Guild Wars 2

How to play a Mesmer in dungeons

I have spent close to 800 hours playing a Mesmer (for a total of over 3000 hours in game time so far). I see so many bad Mesmers in dungeons that I think it’s time I write a guide on not just how to build a Mesmer, but how to play one effectively. This guide will spend less time on builds and more on explaining the how and why of playing a Mesmer (though builds and weapon choices are still discussed).

The Mesmer fills several important roles in dungeons:

• Controlling and positioning the enemy, primarily through effective use of Temporal Curtain
• Mitigating and enhancing damage through reflections
• Boon and condition management, by removing conditions on your team, enhancing your teams boons, and removing boons from the enemy
• Speeding up runs through use of portal

While the Mesmer is by no means a “mandatory” dungeon class, it is often highly beneficial to include one because of its aforementioned versatility.

Slot Skills

There are some utility skills that a Mesmer will find more useful in dungeons. Switch out your utilities when necessary. Here is a list of what I use most often:

On my utilies bar almost all the time, no matter what:

• Feedback

On my regular rotation:

• Mantra of Concentration (Stunbreak and stability)
• Mantra of Resolve (Condition cleansing)
• Null field (Condition/Boon management)
• Blink (Stunbreak)

Occasionally used:

• Signet of Inspiration (For copying boons)
• Portal Entre
• Veil (for runs)
• Illusion of Life (Useful when pugging Arah)
• Mirror Images
• Decoy

Rarely used, but still used for some specific encounters

• Mimic

As for healing skills, what you use depends on your builds. If you are using mantra damage multipliers, go with the healing mantra. Otherwise, take ether feast.
For Elites, Time warp is ideal most of the time, but for some runs mass invisibility is preferred. Any other skill aside from these 2 is usually a waste of your elite slot.

Traits

There are some traits that are mandatory for a Mesmer in dungeons. They include:

Minimum 20 Inspiration for:
1. Reduced recharge on Glamour skills
2. Reduced recharge on focus skills, while granting them the ability to reflect projectiles

Minimum 20 Dueling for:
1. Permanent vigor on crit
2. Reduced cooldown on sword skills
3. Reduced cooldown in pistol skills
4. Clones on dodge, which help immensely with setting up shatters

To maximize reflect damage, you want to get as many % damage increases as you can. The rest of your points are preferably distributed into Illusions (for 9% bonus damage with illusions) and Domination (for some additional power, increasing illusion damage, or enhancing your shatters), along with optional enhancements to the Dueling and Inspiration lines. The Chaos trait line offers very little for dungeons, so points in it are generally a waste.

Armor and Weapons

Colesy gives an excellent breakdown of the Mesmer weapon types and their strengths and weaknesses in this thread. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-PvE-Dungeons-Phantasm-build-s As such, I will not spend much time covering this, as it has already been covered.

A Mesmer, optimally played, will use a sword mainhand and alternate between focus, pistol, and sword offhand a majority of the time. There are some situations where a ranged weapon is necessary or preferred, in which the greatsword can be used as a secondary weapon. However, use of the greatsword should be minimized as much as possible, as the weapon has low DPS and its other abilities are generally not suited for dungeons.

If you are going to be running dungeons a lot, you will almost never need a torch, staff, or scepter. I like to carry at least one of every weapon in my inventory, but the use of these three weapons is rarely, if ever optimal in a dungeon environment.

With permanent vigor, invulnerability on the F4 shatter, a 2.5 second evade with blurred frenzy, and a block on offhand sword, the Mesmer is actually one of the most durable professions in dungeons in spite of wearing light armor. Wear full berserker or assassins gear, and if you time your dodges and skills properly, you will take a minimum of damage while dealing maximum damage.

How to play a Mesmer and why

So, now that you have proper traits, armor, two swords, a focus, a pistol, and a greatsword, what do you do?

Control

The first role of the Mesmer I mentioned, which I personally think is the most underutilized and one of the most important, is control. This is where I see the majority of Mesmers fail – they do not effectively position the enemy in such a way that minimizes their killing time. Instead, they let the enemy run about, which can make them take 10x longer to kill and increase the odds that they will wipe your team.

Temporal Curtain (Focus 4) is the bread and butter of the Mesmer’s control tools, and Illusionary Wave (GS 5) is occasionally used to push single targets into corners or walls. How do you use these effectively? Temporal curtain has a pull radius of 600 units, and is frequently used to pull enemies into corners or walls. The following video demonstrates: http://youtu.be/fLfeDzsfy3o

Why corners or walls? There are several reasons. First, Temporal Curtain has a tendency to overshoot enemies that aren’t backed into a solid object. An improperly placed temporal curtain can scatter enemies rather than grouping them up, and by choosing a wall, you limit (or eliminate) this possibility. Second, grouping enemies into a wall or corner dramatically improves your party’s damage, as melee weapons will cleave through them with ease. Instead of hitting a single stray target, you are now hitting a full group.

In addition to grouping enemies up, Temporal Curtain is also used to clear or split enemies on trash runs. Since the pull from temporal curtain does not generate threat, it can be safely used to split enemies off the main path of a trash run so your group can run past them without drawing their attention.

If you want to learn how to focus pull, this is an excellent video guide: http://youtu.be/ajFtp6mnM1k?t=18m28s

Reflects

Another critical, and often underutilized role of Mesmers, is mitigating and enhancing your party’s damage through reflects. Many Mesmers blindly spam feedback on bosses or use feedback at the wrong times. When to use feedback is a lengthy discussion unto itself, and requires a thorough understanding of each enemy in particular encounters. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to use feedback against enemies in dungeons which are projectile heavy. They include Caudeceus Manor, Sorrows Embrace, Twilight Arbor, Crucible of Eternity, and Arah, One of the most frequently missed reflects I see is against the first trash pull in CoE, in which many players do not use reflects. Strife demonstrates why you should feedback them in the first 10 seconds of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B--IxGbvmIc

Boon and condition management

A secondary role Mesmers offer is boon/condition management. Often, if you are a Mesmer in a pickup group, you will have to fulfill this role, as your teammates may not be using builds or classes with effective condition removal. Null field, as of this writing, is the best condition/boon management a Mesmer brings to a party, though the Mesmer’s ability to remove conditions via mantras is going to be buffed soon. Condition management is hugely important, as stray bleeds, poisons, and burns in some fights can mean the difference between barely finishing an encounter and wiping.

Boon removal is less frequently used, but when it is important it makes a tremendous difference. Off the top of my head, some of the most important enemies where boon removal is key are the security golem in Crucible of Eternity, Dredge in Sorrow’s Embrace and fractals, and Risen Hunters in Arah. The security golem maintains permanent protection, which will reduce your group’s damage by 33%. The Mesmer sword and clone auto, in addition to null field, will strip protection off without requiring your team to destroy the protection turret. Boon removal is tremendously important against Risen elites in Arah, as Hunters will buff them with stability and fury. With stability on, you cannot pull or stun them, so either kill them before they get it or remove it as soon as possible.

Hopefully, this helps at least one Mesmer become a better player. Over time , I’d like to see more dungeon-specific class guides that can help players.

TheKillerAngel.3596:

The Mesmer fills several important roles in dungeons:

• Controlling and positioning the enemy, primarily through effective use of Temporal Curtain

and iLeap

P.S. also feedback can be used on reaction (ex cof1, Coe champiion, legendary archdiviner, bloomhunger, howling king etc etc etc) personally i don t like proactive game ….

Also i suggest to leave pistol untraited in favor of phantasmal fury…

A Mesmer, optimally played, will use a sword mainhand and alternate between focus, pistol, and sword offhand a majority of the time. There are some situations where a ranged weapon is necessary or preferred, in which the greatsword can be used as a secondary weapon. However, use of the greatsword should be minimized as much as possible, as the weapon has low DPS and its other abilities are generally not suited for dungeons.

A good mesmer knows GS is not only for range (burst, Aoe, cripple, illusion generation also…has less sustained damage than OH weapons…but remembers SW/X shares 2 cooldowns on weapon switch).
Also knows where to use Sword, focus, torch, pistol…..by himself.

I suggest people to avoid accepting declaration as “if you do this you are noob” test stsuff yourself….it won t make you lose much time but will surely benefit your future runs with optimal strategies for each encounter.

OH weapon personal anaylsys:
SW: SLIGHTLY highest damage..phantasm isn t affected by phantasmal haste.
Sword 4 is a nice block sometimes (TA expecially) but the clone generation on block is totally contrary to a phantasm build unless you can t sustain 3 phantasms.
Iswordman also is the squishiest of the phantasms due to his melee range…(he evades but you have 0 control over it and its often useless).

Focus: its all about reflect…..temporal curtain is huge.

Pistol: great damage, single target best long lasting phantasm….you can place 3 and just forget them in many fights.

“GS”: Aoe, ranged boon strip, fast generating clone, pushback on long CD and might.
The phantasm is far less squishy than iswordman (stays far from target unless attacking), and cripples that can be really useful (ex pug mossman/legendary archdiviner).
Its also awesome for generating illusion fast…..(distortion, removing 1-3 defiant stacks etc etc)
TIP: if you never use GS in CoE you are getting less loot

torch: for skipping stuff.

This is a neat idea, actually (i don’t really have a mesmer so i can’t comment on class specific stuff). I totally think we should have threads like these stickied around here so people trying to learn basic stuff have a place to start.

Mesmer’s GS DPS nuclear war in 3…2…1…

^
Why beat a dead horse? It makes sense to start a debate on the class specific forums since most people in there doesn’t know that much how dungeons works, but here is just a waste of time, generally speaking.

You’re right.

But you know it’s going to happen for sure too. :p

Oxxy.7068:

^
Why beat a dead horse? It makes sense to start a debate on the class specific forums since most people in there doesn’t know that much how dungeons works, but here is just a waste of time, generally speaking.

The people in the class forums are 70% PVPers and couldn’t care less about dungeons.

AndrewSX.3794:

Mesmer’s GS DPS nuclear war in 3…2…1…

The mesmer’s phantasm is great AoE dps. The GS is a situationally useful weapon, but I see many mesmers who camp gs 100% of the dungeon, which is not good gameplay.

And that’s the problem, most pvpers thinks they hold any knowledge on dungeons and spread bad info across the boards. Also, i meant a debate about GS l33t dps, not your thread.

TheKillerAngel.3596:

AndrewSX.3794:

Mesmer’s GS DPS nuclear war in 3…2…1…

The mesmer’s phantasm is great AoE dps. The GS is a situationally useful weapon, but I see many mesmers who camp gs 100% of the dungeon, which is not good gameplay.

If you are poor….OR mesmer is one of your many alt and You can afford only 2 weaponsets you probably go for sw/x-GS

As you have time to get more equip, you get the remaining stuff.

Same if you are playing with unexperienced or unoptimal party OR you are facing something you never did.

GS + sword/X = TOP versatility.

P.S: the same is valid for other professions…
With ele i carry 2 scepters, 2 focus, 2 daggers, 2 staves, 3 armors and an insane number of trinkets ._.

[Insert random disagreement after not thouroughly reading the post]

I play how I want

Great guide. I always appreciate having a good mesmer in dungeons, would have to agree they can be rare in pugs. Would like to share a detailed guide on focus pulling in Strife’s vid that I found useful: http://youtu.be/ajFtp6mnM1k?t=18m28s (starts at positioning part).

Staff is useful in pretty much ever dungeon, be it for skips and chaos storm only.
Since Sword/Focus is pretty much always enough in fights anyway, you can even permanently have it in your second slot.

Great stuff. I’m still working on being less bad at using curtain, and I’m generally really reluctant to slot Portal when pugging. So many people just kind of stare at the pretty pink thing until it stops making plinky-plonky noises and leaves me with a utility slot cooling down forever, or they run straight past it. I swear some of them dodge through it in case it accidentally makes them go faster…

Anyone have strong opinions on Signet of Illusion as a situational thing? I’ve taken to slotting it for Alpha fights in CoE, replacing Feedback (other utilities usually being Null Field and Blink). It seems to help in keeping multiple phantasms up in P1 at least, where they’re only regularly being hit by the attack that inflicts burning. Also I can’t really think of much else to take for this fight. SoI for boon multiplication, maybe. Disenchanter and Defender are alright but hit like an imaginary noodle. Mantra for more condi clear is a different option if the group is lacking there, I guess.

I really like sword/sword as my primary set, focus or pistol on swap. As the sword phantasm isn’t affected by Phantasmal Haste, any thoughts on only going 15 Illusions after the Dec 10 patch? Lower uptime on warden reflects, but nabbing an extra 15% illusion damage from Domination III looks pretty good.

Oom.3205:

I really like sword/sword as my primary set, focus or pistol on swap. As the sword phantasm isn’t affected by Phantasmal Haste, any thoughts on only going 15 Illusions after the Dec 10 patch? Lower uptime on warden reflects, but nabbing an extra 15% illusion damage from Domination III looks pretty good.

I would rather pick extra glamour duration than 15% illusion damage for dungeons requiring reflects. After Dec 10 with 0/20/0/30/20 you should be able to pull off perma-reflect which is perfect for CM/SE. Other dungeons I run p/f offhand and since Phantasmal Haste does apply to those phantasm so I’d still go 20 into illusions. With that build you get IC + PH + Duelist Discipline which brings our best phantasm to 12s CD that unloads every 6.5s (zerker gear that’s usually 6k to 8k per unload). Slot in Signet of Illusions + Persisting Images traits and you should be able to keep up 3 phantasms much more often. Set up 3 properly staggered iWardens vs ranged mob and your party will throw gold at you for making those fights a breeze (aka majority of CM)

Personally I think IC is kind of overrated >.>

For a pure phantasm build where you dont need much reflects the build will be
10/20/0/25/15. For reflects im not sure but it will probably remain the same as it is now: 10/30/0/20/10.

hybrid.5027:

Personally I think IC is kind of overrated >.>

IC + weapon specific CD reduction:
- iDuelist every 12s
- iSwordsman every 12s
- iWarden every 15s

This allows you to setup and maintain 3 phantasms with little effort. Combine that with PH and other phantasm buffing traits and you get yourself a mesmer that’s actually doing decent DPS compares to other classes.

frifox.5283:

hybrid.5027:

Personally I think IC is kind of overrated >.>

IC + weapon specific CD reduction:
- iDuelist every 12s
- iSwordsman every 12s
- iWarden every 15s

This allows you to setup and maintain 3 phantasms with little effort. Combine that with PH and other phantasm buffing traits and you get yourself a mesmer that’s actually doing decent DPS compares to other classes.

I’m aware of what it allows you to do. But all it does is allows you to refresh more weak phantasms, versus having up stronger ones. You also have to sacrifice personal DPS to get it.

If I’m able to keep 3 phantasms alive before they come off CD, then IC is a waste and I’d definitely pick +15% phantasm damage and extra 100 power. Atm I’m finding that to be hard to achieve and need to summon replacements faster than they go off CD.

Some quick math, iDuelist damage over 1min. PH vs no PH but with +15% dmg.

60/7.5*7000*1.15 = 64,400
60/6.5*7000 = 64,616

Weaker phantasm hitting faster is better than strong phantasm hitting slower. In reality, 216 damage over 60 seconds is negligible. What you want is strong phantasm hitting fast:

60/6.5*7000*1.15 = 74,307

Aka, 10/15/0/25/20.

Don’t forget that phantasmal haste doesn’t work with swordsman!

do the same with iduelist that is affected by PH

hybrid.5027:

Don’t forget that phantasmal haste doesn’t work with swordsman!

Yeah, sad but true. If you want sword offhand and ok with iWarden hitting 1.5s slower then 10/20/0/25/15 really is a better fit.

frifox.5283:

I would rather pick extra glamour duration than 15% illusion damage for dungeons requiring reflects. After Dec 10 with 0/20/0/30/20 you should be able to pull off perma-reflect which is perfect for CM/SE. Other dungeons I run p/f offhand and since Phantasmal Haste does apply to those phantasm so I’d still go 20 into illusions. With that build you get IC + PH + Duelist Discipline which brings our best phantasm to 12s CD that unloads every 6.5s (zerker gear that’s usually 6k to 8k per unload). Slot in Signet of Illusions + Persisting Images traits and you should be able to keep up 3 phantasms much more often. Set up 3 properly staggered iWardens vs ranged mob and your party will throw gold at you for making those fights a breeze (aka majority of CM)

I feel incredibly stupid. I didn’t think to swap Persisting Images in for those fights – that is an excellent point. Granted lower warden cooldown has marginal benefits if you’re still bringing focus for AoE or RNG condi clear on light fields, but in general if you’re not slotting Feedback you might as well have tankier phantasms.

2 seconds additional Feedback duration doesn’t seem as useful to me as getting extra power and harder hitting phantasms. Plus 30 points in the healing/tanky line gives me flashbacks to running AH grauniad…

For general stuff, 10/20/0/25/15 is sounding mighty tempting post-patch.

Oom.3205:

For general stuff, 10/20/0/25/15 is sounding mighty tempting post-patch.

No wonder…when something gets overnerfed…and half reverted you have your best builds back (almost we still don t have any minor useful trait in illusion).

LordByron.8369:

Oom.3205:

For general stuff, 10/20/0/25/15 is sounding mighty tempting post-patch.

No wonder…when something gets overnerfed…and half reverted you have your best builds back (almost we still don t have any minor useful trait in illusion).

I went on hiatus for a few months and apparently missed a whole bunch of nerf/buff passes – I have no opinion on the great rollercoaster of balance patches.

As for the minors, I like shatter builds too (just not for dungeons), and might on shatter is quite nice – even nicer when I won’t have to pick it up in a phantasm build. I find it hard to believe you’d call IC useless, even if you don’t think it is mandatory it’s a solid minor for most builds.

What I don’t like is that swordsman tends to die quite easily, so IC is needed, but not “phantasmal haste”. On the other hand, duelist when summoned properly tends to live for the whole fight, so no IC, but we need “phantasmal haste” in order to maximize damage.

Also I don’t understand why “shattered conditions” is in inspiration and “phantasmal haste” in illusions.

Overall, it makes more sense to have IC at 5 points in illusions so can be used in both shatter and phantasm builds. And exchange positions of “shattered conditions” and “phantasmal haste”. And no, I don’t think that IC at 5 points makes mesmers overpowered or that limit build diversity (on the contrary actually).

Nice write up OP, by the way. Focus is not just for reflections.

Not having 30 points in Dueling is a pretty big problem for quite a few places.

Oom.3205:

As for the minors, I like shatter builds too (just not for dungeons), and might on shatter is quite nice – even nicer when I won’t have to pick it up in a phantasm build. I find it hard to believe you’d call IC useless, even if you don’t think it is mandatory it’s a solid minor for most builds.

sry i meant adept….
not minor

Torch gets me through a number of skips in arah when I pug. An extra 3 seconds of stealth can come in useful, and unless your going straight into a fight after a run there’s not much reason to use oh sword or pistol. I wouldn’t put it in the same category as staff or scepter – it has decent utility.

LordByron.8369:

Oom.3205:

As for the minors, I like shatter builds too (just not for dungeons), and might on shatter is quite nice – even nicer when I won’t have to pick it up in a phantasm build. I find it hard to believe you’d call IC useless, even if you don’t think it is mandatory it’s a solid minor for most builds.

sry i meant adept….
not minor

Compounding Power? 9% more damage on reflects and your personal DPS. More options might be nice, but if you can keep illusions up it’s a great Adept-tier trait.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Not having 30 points in Dueling is a pretty big problem for quite a few places.

Scrub question, but where would you consider this indispensable? Arah and Fractals sprint to mind, but I don’t have the experience necessary to judge. I assume it’s primarily for the extra 12% damage on reflects when slotting 3 mantras and Feedback, and the personal DPS improvement would make up for the build picking not up 15% illusion damage from Domination.

Edit for missing word.

Its also the extra precision and crit damage. I wouldnt say its a big problem. But I will probably stick with 10/30/0/20/10.

spoj.9672:

Its also the extra precision and crit damage. I wouldnt say its a big problem. But I will probably stick with 10/30/0/20/10.

This. Personal stats do get reflected in phantasm stats. So only taking 15 in dueling results in a loss of 15% crit damage and 150 precision (7~% crit chance) for them and you. That stats loss would also effect your reflect damage (beyond the ability to get 12% damage through mantras).

In places where reflects aren’t as needed (CoE) a 10/20/0/25/15 or 10/15/0/25/20 build may work better, but I don’t think the damage would be that noticeable compared to 10/30/0/20/10 to justify changing for a casual speed clear.

durend.6237:

spoj.9672:

Its also the extra precision and crit damage. I wouldnt say its a big problem. But I will probably stick with 10/30/0/20/10.

This. Personal stats do get reflected in phantasm stats. So only taking 15 in dueling results in a loss of 15% crit damage and 150 precision (7~% crit chance) for them and you. That stats loss would also effect your reflect damage (beyond the ability to get 12% damage through mantras).

In places where reflects aren’t as needed (CoE) a 10/20/0/25/15 or 10/15/0/25/20 build may work better, but I don’t think the damage would be that noticeable compared to 10/30/0/20/10 to justify changing for a casual speed clear.

Thanks to both of you, the extra stats as well as the multiplier make a ton of sense, as well as dropping points from illusion/inspiration instead of domination. Definitely going to have to give this a try and see if I can live without IC and PH.

I did try a mantra build ages ago, just after hitting 80. I found them to be really clunky when running around the open world, but since I mainly just run dungeons on the mesmer maybe it’ll be bearable now :P

Defcon 3.

GS is bad.

I will probably run 10/30/0/10/20 after the patch. Get the key traits and still have glamor cooldown reduction from 10 in inspiration.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

I will probably run 10/30/0/10/20 after the patch. Get the key traits and still have glamor cooldown reduction from 10 in inspiration.

You’ll lose reflects on focus. I would go 0/30/0/20/20 or some variation on that, with minimum 15 in illusions.

For pugging I think the extra reflect helps, for for the type of organised runs [DnT] is used to I’m not sure a fight would ever last long enough that the warden + feedback wouldn’t be enough, and in those situations they’d probably have a guard for WoR or SoA.

The only time I think of where fights would take long enough to need a traited curtain for an organised group would be high level fractals.

durend.6237:

For pugging I think the extra reflect helps, for for the type of organised runs [DnT] is used to I’m not sure a fight would ever last long enough that the warden + feedback wouldn’t be enough, and in those situations they’d probably have a guard for WoR or SoA.

The only time I think of where fights would take long enough to need a traited curtain for an organised group would be high level fractals.

Fair point. I am so used to being the primary source of reflects in my runs that I cannot imagine running an untraited focus.

The defense provided by the reflects is what is important, not the damage (except vs Lupicus). So 20 points of traits simply to get a 4 second curtain reflect is not worth it, to me.

Sure, if you are the only source of projectile defense in a dungeon AND it is a projectile heavy dungeon (CM or Arah) then I could see splurging an extra 10 points for Wardens Feedback. But for any other dungeon or a team with any additional projectile defense it’s just throwing away dps.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

But for any other dungeon or a team with any additional projectile defense it’s just throwing away dps.

Well, that’s where EU and NA tactics (HC aside) usually differ. You have two guardians in your fotm team, we have none, you run mesmers + guardians in normal dungeons we use either guardian or rarely mesmer.

Anicetus.1253:

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

But for any other dungeon or a team with any additional projectile defense it’s just throwing away dps.

Well, that’s where EU and NA tactics (HC aside) usually differ. You have two guardians in your fotm team, we have none, you run mesmers + guardians in normal dungeons we use either guardian or rarely mesmer.

I heard cookie’s team was planning on doing the run over again without guardians, and rare mesmer says hi

I play my mesmer how I want. 14/14/14/14/14 it’s the most balanced and I don’t have to favor one trait line over another.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

I will probably run 10/30/0/10/20 after the patch. Get the key traits and still have glamor cooldown reduction from 10 in inspiration.

No Sir, you’re a warrior. I can’t imaging seeing you on a pink glitter fairy character. Have Brazil try that build and give us some feedback after the update

I play mesmer more than brazil does. =p

I just camp staff. My random bounces will keep up those silly zerkers.

rfdarko.4639:

Torch gets me through a number of skips in arah when I pug. An extra 3 seconds of stealth can come in useful, and unless your going straight into a fight after a run there’s not much reason to use oh sword or pistol. I wouldn’t put it in the same category as staff or scepter – it has decent utility.

I can see torch being used in a few cases but its usage is so situational that I cannot consider it part of a standard mesmer dungeon weapon set.

Torch is the one weapon I dont have on my mesmer. Probably should get it for the blast finisher though. :P