User:Pendaran/builds

General Purpose PvE Mesmer Builds
Yeah, I know, Mesmers supposedly suck in PvE, but in reality, I've managed to get KoaBD 6 and 5 on a pair of mesmers very easily (although to be honest, much of that can also be attributed to having great long-time gaming buddies to play with). Why, you ask? Maybe my parents were too broke to buy me dolls when I was a little girl or something. Anyhow, color me crazy and magenta.

I'm not asking for opinions or thank yous. I'm just posting what I've run and what works for me personally. Above all, this is what I find fun. These may or may not work for you.

Also, I consider these builds to be my basics - I have many variations depending on where and what I'm doing. The key to being invaluable to your team as a mesmer is to bring the appropriate build for the conditions/foes you'll be facing. I tend to favor Illusion because it keeps melee off my squishy friends, but that's just my play style.

Illusion Builds
Heavy Conditions Notes: This is meant to be part of a balanced team that is using heavy conditioning to wipe out large numbers of clustered foes. It works well in places like Slaver's and Domain of Anguish in a balanced team. Thanks to Mog for perfecting and running it well.

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Standard Melee Hate Notes: Back when I got my first set of hard mode titles, there were no PvE skills, so Clumsiness and Ineptitude were a mainstay for keeping healers safe from melee that wandered into the backline. Now they are much improved. Arcane Conundrum is now insanely good for energy management because at 16 Illusion you will get +7 e each time it expires on an enemy, so if you happen to hit four enemies with it at a time, you get a nice +28 payoff. That makes it worth putting on both melee and casters. Power Return is utility - I just carry it around to catch things like Meteor Showers or Deep Freeze. It has a nice fast recharge and those spells don't recharge quickly, so it's handy.

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Illusionary Weaponry
Yes, a special section just for my trusty pink lightsabre. Since Maeve is my second time vanquishing, my challenge is to do it entirely with IW builds and that means I lead and tank. So far, EoTN, Elona and Cantha are done. I'm slowly working through Tyria. Here are the builds I've been playing with. IW weapons should have +20 enchant mod and +5e (I Have the Power) inscriptions. You'll want to use a shield if you plan to stay in the front line because even if you don't have the stats for it, it's still a +8AL boost over all.

Stance Illusionary Weaponry Usage:What I like about this version is that it has a very high durability - even when I lose enchantments. I can use elemental resistance to take the heat as I approach and tease out elementalist spells before my team engages, or I can put up the physical resistance stance to help reduce damage when I'm feeling the crunch of melee critters. It should be noted that Lightbringer and "By Ural's Hammer" stack nicely on demons and margonites, leading to some spectacular sword swinging. Flurry does not reduce IW damage, although I only use this stance when I'm not under direct attack and quickly switch back to a more appropriate one if I do start taking hits. I use Sentry insignia and a tactics shield with as much health as I can stack on my armor. I keep a Major and Superior Illusion headpiece handy so that I can switch as appropriate to boost health.

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Pet Illusionary Weaponry Usage:This is not a very durable build, but it's fun when I'm dodging in and out of combat or in areas where the foes are not particularly bad. I used it a lot in Echovald due to constant enchant removal - I could count on my pet and Fragility to still damage foes. I use Blessed insignia and a shield with as much health as I can stack on my armor. It uses Fragility and conditions as a secondary damage source with Scavenger Strike for energy. I keep a Major and Superior Illusion headpiece handy so that I can switch as appropriate to boost health.

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Neutral Illusionary Weaponry Usage:This is a variation of the PvP Neutral IW build that used to be in vogue before many skills were nerfed (and I say in vogue tentatively because as far as I know IW was never a big thing in PvP). The basic premise is the Feigned Neutrality lasts as long as you don't hit/attack - however, IW does not count, so you can have high armor and regen. I use this build where I know I'll be hit by a lot of degen. I don't use it that often, but it's a fun variation since it's amusing to poof over to enemies. I use Blessed insignia and a shield with as much health as I can stack on my armor.

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Other Builds
Panic!! Usage:Here's my current favorite Domination build. Panic - nuff said. It shuts them down and it's hilarious. With Ether Signet, I'm careful to switch to a low or negative energy set before usage to ensure a half full bar when I switch back to my dom set. It's easy to over do it with Dom on energy, so it's important to spam wisely. Incidently, Norgu and Gwen run this just fine - hence the lack of PvE skills.

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Signets for Joko Land Usage:This is great for anything undead, especially with the new and improved Keystone Signet and Symbolic Celerity. I've always loved signet builds. I used to use 12 Smite with Signet of Judgment for my original Desolation/Undead swatting build, but this is much better - works well on heroes, too. As always, I keep a Major and Superior Fast Casting Headpiece around and load up on health. No need for energy on this build. (9 in smite ensures that the signets still do some damage if the enchantment gets removed for whatever reason). This is another bar that Gwen and Norgu can run well - hence no PvE skills.

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Die Abaddon! Usage:Lots of utility to help your party survive, but once Abaddon is vulnerable, spam Wastrel's Worry and dump Chaos Storm on him. He has the Tyrian Boss weakness of having hex duration greatly reduced, so WW lasts 1 second - dead very quickly.

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