Guild Wars 2

I’m starting to get bored playing my spirit ranger and MM necro in pvp. I’m thinking about playing mesmer as my main. which build do you think is better to play in pvp, phantasm or PU?

PU is only good for trolling since it doesn’t really hurt people who ignore clones. Bunker could just sit on point all day /laugh at you easily out regening your 0 damage in a one on one. Multi vs Multi it would be decent paired with pet builds so you can soak up damage for them.

Depends on what you want to do.

Team play, phantasm.

Phantasm can play offensive. PU is an entirely attrition based, low mobility spec.

You cannot chase as PU, and you cannot kill anyone if they want to disengage.

PU is a punishment spec. It’s really good for staying alive against multiple opponents, counters berserk gib specs like thieves and warriors, and it’s your “stay alive” spec that will be as close as it gets for mesmer bunkering.

Phantasm mesmers are the offensive equivalent. They’re not easy to trivialize like shatter mesmers, but have less aoe damage since their shatters suck and phantasms outside berserker are single target.

Phantasm mesmers are very good still for 1v1, but they are more punishing to play in terms of messing up, because they don’t have the bulk or peels of a phantasm mesmer (you lack the stealth and prot/aegis spam of PU).

Basically, both are good 1v1 specs with crappy team play ability (PU is much worse, but both still suck in team fights where aoe kills your clones easily). PU is the defensive 1v1 build, and phantasm the offensive 1v1 build.

Phantasm, just get as utilities: blink, IoL/Null field and portal. U still have 2 team utilities (don’t take signe of illu), U just lack AoE dmg but U got good 1 target dmg, also in team fights U can press for example enemy thief with phants.
PU sux. Can’t hold point, can run from U, almost 0 team utility.

which build is signet of ether more useful? that heal does wonders.

Usefull here and here actually. I’d go with ether feast anyway.

How about not contributing to the sad state of passive play in this game and not playing that? You listed Spirit Ranger, MM and now Phantasm Mesmer. This is where this game went wrong.

Yea, play shatter or interrupt or a hybrid. But please don’t play PU.

Just to clarify a bit.. PU is a playstyle, rather than a specific build. You can make power OR condition-based PU builds.

A PU/Phantasm power build would look like: 10/10/30/0/20
But you’re trading some damage for all that insane defense.

That being said, in Tournaments shatter is where its at. Some of the strongest AoE boonstripping in the game combined with hefty damage and more freedom for utilities. Also, PU is generally frowned upon, even by other Mesmers, as its more of a feel-good trolling playstyle that often relies on an ignorant opponent (if condition) or a good team to carry you. Its not that its ineffective, but not as useful as other specs.

You won’t improve as a player using either of those specs, they revolve around fire and forget spells while playing defensively. Try Shatter and you’ll learn more about the mesmer class and be forced to deal with each class you face differently (forcing you to learn about their builds too).

Don’t play either. Just roll a Warrior.

Is this a troll post? Going from 1 EZ AI-build to another isn’t really gonna give you the excitement you are looking for. Why don’t you play an active build/class as opposed to messing around with the easiest builds you can find?

Play something like power-engie or necro, dps guardian, ele, shatter mes, power ranger, etc. and you might enjoy it a ton more. Its much more challenging and requires you to not only know your own class, but also every other class/build and how you can best counter-act what they are trying to do.

BlackBeard.2873:

Is this a troll post? Going from 1 EZ AI-build to another isn’t really gonna give you the excitement you are looking for. Why don’t you play an active build/class as opposed to messing around with the easiest builds you can find?

Play something like power-engie or necro, dps guardian, ele, shatter mes, power ranger, etc. and you might enjoy it a ton more. Its much more challenging and requires you to not only know your own class, but also every other class/build and how you can best counter-act what they are trying to do.

you just gave a list of squishy specs. i want a build that’s balanced in terms of damage and toughness. i dont like the idea of going full glass or full bunker thats why i choose to use soldier amulet and fighter runes. i want a build that i will enjoy playing and not something that will frustrate me and my team.

Valentin.2073:

you just gave a list of squishy specs. i want a build that’s balanced in terms of damage and toughness. i dont like the idea of going full glass or full bunker thats why i choose to use soldier amulet and fighter runes. i want a build that i will enjoy playing and not something that will frustrate me and my team.

Yea, balanced specs seem to have a relatively tough time currently as its hard to find enough burst to counter glass and enough sustain to counter bunkers. However, there are options. Trap rangers are a decent option, as they have good sustain and good dps. Ele in soldiers or valks/30 water is a pretty balanced/dps spec, although hard to play. Soldier warrior can work just fine. There are even some bunker/dps guardians (perhaps a modification of what stunning styles used to run) that can do well. Don’t feel like you have to hide behind pets to get some tankiness.

i use soldier amulet and rune of the fighter on my spirit ranger and i think i was able to achieve the spec that i was looking for. i dont rely on my spirits for condition, i got raw dps thru a little tweaking on my build. reason i like playing spirit ranger is because of the spirits active skills. i duelled some warriors and they said that i hit really hard for a spirit ranger. mm is op in lo rank teamq. i even play that spec naked in hotjoins just to be fair. i tried to roll a hambow warrior but i wasnt very good at it. lol i think anyone can adjust pu build into something balanced not just relying on stealth and attrition.

The people who hate AI builds are probably the players who play gimmick glass cannon gib builds.

Thieves, warriors, you know, the only classes with viable glass cannon builds.

If you go shatter mesmer expect to get farmed by thieves, especially s/d, and warriors. Engineers will walk all over a shatter mesmer, and a minion necro will as well.

Zenith.7301:

The people who hate AI builds are probably the players who play gimmick glass cannon gib builds.

Thieves, warriors, you know, the only classes with viable glass cannon builds.

If you go shatter mesmer expect to get farmed by thieves, especially s/d, and warriors. Engineers will walk all over a shatter mesmer, and a minion necro will as well.

the words of a PU/phantasm mesmer ^

Very good shatter mesmers can do very well, and operate in team settings much better than the last two, the only reason to run PU/phantasm mesmer is because your ego is attached to victory in a 1v1.

Don’t feed the troll please.
It has been known for some time that Valentin is a troll, just check his message-log.
He wants to provoke the community by stating he enjoys playing three insanely good AI-builds that everybody else hates.

spirits, minions, phantasms…scrap that kitten, play shatter like a boss.

Having been faced with this decision myself, the answer I came up with was: both. Playing a hybrid gives you most of the defensive benefits of a PU setup with much more offense and chase power to allow you to deal better with situations where it is needed.

Check out Sensotix’s Youtube channel. He always has fun and useful builds. I got accused of using PU the other day, which made me laugh, because I wasn’t using it at all. :P I was using a Bountiful Interruption build. I do that if I’m bored and want to hotjoin a few matches, otherwise I run shatter. Still have to yet to give the condition build a good try.

thanks for the replies, guys. I have decided to keep playing my PU hybrid mesmer. i havent tried it in tpvp yet but I will be taking it after my team’s approval. I just hope, it can surpass the usefulness of MM’s and spirit rangers as backpoint and mid-point fighter. I always play those roles when we play in team arena.

What’s your build? Just curious.

PS Always play what you want and ignore all the judgmental elitists and those who claim a build is ‘useless’ for this or that without any relevant experience.

You can play a PU build offensively, but it helps to drop the 20 pts in domination imo. Ether sig is fantastic for PU or Phant mes.

KrisHQ.4719:

Don’t feed the troll please.
It has been known for some time that Valentin is a troll, just check his message-log.
He wants to provoke the community by stating he enjoys playing three insanely good AI-builds that everybody else hates.

well if u have the doubtful joy to fight with or against him u realize he is not a troll. he plays the builds and operates at the same level like the ai.. so i think he is total serious

jimmyimo.2089:

glaphen.5230:

PU is only good for trolling since it doesn’t really hurt people who ignore clones.

See here – PU Phanty; have fun being unbeatable.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Ng-FR;0VPVz067;171;9;49JT;02;019-36B;4U-k6C;1Ewk2Ewk25BF

That build is pointless for anything but trolling as I said. You could use the same utilities and make it a phantasm build without that waste of 30 points for the same survivability and the ability to kill people. Real PU is taking clone death traits with a condition build.

glaphen.5230:

That build is pointless for anything but trolling as I said.

Sorry, but I have a build fairly similar to that, and you have no idea what you’re talking about.

My build is even more defensive than that and I can remove guardians off captured points with it.

jimmyimo.2089:

glaphen.5230:

for the same survivability

I laughed.

PU gives one extra second of stealth and randomly one of 3 buffs each seconds. With the build posted it gives you at most an extra 5 seconds of stealth per 90 seconds. You have 18 seconds of stealth max every 90 seconds and will most likely receive 25 seconds worth of protection in that time randomly with about 4k healing and 4 single hit blocks. For that you are sacrificing about 40% damage and the possibility of a 12 second long invulnerability with projectile reflection on during it.

Qaelyn.7612:

glaphen.5230:

That build is pointless for anything but trolling as I said.

Sorry, but I have a build fairly similar to that, and you have no idea what you’re talking about.

My build is even more defensive than that and I can remove guardians off captured points with it.

I’m gonna guess that Glaphen is just parroting what someone else said. Especially since that’s not even a condition build.

Edit: Apologies, I take that back. But its still wrong about the defense though. “The same survivability” is wayyy off.

Qaelyn.7612:

What’s your build? Just curious.

PS Always play what you want and ignore all the judgmental elitists and those who claim a build is ‘useless’ for this or that without any relevant experience.

this is my build, quaelyn.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR7fnUEVUbTNC1QWbkw0jg7bgfqQ0J9Q1p+0A-T0AA1CtI2StlbLzWytsbNKYVwugTBvCA

Thanks. How do you play it? Unsure why you have Confounding Suggestions when it seems a shatter on a 45-sec CD is your only daze source.

im sorry that link is messed up. idk why those utility skills got messed up. i dont use moa and phantasmal disenchanter. sorry.

this is the right one.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR7fnUEVUbTNi1wWbkw0jg7bgfqQ0J9Q1p+0A-T0AA1CtI2StlbLzWytsbNKYVwugTBvCA

i use my torch to stealth (helps on stealth stomping when decoy is on CD), scepter has great blocking and GS is an amazing weapon on a mesmer. i think im getting good at playing my mesmer, although i play better on my ranger (my main) and necro (really easy class).

Shatter mesmer, such as 20/20/0/0/30 or 20/30/5/0/0/15.

Entioch.6594:

Zenith.7301:

The people who hate AI builds are probably the players who play gimmick glass cannon gib builds.

Thieves, warriors, you know, the only classes with viable glass cannon builds.

If you go shatter mesmer expect to get farmed by thieves, especially s/d, and warriors. Engineers will walk all over a shatter mesmer, and a minion necro will as well.

the words of a PU/phantasm mesmer ^

Very good shatter mesmers can do very well, and operate in team settings much better than the last two, the only reason to run PU/phantasm mesmer is because your ego is attached to victory in a 1v1.

Yeah, keep piling that crap on your steaming pile.

Shatter mesmer gets farmed by s/d thief and warrior any day, any time.

Honestly, although PU Mesmer is kinda OP right now, Phantasm Mesmer is literally going to be among the top four easiest builds or build types in the game (the other three being Spirit Ranger, pretty much any kind of scepter/staff necro, and basically any type of warrior that runs HS and at least 20 into Defense).

So I’d say that PU is probably better, and honestly, it’s actually not as spammy as many if not most other builds/classes in the game. Actually, I’ve found it kind of relaxing.

And shatter mesmer versus S/D thief is probably about 50/50 IMO, as long as you’re not shattering every instant that you physically can. The reason is that a shatter mesmer can have 1-2 little tricks up its sleeves to get out of really tight situations, and, if played correctly, good positioning of your clones and knowing when to shatter them is going to make winning a lot easier. Just position your clones in relatively tight bundle around a point or an area, and when the thief engages you in melee with IS, you can shatter at certain points during or after animations, and the damage is often extremely difficult to stop as a thief.

PU Mesmer is trash. Run confounding suggestions greatsword/staff shatter build. You can deal with S/D teefs and the stun on chaos storm is broken.

I literally stand still with this build while pressing random stuff, and i still win.
But i really dislike it because:
- the damage is sluggish,
- can’t cap properly with it due to stealth, meaning you get decapped when defending
and cant decap enemy points with a bunker on it
- can’t deal effectively with bunkers, when playing engineer they just dance around me
- can be easily ignored during a group battle, no one really misses the dps or support
- no team support other then chaos storm and multi targets providing some distraction, which is more a self-support

I feel selfish and passive when playing it, but i say alive (hooray).
It’s like being in spectator mode. There are way better builds imo

Just play helseth’s build, 30/25/0/0/15 i think

What about this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfWl4zipHVzoGb9IypHQnzNdoUcdgXJF82FC-TsAgyCuImRNjbGzMyZszMEZJyMCA ?

Neither? Condition Mesmers and Shatter Mesmers ftw!

PU is alot more fun to play than Phantasm, but I think Phantasms are more effective in spvp.

Just to be sure, what’s the “phantasm mesmer” build is nowadays? I feel like it’s pretty big family of builds. It’s a bit like talking about “bomb engineer” – it can be support, bunker, point assaulter, etc.