(edited by Bunda.2691)
I’m convinced that there is an elusive hybrid build out there that combines direct and condition damage and is, well, the ultimate WvW build. But I’ve yet to find it (or likely come even close). Given our abundance of tools—shatter, invis, daze, confusion, clones, and so forth—there has to be something that can use them all and in a way in which the sum is greater than the parts.
Can the build of the month contest focus maybe on hybrids? Or can there be a separate category for such?
Best I’ve come up with at the moment is a 0/30/30/0/10 GS (or 0/20/30/10/10 for the condi removal) & Scepter/Pistol with zerker/assassin/rampager and centaur runes, but I’ve only used a close version in PvP and so haven’t fully tested it in WvW.
Does anyone else have a good hybrid build that can run with (if not improve upon) blackwater?
(edited by Bunda.2691)
- Malicious sorcery… Scepter or condition damage jsut has nothing to do with inspiration. Maybe swap it with phantasm haste?
I’d personally love to see Malicious Sorcery swapped with with Cleansing Conflagration, but I think Malicious Sorcery is pretty strong, and while not ideally situated, it’s meant to allow you to go into Inspiration and still play condition (example: 0/20/30/20/0 is a very durable Blackwater variant).
I feel like they put Cleansing Conflagration where it is because there didn’t seem to be another logical place for it. And looking over things, I can’t really find a place where it would be less bad. (That said, it should still be moved.)
Re: mantras and signets, they both constitute a whole different problem. I forget who once called them the “spices” of builds, but that is what they are—meant to add a little extra to other builds. Traits that improve them are just such a waste, because mantras/signets don’t (and shouldn’t) play a large enough role to build around (and thus spend valuable traits augmenting by a small degree).
In case the devs take a look at this forum and need some ideas, I thought it might be nice to keep an updated list of traits that could be moved to a more appropriate place. I believe this issue is particularly acute for mesmers, as we have a number that are rarely used because of where they are located, and others that force you into unwanted traits only to get a useful one.
Examples:
Phantasmal Haste: Only one phantasm puts out condition damage (save for sharper images), yet this trait is in the Condi/Shatter line despite being useful only in phantasm builds.
Cleansing Conflagrations: The torch is a pure condition weapon, and while the domination line does include condition duration, most of the other minor or adept traits deal with direct damage and vulnerability.
Confusing Combatants: This is high up in a crit/crit damage line, and it’s almost impossible to go above 20 points in Dueling in a condition build.
Vigorous Revelation: Most useless trait. Should be moved off the board, or replaced with something more useful like one second of swiftness every time you use an elite, or something like that.
Anyway, what are some others?
I’ve been having a lot of fun this past week with a Greatsword (zerker) & Scepter/Torch (rabid) hybrid build. Standard 20/20/30 PU build but with Knights armor (traveler runes) and Rabid/Celestial trinkets. If I was better I think I’d run zerker or rampager armor, but I’m not that good.
I’m finding my overall dps to be higher with the GS than with the staff (combination of direct damage + bleeds from clones), and the GS also allows you to chase and slow runners.
I can post a build if you want, but it’s pretty standard.
1. Poison is not a popular debuff in PvE, due to the relatively small amount of damage it causes. It’s mostly popular in PvP, due to the decreased healing it causes. This considerably affects demand, which is largely PvE driven.
2. Superior sigils cannot be forged. Some can be forged, but not in combination with other sigils. They can, however, be used in the forge to create a legendary gift. Like the sigil of purity needed to forge the gift of the dreamer.
I think this is the response I was looking for, and a good lesson for me. As I play mostly WvW, I ignored that the majority of players focus on PvE, and that poison is of much less use there. Thanks for the response, and a good TP/speculating lesson for me as well.
Obviously there would have to be adjustments re: upgrading towers and so forth. But nonstop, rolling matches with shorter, fixed times—you’d have closer matches, incentives to stay in throughout the week, the ability to come play for a few hours and not be annoyed that your work will be undone by poor coverage in another time zone, better equality in coverage, better incentives to split up zergs and capture/hold more points, etc.
I’m just hypothesizing here, but I like the idea of being able to log in for a fixed time and have an intense/competitive WvW experience.
I can see the potential queuing problems and so forth, but fixed-time, relatively short matches would be awesome. This would eliminate coverage disparities and allow for evenly balanced matches.
Anyway, discuss.
We really have no good answer for getting hit with 5+ conditions at once, but if it’s any consolation, most other classes would struggle with 5+ as well.
That said, I generally find that regen (to which we have pretty good access) plus one of a) traited torch, b) arcane theivery, or c) mender’s purity + mantra of recovery to be more than sufficient. Regeneration + mango pie or lemmongrass poultry can do a wonderful job counteracting heavy condition pressure.
Then again, it’d be nice to have at least one passive and/or weapon skill condi removal.
@windwalker Yeah, after playing condition for a while I’m finding it very fun to jump back into DPS, and to pick up the greatword and sword again.
I have noticed that I need to go as glassy as possible in order to win against multiple opponents and burst them down. Everyone runs with so much toughness these days that you need a pretty high crit damage to play direct damage effectively. Fortunately, all the stealth gives us so much survivability. Now if only there was access to swiftness…
I’ve been playing a torch dps build … but in WvW. There, the torch is good for defensive purposes, which are pretty useless in PvE (in which I’d swap to one of the other offhand weapons depending on fight). But as everyone else said, torch unfortunately serves almost no purpose in PvE.
If interested, the build is at https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Stealth-DPS-build/first#post2942570
[Full Disclosure: I have about 40 in the bank]
But really. It seems like everyone is using them these days, and they’re not cheap to make. So why do so many remain on the TP for so little? There are a few other items like this as well that never seem to increase much in cost despite widespread use, but this one has mystified me for so long. Any ideas?
[Sorry if this appears like I’m trying to affect the market, but i’m really just curious. I’ll even give a few away for free of anyone wants one.]
(edited by Bunda.2691)
Every 9 seconds? Sorry but i don’t see the balance in that.
( infiltraors strike was the same, in the sense that the 1st part did not break stun).Whether i cc them before leap, after leap, after swap don’t matter. These mesmers arn’t relying on swap alone to stay cc free, but it does make it all too easy if they rotate it with their utility stun breakers. Thats why infil strike was nerfed which I was fine with. But why does mesmer still hold theirs? I see no counter to this aside from hopeing they slip up, which is bogus in a 1v1. I can kill perma stealth thieves but against GOOD ( I do come across a few baddies) mesmers I cannot. No method of mine has worked aside from ignoring them because its a waste of my time when I could be capping something.
Maybe its different in wvw but in spvp or tpvp It should behave like return. You swap positions, let it immobilize but it wont break stun. You still get that gap if used right.
(My chain cc takes about 30 seconds to get back, more than enough time for a utility stun breaker to come off cd. I’m not having troubles living although its tricky at times. Its killing them, i cannot. Zerker sword mesmers hit or miss, and I can usually get through them.)
So let’s get this straight. Your problem is that you have trouble killing GOOD mesmers. Well guess what. I too have problems killing GOOD mesmers. And good warriors. And good thieves, and engines, and even good rangers (well, ok, maybe not rangers). We all should have trouble killing good players. Weirdly enough, this is actually the sign of a balanced game.
There are many skills on all professions that could use some tweaking. But sword clone swap is not really one of them.
I fought someone with torch and a PU build tonight. Definitely was a lot of stealth to deal with, but I wasn’t very worried about the phantasms.
Yeah, the iMage is kind of the weak point, dps coming mostly from iZerker.
Having played condition for a while and now going back to direct damage, I’m reminded how much the current meta does favor condi builds. Everyone runs near-max toughness, and so unless I’m playing full zerker, it’s really hard to do lots of direct damage. Is this going to change, and/or will anet move away from the condition meta?
Anyway, anyone else a having success with PU + direct damage build? Looking for ideas.
Yeah, I would have liked to make it work with pistol, but I figured that I might as well try to maximize prismatic understanding. Travelers + sword clone work fine stopping runners, but there’s nothing close to the dps of iduelist.
Impressed too that you’re able to not take blink. I’m so used to it that if I don’t take it I find myself hitting that skill key by accident and blowing the other utlity.
So I’ve been playing around with a Prismatic Understanding build that focuses on direct damage instead of conditions, and am looking for some feedback. After playing a variant of Blackwater for a while (which is great), I was looking for something different, and thus have been using this, and having some success. Video forthcoming if I can get fraps working. But I’d love any thoughts or feedback.
Build is 30/10/30/0/0 with Greatsword & Sword/Torch. It draws on blackwater and the hidden fire builds, but is dps focusd instead of condition. Right now I’m using knights gear with cavalier trinkets, but I may add some zerker in as I get better at it. Runes of the Traveler are key as well for WvW (though I’ve using runes of hoelbrak instead in PvP).
Traits are Domination 30 (15% phantasm damage, torch skill, greatsword skill); Dueling 10 (sword skill); Chaos 30 (Master of Manipulation, Illusionary Defense, Prismatic Understanding)
Slot skills: Decoy, Arcane Thievery, Blink, Mass Invis.
This is basically a Phantasm/dps build that relies on iZerker, blurred frenzy, retaliation, and the occasional shatter. But it has excellent speed (Runes of the Traveler), mobility (traited blink, illusionary leap), cc (lots of cripple and some immobilize and interrupt), high toughness, and active defense (invis). And it has great condi removal as well (traited torch and traited arcane thievery), plus good boon and condi duration (good for long cripples)
The key is getting up your phantasms and then wearing down with other skills and using invis in between. iZerker and BF allow for some AOE, and iMage is not completely unuseful in applying retal. The rest of the torch condis are mostly to add cover conditions for the cripple and immobilize. The other nice thing about the weapons and runes is that they allow you to chase fleeing opponents. While you have no access to swiftness, you have the +25% run speed from travelers, combined with good access to cripple and immobilize.
The weaknesses are a low health pool and lack of burst. I like running Mango Pie to try to mitigate the first problem, but the lack of real burst is somewhat problematic. I only make up for this with the ability to chase and wear down, but some more burst would be nice. Maybe if was good enough to run full zerker…
Anyway, I’m going to continue to play and work on this, but I’d love any advice or feedback. And I will try to post a video soon as well.
Yeah, the most utility I’ve found for group/zerg play is the old-school 20/20/0/0/30, but with rampagers gear (and, yes, runes of perlexity), mostly so confusion packs some punch. Works ok with focus and greatsword and imbued diversion for for mass interrupts, and then boon strip on shatter as well.
You do need to stay on the edges as you are very very glassy, and yes, retaliation can do some serious harm as well.
In short, I think there is a place for mesmers in large group fights, even if our role isn’t the most important.
Obviously it’s not 100 percent confusion uptime. Rather, with the high confusion duration, you can stack 5-7 almost immediately between their cleanses, as you’re stacking it every time a clone pops (yes, via shatter or death), plus other skills. Again, I don’t have any video, but if you want to run/duel with me (I’m on TC), I’d be happy to demo. Or just try it yourself. And no worries if you’re skeptical; just don’t criticize because I (and most others) think the runes are op.
Pyro — Yeah, four interrupts on 25, 28, 28, and 45 sec cooldowns. More if i’m feeling overconfident and want to throw in mantra of distraction. And by the way, what are your thoughts on perplexity?
Btw, if you want to show how “OP” it is, post a video, not paper-based build. I wanna see how many of those interrupt you can actually land on skilled players.
More importantly, the acclaimed “5-7 permanent stacks of confusion” even without the rune.
Fraps melts my computer faster than these runes melt through opponents, so I can’t really post a video. I’ll try though. The point is that I’m a mediocre player, and these let me beat better players much more frequently than I should.
The 5-7 confusion stacks is easy give all our confusion applying skills:
- Scepter #3: 5 stacks for ~8 seconds
- Mind Wrack: 1-3 stacks for ~5 seconds
- Cry of Frustration: 2-6 stacks for ~5 seconds
- Diversion: 1-3 stacks for ~5 sec
- Distortion: 1-3 stack for ~5 sec
- Confusing Combatants: 1 stack for ~3-5 sec every time clone dies (duration here is bugged?)
- Chaos Armor: average 1-2 stacks for ~5 sec
- Other random applications: Phantasmal duelist combo, etc.
On their own, these are fine. However, now add the runes of perplexity 4 and 6 bonuses:
- 3 stacks at ~8 seconds when hit (this is pretty fair except that there’s no way to avoid the application)
- 5 stacks at 17 seconds on interrupts (and we can at worst average an interrupt every 10 seconds or so)
The near permanence is because confusion is applied through so many sources. So even if they cleanse, it goes right back up.
Anyway, the build is one of many. These things are OP even on a 20/20/30. But I’ve said my peace and will either adapt or wait for a change.
Can’t get enough of your last post, it seems.
Be nice now.
This build is incredibly troll-y and relies on runes of perplexity, which are overpowered and need to be nerfed. In line with my other post about boycotting these runes, I’ve stopped using them. But I thought I’d post the build so others can give it a shot, and in the process realize how overpowered the runes are.
0/25/30/10/5 (Staff & Scepter/Pistol or Staff & Scepter/Torch)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAraWl4zKqXQTmGbNJipHBHyBcnKAdoFUmhudhA-jECBYhCi0CAUHRMHqIasl1FRjVLbR1qaAqbYSBAzaA-w
It combines the advantages of PU with shattering and clone spamming, and it keeps around 5-7 stacks of confusion permanently on your opponent. But with the runes, it mixes in massive confusion spikes that can hit for for 2-3k per tick, and sometimes even higher. Mix in the other condis from the staff and scepter plus poison from doom sigils, and you have additional condi damage plus a ton of cover conditions. Add in some bleed on cirt and condi+confusion on clone death, and even shout guards and warriors struggle to cleanse.
Pistol gives you the additional cc and bleeds, while torch give more defense and confusion. Both are totally viable. You can also swap in focus if you run with zergs or larger groups for some aoe CC, though the build is far from optimal for zerg play. Rabid armor and trinkets, though apothecary is nice as well.
Playstyle is pretty simple. Spam as many clones as possible while dancing around enemies. Shatter on cooldown, but keep overwriting clones so they are constantly killed and apply condi+confusion. Spam interrupts as well (chaos storm, magic bullet, diversion, signet of domination) for confusion spikes —- most effective right after they’ve cleansed.
In short, the build is pretty good without runes of perplexity. With them, it is too powerful. Give it a shot (albeit briefly), and see for yourself. And then stop using the runes altogether.
(edited by Bunda.2691)
The rune is overpowered on mesmers as well. I think some of us just don’t want to admit it. That other professions can abuse it even worse just clouds the issue.
I ran a troll-y perplexity / confusion-condi spam build for a short while that just obliterated in small fights. It was really fun. It was also really overpowered, even though I only had access to about 4 interrupts.
This all said, the idea of confusion on interrupt works incredibly well for a mesmer, and should be perhaps a grandmaster trait, with a 5-10 second cooldown. But the 6th skill is way too powerful at the moment, for multiple classes.
They are overpowered, and we all know it. Even more so on engis, to a ridiculous degree. I’ve stopped running them because it just isn’t fair. I think we all should do the same until a cooldown is implemented.
Anyway, who’s up for a boycott? Let’s show everyone that the mesmer community is the classiest by supporting a nerf, even it it would negatively affect us.
After using Runes of the Traveler on my necro, I feel so slow on my Mesmer. Anyone using Runes of the Traveler with this build?
Yeah, using Runes of the Traveler for a slight variant of this build. Such a wonderful improvement, and can’t imagine ever switching to anything else.
200 % of nothing is still nothing.
500%. Or a karma boost, or gold buff. But you see where I’m going with this.
Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but this is an easy fix. Change the bonus to an increase in MF. Something like 100 or 200 percent. Problem solved.
Other than that, the borderlands map redesign is great.
Yeah, I find our zerg v zerg options to be particularly limited in the current meta, and our roles reduced to the following three options:
1. Rear-line dps w/ greatsword. Problem is that dps isn’t great, and we’re pretty much only good at picking off stragglers or those that stray from the hammer train.
2. Utility support. Constant supplier of veils, portals, null fields, chaos storms, feedback, reflects, etc.
3. Boon stripping, as discussed above, and vulnerability applying. Constant shattering with boon strip on shatter, combined with null field and glamours.
I think you’re pretty much spot on here, but most other classes have similar pigeon hole problems. Take an ele, for example – their roles tend to be reduced to two; staff ele for fields, and DD ele as tertiary DPS of stragglers/outliers (I don’t have an ele so I may be mistaken, but these are the roles I’ve seen eles mostly fill). I’d be willing to bet that other classes face similar dilemmas.
Bottom line, I don’t think we’re unique with this problem of role limitations in ZvZ scenarios.
I guess when you say it that way it’s not so bad.
Anet is kind of caught in a catch-22 here (for which i don’t blame them). The AOE cap pretty much guarantees that melee remains the zerg’s most potent weapon, yet removing the cap would force all kinds of unknown changes (not to mention an increase in lag). This said, I’m still in favor of anything that breaks down the laggy 50+ man zergs. Small group combat remains the most fun aspect of the game, and in these battles, mesmer has plenty of utility.
Yeah, I find our zerg v zerg options to be particularly limited in the current meta, and our roles reduced to the following three options:
1. Rear-line dps w/ greatsword. Problem is that dps isn’t great, and we’re pretty much only good at picking off stragglers or those that stray from the hammer train.
2. Utility support. Constant supplier of veils, portals, null fields, chaos storms, feedback, reflects, etc.
3. Boon stripping, as discussed above, and vulnerability applying. Constant shattering with boon strip on shatter, combined with null field and glamours.
I’ve been trying to make interrupts work, but the problem is that the aoe cap hurts it mightily. I like using null field with either focus pull or staff/sword interrupts combined with Chaos XI (Chaotic Interruption), but again, the aoe cap and stability spam makes it so that this usually only interrupts a few within the zerg at a time.
The only good news is that if the hammer-train meta is toned down and zergs thinned accordingly, we’ll be significantly more effective.
Yeah, sword/focus & staff with zerker gear and phantasm specced can pretty much take on any pve content. Great for dungeons as well.
In my experience, the only times I get overwhelmed by conditions are a) when I get trampled by a zerg or larger group, or b) ambushed by a necro or engi. In the first scenario, I’m likely dead anyway. In the second, it was my own fault for not seeing them and/or having better condi removal slotted. Or I was just outplayed.
Mesmers are meant to be played knowing that our condition removal is weak. We are not meant to tank. Instead, we can jump into the fray, cause a lot of damage, and then jump out and heal/cleanse. Or we can fight from the edge of a zerg or back of a small group. Or we can roam and use the terrain to our advantage to gain enough time to remove condis. Or we can run melandru/lemongrass and end the discussion entirely.
With the condition heavy meta, I’d love to see our condition removal capabilities improved. I have the following suggestions, and I’m sure the community can add others:
1. NULL field removes all conditions every pulse (instead of just one).
2. Mender’s Purity trait removes three conditions on heal (instead of one).
3. Mantra of Resolve removes three conditions (instead of two).
4. Cleansing Conflagration removes two conditions on torch skill (instead of one).
5. Reduce Arcane Thievery c/d to 40s (instead of 45)Right now the amount of condition spam is excessive. If it doesn’t change, we need more effective tools to deal with it. I’m not making class comparisons, just stating that our current condition removal capabilities are inadequate.
Shattered Conditions is probably fine as it is because it’s team condition removal and can be triggered frequently in a shatter build. I haven’t used it yet, but for solo it won’t be adequate if you only get one condition removed per F-key press (rather that one condition removed per illusion that actually shatters).
Mesmer’s weaknesses are mass condi removal and speed … and this is intentional. In return, we have some of the most and best damage avoidance skills. This is a fair trade.
While I of course would love your proposed changes, they each make it too easy to remove conditions. Instead, recognize that we have the tools to avoid and/or deal with conditions depending on the situations we’re facing.
Zerging: take null field. It’s not like we’re wading into the thick of melee anyway, and it’s great help to others.
Roaming: Arcane thievery packs a great punch, and Mantra of Resolve if you see a Necro or Engi approaching
Personally: I run Mantra of Recovery with Mender’s purity. 2 condi removals every 10 seconds is generally sufficient, especially if you have regen up.
Long story short: avoiding getting his is the best way to deal with conditions, and in this matter, we are second to none. Invis, blink, clones, etc. Think of each as damage avoidance, and you realize that we actually do have the ability to avoid getting hit with condis in the first place.
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So uh….how on earth did you guys lay your hands on full sets of dire already?
I had the luck to pick up some sets of Jatoro’s armor and wayfarer weapons/trinkets before the recent update. Since they removed magic find, they let you pick whatever stats you wanted, dire included. A little embarrassed to say it, but I ended up with a complete set for about 6g.
That said, I still think the extra vitality is wasted on the mesmer … but I’d really love a good build that proves this wrong.
So I played around roaming a little with a full set of Dire in WvW, using a variety of different builds. My initial reaction, unfortunately: not that impressed, though I’ve yet to find a build that synergizes perfectly so far.
I think the main reason is our lack of passive health generation. The extra 6k hp that Dire gives you over, say, Rabid is nice at first, but after a few hits the benefits become wasted. I did find that I had to be more aggressive with my healing, and though my conditions did hit like a truck against those without good condi clears, I didn’t notice anything that beneficial against more competent players.
The one thing I did notice is that Deceptive Evasion is still kind of a necessity. I tried running without it in several builds, but given that our condi pressure is so clone dependent (either through staff clones, shatters, etc.), I found that I just couldn’t keep up enough without DE. And this of course brings us back to Rabid, because if you’re going 20 in Dueling and thus getting the illusion bleed on crit, you might as well bump up your precision.
Anyway, still needs to be worked on, but just some initial thoughts.
(edited by Bunda.2691)
I believe the most PC of all to be this. Akin to handing your opponent an offering of loot bag.
On that note, any idea where to get the trinkets? Especially the accessories. I can’t seem to find them anywhere.
Quick question: Does the +25% movement speed from Runes of the Traveler stack with Compounding Celerity?
It would seem a bit overpowered if so, but I’m just wondering if anyone has tested this.
So let’s discuss the new Dire gear’s usefulness in a full condition tank build, useful most likely for roaming and small group play in WvW. Reminder, Dire = Cond/Vit/Tough
A quick back-of-the-envelope build runs scepter-torch / staff, and using runes of scavenging, undead, perplexity, or traveler, combined with Prismatic Understanding for boons and defense. The remaining 40 trait points are flexible.
The build shines with around 1700+ condition damage, and that is without might and stacks. But add 250 from the sigil and constant might from staff clones and sigil of battle, and condition damage can easily reach ~2100 or higher. And this is with over 21000 HP and 2700 armor.
Here is one of many possible build ideas. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNArfWl4zKqXQTmGb9IhpHBH5A/8Bojmx1zOA-jECB4iQ0CgkIBKTqIas1gFRjV3ATxiIq2roIa1SBAzaA-w
Anyway, let’s find some way to make Dire gear work for us.
Any idea if it’s possible to craft the trinkets. Or, in the alternative, obtain them from somewhere?
Dire (former Traveler’s): Cond/Vit/Tough
There is no monthly subscription fee. Please remember this as we close this thread.
Sooo apparently “No monthly fee” means we should be ok with them holding the cosmetics of our characters in what’s basically a death grip to the balls with these pricey convoluted paths around a logical wardrobe system that other non-sub games do for free?
Nowhere does it say that the for-profit company that built, develops, and manages this game can’t find ways to pay for those activities. Arenanet has done this in the most benign way possible, in a way that does not affect gameplay and really only affects convenience. This is incredibly commendable, especially given their semi-monthly updates and excellent support. Can we please stop giving them grief for gem-related
issues, especially when they are nice enough to ADD services to the game. Imagine for a second if gems didn’t exist and the prices for those items were in gold…. Sure, they’d be expensive, but I bet no one would be complaining.
There is no monthly subscription fee. Please remember this as we close this thread.
It is starting to feel instead of immersive world of Tyria & adventure, but a F2p cash grab game where $$ is always the main subject/content, Gem store or TP.
Careful Anet, Ncsoft has a pretty nice sub game around the corner eyeing your playerbase….
Again, that “cash grab” that you speak of subsidizes the game that we all love to play. I don’t envy the fine balance they have to strike re: the gem store, but given that there is zero pay to win (as well as the ability to grind out gems with gold), we all should have no complaints. This game remains one of the best values of all time.
There is no monthly subscription fee. Please remember this as we close this thread.
I too agree that mesmers need more shiftiness.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
To add in my 2 cents: I’ve been running a build that splits the difference, 0/20/30/20/0. This gives you the bleed on crit and the clone generation from DE. I lost the traited torch, but I make up for that by running Mender’s Purity (remove condi on heal) with Mantra of Recovery (which, with all the stealth, is so easy to charge) and the traited scepter. Rabid armor, settler’s trinkets, etc.
And the supercharged perma-regen makes you nigh invincible in 1v1s and many 1v2s. Healing power goes far with so much regeneration.
(edited by Bunda.2691)
I was just throwing this out, as I’m a big fan of the 20/0/30/20/0.
But it really is the same build — staff & scepter/torch. The stealth, burning, toughness are the exact same (minus the 20% condi duration, really the biggest loss). And in return you get vigor and bleed on crit, not to mention DE (and let’s face it, the minor traits in Domination serve little purpose in this build; what I’d really like is for someone to weigh the 20% duration vs. the damage from bleed on crit). The only other differences are that you lose 6 seconds on the torch 4 skill, and debilitating dissipation, which I really like. And sure, the iMage cures more conditions, but how often does it survive long enough to attack 2, 3, or 4 times. And given that the huge regen is most of the healing here, the drop off from MoR instead of Ether Feast is negligible.
Lyssa is just an option the synchronizes a little. I haven’t tried them yet, as I’m still running Melandru, which works fine too.
Anyway
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Any thought to using mantra of recovery and mender’s purity, and therefore switching the 20 points in domination to 20 in dueling (for a 0/20/30/20/0)?
Since mender’s purity gives you essentially the same amount of condition removal as the traited torch, this would allow you to pick up the bleed on crit as well as two traits in dueling (far ranging manipulations, desperate decoy, DE, or even the mantra mastery for the 8 second cooldown). This also can allow you to even swap the torch for a pistol in larger battles, which is a definite damage increase (and combo finisher) over the torch. But even if you keep the torch, all you lose is the slight cooldowns (in addition to the 20% condi duration). And the adept traits in Inspiration aren’t otherwise the hottest, either. Also, Runes of Lyssa synergize nicely with this as well.
Anyway, just a thought.
Sure thing.
Find an item that has a buy order that is <85% less than the lowest sell orders. There are litterally thousands. Put in buy orders for said item. Hope that the sell orders don’t drop while you wait for your orders to be filled. When you receive the item, list it at a price that is, after the 15% fee, greater than what you paid. If it sells, you profit. Note however, that, while you wait, prices may change, and if you don’t price it right it may not sell, and you lose money.
Hypothetical (or maybe not) example: Sword has buy orders for 1s and sell orders for 2s. You put in a buy order for 1s1c. After you receive your order, list the Sword for 1s99c. Assuming it sells, you have now profited off the spread (in this case a little under 70c per sale).
Strangely enough, you have unintentionally (in your own quest for profit) aided other players as well. Those looking to sell their ore immediately can sell it for more. Those looking to buy ore immediately can do so for less. The only players you have harmed are other flippers, and this is a good thing, because there should be (and there is) some inherent risk to flipping.
Congratulations, you’ve just become (for reasons unbeknownst to me) one of the most despised players in the game: the flipper.
Also, sites like tpcalc.com and gw2spidy.com are invaluable if you want to really get into things.
(edited by Bunda.2691)
Again, loving this build. I started using the Signet of Domination along with decoy and blink. Both the extra 180 condition damage and the stun (for both chasing and fleeing) are quite useful.
I’d just like to add another vote (and give Varconi some credit) for how awesome this build is. It’s quite potent in sPvP as well.
Now if only the torch trait wasn’t in the domination line…
I only brought it up b/c it could expand the number of build options. Not sure how this food in any way limits them.
Also, if you’re able to tag a lot of enemies while in zerg, it’s easily possible to get 3+ minutes of swiftness. Not too shabby.
So everyone except me might have already know this, but after recently discovering on my own how powerful this food is, I felt I had to draw some attention to it amongst us mesmers, particularly given our lack of speed and swiftness w/o the focus.
Bowl of Seaweed Salad (or, for those cheap like me, Bowl of Asparagus and Sage Salad. currently around 20c on the trading post)
Now, here’s the thing: the swiftness stacks! So, in WvW, where non-focus mesmers have a huge problem roaming or soloing (zerg of course being a different story), what you do is round up a small pack of mobs, kill them all quickly, and all of a sudden you find yourself with one, two minutes of swiftness (particularly if traited into chaos or with boon duration runes). In open world PvE, you basically have permanent swiftness as well, so long as you are killing things with some frequency.
Add to that the secondary effect of the food — 10% increase in damage while moving (and when are you not moving in combat, really?), which is actually a significant damage boost — and the food is incredibly useful.
Anyway, I’ve been reluctant to use non-focus in builds in WvW because it’s really hard to live without the swiftness. These relatively underused foods seem a potential solution.
(edited by Bunda.2691)
The 20 in dueling is probably not required (and I haven’t played with deceptive evasion in a while, so it’s taking some relearning), but getting up those three staff clones at will for the boons is very nice. Then again, it seems like I’m able to stack 20 stacks of might even without it too.
Hate to say it, but is Bountiful Interruption starting to look a little OP?