Guild Wars 2

Hello Mesmer community,

Just a few words before you take a look at the build.
This build doesn’t use any of the new traits. I’ll be tweaking it and playing around with it most likely. I’m not going to say it’s original, as I’m not sure if other people have been using a similar build for a while… (I’ll admit that it’s pretty much the build that I used before the GS “bugged” zerker). I just want to let the community know that phantasm speccs are just as viable as they were before the patch.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.0|1.1g.h1h|6.1c.h1j|1g.71j.1g.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1g.71j.1g.71j|211.e13.2v.e13.211.e13.1g.67.1g.67.2v.e13|k3a.f2.k4a.f5.0|15.7|31.36.3d.3l.3o|e

Pros:
*GS viable again, yay!
*Phantasms have a longer life-span.
*Greater group viability.
*Extremely tanky even in mostly Berserker gear.

Cons:
*Not pumping out phantasms as quickly as pre-patch… not too noticeable since phantasms live longer.
*Lack off damage avoidance but takes damage better.
*Longer CDs on illusion creating abilities are noticeable, especially on staff #2.

Comparing to my pre-patch specc:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.0|c.1g.h17.c.0.h1|6.1c.h1j|1g.71j.1g.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1g.71j.1g.71j|211.e13.2v.e13.211.e13.1g.67.1g.67.2v.e13|a3.k24.k4a.f5.5|15.7|31.34.3d.3l.3o|e

As well as Pyro’s scepter/sword sword/pistol specc,
I’ve only noticed improvements, mainly because of the iZerker fix. It is still not 100% reliable, I notice the range is anywhere from 3k-6k-ish on the same target based on how many whirls it connects. Fighting 1v1s I have noticed the same results, as phantasms are still very strong 1v1. 1vX though is where I notice a difference, as the GS has AoE capabilities that were lacking before. Group fighting, phantasms were never strong in the first place. But this build is better for a group than my pre-patch builds for obvious reasons.

Again, this build isn’t new. I just want people to see that phantasm speccs are far from dead and there is room for build diversity. I might try playing around with Phantasmal Haste and some of the new interrupt traits as well.

This video was taken over a play session, so it’s not the greatest fights, just the ones that I could find. Hopefully it can make some people see that there is still build diversity and that mesmers weren’t nerfed into the ground (my mesmer guildy in one clip was running a shatter mantra build, interesting). There’s not really any reason to quit because of the patch. I hope you enjoy!
Video: http://youtu.be/HMBgiysCxgo

I’m gonna go ahead and bump this as I would like to get some constructive feedback on it as well if you guys don’t mind.

You know, ive done this build before and tons of other builds.

Every time i look at builds such as this, i think to myself, what if i just rolled 20/20/0/0/30 instead?

I could still get the 15% phantasm damage, and on top of that 20% more dmg from 4 shatters . And all the utilty of shatter without being scared of blowing up my phantasms.

And i could still run the signet of illusions, which is much more powerful than it was before for shatter builds, since we never could get the 20%+ hp boost before in our builds.

What are you gaining? Basically regeneration and protection, and some stats. And i havt done the math, but i think our phase retreats will even be equal amounts of cooldown.

Not a bad build by any mean, but u always gotta put it up against a shatter build runnig phantasm traits/slot skills and see what you are really gaining.

Pre-patch, both builds are very good, but post patch, i dunno, im leaning towards the shatter side.

Currently now im running my old 0/20/20/0/30 staff/gs and im tanky as all heck and im not really missing the 15% dmg bonus

The build actually looks really solid, so there’s not much to say. Phantasms aren’t dead by any means and builds like this are perfect proof to that. A couple things though..

• You have 15 in Dueling, and 15 in Inspiration.. Unless you really like the bleed on crit, I’d advise maneuvering 5 from Dueling into Inspiration in order to get Medic’s Feedback. Odd choice, I know, but not only does it add team support, it gives you another combo field and reflect in dungeons/WvW (theres always SOMETHING downed for you to rezz, even if its an NPC. You don’t have to fully revive them either, just keep them downed and interact with them every 10 secs). Or Menders Purity for some Condition Removal.
  /OR take from Inspiration into Dueling for Far-Reaching Manipulations.
  /OR take from both, and have an extra 10 points to throw anywhere. (Compounding Power Illusions III comes to mind.)

• I personally despise Runes of Divinity; too little a bonus to make any difference to any stat. I’d recommend Runes of the Scholar or Runes of the Ogre if not Ruby Orbs…. or just about anything else, actually.

All in all its a good build though.

Thanks for the feedback.

@Rinzler
I guess it’s a matter of style preference. To me, shattering is a last resort to save myself. In your build it’s obviously an offensive option as well. I guess it’s also a situational discussion as well, are your phantasms surviving? It’s more damage not shattering them. Are they dying? Shattering is a better idea. I can definitely see your specc being better in a group, having more options. I’ve been mostly solo roaming and I like having the extra damage mitigation and regen that a hybrid shatter/phant specc didn’t give me. Especially since I don’t have the crutch of blurred frenzy currently.

@Chaos
I like those suggestions, maybe I’ll give them a try. The 15 in dueling is mostly just because I had 5 left over, and I can stack a decent amount of bleeding with the berserkers. Although my bleeds don’t do a ton of damage, any damage is significant damage. The 15 in inspiration though will be hard to give up. It works very well with illusionary membrane and has a significant impact on my damage mitigation. But like I said, I like the suggestions you made and I might give them a shot and play around with those extra 10 points.
My gear is mostly an artifact of past builds when I was playing a phantasm condition specc. While I do still like the celestial trinkets and Divinity runes, (I think having a balanced stat makeup is great for this build) they are not the most optimal.

Nice build, I’ve always been interested in GS/Staff builds but right now I’m sticking to keeping Celerity in a 20/20/0/5/25 build with GS and Sword/Pistol. I lose out on the V trait in Inspiration from the build I ran before (base HP buff was a lot more than 20% anyway), but I keep the ability to pump out 2 phantasms every 12 seconds instead of every 16 seconds and also the Phantasmal Haste trait. Still trying to decide between Phantasmal Fury and Blade Training in the Duelling line though after this increased Blurred Frenzy cd.

@osif, i actually prefer phantasm builds over shatter. But with the nerf, its enough to push me back into shatter. When im playing shatter everything always feels so frantic, and if its late at night and im tired, it kinda sucks lol. Phantasm i can kinda kick back more.

But yea its defitely a playstyle thing. Im gonna keep playing around to see if theres a phantasm build i can be comfortable with.

Also <3 paxa miss fighting you guys. Our current matchup is just full of crap players, no challenge :-(

Added a video, hope you enjoy it!