User:NightSilva/builds/pve/mesmer

= Me/D Extended Thorns =

Extended Thorns is a PvE Mesmer build that uses Dervish's ability to provide heavy amount of short-duration conditions on a foe with Extend Conditions and spread them with Epidemic while not going over the duration limit while maintaining your energy. This is designed to play with a balanced PvE party.

Equipment

 * Full Radiant armor
 * A max damage Insightful staff of Fortitude

Usage

 * Aggro you foes and group them close to you
 * Cast your enchantments
 * Use Conviction to survive on the front lines
 * Use Mystic Sandstorm to spread conditions
 * Cast Extend Conditions on a foe
 * Because all the conditions last 106% longer on target foe, use Epidemic to spread conditions with much longer durations
 * Repeat when you have sufficent energy

Counters

 * Enchantment removal before you've cast them all
 * Anti-caster hexes (e.g Backfire)
 * Cautery Signet

Variants

 * Fragility
 * Arcane Echo to copy Extend Conditions if you think it will be needed
 * Mantra of Signets to use Ether Signet more often
 * Resurrection Signet
 * Ether Feast
 * Armor of Sanctity over Conviction
 * Mirage Cloak over Conviction
 * Mystic Regeneration over Conviction
 * Channeling can be used over Ether Signet for energy mangement

Attributes and Skills

 * For PvE play take a Resurrection Signet.
 * For Competitive Missions and Alliance Battles take Fire Storm

Equipment

 * Enchanter's or Radiant armor is needed for the extra energy. In addition to the Fast Casting and Inspiration runes, use the best Vigor rune you can afford and an Attunement rune. For the last slot use either a rune of Recovery or another Attunement rune, depending on how often you find yourself Dazed.
 * Use a +15/-1 energy Fire Wand with a 20% chance to halve the recharge of Fire Magic spells (such as the Fire Wand crafted by Honglei Sun) and a Fire Magic Focus with a 20% chance to add +1 Fire Magic and a 20% chance to halve the recharge time of Fire Magic spells (such as The Kindlerock). Swap to another weapon set when not in combat to regain the extra pip of energy regeneration.

Usage

 * Keep Fire Attunement up at all times, without it energy management becomes very difficult. Beware of enemies with enchantment removing skills.
 * When facing small mobs cast Echo and Fireball, then spam Fireball. When you get down to 30 energy cast Auspicious Incantation followed by Rodgort's Invocation - after these spells you'll have around 50 energy. Auspicious Incantation and Rodgort's Invocation will be disabled for 50 and 45 seconds, respectively.
 * When facing a large mob cast Echo, Meteor Shower, Rodgort's Invocation, Auspicious Incantation and finally the Echoed Meteor Shower - at the end of this chain you will have a full energy bar of around 50 (due to the energy lost to exhaustion). This allows you to keep Meteor Shower up for 18 consecutive seconds, and immediately follow it up with Fireball, Breath of Fire and Fire Storm (in Competitive Missions/Alliance Battles).
 * Use Breath of Fire (and, if you have it, Fire Storm) as your standard damage over time spell - Meteor Shower should only be used when absolutely necessary due to its high energy cost and exhaustion.

Variants

 * If you find yourself often interrupted use Mantra of Concentration as the optional skill.
 * Auspicious Incantation can be swapped for Glyph of Lesser Energy. This makes the build easier to run at the cost of a slight reduction in energy management capabilities.
 * Breath of Fire can be swapped for:
 * Fire Storm (in PvE), which costs 5 more energy but causes more total damage over time (assuming enemies don't break aggro).
 * Lava Font, if you find yourself often surrounded by foes.
 * Immolate, for more damage against one enemy.
 * Glowing Gaze, for more energy management. Echo Rodgort's Invocation rather than Fireball or Meteor Shower if you bring this spell.
 * Mark of Rodgort, for less direct damage but more degeneration through burning. If you bring this spell consider using Glowing Gaze in the optional slot.
 * For Competitive Missions and Alliance Battles consider swapping Breath of Fire and Fire Storm for Immolate and Glowing Gaze. This increases the amount of spike damage you can do at the cost of reducing the area of effect damage you can cause.

Templates
= Me/any PvE Domination Mesmer =

This build utilizes high, unconditional damage from the Mesmer's Domination Magic line to deal fast, heavy damage in PvE areas. With many Area-of-Effect damage skills, this build allows for the user to be able to provide ample "Nuking" style damage, comparable to many other popular PvE builds.

Equipment

 * Max AL armor with Radiant Insignias are necessary for the extra energy.
 * Runes of Superior Domination Magic, Superior Vigor, Minor Fast Casting, Minor Inspiration Magic.
 * An Insightful staff is recommended for the additional energy gain, Milefaun's Staff is excellent.

Usage

 * Begin by precasting Arcane Echo.
 * Follow up, targetting usually the center of a party, with Energy Surge or Spiritual Pain.
 * Activate Auspicious Incantation, then cast the copied version of the previous spell for a quick boost in your energy. This will negate the longer recharge of that skill, since it will only stay for the remainder of the effects of Arcane Echo.
 * Lastly, cast the skill which has been left last.
 * Energy Burn should be used on generally standalone targets.
 * Whenever encountering a Boss monster, do not use the previous combo. Simply spam Wastrel's Worry for extremely high, unresisted damage. On most end-game bosses, you can easily outdamage any other character by simply using this skill.
 * Ether Feast can be used for a quick heal.
 * Remember that in areas that contain Spirits, it is better to use Arcane Echo on Energy Surge, since Spiritual Pain will recharge instantly.

Counters

 * If relying on Auspicious Incantation for Energy gain, beware of skills that remove enchantments. This usually won't be a problem with Fast Casting.
 * Being Dazed can pose a threat, but with the skills available, its threat is limited.
 * Diversion can be hazardous if more than one skill is hit, but it should not be too much of a problem in most areas.

Variants

 * The open secondary profession provides additional flexibility with this build.
 * If your secondary is Elementalist, you can take advantage of Glyph of Lesser Energy for energy conservation.
 * Ranger secondaries can speed up skill recharge with Serpent's Quickness.
 * With a Paragon, Ritualist, or Monk secondary, different resurrection options are available to you.
 * Backfire is almost always recommended for areas where casters are plenty. It is especially potent if used in combination with Arcane Echo. In combination with Auspicious Incantation, this provides even higher Energy Gain.
 * Another option is Empathy, which is excellent against fast attackers.
 * Your Energy Recovery skills are quite flexible. If you dislike Auspicious Incantation, you may wish to choose from other skills from your Inspiration Magic line.
 * A skill such as Power Drain can quickly refill your Energy pool, providing you make the interrupt.
 * Energy Tap provides less energy gain, but it is unconditional. Beware of interrupts if using this skill, since its cast time is quite lengthy compared to your other skills.
 * In areas where Monster Skills are used, and they just happen to be Hexes or Enchantments, you will want to use Inspired Enchantment/Revealed Enchantment, or Inspired Hex/Revealed Hex.
 * Element-based energy recovery can be useful in specific PvE areas, so you may want to use Mantra of Frost, Mantra of Flame, Mantra of Earth, or Mantra of Lightning.
 * In combination with party members' evasive stances or blinding, Spirit of Failure can provide excellent energy gain in PvE situations.
 * Ether Feast can be dropped entirely if your team provides ample healing, but it is always nice to have a means of self-healing.
 * Using Mistrust can be deadly in end-game zones. Energy Burn should be replaced here.