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. .

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.

[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