Domination Magic



Domination Magic is a Mesmer secondary attribute, meaning that any character with Mesmer as their primary or secondary profession can put points into this attribute.

Guild Wars description
"No inherent effect. Many Mesmer skills, especially spells which disrupt spell-casting and deal direct damage, become more effective with higher Domination Magic."

General description
Domination Magic is a very important attribute for Mesmers, perhaps the most important. This attribute is the reason that spell-casters fear and loathe Mesmers. It is linked to a large number of skills that disrupt the target's actions while dealing damage. For example, Power Spike, which deals a large amount of damage if the target foe is casting a spell, has the dual purpose of dealing damage quickly and interrupting the spell.

Domination Magic is also focused on punishing their foes for taking certain actions. Empathy deals damage every time the foe attacks; Shatter Enchantment deals damage when a foe has an enchantment active; Guilt steals energy if the target casts an offensive spell; Shame steals energy if the target casts a defensive spell; Backfire deals a huge amount of damage if the target casts any sort of spell. A Mesmer can also punish their opponents for doing nothing at all by using Wastrel's Worry, which requires them to use a skill if they don't want to take damage.

Another use of Domination Magic is energy denial. Many of the skills linked to this attribute remove energy from the target. Energy Burn removes a substantial amount of energy from a single target while also inflicting damage. Power Leak drains more energy than Energy Burn, but functions as an interrupt.

Although many Domination Magic skills focus on the generic goal of shutdown, some skills disable enemy skills outright. Diversion can leave an enemy lacking an integral skill for over a minute. Power Block disables an entire attribute line of the enemy's spells for a short time. And Blackout disables all skills for both the Mesmer and a touched target.

Domination Magic can be the most important attribute for a Mesmer, with more damaging skills than Illusion Magic and Inspiration Magic combined. When combined with Inspiration Magic for energy regain and Illusion Magic for the various effects it places on foes, the Mesmer can be a deadly weapon indeed.