Echo chain

Echo chaining means to use the mesmer skills Echo and Arcane Echo to replicate a skill more than once. The type of chaining performed changes depending on whether the skill being invoked is a regular skill or a spell.

Chaining Spells
You can use Echo with Arcane Echo in order to use a spell three or four times, albeit at a very high energy cost. Note that because Arcane Echo can only copy spells, this chain will not work with non-spell skills.


 * 1) Cast Echo.
 * 2) Cast the spell you wish to copy (Echo becomes that spell).
 * 3) Cast Arcane Echo.
 * 4) Use the copy of the spell stored in Echo.  (You have now cast the desired spell for the second time, and Arcane Echo will become a copy of the spell.)
 * 5) Finally, cast the copy stored in Arcane Echo.  (By this time, it is possible that the original spell may have even recharged, allowing you to use it a fourth time!)

If Echo is in skill slot 1, Arcane Echo in slot 2, and the skill you wish to copy is in slot 3, then the above amounts to the combo: 1-3-2-1-2(-3).

Before building a character around this idea, consider that the cost of this chain will be 20 energy (15 for Arcane Echo and 5 for Echo) plus three to four times the cost of the spell. For a spell that costs 5 energy, the total string will cost 35 to 40 energy. For a spell that costs 15 energy, the chain would be prohibitive at 65 to 80 energy. Using spells that cost 25 energy will be practically impossible in most builds without a very specialized build or precise teamwork. But it is just 75-100 energy, attainable if you have 16 energy storage and weapon and offhands mods with +15 energy respectively. Long casting times may also make this idea untenable with certain skills.

The other downside to this strategy is that you will essentially be using at least three skills slots for one spell; this is good for PvE where you might know one skill that will be extremely powerful for repeated use in a mission or area, but bad for PvP where you may get shut down, or find the copied skill is useless against the enemies you happen to come across.

Chaining General Skills

 * 1) Cast Arcane Echo.
 * 2) Cast Echo, so Arcane Echo becomes Echo.
 * 3) Cast the skill you wish to copy, so Echo becomes the copied skill
 * 4) Cast the ArcaneEcho-turned-Echo
 * 5) Cast the Echo-turned-copy, so the ArcaneEcho-turned-Echo becomes the copied skill.
 * 6) Finally cast the ArcaneEcho-turned-Echo-turned-copy.

If Arcane Echo is in skill slot 1, Echo in slot 2, and the skill you wish to copy is in slot 3, then the above amounts to the combo: 1-2-3-1-2-1.

Compared to chaining spells, this chaining of generic skills takes an additional 5 energy due to an additional casting of Echo. The overall casting time of the chain also gets extended by 1 second.

Additional Chaining
Use Arcane Mimicry to obtain a second copy of Echo from a teammate. Then follow similar patterns above.

Glyph of Renewal Chaining
An Elementalist/Mesmer may cast a spell four times in succession without having to wait for the original spell to recharge by using Glyph of Renewal:


 * 1) Cast Glyph of Renewal
 * 2) Cast the spell the first time (it will instantly recharge)
 * 3) Cast Arcane Echo
 * 4) Cast the spell again (it will be copied into Arcane Echo)
 * 5) Cast Glyph of Renewal. If your spell had a long cast time, then Glyph of Renewal may be recharged by now; otherwise, you will have to wait for its 15-second recharge to finish.
 * 6) Cast the copy of the spell stored in Arcane Echo (it will instantly recharge)
 * 7) Cast the copy of the spell stored in Arcane Echo again

This method has the same caveats as any other echo chain: the cost will be 25 energy plus four times the cost of the spell, and you will be dedicating three skill slots to a single spell.