Which IW Build?

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Flurry[/skill][skill]Cyclone Axe[/skill][skill]Distracting Blow[/skill][skill]Distortion[/skill][skill]Healing Signet[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Tactics at 12 ; Illusion at 16 ; Fast Casting at 4

OR

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Flurry[/skill][skill]Cyclone Axe[/skill][skill]Leech Signet[/skill][skill]Distortion[/skill][skill]Ether Feast[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Illusion at 16 ; Inspiration at 13 ; Fast Casting at 4

Both with a Totem Axe and a Malinon's Shield

Help plz!!!

~Polynikes

I would say the bottom one would be better. :. Leech Signet is faster and actually can get you energy, while the top one's disrupting blow is a melee attack<No range, would have to run to casters far away, while the top is ranged> which cannot get you back energy, and though it does affect foes adjacent, the enemy you are trying it on would most-likely not be in a pack. :. Also, Healing signet is not a spell, and is not affected by fast casting, therefore ether feast is faster, also ether feast does not have '-40 armour' while the top does. The bad thing about ether feast though is its recharge time is a bit higher and you need to select and enemy with energy to use it on. :.

I'm also worried about Leech Signet's recharge... 30 seconds... On the other hand, Power Drain is ONLY spells, so that's a bit restrictive. So, the bottom one, eh? Any more replies?

~Polynikes

Is this one better suited for PvE???

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Deadly Paradox[/skill][skill]Death's Charge[/skill][skill]Feigned Neutrality[/skill][skill]Dark Escape[/skill][skill]Return[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Many people on Wiki say this is better, but the one that i posted above has much more dps and AoE damage and an interrupt. this one, on the other hand, has an almost-maintainable +80 armor and +7 regen. IDK help me decide!

~Polynikes

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important question is where u r using this build?

My pve IW build is quite different... including deadly riposte and such also....
From the 2 u asked about, i would say run the bottom one, ditch cyclone bring energy tap instead...

you have alot of energy useage skills there, and no energy management....

Can you show me a perfect IW build for general PvE??? And, seriously, Cyclone Axe is key to any Me/W IW build. AoE armor-ignoring dmg pwns. How can i fit in E-tap, D-riposte and stuff like that? Help plz!

~Polynikes

There is no "perfect IW" build or is there a "general pve" every area, every situation has different types of enemies and such that you need to worry about, especialy if you intend to use an IW build....

The mes/as build listed above is about the best for general pve... it has enchantment cover and everything.... As for the "cyclone axe" is key to any me/w build you are quite wrong.... if you have tried your build above, with cyclone... you will probably get 2 cyclones off on a group, and be at 0 energy...

What i perfer is something along these lines... i dont have exact build here because i am at work...

The Core skills i always use are
Illusionary Weaponry
Sympathetic Visage (cover enchant) and drains adren and eng from enemy
Flurry
Deadly Riposte
Healing Signet
Leech Signet

Other skills i bring sometimes
Distortion
Images of Remorse
Ethereal Burden
Inspired Hex

16 illusion, 8-9 tacts, 4 or so Inspiration depending, 3-4 fast cast... (dont remeber exacts)

I use a sword that is barbed, enchants last 20%, HSR 10%, and an offhand 12 eng, Illusion +1, HSR 20% illuision skills. or a shield, req 8 tatcs, +1/19 illusion -2 enchanted. Depending on what enemies there and such...

I went through the entire NF game with the Me/A build. That was, of course back when Feigned could be kept up all the time at 9 att points.

Dagger: 9
Shadow: 9
Ill: 16
rest in deadly

1. Ethereal/Kitah Burden (decent energy return + snare)
2. IW
3. Deadly Paradox
4. Heart of shadow
5. Feigned N
6.
7. Illusion of weakness
8. Rez

heart of shadow is a decent heal, especially with paradox to reduce it recharge, also good to get out of sticky situations. When feigned is recharged, use deadly -> heart -> feigned

I found Phantom Pain to work great for the optional slot. Throw phantom pain, then burden. Your target will be snared until deep wound hits, giving you one last hit after deep wound is applied.

The only reason dagger is at 9 is a better chance for double strikes. Honestly I found the Me/W with flurry DPS to be much higher, since the Me/A build has no IAS (makes IW ten times better) The double strikes made up for this, and the feigned allowed you to be a badass DPS tank. With heart of shadow, the small downtime of feigned might not be an issue.

Ethereal Burden is horrible, IMO, because you gain a net of 7 energy every 45 seconds. You can consider it a snare, sure, but what good is that in PvE? All I have gotten so far is this:

IW
Flurry
D-Riposte
Healing Sig
Leech Sig
Distortion/Visage
Illusion of Weakness
Resurrection Sig

Running a Rajazan's Fervor and a Malinon's Shield.

~Polynikes

Excuse my ignorance, but would this build be used for more of a tanking?

yes, it is designed for tanking... IW does base 42 dmg at 16 illusion (46 dmg using +1 from egg or such, and get the +1 from offhand) it ignores all armor, blind, blocking, everything... expect shadow form i believe, cause its "miss" so basically you tank and cut things down quickly...

but tank as in deal lots of dmg quickly, not tank as in take lots of dmg

Get In Get Out Repeat tactic, no?

So what's over all better here then? Avarre mentions that a Me/W is likely to be taken down before a Me/A is. So what would be the build(s) for a Me/A player rather then the Me/W player?

wont the lack of defense bring you down, considering you fight in "melee"?
maybe you can take Ele as second prof, with stoneflash aura, stonesriker and mantra of earth.

mes/war is core classes build...

mes/ass as described does have good healing or such, but since you are not doing "dmg" or getting any critical hits, critical defences only last short amount of time, and there is no burst in attack speed.

with mes/war build, its best to have a monk, or monks built with prot spirit, guardian and such... also, Restful Breeze is awsome regen skill because you are not "hitting" with attacks... this is in no way a solo build, this is just a pve build... as in monks need to assist in keeping you alive....

I am just building off of what the OP has mentioned and talked about... there is a wide variety of IW builds, but he has asked about mes/war build for IW

as for your weapons, i perfer HSR 10% and enchants last 20%, as well as barbed... barbed makes d-riposte bleed longer, HSR is mesmers biggest worry, imho, and ofcourse enchants lasting long is very key.... offhand, i go into fight with +1 / 20% and HSR illusion offhand, once i get IW on me i change out to shield.. and fight with either offhand depending how battle is going.... HSR = about 28% after all the math, and since the build is based around IW its best to have is reset as fast as possible, never know when u are going to get all your enchants stripped... and you dont have any gap of 2 dmg or so from your weapon...

i recommend just paying 1k for a cheap inscribable sword to mod up, if u whisp me ingame, i can hook u up with one that just needs moded. Shield... hahaha, good luck finding one as i have, hardest part is, most ppl would merch such ones because why would u run that?!? hahaha, but i love it, and its great for hiding ur eng... so u switch offhands to cast next IW and u have 12 eng there waiting...

me is confused.

The only reason I was running tactics was to have the extra armor from the shield. without a shield, then screw Tactics! Ill just go 16 illusion and 13 inspiration with leech sig and ether feast. im not going into tactics for a heal which ether feast can cover and some dam riposte which works sgainst melee only...

illusionary weaponry
flurry
cyclone axe
sympathetic visage
distortion
leech sig
illusion of weakness
rez sig

from that build, tell me improvements. deadly riposte is wasting 5 energy every 10 seconds to do some bleeding and damage on 1 melee foe. compared to cyclone axe, which would let me do 42 dmg to all adjacent foes, d-riposte is crap. its not like i will spam cyclone, ill only use it on bunched people. then ill use distortion when some huge titan tries to wtfpwn me. whats wrong with it???

~Polynikes

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So what would a Me/A IW build look like?

whats heal sig got over ether feast? 4 sec recharge compared to 8 second, but ether feast makes foe lose energy and doesnt have -40 armor while casting. i have 3 builds so far, tell me which is superior:

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Flurry[/skill][skill]Cyclone Axe[/skill][skill]Ether Feast[/skill][skill]Energy Tap[/skill][skill]Leech Signet[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]
16 illusion 13 inspiration 4 fastcast

vs.

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Flurry[/skill][skill]Deadly Riposte[/skill][skill]Healing Signet[/skill][skill]Distortion[/skill][skill]Leech Signet[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]
16 illusion 12 tactics 4 fastcast

vs.

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Deadly Paradox[/skill][skill]Feigned Neutrality[/skill][skill]Dark Escape[/skill][skill]Death's Charge[/skill][skill]Return[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]
16 illusion 12 shadow 4 fastcast

just pick 1, 2, or 3 so we close this thread. thx.

~Polynikes

I have also come up with a sorta kinda OK Me/D IW build. here it is:

[skill]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill]Vital Boon[/skill][skill]Conviction[/skill][skill]Mystic Regeneration[/skill][skill]Illusion of Weakness[/skill][skill]Distortion[/skill][skill]Leech Signet[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

constant +12 regen and +24 armor, i guess its OK, but still, choose from the ones above ^^^.

~Polynikes

From the list #2 with SV instead of distortion is my favorite
3 is also very good because u can step in and out....

But, if your talking dervish builds... try this idea... run with a scythe (hit up to 3 targets) and use Sand Shards instead of distortion.... ive ran that before, for dmg, its about the most effective build, much much better then cyclone axe imho... even try same with veil of thorns instead of leach signet... keeps enemies close, crippled, and dying...

scythe = no offhand

no offhand = 12 less energy

12 less energy = harder to keep up with build's energy demands

~Polynikes

o yes, and i can tell youre lying... http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Sand_Shards

go to the Notes section:

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