Horrible Mesmer Build

[Extreme Measures]

I dont know who put together this build for the mesmer, but its absolutly horrible.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content/practical-guide-to-henchmen-use-id2011.php

Here is what he said about it

Mesmer - Disruption, hexes, and support are the name of the game here, although mesmers are generally fairly weak in PvE. You should be able to hold up for a good long while, as mesmers have the best energy management in the game.

Suggested Build - Mantra of Recovery, Backfire, Empathy, Cry of Frustration, Power Drain, Shatter Echantment, Drain Enchantment, Rebirth (12+1+3 Domination Magic, 10+1 Inspiration Magic, 8+1 Fast Casting)


I tried this build, and let me tell you, its the worst mesmer build I have ever played with. There is absoluty no energy recharging skills in here that work, not even close to working. It takes forever and ever for your energy to charge up, even using the power drain, and shattered enchantment...

The reasoning behind this build is beyond me, but I must say, its the very worst I have ever used.

[holden]

i think you mean mantra of recall? which is a fine elite.

that build is ok. it's not the worst. i'd probably take shatter hex over shatter enchantment in pve. inspired hex or leech sig over drain enchantment.

cry of frustration is great in pve.
power drain is great for pve
backfire will always do its job in pve. empathy works overtime, always.

backfire - 15
empathy - 10
cry - 15
shatter hex - 15

MoR - 10 with 24? back
inspired hex - 5 with 12? back
power drain - 5, and interrupt with 23 or so back


yeah shoot that is still pretty heavy lol. better take cry or shatter hex but not both.

[ubermancer]

I found the article, up until the point I stopped reading, at least, rather awful.

Yes, Ill always take both Warrior henchmen. Ill get right on that. And Ill never use a henchman which dazes and interupts (read: the one which he says to NEVER bring).

I swears.

[LightningHell]

It's not one of the worst, remember it's for beginning players who don't really know how to manage energy. Probably, anyway. It's not too bad. Usually, with Power Drain and Drain Enchantment I can hold my energy quite high.

[Dragannia]

i think you mean mantra of recall? which is a fine elite.

Honestly, Mantra of Recall for a Mesmer really isn't hot. Energy Drain for a Mesmer might yield less, but it has the added benefit of draining someone's energy, and a Mesmer would always want to help shut someone down, even if they're running degen.

Also, the build posted honestly isn't that bad. Power Drain and Drain Enchantment every 12 seconds takes care of ALL your energy problems if you know how to use them properly. Empathy in PvE is fairly strong, just make sure you switch targets, and Backfire is also strong in PvE.

[Avarre]

Shatter Enchant? Did I read that right?

Drop it for Shatter Hex, as has been said. The four main domination skills I use in PvE are Cry, SH, Emp, and Backfire, all listed above... Recovery wouldn't be my first choice but is viable, energy drain would possibly work better (in my opinion, stronger than MoRecall).

I don't care much for drain enchantment in PvE, although. Spirit of Failure is somewhat more useful.

[Numa Pompilius]

That's not a particularly bad general-usage PvE build at all.

Mantra of recall is great for a mesmer - unless you're specializing in energy denial, which is complete pants in PvE (and not all that great in PvP either), or need to use another elite.

Wasn't this a PvE build? If so it sounds perfectly OK to me: every 20 seconds you get 25 fresh energy on top of whatever you get from inspiring enchants and powerdraining. If you can't live off of that, bring Henchman Claude or Eve (they'll blood ritual you).

I agree with Avarre that drain enchantment and shatter enchantment aren't good skills in PvE other than in some special instances - too few mobs use enchantments. Shatter hex & inspire hex are generally much more useful.

Just don't bring that build to PvP, and it'll also be suboptimal against melee-only enemies.

One should realize, though, that a mesmer can unload his entire payload in the first few seconds of a fight, and unless you plan for it you may then have to stand around just wanding while things recharge. It's a natural side-effect of having fast casting + expensive spells with long recharge.

[Hella Good]

The build is nowhere near horrific. It has issues, that's for sure, but I've seen many worse builds floating around. Avarre pretty much summed it up- Cry, SH, Empathy, and BF are staple PvE skills.

[glountz]

I use a build that is a lot more "attributes spread". Because of course, sometimes there are no casters, or no hexers, etc...

rez signet (or hard rez if monk secondary)
Ineptitude
Conjure phantasm
Empathy
Backfire
Power Drain
Drain Enchant
Shatter hex (if facing hexers) or Epidemic (if facing many warriors/sins and depending of your team)or Power Leak (against elementalists/boss elementalists) or CoH (if you don't need any of the other skills) or WWorry (when facing Tyrian Bosses-extremely powerful) or Diversion (again, when facing difficult bosses, especially monk ones).

[Extreme Measures]

i think you mean mantra of recall? which is a fine elite.

that build is ok. it's not the worst. i'd probably take shatter hex over shatter enchantment in pve. inspired hex or leech sig over drain enchantment.

cry of frustration is great in pve.
power drain is great for pve
backfire will always do its job in pve. empathy works overtime, always.

backfire - 15
empathy - 10
cry - 15
shatter hex - 15

MoR - 10 with 24? back
inspired hex - 5 with 12? back
power drain - 5, and interrupt with 23 or so back


yeah shoot that is still pretty heavy lol. better take cry or shatter hex but not both.

Mantra of Recovery is what I meant.... I got that elite now, and its a very good one, Skills recharge 50% faster for 16 seconds... very nice indeed.

But the build itself I found pretty bad.... Im having great luck with the build that I have actually, and will stick with it... and it works great in factions as well. I think I posted the build under Illusion Mesmer builds that some guy was asking to post about....
Anyways, I didnt mean to be so harsh about this build, but it just doesnt work very well at all, at least not for me.

[holden]

Mantra of Recovery is what I meant.... I got that elite now, and its a very good one, Skills recharge 50% faster for 16 seconds... very nice indeed.

But the build itself I found pretty bad.... Im having great luck with the build that I have actually, and will stick with it... and it works great in factions as well. I think I posted the build under Illusion Mesmer builds that some guy was asking to post about....
Anyways, I didnt mean to be so harsh about this build, but it just doesnt work very well at all, at least not for me.

i'd have to agree. with out e drain or mantra of recall this build is a hog. recovery would only allow you to cast expensive skills more often.

you're right on with your original post. absolutely horrible.

[Effigy]

MoRecovery can be an indirect energy management skill, although it's obviously not the best. The point is it recharges your EM skills faster in addition to your offensive ones.

[Hella Good]

MoR is interesting but it is tricky to use when you get focused by the enemy team and you tell yourself "Damn, where is my Distortion?" And taking 2 stances on a Me is overkill.

[Effigy]

True, stance switching is a pain on a MoRecovery build. Same with MoPersistence, MoInscriptions, etc. I think this is a main reason Recovery doesn't get as much play, but it can work nicely depending on the build. I think the best option is to find an alternative to Distortion if you want to use a different stance, although it is hard to pass up. Distortion isn't necessary in PvE, so Recovery works well there.

[TeeGee]

I prefer Glyph of Renewal over Mantra of Recovery anyday. It isn't stance, its 2 times cheaper and it allows to spam key spells almost just as good. Actually even better at times (fe: when you want to place backfire on two caster monsters asap).

Anyway - that build isn't that bad - it's better than conjure phantasm-backfire-random skills than most PvE mesmers use.

[holden]

I prefer Glyph of Renewal over Mantra of Recovery anyday. It isn't stance, its 2 times cheaper and it allows to spam key spells almost just as good. Actually even better at times (fe: when you want to place backfire on two caster monsters asap).


glyph mesmer is ftw.

[lightblade]

That build may not be the 1337 kind of build, but it works. Mesmer do rely on a lot on interrupts; power drain is very good at recovering energy. Mantra of Recovery is good, but not worthy as elite in here. I usually bring Shatter Hex for hex, Shatter Storm for enchantments, Power Spike for general spell interrupts, Power Drain for energy, Empathy for melee, and lastly...Arcane Echo for varies uses.

[LightningHell]

I prefer Glyph of Renewal over Mantra of Recovery anyday. It isn't stance, its 2 times cheaper and it allows to spam key spells almost just as good. Actually even better at times (fe: when you want to place backfire on two caster monsters asap).

Agreed.

But I think this is supposed to be a pure Mesmer build, with any secondary.

[ubermancer]

And Mantra is obtained much earlier.

[Extreme Measures]

True, stance switching is a pain on a MoRecovery build. Same with MoPersistence, MoInscriptions, etc. I think this is a main reason Recovery doesn't get as much play, but it can work nicely depending on the build. I think the best option is to find an alternative to Distortion if you want to use a different stance, although it is hard to pass up. Distortion isn't necessary in PvE, so Recovery works well there.


What do you mean "stance switching"???? I recently started using Mantra of Recovery with my build, and love it.. I changed it out with energy drain... but also to make up for lost energy management, I not only rely on Inspired Hex still, but added Etheral Burdon.... another great skill for obtaining energy..
It really depends on the area that Im in as to which build I will use on the mes.. I have 2 as I have stated, one with Mantra, and the one with Energy Drain... always use Energy Tap, and Inspired Hex..
My biggest problem, is when I have tried Drain Enchantment, or or any of those interupting skills, they never ever work... no matter what mission im on or quest im on. The enchantment removals skills just dont seem to work. Either that, or Im casting on the wrong enemy.. but most of the time they all look the same, and have the same names, so that makes it difficult to tell which one to cast what on. Which is why I use most all health degen skills.

[LightningHell]

What do you mean "stance switching"???? I recently started using Mantra of Recovery with my build, and love it.. I changed it out with energy drain... but also to make up for lost energy management, I not only rely on Inspired Hex still, but added Etheral Burdon.... another great skill for obtaining energy..
It really depends on the area that Im in as to which build I will use on the mes.. I have 2 as I have stated, one with Mantra, and the one with Energy Drain... always use Energy Tap, and Inspired Hex..
My biggest problem, is when I have tried Drain Enchantment, or or any of those interupting skills, they never ever work... no matter what mission im on or quest im on. The enchantment removals skills just dont seem to work. Either that, or Im casting on the wrong enemy.. but most of the time they all look the same, and have the same names, so that makes it difficult to tell which one to cast what on. Which is why I use most all health degen skills.

Mantra of Recovery and Distortion are stances, therefore if you hit Distortion while using MoR, MoR is canceled.

By the way, you not being able to use the build is your own problem, the build is pretty good already for PvE, albeit a little energy intensive. I never have problem PDraining or DEnchanting.

[Hella Good]

Distortion isn't necessary in PvE, so Recovery works well there.
Oh, right, this a PvE build. My mind is almost entirely in PvP. I was having a hard time deciding what to play on my PvE Me when I logged on him a couple of weeks ago. Yea, in PvE, no Dist is fine. In PvP, I rly feel I need it- Me get focused way to much to pass on it. You know Weapon spells arent a bad alternative.

[holden]

By the way, you not being able to use the build is your own problem, the build is pretty good already for PvE, albeit a little energy intensive. I never have problem PDraining or DEnchanting.

Mantra of Recovery-10e with 14 second duration
Backfire-15e
Empathy-10e
Cry of Frustration-15e
Power Drain-5e with conditional return of 23
Shatter Echantment-15e
Drain Enchantment-10e with 9? back
Rebirth

(12+1+3 Domination Magic, 10+1 Inspiration Magic, 8+1 Fast Casting)


and you'll be casting more because of Recovery. 80 energy all together?

and who drains enchantments in PVE? even with a difficult boss, who does it?

the op is correct, it's a bad build. no matter how you play it, you'll be standing there waiting to regen energy at some point or there will be skills on your bar that just aren't used. either way it's a bad deal.

[Extreme Measures]

Mantra of Recovery-10e with 14 second duration
Backfire-15e
Empathy-10e
Cry of Frustration-15e
Power Drain-5e with conditional return of 23
Shatter Echantment-15e
Drain Enchantment-10e with 9? back
Rebirth

(12+1+3 Domination Magic, 10+1 Inspiration Magic, 8+1 Fast Casting)


and you'll be casting more because of Recovery. 80 energy all together?

and who drains enchantments in PVE? even with a difficult boss, who does it?

the op is correct, it's a bad build. no matter how you play it, you'll be standing there waiting to regen energy at some point or there will be skills on your bar that just aren't used. either way it's a bad deal.


Holden, first off, were you serious about having 80 energy for a mesmer ? Or did I hear ya wrong???
Also, your right, Ive tried drain enchantment several times, and it NEVER works, but what does work very well, is the Inspired Hex.... I use it in almost every zone in prophecies... and in Factions, although Im not too far in Factions yet. But it works well, and gives you extra energy.

My health on my mesmer used to be close to 600, now its 506 with the superior rune of illusion. I have only 47 energy however... Is that standard??? or is that much more than normal?? Seems like I could somehow get some more LOL :)

[holden]

skills on the bar add up to 80 energy is what i meant. and since you have 47, something has to give.

47 total energy is fine imo. that may be max for a mesmer?


and i agree, revealed hex/inspired hex is great in pve. much more useful than inspired or drain enchantment.

unless there are no hexes around.....but that's rare.

energy drain - elite
backfire
empathy
shatter hex
power drain/power spike
revealed hex
leech sig/cry of frustration
res

as most everyone else has eluded to would be a smoother build for pve. cry is better than leech sig but also 15e more expensive. it's a toss up but i think you need one or the other, interrupting skills is useful and fun as hell imo.

[LightningHell]

Err...aren't you a Mesmer?

When I play as a Mesmer in PvE, I usually don't spam spells then doing Ctrl-click energy bar ten times per second. I play Mesmer as I play my Blue M:tG deck; opportunity and permission.

Granted, I'd have taken EDrain instead because I like EDrain. :P

[Effigy]

Err...aren't you a Mesmer?

When I play as a Mesmer in PvE, I usually don't spam spells then doing Ctrl-click energy bar ten times per second. I play Mesmer as I play my Blue M:tG deck; opportunity and permission.

Granted, I'd have taken EDrain instead because I like EDrain. :P

Exactly. You don't spam every skill on your bar, but you use it when you need to. MoR costs energy and takes the place of emanagement elites, but it can help you cover it's costs if you make good use of halved recharges on your skills like Power Drain, Energy Tap, etc. Not to mentioned the boosted offensive, which skills like EDrain and MoRecall don't provide. GoR is a decent option, but it won't recharge your whole bar the way MoRecovery does. Costs and benefits either way.

[Extreme Measures]

skills on the bar add up to 80 energy is what i meant. and since you have 47, something has to give.

47 total energy is fine imo. that may be max for a mesmer?


and i agree, revealed hex/inspired hex is great in pve. much more useful than inspired or drain enchantment.

unless there are no hexes around.....but that's rare.

energy drain - elite
backfire
empathy
shatter hex
power drain/power spike
revealed hex
leech sig/cry of frustration
res

as most everyone else has eluded to would be a smoother build for pve. cry is better than leech sig but also 15e more expensive. it's a toss up but i think you need one or the other, interrupting skills is useful and fun as hell imo.

Yes, the skills on skill bar add up to 80 energy, and I have a total of 47 energy available, BUT, using Energy Drain, and Energy Tap, AND the Inspired Hex, keeps my energy bar FULL 80% of the time believe it or not. Thats the whole idea behind the Mesmer, is energy management, and I believe the Mes is one of the best in the game at managing energy :)

It was just so long since I played, was wondering if there was any other way to get that energy boosted higher lol.....

Now, what I did over the weekend, is what I used to do way back when I started this game, and that is make my Mesmer Interchangable... A Fast Casting Flame Thrower.... I changed my attributes over the weekend to Fast Casting, Fire, and Inspiration (for energy managment) And I found out how fun it used to be when I was solo farming and getting black and silver dyes like they were falling out of the trees lol.
I used my energy tap, energy drain, etherfeast, inspired hex (all a must) and then Fire Attunement, Fireball, Firestorm, and Rotgorts.... Now, I would replace Rotgorts with Meteor shower in certain areas, and also, "some" areas I dont need inspired hex, so I can use both rotgorts and meteor shower.. Believe it or not, with energy management of this character, i never had a problem when running both meteor shower and rotgorts.... Anyways... it works out great with energy management... thought I would share.
Ill always be the 100% Illusion Mesmer,, but just changing it up a bit ovr the weekend :)

Working on Ranger/Ritualist now, and a 55hp Monk.

[Hella Good]

Yes, the skills on skill bar add up to 80 energy, and I have a total of 47 energy available, BUT, using Energy Drain, and Energy Tap, AND the Inspired Hex, keeps my energy bar FULL 80% of the time believe it or not.
He was talking about the bar you posted originally. It was very poorly thought of in terms of nrg management. Thought of being- of course- an exaggeration. ;)

Thats the whole idea behind the Mesmer, is energy management, and I believe the Mes is one of the best in the game at managing energy :)
The whole idea behind Me is nrg management? Oh boy, now I'm ready to beat you up with my purple cane and unleash all of Domination/Illusion fury on top of you. :p