Illusionary Weapon and Cyclone axe

I have not capped IW yet, but was thinking about it in a build with cyclone axe. Will the IW attack bonus be applied to everyone that would have been hit by cyclone axe? This could be awesome when in mods that use blinding skills.

Yes, IW does work with CA.

Also blindness doesn't effect you if your using IW.
Also i think Scythes work too with IW as in your always hitting 3?

It works with scythes, but ennemies need to be close from each other and in front of you. The reduced attack speed compared to an axe or a swords hurts.

Anyway, you can swith weapon while IW is up.

edit - nothing to see here folks - plz move along.

The Cyclone Axe is purely for the multiple target damage. You don't hit the targets with IW, so the extra damage listed in the skill doesn't happen anyway, nor does base damage, critical, or any damage mods.

Yeh I was looking up the skill and theres a difference of 4 damage - but that relys on getting max damage each hit - Having said that Arcane, Im more confused after reading what you wrote than I was before I came here.

So You're saying that you dont do any damage with IW?

(on a side note what I wrote before editing wasnt very clear either, so I m not throwing stones)

He is saying the only reason to use Cyclone Axe with IW is to damage multiple opponents with one strike. There is no bonus skill damage or anything, as IW's damage is base and unconditional. IW doesn't "hit" ... it just damages.... that is all. Cyclone Axe allows IW to do its work on more than one enemy.

Wasn't Hundred Blades changed to an elite to stop people from using it with IW? It doesn't make any sense though, mainly because you can still cyclone axe.

if u cyclone axe with 12 axe mastery there's no way you would deal more dmg then with IW, as the damage depends on the monster's armor, and IW is armor ignoring.

There is a difference. The problem wasn't a warrior using IW, but a IW mesmer using it. The warrior isn't really going to get a high enough illusion attribute to matter - or at the least not high enough to make it unbalanced compared to other warrior builds.

First, lets assume you are an IW mesmer (not a warrior seeking to augment damage) so you have 16 in illusion - that is 42 damage per hit. So you swing that cyclone axe and hit each target for 42 damage - that is 42*number of enemies. That's not bad - if you could absorb much damage it makes quite a workable PvE build but it seems to easy to counter in PvP for the damage output.

Now, use Hundred Blades with hits *each* target twice - that is 84*number of enemies. Even though the second hits a smaller area it only needs to hit half as many targets to do the same damage, not to mention allowing others in the party to spike any one of the damaged critters (true in both PvE and PvP). Now we are into something that may be worth the headache, especially true when only Prophecies existed.

To some extent that is/was the same reason for the current re-re-balance of the ele's "conjure" line - a Hundred Blades warrior with no points in the ele line was spiking for 100-150 damage per person per attack (they buffed it a bit too much) and it took very little to get A LOT more damage. The fact that Hundred Blades strikes each target twice means quite a bit more, especially when looking to spike something/someone. Even now my warrior using Hundred Blades and the conjure line in PvE does some impressive damage numbers.

Twin moon sweep self strips an enchant meaning you *really* need the Dervishes enchant train to use it much so no issue there, it is not like a short recharge constant double hit. Any single hit AoE is going to be OK.

I find a IW mesmer quite boring to play and being a PvE only player I only care that I can make it through the mission/quest. I prefer to play my Mesmer as an interrupter or e-denier.

Anyway, a happy little history lesson - I came into the game after the beta's and read all sorts of whining about not being able to do the above with IW and hundred blades so I never personally experienced it. I always seem to be a day late and dollar short on all the good exploits, not only have I missed every single one (including merchant resets and such) the few times I have gambled on them I lost Oh well.