Illusion based pure damage builds

Introduction:
Finding a basis for a mesmer damage dealer, while retaining the shutdown flavor of the mesmer, is a task that requires much effort. The mesmer itself is based off of many conditional forms of damage, such as energy and attack or sepll usage. The classic examples include Empathy and Backfire.
The idea of a Fragility based mesmer is nothing new: People have been using Fragility + 0 Death Magic Virulence for quite some time. My major problem with Virulence is the 15 cooldown, and the requirement of an elite slot.

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Fragility Burner - Damage Based Mesmer: Spear edition

Mesmer/Paragon
Level: 20

Fast Casting: 9 (8+1)
Illusion Magic: 16 (12+4)
Spear Mastery: 10

- Clumsiness (Illusion Magic) <-- damage
- Images of Remorse (Illusion Magic) <-- damage
- Arcane Conundrum (Illusion Magic) <--shutdown (too bad it has 20 cool down but that factor is redeemed by its AoE)
- Fragility (Illusion Magic) <-- damage
- Accumulated Pain (Illusion Magic) <-- deep wound and armor ignoring damage (too bad it has 20 cool down)
- Burning Refrain (Leadership) <-- Fragility trigger
- Wild Throw (Spear Mastery) <-- end stances, from a RANGE! (Given this is the only adrenaline skill, you use it to great effectiveness compared to a Paragon)
- Signet of Return (Leadership) <-- fast cast signets resurrect

Sideboard:
- Spear of Lightning (Spear Mastery) instead of Images of Remorse for guaranteed +16 damage.
- Cruel Spear [Elite] (Spear Mastery) instead of Accumulated Pain, for a less hex dependent deep wound (although the target needs to be standing still, which is trivial to use on an attacking melee or a casting caster)

Thrown out:
- Disrupting Throw (Spear Mastery) instead of Images of Remorse, for interruption. The 10 second recharge and condition reliance is not worth the hassle when Power return and Web of Disruption can be used.
- Stunning Strike [Elite] (Spear Mastery) instead of Images of Remorse, for daze. The 10 adrenaline cost takes a while without an IAS.
- Barbed Spear (Spear Mastery) because Bleeding sucks.
- Wearying Spear (Spear Mastery) , weakness lowers the ability of spells too now. The damage was alluring though.

Thoughts:
A 0 spec Mark of Rodgort was the original basis for this build, but the 15 energy cost is unwieldy. You could just spam 0 spec Immolate as well, but spamming 10 energy skills is kind of retarded and at best you get 6 or 7 casts of it given the recharge time. Poison arrow even at 0 spec has 5 duration, and requires an elite skill slot and sacrifice of your +12 energy focus. Burning Arrow has 5 cool down and 10 energy cost which means that at best you get 4 uses of it. The same goes for Jagged Strike, sans the elite clause.

Apply Poison or Barbed Arrows seem like attractive choices, until you realize that reapplying a condition doesn't trigger Fragility unlike Soul Barbs, which triggers when hexes are reapplied.

Going with a Paragon primary pigeonholes you into speccing Leadership for shouts. Speccing Leadership means you cannot trigger Fragility as efficiently since the duration of the burning will be 2 to 3 seconds.

Endnotes:
The major issue at hand is the burning condition. If you have a Searing Flames elementalist or Ranger with Burning arrow, the build is very much ineffective.

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Frustration Lover - Damage based Mesmer: Burning-less edition

Mesmer/Ritualist
Level: 20

Fast Casting: 11 (10+1)
Illusion Magic: 16 (12+4)
Channeling Magic: 8

- Clumsiness (Illusion Magic) <-- 2 second recharge under Mantra devastates melee and physicals
- Frustration (Illusion Magic) <-- 53 damage whenever target is interrupted (which INCLUDES CLUMSINESS!), what's nice is the 7.5second recharge under the Mantra
- Arcane Conundrum (Illusion Magic) <-- AoE slowing down of casters is amazingly annoying and fun
- Web of Disruption (Mesmer other) <-- your general purpose interrupt for things that the Weapon spells missed.
- Mantra of Recovery [Elite] (Fast Casting) <-- cuts the recharge on spells, 4 second downtime.
- Wailing Weapon (Channeling Magic) <-- for physical attackers, wand-happy casters. This is an iffy skill given you have downtime even under the Mantra
- Warmonger's Weapon (Channeling Magic) <-- normally 12/20 seconds. With Mantra of Recovery you can keep it up, meaning Frustration just got a whole lot more damaging when casters are targeted considering that Clumsiness doesn't really affect casters much unless they are wand-happy.
- Flesh of my Flesh (Restoration Magic) <-- approximately 3 second Resurrection spell, but watch out for the 50% health cost!

Sideboard:
- Power Return (Fast Casting) - instead of Web of Disruption for more spell caster interrupts but less general purpose interrupts
- Death Pact Signet (Ritualist None) - if you are a gambler, take this instead of Flesh of My Flesh. Just make sure the person you ressed doesn't die in 120 seconds. Granted, it is a <2 second res, which is pretty sweet.
- Ancestor's Rage (Channeling Magic) - 83 Lightning Damage on 4 recharge. mmm, probably a good replacement for Web of Disruption, I guess. Kind of useless when mobs are lvl30 and have insane armor.
- Cry of Pain (Sunspear Skill) - many people love it, and if you want you can swap out Wailing Weapon. I think PvE should be done without PvE only skills unless you have to. Whatever.


Description:
While the Fragility based build was more DPS-like, a Frustration based build tends to do more damage since Frustration does 53 damage on interrupt while Fragility does 21 damage on condition application and ending for 42 total. Mind you, I don't like Mantra of Recovery all that much with the prospect of Wild Throw/Strike/Blow around but it is more or less the only way to keep Warmonger's Weapon up at all times. What I like best about it is that Weapon spells cannot be stripped off unlike conditions, which means the interrupts are fairly reliable. Combined with the high fast casting and you are pretty much not interruptible.
The best part about the build is target switching is relatively easy since weapon spells are a buff (a non-removable one at that) and the 7 recharge on Frustration under Mantra is rather lenient. The only build that really holds up to this level of interruption is an Choking Gas ranger under IAS. Of course, they don't have the advantage of debuffing since Choking Gas is a preparation.
Broadhead Arrow is flawed in one way: the 15 recharge means any form of mass condition removal removes the Poison-daze stack. On top of that, the cast speed of mobs in hard mode is relatively brutal and it doesn't punish physical attackers that do not use spells other than d-shot and Savage shot.


Execution:
-Clumsiness should be used on heavy hitting melee. If no melee are around put it on physicals since casters usually don't wand (unless they are wand-happy like the Sunspear refugees in the Venta Cemetery mission).
-Frustration is what buffs up damage to insane levels.
-Arcane Conundrum preps up Warmonger's Weapon, since you can score interrupts much more easily, even on 1/4 second skills.
-Warmonger's Weapon should be placed on melee provided they don't die every 2 seconds. (Warriors under an IAS are especially good for this provided the attack the target with Frustration on them.)

Thrown out:
- Soothing Images (Illusion magic) - the only other non-elite AoE hex...too bad it is 15 energy.
- Splinter Weapon (Channeling Magic) - could replace Wailing Weapon. while many people like it, I feel it doesn't fit on a Mesmer. Flavor issues, ya'know?
- Nightmare Weapon (Channeling Magic) - could replace Wailing Weapon. The problem with it is that it isn't all that great with 8 channeling.
- Weapon of Fury [Elite] (Channeling Magic) - it's a beautiful skill but we need the elite slot for Mantra of Recovery ;(
- Spirit Rift (Channeling Magic) - I hate the 3 second wait time.
- Ethereal Burden /Kitah's Burden (Illusion Magic) - Water Magic blows them out of the water in terms of recharge and snare capability and the 8 energy gain comes 10 seconds after. Not to mention the 22.5 second recharge under Mantra.

Thoughts on the alternative skills besides Weapon-spells:
-Lightning Javelin (Air Magic), 10 energy isn't cheap every 2 seconds even under Air attunement.
-Maelstrom (Water Magic) - good luck getting things to stand in it after you waste 25 energy.
-Spinal Shivers (Curses) - workable, but why bother if you can get a Broadhead Arrow ranger or Beguiling Haze/Temple Strike Assassin in your team (Dwarven Battle stance on a warrior isn't too nice)

Endnotes:
This build is more polished and well-rounded than the Fragility-based build, mainly because Restore Conditions (what PvE mob uses that???) and It's only a Flesh Wound (only one mob uses this anyway) and mass condition removals that heal tend to make you ineffective. Interrupts, on other hand, annot really be stopped unless you are using Mantra of Resolve, Glyph of Concentration, or Mantra of Concentration.
Some more energy management would be nice, but there's not much room in the bar for changes, except for Wailing Weapon.

I truly love the Frustration Lover build. Ive been using Frustration experimentally lately (near full bar of inspiration interrupts with frustration as the damage dealer), this is by far the most sustainable way to keep interuptions stacked on the enemy.

Ive always had a thing for weapon spells, this has quenched my thirst

two thumbs up!

Great in theory, but you really need some energy gaining skills or else you'll quickly run out spamming clumsiness (which is what happened to my norgu)...spending most of your time wanding/spearing isn't exactly very effective

I've been messing around with a PvE Me/N, and am loving the following build...

Recurring Insecurity (E)
Wastrel's Worry
Necrosis

Holy crap, this is a fun build. Wastrel's is simply there to keep Insecurity up indefinitely (and as a cover hex), while Necrosis does the damage.

With a Level 10 Sunspear Necrosis, you can do 75 damage to your target every 3 seconds. Add to that any incidental damage you can inflict from Wastrel's Worry, and it's a lovely combo. Now THAT's direct damage.

Since Necrosis doesn't require any attribute points, you can choose between investing more in Domination (for more incidental damage from Wastrel's) or Insipration (for energy management to keep the Necrosis/Wastel's spam up). You can even add some Phantom Pain/Shatter Delusions love to get a quick DW for the kill to be really nasty.

Nice idea Jetdoc!