Guild Wars 2

I still read and hear people say this all the time on forums and in game.

What is your thoughts on the strength of mesmer in a 1 on 1 fight even if they are specced for it?

Ps. Im to lazy to confirm but i do know that out of all the 1vs 1 tournies that have been hosted mesmer hasnt won many if any at all.

Pss. Bored at work.

On second thought how would you rank the classes now for dueling if they used best dueling specs?

Skilled play is the best 1v1 class.

Mesmer has a very high skill cap, allowing for high level play to be better than on, for example, a warrior.

Phantasm build is very strong if played by a decent player. In 1v1 i belive mesmer is in advantage.

Every build, every class, has a counter.

For 1v1s… Phantasm builds + Stealth = Win.

There are some incredibly powerful duel builds for Mesmers out there. Some that make then practically unbeatable without Condition spam.

But I doubt they’d be able to take on EVERY class and every build successfully.

There are simply too many bunker build out there that don’t die to single players. There are also builds that counter one specific aspect of a class.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mesmers came out on top in an all class duel tournament but not with a single build.

I would disagree mesmer has a high skill cap. I don’t think kiting while AI controlled minions output damage is difficult or takes skill. Unfortunately most mesmers are running such AI dependent builds these days since shatter build are no longer popular. It is definitely one of the best 1v1 classes though due to clones, stealth, and AI damage.

MM is a top contender for 1v1. (Minion Master). However MM DOES have a high skill cap (and high skill floor, so they’re easy to be at least decent with even if you’re not too good.) If you get really good at avoiding CC to make up for your lack of CC breakers, and get really good at locking down enemies so your minions can deal damage, and you actually attack and don’t expect them to win it for you, MM can be pretty potent 1v1 and 2v2. Anything higher than that, AOE starts to take its toll though.

ronpierce.2760:

MM is a top contender for 1v1. (Minion Master). However MM DOES have a high skill cap (and high skill floor, so they’re easy to be at least decent with even if you’re not too good.) If you get really good at avoiding CC to make up for your lack of CC breakers, and get really good at locking down enemies so your minions can deal damage, and you actually attack and don’t expect them to win it for you, MM can be pretty potent 1v1 and 2v2. Anything higher than that, AOE starts to take its toll though.

This is the person who ran petting zoo last 2v2 tourney with a spirit ranger. I think even he will agree the 8x +pets and two human players gave AI and particle effect advantage on its own. It was a terrible and confusing match to watch.

It does have its advantages (but those are also disadvantages if you think about it, both people see the same stuff). The spirits are much more distracting than minions though mostly due to the bright colors and exaggerated effects on the “on use”. One of the biggest issues is that people don’t turn off enemy names (and keep on Player names) so the name clutter is TERRIBLE, but fixable. Minion clutter isn’t bad cause they mostly stand still and aren’t flashy. One of either isn’t too bad, multiple of either can start to get a bit hectic. This includes for the MM (Its harder to watch my minions health if I see multiple of the same type of minion.)

I do not think MM are OP however, nor are they too messy. Just when stacked. But I hate ANYTHING stacked in this game (5 perma stealth thieves, 5 CC warriors, 5 Condi necros, its all just as annoying.)

In our defense though*, some of it is a L2P issue in that you have to get used to it. When we did MM+Spirit ranger versus MM+_Spirits I still had no issues doing what I needed to do.

Ranger > stealth phantasm mesmer. It is really hard to do but if you have a relatively DPS pet that you constantly use on the DPS clones while you focus the mesmer yourself you will win.

Ranger is built to kill mesmer. any ranger losing 1v1 to mesmer is bad. and should feel bad nothing to do with skill or out playing the deck is stacked against you.

Even if they’re running kittenty crutch skillFloor=skillCeiling 30 chaos build that loses tpvp games.

Game is not balanced for 1v1.. Ranger is one of the strongest 1v1 classes though even played badly or specced power.

Bacon.4918:

I would disagree mesmer has a high skill cap. I don’t think kiting while AI controlled minions output damage is difficult or takes skill. Unfortunately most mesmers are running such AI dependent builds these days since shatter build are no longer popular. It is definitely one of the best 1v1 classes though due to clones, stealth, and AI damage.

Mesmer has a high skill cap but like many other classes also has some easymode builds. A lot of people just like to take the easy way or wanna have fun without too much investment in learning the class.

Other than BM or spirit ranger (that isn’t inept and has some understanding of how doge mechanic works) you can out play any class 1v1 even if in some cases you lose the point before finishing them.

But that’s only if you can win the early pressure in some cases, other than fully disengaging engies and Necros bind your nuts if they out pressure you to early.

And if your phant no excuse gg win vs almost anything 1v1. Though it’s been toned down

Phant’s getting buffed soon.. I don’t play phant though cause.. shatter’s fun and phant is yawn boring.

Stop buffing kitten builds anet please. :/

Divinity.8041:

ronpierce.2760:

MM is a top contender for 1v1. (Minion Master). However MM DOES have a high skill cap (and high skill floor, so they’re easy to be at least decent with even if you’re not too good.) If you get really good at avoiding CC to make up for your lack of CC breakers, and get really good at locking down enemies so your minions can deal damage, and you actually attack and don’t expect them to win it for you, MM can be pretty potent 1v1 and 2v2. Anything higher than that, AOE starts to take its toll though.

This is the person who ran petting zoo last 2v2 tourney with a spirit ranger. I think even he will agree the 8x +pets and two human players gave AI and particle effect advantage on its own. It was a terrible and confusing match to watch.

And nobody thought to kill the minions with aoe? I don’t think a spirit ranger and necro would be hard to build wars against.

They’re not. AI builds also have no spot condi removal nor cc breakers. People just want to complain

There are not best 1v1 classes with all the hard counters the balance patches have created.

^ That’s probably the biggest truth. 1v1 has a very powerful rock paper scissors effect.

Phantasm builds are powerful, yet do not work against burst classes and several other select builds. They require little skill.
Shatter builds can range from pathetic to incredible depending on the skill level.