OP Elite” when I pop it. Makes bosses dead fast. For that 10 seconds, you can just watch its health plummet. The confusion combo with iDuelist just sweetens the deal.
Time Warp is the only elite I use outside of PvP. Even then, I have a hard time taking Moa Morph unless I know I’m going to have a hard time with a specific enemy player.
Mass Invisibility can be amazing, but your group has to be incredibly coordinated to use it properly. The best use I’ve ever made of it was in WvW: We had a caravan assassination team running around a corner toward two of their caravans, and there was a large group composed primarily of Rangers and Eles blocking the way, so I popped MI and we ran right up to them and were able to get away with only a few casualties against a group that was almost twice as large as ours, because we were able to get in their faces without taking damage. That kind of situation rarely comes up in PvE, though. And when it does, Veil is usually better because it doesn’t occupy the elite slot,
I agree with above posters in that Phantasmal Warden and Feedback are amazing, if not critical, in most dungeons. In non-dungeon PvE you can usually run whatever you want and eventually be K with it. But in dungeons, the ranged enemies are deadly. Other utility skills that are very good are Phantasmal Defender, (Sic it on a ranged enemy, and it will either save your teammates by distracting that enemy, or save you by absorbing damage) Signet of Inspiration, (Both the active and the passive are ridiculous in coordinated teams) Null Field, (My friend actually calls it Hax Field haha) Decoy and Blink. (Both are stun breakers that will easily get you out of sticky situations)
Part of playing the Mesmer correctly in dungeons is being incredibly flexible in your utility skills. There’s only a single Mesmer utility skill that deals direct, unconditional damage. (That’d be Mantra of Pain, and the two Phantasms don’t count for obvious reasons) That means that each of your utility skills all serve a very specific purpose and knowing when and which ones to use in various circumstances is a hallmark of a good Mesmer. Switch utility skills often and don’t be afraid to experiment. Stay back from the fight for a couple extra seconds if it means getting your utility skills right. (that’s probably true for all classes, but w/e)
Just remember to charge mantras before you use them, that always gets me in trouble.
I never thought Hylek could be so awesome.
Has anyone ever tried to position yourself and the time warp to get as many allies in it as possible before you drop it? And then the moment you drop the spell, everyone dodges out of the way and suddenly you’re the only one standing in it? Makes me sad every time.
At level 35 I did my first dungeon last night. Sort of a disaster. :-) 3 friends plus one random guy, all first-timers, went in. Within 10 minutes, one of my friends lost his connection and never came back. So we restarted with a 2nd random guy. After almost an hour, a couple in the group were getting frustrated, plus it was after midnight, and decided they had had enough.
I think we would have finished. Not sure how long it would have taken. Each mob took us several attempts, and we were all spending a lot of silver repairing our armor.
I’m sure I’m partly to blame. I went with a Staff and Phantasm-heavy shatter build, using Phantasmal Defender and Phantasmal Disenchanter in the Utility slots, along with Decoy. The elite was Moa Morph.
One group that gave us a lot of trouble was an Elementalist, Ranger, and Warrior. The Elementalist especially killed us with massive damage, while the Ranger trapped and poisoned us to death. After like 5 attempts we finally were able to drop the Ele and beat the mob, but that battle alone took 15 minutes or so…
So rethinking it now, I’m wondering if I’d have been more help to the group using Time Warp and Feedback? I think the Ele was using Arcane Blast, but not sure… Could Feedback cause an Ele (or Ranger) to kill themself? And is Time Warp a better dungeon elite than Moa Morph?
I run a very different utility setup in dungeons. When I enter a dungeon, I assume (falsely sometimes) that the other classes will bring the pewpew and I am there as a buff bot.
For utilities (especially in AC where the ranger type enemy is strong) I always slot feedback. This skill is incredible for reducing incoming damage to the party and doing a good share of damage to the enemy.
I usually slot null field as any cripple or condition style enemy can be a pain. This is a ranged skill so it can be placed upon whomever needs it.
The third utility slot roams around a lot for me in dungeons. I typically reserve it for a self defensive ability such as Decoy, Mimic, or veil.
The elite skill I prefer is Time Warp. Rarely do I end up using it on myself, but I use it often.
For weapons I generally go Sword + sword or focus (sword if I am worried about personal defence, focus if I want a strong barely mobile phantasm) and Staff for buff/debuff and defence.
(edited by Bombul.2506)