Build:Me/Rt Relentless Illusionist
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This build is not favored by the
GuildWiki community.
The general consensus among users of GuildWiki is that this
build is not viable.
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The Relentless Illusionist is a build designed to be able to take down or continuously occupy the attention of any opponent it encounters. It does so by using Mantra of Recall to provide a bounty of energy that can be used to apply hex-based degeneration rapidly and repeatedly. It employs two cheap but powerful self heals and complementary, self-sustaining defensive skills to resist, avoid or outheal large amounts of direct damage, conditions and hexes without tiring.
It was primarily built and tested for randomized PvP encounters, and while useful in PvE and GvG, more specialized Illusion builds would probably be a better idea in such settings.
[edit] Attributes and Skills
  Mesmer / Ritualist |
Attribute Rank |
|---|---|
| Illusion Magic | 11 + 1 + 3 |
| Inspiration Magic | 9 + 1 |
| Fast Casting | 8 + 1 |
| Restoration Magic | 8 |
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[edit] Equipment
- A Wand and Focus Item for 40%/40% cast and recharge with Illusion Magic is preferred.
- Generally, Enchanter's Armor is recommended, as extra energy will be useful in any situation, regardless of whether it is needed for offense or defense. Note that this build can use any type of armor.
- Runes of Superior Vigor, Superior Illusion Magic, Minor Fast Casting, and Minor Inspiration Magic.
[edit] Usage
- Cast Illusion of Weakness and use Generous Was Tsungrai to get back to full health.
- Shortly before battle, cast Mantra of Recall and Tsungrai, ideally 10 seconds before you attack, giving you time to cast a few spells beore your Mantra ends and allowing Tsungrai to nearly recharge while you are still holding the first urn of ashes (allowing a total of 400 health to be rapidy healed at the outset of the battle, not counting Ether Feast or Illusion of Weakness).
- Begin casting Images of Remorse and Conjure Phantasm on any and all targets in range, as energy allows.
- If your degenerative hexes are being removed or broken, you can often overpower enemy hex removal skills with your short hex cooldowns and rapid energy recovery, this can similarly be used to heavily tax the defenses of multiple healers and their allies, making them vulnerable if not killing any outright. Especially against hex counters, focus on using Images of Remorse as often as possible, as it is cheap enough to spam continuously and can cause an instant 50 damage to attackers (making its net damage comparable to that of Conjure Phantasm).
- Use Spirit of Failure on any attacker whom you either expect to live a long time without removing your hex (giving you more than the spell's 10 energy cost) or an attacker whom you expect to attack you soon, as this hex will combine with Distortion to provide you with a net +3 energy per enemy miss (with Distortion's 75% evade chance).
- Mantra of Recall and the energy hiding effect of holding Tsungrai's ashes instead of your own weapons should ensure that you'll never be far from having the 10-20 energy safety margin you need to use Distortion and Spirit of Failure to begin an infinite distortion chain on any surprise attackers (such as teleporting Assassins).
- Against direct damage and degeneration from hexes and conditions, alternate between Ether Feast and Tsungrai as early and often as possible without overhealing, as they are both cheap to use. Tsungrai especially can be cast early, as the ashes can be carried for 39 seconds, allowing a head start on the 15 second cooldown.
- Some damaging shutdown hexes, such as Spiteful Spirit, might not cause enough damage to counter either of your self heals, sometimes allowing you to safely cast while hexed. Other shutdowns, such as Guilt, can be minimized using Tsungrai's ashes or -5 energy weapons for energy hiding. Guilt and many others can be avoided through selective or delayed spellcasting.
- The same defenses apply against persistent interrupters, as damage and energy loss can be healed and avoided through energy hiding. Images of Remorse and Ether Feast can also be used often as attractive but cheap interrupt targets, while Tsungrai and Conjure Phantasm can be cast in .66 seconds.
- Distortion can be used to help avoid nasty or conditions dealt by attacks, such as crippled or dazed.
[edit] Counters
- Sufficiently powerful shutdown hexes such as Backfire or Diversion must simply be waited out to avoid lethal or crippling punishments.
- Variants without a snare or speed boost can be brought down by a determined group of enemies before you can flee.
- Being crippled at the wrong time without a removal method may force you to tank close-range attackers whether you have the health or energy for it or not.
- The dazed condition, if applied by surprise (perhaps using a Broad Head Arrow while Distortion is down) is relatively devastating, as even Tsungrai, Conjure Phantasm and Mantra of Recall will need to be snuck between hits with a 1.33 sec casting time, and the slower spells will not be safely castable.
- Cannot deal spike damage, as almost all damage is dealt as degeneration.
- Any build with comparable endurance and healing abilities will be able to match or exceed your output (i.e. monks, touch rangers, determined elementalists or necromancers with strong energy management and self healing, other Relentless Illusionists).
- A damage spike from a non-attack source may kill you before you can access a self-heal (if you don't have Illusion of Weakness active).
- The mesmer elite Expel Hexes and combinations such as Remove Hex and Mantra of Recovery simply remove hexes too quickly for this build to keep up.
[edit] Variants
Illusion of Weakness is flexible within this build, and can be replaced with:
- A mobility skill, such as Illusion of Haste or Imagined Burden
- A hex remover, such as Inspired Hex
- A supplementary restoration spell, such as Resilient Weapon
- An enchantment remover, such as Drain Enchantment
- A Resurrection Signet or Flesh of My Flesh
Also, if expecting serious problems from conditions and hexes, the Ritualist secondary could be swapped for a Monk secondary, allowing access to a variety of condition and hex counters as well as freeing up an extra skill slot (from Generous was Tsungrai). Notably effective ones include Purge Signet (to be used with energy hiding and Mantra of Recall to minimize energy loss), Purge Conditions and Remove Hex (made more effective by fast casting). Also, the points put in restoration magic could be reinvested in healing or protection to preserve the Relentless Illusionist's double self-heal as well as allowing him to use excess energy to heal or protect allies (such as Siege Turtles on the Luxon side of Fort Aspenwood). Alternatively, the points may be reinvested into whatever Mesmer attributes best combine with the altered skill selection.
A GvG variant would likely eschew Spirit of Failure and Generous was Tsungrai for improved enchant and hex removal (perhaps using some of the monk skills mentioned above) while still preserving the core usage of Mantra of Recall to continuously cast hexes to pressure monks and cover other hexes.
[edit] Notes
- This build was devised not just in search of an advantge in competitive play, but also due to a certain level of frustration with the reality of most builds being highly focussed with significant drawbacks. The 8-skill limitation naturally requires that a majority of relevant planning be done before leaving town. It also means that most builds have highly effective counters and are dependent upon allies or offensive or defensive support. The Relentless Illusionist is designed to be flexible enough for the more random environment of RA, CM and AB, where the type and number of allies and enemies in any given encounter varies.
[edit] See Also
