Degen or Dom Me/N?

Keero89

Keero89

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Fairbanks, Alaska

Me/Mo

I just recently passed the Academy thing, and degen skills like [skill]Conjure Phantasm[/skill] and that Necro Syphon one (the -2/+2 De-Regen) is working pretty good since I drain from multiple foes in the Ascalon area, but I'm not sure if the whole Degen play will work well as I continue on in the game. Should I switch to Empathy/Backfire (which is boring imo) and Interrupts and use the Curse line, or continue with Illusion/Blood? [Only got Prophecies at the moment if that helps.]

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

Degeneration is pretty strong early on, where you can really see the effects of a foe losing 10hp a second.

However, as you progress, foes get more health, and hit harder.
I'd rather be running Domination to shut down and interrupt enemies than a piddly degen mes.
Btw - Domination effects really start to hurt at higher levels, Backfire doing over 100 damage a spell and Empathy on roughly 50 damage an attack is a helluva a lot harder hitting than degen.

I'd probably move over to Domination around Yak's Bend time in Prophecies. Plenty of practise interrupting Frost Golems, Dalyak Rider monks that need killing fast, and stuff.

joemanstar

joemanstar

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2006

Los Angeles

Lost N Found [失蹤港人]

R/Me

Degen can work pretty well when you're fighting low lvl foe because their health bar is short
Domination can be really powerful in later stage of the game, and also pvp

Keero89

Keero89

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Fairbanks, Alaska

Me/Mo

Okay, cool. Does Degen and Energy Denial work fairly well?

arsie

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2007

N/

Save your 2 second cast hexes until the mobs get to level 24 or something, before that, by the time your hexes go on, the mob has 1/4 health left.

E-denial does not work quite well in PvE because mobs have high energy regen.

the_jos

the_jos

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Hard Mode Legion [HML]

N/

Quote:
E-denial does not work quite well in PvE because mobs have high energy regen. I can confirm this.
Yesterday I completely drained a monk in HM Regent Valley (E-surge+E-burn) and a few seconds later it cast Heal Area.
Degen has value, but there are better alternatives to use against high-end foes.

Dean Harper

Dean Harper

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

USA

The Killer Clan Musketeers [TKCM]

Me/E

Edenial isnt really needed in PvE, people just want to kill things, not shut them down (cept some bosses). Go Dom with a basic damage bar:

[skill]Energy Surge[/skill][skill]Energy Burn[/skill][skill]Power Drain[/skill][skill]Mistrust[/skill][skill]Empathy[/skill][skill]Backfire[/skill][skill]Arcane Echo[/skill][skill]Cry of Pain[/skill]

for more e-management, lose Backfire, and add in [skill]Auspicious Incantation[/skill], or just add in [skill]Power Spike[/skill] instead of CoP, and [skill]Shame[/skill] instead of Arcane Echo

pink penguin

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2007

Me/

Actually I would advise you to stay illusion. Inneptitude and clumsiness are excellent skills during your whole mesmer PvE carreer. However it isn't health draining.

However if you want to go domination I would always add Assasins Promise to your bar as elite since both your energy management and recharge time are worse when using domination. This way you can make a pretty decent PvE dom bar.

dicecube

dicecube

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2007

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean Harper
for more e-management, [skill]Power Spike[/skill] instead of CoP i dont get how that works for e-management, care to explain?

Painbringer

Painbringer

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

Minnesota

Black Widows of Death

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by dicecube
i dont get how that works for e-management, care to explain? I can only assume but I think he means you can get a disruption spell like [skill]power spike[/skill] for only 5 energy where as a spell like [skill]cry of frustration[/skill] is 15 energy. Although it is an awesome spell it is far too spendy for my skill bar

MrFinklestein

MrFinklestein

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2006

SubZero [SpaZ]

D/Rt

Quote:
Originally Posted by pink penguin
Actually I would advise you to stay illusion. Inneptitude and clumsiness are excellent skills during your whole mesmer PvE carreer. However it isn't health draining.

However if you want to go domination I would always add Assasins Promise to your bar as elite since both your energy management and recharge time are worse when using domination. This way you can make a pretty decent PvE dom bar. The guy only has proph.