Talk:IW mesmer

Tactic's Stance
Since you will be putting pts on tactics, instead of using Distortion, consider using (both if possible) Disciplined Stance and Defensive Stance, both gives +24 armor and its great against players that don't have nothing to remove stances(good for RA), if thats your choice, use Disciplined Stance first to restore health with Healing Signet and use any of them for the armor bonus if against professions like E and D.--ShadowFog 16:01, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I've recently decided that for my second run through Hard Mode/Vanquishing I want to run only IW and stay in the front line. I have used the popular Me/A Feigned Neutrality build, but decided it was far too vulnerable to enchant stripping. I'm running Me/W (OQFTE4BWVKEArgrIVkmEJIJAEAA) with Elemental and Physical resistance on the bar, Flurry when I'm not being hit directly to speed up damage dealing, and "I am Unstoppable" and "By Ural's Hammer". I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the damage from Ural's hammer adds onto IW. Between Watch Yourself (built up by taking a few swings between re-applying IW), "I am Unstoppable" and the appropriate use of Elemental Resistance or Physical Resistance, I'm resilient enough for the front line and able to tease out those first blasts of damage no problem. In addition, even if IW goes down/gets stripped, I can still hold the mobs in place. I also use a tactics shield and sentry insignia and have plenty of energy. I'm having great fun with this build. Pendaran 21:36, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

ranger second
when i used to play iw mesmer i would take: Illusionary Weaponry Great Dwarf Armor Never Rampage Alone Companionship Illusion of Weakness Summon Ruby Djinn Revive Animal for any pet in the party Charm Animal

r16 illusion, r12 beast fun skill in pve with little worries on being blinded or blocked too much. Is annoying if you get IW burnt off ya before u can cover with Dwarven armor though. Flurry is over-rated for iw mesmers,human reflex cant maintain it without being a button smasher.--Justice 04:56, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks good, I changed Dwarven Armor to Great Dwarf Armor, hope you don't mind ^ ^ -84.65.10.11 19:25, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I love using IW as a ranger secondary. NRA trades in Flurry's -40 armor for health regen, and a dire pet gives another damage source and a squishier target to distract attackers. My personal build is:


 * GDA for cover enchant, and MoC for mid-battle rebuffs keeps this viable in all but the more enchant strip-heavy areas. Also a perfect use for the Forgotten Fan that nobody uses except for energy swapping. Scutilla 01:49, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Query
"is not uncommon for the use of runes of vigor to increase maximum health." - I think it would be VERY uncommon, if a vigor rune would be used for anything ELSE. Think needs re-phrasing.79.75.0.179 12:28, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

May 2010 Mesmer Update
With the new mesmer skill rebalancing, Illusionary Weaponry now adds +5 armor for each Illusion Magic skill you have on your bar (in PvE only). This makes IW more worth using, as a mesmer can now have up to 100 armor (in the case of all illusion magic skills). This change favors the first two kinds of builds the article talks about (those who rely on IW for damage and those who use IW to finish off foes softened by illusion hexes), while benefiting the IW mesmer who uses domination magic less significantly. However, it seems like all three varieties of these builds might come back into favor (those who "soften up" their foes with illusion hexes being most likely the strongest), given that a frontline mesmer can now defend herself. Consequently, this article needs to be rewritten (particularly those portions of it which refer to the weak armor of IW mesmers), but not without a thorough discussion of the new Illusionary Weaponry spell. -- Material Eyes, 03:23, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

I assume that the armor bonus from Illusionary Weaponry could be as high as +40 with a bar full of Illusion Magic skills, despite the +25 armor cap (since it's one skill providing the bonus). But this also means that with 5+ Illusion Magic skills, the IW Mesmer won't be getting armor bonuses from anything else, right? Bringing %22Watch_Yourself!%22 on himself or an allied warrior won't help the IW Mesmer in the least? Redscull 21:12, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Armor
The armor thing is not necessarily true, I usually run an IW build that has assassin secondary, and with proper patience and stuff, I can usually tank my way through most hard mode areas with no enchant removal solo.