Soul Eater, Super Mesmer...

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Energy Stealing, Caster Stopping, Warrior Neutering demon mesmer...

Inspiration: 10+2
Fast Casting: 10+1
Curses: 11

Energy Tap
Ether Lord
Power Drain
Arcane Echo
Wither {E}
Malaise
Faintheartedness
Plague Sending

Basic strategies/goal: to empty/interrupt a caster's energy into your own pool using that to shut down enemy warriors and also other casters simultaneously. By using Arcane Echo, you can use any of the skills in this build 2x. Double Energy Tap with 12 Inspiration on any caster should spell danger. Funny thing, you can reduce caster's energy to nothing and then use the energy you stole to repeat the punishment. Warrior's/Rangers bent on damage and conditioning get neutered to nothing with the last 2 curses...

Any thoughts on improving the focus or should I diversify to be harder to counter... [from my understanding, countering energy denial is one of the hardest things to do...]

Enigmatics

Enigmatics

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jun 2005

Tenafly, NJ

Defenders of Rillanon

W/Mo

Empathy+price of failure would scratch your warrior it. Of course it'd be more offensive then enfeeble and faintheartedness.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

I don't have domination magic and I'd rather save my teammates then kill an enemy.

Yep, killing one enemy < saving a teammember

rii

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2005

UK

I think malaise would be better on its own. - pips means your definately gonna be recasting, especially on low energy targets. malaise just kind of strands them at the points between screwed for energy, and bathed in it. Its a shutdown, as opposed to wither/malaise, which is kind of nukie. Im still not sure how good malaise actually is, people keep talking about off weapons but i find that suspiciously ive-found-a-counter.

If your stealing all that energy, why not use enfeebling blood and shadow of fear. Same thing as enfeebel/faint expcept area of effect.

Ether Lord will be draining 3 pips... when i use it i like inspiration at 16 so its 4. This is kind of the last move before bust energy shutdown at 4 pips, if you can find a good set of weapons and focus for reducing casting time i just use it, malaise (when i get it) and stuff like soothing images, and just burn out so ether lord isnt such a loss.

Power Drain is cool, but i suggest basically take out Wither and put in Energy Drain. boost inspiration to 16 to make it all real meaty, and maybe put in ether feast. Self heals seem stupid, but i worked out that with maxed out malaise casting ether feast at pull pelt reduces the health loss to only -20 per 8 seconds, something your monks should be much happier with

UberRusty

Banned

Join Date: Jun 2005

amsterdam, where male prostitution is legal

[GGG] Gay Guild Gals

W/R

Quote:
[from my understanding, countering energy denial is one of the hardest things to do...] I've met a few Monks in my HoH experience that use SpellBreaker and they keep it up 2/3 of the time. Of course, those Monks are very good monks with extremely good timing. :P

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Well, spell breaker counters everything spell-like.

Which I think is freakin' gay cause it can't be stripped. It's in essence, a 'perfect' skill... [using physical damage through it is kinda odd though...]

But wait, with Spell Breaker, does that mean the target can't be healed too?

s0m31

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2005

Silver Dragons

R/N

Someone used this tactic on me. An easy counter for this build is to just bring your energy to 0 by using a skill at the right time. Unless you recast that malaise+wither combo everytime someone get rids of it. A nice thing about this build is if you get your enemies' energy stuck to one then they are shutdowned permanently for 20 seconds unless they have something to remove hexes and such.

You might want to put some anti condition skills there such as plague touch since your going to be an easy kill with 2 degen already from malaise.

Ishamael Sedai

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yukito Kunisaki
Well, spell breaker counters everything spell-like.

Which I think is freakin' gay cause it can't be stripped. It's in essence, a 'perfect' skill... [using physical damage through it is kinda odd though...]

But wait, with Spell Breaker, does that mean the target can't be healed too?
Anyone think spellbreaker is the best elite in the game? I do and am personally am glad its there.

Arclyte

Arclyte

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2005

The counter to Malaise+Wither is simple.

Hit F2.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackace
you'll empty your own energy pool and accomplish nothing before stopping a caster Empty energy pool? Did the fact that I steal all your energy kinda not mean something? Switch weapons you say? Well... How about I just recast? After all, I can just keep draining and draining your energy for say, nearly forever?

Well it's all about making the most of your time. That second you take to switch weapons to get rid of the hexes is enough for someone to die so that's my $0.02.

Besides, your enemy is now at 0. What are you going to do while it's regenning? I for one will be watching my hp and your hp to see if the hexes are there, if not... Then I'll just recast both. And walk away. You can probably pull off one 5 energy skill or something before your energy regen is stuck at 0 and you have 2 energy in your pool. Then, I just move on to another caster. 25s. later, maybe you'll be lucky and your team isn't dead?

edit* Besides, can you imagine how god awful broken it would be if you had 0 energy with these two hexes on you on top of blanket hexes and they didn't wear off when your energy hit 0? Besides, my goal is for ur energy to hit 0 so if it does hit 0. My job is done...

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by s0m31
Someone used this tactic on me. An easy counter for this build is to just bring your energy to 0 by using a skill at the right time. Unless you recast that malaise+wither combo everytime someone get rids of it. A nice thing about this build is if you get your enemies' energy stuck to one then they are shutdowned permanently for 20 seconds unless they have something to remove hexes and such.

You might want to put some anti condition skills there such as plague touch since your going to be an easy kill with 2 degen already from malaise. Plague Touch or Plague sending? hmm... That actually makes sense... time to edit above post.

Rig Jarlsson

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2005

Teh Scadians

R/W

This looks like an interesting build for my Me/N, but Yukito's avatar keeps giving me seizures so I can't concentrate on it. Slow down your .gif man...

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Hmm... Something more massive vs... longer lasting hexes?

Ok then... Though I didn't think mobbing occured that much in arenas/HoH/GvG these days due to warrior hate... Hell the most wars I've ever seen in a train is 2!

But, if mobbing is what we want, than mass murder is what we'll get... [takes gloves off...]

Stats: 10+1 Fast Casting, 10+2 Inspiration, 11 Curses

Energy Tap
Power Drain
Energy Drain {E}
Arcane Echo
Enfeebling Blood
Shadow of Fear
Rend Enchantments
Plague Sending

Ok... Now we're hitting HARD in terms of energy denial. These are all spike strikes on an opponents energy pool. The only curses in this build will specifically shutdown ANY warrior train. Very effectively too since I noticed that there are no mass AoE Purge Conditions/Hexes skills in this game. Plague Sending is for the inevitable Cripple someone's going to hit me with. I don't think I'd want to use Plague Touch due to range factor and hey, I can nail that warrior train with it right?

I want BlackAce's opinion on this. He's damn smart it seems to me. Though I'm not so sure if this build can keep up due to recycle time problems. Enlighten me someone?

new strats: Well, seems all the energy feeds now is the warrior hate and MORE ENERGY draining. Warriors rush in, as they should... Enfeebling + Shadow of Fear. Move on to Casters, when clobbered by a condition, Plague Sending them to casters, and then chain fire Arcane Echo, Energy Drain x2, Energy Tap, Rend Enchantments [any enchantment that might give them energy/hp], Power Drain their attempt to recast said energy management skill. Recast anti-warrior/ranger curses spells and repeat the punishment.

Ok you nasty critiquers, my question now...

Without the original hexes, how can I KEEP my magic foes at zero without having to babysit his ass?

pezit

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jun 2005

R/

you can remove spellbraker with chilblains.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by pezit
you can remove spellbraker with chilblains. Says you have to be nearby when you do it. Not good for a disruptor class to be doing.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Damn, no response. I'm tempted to utilize Malaise in place of either Rend or Plague Sending. Something to slow down their energy regen if at all. It won't reduce it to zero making it easy to focus switch but the regen is still slow...

But if babysitting multiple casters is what an energy drainer has to do, then would it be better to switch to domination line?

I can spread the points as far as 12/10/10/8 if I need to keep both inspiration and domination but I'd really like to just keep energy off the enemy's playing field for as long as possible. That and my ability to interrupt using ranged skills is still kind of new...

Extra advice please? ^_^

Kishin

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

The Twilight Vanguard [TTV]

R/

The idea is not to worry about keeping someone's energy regen at nil for an extended period of time, because generally if you've stripped someone of energy you don't plan on leaving them alive very long (even if they're the off monk whom you're tying up with you deal with the current target). Plus, if you drop Malaise with a target close to nil energy, you're almost certainly not going to get the full effect of it.

You want to keep Rend. Rend is always useful. Plague Sending really isn't worth it, IMO. It doesn't fit with the energy denial angle.

And yes, Domination is helpful in harassing multiple casters, especially with things like Diversion and Blackout. You can even pick up Energy Burn from it.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

Yep, I was thinking using an energy stealing Domination idea...

Shame + Guilt... on the right targets...

They do steal and interrupt right? hmm...

Zeru

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

If you are looking for single target energy denial why not go with echo+debil and serpents quickness/tigers fury.

Due to cast times/aftercast and situational nature of p.drain I don't think you can outspike in terms out energy denial the echo/debil setup and the latter can be sustained much better with a zealous bow.

For multi target energy denial fear me abuse is always an option, but you run into the problem of wards and not being able to pack flourish/echo into the same build for warriors cunning.

I have never found mesmer energy denial to be all that. I'd much rather go mes for shutdown/denial and leave the energy denial to the 2 setups mentioned above.

SoF/EB are good anti-warrior hexes but they seem kind of odd in a half efficient energy denial build.

Yukito Kunisaki

Yukito Kunisaki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2005

Chicago, IL

W/N

I'm a mes/nec. Please don't post builds that require met to change my character completely...

From what's been said, just reducing the enemy's energy to 0 is enough. I'll keep that in mind for my next post.

Thanks for the help guys! Especially BlackAce... I love how he chomped me in half ^_^

Zeru

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

*shrugs*

Your call but if you make a build centered around something that another class or two clearly does better that seems kinda silly to me. If you really want a mes I suggest shutdown/interrupt with stuff like power block, power spike or leak, diversion, etc.

Btw, it's far better to switch between several monks with energy denial and keep their energy very low then to keep one guy at 0-10 constantly. A guy who can only use sig of devotion to heal is not going to be a great asset to his team for many seconds and should be left alone unless you can diversion it.