Guild Wars 2

So I’ve started taking my mes into Arah a lot lately, and actually found it to be a very survivable class for Lupi fights (Blurred Frenzy FTW!).

However, my build is absolute crap for Lupi. I’ve been running a 6/6/0/2/0 (III,VI,XI/II,IV,XI/0/II/0) mantra build, but I keep healing signet/mantra of concentration/feedback/blink/time warp on my bar for the fight, and only one mantra doesn’t really make good use of my build.

Any suggestions for other traits that might be useful for Lupi? I could probably drop down to a minimum of 5/4/0/2/0, leaving 3 points to put towards something else.

30/20/0/20/0 is what i use for soloing lupi or pug lupi, being able to sit inside wardens in phase 3 reflecting the spray is pretty strong.

take triple mantra- heal, daze and stability + feedback, just before you reflect cast daze mantra for the vuln on daze proc to get extra damage, stability obviously to break out of bubbles.

for organised groups you want 30/30/0/0/10

Try Mantra of Recovery. The no-channel heal is quite useful— and doubling phantasms is not really necessary because they usually die fairly quickly from kicks and swipes anyway.

Once you have two mantras, Empowering Mantras is more worthwhile. 5/4/0/5/0 is also an option if you don’t want MoR.

For learning I actually suggest giving up Empowering Mantras and take 2/4/0/5/3 with ether feast, blink, feedback, and mantra of concentration. Blink is super useful in this fight as an “oh crap I screwed up” button, as it can save you from 3 of his attacks in phase 3. Illusionists Celerity reduces the cooldown of a good chunk of your weapon skills which I find helps a lot too. Use omnomberry pies and potions of undead slaying.

Use time warp in phase 1 if the locusts get out of hand, but keep in mind that it reduces the duration of blurred frenzy/illusionary riposte.

Once you’re comfortable with that move 4 points into Domination and swap blink for the daze mantra.

Thanks for the tips!

I’ve found illusionary swordsmen helpful during phase 1. They back off enough that they don’t get kicked. Usually all of them are still alive when I Mind Wrack after the phase 1-2 transition.

Maha, so wardens are ok during phase 3? I was hesitant to try it because bubbles. 6/4/0/4/0 is the other build I swap to a lot, so I’m definitely comfortable with that one. 5/4/0/5/0 also sounds like a good build I should start using when I don’t have a lot of mantra on my bar.

I think the suggestions to just use more mantras instead of changing my build is a good one. I kept blink on for bubbles and phase 3 AoE life-steals, but it hasn’t been that useful for me. When I see a bubble I reflexively throw out stability and just dodge out of it, and the phase 3 AoE is super easy to facetank with dodge + blurred frenzy. I think I’ll try out the daze mantra instead next time.

I’m on the fence about mantra of recovery. I like the quick heals, but they’re quite small and rechanneling a mantra during Lupi can be tricky. If I can keep some wardens out during phase 3, the passive heal from signet might be a godsend, though they’d probably get destroyed by AoE lifesteal rather quickly. I should also play around with Mirror healing at some point — the 2 secs of reflection might come in handy when I invariably fail to phase skip off of Frenzied Blast xD

Keep the suggestions coming, I’m really enjoying the ideas.

And while we’re at it, will riposte let you escape the dome? I know it works on the archer bubbles in TA, so there’s a chance.

I’m interested in what makes bubbles from a mesmer, clones and wardens only?

If a clone or player is in bubble range it will cause a bubble. Its as simple as that. Swordsman are often the main cause of this but occasionally a warden might be out of place especially if lupi is moved. Duelists would probably cause it too but i dont know anyone who would use them on lupi lol. Keep in mind you can still use swordsmen in phase 3. Just keep an eye on their position and make sure you wont be caught in a bubble if they trigger one.

And bubble range is? So movement doesn’t trigger it?

Bubble range is just at/outside max melee. Cant really explain accurately, you need to learn it yourself. Movement doesnt cause it directly, but you can move lupi by moving around which may put you in bubble range briefly.

My phantasms spawned so many bubbles yesterday, even the wardens. such sad

Yeah Warden triggers bubbles mostly when they bug out for some time. I don’t use swordman for phase 3 when I solo Lupicus. One good advice might be to move around lupi far from your bugged warden so if they get bubble, you can react and move away without using your Stability. But try to not move when Lupi stands still, wait for an attack.

For traits, I’d take 6/4/0/4/0 as well. In dueling you want Deceptive Evasion, so you can switch Blade Training or Phantasmal Fury (I’d switch PF for DE)

I use phantasmal swordsman in phase 3 to eat bubbles for when I don’t have dodges and need them to take aggro so I can recover endurance since I don’t use energy sigils and i’m bad

My biggest problem of the day is the bloody locusts kill my swordmen. The rest is usually the temperamental Lupi decided to do 3 AoE back to back, or my wardens randomly bugged out, or… or…… /throwkittens.

In a pug which has more reflection than from a single mesmer (me), I use 6/6/0/2/0 and don’t bother myself with the abomination a.k.a. bugged wardens. In a pug which I can foretell the fail incoming, I use 6/4/0/4/0, supercharge my mantra of stability and carry Blink as my security measure….

And I still cannot solo Lupi off the wall. I’m bad /raisefist

phase 3 on mesmer in the wall must literally be the worst thing to do in the entire game

worse than leveling

Yeh… Dat warden bug.

Need a bit of zen time now.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

For traits, I’d take 6/4/0/4/0 as well. In dueling you want Deceptive Evasion, so you can switch Blade Training or Phantasmal Fury (I’d switch PF for DE)

Really? I’ve never heard anyone recommend DE for, well, anything in PvE. I think I’ve been Lupi’ing wrong…I’ve only been using illusions during phase 1, relying on sword dmg and reflects for 2/3.

How does DE help at Lupi? My first guess was Compounding Power, but not with 6/4/0/4/0….

Iris Ng.9845:

My biggest problem of the day is the bloody locusts kill my swordmen.

Obviously I’m a mes noob, but have you tried throwing a warden out in between swordmen? They’re pretty good at clearing out trash like that, just be sure to wait until after the kick.

In a pug which has more reflection than from a single mesmer (me), I use 6/6/0/2/0 and don’t bother myself with the abomination a.k.a. bugged wardens. In a pug which I can foretell the fail incoming, I use 6/4/0/4/0, supercharge my mantra of stability and carry Blink as my security measure….

Mantra of Concentration is the second best thing about being a mes (after Blurred Frenzy)

And I still cannot solo Lupi off the wall. I’m bad /raisefist

Well, I can’t solo him at all, so I’m a terribad :P But I also always play on a laptop over wifi in a different room than where my router is.

And then wonder why my dodges never proc in time.

Hmmm….orders 100 ft ethernet cable

DE helps you instantly pump out 3 illusions for the p1→p2 transition. His AoE projectile attack scales with targets (up to a cap of 20 or something), so if you can get more clones out, you can get more targets, and reflect more damage.

maxinion.8396:

DE helps you instantly pump out 3 illusions for the p1->p2 transition. His AoE projectile attack scales with targets (up to a cap of 20 or something), so if you can get more clones out, you can get more targets, and reflect more damage.

Exactly!

Ahhhh, cool. I usually have three swordsmen out by then anyway, so I think I’ll be ok there.

Which leads to my next question…

Back in the day, I remember hearing that mesmers are expected to shatter clones after the p1-p2 transition because Lupi should grub them. However, in my mes Arah runs, he’s never targeted an illusion but instead always grubs a party member. Is this a coordination issue, and my party should be doing something to force the grub onto the illusion?

But since 1 grub doesn’t really matter, I should probably just not shatter, and keep my swordsmen around for the extra reflect damage. Hell, IIRC the grub actually makes the projectiles stronger, so it might be better to just let him get it for a better chance at phase skipping…

Phase switch grub spawns on closest target. Can be a player, an npc or a clone/pet. Most groups have a specific person take the grub intentionally cause they can stunbreak out of it. Usually the guardian or mesmer does this.

Aha, that sounds familiar. We usually just ignore the last grub spawn anyway and burn it down while hunkering down under a feedback during phase 2.

Unless Lupi is a kitten and starts phase 2 with a slap.

While we’ve got this lovely mesmer/arah advice thread going, maybe I get some pointers on skips :-)

The one that gives me the most trouble is the run after Alphard to Brie. I usually run:

Healing Mantra (Centaur runes + harmonious mantras = awesome)
Mantra of Concentration
Decoy
Blink
Mass Invis

with 6/6/0/2/0.

My typical approach is to make the skip in three parts. First from Alphard to just past the boat, then boat to the “choke point” with the techs and deadeyes just before Brie’s room (where the bone wall pops up), and then the rest of the way to Brie.

I can usually make the first two parts in one go, especially if all of the grubs are out to distract the techs. Then I wait in a safespot near the choke point for a long, long time waiting for mass invis to come off cooldown so I can make the final run past the techs/deadeyes to Brie.

Any advice for doing this in one run on a mes? On my guard I can just run past everything, but mes is still kinda tricky for me.

Do most mesmers not bother with stealth at the choke point and just YOLO it with stability + blink?

run 0/0/30/0/0, stick on PU

sw/f + sw/t

blink/decoy/veil/mass invis

when you get past the boat and at the corner just before the final tunnel open up with veil and curtain, channel your mass invis a second later, blink forward, decoy near the opening of the tunnel, prestige if necessary afterwards. ez pz

Aha, I’ve been scared to take stability off my bar for that run because I’m used to just popping SYG or traited VoC on guard.

PU + full stealth is something I haven’t tried. I haven’t looked too much into the Chaos line, but Mirror of Anguish also looks helpful for those pesky techs for when I inevitably leave stealth at just the wrong time >.<

I think I also need to just open our next p2 instance and stick around after we’re done and just practice those skips.

PU stealth honestly makes the skip a complete joke. As long as you’re chaining them correctly you can just roll through at no risk. The best bit is, mesmers do absolutely zero damage against Brie so it’s not like your party even needs to wait for you to get your dps utilities back up

Sandy’s tip: 0/30/30/10/0. Take Far-reaching Manipulation, Harmonious Mantra, PU, Mender’s Purity.

Path 1- After the Ooze: casting healing mantra for swiftness, pre-cast MI, turn at the corner. Run past the risen group, at the drake group in the center, Decoy, then blink up to the low cliff, use focus to pull the oozes away. Use Mantra to keep up swiftness and cleanse cripple.

Path 2- To Belka: pre-cast healing mantra for swiftness. Run past the first Risen, dodge his pull. Focus pull the second group of risen away, precast MI. When making the turn at the corner, dodge if the risens are aggro, cleanse the poison. Before aggroing the Deadeye, Decoy, then Blink forward to the stacking spot.

Path 2- The spider tunnel: pre-cast healing mantra. Hug the left side, dodge at the first corner, Decoy. When stealth is about to wear off, blink as far as you can at the second corner. Jump to the wall, cleanse if necessary. Dodge twice through the hole in the wall.

Focus pull the two risens to the left. Slot mantra of concentration, re-cast healing mantra for swiftness (or swap it to signet then swap back to the mantra for more charges). After the tunnel, pre-cast MI, buff swiftness, blink forward when you’re about to come out of stealth and within a reaching distance to the cliff.

To Brie: I would save MI before the Room with Deadeyes. With enough navigating skills, you don’t really need stealth before that. Start up with Decoy or Veil, then channel MI. Apply stability when you’re out of stealth/running past the asura at the choke point, then blink forward. Dodge if you have Deadeyes on you. If you are stun-locked and multiple Deadeyes are on you, you can use blink as a stunbreak, then Blurred Frenzy until all the marks are off. Afterwards, run as far as you can out of their range.

Excellent advice, thanks for the thorough guide! I’m really enjoying my mes in Arah, and once I get these skips down it’ll be much easier

I find staff very useful for skips. If you target an enemy behind you you can use phase retreat to teleport forward.

Blurred frenzy is OP when you have three Deadeyes on you :>