Guild Wars 2

So, this is gonna be a sort of open-ended post but bear with me.

I bought GW2 as soon as it was available. But, my highest level character is still lvl 30. I just get so frustrated. I feel as though I don’t understand my poor mesmer at all. How am I supposed to do anything in this game as a solo mesmer? Can you all offer some weapon set suggestions or something ? Because I love this game, I just hate that I have to go away for months at a time because I hit brick walls.

Thanks so much for the advice!

I think this post is relevant: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Thief-Elementalist-Necro-Or-Engineer/first#post2541684

I have leveled a mesmer myself- in fact, I played a mesmer as my first character, before I tried elementalist (my current main). It is an unforgiving first class, not only because it needs traits to be strong, but because you are learning how to survive on a character with low armor and low HP. However, it does get much better and more fun when you do have the right traits.

Here is a thread that helped me a lot with leveling my own mesmer: http://tcgw2.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=825 I recommend you give it a look.

Aside from that, I would recommend finding some friends or a good, helpful guild- the game is a lot more fun with other people. If mesmer still doesn’t click, try out another profession- you might find one that just grips you, as I did with ele. For me, mesmer is fun, but it doesn’t give me quite the same rush.

Mesmers don’t really start coming into their power until 60+, so early levels can definitely be a challenge.

One thing I can suggest trying is building around using the staff’s decent damage and clone/boon/condition creation and bouncing at close range along with mirror images and decoy to constantly have 3 clones attacking the enemies so that you aren’t getting hit as much.

Some traits that go well with this include Dibilitating Dissipation (Chaos 5), Chaotic Dampening(Chaos 10), Crippling Dissipation (Domination 5), Deceptive Evasion (Dueling 10), Illusionairy Elasticity ( Illusions 10).

Also focus on power, toughness, and vitality on your gear.

A clone army build can make you very survivable in the open world and is even one of the best champion soloing builds in the game. Though it doesn’t kill overly fast and isn’t superb in events as it takes time to build up clones to do damage.

Mesmers get better as you get access to more traits. Without traits, they’re rubbish. With them, they’re quite strong. So take heart, it will get better.

That said, I recommend Staff + Sword/Pistol. You can swap the pistol for a focus if you prefer. I like the pistol because the phantasm hits hard and isn’t reliant on stationary enemies. The pistol #5 is a great 3-target interrupt, just as the focus #5 is a great 5-target interrupt. Focus also gives swiftness which makes roaming the world a little less tedious.

Staff #2 is an escape + clone, great for kiting. Sword #3 is another great clone+escape tool. You have access to a clone + a phantasm on both weapon sets, offering frequent meat shield up-time. Also, bring a utility like Mirror Image or Decoy for more clone creation.

Learn the power of your Shatter skills. I took them for granted early on too, wondering why on earth I’d want to get rid of my meat shields. But once you learn how to crank out illusions, you’ll realize that F1 hits hard (especially traited) and you can drop more illusions to replace them quickly.

Traits: at 40 you can get Deceptive Evasion in the Dueling tree, which creates a clone every time you dodge. That’s an amazing trait that can fuel your shatters. For now, I’d take Blade Training, which is the only available weapon-based trait accessible at your level.

I felt the same way as you about my Mesmers. None of them even made it to level 30 before getting deleted.

Try a different profession perhaps. You do have 5 char slots.

Thanks for all the advice. I’ll keep checking back here for more suggestions.

I dont know what you guys are talking about my mesmer (my main) has been my strongest character since the beginning.

At low levels it’s important to get some toughness. What I do is I get power armor but toughness jewelry. Also try using a scepter if you’re really having problems. The auto attack summons illusions at the end of the attack chain which really breaks enemy AI, in addition to learning to perfectly time your dodges. Not even a warrior or a guardian can take that many hits without dodging.