Showing Posts For eldenbri.1059:

Mesmerized: Theorycrafting the Numbers

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Another great podcast – thanks so much!

I’m the fool who was trying a high-vitality and low-toughness build… Yeah, thanks for clearing up that madness

Anyway, I made a build (possibly new…) based on the info in your podcast. I’d love feedback on its viability in WvW

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Mesmerized-inspired-build-need-feedback

Mesmerized inspired build - need feedback

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’ve been having a lot of fun and learning a lot listening to Kylia and Pyro on the mesmerized podcast. I’m pretty new to WvW, and I was getting killed a lot with my berserker build. I know glamour is great, but I like trying to make new builds. I’d love feedback on this idea.

Basically, it hits the marks of 1500 toughness, 20K health, and balanced crit percent and crit damage. Here’s the build link http://bit.ly/13ek31E

The traits are 10/30/20/0/10

III in Domination for 15% illusion damage
II, IV, and X in Dueling for phantasm fury, deceptive evasion and blade training (for sword cooldown)
III and X in Chaos for manipulation cooldown and staff cooldown
VI in Illusions for shatter resets at 50% health

Sword/Sword and Staff for weapons
Basically all soldiers armor, mostly soldiers accessories (a little berserker/valkryie – I have Circle of Logic ascended amulet for example), and runes of divinity
Sigil of accuracy on staff and one sword. Sigil of generosity on other sword. Sigil of perception on something to stack Precision stacks.

Traits are Arcane Thievery, Blink and Null Field (Ether Feast for heal and Time Warp critical).

Pluses:
- If my numbers are right, it’s about 1600 toughness and 2100 health
- With omnomberry ghosts, master maintenance oil and 25 stacks of perception – it should be around 56% crit chance (so phantasms will be at 76%) – with no stacks phantasms will still be around 64% crit chance
- Crit damage is 57%
- Lots of invulnerability 2 out of every 8 seconds with sword, 2 distortion casts if I drop below 50% health
- Quick cooldowns on basically all skills

Things I’m worried about:
- Slow… No swiftness. Out of battle, can swap to focus for some. Otherwise, I need to use blink and learn Osicat’s trick of Phase Retreating off of things (maybe even Illusionary Leap to ambient things)
- Condition strategy is swapping with Generosity or Arcane Thievery (36 sec cooldown). Null field for one more removal and ethereal field for all the leaps in this
- Damage – on paper, iWarlock and iSwordman hit for a lot and they can be cast every 10 – 12 seconds from 1200 range) – in battle, maybe this doesn’t work
- AoE damage is pretty much only shatters and chaos storm
- Maybe this plays too fast for my reflexes – I envision a great deal of leaping…

I’m starting to get the gear for this build, so I’d love any feedback. For me, one of the best things about mesmers is that so many builds seem potentially viable. Thx for all the tips I get here!

Couple of condition defense questions

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Forgot two more related questions
- Does aegis ever stop condition damage?
- Does the 33% damage reduction from protection apply to condition damage ticks?

Thx

Couple of condition defense questions

in Mesmer

Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’m thinking about a new build and have a couple questions.

- Does the 3% damage reduction per illusion for illusionary defense apply to conditions?

- Do any of the invulnerabilities (either Blurred Frenzy or Distortion) stop the damage from a condition tick?

- If Sigil of Generosity procs when you don’t have any conditions on you, what happens? Does it trigger the cooldown or it can only proc when you do have a condition?

Thx much!

How do you use iWarden in WvW?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’m learning to use (and like) the focus.

I would love any advice on how you use the Warden in WvW. Currently, mine is traited with Warden’s Feedback to give the reflect.

Thx!

Is focus plus runes of speed enough?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

After the mesmerized podcast, I feel like I really need to learn to use the focus well (nothing like hearing from experts that it has the best skill in the game to make me give it another shot…)

So I’m considering a build with the Warden’s Feedback trait which reduces recharge on the focus to 20 seconds. With two runes of speed, the 12 seconds of quickness should be about 14.5 seconds. So that gives almost 75% quickness uptime for getting around in WvW. Is it enough? This would let me drop my runes of centaur and pick up four runes of divinity – after I save my gold for a bit.

For reference, the build I’m experimenting with is 20/20/0/25/5. It’s mostly a phantasm build where I’m trying to get iBerserker and iWarden up really frequently, so they will do a lot of damage but can be shattered frequently. Currently I have basically all berserker gear for this build. The build does have blink, so I get a bit more mobility if that makes a huge difference.

Here’s a link to the build – thx for all the pointers!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQNAR8NlwzKqHVTmmE5MDmb5QLgkCVL1KpA3uQA;TgAqaMMJYyWjrGZNDC2EA

Mesmerized: Questions Answered

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Great podcast! Thanks for answering so many questions. I really enjoy the way that you answer them in depth and talk about how the game plays for you.

One of my big takeaways is that I actually need to think about what level I’m shooting to play at. It makes total sense that if your defenses are unavailable that you would want to stack confusion as a form of defense to prevent the other guy from attacking – but it never crossed my mind. Similarly, playing other professions would make me much better prepared to handle what’s going on with them, but I am unlikely to put in that much time.

Maybe on a future episode it would b possible for you to talk about different levels of challenge and what build(s) you would recommend for each. For example,
regular pve – any build (shattercat most fun?)
dungeons – pve phantasm support build?
fractals – (is this different than dungeons?)
wvw – glamour / immortal (is this different running with zerg versus running in small group/duo/single)
pvp – ?

I think my game is likely to max out in wvw support groups with the goal of getting decent in smaller fights (which I’m not good at yet). So ideally, I find one set of gear and one or two trait setups that I can happily play through all that.

Thanks again – great work!

Mesmerized: Bas Learns the Ropes

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thx – I had no idea there were things immune to crits. My build is pretty heavily focused on crits. Anything else have crit immunity?

Mesmerized: Bas Learns the Ropes

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I sent Bas a few questions already, but I like more in-depth explorations of builds – how the weapons, traits and utilities work together in different scenarios.

Also, I like to understand the numbers better. There are lots of posts about a certain skill doing X damage, but it’s really hard to understand the context. Pyro did a nice job of quantifying the 14K hits from iWarlock in a big event where the boss had all the conditions. I had been using staff for this purpose, but it feels like phantasmal duelist is higher average damage output for me. It would be nice to get a feel for “expected” levels of damage under different conditions.

Mesmerized: Bas Learns the Ropes

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Fantastic work. As you guys mentioned, there’s so much depth in each possible build.

Now I’m trying to figure out how I can learn to give up my greatsword or my pistol to work the focus in more…

What Kind of Mesmer Are You & Why?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’m not sure how to classify my build except to say it’s not glamour and not much confusion.

Traits are 30/10/0/25/5 Weapons are Greatsword and Scepter/Pistol (sword is fine here for main hand, but scepter is nice for range).

I don’t mind shattering in longer fights because I can bring back illusions pretty quickly. I use Harmonious Mantras, so always have mantra for heal but often have mantra of pain for healing others with restorative mantras or mantra of confusion for daze/interrupt which stacks vulnerability quickly.

If you try this build out, here’s a fun starting sequence for a single target: Mirror Blade plus Mantra of Confusion at the same time, shatter that clone with diversion (typically you’ll have at least one interrupt, so 13 stacks of vulnerability), phantasmal berserker, swap weapons, magic bullet (2second daze), phantasmal duelist, blind (from scepter 2), then scepter 3 with mantra of confusion again for another daze. If you have Mantra of Pain, you can pop off at least two of those shots during the phantasm summons.

how is mesmer AoE?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Here are a few other AOE options I try to use as a power Mesmer.

MirrorBlade (GS#2) will bounce among targets. MindStab (GS#3) is a little tricky, but it hits multiple.

Spatial Surge (GS auto-attack) can hit multiple, but you have to have the far mob targeted and get the others in between you. Scepter #3 does the same thing.

Mantra of Pain can be nice for quickly tagging multiples. If a mob is already somewhat damaged, tap mantra of pain and tab to the next mob. (I trait for 3 casts and try to make sure I recharge between waves in Orr fights.)

You may get a racial ability to help. Asuran’s get radiation field which lasts 15 seconds and ticks for over 200 poison damage even if you’re not specd for condition damage.

BoC Presents: Mesmerized

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eldenbri.1059

Will these be under the general Sitting on a Couch heading in iTunes, or will it be a separate podcast from the But of Corpse ones?

Just need to know if I need to add another subscription in iTunes.

Thx!

First WvW experience as a Mesmer

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

First time in WvW last night – really fun, I wish I had started sooner. I played with a warrior friend and did a mixture of running with various size groups as well as doing a few things with just my friend (taking sentries, dolyaks, and supply camps). I played with a variant of Pyro’s pve support build and tried out a lot of different utility skills. I wanted to share a few specific observations as well as ask a couple questions.

- I felt like I could do a lot. There were times when I ran to the front when small groups faced off, and I felt like I could push back one or two people pretty easily (cause enough damage to make them move). I could cripple and interrupt, I could keep up with the group (with runes of centaur), and I could figure out ways to support groups of different sizes.

- I died a lot. Mostly it happened when I got caught on my own. Even with swiftness, it seems that other classes have ways to move very fast over a distance. I started using Blink as another way to move faster, but some classes seem to have the ability to really burst over pretty long distances.

- Other mesmers are better players than I am. I got killed with the GS wave pushing me off a cliff (nice) and I got to see what it was like to be chased by someone’s three clones (and tried to explain it to my warrior friend while it was happening)

- I wished I could use more skills. When I was in large groups, it was fun to have AOE’s like Feedback and Radiation field. When I was helping to take out the supply camp leader, it was fun to have interrupts (like mantra of confusion, magic bullet, and GS #5). When I was dying to others, I wished for more survivability and escape skills like Blink, Decoy, and maybe even more condition removal than 3x Mender’s Purity.

I have a couple questions as well.
- How fast should I expect the fastest opponents to typically be? I naively thought if I had a decent head start with quickness, I would outrun them (or at least keep the gap). I plan to use Blink pretty steadily now for running away – wondering if I need more than that. Is there more that I can do?

- What utility skills would you say are ones that are “must have” in WvW?

Just wanted to end by saying thanks to the commanders in Kaineng Borderlands last night for leading the way in several areas. I managed to get up to halfway through level 3 ranking, so it felt like I accomplished quite a bit. And if you were one of the several mesmers who killed a little Asura Mesmer who was often accompanied by a big female Norn Warrior from Kaineng, I wanted to say good job – I learned a lot!

Couple of scepter questions

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thx very much for the help.

As a quick follow-up, do you know how wide the “line” is for the blind? I’ve been testing the channeled skills for damage to mobs in front of your target, and the line for hitting mobs with that is very narrow. I was wondering how narrow the blind effect from the 2 skill really is.

Thx!

Couple of scepter questions

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’ve been experimenting with scepter in a power build. There are a couple things I’m not quite sure of in terms of mechanics.

When using the block (2) skill, does the blind (counterspell) automatically trigger or does it need to be clicked to make it happen? If you have to click a second time to cast the blind, does that cancel the block? Does the blind always trigger or does it not stay available if the block happens?

For the confusing images (3), what can cause the channel to be cancelled?

Thanks for the help!

How is scepter better?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I was playing with it in a power build before the change since I like to fight at range.

In Orr, it’s fun for those cases where four mobs come running down the road. It can get five ticks on all of them, and each hit is approx. 500 non-crit and 1000 crit for me (so about 10,000 to 20,000 total damage). Starting off with berserker to cripple and damage them, the scepter is enough damage to finish most of them.

I think that’s about the best case scenario since they line up so perfectly

What's wrong with Zerkie?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’ve only been playing the game for a couple of months, so I can’t say how much this issue is just one in a series.

But I think most developers really care about making code that works, and generally when bugs don’t get fixed right away, it’s because either the priority is not that high or because the change has some issues. In this case, it sounds like this code may be complex and tied to other behaviors (as someone pointed out issues with berserker and warrior at the same time previously). So changing code like that can be tricky, and it can be very hard to test – especially if it’s a difficult condition to reliably reproduce.

I certainly see cases where my berserker does the damage I’m expecting, so that probably means the issue is intermittent.

I’m not saying just accept everything without comment, but every developer I’ve ever met wants their code to work well and people to enjoy their product.

Mesmers interrupts

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I do wish I knew more about when interrupts were likely to work. I haven’t done too many dungeon runs, but it seems like you can interrupt the Huntsmans call for his bird attack at the end of the story mode of Honor of the Waves.

Mesmers interrupts

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

In the Domination line, dazes give you 5 stacks of vulnerability for 8 seconds (base) whether you interrupt or not. If you interrupt, I think you get 3 more stacks. So there is a condition built in for some cases of interrupting if you go with domination – and this seems to be the intent of the domination line.

I still don’t know what qualifies as “inactive” to get the 5 percent damage bonus for Wastrels Punishment at the 25 point trait for Domination.

How do phantasm mesmers deal with....

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

In pve, if I do manage to get three phantasms up and I don’t want them to go away, I typically swap to greatsword. It’s auto-attack won’t spawn a new clone. At that point, I tend to just focus on my utility skills (like mantra of pain, feedback, etc).

[Builds] Fay's List of Builds & Guides

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thanks for all the great builds and guidance, Fay.

I’ve been experimenting with Scepter but from a power build perspective. I like to fight from range, so I have been trying Greatsword and Scepter/Pistol. Combining this with 30 points in domination and using mantra of distraction is pretty fun. If I start off with mirror blade, shatter that clone with diversion, and then hit mantra of distraction, I’m up to 13 stacks of vulnerability. Then it’s pretty quick to get off berserker, switch to scepter/pistol, cast duelist, hit magic bullet, and then do confusing images on the scepter. I’m assuming magic bullet should give the “inactive” state that’s needed for Wastrel’s Punishment (I would love the “definitive” answer to what triggers this skill). It’s easy to toss in three shots of mantra of pain in that sequence as well.

I like how you’ve managed to create a totally new build around scepter. I’m really curious to see how the patch turns out.

Thx again for all the great info – I learn a lot from you!

What did you give up to go Phantasm and why?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I use this build (it’s a variant of pyro’s pve support build) for pve and dungeons.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQNAR7al4zioXVz5GaNJxZGQ35oFQ6hqT9qLVA3A;TMArQGFsJA

The berserker and duelist seem to hit for between 4000 and 7000 plus the other direct damage is quite nice. Mobility comes from runes of the centaur. Survivability comes from decent health pool (about 19K), three condition removals from menders purity, and a fair amount of extra healing from regeneration from the phantasms, the whole- party heals from restorative mantras, leeching sigil, and crit-heal food. Basically all berserker gear, so crit chance and crit damage are pretty high.

The one big thing this gives up is the 20% recharge rate improvement for phantasms (and maybe bleeds on crits by illusions, but I have very little condition damage). In return, the healing is better, the greatsword skills come back faster, and I find it very handy to be able to pop things for 1000 – 2000 with mantra of pain while I’m casting other skills (the main reason mantra of pain is there is for the heals on recharge, but during Orr events, it’s nice to be able to quickly tab and tag). With feedback, time warp and radiation field plus mirror blade, berserker and duelist, I can make and exploit my own fields. The greatsword skills seem to give a pretty decent AoE capability, and with this weapon set, I can always fight from range.

For me, this is a lot of fun to play. Skills come up quickly, and I don’t feel bad about occassionally shattering the illusions because I can replace them quickly. No matter what’s going on, you can alwasy do something with mantra of pain (either use it or recharge it) – though it took me a little time to learn to track the mantra usage. If you don’t like mantras, you could definitely take the last 10 points out of Domination and put it to good use elsewhere.

Hope that’s helpful.

First dungeon, frustrated and disappointed...

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

For sure, my first trip into a dungeon was humbling and frustrating. I had been destroying things in pve – had solo’d a couple champions and was feeling pretty good about myself.

Then I ended up down and dead several times in my first dungeon. If your group is pretty new to dungeons, I think things will generally be pretty rough. On top of that, if you haven’t worked a fair amount on dodging, staying mobile, and generally staying alive, dungeons will be rough.

On the other hand, when you realize what’s possible with a well-coordinated group, you start to get the depth of this game. I’m only starting to work through all the dungeons, but the difference I see in groups is truly amazing.

Personally, I had to rethink my build for dungeons. Once I did that, I found them to be very fun and satisfying to beat.

Good luck!

Restorative mantras

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I like this trait a lot since I read pryo’s post on pve support build. I do feel like I need to practice staying on top of the mantras. There are definitely times when I end up hearing my guy chant “agony, torment, pain” when I was hoping to just pop off a quick damage shot. But if I can find the other ranged attackers in my party and stay near them, I can definitely see how I help keep their total health higher.

Is Greatsword a bad weapon?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I can’t speak to pvp. In pve, the greatsword is my favorite. If you do events in Orr, you can tag multiple mobs with all the skills except #1 (and that’s changing soon so that the beam weapons can hit multiple targets). I run around the battlefield afterwards and pick up piles of bags.

Having trouble with MH Sword PvP

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eldenbri.1059

I’m trying out scepter in power build but not in pvp. It seems okay – I still have trouble understanding total damage versus individual shots. The pistol seems to end with the last number between 4k and 5k pretty consistently. The scepter seems to have a final number between 2k and 3k in my build.

Couple questions on sigil mechanics

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thx much. So if I put Sigil of Leeching on the pistol, I’ll get a boon that stays up until I make an attack. But that would only be magic bullet, blurred frenzy, or the sword auto-attack (which is pretty unlikely the way I play). Does that boon go away if I switch back without doing one of those attacks?

Since I wanted to try out some things, I went ahead with perception sigil on the sword and accuracy on the pistol. That seems to get crit rate up quite nicely.

I might experiment with the other ones more later. Thx for all the tips!

Why Don't More People use the pistol?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Just tried switching from staff to sword & pistol for my pve playing in orr. It feels more fun to me than the staff. My whole game play is around creating fields and then using them, so I typically have feedback, time warp and radiation field (asuran racial).

With sword and pistol, I have more ways to create combos off my own fields. And in combination with greatsword, I have five total finishers to use on those fields.

I’m still basically a power, precision, and crit damage build. But it’s fun to get the extra effects “for free”. And with 30 points in domination, those conditions last a while (so confusion seems to stick long enough for the mob to use a skill).

I’ll need to try it out in a dungeon to see how it works there, but the duelist blazing away just seems more fun (and I’m getting better at using blurred frenzy which is pretty high on the fun factor).

Couple questions on sigil mechanics

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Sorry – should have read the main wiki page on sigils before posting. Several answers were there. You can only ever have one of the stacking types. It looks like a stack is added if the weapon is equipped when the kill happens. And the stack stays as long as I’m not downed or switch zones. So I can see how people charge this up with one weapon and then switch to other weapons.

Also, phantasm crits won’t count toward sigil of blood.

So my only question remaining is what would cause the sigil of leeching to proc if I put it on the pistol. What qualifies as “my next attack” with respect to the pistol?

Couple questions on sigil mechanics

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’m looking at using sword and pistol along with greatsword for my current build. I’m thinking about using sigil of bloodlust on one and sigil of perception on the other. Do the sword and pistol have to be my active weapons when the mob dies to get the bonus stacks? Do the stacks of power and perception stay active when I switch to the greatsword?

I was also looking at sigil of leeching and sigil of blood. If I put these on the pistol, would they only take effect if I hit / crit with Magic Bullet? Or would either of these count if the iDuelist hits/crits?

Thx!

Why is your Mesmer fun?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’m not as experienced as a lot of the folks playing mesmers here, but these are the things that I find fun about the class.

- It feels like it has a lot of flexibility. I can handle a lot of situations with the same build, and there are a lot of viable build types.

- It feels impactful. If I’m doing offense, it feels like I’m dishing out a good amount of damage. If I’m supporting with fields and heals, it feels like I’m making a difference.

- It feels like I can always get better. I have a lot of choices in a battle no matter how I’m set up with traits and skills. Looking back, I realize that I had other options that I should have used in some cases. I feel like basically every build can really use all ten weapon skills, all the mesmer shatter skills, all the traits, and the elite. I don’t think I can do what Osicat does in those videos – I don’t have the skills and reflexes. But I can do a ton of things in a fight, and there’s always variety.

I really hope Anet doesn’t change this class very much. I think it’s a very solid class design.

How does Restorative Mantras work

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’ve been experimenting with it lately. It’s hard to measure because it doesn’t seem to show up in combat logs, and I never see any healing unless I’m actually injured.

It does seem to work on me, so I assume it also works on party members. The effect triggers when you finish charging a mantra (not when you use the charges). I see it when my health is low and I’m recharging a mantra – I get a heal that’s over 2000 points, so I notice it.

The only way I think you could prove it’s working in a group is to have at least one other person in your party stand right next to you. Then let yourselves get damaged enough so you’ll see the healing when the mantra recharges. You’ll need to still be in combat when this happens to notice the effect.

Mantra of Recovery

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Here are two specifics. With Menders Purity, it removes one condition each time you use a charge (but not on charging). With Restorative Mantras, it heals all when you charge it (but not when you use a charge). With 6 Centaur Runes, it gives swiftness to those near year both on the re-charge and when using the charge. This rune gives 10 seconds of swiftness with a 15 second cooldown by default. The runes give 20% longer swiftness. So, with no other affects active, you get 12 seconds of swiftness – then you need to wait three seconds before using a charge again or just recharge the mantra (which takes 3.25 seconds).

Do you use radiation field a lot?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I stumbled upon this skill as I was leveling my mesmer.

I’m not sure if it was just coincidence (or maybe how bad I was at the time), but it really seemed to improve my ability to fight multiple mobs in PVE. I’ve pretty much kept it on my bar ever since.

I use it in PVE during Orr events. Put down the field. Send the illusionary berserker through it (throwing off poison bolts). Throw Mirror Blade through it adding more poison. And I can put down the illusionary warlock who gets a 20% boost from having to conditions. Plus it seems to really help survivability if I stand in it.

I also use it sometimes in dungeons – try to throw it on the middle of the melee.

But I almost never see other people use it. So I’m wondering if I’m just being sentimental in liking it so much since it helped me with leveling.

Anyone else use this skill frequently?

How effective are whirl finishers?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I like sending iZerker into a combo field to throw bolts (this still works based on my tests)

But how can I tell how effective that really is?

How many bolts get launched? How likely are they to hit?

Trying to understand healing power

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thx for all the help here. I probably should have asked my question with something like “I have a build a lot like Pyroatheists PVE Phantasm Support build that does good dps through phantasms but gives regeneration, lots of heals and swiftness to the group for support. I’m currently at only 250 healing power, and I’m wondering whether an incremental 100 or so points makes a substantial difference.” That would have been a better way to ask my question.

For me, the answer is no. An incremental 100 points in healing power is only going to give me an extra 40 points per mantra charge use, give the group an extra 20 points on the restorative mantra use, and an extra 12.5 points per second on regeneration (which comes from my phantasms – which are less durable in my version of this build).

So I think I would rather get an extra 100 points in precision to give a greater crit chance – it feels more impactful for the way I play. But I understand the healing power calculations a lot better now and how you can build around it – thx!

Need help on where to get armor sets

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I crafted my own exotic berserker armor. Each piece needed 5 ectoplasms, 5 powerful blood, and some gossamer and thread. I’m guessing there are karma options as well.

iZerker damage nerf?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I don’t know if there are any damage changes. The only testing I have done is after this patch is in place. The testing that I have done shows a lot of variance in damage even with a pretty controlled testing on the heavy golem, I was seeing damage varying from well-below 1000 to over 5000. It’s clear that sometimes the zerker hits the same target more than once as he goes through. So that leads to a huge range (frome one, non-crit hit up to two hits which both crit).

More importantly, I got combo finishers on two different kinds of fields. I got Confounding Bolts from Time Warp, and I got Poison Bolts from the Asura radiation field. So I don’t think there was a nerf on this part. (I retract my “bummer” post – I should have confirmed for myself before I assumed it had changed.)

Trying to understand healing power

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thx much. I’m doing GS/Staff with 25 in inspiration. I kept 30 in domination for this build – seems to work nice. I use centaur runes for swiftness to everyone.

It just seems like the payoff for points in healing power is not that great. Even factoring in the regeneration gain. It seems like the 250 points I have in Inspriation gets me: 100 points more healing per mantra cast. 50 points more healing per mantra recharge. And about 3 more points per second regeneration.

I was trying to decide if I should invest more in healing power – but it doesn’t seem worth it for my playing style.

iZerker damage nerf?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Hmmm… bummer. I don’t know if the combo finisher was doing that much damage, but I was having a lot of fun sending my iZerker through my Asuran radiation field. I really liked hearing the little voice messages about what a great synergy I had achieved.

Trying to measure damage in mists

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I feel like I’m missing something really obvious.

I go to the mists and go to the dps testing waypoint. There’s a bunch of golems who have different levels of armor.

But I only have access to greatsword and scepter/torch as weapons. And I have pre-set armor and jewelry.

I want to try out iWarlock with a specific set of gear. How do I do this?

Trying to understand healing power

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Sorry – right after I posted this, I thought of a place I hadn’t looked in the wiki.

So it seems that mantra heals only gain 0.4 points of healing from each point of healing power. And restorative mantras only gains 0.2 points per point of healing power (and seems to be fixed at 2600 + 0.2 x healing power).

So healing power seems not very useful – at least for mantra healing builds…

Trying to understand healing power

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’ve been trying to understand how much a point of healing power affects actual healing.

My primitive testing suggests that a point of healing power is roughly one point of healing per heal used. My current build is 3x use mantra for healing (plus the restorative mantra trait for another heal on the recharge).

Many thanks for anyone who can point me at something that helps here!

"typical" damage numbers

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I see posts that say things like a particular skill or phantasm hits for several thousand.

I’m wondering if anyone has tried to collect numbers on typical hits at level 80 (particularly from phantasms since they don’t seem to show in the logs)

I had a friend show me his warrior skills, and the damage numbers seem lower than what I see on my mesmer. But I’m wondering if that’s how it actually plays out in combat.

Thx

Questions on GS-Staff-Mantra pve build

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’ve been experimenting with a build for doing pve and dungeons. My goal is something I can play fairly similarly in both places. In PVE, I’m trying to hit a lot of things during events in Orr to get more opportunities for loot. In dungeons, I want to support the group well and do a lot of damage.

Here’s the build as it stands right now.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQJARWl4zionRz5GaNJxZGQ35oFQ6hqT9qLVA3A;TIArKGVA

The weapons, armor and jewelry are basically all Berserkers. I have the Distinguished Circle of Logic amulet (via laurels). I think I want the Circle of the Moon and Circle of the Sun rings (lots more laurels) – they have 39 power, prec, tough, vit, healing, condition dam, plus 5% crit damage and a bit of magic find – these would be to just nudge up the weaker stats a bit. I’m using all Centaur Runes and Sigils of Earth for the high chance for bleed that lasts a long time (this is really just to give iWarlock an extra 10% damage nearly all the time).

I don’t quite have all the equipment to exotic level, but this gives a build with a lot of power (2381), a 40% crit chance, 67% crit damage bonus, and 17,582 health with what I have today. One of my goals is to have all of my utilities be a combination of offense and defense – this makes it easy to keep a similar playing style.

My general goal is to be able to add lots of conditions that last a long time but not for the actual condition damage. Instead, the goal is to ensure iWarlock can hit hard because there are many conditions in effect (and the mob is suffering in some way from them poison, weakness, vulnerability, and bleed for long stretches with the greatsword out and the potential to add every other condition except fear and immobilize).

I haven’t played this exact build in a dungeon yet, but a similar build played really well.

I’m sure I’ll need to swap out some skills in some situations, but I’m hopeful that I can play with mostly the same set in both pve and dungeons.

I have a few questions that I would love help with.

1) When does “Wastrel’s Punishment” actually apply? Is it only when the foe is stunned, dazed, down, etc or is it any time the foe is not using a skill?

2) How often does daze actually work on bosses? I’ve seen a few veterans where it says “immune”, but I think I’m still getting the five stacks of vulnerability when I use the Power Lock mantra. I like the ability to add vulnerability on the mob for all the party members – that seems like a great way to support the team.

3) Does illusionary wave apply a daze affect? I’m wondering if it triggers vulnerability stacks.

4) Does anyone use Radiation Field in dungeons? It’s an Asura racial, so I’m guessing it doesn’t get tried that much. But it seems really valuable. It lasts 15 seconds. If you drop it on a melee, it keeps applying weakness and poison. The weakness give a 50% chance of a fumble, so it seems like that’s a nice bit of damage reduction. The poison is not bad by itself, but it’s also a field so the mirror blade and beserker take advantage of it. And, it’s basically a guarantee of two extra conditions on the mob while iWarlock is shooting. I’m just wondering if I’m overly-positive on it because I’ve used it so long.

5) Any thoughts on how this build would work in WvW? If it seems like not a good build, does it seem like there are small changes that would make it better. I haven’t tried any WvW yet.

Understanding mesmer dps

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

More out of curiousity than any super-hardcore mentality, I’ve always been interested in analyzing damage from different builds and playstyles.

In other games, there are log file analyzers that read the combat chat and produce a summary.

In GW2, I’ve seen people say “go to the Mists” as the recommendation on assessing damage. I’ve only been in the Mists a couple of times (failing to find the “cheaper” way to get back to Lions Arch), so I think I’m missing the point. I’ve seen some videos where people destroy different types of golems, but I’m not sure that really answers my question.

When I look at the combat log, I don’t see entries for what my iWarlock or iBerserker are doing.

Any suggestions on how I can get some rough measurements and understand how my changes are really working would be great – thx!

[Guide] PvE Supporting Phantasm Build

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Just wanted to say thx one more time – this build has been a ton of fun for me.

We did a 4-man through Sorrows Embrace story mode this weekend. With nobody who had done it before, we were able to get through the content, and I think this build helped a lot.

You definitely have to get used to the pacing of the mantra skills, but it feels really friendly to play.

And it mows through mobs in seconds when I’m soloing through Orr. Just start with iWarlock, flip to greatsword and send iBeserker and Mirror Blade. Then maybe one or two Mantra of Pain and it’s all over. With Sigil of Earth in Greatsword, it seems like bleed is always up. And the damage and crit damage is very nice.

Anyway, thanks again – I’m hoping to play this build for a long time.

How do condition duration effects stack?

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

I’m looking at getting runes of centaur for my build. It bugs me that I’m “losing out” on the 15% bleed duration effect. So I’m considering getting Sigils of Earth to put in my weapons. The base effect of these is 5 seconds of bleed.

I will be 30 points into the Domination trait, so that should give 30% duration increase for conditions.

How will this stack with the 15% bleed duration on rune of centaur? Is the math here 5 seconds X 1.3 X 1.15 ? If so, that seems like it will be a 7.5 (approx) second duration. So that sounds like runes of centaur will give me one more tick on the bleed because it will push it from 6.5 seconds to 7.5.

Am I looking at that correctly?

I’m doing a power and precision build, so I probably should be looking at Sigil of Air. But I hate to leave some bonus “on the table”.

Thx for the help!

[Guide] PvE Supporting Phantasm Build

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Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Just wanted to follow up and say thanks for all the guidance. I took my variant of this build into the dungeon (but putting 5 into illusions from inspiration), and it was a lot of fun. I’m sure part of it was the group I was with, but we made it through quite smoothly – and in most battles I stayed up and helped others to stay up.

At the same time, I feel like I can pop down to Orr and do plenty of damage quickly during the events. The heavy power bias with the greatsword is still very nice for this part.

In terms of doing more or less healing, it’s a little hard to say. Taken by itself, the change for Mantra of Pain to go from 2 casts to 3 casts before recharging definitely reduces the amount of healing. However, with Mantra of Restoration, I don’t have any cast time during battle to just heal myself or clear conditions. So I can keep myself going quite nicely without taking time away. And when it’s time to recharge that mantra, I heal everyone else. Also, with a nice fast recharge on the greatsword skills, I can chuck in a mirror blade easily or bring up an other berserker a bit more frequently.

I haven’t stored up the money to get the centaur runes, so I’m not really sure what this approach means for swiftness. But I really like the basic concept. I feel like I’m playing the unique part of being a mesmer (except for shatters), and it feels both effective and helpful for others.

Thx again for sharing this build!