Guild Wars Guru

Domination or Illusion FTW in PVE?

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BanaXX
Ascalonian Squire
• #1
Hello everyone,

I have recently started a mesmer, and throughout looking through the skills, i presume that illusion and domination are the strongest for dmg based. I was wondering which one of these 2 shall i use in pve? I figured out that i need fast casting , so my option to use both of them is already gone.

Which one is better, i have read some of your posts, but they do not really help, seeing as i always see one great post about domination then i see another great one about illusion.

Please provide some help,

Thx,
BanaXX
]SK[
]SK[
Krytan Explorer
• #2
Domination is a always my choice of skills. Interupts and energy denial can shutdown enemy spell casters. A healing monk or mainly a healing boss monk can always be a challenge for a group. With the right skills this monk will be lucky if they get any healing out at all.
You could try what alot of PvE people do and combine Domination with Ele skills. Interupting fast casting fire nuker.
MMSDome
MMSDome
Raged Out
• #3
they both have their unique uses, like illusion for anti-war or degen and domination to energy degen and much more. Depends on what you need atm.
Andrea DS
Andrea DS
Pre-Searing Cadet
• #4
the foes in pve doesnt really stay long enough that really worth a shut down. me personally i always use inept +clumsiness +remorse in pve

with 16 illusion, u spend 25 nrg to do 294 dmg + -4 degen, i think its a good deal, recharge is the only problem. (consider using vokur's cane + rockmolder)

it really depends on what you want to do in pve, mesmer is a fun class
N
Northrog
Academy Page
• #5
I'm using both at the same time.
B
Braggi
Frost Gate Guardian
• #6
Quote: Originally Posted by BanaXX i presume that illusion and domination are the strongest for dmg based. I was wondering which one of these 2 shall i use in pve? I figured out that i need fast casting , so my option to use both of them is already gone. Quote: Originally Posted by Northrog
I'm using both at the same time. Agree. Unless you play an interupter you don't really need fast cast, and even then in PvE the odd point there is sufficient.

In the beginning the issue is rather access to skills - phantasm, empathy and backfire are all early, but then damage skills become scarcer. Phantasm is great first, but gets weaker fast without support.
And you have groups of enemies, so your job is not to kill (not enough mana for this), but to ease the kills.

If you use henchmen, take warrior/priest/ranger, later 2 warriors/2priests and maybe claude for energy boosts. Let the warriors do the killing and speed up the process.
Adapt to the region and the foes. In the end (~20) I find myself often with a standard build of domination/inspiration - tons of interupts, damage and energy management.
Avarre
Avarre
Bubblegum Patrol
• #7
Dom and Illu people. Dom AND Illu.
P
Pick Me
Forge Runner
• #8
Domination is the best. It has damage, interupts, and Painful repercusions for doing something or nothing at all.

Illusion is better at the beginning, but you'll find that monsters have more life in the later stages of the game. Thus, you'll find yourself needing to do more damage in a shorter period of time.
Terra Xin
Terra Xin
Furnace Stoker
• #9
I dunno, I completed one of Rujiyo's missions with an illusion mesmer, and the life of those things went down as quickly as one e-surge, but it kept on going...
Themis
Themis
Frost Gate Guardian
• #10
Imo, Illusion is meant mainly to be used against fighters (W/Asn/R) and Domination essentially against casters. This is the general rule with few exceptions.

Inspiration is needed for energy management.

So, in PvE, you'll probably need both domination and illusion, as Avarre points out. And you won't need much inspiration, as there're often small breaks for filling up everybody's energy.

Fast Cast... well, in my case, i can't do without.
Saborath Gilgalad
Saborath Gilgalad
Krytan Explorer
• #11
In PvE I've noticed when playing a mesmer Illusions degen is really nice. But I dont think u should go striaght illusion or striaght dom. Diverisfy abit but if i were u I'd focus alittle more in illusion and only bring 1 or 2 skills from dom to take out/slow down those pesky casters if u need to. I've also noticed in pve when playing a mesmer i've never brought or needed to bring any energy management skills, but if u want to branch into inspriation thats our call.
jesh
jesh
Forge Runner
• #12
If you take ele secondary, energy management is a lot easier with glyphs. It's easier to use than a lot of the more powerful mesmer skills in the inspiration like, ex. power leak. The returns are a lot higher on a skill like that, but also a lot more conditional. Just pointing that out if you want to use other lines besides inspiration, you might be able to make do.

Illusion of pain+Glyph anyone? It doesn't end if it's reapplied.
T
The one Casey Squid
Wilds Pathfinder
• #13
Im also planning on starting my mesmer from scratch and I really like illusion. Conjure phantasm, conjure nightmare, clumsiness, phantom pain. All of them I like but I would also like to put some domination in there and I assume I would have to have inspiration AND fast casting.

*sigh* This is just to confusing...
P
Pick Me
Forge Runner
• #14
Quote: Originally Posted by The one Casey Squid
Im also planning on starting my mesmer from scratch and I really like illusion. Conjure phantasm, conjure nightmare, clumsiness, phantom pain. All of them I like but I would also like to put some domination in there and I assume I would have to have inspiration AND fast casting.

*sigh* This is just to confusing... Not really. Most Illusion Magic is quick to cast, so you don't need fast casting. Domination is for damage and more importantly, interupts. Inspiration is very good with Illusion Magic as it can help you keep your energy at a reasonable level as you spam your illusions around.

I'm not dissing Illusion Magic, but I find higher end monsters have some way to heal themselves very well even under health degen (some monsters don't heal at all though).

The only thing you should know is what you will be facing, if they can kill hexes easily, then Inspiration and Domination would be better. If they don't cast spells, then Illusion is better.
N
NinjaKai
Forge Runner
• #15
Illusion is great for shutting down any profession when done properly. Domination is good for turning an enemies own strength against them.
e
ehanks
Ascalonian Squire
• #16
The answer to this question is really found in where you are:

Before you get to Lvl 20....doesn't really matter that much...either works fine.

Post-Level 20: In Tyria I have NEVER found illusion to be as effective as domination. I love playing my mesmer, so I have tried illusion builds many, many times, but the never seem do take foes down as fast as domination.

On the other hand, in Cantha I find PvE easier when I go illusion. Distortion is great for when the mobs target you, Images of Remorse combined with Conjure Phantasm are wonderful, spammable spells that can take down enemies quickly. And most bosses take full duration from hexes, so illusion is still worthwhile against them.

Here's a sample illusion build:

Ill:12+4 Insp:10+1 or 11+1 Fast Cast:8+1 or 6+1

Conjure Phantasm
Images of Remorse
Clumsiness
Mantra of Recall (lets you spam hexes)
Drain Enchant / Inspired Hex / etc
*Interrupt of Choice*
Distortion
Rez
Phe Belladona
Phe Belladona
Krytan Explorer
• #17
tho undoubtably dom and illusion are both delicious insp gets ignored a lot in PvE and only used for nrg management. now the great thing about PvE is the monks are total retards next time you're in FoW try Spirit Shakkles, trust me you'll feel so evil and love it. just play about with mixes - mesmerising is all about improvising and experimenting, and most importantly style and flair
BaconSoda
BaconSoda
Krytan Explorer
• #18
Inspiration is more of the passive element of Mesmers (like 3 of 4 monk attributes), that is why there is no offensive weapon for it. It's not completely ignored, but is still greatly under used. But there are a couple of things one can do to make it offensive.
You can use Feedback, spirit of failure, spirit shackles, or Etap/Edrain for Edenial. There is a slew of interupts in the inspiration sector, such as Pwer Drain, Power Leech (personal favortie), and Leech Signet. 4 of the 5 enchant removals are located in inspiration. On a monk, Lyssa's Aura is great for draining Energy Casters of energy (in PvP).
But most of the passive efects of mesmer are located in Inspiration. I beleive only 5 (distortion, hex breaker, IoW, Shatter Hex, & IoH) are located in illusion/Domination, and only MoR is in Fast Casting.
MMSDome
MMSDome
Raged Out
• #19
Quote: Originally Posted by Andrea DS
the foes in pve doesnt really stay long enough that really worth a shut down. me personally i always use inept +clumsiness +remorse in pve

with 16 illusion, u spend 25 nrg to do 294 dmg + -4 degen, i think its a good deal, recharge is the only problem. (consider using vokur's cane + rockmolder)

it really depends on what you want to do in pve, mesmer is a fun class hey basically does what i do,

my build:
Ineptitude
Clumsiness
Conjure Phantasm
Images of Remorse
Phantom Pain
Ether Feast (If you got a good monk you can replace, but never trust you monk to much)
Energy Tap
Rebirth (or res sig if you have different secondary, but with this build you may as well use monk secondary)
Avarre
Avarre
Bubblegum Patrol
• #20
Conditional returned damage such as ineptitude (with or without epidemic), empathy, shatter hex, etc, are stronger when aggro is held. This makes is powerful in areas like FoW where people can keep the aggro easily.

In many canthan areas, especially with henchmen, aggro is splattered everywhere which makes degen's multitargeting and fire-and-forget worth nothing.