Confessions of a former stun lock mage!

[drgrimmy]

Tired of relying on the unreliable panic of slag and clyde to finish of a rogue in 1v1 fights? Have you felt that the psuedo stun lock consisting of fire followed by panic is not as effective as it was early in season 4? I know I was. I don't know if it is the damage nerf at the end of season 4 in pvp not allowing you to kill a rogue fast enough or the decreased effectiveness of stun and panic, perhaps due to an increased dodge of rogues. Maybe your average rogue has just adapted to the formerly effective mage build of fire, light, shield and life with slag. All I know is that it does not work as well as it did back in season 4.

Due to frustrations in pvp I decided to throw caution to the wind, abandon all stuns and go with a somewhat unconventional build. Now that I have got my kills and am taking a hiatus from pvp I wanted to share my build to help you mages out there to think ouside the box when it comes to your builds. I found this to be very effective in 1v1 situations with both rogues and mages (not warriors) and I must mention that this was with a non full mythic mage often against full mythic rogues (including the new daggers) and even arcane and mythic mages. I think it was partly the unconventional nature of the build that let it be successful against most rogues and mages as they did not know what hit them.

So here is the basics:
Curse with all upgrades
Shield with all upgrades except the push back
Light with the 15% damage and 250% damage on crit upgrades
Frost with the DOT and increased duration of freeze/DOT upgrades
5/5 int
5/5 str
5/5 dex
5/5 dam
Optional: 3/5 damage and life with the mana upgrade (recommended)
A pet that boosts health/dam reduction with good stat boosts on arcane but infrequent stuns (I liked hammerjaw, orion, ribbit, ripmaw, even shiloh)

So how does it work? Charge shield, release and run towards your enemy while charging curse. Release curse when close. Hit pet arcane (most important with pets with dam and crit boosts such as ribbit or hammer). Then spam uncharged light and frost interspersed with normal attacks. Don't kite or run away and certainly don't stun or panic your enemy. Let them attack you at will to let curse do its job. If they use a skill with dot, even better (mages who drop a clock will die very quickly if you stand in the bubble of the clock). Most unwary opponents will die quickly before your shield even runs out. Thats it. Simple but very effective, killing all but the most skilled rogues. Even if they dont attack you while cursed you are pummeling them with light and frost and may even kill them before the curse is over. The slow of frost is also great for keeping them from their health packs.

If you do decide to use a pet with panic, save the arcane until after the curse runs out and then panic them to finish them off. Alternatively, if it looks like they are on the ropes and running for their health packs, panic them to finish them off.

How does life fit in if you decide to get this fifth skill? Between 1v1 fights switch out frost for life and heal yourself. Then switch back to frost before your enemy comes back. Also, if you find that the game is turning into more of a 5v5 rumble switch to curse, light, shield and life to become more of a curse/support mage for the large rumbles.

I just wanted to share as I found this to be very successful in pvp keeping an almost 2:1 k:d even without full mythic. I just wanted to encourage the little blue guys out there to think outside the box a little in terms of their build. It is sometimes the most unexpected builds that are the most successful. This is part of the reason why crazy mages such as psychopathic have been so respected in pvp because they think outside the box and kill their opponents with unexpected techniques. Have fun and keep experimenting!

[Linkincena]

Good guide grimm..
Hey grimm.. long time. . No see in game. .
Where these days?

[drgrimmy]

Good guide grimm..
Hey grimm.. long time. . No see in game. .
Where these days?

Still around, just bored. Now that I am done with warmonger I have no realistic goals to work towards, so I am not in game as much anymore. Real life is calling too :)

[Linkincena]

Still around, just bored. Now that I am done with warmonger I have no realistic goals to work towards, so I am not in game as much anymore. Real life is calling too :)

:) gratz bro. . :D

If u not play. . May I borrow some items for sometime? xD

[Alhuntrazeck]

Lovely!

I have been experimenting with gale, light, shield, heal with a loaned architect staff - I rocket up to the enemy with gale and spam light and auto attack. Fun :)

[keikali]

Amazing grim. You're right when you say its unconventional. I should play with this when I have time.

[Cero]

Good guide and very intresting.
I also use 5skills but instead of ice i use fiteball and only removing heal if its 1v1 map.

I also find curse + abaddon dot very powerfull. Abaddon normal attack is also strong, -5%hp per swing 1% higher than slag.

[Soundlesskill]

Stunlock is a bffrkejejds

[Cremated]

Rename title to Confession's of a Stunaholic

[xcainnblecterx]

Ive been thinking of diffrent ways to use curse and been planning on abandoning fire so thanks for this grim. I might try out some other techniques but out of curiosity how would this build work in pve?(elite) In elite i usually use time for crowd control which can easily be ice instead but for stunning? I ask cause im not just pvp but ill try a few diffrent build and check it out

[Joncheese]

Grimmy,

Awesome guide. Im a total noob at PVP, steadily getting better, but i'm really gonna give this build a try. No doubt you have posted another build thread for normal 5v5 'rumbles so im gonna try and find it.

Thanks for sharing this, really really interesting.

[drgrimmy]

Ive been thinking of diffrent ways to use curse and been planning on abandoning fire so thanks for this grim. I might try out some other techniques but out of curiosity how would this build work in pve?(elite) In elite i usually use time for crowd control which can easily be ice instead but for stunning? I ask cause im not just pvp but ill try a few diffrent build and check it out

I would say that it is pretty bad for most pve situations :( Works fine for arena as you have a single target enemy most of the time, so actually good to have the two best sorcerer single target damage skills. Curse may also help with the bosses if you dare to get close to curse them :) For elite runs I would say far from ideal. I have tried a few runs with it and it is probably ok if there is another sorcerer in the group for crowd control. Suprisingly though when I switched to a more traditional pve elite run build with the same team our time did not improve too much, lmao. Perhaps curse works pretty well on elite mobs since they hit so hard? I really can't comment too much as I was pretty much doing exclusively pvp with this build trying to get warmonger...

[xcainnblecterx]

I would say that it is pretty bad for most pve situations :( Works fine for arena as you have a single target enemy most of the time, so actually good to have the two best sorcerer single target damage skills. Curse may also help with the bosses if you dare to get close to curse them :) For elite runs I would say far from ideal. I have tried a few runs with it and it is probably ok if there is another sorcerer in the group for crowd control. Suprisingly though when I switched to a more traditional pve elite run build with the same team our time did not improve too much, lmao. Perhaps curse works pretty well on elite mobs since they hit so hard? I really can't comment too much as I was pretty much doing exclusively pvp with this build trying to get warmonger...

Tested it in a semi elite(rooks nest) and actually did pretty good with crit passive. I took heal out and used pots so only defense was shield but that curse and dot from ice helps alot. As for pvp im in all hellish gear and if i had a good party i was fine but couldn't last 1vs1 on anyone but sorcs. I think rogues are just clever enough to wait once.they know you have curse

[Alhuntrazeck]

Curse effective against elite bosses?

[will0]

Curse effective against elite bosses?

was told curse don't work on bosses

[BudakGemuk]

Thx grimmy!! Its my first time pvp n it was hell with my pve build but when i used this build, bam!! I got plenty of kills. Instant turn around. Love the guide ty!!!

[WoofCookie]

Tired of relying on the unreliable panic of slag and clyde to finish of a rogue in 1v1 fights? Have you felt that the psuedo stun lock consisting of fire followed by panic is not as effective as it was early in season 4? I know I was. I don't know if it is the damage nerf at the end of season 4 in pvp not allowing you to kill a rogue fast enough or the decreased effectiveness of stun and panic, perhaps due to an increased dodge of rogues. Maybe your average rogue has just adapted to the formerly effective mage build of fire, light, shield and life with slag. All I know is that it does not work as well as it did back in season 4.

Due to frustrations in pvp I decided to throw caution to the wind, abandon all stuns and go with a somewhat unconventional build. Now that I have got my kills and am taking a hiatus from pvp I wanted to share my build to help you mages out there to think ouside the box when it comes to your builds. I found this to be very effective in 1v1 situations with both rogues and mages (not warriors) and I must mention that this was with a non full mythic mage often against full mythic rogues (including the new daggers) and even arcane and mythic mages. I think it was partly the unconventional nature of the build that let it be successful against most rogues and mages as they did not know what hit them.

So here is the basics:
Curse with all upgrades
Shield with all upgrades except the push back
Light with the 15% damage and 250% damage on crit upgrades
Frost with the DOT and increased duration of freeze/DOT upgrades
5/5 int
5/5 str
5/5 dex
5/5 dam
Optional: 3/5 damage and life with the mana upgrade (recommended)
A pet that boosts health/dam reduction with good stat boosts on arcane but infrequent stuns (I liked hammerjaw, orion, ribbit, ripmaw, even shiloh)

So how does it work? Charge shield, release and run towards your enemy while charging curse. Release curse when close. Hit pet arcane (most important with pets with dam and crit boosts such as ribbit or hammer). Then spam uncharged light and frost interspersed with normal attacks. Don't kite or run away and certainly don't stun or panic your enemy. Let them attack you at will to let curse do its job. If they use a skill with dot, even better (mages who drop a clock will die very quickly if you stand in the bubble of the clock). Most unwary opponents will die quickly before your shield even runs out. Thats it. Simple but very effective, killing all but the most skilled rogues. Even if they dont attack you while cursed you are pummeling them with light and frost and may even kill them before the curse is over. The slow of frost is also great for keeping them from their health packs.

If you do decide to use a pet with panic, save the arcane until after the curse runs out and then panic them to finish them off. Alternatively, if it looks like they are on the ropes and running for their health packs, panic them to finish them off.

How does life fit in if you decide to get this fifth skill? Between 1v1 fights switch out frost for life and heal yourself. Then switch back to frost before your enemy comes back. Also, if you find that the game is turning into more of a 5v5 rumble switch to curse, light, shield and life to become more of a curse/support mage for the large rumbles.

I just wanted to share as I found this to be very successful in pvp keeping an almost 2:1 k:d even without full mythic. I just wanted to encourage the little blue guys out there to think outside the box a little in terms of their build. It is sometimes the most unexpected builds that are the most successful. This is part of the reason why crazy mages such as psychopathic have been so respected in pvp because they think outside the box and kill their opponents with unexpected techniques. Have fun and keep experimenting!

I build a similar hybrid except I managed to fit in FB in there as well to make it even more dynamic. I'll post the build at some other time.

Point is;

Level 35 mage took out lvl 36 full myth rogues. I used Ribbit/ Ethyl. TRY ETHYL on this build. -80% speed debuff and also -10% decrease in armor makes ur curse even more effective.

[Haligali]

was told curse don't work on bosses

It works, just tested on jarl: when he hits me 420 dmg, curse reflects 320 dmg.

[Raymond05]

Yes, curse works in bosses even elite bosses. I also tried curse on bael II because i am making little damage on him with fire and ice, it turned out that i made more damage on him when i used curse but the cool down is too slow so when you compare it to the damage it makes from fire or ice i guess it's quite the same.
P.S. i am just using legendary weapon and gears that is why i only make small damage on him. Mythic/arcane users do much on him with curse or other skills obviously. :D

[Aedees]

You can still stunlock really well. You just need slag and 360+dmg to work well. Fire light heal shield

First fire for knockback
Slag stun in close range
Lightning next with 25% to stun
Shield
Heal when 30% hp
Fire
Light
Slag
Fire

Killed

[Jig]

Just wondering, why is there no heal? Wouldn't you need heal to heal either both your mana and health? Screw that..

[drgrimmy]

Just wondering, why is there no heal? Wouldn't you need heal to heal either both your mana and health? Screw that..

I usually would run it as a fifth skill as I think I have described it. This is mostly a 1v1 build, but you can switch to curse, light, shield and heal when you want to be more of a support build for 5v5. Otherwise, run light, frost, curse and shield for 1v1 battles, and when fight over/you are clear you switch out one of you skills to heal and you heal yourself. You can also do no heal, rely on teamates to heal you, go for the health and mana packs in the maps, and when in tdm suicide with the troll to resume the match at full health and mana without getting a death. At first terrifying to run with no heal, but in reality no all that bad. Trust me, several good 1v1 mages going back to season 2/3 have been running no heal builds with pretty good success. Some actually pretty infamous for bugging people for heals in seasons past :)

[Instanthumor]

Hey Grimmy :) It's been awhile. I think it's about time I showed my ideas.
Basically, I roll with the same skills with you, but instead of 3/5 dmg passive, I go with 3/5 crit passive. I find that a bit more useful.
During brawls (mostly 1v1's), I charge-activate shield, spam lightning and ice, switch skills (switch shield with heal, for that extra 75% helps a lot), charge curse, acrivate Colton's arcane ability (it's devastating), [charge lightning, tap ice] repeat, charge/tap heal, then finish off with lighning and ice.
I find the tactic devastating. I can defeat mauls (without arcane pets) in 1v1, I can beat arcane staff mages (with Samael) in 1v1, however, I cannot beat rogues 1v1 if they have mythic daggers and Samael equipped; I can beat them if they have one of the items, i.e., Sam and mythic bow, or glacian and mythic daggers. I currently use full mythics (Runic Flare with Archon Ring of Brutality), just wanna throw that out there that it is not all about gear.
You should give it a try one day, it works wonders! :D

[Jig]

I usually would run it as a fifth skill as I think I have described it. This is mostly a 1v1 build, but you can switch to curse, light, shield and heal when you want to be more of a support build for 5v5. Otherwise, run light, frost, curse and shield for 1v1 battles, and when fight over/you are clear you switch out one of you skills to heal and you heal yourself. You can also do no heal, rely on teamates to heal you, go for the health and mana packs in the maps, and when in tdm suicide with the troll to resume the match at full health and mana without getting a death. At first terrifying to run with no heal, but in reality no all that bad. Trust me, several good 1v1 mages going back to season 2/3 have been running no heal builds with pretty good success. Some actually pretty infamous for bugging people for heals in seasons past :)

Have to say, thats a pretty snazzy idea ;) I get ya know thanks, lets hope mages are better at 41! :D

[Robhawk]

I find the tactic devastating. I can defeat mauls (without arcane pets) in 1v1,

Id love to see you kill a good mauler 1on1, cant believe!

BTW the perma skillswitching is really annoying...

[Instanthumor]

Id love to see you kill a good mauler 1on1, cant believe!

Well, I tested this with only one mauler, I need to try against different ones next time :p

[Sky_is_epicgearz]

i use this a lot and i've noticed that the more 'expereinced' rogues know how to counter this. All bows when charge stun you and this is what they start the fight with after dropping packs. then if they have a stun pet like slag they use the arcane next. so thats about 4-6 seconds of stun without you attacking and by that time your shiled is probably broken and your dead. well this is what i've noticed. to make it a bit fairer is use fire instead of ice to give me a bit more of a chance.

[Robhawk]

Well, I tested this with only one mauler, I need to try against different ones next time :p

At the end of the day its that way:

Even skilled and geared mage vs warrior 1on1 = warrior wins 10 out 10 fights - its the same which strat you use, mage <<<< warrior! if the mage kills the warrior then the warrior has really bad gear or lack of skill.

[Instanthumor]

At the end of the day its that way:

Even skilled and geared mage vs warrior 1on1 = warrior wins 10 out 10 fights - its the same which strat you use, mage <<<< warrior! if the mage kills the warrior then the warrior has really bad gear or lack of skill.

I just randomly found a warrior, he was full mythic with Archon Ring.

[Instanthumor]

i use this a lot and i've noticed that the more 'expereinced' rogues know how to counter this. All bows when charge stun you and this is what they start the fight with after dropping packs. then if they have a stun pet like slag they use the arcane next. so thats about 4-6 seconds of stun without you attacking and by that time your shiled is probably broken and your dead. well this is what i've noticed. to make it a bit fairer is use fire instead of ice to give me a bit more of a chance.

This only happens when you are an inexperienced mage... it never happens to me.

[Solid]

Tired of relying on the unreliable panic of slag and clyde to finish of a rogue in 1v1 fights? Have you felt that the psuedo stun lock consisting of fire followed by panic is not as effective as it was early in season 4? I know I was. I don't know if it is the damage nerf at the end of season 4 in pvp not allowing you to kill a rogue fast enough or the decreased effectiveness of stun and panic, perhaps due to an increased dodge of rogues. Maybe your average rogue has just adapted to the formerly effective mage build of fire, light, shield and life with slag. All I know is that it does not work as well as it did back in season 4.

Due to frustrations in pvp I decided to throw caution to the wind, abandon all stuns and go with a somewhat unconventional build. Now that I have got my kills and am taking a hiatus from pvp I wanted to share my build to help you mages out there to think ouside the box when it comes to your builds. I found this to be very effective in 1v1 situations with both rogues and mages (not warriors) and I must mention that this was with a non full mythic mage often against full mythic rogues (including the new daggers) and even arcane and mythic mages. I think it was partly the unconventional nature of the build that let it be successful against most rogues and mages as they did not know what hit them.

So here is the basics:
Curse with all upgrades
Shield with all upgrades except the push back
Light with the 15% damage and 250% damage on crit upgrades
Frost with the DOT and increased duration of freeze/DOT upgrades
5/5 int
5/5 str
5/5 dex
5/5 dam
Optional: 3/5 damage and life with the mana upgrade (recommended)
A pet that boosts health/dam reduction with good stat boosts on arcane but infrequent stuns (I liked hammerjaw, orion, ribbit, ripmaw, even shiloh)

So how does it work? Charge shield, release and run towards your enemy while charging curse. Release curse when close. Hit pet arcane (most important with pets with dam and crit boosts such as ribbit or hammer). Then spam uncharged light and frost interspersed with normal attacks. Don't kite or run away and certainly don't stun or panic your enemy. Let them attack you at will to let curse do its job. If they use a skill with dot, even better (mages who drop a clock will die very quickly if you stand in the bubble of the clock). Most unwary opponents will die quickly before your shield even runs out. Thats it. Simple but very effective, killing all but the most skilled rogues. Even if they dont attack you while cursed you are pummeling them with light and frost and may even kill them before the curse is over. The slow of frost is also great for keeping them from their health packs.

If you do decide to use a pet with panic, save the arcane until after the curse runs out and then panic them to finish them off. Alternatively, if it looks like they are on the ropes and running for their health packs, panic them to finish them off.

How does life fit in if you decide to get this fifth skill? Between 1v1 fights switch out frost for life and heal yourself. Then switch back to frost before your enemy comes back. Also, if you find that the game is turning into more of a 5v5 rumble switch to curse, light, shield and life to become more of a curse/support mage for the large rumbles.

I just wanted to share as I found this to be very successful in pvp keeping an almost 2:1 k:d even without full mythic. I just wanted to encourage the little blue guys out there to think outside the box a little in terms of their build. It is sometimes the most unexpected builds that are the most successful. This is part of the reason why crazy mages such as psychopathic have been so respected in pvp because they think outside the box and kill their opponents with unexpected techniques. Have fun and keep experimenting!

I'd replace the curse with fireball because firballe provides a stun and rogues can easily counter curse by avoiding noxious.

[drgrimmy]

i use this a lot and i've noticed that the more 'expereinced' rogues know how to counter this. All bows when charge stun you and this is what they start the fight with after dropping packs. then if they have a stun pet like slag they use the arcane next. so thats about 4-6 seconds of stun without you attacking and by that time your shiled is probably broken and your dead. well this is what i've noticed. to make it a bit fairer is use fire instead of ice to give me a bit more of a chance.


I'd replace the curse with fireball because firballe provides a stun and rogues can easily counter curse by avoiding noxious.

Well I would have to say, that good rogues can definitely counter this build, as with most builds, but not all rogues out there are necessarily that smart. Probably not as good now, almost a half a year after I started using and three months after I made the post about this build, as rogues have better learned how to counter curse. Obvious flaws include: using misty negates your curse; a skill with damage over time (clock, fireball, frost, noxious) is a killer for you opponent if they use it due to the insane high damage reflection for dot - so yes a good opponent will just avoid skills with dot; a well timed stun can counter your curse just as it counters any other charged skill; some good rogues will stun you and/or just not attack you picking up health packs until your curse and/or shield is done at which point you are a sitting duck (unless you use a stun/panic pet and save its arcane for when your curse/shield is done); not as good against warriors due to their lower damage, although fights against a warrior are hard with any build as a mage; etc, etc I can go on.

Yes, any skill build has flaws, and so does this one. I was just sick of the regular old fireball/slag stun/panic mage builds and found this build fun and surprisingly effective.

[Jig]

Well I would have to say, that good rogues can definitely counter this build, as with most builds, but not all rogues out there are necessarily that smart. Probably not as good now, almost a half a year after I started using and three months after I made the post about this build, as rogues have better learned how to counter curse. Obvious flaws include: using misty negates your curse; a skill with damage over time (clock, fireball, frost, noxious) is a killer for you opponent if they use it due to the insane high damage reflection for dot - so yes a good opponent will just avoid skills with dot; a well timed stun can counter your curse just as it counters any other charged skill; some good rogues will stun you and/or just not attack you picking up health packs until your curse and/or shield is done at which point you are a sitting duck (unless you use a stun/panic pet and save its arcane for when your curse/shield is done); not as good against warriors due to their lower damage, although fights against a warrior are hard with any build as a mage; etc, etc I can go on.

Yes, any skill build has flaws, and so does this one. I was just sick of the regular old fireball/slag stun/panic mage builds and found this build fun and surprisingly effective. nothing won't with changing, need a variety

[Sky_is_epicgearz]

This only happens when you are an inexperienced mage... it never happens to me.

Sir......... i would like to see you beat a good full mythic rogue that starts with a stun and uses a stun pet (possibly slag).......... and win using just 4 skills. that is would like to see

[Robhawk]

Sir......... i would like to see you beat a good full mythic rogue that starts with a stun and uses a stun pet (possibly slag).......... and win using just 4 skills. that is would like to see

Calm down - if that happens every mage is dead. ;)

[Sky_is_epicgearz]

Calm down - if that happens every mage is dead. ;)

sir.......i am not angry

[Jig]

sir.......i am not angry

Madam... Calm your farm chapachapa wiyawong

[Sky_is_epicgearz]

Madam... Calm your farm chapachapa wiyawong

omg lol im calm im just saying id like to see him do it

[Jig]

omg lol im calm im just saying id like to see him do it

C
A
L
L
L
L
M
M
M
Mmmmm

[Rueben Grace]

Hey i play as a lvl27 mage named freakoutt, and actually find that curse mages are very easy to defeat with fire, lightning, shield, heal combination. Here is how to beat a curse mage.

Charged fire then tap non charged lightning (keeping in mind curse mages normally start with shield) and this will stun them delaying their curse. then proceed to do non charged attacks until you are cursed or reach 40% hp. once you reach 40%, use charge shield and charge heal, then use fire/lightning combo (mentioned at start) keeping in mind curse will be ineffective due to 2 secs invulnerability on shield then proceed to use non charged lightning until curse is over. due to shield being delayed at start, their shield will then drop before yours allowing you to deal one last combo to finish them off before your shield drops.
NOTE: i have been rated best mage vs mage/rogue by both friends and enemy guilds. pets that effectively work with this technique are pets that grant bonus dmg and also include stuns such as slag :)

hope this helps mages vs curse mages

[Instanthumor]

Sir......... i would like to see you beat a good full mythic rogue that starts with a stun and uses a stun pet (possibly slag).......... and win using just 4 skills. that is would like to see

Usually rogues don't start like that because in 1v1's, we usually start at the corners of the room. But anyways, what's your ign? I'll party you and show you that it is more than possible.

[Sky_is_epicgearz]

Usually rogues don't start like that because in 1v1's, we usually start at the corners of the room. But anyways, what's your ign? I'll party you and show you that it is more than possible.

I know 2 rogues that comes to mind already it's skyhype.... I thought my signature was legible :/