Guild Wars 2

What weapons should I use for leveling up a Mesmer?

Greatsword for ranged and sword/pistol(focus) for melee. It really depends on your play style but this is what I did over a year ago.

There is really no reason not to rotate all of them as you are able to find the combinations you like. You should be finding plenty of weapons around your level to try out.

Greatsword really is the easiest weapon for tackling open world content, especially events with several players participating. You can dish out decent damage (more so if you manage to stay as far away as possible from your target), allows you to kite comfortably, does damage to multiple targets (either through the clone and phantasm, or by targeting an enemy far away, when the beam also hits mobs it passes through on the way to the target), and has a knockback in case mobs get too close for your taste.

I leveled my first mesmer almost purely with greatsword, but once I got to know the class better, I’ve actually come to prefer sword mainhand (with two out of the three available offhand weapons depending on the situation), but since the mainhand sword is primarily a melee weapon, its learning curve is much steeper than the greatsword and may lead to frustration depending on how well you get along with this game’s combat mechanics, dodging and utilizing other active defenses.

I rarely use staff or scepter (mostly in WvW), as I find them less effective in PvE, but they may come in handy if you decide to level in the Edge of the Mists.

The weapons to stay away from in PvE are scepter and staff. Both are sub-par for the type of encounters you will face.

As other have said, greatsword is your best option while leveling, For your second weapon set, it is situational. I used sword/focus a lot, mainly for the focus 4 speed buff.

However the mesmer’s best damage output is with sword/sword. Leaning to play melee on a mesmers is not easy, and you will need to set your traits and utilities accordingly. A mesmers does have some decent survival skills, but it is all about assessing the situation you are in and timing things correctly.

I have 3 mesmers. Even though my main has travelers runes for the permanent speed buff I sometimes use sword/focus with her for the little extra speed but mostly for the second skill on the focus 4 that yanks mobs around without getting agro. Very useful when running through areas with mobs that you don’t want to stop and fight. Also one of my mesmers has a sigil on one of her weapons that I really like that gives a speed boost when she kills (can’t remember the name).

I started with greatsword on my first. Tried staff with a shatter mesmer that was fun, Now mostly use GS with sword/focus or sword/pistol or sword/sword. But it’s fun to try all the weapons and combos.

bri.2359:

The weapons to stay away from in PvE are scepter and staff. Both are sub-par for the type of encounters you will face.
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Yeah…gotta disagree heavily with Scepter and Staff has it’s place. Neither are huge DPS generators, but I can put out constant Clones (for shatters) with both. Sans, Dungeon use, neither of those weapons are horrible if used correctly (tho, I do agree that Staff is not going to be the best solo weapon out there).

My Mesmer alt has greatsword / scepter+pistol. The pistol gives you a phantasm(?) that blasts guns into an enemy and the scepter lets you create illusions non stop.

Brother Grimm.5176:

bri.2359:

The weapons to stay away from in PvE are scepter and staff. Both are sub-par for the type of encounters you will face.
….

Yeah…gotta disagree heavily with Scepter and Staff has it’s place. Neither are huge DPS generators, but I can put out constant Clones (for shatters) with both. Sans, Dungeon use, neither of those weapons are horrible if used correctly (tho, I do agree that Staff is not going to be the best solo weapon out there).

Well, I ran a zerker shatter mesmer in PvE for a year, and never once used a scepter or staff. Between greatsword and sword/xxx and utility skills, and dodging, I always had plenty of clones up. I cannot think of a single situation where I wish I had equipped a scepter or staff.

Furthermore, there are no PvE mesmer builds (mantra, old reflection, new reflection, non-mantra) that use scepter and staff. For many of these builds you do not need a greatsword unless you really must go ranged combat.

The most effective PvE mesmers (particularly in dungeons) run MH sword with OH sword or focus, or pistol, depending on the situation. That is all you need, along with knowing which utility skills to equip and when to use them.

I don’t think the OP asked about being an effective dungeon running Mesmer and what “accepted” builds to run. He asked about weapons and the short answer is that ANY of them are viable to level up.

So many people complain about the lack of diversity of “builds” in this game and part of the issue is the unwillingness of most players to actually TRY something that 80% of the community isn’t already doing. Yes, there are definately times when specific builds (to provide specific results) are needed, but leveling up in Open World is NOT one of those situations. OP should try them all out and find the ones they like (and realize, the ones he likes might not be the best tool for any specific job).