Whoever said Mesmers can't farm?

Update:

Here's a little movie of a pure mesmer farming Flesh Golems.

If someone has a better place to upload this -- please do so, or inform me of a better host. This thing won't stay up for very long.

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Okay, let me start off by saying that I didn't exactly know where to put this thread, since it's both a build thread, a movie, and a little help for those primary mesmers who want to farm without going, for example, pure monk.

I've seen multiple threads on multiple forums where primary mesmers asked for a farming build, yet never got one. The answer was always, and I think Ensign said something similiar as well: "Their damage is crap, their armor is crap." Their self-healing is just about as worthless.

A fine little challenge, I think. I set out to make a farming build for my mesmer/monk. I wanted at least one mesmer attribute seriously used. Now farming is virtually always done with AoE skills, and mesmers don't really have that. Channeling was the exception on that - it could make for a pretty awesome energy source if you're fighting tons of monsters. Then, there was a build here on GWguru where someone used distortion and spirit of failure to avoid being hit and gain energy in the process.

I decided on Protection (guardian, shield of deflection) instead of illusion (distortion) to avoid being hit, because the latter is a stance and wouldn't trigger Zealot's Fire, which was my main damage skill. Then, Reversal of Fortune for spamming and more damage prevention, Physical Resistance (since most farmable mobs do physical damage, and I have no way to heal myself at all). Turned out to work quite fine. A monk/mesmer would be just as good at this build, with Divine Favor self-healing, although both Spirit and Shield have an awful casting time.

This build was useful for farming in some places where the 'usual' healing/smiting monk build can't due to sheer damage; On the other hand, this build is incredibly weak to mass enchantment removal (7 of the skills used are enchantments), meaning that farming flesh golems with this one is a big no-no. Then again, those can be farmed without complex builds, even by pure mesmers.

Now, enough on the build, there's a movie attached here. I used the free version of Fraps, meaning that no clips are longer than 30 seconds (no long battles, thus) and there's an annoying message on the top side of the screen. The music isn't the best, but it's fitting. It gets the point over though.

Finally, I'll use this post as an advertisement. I'm still looking for a seriously competitive, preferably European or international guild. Any offers?

The movie. Not the best upload site, but it'll do for now. :P

So you ran a smiting monk with channeling and physical resistance?

Not really a "Mesmer" build, but I think that most solo farmers are based off a monk frame anyway to survive the beating. I would have liked to see you deal the damage with Mesmer skills, but it's true that mesmer AoE is pretty conditional and/or limited to small damage. I mean, you can shatter a hex for a big burst, but only infrequently, and Chaos Storm is pretty wimpy. I've always like Channeling in ZF builds.

while you can do this with mes/mo, fast casting doesn't really help you here. you're better off doing it mo/mes with divine favor.

and yea dude, most of your skills are monks. some guy form war machine had a pretty awesome ele farm build, but he used ALL ele skills. (It was aura, flare, fire att, ether renewal, PBAoE, etc). so um, this doesn't really count :P

I tried various mesmer farming builds with mesmer damage, and well, except for farming tons of Flesh Golems with echo'ed shatter hex, it isn't really a viable farming class. At least this build is one that isn't possible without a mesmer. You go down quickly when if you don't keep at least one or two mobs spirit of failure'ed. Spamming Shield of Deflection (15e) eats energy.

Yes, any mesmer farming anything other than flesh golems will have to rely on his secondary class. That's why the goal I set for this little challenge was at least one seriously used mesmer attribute, not a pure mesmer.

Hey, I know I can farm with a pure monk build (I saw plenty E/mo's using all monk skill), and wanted to at least get away from that with my mesmer. So here you go. Yes, there's 5 monk skills, but they're entirely reliant on mesmer skills for staying up. Trying to make one with 2 mesmer attributes now, but so far no luck.

Try Echo / Arcane Echo / Shatter Hex / Ether Feast / Phys Resistance / Channeling / Energy Tap for a pure mesmer flesh golem farming build, if you really want a pure mesmer

got videos or linkage?

I'd like to see it =)

Hm... Still no luck uploading. Any alternatives?

6 attempts, no luck. "Invalid link specified" once it finishes uploading.

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Okay, upload succeeded. Hooray!

If someone can make a good, pure Mesmer farming skill set up then they deserve a tip of the hat.

I don't think it's possible at the moment. Only AoE spell is Chaos storm and that does a max of 120 damage.

Over a 10 second period of time, of course.

Farm Rift Wardens for EXP, you can easily solo them. Otherwise, mesmers can't farm squatt in using primary skills.

Actually from my HoH experience Rift Wardens are incredibly hard to do as a Mesmer.

For one they block almost any spell you cast by simply interrupting it.

You can't ether feast, spirit shackle, energy tap, whatever because they just interrupt it.

er...you realize wardens only ability to interrupt is if you stand inside the malestrom they cast?

regardless, how do you 'solo' a warden? minimum party is 4 for HoH i thought

And from my personal experience, I can sack a Rift Warden without any help in less then 30 seconds. But personal experience is biased isn't it? Let's start all over shall we?

Rift Wardens are cream for a good mesmer, you just have to know which skills to take. An interrupt or two, Shatter Enchantment (definitely that one), some straight damage, Backfire...

Didn't know that you could enter the Tombs with less than 8 though. In fact, just tried. No go.

Doesn't mean I can't try to solo one. Just gotta have 7 other people not interfere.

Hmm I use a W/E to farm Flesh Golems 8 at a time I think the EXP there is a tad better then Rift Wardens =P

Yes but not something a Mesmer could do.

Just tried -- It's possible to farm groups of four or so flesh golems for a pure mesmer (haven't tried larger groups yet), but it's awfully slow.

Used Echo, Shatter Hex, Leech Signet, Cry of Frustration, Ether Feast, Energy Tap, and Physical Resistance.

Use Phys and Echo before the match, get a bunch of golems around you, and start using Shatter Hex and the echo'ed copy as much as possible. Inspired Hex and Energy Tap keep your energy up (channeling doesn't work, is removed by Lingering Curse). Ether Feast if you have health problems and/or spare time.

Because one will invariably die first, the others will try to get bone minions from their dead friend, then eat these bone minions with Taste of Death, meaning you can start all over again. Don't let them. Since you will be low on energy, use Leech Signet to interrupt one, then quickly use Cry of Frustration on the second pme to keep the rest of them from raising minions. Often, their health is so low at this point that they die when you use Cry.

It works, but... well, let's just say you're way better off using your secondary

[edit]

Whoa... This works on groups of 8 just as well, although you die if you fail at the leech signet / cry of frustration trick. Hell... This might even be worth it

Neat - you don't have to do it using a pure mesmer build either, even just dealing your damage with a mesmer skill is impressive.

You're now officially proven wrong.

11 MB .wmv file, no music. First 3 Flesh Golems, then 8. Both worked out pretty well.

Also, if anyone has a better place to upload this, please tell me. This thing will only stay up for a very short time.

Say, would a domination spec mesmer/elementalist with physical resistance using shatter hex work? Those golems really like to stack the hexes on you, and shatter's only got a 10 second recast, and at full spec does near 140 damage pbae.

On top of that you'd cast ether feast and energy tap/drain in that 10 second window to keep your health/energy up, that's what 7 seconds there, and then shatter hex again. It'll be damnably slow, but it'd work, no? Especially considering the piss-poor damage flesh golems do.

Why not run a Mes/R with Quickening Zephyr, pay a bit more per casting but alternate it with energy taps and get a shatter out every 5 seconds or so. 140 damage every 5 seconds would add up pretty fast. BTW, I am impressed

I used Echo for that same 5-second recast. Failed the first time I tried, mostly due to running out of mana and being unable to get rid of the hexes before they put a new one on me.

Quickening Zephyr sounds good, especially because it makes Energy Tap and Ether Feast faster as well, meaning more energy and more health. I tried using Mantra of Recovery for the same effect, but died too quickly without Physical Resistance...

Flesh Golems don't give runes, I don't care then again, I only have a hunch at where the new rune spot is. And that place blows. Whhyyy my rriiiveerrsiddeeee

I missed the first two weeks of Guild Wars, left on vacation right after release. I missed out on Riverside, and wasn't in Perdition quick enough to get the flesh golems while they were still hot. Result: No superior runes whatsoever, and hardly any major ones. :/

Hm... could you share your hunch?

I used to farm the flesh golems with ALL mesmer spells, sadly after tehy beefed them up I can't anymore. Trick was to use inspire hex, shatter hex and arcane echo. I would arcane echo shatter hex and just recast it every time they hexed me. Was doing 140 AOE each time and using ether feast when possible. Killed them in about 30 seconds per group with little downtime.

Later I switched to Me/E and added aftershock, was possible to do them in about 20 seconds with zero downtime between groups at that point. Now they hit too hard and I die way too fast.

These flesh golems people keep going on about, are these the ones outside Ember that come 4 to a group?

can someone reupload this again?

Anyone wanna be nice enough to post the skill bar

I've been going through with a mes, and been thinking about this. Though I realize it will likely never be able to do what Monks and Warriors can in those crazy Griffon run videos I've seen, I've got a hunch that there's a way to create a good build for basic soloing of quests/areas. From where I'm sitting, it seems that the build should be around Illusion/Inspiration, and not Domination.

The mantras/stances in Inspiration are really powerful with a high attribute level, and many of the spells complement Illusion magic and help keep one's energy full - one doesn't need much healing if they aren't taking damage. Then Conjure Phantasm and Phantom Pain are really intense with high Illusion, and Epidemic has the potential to be a pseudo-AoE spell regarding serious condition spreading, like the deep wounds Phantom Pain creates. With Echo and/or Arcane Echo in the mix, there might be a way to create a "creature specific" type of mesmer farmer by switching out the Inspiration Mantras depending on the situation one is going to encounter.

I don't know... will have to experiment with this over time. I've got a Ranger secondary, and there are a few like Fertile Season and others which might make the lack of super self-healing less of an issue.

www.filefront.com

You can host there

I'd love to see this video, if anyone else can host it.