Guild Wars 2

Because I am having a lot of trouble dealing with them. I’m running a necromancer condition scepter/focus mainhand staff offhand and I just cant seem to do anything. Once I finally have enough condition stacks on one they split off into a bazillion copies that all dance a god kitten jig around me. Even if I manage to down one they can put off the execution for so long it just isnt feasible to stick around.

I guess, overall, my question is this: how do you deal with these slippery devils? I dont care what your class is as long as you share your strategy and give me a bit of an explanation of why it works. Furthermore, am I just doing something wrong? This is my first time really delving into anything besides WvW which is a very different experience. Is condition necro not suited for pvp?

Anything helps, thanks.

If you play a SD engineer, you can destroy the mesmer by pressing F2-F3-F4.

If the clones is up, that is good because SD bounces.

Hrm, my four bounces as well, I guess hammer that thing when the summons come out? It seems like the illusions have reasonable amounts of health though; is it affected by toughness and vitality?

You tell me.

Can new people stop complaining about mesmers. I was one of two mesmers in the entire mlg tournament. the recent vvv tourney I assume only had 1 mesmer. at top levels, mesmers are very underrepresented. so please please please, can new players stop complaining about mesmers simply because they havent played long enough to tell a very mechanical looking clone from the real thing?

dodge shatter, proceed to faceroll like a good necromancer

twity.4732:

Can new people stop complaining about mesmers.
….
can new players stop complaining about mesmers simply because they havent played long enough to tell a very mechanical looking clone from the real thing?

Actually, if you would have read, you would realize he was just asking for help…

Anyway, it really does depend on the build. You are going to come across 3 types of builds in general, and you have to play them very differently:

Phantasms mesmer: this is a dueling direct-damage build that just tries to spam out phantasms (the clearish-pink ones) that do a LOT of damage, and take a couple hits to kill. After doing this, the mesmer mostly tries to hide and let the game play for them. You have to kill the hard-hitting phantasms when you can and put heavy pressure on the mesmer. If you are running staff (you are a condi necro), try to kill 2 birds with one stone and load the mesmer up with condis at the same time.

Shatter mesmer: these guys generally try to kite you down a certain amount with GS, until they can root you and blow you up with a big shatter combo. You absolutely have to dodge the shatter and try to keep condition damage on the mesmer. Work on tracking the mesmer (try spectating to learn) so that you can tell the real one. The clones don’t do anything and can be ignored except when they start running toward you to kamikaze.

Clone-on-death mesmer: this is a condi mesmer and they focus on spamming out as many clones as possible (each new one, kills an old one, putting condis on you). This takes the “find the real mesmer in the pile” problem and ramps it up big time as the clone-spam is really tough to handle. Again, aoe is your friend and just try to load up the real mesmer with condis and kite away from the clones.

runeblade.7514:

You tell me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl6z-RjPUGg

Fun video. Mesmers don’t need any nerfs but I don’t really think they need buffs either. Just my opinion though.

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Actually, if you would have read, you would realize he was just asking for help…

[/quote]

You’re right. Didn’t read totally through the post and thought it was a troll. Definitely isn’t and a totally legitimate question. My b.

twity.4732:

Can new people stop complaining about mesmers. I was one of two mesmers in the entire mlg tournament. the recent vvv tourney I assume only had 1 mesmer. at top levels, mesmers are very underrepresented. so please please please, can new players stop complaining about mesmers simply because they havent played long enough to tell a very mechanical looking clone from the real thing?

Balance is irrelevant if there’s a class in the game whose apparent sole purpose is to be as fun-ruining as possible. Dealing with Mesmers as a new player is an utter pain in the kitten because of how cluttered the screen becomes with just one Mesmer around, let alone more than one.

The same thing applies to pet Necromancers, and maybe even Rangers when there’s a few of them around.

It’s just a UI issue, really; the UI rapidly becomes full of meaningless clutter when classes like Mesmers are around, which makes it increasingly difficult to even determine what, exactly, is going on. I imagine it’s not a problem for experienced players, but we’re not talking about experienced players here.

You guys are all awesome, thanks a ton. I like the idea of spectating mesmer players to see what makes them tick. What do you guys do about how difficult it is to execute them though? Is there some way to hamstring their ability to make a clone when down?

Also, very interesting read BlackBeard; I’ll have to work on distinguishing what type of mesmer the opponent is.

well mesmer is a great 1v1 class. the clones and pu ability makes them pretty hard to catch in a small encounter. we lack a lot tough in wvw zergfights as all our clones die in 1second. then u get permablinded and cant spawn a phantasm, etc. we lack aoe and skills for bigger teamfights.

i main a mesmer and i have a hard time when i meet another blackwater pu mesmer. they are not easy to fight. it requires more than just spamming your auto attacks to kill one and as mesmer it sure takes a lot more than just spamming.

Uninstall that’s how you beat mesmers as a necro

CachoDm.4639:

Uninstall that’s how you beat mesmers as a necro

If you can’t beat a mesmer as a necro then yes, you should uninstall.

Flornicus.4176:

Because I am having a lot of trouble dealing with them. I’m running a necromancer condition scepter/focus mainhand staff offhand and I just cant seem to do anything. …
I guess, overall, my question is this: how do you deal with these slippery devils? …
Is condition necro not suited for pvp?

Sounds like your biggest problem might be your build actually.

Focus is probably the worst possible OH choice for a condi build. If you are running a Rabid Terror Necro (like most everyone does), then Dagger is generally the preferred OH, and Warhorn is the second most frequent choice. The additional cleanse+blind, weakness and bleeds on dagger tend to be favored and will help signifigantly with a Mesmer match up.

As others mentioned you are most likely to encounter 3 Mesmer builds.

1) Shatter Mesmer – Don’t let them catch you with the immobilize on Sword 3 clone. If you can dodge the shatter combo and keep their Phantasms dead, then they do roughly 0 damage. They lack sufficient cleansing to keep up with your condi output, so you will down them reasonably quickly if they don’t land a burst and don’t disengage from you. Also, getting weakness on this Mesmer can save you if you find yourself immobilized. Weakening Shroud, Dagger 5, Combo Staff 3&4 and Signet of Spite if you are running it) all help.

2) Phantasm Mesmer – Is generally not a good idea to engage 1v1, but if you do, just kill the phantasms as fast as you can. The Phantasm Mesmer is almost entirely reliant on the AI damage, and if you kill them fast enough, then you should get enough conditions on the Mesmer to eventually wear them down. This is a hard matchup for necro because they can spam phantasms faster than you can dodge, so you are going to eat a phantasm burst occasionally. Using line of sight obstructions creatively and blinding Phantasm summons can help.

3) Clone Spamming Mesmers – These are perhaps the most irritating of the bunch. They spawn a bazillion clones, stealth frequently and generally exist only to annoy everyone they come into contact with. Kill clones from RANGE only (easier said than done, because your mobility sucks as a Necro). If you are close to the clones, then they apply conditions to you. Staff 4 and Dagger 4 are must haves in this match up. You are going to get stacked up with conditions at some point because of the ridiculous sustainability that most of these builds have, so save your condi transfers until you are reasonably certain you will transfer a decent sized stack off of you and onto you opponent. If you are running Sig of Spite and Epidemic, then bear in mind that clones don’t dodge. You can blast the most recently spawned clone with the signet and Epidemic immediately thereafter to drop a big stack on a Mesmer that doesn’t position away from his clones very carefully. Unfortunately, a well played Mesmer of this variety will disengage from you (pretty much at will) if he gets into trouble and there isn’t much you can do about it with your lackluster mobility, but you should be able to pressure him into disengaging as a Necro anyway, and if you get him to about 50% you should be able to burst him out.

Flornicus.4176:

You guys are all awesome, thanks a ton. I like the idea of spectating mesmer players to see what makes them tick. What do you guys do about how difficult it is to execute them though? Is there some way to hamstring their ability to make a clone when down?

Also, very interesting read BlackBeard; I’ll have to work on distinguishing what type of mesmer the opponent is.

The player will have a downed player icon over his head, the clone will not. The clone will also appear first, don’t stomp it, just wait a second and the player will reappear.

Mesmer as a class, rely heavily on opening and confusing the player. If you manage to break his opening (for 1v1 with cds it’ll be mostly some stealth+spawning Phantasms into quick bursts from stealth). Counter it. If you run Golem as elite, let him get close to mesmer and when he’s near the opening mesmer, let golem knockdown the mesmer. This way, there’s huge opportunity that Mesmer won’t dodge the charge and get knockdown, ruining opener and allowing you to burst. Other “ruining tactic” is a simple Reaper’s Mark (staff 5). You can either place it under mesmer himself or put it in front/under yourself after you get hit by Illusionary Berserker. That move might help against shatter combo, because core Phantasm (immmobilize/teleport one) will be feared.
Fighting with mesmers is a long, painful, lonesome training. Some classes shine in here, some not. As condition necro you have to remember one thing : The longer the fight lasts, less chances you have. Mesmers are vunerable to your conditions and if, like I said, you ruin their opening move and quickly pressure, there’s a high chance that you’ve already won. Don’t forget about stacking Life Force to absorb unecessary damage. Mesmers prefer best, same like Thieves, in 1v1 situations. Nearly all of both classes run glassy, relying on their built-in defensive mechanics (evades, dodges, stealth, teleporting around etc.) so if you catch them out of those or ruin opener, they die or disengage quickly.

twity.4732:

Can new people stop complaining about mesmers. I was one of two mesmers in the entire mlg tournament. the recent vvv tourney I assume only had 1 mesmer. at top levels, mesmers are very underrepresented. so please please please, can new players stop complaining about mesmers simply because they havent played long enough to tell a very mechanical looking clone from the real thing?

The guy was asking for help. He in no way was complaining about mesmers.